CURRENT ACCOUNTS.

Auckland Star, Volume 55, Issue 210, 4 September 1924, Page 4

CURRENT ACCOUNTS.

The question of the banks paying interest on current accounts was ventilated yesterday in the Legislative Council by a motion proposing compulsion. The mover, who is a staunch Reformer, a member of a party that used to regard with horror such interference with business, was satisfied with having drawn attention. to the matter, and withdrew his motion. The Leader of the House said that if the resolution was passed the Government would consider the matter, but there seems to have been an idea in the Council that the Government would do so in any case. If, however, the question is worth the Government's consideration, .there was no need to wait for a lead from Parliament. The question lias been discussed in the newspapers for two or three years past. ' There is a general feeling that, as the banks are doing so well, they might reasonably be called upon to pay interest on current accounts. The difficulties in the way, however, are more formidable than one would gather from the reports of the Council discussion. Sir Francis Bell's point, that lawyers would object because it would give them more trouble with the keeping of their trust accounts, is trivial. What is important is the question whether a Government would be justified in dictating policy to the banks. Where would the application of such a principle stop? The Government would be dealing, it must be remembered, not only with the Bank of ■ New Zealand, but with banks whose headquarters are in Australia. It was . suggested that the Government should use its influence with the Bank of New Zealand, but that bank could not act alone. If one bank is to pay interest on current accounts all must do so, and the Australian banks would probably object to paying interest in New Zealand when they were not required to do so in Australia. The banks, we believe, would be wise to make the change, if only in their own interests. . It would check the growth of the movement for a State bank, and they would ' get- more business. Whether, however, •compulsion is a wise, or even a practical proposal, is another matter.

j The Waitemata County Council inti- .- mated to the Takapuna Borough Council last night that the Council had decided to place a new loan proposal to cover the cost of the proposed bitumen construction on Beaconsfield Road and other works in the Takapuna riding . before the ratepayers, to include an item of £4000 for the erection of a swing span bridge over the Waiifiustream at Craig Road, and also to take steps, under section 110 of the Public Works Act, 190S, to obtain a warrant for the erection of the bridge, fixing the Borough Council's share of the cost at 23 per cent. It was decided to inform the Waitemata Council that the Takapuna Council protested against {he erection of the bridge. An increase in ousiness for the year 1023-24 is shown by the annual report ■ of the Land Transfer and Deeds Regis: tration Department presented to l'ar- , liainent yesterday. Details of' mortgages registered during the year under the Land Transfer Act are: Town and suburban 22,154. acreage 7682, eon- : sideration £15,341,G04 (compared with , £9,544,701 in- the preceding year). ' C'ountrv 10.383, acreage 3.249.055, con--1 sideration £13,030.403 ( £11,509,043 in the preceding year). The total amount ; of money secured by mortgage under the Land Transfer. Act increased from ' £220,112,581 to .£233,148.080 during ' tthe year. During August the notifications at Auckland of, diphtheria numbered 74, as i compared with 114 in- July, and 99 in , June. Only 22 eases were in the. city ' and suburbs, compared with 51 in July, the remainder being in country districts. ' j There were 20 notifications of scarlet r i fever and 15 of enteric. The notifieal i tions of acute primary pneumonia numibered 28, of which 15 were in the city 1 jand suburbs, and there were four cases •; of pneumonia-influenza. The number of : | cases of tuberculosis reported wa-s 33, of ■'which 10 only were in the city and 'suburbs. Lethargic encephalitis (known :; as "sleeping sickness") was reported on f! three occasions, one being in the country . land two in the suburbs. The total nuin- ! ber of infectious diseases notified during ! jthe month was IPS. a decrease of 15 on s | the previous month. There >yere 122 >leases in the country, 37 in the city and , ! 30 in the suburbs. •j the Mayor of Takapuna reported to I the Council last night that the officer in j charge of the .Valuation Department had 1 j bceir waited iipon regarding the differ- •; ence between the borough and the Gov- . ! erument valuations. It had previously . been reported that there was a difference of about fSOOO in the valuations 1 representing a loss in revenue of about i £73. The Valuation Department had j stated that there could not be two valuations, as the Government valuations had been made and money had c already been advanced on the valuation. I It was decided that the borough valua--3 tions had been made too late and nothing could be done this year. It was resolved to communicate with the * Valuer-General pointing out the loss experienced by the Council.

