General News.

Press, Volume LXIX, Issue 20906, 13 July 1933, Page 8

General News.

« Hours and Wages. ''Unless hours of work arc reduced and wages increased wc will never be able to solve our difficulties," said Mr E. Parlane, during proceedings in the Conciliation Council yesterday. "You are bringing these men clown to poverty level, while every cut in wages has been followed by an increase in unemployment."' Mr D. I. Macdonald, who was the spokesman for the employers' assessors in the dispute before the council, retorted that wage cuts had enabled many firms to keep going, and so to keep men in employment. To reduce working time and increase wages would mean an immediate increase in costs. That could not be done. Distemper Remedies. Remedies and prescriptions for curing distemper in dogs have poured into the office of the Canterbury Agricultural and Pastoral Association from all over New Zealand following a discussion on the ravages of this disease at Ihe last meeting of the general committee. The secretary, Mr M. E. Lyons, said at a meeting of the committee yesterday that a Press Association message had been sent out reporting the discussion, and chemists and others had sent him dozens of remedies. His office had resembled a chemist's sample room. It was decided to refer the remedies to the association's veterinary officer. River Mouth at Kairaki. The recent attempt by 'the Waimakariri Harbour Board to open a new mouth from the Waimakariri x'iver to the sea at Kairaki was referred to in the report of the engineer (Mr H. W. Harris) at the meeting of the river trust yesterday. "I understand they intend to continue their operations, but consider there is very little possibility of success until a fair sized flood is experienced," he suid. "Without the expenditure of a good deal of money there is small chance of success in operating from the seaward side of the spit." The chairman (Mr J. H. BlackwelH said that the harbour board's efforts could not. do any harm. "On the other hand, he stated, "if they are successful they will do a great deal of good.' Successful Agitation. That the Open-Air Schools League had, apparently with some success, agitated for the application of the principles of the open-air type of school in the planning of the new intermediate school which will be erected at Shirley, was mentioned by Dr. F. V. Bevan-Brown, a member of the executive of the league, in an address to school committee delegates last evening. The league had stirred itself in the matter, and he believed that the plans had been modified to make the school along the lines of the open-air type, said Dr. Bevan-Brown. He did not know how far the league's efforts were responsible, but it was gratifying to know what had been done. A Generous Gift. A generous gift of land and iunds to provide a church or Sunday school at Governor's Bay was reported to the Christchurch Presbytery yesterday by Mr W. 11. Rose. Mr Rose said that an anonymous parishioner had given almost three acres of land at Governor's Bay, and also an amount of money which was to be held in trust until it had accumulated to £.500, when it was to be used for the erection of a church or Sunday school on the site. If, after an interval of five years, the Presbytery found it was not in a position to erect a building there, it was to sell the section and devote the proceeds of the sale to the trust fund, the interest on the total amount then going to the Home Mission Fund. City Council's Estimates. Substantial progress was made at the special meeting of the finance committee of the Christchurch City Council yesterday with the consideration of the estimates for 1933-U4, the Mayor (Mr D. G. Sullivan, M.P.), told a reporter yesterday evening. The meeting lasted from 4 p.m. till 8.30 p.m., and as the result of the committee's deliberations some of the committees were asked to take back their estimates and reconsider them. There would be another meeting, and probably two meetings, of the finance committee before the consideration of the estimates was completed. Mr Sullivan added that the problems facing the finance committee this year probably were greater than any finance committee of the council has had to face owing to the reductions of valuations, to the operation of the Urban Lands Rating Act, and to there being no reserves that could be called upon.

Danger in Business Expansion

"You can make fatal mistakes in expanding a business," said Mr H. C. Smith, at a meeting of the Canterbury Advertising Club last evening. "For instance, take a small shop, with a few hands, a solid business, and a good name—a small shop which is doing well. As soon as a man tears down that small shop, builds a new one, and extends round the corner, then for some reason or other the whole structure of his business starts to fall and there seems to be a mere handful of customers in the big open shop, whereas before, the smaller one enjoyed a brisk trade."

Refusal to Resign. The town clerk of Opotiki, Mr C. Fleming, has refused to resign. Th« council decided last week that the services of the staff of the council, with the exception of the office girl, should be dispensed with and applications tailed for the positions at drastically reduced salaries and wages. The employees affected were the town elerk, the borough foreman, the traffic inspector, the lorry and grader driver, and the relief works ganger. Planning of Schools.

"The rooms in the Shirley and Somerfield schools are almost completely sunless, and I have heard that when the plans for the Somerfield school were completed it was thought that to have such a stately building facing away from the road would be wrong, and consequently the building was turned round to face the south," said Dr. F, V. BevanBrown, in an address on the medical aspect of open-air schools last evening. Nor could he understand why the designer of the Phillipstown school could have thought that the rooms would be healthy, for there again they were without adequate sunshine. Yet of this school, the then Minister for Education (Sir James Parr) stated when it was opened that it was one of the finest types of schools built.

As some people prefer a taxi without trade marks or bandy, the Gold Band Taxis have now a large fleet of the very latest de Luxe cars at the ordinary taxi fares so please ask for a plain car when 'phoning for weddings, funerals, balls, parties, private trips, and shopping, etc. Gold Band Taxis, Everybody's favourite. —5