LOCAL AND GENERAL

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 23, 28 January 1924, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL

A special meeting of, the. City Council will be held to-morrow, at '4 p.m., to pass ."machinery resolutions in connection with the Hutt road loan of £50,000, and also to consider tenders for the supply of material for the Orongorongo-Karori pipe line.

After being without a ferry service for 'over ten years, residents ot' Karaka Bay and Seatoun had the opportunity to-day of taking the boat to town\incl back, instead of travelling by tramway. There were between SO and 60 passengers inwards from Seatoun and Karaka Bay to the city this morning. The new service was inaugurated by the EastBourne Borough Council's steamer Cobar.

A hairbreadth escape irom death was the astounding experience of 'a youth on a suburban train on Friday morning. As the train pulled in to the Auckland station lie projected himself feet foremost through the first window of the rear carriage while the vehicle was still in motion. He landed on the platform, but lost his balance and fell hea4 foremost on to the permanent Tway, where, to the horror of the temporarily paralysed Onlookers, all that could be ..seen was a pair of legs, states the "Auckland Star." The rear wheels of the bogie car, howevtir, had stopped a matter of inches away, and the youth crawled out unhurt and hurried off.

The news that an up-to-date oil-burn-ing steamer is to b e added to the traders 1.0 the port o! Foxton should make good reading not only for. - the residents of that town but for the /business people ol Palmerston North and Feilding, states the " Manawatu Daily Times." The representatives of the old-established Christchurch company (the Canterbury Steamship Company) made a thorough inspection of the river this week, and after carefully going 'into the whole question they came to the conclusion that there were excellent prospects for a profitable venture. It remains now for the business people of Palmerston' North, Feilding, and other adjacent centres to get in behind the enterprise and show that there is amjle freight offering.

A deputation of members of the Palfflerston North Egg Cirsle, headed by Mr. F. Boys, waited upon Mr. J. A. Nash, M.P., yesterday, in connection with the present position in regard to the price of wheat for fowl feed. It was pointed out that the cost in Palmerstoh North was 7s fid per bushel, and that wheat could be landed afc^ls per bushel less from Australia. It was fur,ther stated that quite a number of local poultrymen had had to either reduce the' number of their poultry or else go out of business. Mr. Nash stated in reply that he had already been in communication with the Minister on the. subject. It was anticipated that New would bo abfe to supply all its own requirements this season. He agreed that the present price to poultrymen was unsatisfactory, and he promised to urge upon the Minister Viat the Government should take this matter under control as well as muling wheat.

, Listeners-in apparent were more fortunate than a large number of the citizens who attended the Auckland Town Hall tm Thursday to hear the Prime Minister. It is reported that the various speeches, particularly that of Mr. Massey, were transmitted very.. clearly. In the hall itself the only speaker who was distinctly heard ,was the Mayor, Mr. J. H. Gunson. Sir Francis Bell was not heard at all at the rear of the hall—at least, by the majority of the audience. Complaints were fairly general that Mr. Massey .was inaudibl^halfway down the hall, where practically all "that could be heard distinctly was his favourite phrase, "Very well, then." Several times people called out "Speak up," but their requests seldom reached the platform, states the "Auckland Star." In reply to one interjection, Mr. Massey declared he was just recovering from a cold, and was nbfc in such good foTm as he had been two months ago.

The Petone Working Men's Club was crowded on Saturday afternoon for the unveiling of the honours board bearing the names of those members who had served in the Great War, the names of those who died, those who were wounds ed, and those who returned. The president (Mr. AY. Burk), in a few appropriate words, alluded to the sacrifice made by those whose names appeared on the board. Mr. T. M. Wilford, M.P., in the course of a sympathetic address/ said that the memorials erected in almost every town in this country would remain for those who came after as an eloquent testimony of our desire to perpetuate the recollection of unselfish effort for the commonweal. Let us all, he said, try to better the condition of who need assistance, not by sporadic effort, but by united action. Let ua put out hate from our hearts, and replace it with the will to aid; and with the changed consciousness of our obligations would come a brighter day for all. Mr. Wilford then unveiled the memorial, and the members present stood in silence for a short time in honour of those who had made the supreme sacrifice.