The Stanley Bay Reserve improvement scheme was finally ratified by the Devonport Borough. Council last evening, the town clerk being instructed to take all necessary steps for the declaration of a special rating area for park reclamation purposes and the taking of a poll for authority to raise a special loan of £2000. * This will be met hy a special rate of 3-Stli of a penny, which will provide interest and sinking fund over a period of twentyfive years. The Council also agreed to draft an agreement which would permit the Stanley Bay scheme to be reviewed lin conjunction with any future comprehensive parks' scheme placed before the whole of Devonport, either in the direction of amalgamation with, or isolation from any such scheme. It is anticipated that the projected poll will take place late in Octobrr. "I've been nearly fifty years in this country, and am getting past work now." said an old stone worker last night as he rubbed his hand over some very line stone facings which he had put into the front of one of our most elaborate public buildings. There are not many good jobs in the city with which he had not been connected. '"You arc going in more and more for fine stone work in your main buildings as this very fine city 'grows and expand-s, yet it is sad to relate that for years past there has not been one apprentice learning the trade, I might almost call it a profession, of being able to do the best stone work. Boys will not now be apprenticed to a trade which takes five or -six long years to become proficient at. In my day I was apprenticed for seven years. We shall have to import all the tradesmen for the liner stone work which will be required for young New Zealanders arc not taking it on." Football in the King Country! "A regular Donnybrook" is tbe description given to the closing scenes of a football match played last Saturday at Otewa between -the Otewa juniors and the Huia juniors (said the ■'•Chronicle"). The trouble is alleged to have had its origin in ill-feeling in regard to an accident in a previous match in which a hefty Otewaite sustained a broken leg. Shouts of hostility were among the early indications of trouble, and when at the end of the match two players set out to settle a little argument between themselves things became really lively. •Some of Otewa's fair supporters did a haka to encourage their men folk, palings were torn from the fence and converted into ready-to-wear shillelaghs, the Huia supporters went to the rescue of their fifteen, and the "fpight" was on in earnest. Just how it all ended is not clear, but> fortunately no one was seriously hurt. Speculation is rife in Otoroha'nga as to what will happen when Aciva' visits that town for itreturn match. "What would you do fif someone strolled up to you in the' street and said, 'Here's a fl note; it's yours. Take it ? " asks a Sydney correspondent. The experiment was tried at Balmain recently with astonishing results. Pound notes are not plentiful in this industrial suburb of Sydney, yet when a newspaper reporter walked down the main thoroughfare offering a nice new note he was regarded with such suspicion that it took him an hour to give it away. For the most part lie approached women, who, almost without exception, treated him as a particularly dangerous sort of lunatic. The few men approached treated the offer with contempt, and the reporter finally began to feel that he was really going quietly mad. Finally, one -woman took the note, • and as the reporter walked away, called out, " Here's your pound," and explained that she thought-he only asked her to hold it for liim. Even when she knew it was hers, she looked at the note with more suspicion than pleasure. Bathing accommodation on Devonport beaches, a topic regarded as an infallible harbinger of spring, engaged the attention of the local council last evening. Weird stories of enthusiasts disrobing beneath umbrellas, behind fences, TOcks, or protective screens of interested friends, to say nothing of quick-change artists doing "free public performances, gave point to the arguments of councillors in urging reform. A request from Stanley Bay for increased accommodation was regretfully declined owing to lack of funds, while a plea from Cheltenham was . remitted for engineering consideration to evolve a revenue-producing scheme as an appendage to the municipal kiosk. There was a narrow escape from a tragedy at Wanganui yesterday. A little girl named Mary McKay and her brother were playing ou the river bank, when the former slipped and fell into the water. Mr. M. G. Argyle Drummond, hearing screams and seeing the child being carried down stream, jumped into the river fully clothed. He reached the child and attempted to swim ashore with her, but the weight of his clothing and boots proved a serious handicap. Finding himself iv difficulty he called for help. A boat was launched by two men. and Mr. Drumutond and the child were got ashore, the former being in a very exhausted state. Probably through fear of contamination, few people, with the exception of a number of residents of Lyttelton, ever visit the leper settlement at Quail Island (says the "Lyttelton Times'"). It is a place which most people are desirous of forgetting. At the present time there are nine lepers on Quail Island.' One, a handsome looking "Maori, is believed to be free of the disease, a-i he has given two negative swabs. A third negative result should prove the matter conclusively. Another patient, who was the first to be taken to the island, nearly twenty years ago, is also supposed to be free of the disease, but, as he is quite blind- and helpless, he is contented to remain on the island. Just now two Chinamen arc suffering from a high temperature and one other -Maori is confined to his hut. "We are quite satisfied to make a sacrifice," remarked Mr. Justice Frazer at the Arbitration Court this morning when a matter concerning a shopkeeper at Taumarunui was mentioned, aud , then he added "'that is the place where ' you have to get up somewhere about three o'clock to catch a train. But while we arc ' prepared to make a sacrifice, we arc quite willing to avoid it if we can." i There were -1000 cases of bananas and ! 3000 cases of oranges on board the ! Maunganui, which arrvied at Wellington , on Tuesday, representing 050 tons of • fruit, of which 90 tons is destined for Lyttelton, and the remainder is for Wel- . lington. The fruit is from Rarotonga, ' American fruit being prohibited owing to ' the prevalence of cattle disease in the States. There were 1.110 tons of cargo for discharge in all. 1 "There is nobody here who looks like a . builder," said his Honor, Mr. Justice • Frazer, at the Arbitration Court this I•, morning. . Mr. Sutherland, secretary oi ; 1 the General Labourers' Union remarked ? j that he might look like a builder. His 5 Honor smilingly replied. "You eertuinh j look ihe most prosperous."