LOCAL AND GENERAL

Evening Post, Volume CIV, Issue 10, 12 July 1922, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

One hundred years ago, on 12th July, 1822, there arrived in New Zealand tne Rev. Walter Lawry, Methodist missionary. His little son, who accompanied him, became Rev. H. H. Lawry, a missionary to the Maoris, dying in 1906. The sons, who commemorate to-day the hundredth anniversary of their father's coming to Maoriland, are Mr. W. If. Lawry, chief inspector for the New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Company in Australia; Mr. H. R. Lawry, offKaraka Bay; Mr. J. Lawry, of Sutherland and Co., Auckland; and the Rev. A. C. Lawry, Methodist- Centenary Secretary for New Zealand.

A gift of £3000 has been made to the Ashburton County Hospital Board by Miss J. Chalmers, of Ashburton. The money is to be used for equipment and extending the women's ward accommodation. The donor has always taken a warm interest in the welfare of the sick and suffering, both in and out of "the institutions. Miss Chalmers donated the Chalmers Ward at the-'Christchurch Hospital. Kates owing to the Horowhenua County Council at 31st March, totalled £4928. Since that date £2208 has been collected, leaving £2720 still unpaid. The clerk informed the last meeting of the council that he had sent out many notices requesting those concerned to meet their liabilities, but the result was that £2700 was still owing and was lost to the council as regards earning the subsidy. The amount of subsidy lost in this way was £300. Unfortunately four of the largest ratepayers had not come np to the mark, and the loss in subsidy from these four alone waa £90.

The question,- of the interpretation of the "dumping" clauses of the* Customs Duties Act of last session was brought before the council of the Wellington Chamber of Commerce yesterday. Complaints, it was represented, had been received of high charges being made under the head of "dumping." The Chairman stated that a Gazette notice had been issued by the Customs Department notifying that in Future no. duties would be-levied where British industries might be affected without special reference to the Minister. No dumping duties would be levied where New Zealand industries were affected unless the importations were of such a character that they were likely immediately, and for some time, to affect local industries, e.g., (a) the importation of 10,000 casks of cement to be landed by means of dumping at a cost below that at which" locally-made cement could be sold; and (b) the importation of £10.000 worth of tweeds under similar conditions. So far as practicable three months' notice would be given to importers of intention to levy dumping duties. It was agreed that the council place on record its satisfaction at the action taken -by the Minister. It was pointed out, with approval, that the Minister had seen fit to take a broad view of the matter.

The secretary of the Wellington Industrial Association (Mr. H. F Allen), at a meeting of the association la-st evening, stated that he had written a letter to the Auckland Industrial Association intimating that ha had just read an article in the Evening Post referring to the proposed war memorial to be erected in Christchurch. Mr. Allen added that he noticed that the Dean of Christchurch was reported as having said "a committee of experts would have to determine the timber to be used. English oak, he was told, was practically unobtainable, and there was no New Zealand wood with all the necessary qualities. Australian ma-ple had been suggested." Having in' mind the excellent address Mr. Clark gave in Auckland on the general suitability of New Zealand .timbeTs, Mr. Allen asked the Auckland association to draw Mr. Clarke attention to the statement of the Dean of Christchurch. "If our timbers are suitable," continued Mr. Allen, "as I believe they are, they above all others should be used in the building of the memorial chapel."

The ex-president of the Wellington Chamber of Commerce, 'Mr. J. T. Martin, has forwarded to the Chamber a communication giving the results of his inquiry into trade matters at Rarotonga, information gained during a recent brief stay at the island. He says: "In the short time at my disposal it was not possible to go exhaustively into the trading conditions, and find out just why Wellington received such a small proportion of the trade in comparison with AucSland. The 'position seems to be as follows:—(1) Auckland houses are directly represented by their own branch establishments and warehouses, while Wellington is not. (2) The bulk of the fruit is influenced to Auckland by their own. branches. (3) Tlie steamer Flora helps Auckland by ensuring regular shipments and ample share. , (4) Difficulties occasionally arise over loading operations in connection with the regular San Francisco-Wellington mail steamers. . . . My impression is that the Union Steam Ship Company does all it can to foster trade with the islands, as it would naturally do in its own interest, but it is up against certain disabilities- in working an open harbour, which will require some money spent on it before it will be practicable to work it satisfactorily in a rough sea."

