NEWS OF THE DAY

Evening Post, Volume CXVI, Issue 23, 27 July 1933, Page 10

NEWS OF THE DAY

Trade of the Port. Reporting to the meeting of the Wellington Harbour Board, last evening, the chairman (Mr. C. M. Tu'rrell) said that the shipping and cargo returns £*t the month of June showed a general increase when compared with the same month last year. Shipping arrivals were 298,867 tons, as compared -with.263,248 tons, an increase of 35,619 tons. The total caigo handled -was-108,048 tons, compared with, 94,148 tons, which is 13,900 tons greater. The principal increases wcro in the tonnage of coal handled, which amounted to 10,028 tons. Oils in bulk increased by 2174 ■ tons. Wool and hemp shipments increased by 11,346 bales. There was a falling-off ia imports from British.- and foreign ports of 1280' tons, and the exports of frozen meat dropped by 2099 tons. Imperial Ex-Servicemen. - A letter regarding assistance to Imperial ; ex-servicemen in New Zealand was received from the Prime Minister (the ,Rt. Hon. Gr. W. Forbes) at last night's meeting of the executive of the Wellington Returned Soldiers' Association. In the letter, written under date May 17, while hewas en route to London, Mr. Forbes stated that he would bo glad to do what he could to further the efforts of Mr. Tripp, of the War Relief Association, in London in order to obtain special funds, for the relief of Imperial ex-servicemen in distress in New Zealand. .-.'. Children's Health Camp., Some fourteen letters and alsp-somo drawings from children who, through the" efforts' Of. the ..association had been Bent';to tho Raiikawa Children's Health Camp at Otaki, were tabled at last night's meeting of the executive of the Wellington Returned Soldiers' Association, and were passed round for members to read. The-letters eloquently expressed the children's appreciation of .lifOv^t. the'eamp.. . One little girl 'had' written several letters. One extract! from ontt of her notes' as as: follows:—"On; Friday ..night we had a concert. I reeitcd,,twice'and was in a play. 1 shall be pleased to' 'see, my mother again;' but I shall miss everybody at camp." A chart supplied by the author; tie's ■'covering' the ,six;, weeks this little girl, who is,eleven years of age, was in the camp showed t^at when slio arrived there her weight was 641b, mid when she left it'was.'over 701b. Mr.\v\ L. Comrio said it was au'Eastbourn'e case, and the parents of the child' had nothing but praise for the camp scheme. TJio chairman (Colonel A. Cowles) s:ud it. \v;is very pleasing to hear that. "We feel," ho liddc-d,'"t-htit our money is Ix.'ing 'expended iv v very quod direc-

