"ALMOST GONE."

Evening Post, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 60, 8 September 1909, Page 8

"ALMOST GONE."

THE SUBSIDISED WORKS ¥UND. The Relief Fund Committee organised by the Mayor and subscribed by the citizens of Wellington, has almost readied the stage which miners describe as "petering out." At present there is about £250 banked to the fund's credit, and some .other amounts' are to be received, but against these must be set off a number of payments that have to be made immediately. Mr. G. Willis, secretary of the fund, roughly outlined the position this morning for a Post representative. There is close on £250 in the bank, £100 is to be paid to the committee by the City Council, for work done at Anderson's Park, and subscriptions of about £50 have been made by various persons, but not paid over as yet. Thus there is a sum of about £400 to present credit. Tonight the various relief gangs are to be paid their weekly wages. Nearly £100 will be required for the Anderson Park gang, about £40 or £50 for the Victoria College labourers, £40 or £50 for the men on Mount Victoria-road, and £20 for the ten-man gang of treeplanters. A sum of £100 has" to be paid, from the fund, to the Victoria College Council on account of foundations laid for the new wing of the building, the council being responsible for payment of the carpenters and other hands employed on this job. These amounts total over £300, and the need for employing a few men to do finishing work on the various jobs that have been undertaken by the committee will use up all the moneys in hand and promised.

Returning by the Manuka from Syd-ney-to-day were Mr. S. Campbell, local manager of the Welsbach Company, who has been to Sydney ; Mr. and Mis. Knox Gilmer, who have been in Australia ; and Mr. Allan and Miss Maguire, who have been visiting the Pacific Islands ; Mr. J. F. M. Fraser, Crown Prosecutor, and Mrs. Fraser, and Drs. Batchelor and Burt, of Dunedin; Mr. J. C. N. Grigg, of Longbeach ; Mr. J. Clark, of Gisborne; Mr. E. B. Williams, of Napier j also M rs. Walter Nathan and the Misses Nathan, who have been holiday making in Australia. Idle brushes are still numerous among members of the Painters' and Paperhangers' Union, and the secretary states that there is little prospect of improvement. At present, twenty men are doing nothing, and every boat for Sydney sees several members of the union seeking_ fresh fields and pastures new. The building trade is fairly brisk in the Sydney suburbs at present, while Brisbane is a lodestone tor many more New Zealande*s. The Governmental work relieved the congestion for a time, but of the thirty then originally engaged on this only eleven "are now employed. Last week, owing to the fact that the renovation is now well forward, a number of hands were paid off at Porirua and Government Printing Office. Last year the trade was in a particularly healthy and satisfactory state ; there were actually not enough men to go round the various undertakings. But since February and March of this year things have gone from bad to worse, and, it is stated, that capable hands who were never idle before, have done nothing (at the trade) for the past six or eight months. Some brighter outlook is expected with the advent of spring. To a considerable extent, the foregoing applies to the experience of the Building Labourers' Union. At the Mount Cook Police Court today, before Mr. T. S. Lambert, J.P., Frank M'Guire pleaded guilty to drunkenness in Alma-lane, and was fined 10s or forty-eight hours in gaol. John Clegg pleaded guilty to being drunk in Tory-street, for which he was mulcted in the sum of 10s or forty-eight hours' imprisonment. A first offender pleaded not guilty to a charge of drunkenness in Aro-street, and was fined 10s or fortyeight hours in gaol._ Two other first offenders were convicted and discharged. Messrs. Harcourt and Co. sold by auction yesterday at their rooms a property situated in Overtoun-terrace, Kilbirnie, with land having, a frontage of I 30 feet to Overtoun-terrace by a depth of 150 feet, together with a seven-roomed dwelling erected thereon. The purchaser was Mr. P. Galvin, who bought the property for £660. Labour's annual holiday has been fixed for Labour Day, 13th October next, at Wonderland. The celebration will take, . so far as present arrangements hold, the form of a grand outing, or picnic, combined with a sports' gathering and various other forms of amusement. It is probable that Mr. D. J. Conchie will be appointed secretary of the committee to superintend arrangements. The Trades Council Executive has not yet decided whether the political aspect of affairs will be allowed to entrench on the unionists' holiday, but up to the present no invitations have been forwarded to any of the Ministers. Samuel Northey pleaded guilty in the Magistrate's Court to-day to stealing goods, valued at £12 10s, belonging to Norman Heath and others. On the application of Chief Detective Broberg, accused was remanded for sentence until next Monday, in order that enquiries could be made about him. At the monthly meeting of the Wellington Accountants' Students' Society to-night, a paper will be read by Mr. W. Jack.