LOCAL AND GENERAL

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 197, 15 May 1920, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL

4 : It is considered. highly creditable testimony to the behaviour of the Wellington public that of the hundreds of good bunting flags exhibited during the visit of the Prince of Wales in connection with the official scheme of decorations, only three remain uncollected, and of the. thousands of ..coloured pennons, which hune from masts along the main street*, only nine are missing. The Pi'ess -Association representative who is travelling with tiro Royal party 'ill tho south, reports that the pilot trqin from Arthur's I'ass on Thursday evening found a patrolman at Dai-fleld who had collapsed owing to influenza. Tho man, who was lying alongside the line, was picked up and taken into the Christchurch Hospital. Mr. W. Hornig, chairman of the Management Committee of the Wellington Rugby Union, stated yesterday that a< all. the ticket? issued in connection with last week's "Royal" football match had not been, accounted for, the financial result of 'the game' was not yet ktiomi. He hoped that all tickets would soon be.ii and a ■ report brought down tit Tuesday's meeting of tho union, The. result would bo very satisfactory, though nol so good as some of them had anticipated, That was owing to the. rush programme in connection with the Prince's visit. Everyone wished to see the children's function at 12.30 p.m.,. and many whe would have attended the match eimplj had not the time to get home, have lunch, in comfort, and' reach the park soon enough to receive the Prince there, Had the programme been less crowded, and had not such a strain been laid upon tho tramcars, the attendance would have been much larger, and the proceeds correspondingly greater. The-'gate' was a good one, but it could have been made a record, had circumstances, permitted The trial of George Herbert Winder on a charge of blackmail will be held in the Supreme Court on Monday. Notwithstanding that several cases have • been brought before the Mngisiraes. there are apparently.some alien? who have not yet realised that they must register. Another case came before Mr, E. Page, S.M., in the. Magistrate's Courl yesterday, . when Eleanora ; Paino was charged with' failing to register. Mr. R. Kennedy, who appeared for, tho defendant. said that her husband was registered. but not the wife,. Both parties were now naturalised British subjects The Magistrate entered a conviction and ordered the defendant to pay the costs. . Tho civil sessions of the Supreme Court will begin next, week. On Monday Mr. Justice Edwards .will jnake. fixtures for the hearing of cases. It may bs somewhat surprising to some (says the • "Town-Planning - Review"). to find, that the skyscraper is becoming suspect in the land of its ■inception,, and is regarded as an economical and financial blunder; the deathtoll during construction! the loss on the lower stories, congestion affecting the transportation; system, and the falsifying of ground values, being emoted in' indictmciit. As the result of the . work of city planning commissions property values in New York and other Airerican cities are now conserved, because districts and buildings are protected against damage by the wrong uses of property and the erection of the wrong kind of buildings. This stabilising of values is ono of the most practical results of the application of townplanning principles. The quarterly' meeting of the Public . Service Superannuation Board was held at Wellington oil Thursday, Mr. J. H. Richardson. C.M.G., presiding. Twenty; 1 six contributors, retired under section 3c of the Act, by renson. of . ago or length of service, were granted allowances of o total of iSCS'J- per annum, and sever contributors, retired as medically unfit, wero granted allowances totalling <£574 per annum, Retiring allowances were refused in the cases ot' two contributors whom it was sought to i;etire as medica.iy unfit, as the modical reports weire not conclusive.-, Tho. case of one contributor, previously retired as _ medically unfit, waß reconsidered, and it was resolved tc continue the allowance already granted, Eleven widows and fifteen children were granted the statutory allowances, amounting to .£393 por annum. In consequence of retirements under section 3d of the Act. accrued compensation to the amount of .£5667 became a liability of the superannuation fund, and a corresponding relief to the Consolidated Fund. A number of Territorials were brought before Mr. W. G. Riddell, S.M., in the Magistrate's Court yesterday, and charged with failing to attend drill. R. M. ■ Brvden and W. Fyfo were each fined& and 7s. costs. H. W. Bailey, W. Goodwin. R. K. .Tacomb,' and A. E; Mason were fined .62'and,7s. costs each; W. J. Brown and A. E. Duncan, <81 and ,7s. costs each; M. E. Chamberlain, 10s. and ■ -7s. costs; F." W. Bosher and W. M'Coy were ordered to pay 7s. costs only. An announcement, was made by the ~ Arbitration Court recently that a rejiort ■ N had been received from tlite Government Statistician in which it was stated that 1 for the six-monthly.period ending March, 1920, a further increase of lid. per hour to hourly workers, and fis. per week to i weekly workers was required in ordor to ,• compensate for a further increase _ in tho cost of living, including clothing. The Court intimated that it would grftlit ■ tho bonuses recommended