General News.

Press, Volume LXVII, Issue 20224, 30 April 1931, Page 8

General News.

A letter of thanks at yesterday's meeting of the Lyttelton Harbour Board was received from Commander H. L. Morgan for "many courtesies and ready assistance extended to H.M.S. Veronica during her recent stay in Lyttelton." The works in hand on the of the Spreydon Domain, and the clearing of the site for the new cemetery at Bromley, were visited yesterday by Cr. Annie I. Fraer, who told a reporter that the men engaged under the No. 5 Scheme were doing splendidly at both places. Conferences are beiug held with those bodies interested in the question of fire prevention in plantations at Burwood and the surrounding districts, according to a report placed before tho North Canterbury Hospital Board at its meeting yesterday. The Board decided to pay half the wages of the men whom the City Council sent down to prevent the spread of fire in the Bottle Lake plantation. "During the past year, the general health of the North Canterbury Hospital District has been particularly good" said the chairman of the Board (Mi' H. J. Otley) in his annual statement. "There has been an absence of anything like a serious epidemic of infectious diseases, and the number of cases of tuberculosis having to be admitted to the Board's institutions have shown a very marked decline, although the services offered by the general hospital and many of its departments have been fully availed of by the public." "You're very good at telling us how to spend ononey; but it would be more to the point if you could tell us how to get it," remarked the chairman (Mr H. J. Otley) to Mrs E. R. McCombs at yesterday's meeting of the North Canterbury Hospital Board. During a discussion on the setting up of a special committee with power to enforce economies, Mr Otley mentioned that it might be necessary to ration work in departments which were overstaffed. "That's right; get them both ways, by cutting wages and cutting hours," said Mrs McCombs. It was then that Mr Otley somewhat warmly gave her advice. During the past year a number 'of radium needles from the Radium De- [ partment of the Christchurch Hospital have been sent to Belgium for the extraction of tho radium and its replacement in new platinum needles. "Although this does not increase .our supply of radium, it will enable us to treat patients in tho most modern technique and will increase the efficiency of the Department," the officer in charge (Dr. P. C. Fcnwick) reported to tho North Canterbury Hospital Board yesterday. For tho year ended March 31st, there were 3629 attendances at the Department, including 498 treatments with radium. "In the early days of labour legislation in the Dominion some peculiar positions arose," said Mr "W. 11. Ilaggcr, the retiring Conciliation Commissioner, when addressing a gathering of empl6ycrs' representatives and trades union secretaries yesterday. "It was a common I thing for an employer to come to me,! when I was in charge of the Labour i Department in Christchurch, with a com- j plaint that his rival was infringing the ! regulations in some point, and to be very eager that I should follow tho matter up. In such cases I always instructed the officer who made the inspection to look at the premises of both tho man complained of and the man who made the complaint. Almost invariably it was found that the man who had made the complaint was the worso offender, and as a result the inspection cost him more in fines than it cost his rival,"

An offer by the Government of £2BOO was accepted by the Lyttelton Harbour Board yesterday, for a site for the Government electrical stand-by plant at Lyttelton. Under the No. 5 Scheme the Works Committee of the City Council had 387 men employed yesterday on 27 jobs in different parts of tlio City, including 18 engaged on removing overburden a * l Halswell municipal quarry. In all, there were 559 extra men including 114 on loan Works, on the pay sheet yesterday. "The Sailors' Homo Committeo of the Lyttelton Harbour Board has again considered tlio purchase of the site On which the Home stands, and before taking further steps, it has recommended that tenders should be invited for the lease- of the Home, tlio details to be lel't in the hands of the chairman and secretary," said Mr W. T. Lester, at yesterday's meeting of tlio Harbour Board. The recommendation was adopted. A complaint was made at the highways conference yesterday by Mr J. G. White (Waipara County Council), that all paving jobs had to bo done by con- I tract, with the result that the County Council's plant, which the Board had assisted the local body to get, was likely to rot for want of use. In reply, Mr M. H. Wynyurd, motorists' representative on the Main Highways Board, said that the Board's policy was to get all work dono as cheaply as possible, great savings having been made by the custom of calling for tenders. Following the procedure adopted by other trades unions in Christchurch, the Canterbury Bakers' and Pastrycooks' Employees' Union has declined to nominate any person to represent the workers on the Unemployment Board. This attitude has been adopted as a protest against the method of selection, wliich is by the Minister for Labour. It is considered that tho unions of employees should clcet by majority vote. "Just before tho end of the century there was a great outcry in the Dominion against the importation of goods which had been manufactured under sweated labour conditions, for our own factory legislation had just been put into force," said Mr W. H. Hagger, Conciliation Commissioner, in the course of some reminiscences yesterday. "It is interesting, in view of present campaigns, to remember that in 1906, at the Exhibition, we had on display a special exhibit of these goods, with a view to calling the attention of the people to them, and encouraging New Zealanders to buy New Zealand manufactures, which were produced under conditions favourable to the workers." A statement that it would bo necessary to drive about 150 concrete piles for tho new nurses' homo brought Mrs E. R. McCombs to her feet at yesterday's meeting of the North Canterbury Hospital Board. "The chairman had better givo a statement," she said. "It is suggested that concrete piles are necessary because the land is damp." Tho chairman (Mr 11. J. Otley) said that piles would not make the land any less damp. It had been found necessary to go down a certain distance to get a firm -foundation. Mrs McCombs: They couldn't find tho bottom because it was wet, that's it. Mr Otley emphasised that the ground was dry as far as it was possible to see.

