LOCAL AND GENERAL

Evening Star, Issue 17719, 21 July 1921, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Tlireo children, whose ages ranged from six to nine years, were before tho Juvenile Court yesterday afternoon, tho charge being that they were without proper means of subsistence. They were committed to tho Cavcrcham Industrial School, to be brought up in the Church oi England religion, the father _to pav zs per'week in rosnoct to each child. Mr A. M. M owl cm was the presiding magistrate. An interesting statement on tho pros■poets for tho "Dominion’s primary products was made by the Hon. W. hi* worthy at the opening of the conterer of tho Council of Agriculture ysstcrdi Ho said that the position of the wool dust-ry caused the Government mm anxiety. In its arrangements with to. Wool " Committee tho Government endeavored, as far as possible, to avoid niacins any restriction on the sa.e of wool which might hamper business. Concerning meat, high frcighis had prevented suppliers from receiving the benefit of tho ruling prices in London to the extent desired.' The production of daily produce and the prices obtained a record for tho Dominion, returning in the vicinity of £20,000.000. Tho present prospects were, a great deal better than they were a few months ago. Had_ it not" been for dairy produce tho position of tho Dominion "could not have been saved. The season had commenced with a clearance of frozen meat from the stores —a position which had not obtained for "some years. Tho wheat supply question had been met by the country j but tho oat market Situation was not sc good. The farming industry generally had been passing through a bad time, but ho believed the"day was not far distant when it would be placed on a bet cr footing. Some big problems lay ahend_ of tho Government and tho people of New Zealand. If the primary products could not first produce wealth the other industries and businesses of tho Dominion could not advance. The present taxation was- a heavy burden to stagger under, and it was only by combined effort, courage, and perseverance that the difficult problems of the present day could be overcome,

A rift of £I,GCO by Mr H. F. Smith ha? been received by the Ashburton Primary School CommiV.ee for the purpose, it is stated, cf establishing two scholarships of £25 each Tor competition in alternate years and tenable for four years at a secondary school. The donor’s object is to enable pupils, of his old school to obtain a secondary education who otherwise would he unable to afford same. In connection with the Bissctt mission another very {rood meeting was held in Burns Hall last night. A number of visitors from neighboring congregations wera present, the ministers in several cases having put off their ordinary weekevening services and asked the people to corns to Burns Hall. Mr Bissc-tt took a? his subject ‘The Healing of the Lame Man at tho Beautiful Gate of the Temple,’ and dealt with it in a very interesting and impressive way. Emphasis was laid upon the complete transformation that was brought about in the man when he believed'the word spoken by Peter regarding the power of Christ. The appeal was brought to a climax by Miss Bissott’s polo 1 Just as I am without one plea.’ Only two more meetings arc still to be held this week, as there will be none on Saturday. The mission will close on Snnday, when Mr Bissett will preach in First Church. Tonight a free-will offering will be asked for, which will be handed to the Assembly’s Commutes that has control of Mr Bissett’s work. When the report of tho Finance Committee was before the City Council last evening, the Mayor (Mr j. S. Dougins) stated that some £55.000 of new money had been received towards tho repayment of loans.

An illustration of tho inv'sh 'manner in which some commercial firms seel: orders for their goods; and incidentally the keenness of competition, was mentioned by a speaker at a conference at Wanganui between delegates from the Farmers’ Union Sub-provincial Executive and the Asao dated Auctioneers. The speaker was a farmer, and be said that he contemplated installing a small milking -machine plant which would cost less than £2OO. lie had leapt a careful tally of the visits of agents of competing plants, and estimated that they must have spent, close on £2OO in motor cars and wages during negotiate ms. Soma of the agents carno more than once from towns as far away as Palmerston North and Haw-era.

During the examination at a bankruotcy meeting at Wanganui one of the cornice! present was endeavoring to ascertain how the stock in the estate had been valued. “Oh,” replied one of the creditors, “each side had a representative, and I also assisted.” “I see.” said the counsel, "Ibe valuing then was done by arbitral’..m.” “Oh, no,” casually remarked the creditor. " jnst produced a bottle of whisky r.nd matters proceeded most amicably.” A protest against the practice jf barks in paying no interest on current accounts was made by Mr M'Cutrheon at the meeting of the Raglan (Auckland) County Council. Ho said that dining the year ended March 31 the council had £27 ufO loan money at fixed deposit, ’ocsiving 5i per cent. The bank lent i Iris, to oih-r'fc at 7 per cent., making a prjfit of i.VOO on the transaction. Tbs county fund was always in credit, and bv lending this the hank recieved £2.200, while the county received nothing, and in addition paid 10s per year on each account. He proposed united action to induce Parliament to legislate in tire direction of making interest payable on current accounts. Mr M‘Culcheon was asked to prepare a statement on the matter for next meeting. “I have been worrying the department for months to try and find out the true definition of a book.” Replying to the requests of a number of Meibom no booksellers who waited on him, and asked fci a more tatistactory interpretation of the Postal regulations in respect to book postage, the Postmaster-General of Australia (Mr B. R. Wise) made the a Dove admission, and added that even the efforts of two highly-placed Crown unvyers n.d an officer of the Parliamentary Kb: ary had failed to provide him with a satisfactory definition. Numerous examples of the curious and uncertain decisions of Postal officials when called upon to decide the question were mentioned by various speakers, who urged the value of books in a community. It waa suggested that the present regulation should be amended to provide for three divisions of literature —straight-out printed matter, manufactured stationery, and books. Mr Wise added that the department had never acted capriciously. It was disconcerting to him to know that the present regulation had been in force for ten years, and that there bad been no trouble'until recently. Ho . would endeavor as early as possible to bring about uniformity.

“While in Melbourne,” remarked Dr C. J. Reakes (Director-General of Agriculture for New Zealand) to a ‘ Dominion ’ representative this week, “I got in touch with, the Water Supply Commissioners, who arc in control of irrgation work in Victoria, and through them was able to obtain a groat deal of interesting information regarding irrigation methods as applying to agricultural and dairying lands. Victoria is pursuing a very energetic irrigation policy. For instance, a huge dam is being constructed on the Murray River near Albury, and when completed will hold an. enormous body of water, which will be used for irrigation purposes right down into South Australia. Some idea of the magnitude of the venture may be gleaned from the fact that it ia estimated that the construction costs will run into between one and two millions. 'When the irrigation policy comes into fell operation it should have the effect of greatly increasing production in the irrigated areas. Ono irrigation settlement visited was evidently very prosperous. It was devoted principally'to lucerne growing and to dairying, and the settlers were doing well. Though the initial cost of irrigation schemes is undoubtedly very heavy, the results in the form of increased production must be of great value. Fortunately irrigation .is not needed to any extent in New Zealand, but nevertheless the information gained ■will ba useful in certain directions.”