City Council Loan Works. In a reply to a letter from the association, received at last night's meeting of the executive'of the Wellington ■Returnee! Soldiers' Association, Mr. G. Hart, City Engineer, said that, if opportunities were afforded for the reengageiiierLt 'of. ex-oniployees' oil city loan. ty;prks,-. the "claims of -/returned soldiers - among their number would l'Oce^iy6 feyety consideration. Artesian.Overflow.'' It^jvas alleged,by v ,/hie Slrandon. Golf Cljib': iii^tlveXcourso.-'of a letter to the Hutt rEi'itor' Boards yesterday'that since tho'-artesian bores put down by the jWcllington' City Council had been flowing the .water in the closed arm of river had increased in volumes to such an ex-tent-that one of its fairways had been flooded; and that it was possible that artesian water flowing to waste was the cause; . The board decided to obtain "a report' on' tlie: question from its cngineciy ,•- : .< ' .;.'.'•. All's Well That Ends Well. "A very happy ending,", was the comment of the chairman of the Hutt River Bqard, Mr. F. J. Jones, on a letter received yesterday by the board from .the. Hutt Park Committee. The board 'had threatened to take legal action for the recovery of the last three years' rates owing by the committee, but as a result of a conference held between the committee, the board, and the Lower Hutt Borough Council it was decided that the three bodies in whom tho park is vested —the Lower Hutt Borough Council, the Petone Borough Council, and the Eastbourne Borough1 'Council—should, on, a population basis, contribute a sum sufficient.; to meet the current year's rates owing to the River Board and the Lower Hutt Borough Council. The three councils having each agreed to that course, the two bodies to whom rates are owinghaye,agreed to wipe off all' arrears on condition that the current year's and all future rates shall be paid by the committee. Soldiers' •• Week. ; A proposal to hold a, Soldiers' Week in „ Wellington.-. was : discussed, at, last nights-meeting of the executive of the Wellington Returned Soldiers' As-, sociation.' VColonel 8.-.-S> said the idea was that the .association might hold 'a fair; ill; the" Town Hall, with' subsidiary attractions, ' and so create a social atmosphere for solv; diers, their wives, and families, and at tho same time raise funds for the association. In view of the Confidence Carnival to be staged in November, it was suggested that the Soldiers'. Week should bo held after ChristinasAuthority was given to a sub-commit-tee to make further inquiries and formulate a plan in regard to tho project. Colonel McQuarrie said that it might bo possible to havo a raffle as one of the attractions. He was very attracted by the success of the motorcar raffle in connection with the Mayor's Happiness' Week campaign. He understood that-tho raffle" brought iii £2000. Extension of River District. An informal discussion -.took place at a meeting of the Hutt Eiver Board yesterday on the petition which had been received from a majority-'of the owners of land adjacent to the river from tho railway bridge to Moonshine, to have the River Board district extended' to include a narrow strip of land in that area. Tho opinion was generally expressed' that tho 'income in. rate's frbnt the area would bo- quite insufficient to meet the -'cost of protection and maintenance, evon' if the board rated tho area to tho limit.; allowed, by law. The board decided,; however, beforo replying to the petition, to ask its engineer .to report onthe matteiy The" chairman of i the Board-, (Mr. y. J. Jones) said he was'sure the petitioners had the sympathy of the board, which would always be \yilling; to; give advice and lend its men and' plant, to do any work.required, at the lowest possible; cost to\the, landowners.' Completing Point Howard Wharf.' .In a few months' time the work of completing the Point Howard. .Wharf will be -c6inmenccd, and this will1 entail the joining up of the dolphins to their present width, and tho lengthening -of the wharf to the south. The wharf at Point Howard is solely for oil tankers. Whereas few vessels used the wharf when it was first built, increasing numbers of tankers now «all there, so the Harbour Board has decided to authorise the joining up of the dolphins. There are three dolphins at the wharf, two being on the northern side and one on the southern. When a ship is being berthed at or taken from the wharf men have to be plac6d on each dolphin to assist with tho mooring ropes, and this takes tiinejwso the joining up of the dolphins will do away; with this operation. The' Point Howard Wharf was comploted'in March, 1930, having taken about a year to,build after the first shipment of timber for it was landed. Lotteries for Charity. Tho Irish Freo State lotteries arc conducted by a private, committee, the_ chairman of which is Viscount Powers-' court, said Mr. W. E. Leicester in the courso of his address to members of tlie New Zealand Accountant Students' Society last night. They are' held on all tho big horse races, and in the main their purpose is to provide funds for tho "hospitals, but three-fourths of the prizo money goes, to • ,the various winners. In the last three years about seventeen million pounds have ;bee'n distributed in prizes and the ' hospitals have received about fivo and a half millions... The of the Irish Free, State wris satisfied merely to authorise these lotteries until March of last'yeai '> but since then it has taxed the recipient / hospitals 25 per cent.' of their share to obtain funds for its unemployment relief and uu,-. dcrtak'ings of a similar character. At a discussion in the English House of Commons in March of last year, when Sir William Davison obtained leave to introduce a Bill to authorise lotteries for charitable, scientific, and artistic purposes or for any public.iimprovemout or other public object, it was pointed out that the Irish hospital sweepstakes had, on a superficial view, been successful because Ireland was a small country drawing on English resources, but it was contended that the stiecess had been only apparent) for tho chairman of a gre"at Dublin hospital had admitted that as the result of these sweepstakes the ordinary subscribers to the Irish hospitals were ceasing to subscribe, supposedly paying patients refusing topay, ,and testators were, discontinuing tlieir bequests.

The Eights of the People. A neat-jibe at crossword-puzzle enthusiasts'generally arid at West Australian* enthusiasts,"in- was given,I'by Mr. W,";!E. : Leicester while speaking to members of the Accountant Students' Society last night on "Lotteries." Recently, he said, tho Mitchell Government, at the request of newspapers which apparently .had been, slow in adopting tho crossword-puzzle' idea and were losing, a goodr deal of. circulation to their rivals who had adopted it," tried to suppress the..competitions and was put out of .action i-by^an. outraged electorate. : A protest meeting held in.the Perth..Town Hall jdfew the;-largest aumber ofevpeople e'yor. bef ore assembled in Westeifn' Ausstraiia, and .so many .supporters-o| the {Soyerninent were, defeated on the crosswords issue, that Labour came in with; la'ivy unprecedented... majority. "It '.-. is pleasing to-'note.'thnf matters of ..such vast importance can stir the c oil sci en <!<■>, of the. people in Western. Australia," remarked Mr. Leicester.

"A.T.8." forwards to the "Evening Post" 'a,cheque for £'5 for the Wellington Unemployed Relief Fund.' The money lius been sent to the Mayor.