General News

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22331, 19 February 1938, Page 14

General News

Order of Pages Shipping, weather, and mail notices will be found on page 7 of this issue. The Fishing Rivers The secretary of the North Canterbury Acclimatisation Society has received advice that the Selwyn, Rangitata, Rakaia, and Ashley rivers are fishable. The Waimakariri and Hurunui are milky and not fishable. Payment for Holidays Considerable surprise was expressed by members of the Council of the Canterbury Manufacturers’ Association at the last meeting on information being received tq the effect that certain manufacturers were being called upon to pay for Christmas and New Year statutory holidays. It was said that in spite of the assurances of the Prime Minister and the Minister for* Labour that the 1936 amendment to the Factories Act had only intended to ensure .that workers would not lose on account of statutory holidays, and that legislation would be introduced to clarify the position', it appeared that manufacturers were being called upon to act to the contrary. The secretary was instructed to request all members to furnish the association’s office with details of all such cases, when action would be taken on their behalf. J Clerical Workers’ Conference Now comprising eight unidns, the New Zealand Clerical and Office Staff Association, which was formed recently, will hold its first conference, to last three days, in Christchurch, starting on May 24. The Westland union, which was registered only a month ago, was granted affiliation with the federation last week and will be represented at the conference with the seven older unions. Appreciation of Music The series of lectures on appreciation of music which are given annually at Canterbury University College by Professor J. C. Bradshaw will begin this year on March 1, and will continue on Tuesday Although primarily designed for degree candidates and students and teachers of music, the course is also suitable for amateur listeners who desire to obtain a deeper, understanding and appreciation of music. *Vocal and instrumental compositions of every period from the fifteenth century to modern times will illustrate the lectures. Molesworth Station After a very dry spring the Molesworth station country appears to be in excellent condition, feed being very plentiful, and in most places growing up to the knees. Sheep produced by a recent straggle muster on Rainbow, Tarndale, and Molesworth are at present on the road to Culverden. .The deer are being held in check, and it is necessary to go well back to get any stalking.—“ The Press” Special Service. County and Borough Rates Only £306 of the Halswell County Council’s rate levy remained unpaid when the council office closed last night. To-day the 10 per . cent, penalty will be charged on all unpaid rates except those which are received by the first mail this morning. The payments up to last night represented 92 per cent, of the levy. Yesterday was also the last day for payment of Sumner rates without penalty, and £ 10,592 of the levy of £11,763 has been paid. The penalty on unpaid rates in the Heathcote County was imposed for the first time on Thursday, and the amount paid without penalty was £16,481, this being 89.63 per cent, of the levy. School Teachers’ Salaries Primary school teachers’ salaries, and more particularly the claims of a. certain section of men teachers for higher salaries than women primary school teachers are. being considered by the Government, according to advice received by Mr E. J. Howard, M.P., from the Minister for Education, the Hon. P. Fraser. In considering the salary question, the Minister has advised Mr Howard that the New Zealand Educational Institute will be consulted on the matter. Harvesters Not in Demand There is still very little demand for casual labour for harvesting work in the Waimate district. Men from the northern districts and local men have been making inquiries regularly at the Placement Office at Waimate, but an officer of the department said yesterday that they had had only one or two inquiries from farmers for workers. Sustenance men were also anxious to obtain the work, but it could not be obtained for them. It was well on in tbe season now, he- said, and he was convinced that the farmers were not prepared to pay the award rates and were helping one another with their harvesting work. The bureau relied on this work to employ many of the men on sustenance for some months at this time of the year, and it was to be hoped that there would be a better demand for the men when potatodigging started.—“ The Press” Special Service. Railway Deviation Though the Public Works Department is making every effort to start work on the Palmerston North railway deviation, it will be some time before any large number of men can be employed and the construction begun in earnest, according to a statement made by the Minister for Public Works (the Hon, R. Semple) in Wellington yesterday. The sum of £25,000 was placed on the last public works estimates for this undertaking.—Press Association. Rotary Conference in Christchurch More than 170 Rotarians and their wives from all parts of New Zealand will arrive in Christchurch at the beginning of next week for. the sixteenth annual conference of the fiftythird district of Rotary International. The conference will open in the old Art Gallery on Tuesday morning, when the Mayor (Mr J. W. Beanland) will welcome delegates and the Hon. D. G. Sullivan will declare the conference officially opened. The district governor, Mr F. G. Hall-Jones, of Invercargill, will preside. At the conference, which will end on Friday, much Rotary business will be dealt tvith, and a wide variety of topics will be discussed. An extensive programme of entertainment has been arranged for the visitors. Praise for New Zealand Fishing “New Zealand has the best fishing of any place in the world, and if the Australians say their fishing is better you can tell them they don’t know what they are talking about,” said Mr F. L. Smith, of Detroit, to a reporter last evening. He has done both salt water and trout fishing in the North Island, but has not time to fish in the South Island. This is his second visit to the Dominion, ’and he intends to come again next year, when he hopes to be able to give more attention to the South Island. His recommendations have evidently influenced other Americans, for while, he was speaking he received a cable iftessage from a party who had decided to come here after hearing his opinions. Advance of Building Industry

The progress of the building industry during the last few years was reviewed by Mr J. A. Lee, Parliamentary Under-Secretary in charge of Housing, at Wellington yesterday. He quoted figures for the years since 1931. Last year’s figures totalled a value of £7,325,000, he said. A very steep rise had taken place in the last four or five months, and it appeared that building was now progressing at the record annual value of £10,000,000. The number of employees had increased until at March, 1937, with 9721 employees, the total was higher than in 1931. Apprenticeships were showing a tremendous upward movement. Between April and November 15 last an additional 691 apprentices were registered and special contracts were made for another 104.—Press Association. A Delayed Legacy

To receive a cheque for a legacy which was left to him in his aunt’s will 49 years ago was a pleasant surprise for an Invercargill resident recently. When his aunt died in Aberdeen in 1888 he was left an amount of money which was to come to him when he was 21. Many of the papers of the estate went astray, with the result that as the years passed the money was forgotten, until recently the man received a letter from a firm of English lawyers, who advised, him that while going through a 40-year-old box of papers of a dead lawyer they had come across the papers which had been lost. It took the lawyer’s letter nine months to reach its destination, but after a delay of nearly half a century the man has received a cheque for three times'the original amount, 1