LOCAL AND GENERAL

Evening Post, Volume CI, Issue 52, 2 March 1921, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL

The Postal authorities have received advice from Sydney that the s.s. Maheno sailed at 4 p.m. on the 28th ultimo for Auckland. She carries 693 bags of mails from the United. Kingdom and Australia, The s.s. tttalajta. sailed from Newcastle on the 26th ultimo for Wanganui. Eh© carries twentyrone bags of mails.

Customs revenue collected at ■ Wellington during the month of February amounted to £101,826 10a 63, as compared with £137,668 10s 8d for the corresponding period last year. Th» beer diuty collected during the niorjth amounted to £2834 lls lid, th« figures for last year being £3181 18s.

The Rev. C. P. Askew; §j|. Mask's. Wellington, has received th^ gum cX 2J.3 from O.H.P. foi &£ Military Ghapel Fund. The sender writes: "If is a great project", soon to t*ke material fprni, and niy only -regret is that my funds are inversely proportional to my admiration for the scheme. I am an Imperialist, and I think that the project is a fine move in that direction."

Palmeraton North butchers have decided to make a further reduction in the price of meat, ranging from Id to 3d per pound, state* xhe Post's correspondent. ,

Mr. T. O. M'Jiennan, one of the delegates to the recently-concluded triennial conference of the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants, addressed a large meeting of the' Otago branch on Sunday, and a motion was unanimously carrjed expressing entire approval of the action of the conference in accepting the terms agreed upon by the Wages Board and unabated confidence in the executive.

Aa a efequel to a New Year disturbance at Te Araroa, sixteen Natives were charged with haying, at Waipiro Bay, assembled for ah, unlawful purpose, but the informations were dismissed.-'Two others, charged with assault, causing bodily harm to a policeman, were committed . for trial. Another Native vjas charged with hitting a Native girl on the head with, a beer bottle.; and was remanded, the police stating tha,t it was a serious case.

In reply to Mr. W. H. Field, M.P., who supported the representation made by the Hon. G. ux. Thomson in connection with, the use of powdered coal for the New Zealand railways, the Prime Minister states; —:''l have to inform you that the matter is .at present receiving careful consideration by my Departmental officers, and I hope to be in 'a position to let Mr. Thomson have a definite reply on the subject ift the; very near future."

Reference is made in the annual report of the Wellington Rugby Union to the Royal Rugby m^tch; during the visit qf the' Prince of Wales, which resulted in a sum of £663.14s being handed to the City Council towards the formation of a new playing area- at Salisbury-terrace. The committee e*presses it? thanks to all who so willingly worked to make the match a sucqess, especially to Captain W. Baumgart (manager of the Army team), to the schools, to the other sporting bodies, and the' business people for sale of tickets, and to old players who ably a»si|ted in the control of the gates.

Members of the Women's National Council, at their meeting last night, expressed considerable concern over the p'roposed/iemolition of Mason's Gardens. The committee expressed the opinion that the municipal authorities would be wise if they acquired the site. In the future the district would be.fully populated, and it would be in keeping with town-plan-ning principles to preserve the gardens, ■which contained such a valuably collection of trees, shrubs, and plants, obtained at a great deal of expense and trouble. Member? stated that should the local bodies refuse to take the matter up, the public should interest itself in the affair. It was: finally decided to approach the Minister of Forestry and local bodies on the subject.

It had been hoped, _w,hen an adjournment was made in th« inquiry relative to, the finding ot a skeleton at Damp Bay <?n Friday, that the identity of thte remains, would be definitely established, but yesterday afternoon, when the inquiry was reopened by the Coroner, Mr. F. K. Hunt, the police stated that Mrs. Eliza. Caroline Thomson, of New Plymouth, of whom it was thought dieceasfd .night be a son, had examined the remains, and ■was satisfied that th^y w«re mit those of Cyril W. Thomson, one of ti!ie victims of the Omaka, tragedy. The Coroner accordingly found that there was no _ evidence of identification, and, that thY unknown (feceased had probably been drowned. Senior-Sergeant M'Namara. mentioned that some time ago a man had beeD missed from the Maoii. and also that the whereabouts of a jnissdng dentist had; not been established. The, police, however, had no furtherl evidence to offer.

At la*t night's meeting of the Palmerston North Chamber of Commerce (states The Poist'r: correspondent) proposals were submitted by .Mi-. H. L. Young (president) affirming that the burden of direct taxation is becoming oppressive, and urging the Government to give effect to the recommendations of representative commercial men who advise the reduction in direct taxation and State expenditure, and the, revision of the Custom* tariff; that the present direct taxation is so great a burden, that there is grave danger that it will seriously hamper commercial 1 enterprise and the development of the land; that with a view to granting much-needed relief the Government be urged to reduce the land and income tax levies. The proposals further urged that the Custom* tariff should be used for revenue purposes rather than for purpose of protection; that the time hae arrived when th« Government should cease paying subsidies to keep down the price of commodities ; that with a view to reducing oppressive tajcation and bringing expenditure within more reasonable limits, the Government be urged to abandon aU non-revenue producing Departments, such as the Labour and Tourist Departments, that can be done without, and that the staffing of all other Departments be brought under review with a view to curtailing expenditure, having at all times a due regard for increased efficiency. Finally it was suggested that arbitration and other laws that at present are a fatter to the economic laws be revised or abolished. The proposals' met with general acceptance, and it was decided to take steps to have a sitting of the Customs and Tariff Revision Commission held in Palmefston North. It was also decided that Mr. W. D. Hunt be asked to address the chamber on financial matters.

