NEWS IN BRIEF

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 257, 28 July 1939, Page 11

NEWS IN BRIEF

Artisans From England

Some 80 English artisans arrived at Wellington yesterday by the Rangitata from Loudon. Many were accompanied by wives and families. Of them, 47 were under engagement to the Government, and were met by officers of the State Placement Service. The rest had come independently, drawn by the prospect of high wages and shorter hours, to seek their fortunes in New Zealand.

Destroying Ragwort. A decision to ask for legislation to provide for prosecution in cases .of failure to destroy ragwort at any time of the year was made by the New Zealand Counties’ Association at its biennial conference in Wellington yesterday.

High Percentage of Passes. Thirty-seven out of the 43 Wellington nurses who sat for the last State examination were successful, according to a report presented to a meeting of the Wellington Hospital Board last night. The report said that the matron had been complimented by the director of nursing, Miss Lambie, on the high percentage of passes obtained.

Telegraph Regulations. x The complete consolidation of ail telegraph regulations—the first for about 30 years —is advised in the Gazette. The new regulations also validate the changes resulting from the 1938 tele-communications conference in Cairo and the recent Changes iu the domestic regulations with respect to letter telegrams and other matters. Exhibition Hotel.

Though, it has only been building a few weeks, the framework of the Centennial Exhibition Hotel at Kilbirnie is now complete. Walls are being covered in, and it will not be long before the exterior of the building assumes something of its ultimate appearance. The hotel, a compact and modern two-story building of wooden construction, is already an object of considerable interest to local residents and visitors to the eastern suburbs.

Social Security Anomaly. A decision to point out to the Minister of Health that patients who were sent from the Wellington Public Hospital to either of the board’s two convalescent homes had to pay fees and did not come under the Social Security Act was made by the Wellington Hospital Board at a meeting last night. The question was raised by Mrs. Knox Gilmer, who said that the present position under the Act was an anomaly. New Potatoes.

New potatoes from Ohakune were sold in the Wellington markets yesterday for 8/- a 601 b. bag. These are early days for new potatoes, though quantities have been coming co hand for the past month. This lot from the centre of the island were rather better in size" than previous offerings. At the price mentioned new potatoes can be purchased almost as reasonably as old ones. Green vegetables, on the other hand, are bringing good prices. Cabbages brought 17/- a sack, and cauliflowers as high as 27/- a sack yesterday. A small lot of Lower Hutt passionfruit. brought 15/- for a small box.

Exhibition Offices. The administrative offices of the centennial Exhibition Company,, at the right-hand side of the main exhibition gateway as one enters from Kingsford Smith Street, are regarded by members of the exhibition staff as a great improvement on their previous city quarters. They look out over the magnificent Centennial Avenue, and command an impressive view of both the Australian and the British Government pavilions, now in process of construction. From the atmosphere of a city business house, the staff has been' transplanted into the makebelieve world of showmanship. Drainage Scheme Progress.

Right through the year, day and night, work on the big Wellington city supplementary drainage scheme goes on. Hidden from all eyes, gangs of men are employed deep down in the earth, burrowing their way through rock. The only surface evidence of their work is the truck-loads of spoil s'ent up the shaft at Church Street. The gang is now burrowing its way under Wellington Terrace more than 100 feet under the surface, toward Everton Terrace, where there is another shaft, already down 60 feet. But there is another 500 feet of ground to pierce before these two points will connect. In the meantime a fair section of the tunnel from Church Street northwards has been bricked,