It was decided at last night's meeting of the Wellington Presbytery to submit the following suggestions to the Minister Immigration :—"That in /view of the impossibility under theypresent conditions of getting into t&uch with the immigrants of our churches arriving in this country we, the undersigned, earnestly desire your consideration of the following proposals : (1) That the High Commissioner in London be requested by the Government to . obtain information from immigrants as to their religion, and to send out this information on the manifest received by the Government before the arrival of the vessel; representatives of the churches to have access to this manifest (2) that one representative of the churches be allowed on board and to sit at a table to give each immigrant a letter of -welcome and information' from his or her own church according to whatever religion each one professes." The request is signed by Francis Redwood. Archbishop of Wellington; H. G. Blackburn. Vicar of Pnlmerslon North, and director of work anion;., ft immigrants of tho ... Anglican Church ; Robert Inglis, cleric' of the Wellington Presbytery; C. Drake, convener tiuralgttiil.» eo____tt_e, Methodist Ohurchi

The Hutt Valley Horticiiltaral Society has decided to arrange for a new challenge trophy in connection with its shows. Mr. C. Buckingham, who has the collecting of the necessary funds in hand, is meeting with marked success. So far the sum of £8 ISs . has been collected.

The member for Otaki (Mr, W. H. Field) gave notice in the House of Representatives yesterday of a question asking the Minister of Railways when it was proposed to build a verandah on to the Plimmerton railway station. The Hon. D. H. Guthrie answered immediately that he had made strong representations to the Department, and the work would be done at once.

Intimation has been received in New Plymouth that Lord Jellicoe's trophy for the best performance amongst New Zealand school and Cadet teams in the Imperial Challenge Shield competition for 1921 has been awarded to the New Plymouth High School. It is worthy of note that the school won both senior and junior competition for the Empire in 1916. Twenty-five New Zealand school* took part in last year's competition.

Reference to the forthcoming departure of Mr. George G. Aitken, captain of the 'Varsity senior Rugby team, was made at last night's meeting of the Wellington Rugby Union's Management Committee. The Chairman (Mr. J. Prendeville) regarded it as a record that the captain of an All-Brack team should be selected as Rhodes scholar. Mr. George Aitken, he thought, fitted the bill of Cecil Rhodes scholar perhaps more aptly than any other Rhodes scholar.

■1 dont think there is a single Englishman who takes an interest in your affairs who has not got the impression that New Zealand is as big as Australia," said Mr. C. A. House, the English poultry judge, at Rangiora on Saturday night (reports the Lyttelton Times). He added that he had had that impression himself, and after arriving in Australia he was surprised to find that New Zealand was such" a small place. If ever there was a country worthy of honour, he considered that that country was New Zealand. /

Should a delegate to a conference be compelled to vote or not, was a question which, came up before the Trotting, Conference yesterday over a division, at which on_ member sat silent. The attention of the president (Mr. J. Rowe, of Auckland) was drawn to the'silent member, and his comment was that it had always been the rule of the conference that silence meant consent. The "silent member" woke up to denial! of this dictum, but the president held firm, and a resolution was adopted by the conference : "That, on a division, a delegate must either vote or leave the room." The constitution said nothing on the subject.

In connection with the proposed war memorial to be erected in the Hutt, the treasurer reported to a meeting of residents last night that the sum of £210 14s had been received in cash, and with donations promised the amount would reach £300. It was considered that the response had been most unsatisfactory, and that a better result would be' attained if a more systematic canvass was carried out. The general opinion was that a n%-morial worthy of the dead soldiers and the "town should be obtained. "After a good deal of discussion, it was decided that a cenotaph be erected on the Recreation Ground, and that the public be invited to send in donations before the end of the month.

The penny-in-the-slot stamp machines which are now a feature of many post offices, have a habit of often being out of order, and most citizens unthinkingly immediately blame the post office officials. Tlie fault, however, invariably lies with ■ the adult public who attempt to force the machine to use bad coins, or, maybe, the small boy element is responsible. The Chief Postmaster, Napier, recently showed a Tribune reporter a collection of coins which -had upset the machine in the private box lobby during the past month. These included a French *0 cent piece, a perms struck by a Brunswick firm to commemorate the. Federation of Australia, and stamped 1901, a Spanish two centimes copper coin, five badly flattened pennies, a piece of lead the size and shape of a penny, and a flattened half-penny. In addition, the ma-chine waa cleared of several tops of match boxes and a quantity of sand.

