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Evening Star, Issue 21037, 26 February 1932, Page 8

The postal authorities advise that the Tamaroa, due at Wellington next Wednesday, has 529 bags of mail and 374 parcel receptacles for New Zealand. The Dunedin portion should be to hand on Thursday afternoon. A recommendation by the committee was adopted at last night’s meeting of the Otago Harbour hoard that steps be taken to enforce the by-law prohibiting cycling on the wharves, offenders to be prosecuted. The Master Builders’ Federation Conference, sitting at Wanganui, passed a resolution that representations be made to the Prime Minister (the Rt. Hon. G. W. Forbes) urging the abolition of the Apprentices Act and a reversion to the apprenticeship clauses under the old awards which were in operation prior to the Apprentices Act coming into force. The following officers were elected President, Mr J. W. Graham (Christchurch); vice-president, Mr W. Ellis (Dunedin). The next annual conference will be held in Dunedin. The New Zealand Society of Accountants has elected the following councillors for the current year Auckland district, Mr J. M. Elliffe; Canterbury, Mr W. A. Smith; Otago, Mr J. W. Smeaton; South Canterbury, Mr P. B. Foote; Southland, Mr J. B. Reid; Wellington, Mr E. W. Hunt; Hawke’s Bay, Mr M. S. Spence. In this issue is reprinted an article on ‘ God Defend New Zealand.’ It is well worth perusal and consideration, and conveys the valuable suggestion that the song might bo appropriately played or sung frequently at New Zealand concerts and other gatherings. At present outsiders seem to value it higher than we do.

“ I want tp impress upon members the absolute necessity of curtailing expenditure,” said Mr E. E. Tyson at last night’s meeting of the Harbour Board. He stated that the revenue during the last four months had gone down £7,000. He could see items of expenditure in which economies could be made. A loss of £7,000 in four months was enormous. The chairman (Mr J. Loudon) said that in reference to this he had intended asking the board to fix a special meeting. Mr T. Anderson: “Wasn’t tho position of a certain servant of the board to be reviewed in six months’ time?” The chairman said that he would refer to the whole position when the board went into committee subsequently, and the discussion lapsed. It was subsequently decided to hold a special meeting of the board early in March.

Legislation described by Christchurch solicitors as “ certain to spell tho death knoll of tho mortgage lending business and a staggering attack on the rights of mortgagees” is contemplated as a means of assisting men on the land. Reports now current say that it is intended to do away with the personal covenant provision of mortgages, by which a mortgagee has access to assets outside the actual security _ for the mortgage. Similar legislation was brought into effect in New South Wales last year, tho claim being that the burden would then bo lilted from those having mortgages over properties.— Christchurch correspondent.

Authority has been given by the Works Committee of tho Drainage Board, for the construction of 130 ft of Gin sewer extension in Glenelg street, Kaikorai, at an estimated cost of £67. The sewer is required to servo one house already erected and other properties which may bo erected in the future higher up the street. Those desiring an enjoyable outing for to-morrow afternoon are recommended to visit the Otago Aero Club’s aerodrome at North Taieri, where an exhibition of stunts and fancy flying will be given hy the club’s pilots, and passenger flights will also bo made. In order to make it convenient for as many as possible to attend, the City Corporation has agreed to run a bus service to the aerodrome, starting from Cargill’s Monument, Princes street, at 2 p.m., and returning from tho grounds at 4.15 p.m. Tho members of the Aero Club are putting a great deal of honorary work into the initial stages of the club’s development, and nothing would encourage them more than to see a bumper attendance at tho Otago airport. Tho Gas Committee of the City Council has given instructions for the laying of ten chains of bin main in Evans street, North-east Valley, for the purpose of improving the supply in this street, at an estimated cost of £IOO. At last night’s meeting of the Otago Harbour Board the committee reported that a communication had been received from Messrs Thomsons Ltd. drawing attention to tho fact that at the signal station at Taiaroa Heads there were the remains of tho trenches of an old Maori fortified pa, and asking that they should not bo obliterated. The committee recommended for approval the secretary’s reply that the matter of the preservation of tho trenches would be brought before tho board if the site were pointed out to the engineering department. The recommendation was adopted. The tramway manager’s report of the traffic returns for tho past fortnightly period as compared with the corresponding period of last year shows a decrease in tho revenue of £6BO for all lines and buses. The total decrease since the beginning of the financial year amounts to £10,429, equal to 6.68 per cent. Asked to-day about Dunedin tramway matters, Cr John Wilson (chairman of tho Tramways Committee) said; “ The ordinary day traffic is being fairly well maintained. What we are feeling the most is the decline in Sunday and holiday traffic. The people are economising sharply, not spending so much on pleasure. The tramway services in other cities are having the same experience. Auckland is suffering more than Dunedin is in that way. The broken weather is also retarding our recovery. It is difficult to estimate the loss to our department caused by the rain last Saturday. On a fine day we would have carried thousands to the cricket match. We have not, however, got to the stage of losing hope of a recovery in the revenue. We are watching the position carefully, effecting economies wherever possible, and doing all in our power to continue to the public the advantages they enjoy.” Instructions have been given hy the General Committee of tho City Council to record for consideration with the estimates for the incoming financial year the work of fitting wooden shutters over the opening on the landward and seaward sides of tho St. Clair pavilion to provide greater comfort for users of the premises; also the enclosing of a portion of each of the attendants’ roms. The total estimated cost is £36.