With the intention of supporting an essentially local industry, the Wellington Gas Company placed a substantial order with the Onakaka Iron Company, for 24in cast-iron pipes for gas mains. The pipes were to be made of Now Zealand iron, in Now Zealand, and by New Zealand workmen, and those so far delivered havo come up to the company's requirements. Their manufacture would have kept fifty men employed for a considerable time. As it is, owing to a wages dispute bptweon the Onakaka Company and its employees —the company being in process of liquidation—the pipes are not being delivered, and the Gas Company will now be compelled to obtain its supplies from sources outside the Dominion. Sir R. Hoaton Rhodes is to open the Canterbury Horticultural Society's Chrysanthemum Show in the Art Gallery, at 2.30 o'clock this afternoon. The doors for the admission of the public will bo opened at 2 o'clock. For this year's show the total entries number 477, as compared with 353 at last year's show, an increase of 124. Intending visitors to the show can look forward to a very fine display of beautiful chrysanthemum seedlings raised and grown in Christchurch. In" the fruit section, the display will be better than was the caso at last year's show, when, owing to the havoc wrought' by frost, the fruit crops in and about Christchurch suffered severely. Tho show is to be open also to morrow. That the increase in the number of | patients admitted to tho Christchurch Hospital is due to tho increasing number of motor accidents is the opinion of the medical superintendent (Dr. W. Pox). In his annual report on the medical services, presented to the North Canterbury Hospital Board at its meeting yesterday, Dr. Fox stated:—"Tho number of patients admitted shows a small increase, as also the average stay in hospital to 20.3 days, as against 19.5. This is probably the result of the large number of serious accidents caused by motor vehicles. The problem of the motor accidents was very fully placed before you in my last annual report and requires some active steps to be taken so that the cost of treating such cases be a legal charge against the injured individual through the insurance companies." The state of the Kaiapoi traffic bridgo was discussed at yesterday's conference of local bodies held to deal with highway matters. In answer to enquiries as to Whether the Board would agree to removing Ono of footways and throwing it into the carriageway of the bridge, Mr A. Tynflail, Engineer to the Main Highways Board, said that the structure provided a knotty problem. There had been a delay in coping with the question, but this had been due to the pressure of work occasioned by the Board's staff in Wellington, ns a result of the earthquake. Tho design of tha bridge was bad .and tho structure was really unsafe, necessitating a new bridge in tho near future. If prompter attention was required in regard to a safer bridgo tho Borough would have to engage tho services of a consulting engineer and, of course, pay for them. Mr F. W. Johnston expressed the hope that ono of the footways would not be abolished as such an alteration would, in his opinion, result in pedestrians using the wrong side of the carriageway with tho possibility of accidents occurring. As one of the largest employers in Christchurch. the proprietor of tin Gold Hand Taxis wishes it to be known that lie has no intention of applying toe 10 per cent, 'cut mi the wages or commission of his staff, and he trusts that the Public will keep oil riding in Gold Band Taxis and help to keep the wages and commission up; 'Phoiiw 34-075 or 35-572 Thank you. —3 New Taxi Firms are coming and going all the time, but the Gold Band Taxis are here to stay, we do not change our name or prices, which are half the price of others, so why jro elsewhere and pay more. We have the largest fleet and are open continuously, so 'phono 34-075 or 35-572 at any hour. Thank you. —{ ,