NEWS OF THE DAY

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 124, 21 November 1929, Page 8

NEWS OF THE DAY

Objections to Land Tax.

The requirement that objections to the super-land tax assessments must be lodged within, twenty-one days is not to be given a generally hard-and-fast application. The Minister of Lands (the Hon. G. W. Forbes) said -yesterday that it was essential to the work of the board investigating hardship cases that the objections be made within a reasonable period. For that reasoa twentyoiie days from the date of the assessment notice had been decided upon as a basis, and not as a hard-and-fast rule. When he announced the personnel of the board he would be in a position to indicate whether an extension, of the time referred to was warranted.

Proficiency Examinations,

The new proficiency examination regulations, which provide that the percentage of pass marks shall be reduced, have caused a stir in local educational circles, and on Tuesday last the secretary of the "Wellington Federation Educational Association. (Mr. L. C. P. Whyte) telegraphed to the Minister of Education that the regulations were seriowly affecting the children sitting this year and that the federation strongly urged the postponement of the regulations until next year (1930). Yesterday the Minister replied that the new regulations were not to apply this year—an. answer which should set at rest the uneasiness now prevailing among scholars and parents.

Plenty of Variety.

"A Mayor has varied duties to perform; this to-aay is really one of the enjoyable ones," said Sir A. F. Roberts, Mayor of Lower Hutt, while opening the Hutt Valley Flower Show yesterday. "To give you an instance. I had recently in my official capacity to be present at the opening of the new trotting track, and I thought I ought to receive some compensation for that, and so I took it in the form of a couple of dividends. Immediately afterwards I had to be present at a Salvation Army gale of work, and I may say that I have reason to believe that the- Army benefited by the fact that I had been to the trotting meeting."

The Parliamentary Bonus,

"This meeting of the Federation Educational Association," stated a motion passed at a meeting of that body last night, "places on record its entire disapproval of the action of the members of Parliament in appropriating to themselves the sum of £6800 as a bonus, "whilst the school committees of New Zealand had previously requested the Government to grant an increase to the totally inadequate capitation grants without avail. The action of the members of Parliament in this direction leaves tho impression that the cleanliness of the schools and tho health of tho scholars is merely a secondary consideration, and that the cleaners of the schools can still be employed under 'sweated conditions' as long as the members themselves receive, by their own vote, an increase in pay. This meeting appreciates the action of the Right Hon. J. G. Coates and Messrs. Fletcher and Wright in their objection to the payment of the bonus and Mr. Wright's a&suranee that he would not accept 5t. 5> One member expressed the opinion that the chairman (Mr. N. A. Ingram), who proposed the motion, had been far too moderate in his language.

A Barren Session,

Parliament's meagre contribution to the Statute Book in the session just concluded provoked Mr. W. J. Holdsworth to indulgence in sardonic humour at Tuesday evening's meeting of the executive of the Auckland Town Planning Association (states the "New Zealand Herald")- A member suggested that congratulations should be extended to the Minister of Internal Affairs, the Hon. P. A. de la Perelle, and the director of town planning, Mr. J. W. Mawson, on the passage of the Town Planning Amendment Act. In concurring in the suggestion, Mr. Holdsworth said that so little had been put through last session that it seemed well worth. while taking notice of the Act under discussion. Amid laughter hovadded: "This Act and the fact that you can now marry your deceased's wife's niece were, I think, about the only two things of moment to go through."

A Foundation Member.

When opening the Hutt Valley Horticultural Society's Show yesterday, Sir A. F. Roberts, Mayor of Lower Hutt, said that the society was now thirty-four years old, and he was glad to say that quite a few of the original supporters and exhibitors were still actively associated with tlie society. .The winner of the championship bloom, Mr. E. Anstis, was one of the original members, and he hoped that in another thirty-four years Mr. Anstis would still be providing champion.blooms.

Accident in the Ruahines.