upon applications being mnde from time to time as opportunity offered. In accordan.ce with : this decision the Wellington Tailons' : Union intends to applv at the next Wei- ■ lington sittings of the Court that u ' honus of Ga. shnll be granted to men em- • ployed on weekly wages, and an increaeo . of "lid. per hour to those working on houriv rates. It is understood that some local tailoring firms are already, paying 1 increases on'the 6cale laid down by the i Court. . ■ ■_ Mr. R. ''I'.' Bailey, Inspector of Fac- • tories, made application to Mr. W. G. > liiddell, S.M., in the Magistrate's Court ! yesterday under tho War Legislation Act, ' 1916. to have determined .tho standard ' rent of a house, No. 212 Rintoul Street, ■ owned by Mr. J. Campbell. Evidence , was called as to the value, which was , fixed by .the Magistrate at JIB9O, and [ 8 per cent, constituted the standard rent. ' Costs totalling 31s.- Gd. were allowed ' Mr. C. B. O'Donncll appeared for tho ' owner. A: tho inquest on the body of Colonel ■ Whilmore, of Hastings, a returned,sol- ! dier, evidence was given that the dej ceased entered a shooting gallery and - got a loaded rifle (reports a Press A|ji ' sociation telegram from Auckland). Tho 5 attendant, who was looking at the tar- > get, heard a shot .and. turned round, ; and found Whitniore with a wound in > the abdomen. The occurrence might have been accidental. Deceased, when ' on his way to the hospital, was asked ' if the circumstances were correct, and 5 replied ,"Yes." A verdict of accidental death w'as returned. . - At the final meeting of tlio committee which was responsible for the street [ decorations during the Prince's .visit l due praise was given to Councillor L. M'Kenzie, who was secretary, and Mr. J j(. Luke, who supervised the carrying ' out of the major scheme on behalf of tho City Engineer's department. It is understood that the acoounta presented , show that the committee kept within ' bounds as regards tho expenditure, and » that a-5 a result the city will havo _ a 1 fins equipment for street decorations in f the future. All the bunting, ropes, , twine, wirc-iietting, etc., have been carefully collected, and are being docketed f and-stored in a safe .place, pending the> 1 uext merry i call.

When it issued the manifesto calling upon Labour to take no part in the official welcome to the Prince of Wales, the Canterbury Labour .Representation Committee ditl not speak for all unionists. On AVednesday night the Canterbury Carpenters and Joiners' Union re- a pudiated the action of tho L.B-.C. 1 At a. meeting of the Carpenters and I Joiners' Union, it was unanimously re- I solved: "Tint this union, not being: con- i nected with the Labour Representation <■ Committee, emphatically protests against 1 the action of that body 'in claiming, by t a manifesto regarding an official welcome to the Prince of Wales, the right; to ( speak for the organised workers, and this ] union denies that tho committee has any ( such right, it having originally been set , up for the purpose of dealing with the election of candidates to contest seats in Parliament or on local bodies. Fur- . thermoro, this union of workers abso- ' lutoly repudiates the sentiments expressed 'in the extracts from the said manifesto, and firmly believes that the great major- j ity of workers will support the view 6 | held by this organisation." I Mr. J. S. Hawkes, president of the : Canterbury Automobile Association, ' stated on Wednesday night that supplies of petrol were likely to become • shorter,. It was possible thafc .the United States would absolutely stop the 1 export of petrol from that, country. In that case New Zealand would be in a very peculiar position as far as petrol was concerned. The price of- apples on the retail market should be very easy nt the present time, as there is a glut of this fruit on the wholesale markets, with the result, that they are very depressed, 6ays the Auckland "Star." Another contributing. factor to this depression is the bad weather. Thousands of cases of apples are streaming into the wholesale market, and to date, it has not been able to recover itself. -The position is made more acute by reason of tile fact that there etil? remains a large quantity to' go into cool storage, which it is hoped will be available shortly. . Tho-crop of apples in tho Auckland district this year is fully double that of last year, and the same position is aaid to apply in every fruitgrowing district in tne Dominion. The misuse of dazzling lights and "dimmers" on motor-cars was discussed at the meeting of the Canterbury .Automobile Association on Wednesday, night. Mr. P. W. Johnston said that there seemed to be a good deal of misapprehension among drivers as to the use of headlights.' He thought the use of the "dimmer" light when passing another car was a dangerous practice, especially in the winter. He did not think any motor should he allowed to travel at night unless it possessed the glass deflectors. , He moved: "That the council expresses the opinion that dimming of lights except- oil the well-lit streets is a dangerous practice, and that no car should travel at night if not provided with «nti-glnre lenses." The molion was carried. Among the souvenirs which tho Prince of Walea will take away from New Zealand is.a kiwi's egg sent to him bv Mrs. G. Perrott, of Pokeno. Mrs. Perrott has' had the egg in her possession for aTjout- six years, and learning