An event of unusual interest in the engineering history of Thames took place a few days ago, when the first of 20 huge locomotives to be built by Messrs. A. and G. Price, Ltd., steamed out of the engineering workshop wherein she was built, and passed on to the Government rails. Two plates on her side indicated that by the makers she would henceforth by known as No. 93 (being the ninetythird railway locomotive constructed by the firm), while the Railway Department would schedule her as A.B. 698; In conversation with a reporter, Mr. W. Price said the construction of the remaining 19 engines of this type would keep his firm busy for three or four years.- The engine just tried had been Constructed .under the supervision of Mr. J. Hollis (Government inspector), and the firm were greatly obliged to him for the information he had given. Incidentally Mr. Price mentioned thai No. 698 would be used for express work generally on the Auckland-Wellington Main Trunk' service.

A hint that there was likelihood that one of the experimental junior high sohools would be built in Christchurch next year was given by the Hon. C. J. Parr (Minister of Education) at the opening of the Phillipstown School on Saturday afternoon (states 'the Christchurch Sun). The Minister remarked that if finances were better next year there would be another one, perhaps two schools, of the Phillipstown type built in Christchurch. The intention of junior high schools, he went on to explain, was to gather in girls and boys' of the fifth and sixth standards and begin a new course of instruction for them. There would be an absence of "stiff rigidity" in regard to the school, as in each case there. will be provided the appropriate training that the mental equipment of the child required. "We make the mistake in this country," continued Mr. Parr, "of passing children through the same common mould. About 40 per cent, of the children left school without passing the sixth standard. Yet they all had practical aptitude which, if properly trained, would make them good citizens. The so-called dull boy might not have the cramming facility of the brighter lad. Under the present system, the practical aptitudes of a boy were not used as they should be. Under the junior high school scheme, whereby a boy was trained in that particular direction in which he displayed some special aptitude, the boy was made to feel that, after all, he was not such a duffer as he thought he "was. At present, such a boy was not getting a chance. But he was now coming into his own. The junior high schools had got past tho experimental stage in most countries. Mr. Parr concluded by reiterating that "there might bo a fine new school of this type in Christchurch soon."

The Wellington Provincial Industrial Association has received a letter from the Wellington Trades and Labour Council in regard to the proposal to organise an industrial exhibition in Wellington. Messrs. E. J. Kennedy, A. Parla-ne, and F. Cornwell have been appointed delegates from the Trades and Labour Council lo confer with delegates of other bodies in respect to the suggested exhibition. Messrs. C. J. Ward, C. H. Taylor, and P. D. Barcham were last overling appointed delegate, from the Industrial Association.

A suggestion has been made that the secondary schools, in Wellington should hold a combined athletic sports meeting, when the football season is over. The question of the use of Athletic Park is to be considered by the Wellington Rugby Union when the proposal takes a more definite shape.

Among petitions presented in the House of Representatives yesterday were two from Wellington residents. One was from John Watt Reid, praying for compensation for loss of employment under the Samoan Administration. The otherpetitioner was James Hughes, who sought a compassionate allowance on account of loss sustained through tho sale of mortgaged properties while he was absent from New Zealand on active service.

Regarding the lack of dressing-shed accommodation at Wakefield Park (Duppastreet), the Reserves Committee of the City Council has notified the Wellington Rugby Union that it is unable to ar-' range for the erection of dressing-sheds at present. The committee would be prepared, however, to arrange for the erection and taking down of a marquee on Saturdays for use as a dressing-room for players, if the union would provide the marquee. The advice was " received "

at last night's meeting of the Management Committee of the Wellington Rugby Union.