On Monday of next week the University section of the Medical Corps will go into camp at Matarae. The camp is to be for instructional purposes, and there is a wide field of subjects to cover. Colonel Hercus is to be in command. Probably the muster will be close on 100.

An application has been made by the Dunedin Arcade Company Ltd. for some concession in the matter of the lighting of Broadway, and the E.P. and L. Committee recommends that a grant of £lO per annum be made to the company as a contribution to the public lighting of this pedestrian thoroughfare, such concession to endure only during the pleasure of the council.

The Dunedin Horticultural Society’s flower show this week is regarded as a success. Mr G. A. Skene, the president, said this morning; “We had a good attendance yesterday, making up for the slackness on the first day on account of the wet weather. To say that we are pleased with the support accorded is to state the position very temperately. We are not only pleased, but encouraged. That is the feeling of the committee. We highly value the appreciative spirit shown by the public, and the co-operation of professional as well as amateur gardeners. The show will do the society a deal of good in bringing together all classes of horticulturists, those who can grow successfully and those who wish to know how to get satisfactory results.”

Authority has been given by the Water Committee to replace the tin pipe supplying four houses in Riego street with a lsin connection off the main in Forth street and a lin service pipe down the adjoining right-of-way at an estimated cost of £23 10s. _ The supply at present from the lin pipe is proving inadequate. In recognition of past services to band associations throughout New Zealand the following were elected life members at the annual meeting of the New Zealand Bands’ AssociationDr H. T. J. Thacker, Captain T. Herd, Lieutenant W. V. Siddal, Messrs J. Crichton, W. S. King, W. Jupp, and M. Cohen.—-Press Association.

Wellington Hospital Board will close its financial year with a deficit of about £31,000, according to the chairman, who added that the position was not quite so bad as it was expected to he some eight months ago.—Press Association.

The procession of unemployed through the streets yesterday was an orderly one and passed off without any untoward incident. The only excitement during its progress along Princes street was when an amateur photographer who had ventured on the roof of the verandah at Stewart Dawson’s Jewellery shop put his foot through a sheet of glass. The majority _of those in the procession marched quietly, but some occasionally gave ironic cheers when police were sighted, while both newspaper offices on the line of march were “ counted out.” “ Work, Not Charity,” “ No. 5 Scream,” “ Landlords, Wake Up! No Pay, No Pont,” were some of the captions on the banners carried. About a dozen men formed a vanguard, wearing red rosettes, with a red banner in front of them on which it was claimed that the only solution of the present troubles' was “ Production For Use.”

Automatic false alarms at 12.12 p.m. and 3.1!3 p.m, yesterday wore responsible for the summoning of the City Fire Brigade to Messrs Kempthorne, Prosser, and Co.’s warehouse in Stafford street.

Wellington _ City Council last night refused permission to the local picture houses to exhibit pictures on Good Friday. The mayor said the council had declined to allow tins theatres to open on Good Frday for the past two years, and tin/ position was reaffirmed by nine votes to six.—Press Association.,

After a sojourn of ten days in this port the sloop Veronica sailed yesterday afternoon for Stewart Island. While at the island the sloop’s crew will hold its regatta. Tho Veronica will afterwards visit Timaru, Akaroa, Lyttelton, and Picton. The ship is also scheduled to visit the West Coast Sounds or the Bluff, but tho nature of the weather at tho time will determine which of these two places it is to be. Advice has been received hy the City Corporation from the Minister of Transport that the Order in Council will shortly be gazetted adding to the Dunedin transport district the Boroughs of Green Island, Port Chalmers, West Harbour, and St. Kilda, together with tho Peninsula County and the Dunedin-Port Chalmers main highway. Wellington football players who receive injuries in Soccer and Rugby matches this winter will have to foot their own bill. This decision has been arrived at by the controlling bodies as the result of the Hospital Board deciding to charge full rates instead of half rates, as formerly, for treatment in the local institution of injured players.—Press Association.

