PLUMBING PUPILS AT PETONE.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIX, Issue 83, 9 April 1910, Page 6

PLUMBING PUPILS AT PETONE.

m TO. THE EDJTOB. Sir,— In your issue of tho 6th, under the above beainug, you pubhth remark* made at a meet lug of tlio Potono 'leohnical School Board by Mr. Findlay, to the effect that at a recent meeting ot tho borough council I had questioned the efficiency- of tie Petono School, particularly the plumbing 1 claat, a tUtcuient which ho (Mr. Findlayl characterised as absolutely incorrect, ana calculated, if not contradicted, to do not only the tchool, but tho plumbing instructor, a lot of harm. Your article concludes: "1 bough opinion* differed, all wcro agreed that Councillor Piper's strictures were uncalled for and incorrect." Yet I am informed that both Councillor! Jones and Trueman, member* of the board, who heard what I raid at the council table, which Mr. Findlay did nut, both disagreed with Mr. Findlay'i remark*, and informed the board tlint I expressly stated I had nothing to cay against tho board, but disagreed with the general g yitein which all boards adopt. I absolutely deny that I, at the council table, made, directly or indirectly, the slightest reference to the instructor, and I thought I made it perfectly clear that I had nothing to say about the purely local management. At tho time I spoke only two newspaper representative* were pretent, your own and that of tho local paper. Thua the Chronicle .commence*: "His (Councillor Piper) opinion, not of this particular board," etc. In your ■ own report (15th March) you conclude . "Hi* (Councillor Piper) quarrel was with thb Education Board" (or department). A* this question occupied considerable attention in your column* only a short time back, when, if I remember aright, of mty candidates for examination in practical plumbing only six passed, and apart from, this incident the question is really of public importance, will you allow mo to etato my main objection* to the present general system adopted' by the echool*? Under our labour laws tho employment of boy* i* strictly regulated by the number of adults employed by individual employer*. Yet *o long- au an applicant pays tho fees for tuition ho is at onco tumitted as a student. Thus a lad may be engaged during the day at; isy, a boot factory, and attending the plumbing class during tho evening. And in this way tho Education Board*, under control of a Minister, can and do operate directly against tho law binding against master plumber*. No compulsion is possible to ensure student* finishing their course* and paning their examination*, and thus a conciderablo number of incompetent men go out into the country district* calling themselves plumber?, and, as I stated in the council, under theio condition* moro harm ha* been dono to tho trado than twenty year* of more careful superriiion will overtake. Tho remedy 1 suggest is that it mutt be compuhory for every applicant for admission to tho mechanical classes to show that ho is regularly working at the particular handicraft he seek* further tuition in. I •übmit, «ir, that technical education, without the daily practice, is, to a very large extent, a delusion. A curious featuro of this interludo is that some rear or so ago, in conversation with Mr. Findlay, I expreHwd tho same opinions as above, and ho then agreed with mo that tho syntem was wronff. And as, at the recent council meeting, I neither reflected upon his board nor hi* instructor,, will ho or come other member of the board kindly point out which portion, if any, of my few remarks .n the council were either uncalled for or inaccurate? — I am, etc, „ L . . JOSEPH PIPER. Petone, 7th April.

