LOCAL AND GENERAL

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 49, 26 August 1925, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

A Maori, aged 22 years, suffering from leprosy, has been brought to the Wanganui Hospital from an upriver settlement, states a Press Association message. The victim has been afflicted for six years, and all the toes of his feet have dropped off. Some anxiety is felt by the authorities lest other Natives at the settlement have been contaminated. Notico was given by Mr. H. E. Holland (Leader of the Labour Party) in the House of Representatives yesterday to ask the Minister of Railways whether, in addition to the one day's wages charged to railway employees for rental of cottages, the Department is now requiring the employees also to pay water and sanitary rates; and whether employees who have refused to pay the added charge have been served with threats of removal to districts whero they will, have to make their own housing arrangements. The Minister in Charge oS the Valuation Department is being asked by Mr. W. H. Field (Otaki) . whether he • will make provision whereby any applicant for a loan from a Government Department who has paid the cost of a Government valuation in support of his application, and whose loan has been rofused, shall be provided with a certificate of such valuation showing only the capital improved and unimproved values, and thus save such applicant the expense of another valuation if applying to another lender for such loan. About 2 p.m. yesterday a man named Charles Lowe, a resident of Martinborough, while in an intoxi- | cated condition, attempted to drive a motor-car along Jackson street, Petone. He ran into the gutter and badly damaged two bicycles which were against the kerb. He was arrested by Constable M'Namara and appeared before Messrs. J. W. M'Ewan and G. M'Ewen, J-P.'s, at the Petone Police Court thia morning, where he was charged with being drunk while in charge of a motorcar. The Bench inflicted a penalty of £25, or in default one month's imprisonment, and cancelled accused's driver's licence for the re- ' mainder of the year. A prohibition order was also issued against him. Testimony to the efficacy of the finger-print system is contained in the annual report of the Commissioner of Police. Two coded finger-print classifications were last year received by cablegram from the London ] police, and a search in the local finger-print collection revealed the fact that these offenders' prints had not been recorded here. The cablegrams were then repeated to the Sydney police, and they identified each offender and cabled their records direct to London. This is believed to be the first occasion 'on which coded finger-prints have been received by cablegram in Australasia, and by means of them the London police were able to produce the Australian records of the two offenders in the London Court within a few hours of their arrest. On the 31st March the finger-print collection consisted of tho impressions of 83,802 persons, an increase of 1873 on last year's figures. Of all Western institutions none seems to appeal tb Eastern races so much as tho hospital, and another illustration of this was given by Filipinos on the American battleship California, who on the eve of their departure from Auckland got together and pooled all the pennies they had left over from their halfmonthly pay as a gift for the Auckland Hospital. The collection of the (to them) unwieldy two:cent coins which had accumulated in the course of their extensive shopping, and for which they probably could not find use in their homo country, came to the tidy sum of £6 4s. This amount (states "The Post's" Auckland correspondent) was dispatched to the hospital accompanied by a graceful note explaining that tho sum was a small token of appreciation for the. cordial welcome and generous hospitality accorded by Aucklaiulers. ' In conclusion, the note read: "We bid farewell to New Zealand with hearts full of sweet memories oi; her peoplo's hospitality shown (luring tlio fortnight of our stay.''

