Page 4 Advertisements Column 7

Evening Post, Volume LXVIII, Issue 136, 6 December 1904, Page 4

With reference to that portion of th« article on the labour outlook, appearing in Saturday's issue, referring to wharf labour, Mr. D. MacLaren, Secretary of the Wharf Labourers' Union, states thai during the last few months he had had a great, number of men enquiring for work on the wharves. Of these the majority were local men, but there were a large number of men from Auckland and Australia and also from Westland— the latter being chiefly miners out of work. To his own knowledge, there was a large influx from Australia, At the Corporation quarry at Miraaiar practically the whole of the employees were Australians, With respect to the Mayor's statement that, when men applied to him for work, he often sent them to the wharf, Mr. M'Laren says that much harm may resuit from men being sent to the wharf, in quest of employment, by people not conversant with the condition of thing* prevailing there. For the past five or six years the work on the wharf had never been so slack — in the sense of being inadequate to ab» sorb those seeking employment — as it had been this year. He recognised that the volume of trade and the resultant demand for labour wa* steadily increasing, but the seekers after work had increased out of all proportion. The work available had to be spread over such a large number of men that they could not in "the busy season"— October to February (rather a short one this year! — save enough to tide them over the slack period. There were, no doubt, more men on the books of the Harbour Board as being employed, but that was no real criterion of the situation, these men being employed for very short spells. What was wanted was a special wharf-labour bureau, aud this, Mr. M'Laren says, would disclose a sorry state of things. The prospecta were gloomy, on account of the excessive num|ber of men seeking employment. It should be added, concluded Mr. M'Laren, that only an infinitesimal proi portion of these were men from the country. Several Wellington crews will compete at the Wanganui Carnival Regatta oa Tuesday; the 27th inst. It is also expected that some of the Wellington boats will take part in the sailing races. Entries for the sailinK-bo&t race, in which the first prize will be £25, will close with the Secretary (Mr. B. O. Hodgson), Box 105, Wanganui, to-morrow, 7th inst. The new steamers for the TaumaranuiPipiriki service on the Wanganui River are expected to be ready for running at Christmas. One is to b© named Wairua (a spirit), and the other Waiora (water of life), both pretty euphonious names, suggested by Mr. John Stevens, ex-M.H.R. for Rangitikei. At the Socialists' open-air meeting on Sunday evening the public were given some interesting data on the land question by Mr. Robinson. In the Socialist Hall Mr. J. Hutcheson gave a discourse on "Transition from Capitalism to Socialism," which, he affirmed would only be brought about when the democracy took more interest in the political affairs and refused to implicitly trust their politicians, who unscrupulously worked for the capitalist interest every time. The Upper House, in, his opinion, was as ridiculo-us as it was useless, and served the same ends as its prototype the House of Lords did in England. The only way to abolish class legislation was through Socialism. Many questions were asked and answered. The first award in the Parcel Label Competition, organised by the New Zealand representative of the International Correspondence Schools, has been gained by Mr. P. M'lntyre, of the Caxton Printing Company, Dunedin. A design sent in by Messrs. C. M. Banks, Limited, of Wellington, secured second prize, aHd, at the suggestion of the jadge, a thjrd prize was awarded Mr. A. Howitt, of this city. The designs (59 in number) will be oa view at the Correspondence Schools Arcade at the end of this week. Mr. Jaques, the Government Fruitcanning Expert, has just returned to Wellington from a tour of a considerable part of the North Island with a view to seeing the prospects of the industry ia that part of the colony. During his absence he visited Napier, Gisborne and district (where considerable interest is taken in the matter), Auckland, Waikato, Thames, Whangarei, and Tauranga ("a capital district"), besides attending the Conference of Fruitgrowers at Auckland. Mr. Jaques has not yet been in New Zealand during the fruit season, but he appears to have great hopes of the fruitcanning industry assuming very considerable dimensions,- and that it will make the most vigorous start in the South Island. During the next month or two he will visit the Friinley orchards, Hawkes Bay, and then go down to the fruitgrowing areas of Canterbury and Otago. There were three interesting cases heard at Palmerston NortL yesterday concerning alleged breaShes of the Licensing Acl. One young man, who had ridden to Awahuri from Feilding on his bicycle on Sunday afternoon, entered hotel premises and was followed by a policeman, who asked him his business there. He roplied that he was waiting for tea. Counsel for the defendant submitted that under the definition of the word "inmate" in the Act, the defendant was an inmate from the time he went into the hotel for the purpose of obtaining accommodation. There was no doubt that he went there for a perfectly lawful purpose. If he was not an inmate then he was, he submitted, a bona-fide traveller. It might be, as had been ruled, that a bona-fide traveller had ceased to exist for the supply of liquor. The Magistrate : "I am decidedly of that opinion." He was satisfied, however, that defendant did not go to the hotel for the purpose of obtaining alcoholic refreshments, and that a breach of ihe 4ct had not been committed. Another young man whom the police found sitting in the parlour of the same hotel was also charged with being on licensed premises during prohibited hours. He pleaded that he was a personal friend of the licensee of the hotel, and had his meals at the hotel almost as pften as he did at home. He and a friend were staying to tea, and during the greater part of the afternoon were in the commercial room reading. He was a close personal acquaintance o{ the licensee. A companion of this defendant was also similarly charged. The Magistrate considereo. that it would be going too far to ask him to say that a person living so close to the hotel would go there at 3 o'clock in the afternoon for the purpose of having tea at 5 o'clock. The Act would, no aoubt, cause hardship in some cases, but it was one which would have to be very carefully obeyed by both licensee and the public. He thought that in the present cases fines of 5s each and costs would suffice. The Medical Superintendent of the Porlrua Asylum acknowledges with thanks the receipt of a donation of £3 3s from Mr. F. Greer towards the patients' annual Christmas entertainment. The half-yearly examinations under the Nurses' Registration Act will begin in the various centres to-night, when the junior candidates for certificates will be examinjed in anatomy and physiology To-mor-I row night the senior nurses will undergo examination in nursing and practical work. There are 103 candidates from all parts of the colony Of these 30 are from the Wellington Centre— nineteen junior and eleven senior. Munt, Oottrell, and Co., general carriers, Customs and forwarding agents Storage a speciality. Furniture packed and removed. Office • Queen's Caami bers^ Telephone No. 23.— Advt.