An analysis of the Government Statistician's figures published in the " Gazette "■ discloses the disturbing fact that between 1916 and 1921, when the last Census was taken, Taranaki's country population -increased from 34j094 to 35,477, or 1353, equal to only just under 4 per cent., while the population of the various towns and townships in the pvovjr.ce increased from 21,831 to 26,464, or z. gain of 4633, equal to 2L22 per cent. In other words, states the " Taranaki Daily News," the urban population is increasing more than three times faster than the rural, the country districts not maintaining their 'natural increase. It is significant that in the "past twelve years the, town of New Plymouth has been responsible for 6876 of the 11,932 increase made by the whole province in that time, a state of affairs that should set all concerned in Taranaki's progress and development seriously to think. The fact is that the people are moving, not to the land, the basis of the province's very life, but to the towns, principally to the capital town. ■No one will be surprised at its expansion, because for many years it failed to make the progress its position and opportunities -warranted it in . making, and it is only now that it is coming into its own, but in a' countryside so eminently suited for carrying a large population—many times greater than it is now supporting—it is a subject for surprise and concern that the trend of the population movement is away from rather than to the land.

A definite statement of what the Department of Public. Works is doing in regard to the improvement of the Ranginri Hills road was made by the Minis* ter, the Hon. J. G. Coates, at Auckland. With regard to the deviation of six miles, on which the Department is at present engaged, Mr. Coates said it would be put into a state to carry traffic oy the end of the summer. Most of the section would be permanently metalled, except a short stretch across a swamp, which would be surfaced with sandstone. This would be sufficient to carry traffic. - The reason for not metalling this section was because it was thought not sufficiently stable to carry it. Authority was in hand for the formation and metalling of the section of almost an equal distance between Rangirirr township and Whangamarino School. But the Department did not consider it practicable, indeed, not possible, to complete that portion before the winter. It would be completed early next summer. "There you have it," said Mr. Coates, in conclusion. "Half the work completed this summer and the remainder early next summer." The district engineer, Mr. A. J. Baker, said that meanwhile a, certain amount of repair work would be done on the Ranghiri-Whangamarino section to keep it in as reasonable -a state of repair as possible.

The report of the recovevy of the ship's safe from the- wreck of the steamer Wairarapa, which is unfortunately not U'ne, raises an important question, remarks the "New Zealand Herald." Canon Haselden, who was with the rescue party for. twenty-one days at the wreck, writes: "I think that 'besides much belonging to the Union S.S. Company, there would be in the safe a good deal of money and valuables that beloffged to the passengers. We recovered an astonishing amount, and the Public Trustee received it from us and took much pains m restoring it to the heirs and friends of the lost. Bnt probably experienced travellers gave a lot to the purser, and he would lock it up in the ship's safe. I do not know of the law on the subject, but I think that the divers,, if they i^over the safe, will probably have to s™id all the passengers' property to the Public Trustee. 1 hare lists of all the passengers, both saved and lost, and many particulars, and shall be quit* wpling to let.the divers see them. Who knows what it all meaos will be delighted it Mr. Year is successful. I hope he is being Very careful, as the sea geis up very quickly and the currents are dreadfully strong at times round Miners' Head. The Wairarapa struck at eight rninufes past midnight on Sunday, 28th October, 1894."

The suggestion that Australasia might find a higfily profitable outlet for ctairy produce' on (he American market is nottaken seriously by an expert in the industry to whom the matter,was referred by a " Taranaki Daily News" reporter. "It is only another squeal from Vancouver," he £aid. Explaining the position, Lhe expert said that it was much easier and cheaper for the Americans to draw on London for supplies when they wished to fill orders. By drawing on London they could take advantage of the then vuling market quotations, and could have the produce in the shops o! the American retailers in about a week, whereas, if they imported from Australia and New Zealand, a much longer time must elapse, with the possibility of great fluctuations in the market. " The Danes won't let the American market get too high, and make it advantageous for produce other than their own," he added. " The moment the ""American market goes high enough, to cover the cost of Hie' < Atlantic freight. and. the American import duty, you ' will find that the Danes will ship their surplus butter over. That is why the New York market must always remain on a parity with that of Lgndon." The expert give it as his considered opinion that it would be better for Australia and New Zealand to remain in the British market, where their produce would always be ready to take advantage of any shortage in supplies, and consequent rise in prices caused by shipments of Danish butter to America.