that His Eoyal Highness wanted to secure one she sent it to him. She has just received a letter from the Prince's private secretary acknowledging receipt of the egg, and stating that His Eoyal Highness was very pleased to accept it as a souvenir of his visit to New Zealand. The oldest British resident in Brussels; Mrs. Baldwin, a nntive of Bath, and formerly a circus rider, has just attained the-' age of 100. The occasion was celebrated by n tea party at the British Embassy. Mrs. Baldwin, who does not look more than SO, is an extremely- active and gay little person, in full possession of all her faculties, fond of needle work and cheerful books, and perfectly capable of'taking care of herself. She lived alone throughout > the occupation, and has been in Brussels more than .30 years. She recently had her first dri.-e in a motor-car. A.now law which will be brought before the Italian Chamber is Siguor Lombard i's so-called tax on idleness. It provides that all those persons between £0 and 60 who cannot prove that they are occupied in some trade, profession, business or other employment, and are living on their private incomes, are to be taxed of 1 one-hjilf of the same, while they must also pay the ordinary citizen's taxes. Persons who have ltsither work-nor income will be warned to find an immediate occupation. If they fail to do so, work will then be given them by tlTo Government. .Most people who have traversed the main streets of. the city during the last I three days have' remarked that the town looks considerably like "the day after the night before." Naturally, after a few days' keen southerly weather with rain, the decorations, which looked so well a week ago, have become dilapi-i dated. The greenery has faded, the fabric awnings have been blown into twisted and in many instances the plaster devices have either broken away altogether, or have sagged in the middle, Whilst some of the pylons present the appearance of having been subjected to gun-fire. , A start has been made io salvage the decorations, and from all accounts. the operation promises very well from an, economic point of view. The pole 9 that Messrs. Mitchell and King, and Messrs. Hansford and Mills supplied are being taken back without any cost to the Decorations Committee, which amounts to a very handsome donation from those firms. In other cases firms who gave their assistant* are taking the'poles back after charging depieciation. About fourteen or fifteen miles of strong binder-twine was used to hang the coloured fabric along the streets. This has all been garntred in against another' occasion, and even the ribbon off the lycopodium wreaths is being saved. The plaster devices are for the major part being kept, but a certain quantity is being sold, and alrr.dy inquiries for them have been received by tho City Engineer's Department. The city is saving for future great occasions the round masts which were attached to the pylons, also a vast quantity of good bunting, that is always useful on gala days. The Citv Engineer has decided to sell the pylons as they stand on the streets. If stripped of the beaver board and wound round with some wirenetting, the frames would make excellent ornamental pedestals for ' climbing ro?es in gardens and onlawns, and it is not unlikely that some of the pylons will be-so used in the Botanical Gardens and the rosary at the "Zoo.'' A splendid series of enlarged photo»raphs of great occasions in connection with tho Prince's visit to Wellingtonphotographs of historic interest-will a'dorn'the walls of'the 'lown Hall m the ilea- future. These embrace views ot the civic reception at the lown Hall an! a'verv'sharp and clear-cut photograph -of the group of people who attended the Ministerial lunchcon.. lliis photograph, which was taken on the steps of the new ■ House of 1 arliament, only lacks one figure, that of Mr. J. P Luke, M.P., Mayor of Wellington, who was detained in the building.. The phologiaph was signed by the 1 mice of Walt:. Another very attractive photograph is that showing the whole of the Wellington schools assembled in the grounds of Parliamentary Buildings, whilst His Eoyal Highntss is reviewing tho ."bannered host"—another excellent examplo of modern photography, Willis Street is to he architecturally enriched by the erection of a five-story building on the section until recently occupied bv Mr. Edwin Arnold and Mr. V J W. Fear. The building, which is to'.'be of- concrete and steel- formation, is to be erected by the Fletcher Construction Company. Island oranges are selling retail in Wellington at from to -K per dozen. An inquiry vesterday elicited tho information that.' like everything else in tho world.' the prices of oranges have gone up because of the increased cost in the country of production. Owing to the many severe losses sustained by Island growers, through consignments being landed 1 here in a state unfit for human consumption, many of the growers would not ehip at their own risk, but would onlv sell f.o.b. The.price of a case of oranges at Earatonga was now 12s. 5d — 10s. for the fruit and 2s. fid for the case '—and importers had to take all the risk. To show what' losses may bo sustained, some cases of oranges for which 12s. sd. was paid at K&rotonga have been sold here at 13s. and 13s. Gd. a case, and "picked" ewes at IGs. 6d. One firm states that its losb on the latest consignment from the Islands was between .8200 and .£3OO.