General News

Press, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23052, 21 June 1940, Page 8

General News

Power Authorities’ Conference Canterbury members of the executive of the Power Supply Authorities’ Association have received advice that, because of the seriousness of the war situation, the Government “definitely considers it unnecessary” to hold the annual conference this year, and declines to be represented. It is considered likely that the conference, which was to have commenced at Wellington on July 1, will now be cancelled. Shift Work in Woollen Industry Another labour legislation suspension order gazetted last night under the General Emergency Regulations applies to the woollen industry. It permits females to be engaged on shift work, and special rates for shift work are now, generally speaking, fixed at 3s an hour for males, and Is 6d an hour for females.—Press Association. Eighty-fifth Birthday Starting work on a farm at a wage of Is a week, Mr Luke Coleman, of Quaife’s road, Halswell, who will celebrate his eighty-fifth birthday to-day, can look back on what he describes as “a life of hard-won and quietly enjoyed success.” Mr Coleman, who was born in Lincolnshire in 1855, came to New Zealand in the Waitangi in 1879, and has lived here ever since. Of his original wage of Is a week, Mr Coleman Was allowed Id a week for himself.. Later he went to work on a farm at £5 a year, where his (hours were from 5 a.m. to 8 p.m. The esteem in which he is held by his friends is shown by the number of gifts received for his birthday celebration. Finance for Farmers A request that in order to help the farmers’ war effort, he should make arrangements with the State Advances Department to enable credit to be made available to dairy company directors to provide finance for farmers anxious to secure additional facilities, was contained in an urgent question asked the Minister for Finance (the Hon. W. Nash) by Mr W. S. Goosman (Opposition, Waikato) on behalf of Mr W. J. Poison (Opposition, Stratford) in the Hpuse of Representatives yesterday. Mr Nash, said that the question had been under consideration, and he hoped that the Minister in charge of the State Advances Department would have arrangements under way within a few days.— Parliamentary Reporter. Seasonal Petrol Saving When the seasonal pressure of work at Canterbury freezing works stops in a few days, it is expected that a considerable saving in petrol will be xpade. The District Oil' Fuel Controller (Mr G. Clark), said Mr D. J. Lattimore (de-puty-chairman of the advisory committee) yesterday, also expected that a considerable saving would be made from the seasonal reduction of stock and station agents’ work, which involved fairly large supplies. ' Penalties for Spreading' Rumours Prompt action against persons circulating mischievous rumours was promised by the Prime Minister (the Hon. P. Fraser) when replying to an urgent question by Mr A. H. Nordmeyer (Government, Oamaru) in the House of Representatives yesterday. It was provided in the regulations, the Prime Minister said, that a penalty should be inflicted on persons ■ making statements intended or likely to cause undue alarm in regard to public safety or the war. That part of the regulations would certainly be enforced and persons circulating statements likely to cause undue alarm, would have to answer for their actions. Particularly drastic regulations had been drafted in England, especially in view of the present situation. “People who honestly believe what they say and have made a mistake will not be penalised,” Mr Fraser said; “but people who deliberately spread mischievous rumours are dangerous, and will certainly be dealt with.”—Parliamentary Reporter. Minister to Meet Motorists The Minister for Transport (the Hon, R. Semple) has advised the Canterbury Automobile Association that he wished to meet the . full council of the association next Monday, morning. At the meeting of the council of the association last evening the secretary (Mr, J. S. Hawkes) said he understood the Minister wished to discuss the conservation of petrol. / Delay at Freezing Works As a result of a stop-work meeting of the employees at the Makarewa freezing works on Wednesday, about 900 lambs which should have been killed during the day had to stand over until yesterday. A statement to this effect was made by Mr A. Derbie, general manager of the Southland Frozen Meat Company. “A hold-up or stop-work meeting call it what you may—and lasting for an hour and a half, was held at the works,” Mr Derbie said. “From what I gathered from the works manager, the men held a meeting at lunch-time, .and this extended until 2.30 p.m., when work'was resumed. The subject matter was purely' domestic and should have been discussed outside working hours. Altogether, the happening was most unsatisfactory. In the absence of details I prefer to make no further comment.” Minister to U.S. Suggested A suggestion that the Government should consider appointing to Washington a Minister or Commissioner to represent the Dominion in view of the many interests common to the United States of America and New Zealand, was made in a question asked by Mr J. A. Lee (Democratic Labour, Grey Lynn), on behalf of the Hon. W. E. Barnard (Democratic Labour, Napier) in the House of Representatives yesterday. The Prime Minister (the Hon. P. Fraser) replied that the matter was receiving the attention of the Government, and action was under consideration, particularly in regard to the present situation.—Parliamentary Reporter. v New Economic Order The need for a new economic order, and a changed attitude to wealth, property and commerce, to support the national war effort and the so-called conscription of wealth was discussed at the last meeting of the Otago Chamber of Commerce by Mr R. C. Burgess, who said that business and property were no longer sources of profit, but a means of reinforcing national effort and assisting in the building up of those resources of equipment and supplies so badly needed at the present time by the Empire. Conscription, said Mr Burgess, was not enough. It must have an economic, order to support it. The economic order the country and the Empire once enjoyed had gone, and to-day conditions demanded a standard of living sufficient only to maintain health and strength. They had to find the new economy. Britain entered the last war with taxation at Is 2d in the £ and a national debt of a few hundred millions which could have been paid off in a couple of weeks. At the outset of the present war taxation was at 7s fid in the £ and the national debt totalled thousands of millions. If they were to have anything left for reconstruction when peace came they must -put the key in many doors and keep them closed. Idle and thoughtless consumption was hindering the war effort, and businessmen had no right to tell the Government it was not doing its job until they had made sure they were Being their own. Cost of Building Houses The average amount which building contractors received for erecting dwellings containing one to four rooms increased by 23 per cent, in 1938-39, according to figures contained in a statistical report on factory and building production, published by the Census and Statistics Department, Wellington. An increase of « per cent, is recorded for dwellings containing five to eight rooms, and of 8 per cent, for houses of nine rooms and more. Figures in the report show that building costs are definitely lower in Christchurch and Auckland than in the other two main centres. The average values of fourroomed houses in the four centres in 1938-39 were:—Auckland £921, Wellington £963, Christchurch £B2O, Dunedin £965, For fiveroomed houses, the values were:—Auckland £lO7l, Wellington £ 1136, Christchurch £960, Dunedin £lOBl. The values for six-roomed dwellings were:—Auckland £1263, Wellington £1266, Christchurch £1251, Dunedin £1343. Except six-roomed dwellings in Wellington, all centres reported rises in the average value a dwelling in 1938-39 compared with 1937-38. The most pronounced increases occurred in Auckland and Dunedin for the four-roomed dwellings, Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch for .the five-roomed dwellings, and Auckland for the six-roomed dwellings. The values were also generally higher than in the pre-depres-sion year 1928-29.