Mr. H. E. Lodge,' secretary to the Hutt Valley Power Board states that Saturday, sth September, has been decided upon as the date for the official opening of tho electric light and power service for Plimmerton. The question of forming a university club in Wellington is being considered by tho committee of the Victoria University College Graduates' and Past Students' Association, tho. feeling being that there is need of an institution at which members of tlio larger universities might meet one another at the conclusion of their university life. "Various details are to be placed before a meeting at an early date. "This Act continues to prove useful," says the Police Commissioner in his annual report when, dealing with tho Arms Act. "A considerable number of revolvers have been surrendered during the year by persons who realise that they are of no practical utility, and do not care to take the trouble to notify their change of address.r In course of time it is hoped that this dangerous weapon will be practically eliminated, as very few of them are now imported." Ballots for land held at yesterday's meeting of the Wellington Land Board resulted as follow: — Sections 381 and 39, block 111., Kai-. tawa survey district (three applicants) —John Leen successful. Section 6a and lot XI. of Ba, Fairnold Settlement (ten applicants)—W. J. Nutt successful. Sections 372, 45, 47, 48, 49, block VIII., Belmont, Normandale Settlement, 140 acres—H. J. Toon. Section 2, block XV., Eetaruke S.D., 1251 acres, F. Harmor, yearly license at .£lB 15s. Section 69, block XIII., Apiti, 280 acres, W. Cooper, 21 years' lease at £130 per ! annum. Viscount Burnhain and a party of Empire Press Union delegates paid a visit to the House of Eepresentativos last evening, and were entertained at supper by the Speaker (the Hon. C E. Statham). The Press Gallery also gave a supper party in honour of visiting Canadian Pressmen, one of whom, Mr, John Bassett, is chairman of the Canadian Press Gallery. Other Canadian ■ guests were Mr. Grattan O'Leary and Mr. J. W. Dafoe. Lord Buraham, Sir Harry Brittain, M.P., and Mr. A. P. Herbert were also present. The visitors ■were welcomed by Mr. A. P. Grace, chairman of hte Press Gallery, and several of them made brief speeches. "Neither counsel had any idea of tho immense amount of detail connected with this case," said Mr. B. P. Hay (for the defendant) in the Supreme Court this morning, when a claim for balance of payment allegedly' due for renovations to a dwelling came before his Honour Mr. Justice Ostler. "It will take three days to put the case before the Court, and in order to avoid that waste of time I suggest to your Honour that the matter might well be one for arbitration." His Honour agreed, and asked counsel to nominate an arbitrator. Agreement being reached on this point, his Honour allowed a month for the process of arbitration. The claim was for £239 16s 7d. The parties were Charles Hunter Downes, builder and contractor, of Lower Hutt, plaintiff, and William Belcher, leather merchant, of Wellington, defendant. The latter alleged that the work had not been according to specification, and that some of the charges were excessive. Excisions from the original agreement and authorised "extras" served to complicate the matter, while, the renovations were practically a remodelling of the building. The men of the American , fleet have not proved as eager purchasers of mementos as the Auckland shopkeepers anticipated (states "The Post's" correspondent). Purchases of books on New Zealand have been few and far between, but there has been som« demand for souvenirs in the shape of postcard views of the city. Leather goods with pokerwork in Maori design found few purchasers, but one city jeweller's shop ■which specialised in carved cigaTetto boxes, tikis, and similar goods peculiar to the Dominion was freely patronised. On Monday sales were particularly heavy. According to one sports outfitter and leather goods merchant the demand has principally been for travelling rugs and kitbags. He stated that the Americans .assured him that the leather handbags sold in the United States were mostly of an inferior grade and were not procurable at such reasonable prices as prevail here. Quite a number of officers and men purchased leather I purses and similar articles for preI sentntion to lady friends. The majority of the fancy goods vendors, however, agree that business has -not been anything like they anticipated. "There can be no, question at all that funds of industrial unions should not be expended for political purposes, and a. levy for that purpose would undoubtedly be invalid," states Mr. F. W. Rowley, registrar of industrial unions, in a letter to Mr. A. E. Waite, officer in charge of the Labour Department at- Christchurch. Mr. Waite recently forwarded to Mr. Rowley a copy of the "Lyttelton Times," containing a letter on the subjoct of trade union levies. Tho point was raised as to whethor or not trade union funds could legally be used for political purposes, and whether a trade union could enforce a levy against its members for similar purposes. In an editorial comment on this communication it was stated that the Government cannot intervene unless a member or members take action for an injunction restraining the trustees from paying over the money, and that in any case the legal position in New Zealand in regard to trade vnion levies for political purposes did not appear to have been tested in recent years. Mr. Rowley has now written to Mr. Waito regarding the matter, and in the course of his letter he states that the reference was, no doubt, to industrial unions, and not to trado unions, which are praci tically a dead letter in this country. After making the statement quoted above, ho proceeds: "The position is tho same with trade unions. As regards tho steps that may be taken if funds aro invalidly used in this way, the Labour Department has no power to intervene- Its powers aro limited to inquiring into allegations of missippropriatioi), as -well as the proper keeping of accounts, and if misappropriation is found or suspected criminal proceedings can be instituted by tho police. Should the funds of a union bo wrongly used, any member ! may tnkc action against Vlit>. ofni'ial or oftieijil.H mspoiisible for t'le expenditure, whether authorised by the union nr nol, mid call upon fiie-ofll- j : tiala themselves to repay to the ,