WAGES CUT.

Press, Volume LXVII, Issue 20330, 1 September 1931, Page 5

WAGES CUT.

DISPOSAL OF SAVINGS.

HARBOUR BOARD'S DECISION.

The savinga effected by the 10 per cent, cut made in the wages and salaries of the employees of the Lyttelton Harbour Board are to remain in the .Harbour Fund until the end of the financial year, according to a decision made at yesterday's Board meeting.

The Standing and Finance' Committee reported that, after careful consideration of the disposal of the proceeds of the 10 per cent, cut in stalf salaries and wages in its relation to the Board's financial position generally, and particularly in regard to the Board's reduced revenue for the current financial year, the Committee recommended that the amount represented by the 10 per cent, reduction in staff salaries and wages, which took effect on August Ist, should remain part of the Harbour Fund find avail-able-to the treasurer for ordinary purposes until the Board directed otherwise. Work for More Men. Mr 11. T. Armstrong, M.l\ said that they had been led to believe that the money saved by the cut would be applied to find employment for others. More workmen could be employed to good advantage. Tho recommendation should be referred back to the Committee. Mr H. Holland, M.P., said that it would fc© much better for tho Board to carry out the Committee's recommendation. Mr Armstrong: Tfc is equivalent to saying that no action be taken. The chairman (Captain H. Monro): I move that the Board go into committee. Mr W. J. Walter: T;i,ko it in ovten meeting and let tho public know what we nre dointj. It is a vniblic matter.

On a vote the Bo<ird decided to go into committee to diw'M the matter, and finnllv it was decided thnt tho nmount should remain in +he Harbour Fund until tho end of the financial year. Deputation Kefusod. A letter was received from the becrolary of tho Lyttclton Waterside Workers' Union expressing surprise on the part of tho Committee of Management of Coronation Hall that tho 10 per cent, cut should have been applied to the Board's share, of the caretaker's wages, and asking if the Board would receive a deputation on the matter. Tho chairman said that all the tacts were contained in the letter, and it would not be necessary to receive tho dcoutation.

Mr Armstrong said that the Board should not place itself in a position in which it could be accused of discourtesy to the watersiders.

It was decided to reply that a deputation would servo no good purpose.

accurately recorded. During his long lifetime Mr Denning observed a total of G220 meteors, and of these the flights •wore described in 4008 cases; the number of radiant points he discovered was nearlv 1500.

Writing of his plan of working iu a paper published in May, 1890, lie states: "All the observations were made in the open air and from tho garden adjoining the house. Attention was almost invariably given to the eastern sky. In mild weather I sat in a chair with the back inclined at a suitable angle; but on cold frosty nights I found it convenient to maintain a standing posture, and sometimes to pace to and fro, always however keeping the eyc3 directed towards the firmament in quest of meteors." . ,

Mr Denning' also detected tho phenomenon ot' "stationary" radiants, a difficult subject on- which we cannot now touch. In addition to liis naked-eye work on meteors, he discovered five comets between 1881 and JS94 and with his telescope —a 10-inch reflector—made valuable observations of the planets. We are glad to know that in 1904 lie was granted a Civil List pension of £l5O a year in recognition of ltis services to science. Wo may add that in his youth lie was a cricketer of such skill that ho would doubtless have been included in the eleven of his County (Gloucestershire) if ho had not preferred a secluded life which ho could devote to astronomy. Both in England and North America the subject of meteors has attracted much attention, and a largo number of ardent observers have accumulated a vast amount of information of those which traverse tho northern sky. Our lcnowlcdgo of the meteor systems of tho southern sky is at present small, but this defect is in a good way to be Remedied as the Astronomical Society of New Zealand formed some years ago a soction for the observation of meteors, in which were enrolled many enthusiastic workers whose labours are having good rosults. It has been stated that the number of shooting-stars, visible in the southern hemisphere is considerably smaller than tho number to bo seen in the northern, a curious fact—if truo; many years of observation will be required to accumulate tho data necessary to substantiate the correctness of the above statement, or show that it is ill-founded.

Shooting-Stars—As Others See Them. Spencer and Gillen, in their monumental work, "The Native Tribes of Central Australia," show us the shoot-ing-star in ah unsuspected light. We learn from them that when tho wife of a Central Australian native has eloped from him and he cannot recover her, the disconsolate husband repairs with some sympathising friends to a secluded spot, whore a man skilled in magic draws on the ground a rough figure supposed to represent tho erring wife lying on her back. Besido the figure, is laid a pieco of green bark, which stands for her spirit or soul, and at it thj men throw miniature' spears which have been charmed by singing over them. This effigy of the woman's spirit, with the little spears sticking in it, is then thrown as far as possible in tho direction she is supposed to have taken. During the whole of the operation the men chant in a low voice, the burden of their song being an invitation to the magic influence to go out, and, entering her body, dry up all her fat. Sooner or later—often a good deal later—her fat does dry up, she .dies, and her spirit is seen in tho sky as a shooting-star! The late J. Ellard Gore, in his "Astronomical Essays," p. 39, writes: "The Arabs thought that shooting-stars were fiery stones thrown by angels on the heads of demons when the latter ventured too near the sky. This idea is mentioned in the Koran and is referred to by the poet Moore iu 'Paradise and I the Peri,' \vh' ho says: {

"Fleeter than the starry brands Flung at night by angel hands At those dark and daring sprites ho would climb th' empyreal heights."