An_ accident happened recently in the Euahine mountains to Mr. T. A. Everett, who has been prospecting for many summers in the Ruahines, behind South Makaretu, Takapau.. He was climbing one of the ridges with a slasher and pick when a sheep with a lamb loosened some boulders above him, and he could not clear himself. The boulder caught his leg and broke his hip bone. After five hours' struegimg with improvised crutches he got back to his camp,, where he had very little food and only a billy of water. He subsisted on what he had for two days, when all he could get was rain water. He was due to return for food, but as he did not arrive in five days Messrs. Paget Brothers went in search of him and found him. Not having anything to remove him with, they had to return and make a stretcher and get help to take him down to a car at the bottom of the mountains, whence he was removed to the Waipukurau Hospital.

Auckland Railway Station Site,

The prospective fate of the site at present occupied by the Auckland railway station, shortly to be.vacated in favour of more up-to-date quarters, was discussed at a meeting of the executive of the Auckland Town Planning Association, when various suggestions for the treatment of the area were advanced (states the "New Zealand Herald"). The chairman, Mr. W. J. Holdsworth, said that apparently the Government's scheme for dealing with the area would not be approved by those who had Harbour Board lease's m. the immediate vicinity. Those lessees considered that a better scheme could be devised. Mr. Holdsworth considered the station site might be utilised as a starting place for motor traffic, but he presumed the Government would want a "terrific" sum for the area if it were to be used in that way. However, while the area was available and not built on, it might be worth while drawing the Government's attention to alternative schemes for its utilisation. It was stated by Mr. E. V. Blake that plans had been sent to Wellington by an.Auckland architect for consideration by the Government. The matter was still more or less confidential, but the proposal waß that various Government buildings should be grouped round a place or square. Under that scheme it should be possible to arrange for the provision of a bus terminal on the lines suggested by the chairman. The point was whether the alternative proposed would be likely to give a reasonable return compared with the Governmnt's subdivision proposal for the area. Mr. Blake thought it would be wise to await developments, and, on his advice, no action was taken in the matter.

"A Labour Mayor."

"I am proud of being a Labour man, and I wouldn't be a Mayor here or anywhere else unless I were a Labour Mayor," said the Mayor of Chriatchurch (Mr. J. K. Archer) in welcoming the delegates to the conference of the New Zealand Federdtd Tramway Employees' Industrial Association of Workers at the Trades Hall, Christchurch, on Tuesday morning.

Tares in Wheat.

The necessity for. farmers to clean their wheat crops more thoroughly, and for threshing mills -to follow suit, was explained at Christchurch by Mr. H. E. West, chemist to the "Wheat Research Institute, when he gave a representative of "The Christchureh Press" an illustration, by test, of the degrading of flour by the presence of tares. "It seems to me that farming peoplo and threshing-mill owners could make a better effort in cleaning their wheat," said Mr. "West, "for tares can have a very harmful effect on the baking of bread." Explaining a graph which he had prepared, Mr. West said that, with the addition to the flour of 2 per cent, of tares, a loaf dropped down to a grade of semi-usefulness. Experiments-showed that, with the addition of 4 per cent., 6 per cent., 8 per cent., and 10 per cent, of tares, loaves were degraded from a passable specimen of bread to art utterly useless sample. Tares were not difficult to clean out in the milling, but a special apparatus was required. Millers, of course, did not want wheat that contained tares, as it had a marked effect I upon the quality of the bread. It was [recognised that the presence of tares cut down, the yield of wheat per acre, and the obvious thing was for farmers to clean their land more thoroughly. Fire Escape Bylaws.

"Many complaints are being received from dwellers in flats and others regarding the absence of fire-escapes in buildings of more than one story, but, until fire-escape bylawg are gazetted, the board is helpless," wrote Mr. C. J. Treleaven, secretary of the Christchurch Fire Board, to the Internal Affairs Department last week. "It is now eight months since a model set of fire-escape bylaws was issued," continued the letter. "As the matter is urgent, the board would be glad to know if steps cannot be taken to expedite the formulation of a sot of bylaws." ' It was decided by the board on Tuesday night to forward a copy of the statement in the report of Superintendent C. C. Warner, who said that a large number of inspections had been made and complaints investigated in regard to the necessity of having fire escapes constructed in dwellings being turned into flats (states "The Press"). He urged upon the board the danger now existing owing to the delay on the part of the Government in passing the fire-escape bylaws approved by the board some time ago.