The New Zealand Herald is of th« opinion that if the Government would let fish a«d fishermen alone, there would be an übundanco of clwap and wholesome food upon the tables of the people. But the Government evidently imagines that it must justify it« department* by issuing all manner of prohibitive regulations, and has so regulated fishing thai fish can hardly be bought. We have a close season lor mullet, and men are heavily fined because the mullet insist on being caught in snapper nets ; we have trawlinj forbidden in waters where trawlers should be encouraged, and the result is that this promising industry has been killed ; and we have Rotoruawaters overstocked and Taupo wat«r» threatened with the same deteriorating influence, because the Government allows trout to bo caught and wasted by the ton, but will not permit a trout to be marketed. If tho outcome of all thin wero cheap and plentiful fish there would be no moro to be said, but the outcome is exactly wlint might be ex pected from regulations made by inexperienced Ministers, who make hole-and-corner advice the ba*U of sweeping regulations. Trawling should be permitted in the Gulf ; close seasons should be reluctantly gazetted and liberally interpreted ; and trout should be placed on the market — fresh, Kilted, or tinned— so that the lakes may be kept in hand and tho fish saved from the dwarfing which accompanies overstocking. About 20 per cent, of the bananas grown in banana-producing countries are unfit for export, and are often completely wasted. Attempts to make a saleable Sroduct by drying tho fruit and proucing banana flour have been only partially successful. Experiments made at tho Central Laboratory, Guatemala, described at length in tho Journal d'Agriculture TropicaJc, have shown how to obtain from this waste material a spirit resembling whisky in flavour. The yield of spirit from each- bunch of bananas is estimated at 4} litres, and the cost of manufacture is said to be much less than that of whisky. Over a period of two years the process has proved to be n commercial success. The potency of Queensland rum — and especially of new Mackay rum — it (remarkb the Brisbane Courier) proverbial, and Rechabitet and other abstinence advocates have often bewailed the dreadful fact that the sacchariferous sugarcane should be put to such base use. W hat will they say when they learn that tho mild and innocent Queensland banana may before long be degraded into a whisky-producing product? The probability of this downfall is imminent. The banana grower is dissatisfied with his returns. So many factors — careless handling, ship-rot, vindictive othcial inspection — all these militate so severely against his profits that he will Eurely welcome the prospect of a more remunerative method of disposal than a fresh fruit market that is demoralised by the competition of the black-grown Fiji banana. The pity of it is that the banana is so rich in alcoholic content that a single bunch will yield an imperial gallon of whisky at a nominal cost. Even as a by-product from the unsaleable portions of a crop, the whisky may be an important item. Paul Cinquevalli, the juggler, was sued in Shorcditch County Court on 24th February by the proprietors of tiie "R. 8." Syndicate, Ltd., for £50 8s for alleged breach of contract. In March, 1909, Cinquevalli oppeared at tho Cambridge Music Hail, and when he was transferred to another hall, the London, declined to appear. The plaintiffs said this wm » breach of the transfer clauee of his agreement. Cinquevulli's explanation was that his assistant, Walter Burnford. wan taken ill. Giving evidence, Cinquevalli said that a trained assistant was to a juggler as part of his own body. As a result of Burford's illncs he had to give up several engagements and take him on a sea voyage vo"Australia. Subsequently the lad's brain gave way and he became imbecile, find ho died of pnrilyxis. Cross-examined : You are the per. on who has tho skill as a juggler, not tho assistant? — He is supposed not to have it, but he hae. He is supposed to be clumsy, but he is really adroit. That is how he deceives the public. Judge Smyly eaid that the reason given for tho Jion-perfoimnnco was perfectly fair and honourable. There would nave to be a verdict for the defendant, with coMb.The annual meeting of the Hockey Referees' Association will bo held on Friday week at Dr. Morpeth's rooms, Williostreet, opposite V.M.C.A., and it is hoped that a full attendance of both referees and intending: referees, also hockey player*, will bo present. As hockey in Wellington during this season will be a prominent ■port, and in viow of the fact that all challenge matches must be played here, it ia desirous that plenty of good referees should bo available. Important matters are to be ditcussed at the annual mcctiujr. Mr. J. T. Hawthorn, of Lower Hutt and Wellington, and Mr. J + T. Horn, property Mlesman, of Panama-street, have entered into partnership ai estate and financial agenti, valuators, nnd land company secretaries. The offices of the new firm aro 39, Panama-street, City, and Town Hall Buildings, Lower Hutt. Mr. H. A. Mackay. Willis-street, advertises in this issue a li«t of properties for sole and houses to let. The s.s. Duchess will run . excursions to Day s Bay on Sunday morning and afternoon at the usual hourn. Tho full timetable is advertised in this issue.