OTAGO EXPANSION LEAGUE

Evening Star, Issue 20728, 26 February 1931, Page 13

OTAGO EXPANSION LEAGUE

MEETING OF EXECUTIVE Mr G. J. Errington presided over the monthly meeting of the Executive Committee of the Otago Expansion League on Tuesday evening. Amongst the correspondence dealt with was an application from a prospective settler, who wrote from England making inquiries as to the opportunities offering in the building trade for one who could start in that lino of business. Unfortunately the committee cannot find contracts for the firms already engaged in the business, and the reply forwarded must discourage any such venture at the present period. ( , The annual conference of South Island Progress Leagues falls to be held in Invercargill during the month of 3[arch, and the suggestion had been made from the league that the present conditions scarcely warranted such a gathering. This was duly submitted to the Progress League, and it, as the inviting body for the year, has submitted the question to the other members of the confraternity. It the majority decided that the time is inopportune, the meeting will bo held over for the year._ ■ . r The invitation from the Chamber or Commerce to attend the reception to be tendered to Lord Baden-Powell was accepted, and the league will be represented there by the president and several members. ' ' The President reported the result ol the deputation which had waited upon the Hon. W. B.' Taverner recently regarding the extension of irrigation in the Central Otago area. In this connection a repot t had been received from up country that there was a likelihood of work ceasing on the HaweaWanaka road, when the formation reached Makarora wharf. Ibis regarded as a most unfortunate position, and members expressed themselves as disappointed. The dream ol all u ell-

wishers of Otago has been the connection with South Westland, and the road under construction gives that promise. To stop at Makarora would nullify all benefits to be derived, because it is the timber country beyond the Pass which will make the road valuable. When it is remembered that there are great quantities of white pine in the indigenous forests that stretch from the mountains to the sea, and the ease with which road traction could bring over that timber out into shocks for fruit, cheese, and butter export, the stopping of this work on 'the threshold is to be combated. ' The secretary was accordingly instructed to communicate with the Hon. Minister of Public Works and press strongly for the continuation of the road work. The President reported to the committee a number of interesting facts in connection with the application of the internal combustion engine to railway traction, and the great strides which this now form of engineering is making. The matter is being taken up with the Hon. Minister for Railways, and it is hoped that the early change which is meditated in railway control and management will be found more amenable to the introduction of this modern method than its predecessors. Several matters in connection with phases of the■ unemployment problem, as to better method of utilising such labour, the remunerative, nature of such employment, and the means of adjusting the financial burden, were advanced a stage, and further consideration will be given at a later date.