General News

Press, Volume LXXXI, Issue 24545, 19 April 1945, Page 4

General News

First Wage Increase Order The first order increasing wages in an existing award under Its standard wages pronouncement has been made by the Court of Arbitration. The order amends the 1038 award for wickerworkers by increasing the wage rate .by 3£d an hour and meal money worn Is 6d to Is 9d. The order is deemed to have come into force on April 1. The order embodies the agreement of the parties. Staffing of Freesing Works

Reports from the North Island of shortages of staffs at freezing works do not apply to Canterbury works, where staffs are being maintained at full strength. The Deputy Manpower Officer (Mr H. L. Read) said yesterdav that steps were being taken to bring the staffs at the works up to the required quota. Little difficulty in maintaining the labour supply was being experienced, day-by-day replacements being made. Sydenham Post Office Clock

The dismantling of the Sydenham Post Office clock tower and thp removal of the clock are to be undertaken soon. The clock has been a (landmark since the last war. The foundation stone of the stone building was laicl-by the Rt. Hon. Sir Joseph Ward: and the tower, which was a feature of the building, was without a clock when war broke out. The vacant holes remained in the tower for almost the last war period, and a clock, with chimes, was obtained through a Wellington firm, subscriptions towards its cost having been made by Sydenham residents. The City Council has now been advised that the tower s to be dismantled, and that it must take steps for the removal of the clock. The removal of the tower is being undertaken as an earthquake precaution step.

Y.M.C.A. In War and Peace The Y.M.C.A. has done agreat work for the fighting forces but when the war was won there would be just as big a job to be done. He be* iieved the Y.M.C.A. could do a great intermediary service in rehabilitation because of the respect it had won from the armed forces in battle, said the Mayor of Christchurch (Mr E. H. Andrews) welcoming delegates, to [be conference of the Y.M.C.A. in Christchurch yesterday. Mr Andrews said he was particularly also to welcome the two Messrs R. W. Neville and C. L. uoney. Industries Fair The possibility of building a Prefabricated house of modern design as an exhibit for the New Zealand Industries Fair in Christchurch next August is being considered by the building committee of the Canterbury Manufacturers’ Association. This was reported to the council of the. asMciation last evening. The report said that all manufacturers who had so far ..ashed for space at the fair intended to have working exhibits and that the space committee intended to a ?*ow priority bookings for those who wished to have working exhibits. It was hoped Jo have a Government court dealing[particularly with post-war development. Training for Motor Mechanics “A syllabus for the training of motor mechanics has been drawn upandis being put Into operation by the main technical schools in New Zealand, said Mr H. H. Murphy, technical organiser of the New Zealand Motor Trade Certification Board, in an interview yesterday. It is the aim of the board to organise and standardise the training of motor mechanics and apprentices throughout New Zealand. It is hoped to put the syllabus into operation within a year. The syllabus provides for three years of theoretical and practical training for motor apprentices. Each stage is divided Into mechanical and electrical sections, and there will be lectures at night conducted by part-time instructors from the motor trade. In these lectures much use will be made of films. Mr Murphy said that the schools concerned had been most co-operative. Lighter Founders While being towed to Auckland from Mercury Bay with a load of logs, the Combine, a lighter belonging to Winstone, Ltd., sank In 27 fathoms of water near Kennedy Bay on the Coromandel Peninsula, about 5 o’clock yesterday morning. No one was aboard the Combine, an old converted scow, when she founded. The tow started at midnight in favourable weather. As the Combine went down she was cut adrift from the towing launch. It is presumed that a knot in one of the logs forced Its way through the Combine’s deck, and caused fier to leak. The Combine sank suddenly, with the logs securely fastened to her deck with wires.— (P.A.) • Canteen Service “The volume of business transacted in the buffets and canteens connected with the war service of the JT.M.C.A. within New Zealand since the commencement of war up to December, 1944, amounted to £591,317 18s. Of this amount a surplus of receipts over expenditure of £39,333 has been refunded to the National Patriotic Fund Board,” said a report to the Y.M.C. convention yesterday. “In addition to this sum, £63,837 has been received !rpm the Post and Telegraph Department in payment for services rendered in the camps and air stations. This makes a total of £102,070 paid back to the National Patriotic Fund Board from Y.M.C.A. operations within New Zealand. The amount paid over to the National Patriotic Fund Board from the operations with the 3rd Division of the 2nd N.Z.E.F, in the Pacific amounted to £5721. In addition to'this, up to September 30, 1043, £62,807,850 (Egyptian' has been paid back to the National Patriotic Fund Board in the Middle East, this being a surplus of receipts over expenditure in the canteens In the Middle East and Italy.” Working Men’s Club

“One of the best-conducted clubs in' New Zealand,” was the tribute paid by Mr D. W. Russell (president of the Christchurch branch of the New Zealand Returned Services’ Association) when welcoming a representative of the Christchurch Working Men’s Club to the annual reunion of the branch last evening. Mr Russell added that he was proud to be a member of the club. His remarks were applauded by many former soldiers. France’s Motor Industry

The following advice has been received by M. De La Tribouille, delegate in New Zealand of the Provisional 'Government .of .the French Republic: “France’s motor-car industry, is being reorganised, and a five-year plan has been drawn. When this plan is fully realised her yearly production will be 600,000 vehicles, which is three times the number produced in 1938, when France ranked fourth in world production with a yearly output of 200,000 vehicles. In the meantime, and during the five years required to realise the plan, France will produce 1,700,-000 vehicles. The Gnome et Rhone factories, which specialise in the construction of aeroplane engines, have been nationalised, and French air lines under the management of different companies will be grouped together to form one company, which will be known as the ‘Compagnie Nationale des Transports Aeriens’ (National Airway Co.).”—(P.A.)