The undermentioned notioe of motion from the Berhampore Club was "referred back" at last uigiht's meeting oflrthe Management Committee:—"That the Management Committee of the Wellington Rugby Football Union consist , of fifteen persons, _U senior clubs to have ono representative, and junior clubs to be represented by five delegates from the various junior clubs." It was stated by the chairman (Mr. J. Prendeville) that the matter could only bear one interpretation at the present time, and that the request was not in ord'ar, as it did.not comply with Tule 23. which provided that a requisition, signed by one-third of aU the club*, was necessary. '

A report waa made by a referee (Mr. R. T. Bailey) to the Wellington Rugby Union last evening, that there was no ambulance man in attendance at the Basin Reserve last Saturday, when three players required attention. The Teferee also offered his appreciation of the. manner in which the ground had been marked out, and of the courtesy of the groundsman. The chairman (Mr. J. Prendeville) pointed out that the Basin Reserve wae not a regular Rugby ground. It was decided to request the Ambulance Brigade to supply a man when games, are played on the Basin Reserve, and to forward to the Superintendent of Reserves a copy of that portion of the referee's letter relating to the ground and the groundsman.

A communication from the Auckland Industrial Association was read at the meeting of the Wellington Industrial Association last evening intimating that, the question of urging the Government to impose a duty on English bottles had been brought before the Auckland asso-' ciation by the managing director of the Australian Glass Manufacturing Company.1 It was stated that glass works •were now nearly completed at Penrose, near Auckland. It was anticipated that the company would be ready to start making bottles in about six weeks time. and would employ about a hundred hands. It was understood that the Government could not see its way to impose a_ duty, as asked, but that if the association could persuade the bottlers to alter their attitude the matter, could ba ■reconsidered. It is proposed that a deputation wait on the Government in Tegard to the matter.

Since the sharp shock experienced at Taupo on Tuesday afternoon at 4.43 o'clock there have been several small earthquakes (states the Taupo correspondent of the New Zeakuid Herald, writing on Friday last). None of these, however, have been of more than a few seconds' durati<£i, and ftiere have been very few of the light tremors so common a fortnight ago. The shock on Tuesday afternoon was, at Taupo, about the same degree of intensity as the one on Sunday morning, 27th June, and lasted for three •minutes, but at Wairakei and Oruanui it was a little more violent. In Taupo small articles were shaken down, but no serious damage was caused, and the residents were unpertm-bed. At Oruanui some timber which had been stacked was shaken down and the chimney of the school residence was brought down ,' but no damage was caused at Wairakei. Visitors to the district are apparently not disturbed greatly by the t tremors, looking upon them rather in the light of interesting experiences, while residents ■in the" district have become quite accustomed to the shakes.

A brief review of conditions in Fiji was given by Sir Charles Davson, Chief Justice of the Islands for the past seven years, who arrived by the Makura (reports the New Zealand Herald). Fiji was passing through a somewhat depressed period, Sir Chai-les said, but he thought it would win through all right. It was a country of great- possibilities. The great difficulty was labour for working the sugar estates and other industries. The indenture system had ceased, but there was no reason why the sugar estates should not be worked with free labour. There was a very strong agitation in certain parte of the colony for European settlement, making it a white man's country. A certain number of Indians who went to Fiji under indentures were entitled to repatriation, and a large number had a-vailed themselves of that, but a great proportion of those who had done so and got to India had been most anxious to return, finding they were better off -in Fiji than in India, and many had gone back. Latterly a good many who were entitled to passages to India had cancelled-them, although there was still a considerable exodus. Sir Charles said he was not a planter and did not speal? with authority, but practicably all the labour w_s either Fijian or Indian. One of the problems of the future wae whether it was a white man's country, in the sense that white men would be able to do what black, labour had done in the past.

The danger of cattle tick being intrpduced into Taranaki as the result of so many, head of stock coming this way from infected areas was emphasised at a meeting of the Agricultural Society at New Plymouth (states the Taranaki Daily News). I. was stated that hundreds of cattle had come through to freezing works in this district this senson, and doubts were expressed as to whether due precautions were being taken. The regulations, it was fell, were satisfactory provided they were strictly enforced, but drovers had been known to state that the cattle were not half dipped. Members were unanimous in their opinion that a dip should be provided on the north side of the Mokau River, and that notwithstanding tho fact that stock had been previously dipped all should be re-dipped before being allowed to cross the river. Tho regulations, it was contended, should also apply to horses and dogs.