The Reserves Committee of the City Council reports having considered •an application from the Board of Governors of the Otago Boys’ and Girls’ High Schools for permission to erect another temporary school building on the Town Belt at Littlebourne Park, or alternatively the construction of additions to the present temporary building. The last-named structure was placed on the Town Belt in 1926 on the condition that it was to be removed within five years. When that period expired tho High Schools Board asked for and received the sanction of the council to an extension of the privilege for a further period _of three years, making eight years in all. The committee is of the opinion that the assistance already extended the applicants in this matter should be regarded as the maximum, and is, therefore, unable to recommend tho granting of any further similar use of the Belt, either by way of extension to the existing building or for the erection of another building. The multiplicity of details which claim the attention of Unemployment Committees kept tho Port Chalmers body busy for over an hour yesterday afternoon. Some of these details were as follows: —Unemployment was increasing locally, and the allotments for relief work were being reduced; hence the rationing of relief work; some relief workers took an hour and twenty minutes for lunch, and some went to breakfast after being allotted their jobs for tire day, at turn-to time in the morning; on the other hand, some worked well and conscientiously throughout the eight hours; was it in order for relief workers to make staging for a club shed; should a man who owned a motor car and a motor boat be put on relief work; a new starter, unaccustomed to pick and shovel, had worked hard, and at the end of the first day had two handfuls of blisters. Amongst the suggestions made by members of the committee was one to the effect that closer supervision in some cases would tend to produce better results in work done; another suggestion was that a more useful class of work would be an incentive to better results, because a man naturally had more heart for a job that, when finished, would serve a useful purpose. A comment on a specific relief work job that “ had cost seven times as much as it would have cost if done by contract ” was not accepted as generally applicable to all relief work, an instance being quoted of a job costing less than a contractor would have charged. The committee, though occasionally perplexed, was conscientiously doing its best to fulfil the difficult function of a go-between, with due regard to the instructions of the Unemployment Board and the needs of the unemployed.

The Works Committee of the Drainage Board recommends that, in view of the need for reducing the scope of the board’s construction works consequent upon the reduced amount of loan money available, none of the tenders received for reinforcing steel rods be accepted. The committee adds that fresh tenders can be called later for the minimum quantity of steel needed to cope with the work authorised.

An interesting review of life in Palestine was given at the University Club luncheon this afternoon by Dr Bathgate, who is stationed at the Edinburgh Medical Mission Hospital at Nazareth. Dr Bathgate spoke of the activities of the various departments in operation under the British mandate and the consequent development of the country. Both Arabian and Zionist peoples imagined they possessed the land, and this friction gave rise to some distress. Dr Bathgate hoped, however, that as the country progressed there would be room for all. He went on to refer to the police system and the difficulties attendant upon the investigation of crime, and spoke appreciably of the excellent type of men in the British Army forces there, concluding with a comparison of the social systems of Palestine under the British and Syria under the French. Dr Bathgate was warmly thanked for his talk. During the month of January 6,550 adult readers’ tickets were applied for at the Public Library as compared with 6,591 in January, 1931. It will be noted that there is practically no diminution in the number of applicants, notwithstanding the restriction recently imposed limiting the issue to two tickets to each family. It is anticipated that, when the final returns come in, while the restriction will not have brought about any appreciable difference in the number of tickets issued, it has probably been some benefit in bringing tie position before readers. The preparation of the books for the various schools coming under the scheme of school libraries for 1932 has now been completed by the staff of the Public Library. Books have been sent to fourteen schools, the total number of volumes sent out being 2,380. In several instances the number of books was increased to provide a supply for tho pupils in the Fourth Standard. In five schools Standards V. and VI. are supplied, in five schools Standards IV., V., and VI., and in four schools a sufficient number is sent to provide for all ihe pupils. During the year 'just closed 1,830 volumes were sent to the schools, and the issues to the children numbered 17,257. Niue of the volumes were missing on the final stock-taldng, but it is expected that several of these may be returned. Commendatory references have been received from a number of school teachers as to tho value of the library to tho pupils, and it is evident that both tecchers and scholars greatly appreciate and make the best use of tlie privileges which are being afforded by the library.

The Vinter Garden management has again secured tho services of Mr Arthur Frost and his Symphonic Dance Band for the Artlnr Street Hal) dance to-morrow night, hast Saturday this band was applauded to the echo, and a large attendance is anticipated to-morrow evening. At a special service in First Church on Sunday evening, at 6.30, the provincial president, executive, and members of the League of Mothers and of the Mothers’ Union vill attend. Mrs George .Scott will sing the solo, ‘ The Gift.’ The subject will bo/ ‘ Tin- Challenge to Try Christ’s Way.’ A large gathering of (he league and of the union isoxpccicd, and friends of these societies arc cordially invited.