Speaking at the meeting of the Palmerston North Chamber of Commerce, Mr. H. L. Young (president) stressed the value of having Trade Commissioners for New Zealand appointed fat Canada and 1 the United States, «nd e»id that he intended to call a meeting of the Chamber to diecuss the matter.

The Palmertton North Chamber of Commerce op Monday night decided to do all that it could to assist in. the < flotatioD of a company to run a steamer between Wellington and Foxton.

Since fts inception the Repatriation. Department has placed 22,502 discharged spJdiwß.in suitable employjnent, and; the number on th» "employment wanted" register op 20th, February was 188. The majority of tha latter registered' for employment within the last few days; and nonf 'are drawing unemployment sustenance allowances, i.a., none hays been on th'? bopks of the Department for more than one week.

The prospects for the coming Rugby season are most. er.couraging, according to the. annual report of the Wellington Rugby Union, and it should prove one of the most memorable in the union's history. The long-looked-for visit of the South African international team will take place this year. In senior championship grade matches it is anticipated that close and stirring contests will eveiltuate, and there is little doubt'that tho attendance at matches will be higher than last year.'

The stoppage of work on the new road in the Vogeltown and' Mornington district has caused a. good deal of dissatisfaction among residents, and the matter was discussed at some length at a recent meeting p? the Vogeltown and -Mornington Municipal Electors' Association. The completion pf the work, it was stated, was of paramount importance to the whple district. The men employed on the wprk had been withdrawn. Finally, the meeting decided to request the City Council to push on with the work. A report was made that the main road to the Brittomart-street school was in very bad order, and it was decided to draw the attention of the City Council to this matter. . ,

Und«r the repatriation scheme to date vocational training (with sustenance or subsidy) has been arranged for 546Q men, and of these. 3737 haw finished their course?, leaving a 'balance of 1783 still being trained in special soldier classes and technical schools, or in thi workshops and factories of private employers. An additional 1253 students, who are attending evening classes it universities or commercial colleges, or who are studying by correspondence with, recognised institution!;, have been seated with grants towards fees and textbooks. Officers of the Department keei in touch, with: all the trainees, and thg latest report!) shpw that th« Utter are making excellent progress. This section of the Department's operations is showing a. rapid decrease month by month. During February 63 m.«n cprjimenced, training, aaid> 207 trainees oojnplfclM their cowses and .secured employment as "skilled" tradesmen. The total expenditure to date on training facilities; sustenance of trainees, etc., is £258,61§, A matter. of importance to railway officers was the production, at yesterday's sitting in Auckland of the North Island Railway Appeal Board, of the service records of officers who had superseded those. whose appeals were before the board. The Jiearing of the cases in question, had been, adjourned for tlie pro-* auction of these documents, which tfiS advocate for the appellants had declared was necessary to ajlow of comparison btfing made, The Chairman ruled that as the records were of a confidential character, all witnesses should leave the rqpni. Th<J Chairman also decided that there could be no limit as to the date to which evidence might apply. 'tha district, traffic manager then called, and gaye a- general statement of the records. The advocate for the appellants asked the board to indicate its opinion upon certain' of the existing regulations if' order that he might know whether tha onus was upon* the appellant or the respondent in proving or disproving, as that, case might be, that'the superseding officers had been rightly preferred to the present,appellants. The board indicated that it was not prepared, at the present stage, to rule upon the point in question.

A steady decrease is apparent during the past'few months .in the number of applications received by the Repatriation Department for financial assistance. Up to the 20th February 48Q4 Joans foy the purpose qf acquiring or establishing businesses had been approved by the Ministerial BoaTd, involving an expenditure of £1,089,004. In addition to this 11,021 men have been granted loans for the purchase of . household furniture, _tools, etc., and a further 4150 have received financial assistance in other directions, the amount paid to or on behalf of soldiers under all headings totalling£l,7s7,Bl9. The amount collected by the Department up to 31st January, 1921, on account of loans granted was £440,783, and grantors are in the great majority of cases meeting their obligations promptly Instalments amounting to £35,597 ' were, collected during the month of January, a rate "of" over £425,000 per annum.

"I should like to cay to all teachers that if, at the'end of their school career, you have taught the boys' and girls in your schools to take an interest in good reading, in the. splendid works in our own tongue, then you have accomplished •everything that you we called upon to do. You' have opened up a new world for them, whose interest and value cannot be described," The Hon.C. J. Parr (Minister of Education) was speaking at the opening of the new school at Opa.wa on Saturday afternoon (states the Christchurch Sun), and he took occasion to impress on his audience, gathered a.t the. entrance to the school, pending its formal opening, the importance of_ good literature in the education of 'children. "If you encourage the love of good, sound, healthy reading amongst them, ' the Minister continued, "you will have done much to make them worthy of the finest little country in the world, as our New Zealand is. Our educational system is sometimes criticised. No doubt it has ite faults—faults which Parliament and I will endeavour to remove 01 alleviate— but it j& something to our credit, my friends, and to the credit of our system, that it enables any boy and »W nirl to rise to the highest position m th» fand if he or she has the capacity."