General News

Press, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23806, 27 November 1942, Page 4

General News

♦ Industrial Drift to North Reference to the progress made by the special committee set up to obtain evidence on the reasons for the population and industrial drift to the North Island is made in the annual report of the president of the Canterbury Manufacturers’ Association (Mr A. M. Hollander). “Excellent progress has been made by the committee showing how the centralisation of industry in Wellington particularly has been encouraged despite the natural advantages for certain classes of manufacturing possessed by the South Island,’’ the report states. "Encouraging letters of support for the committee have been received from many South Island municipalities and trade organisations.” “No Power To Vary Award” “No union secretary has the power to vary an award made by this Court,” said Mr Justice Tyndall during the hearing of a case in the Arbitration Court yesterday. The case concerned alleged breaches of the Cleaners’ and Caretakers’ Award, this reply by Mr Justice Tyndall having been made to a statement by Mr D. W. Russell, for the defendant company, that an arrangement had been made in Wellington where, if there were two wet days in a week, this time could be made up on following successive Saturdays, and that the arrangement had been approved by the local union secretary. Meeting in Desert Clambering on to a truck in the Western Desert, an Ashburton soldier, Sergeant T. Pethick, found himself in the company of a "Tommy” recently. They spoke of their respective home towns, and it. was found that the British soldier came from Ashburton, in Devon, and that he was acquainted with relatives of the New Zealander in a town near the Devon Ashburton. The incident has been related in a letter which Sergeant Pethick has sent to his parents. Needs of Disabled Servicemen “While the present demands on the Disabled Servicemen’s Re-establish-ment League are not heavy, most returned men in the seriously disabled class being still under hospital treatment, there is every indication that the league’s services will be required to a very extended degree,” states the annual report of the president of the Canterbury Manufacturers’ Association (Mr A. M. Hollander). “Concrete proposals are in preparation for handling this situation, and plans are now being made for the establishment of a trainee centre to teach suitable trades and crafts; where possible, existing training facilities will be availed of in the educational institutions. Your representative on the league is impressed with the need of the co-operation of manufacturers and similar bodies. The league aims to have men re-established as economic units in society irrespective of disability, rather than as relying solely on pensions as a means of subsistence.” Profits on Eggs The Price Tribunal yesterday announced that a price order had been gazetted fixing the maximum margins of profits which may be charged by traders when selling eggs retail. The margins so fixed are precisely the same as those defined in previous orders, and the ordfer now issued will, it : s contemplated, remain in force until the peak-price period is reached next autumn, when it will be superseded 1 a fresh order fixing, district by district, the maximum wholesale and retail prices for eggs of stated gradings and ungraded eggs.—(P.A.) Absenteeism in Industry A departmental inquiry into absenteeism in industry is to be carried out in the four centres, according to an announcement '-by the Minister of Labour (the Hon. P. C. Webb). Mr Webb said yesterday that this was in accord with the recommendation of a special committee of the Industrial Emergency Council. Recent inquiries by the Department of* Labour in Wellington had disclosed that absence varied very materially in the different centres. One noticeable feature was that the cause of absence was not recorded by most employers. Therefore, it was not possible to distinguish between legitimate absence and absence without proper cause.—(P.A.) Seed-testing in South Island Reporting to the council of the South Canterbury Chamber of Commerce, Mr W. Minehan (chairman of the publici.y and progress committee) said that strong support had been forthcoming in Dunedin for the establishment of a seed-testing station in the South Island. "The Dunedin people are not in favour of a station being located in ’limaru,” said Mr Minehan. “What do they want?” asked the president (Mr A. R. Graham). "The Dunedin people seem to favour Christchurch,” said Mr Minehan. The council decided to continue making representations to the Minister of Agriculture and the Government for a seed-testing station in the South Island, because of the large quantity of small seeds grown here. Women In the Navy The Women’s Royal New Zealand Naval Service Emergency Regulations, gazetted last night, set out the basis on which that organisation is constituted as part of the Royal New Zealand Navy. Women recruited for the service are required to serve within New Zealand for the duration of the war and 12 months thereafter, unless previously discharged, and they may also volunteer to serve overseas if required. Members of the service are subject to the provisions of the King’s Regulations and Admiralty instructions, and the Naval Discipline Act. —(P.A.) Inconsistency Among Farmers “The farmer will sell his great big pig and then go along to a shop and demand the leanest of bacon,” said Mr W. Bottrell at a meeting, of the Canterbury District Pig Council Committee last evening. “That is not consistent and is not the way to do any good.” He hoped pig producers would take note of the type of pig required for bacon.