LOCAL AND GENERAL

Evening Star, Issue 18030, 26 July 1922, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL

■Arrangements , are now sufficiently advanced (say» the ‘Brace Herald') te warrant the announcement that the Bruce Herald' newspaper and job printing business has been sold by Mr L. R. losswill to a local syndicate. Tho transfer takes effect from August 1. A Christchurch message states that it is not considered 1 likely that bread will be reduced iu price yet awhile. The Board of Trade is awaiting in connection with the reported reduction in the price of flour before taking any action.

At a mooting of county council delegates in Christchurch yesterday a resolution was passed approving of tho scheme of hospital rating, which is based _ two-thirds upon capital' value and ofio-third upon population. A deputation was appointed to wait on the Minister 'of Health to request tho necessary amendment of; the law.

Tho Conciliation Council was engaged again yesterday in hearing the Wellington tram dispute. ■'Double time was agreed oiv for Anzac Day. The union did not press' Us claim for extended holidays. • It was also agreed that any man called _ before; the management should have the right to bo represented by a member of the union. Tho conference decided to - discuss tho wages at a special meeting of parties to be held on Thursday. Tho parties differed on the preference clause. Tho Commissioner suggested the following clause;— That the council shall have the right to j engage workers whether they are memhers of the union or not, • provided that 1 if such are non-unionists and do not; within fourteen days after engagement; become and remain financial members of | the union they shall be dismissed. j Half a dozen Timaru drapers were pro- ! scented yesterday by Mr Arnold (inspecunder section 31 of the Shops and Oil ices Act, requiring suitable heating ap- | piiancos to be provided. The principal contention of the prosecution was that the , Act required provision to be made for | “the comfort and health of employees.”’! Sir W. D, Campbell, for the defence, nr- i gited that the temperatures disclosed 42deg to 48deg, which was not prejudicial to health. Dr Talbot gave evidence to this effect. Several shopkeeper? testified that their employees had never been ill through cold. Dr Telford (medical officer, Canterbury) described tho physiological effects of chills, and pointed out how these were liable to be contracted by employees. Most of tho defendants had made provision for heating _ subsequent to the informations being laid, but only in one case was-such provision satisfactory, though in two it was partially so. The magistrate (Mr E. D. Mosley) said he would take an oppor- I trinity to examine the appliances and effects in the shops, and he reserved his decision. '■

At, a meeting of_ the Dunedin Gardeniog Olub .last evening Mr D. Miller (Go- ( verament Entomologist) delivered an ilia- 3 - ], (rated lecture on ‘ Common Garden Insect I! Pests.’ The lecturer described the methods |. of control which could be adopted with the j! best prospects, 'of success.' These methods > he divided into two main classes—namely, stomach poisoning: for caterpillars, etc., and contact poisoning for scale insects and I, aphis—and he explained-in some detail the ’ respective means by which the two hinds : of insects assimilated tho poisons and wore ■, destroyed by them. Speaking of earwigs, I ho stated that the methods of controlling j this insect were at present unsatisfactory. | The method which had proved most sue- j ccssful was to poison the young earwigs ; in spring with a mixture of arsenate of lend in Tho form of a thin paste which . could be spread on stale bread or bran, and slightly sweetened so as to attract the insect. In dealing with the problem he- had instituted inquiries in other parts of the world, and as a result there was every probability that an insect which lived as a parasite on tho earwig would be introduced into this country. At the close of his address Mr Miller answered a number of questions and gave a good ■deal of individual advice as to the best way of dealing with particular pests. If they forwarded ■to him specimens of the j>cvcts which they wished to exterminate, as \ell as a portion of the plant being, he would, he said, do his best to assist them. On the motion of tho chairman, Mr Miller was accorded a very hearty vote of thanks, Mr Hollingworth stating that the club was deeply indebted to the various Government experts who had delivered addresses. Mr R. B. Tcnnent manipulated the lantern. 1 The first meeting.of the new Council of Churches (which has reverted to tho original form of ■ representation—each church to have representatives) was held on Monday. The Rev. W. Saunders was elected /president, and tho Rev Knowles Kempton ' secretary. Canon Nevill and the Rev. Charles Dallaston were elected vice-presidents, Mr A. E. Roaevear treasurer, and the Revs. G. H. Jupp, 51. A. Rugby Pratt, C. E. Eaton, and Messrs H. IT. Driver. W. H. Adams, Jas. Farquharson, Charles Wilkinson, and Captain S’undstrum -members of the Executive Committee*.’ It was left to the executive to nominate committees to deal with various aspects of the work of the council. It was resolved that there should _be only male representation on the council, except in the case of sisters of the church and deaconesses, who are eligible’for membership if they desire it, and will bo warmly welcomed. Churches which have not yet appointed delegates are to be urged to do so, in order that the decisions of the council on important questions may carry S all the weight possible, and influence public opinion the- more effectively. It was unanimously agreed to, record an emphatic protest against the proposal before Parliament that the bookmaker should be legalised, and the secretary was directed to forward the protest to the Prime Minister, the Minister of internal Affairs, and the M.P.s for Otago and Southland. Various questions wee suggested for discussion at the next meeting, and it was left to tho executive to prepare tho programme. W 7 hilo playing with a detonator, which, she had obtained by some unfortunate chance, the eleven-year-old daughter of Mr J. Mason, of Puramahoi (Nelson), met i! \vith a serious accident, the_ detonator exploding and practically blowing off one of the child’s hands. Anparently a yearly affair : One woman advising the Educatidn Board of the reason for her son being absent from school for a whole afternoon, stated that he was having a bath in preparation for the annual ball of the school. The afternoon coincidentally was that on which the ‘ Maid of the Mountains ’ showed in

Napier.—Hawke’s Bay ' Tribune.’ Very few meetings of the W T anganui Education ‘ Board are allowed to "pass

(states the ‘ Herald ’) without some enterprising picture firm or amusement combination wanting to get the sanction of the board to interview tho teachers with view to providing an entertainment for the children for a, small consideration. When two of these requests came before the last meeting of the board, Mr Fraser said it was remarkable the number of ■ business people who were out to exploit 1 the schools. Tho chairman agreed, and 1 said tho board should provide a wasts- ! paper basket for the secretary, so that I he *ould toss these., communications iißo ' it as soon as they arrived. A rare Now Zealand bird, the royal -.spoonbill, was shot on the Ruamahimga River, near Martinborough, recently, and a rare'old tangle'of claims has followed --(says the Wellington ‘Post’). Tho man with the gun took it to a Martinborough taxidermist, who sdt to work about the bird, which was badly shot about. Tho man 'with the gun said that he was sorry that he had shot it, whatever it was, and the taxidermist did not know just where he stood, as he could not name the bird, and did nqt know whether it was protected or not.' While ho was still , thinking ■ it ■ over, a second sportsman called in and claimed tho partly-mounted i bird as his own, a “ pet” he had on his 1 station for . quite a time.- Others called I in and remembered tho bird as a visitor > at-their stations ns vvell. The man with j-the gun was apparently willing to give the' bird up, but at that stage the taxidermist. not being satisfied with the justness I of the claims' made, wrote to tho Walj lington Acclimatisation Society -suggesting that-the best plare for the spoonbill was the Dominion Museum. The society 1 thought so, too, , and will communicate • with "those concerned accordingly.