Untitled

Evening Star, Issue 25577, 1 September 1945, Page 6

A bonus of 7d per bushel would be paid on wheat for the 1945-46 harvest, although the target of 235,000 acres was not likely to be reached, said .the Minister of Industries and Commerce, Mr Sullivan, last night. This would make the price for the season 7s Id per bushel. He wanted to make it perfectly clear, Mr Sullivan added, that this price referred to this season only. The basic price for wheat was still 6s 6d. " The end of the consultative comj mittee's task is in sight," said Mr A. H. O'Keefe, national president of the Public Service Association, in the course of an address to a meeting of Public servants. "We confidently expect that the committee's findings will be placed before the Government before end of September. With the' application of these recommendations and the carrying out of the promises made by the Prime Minister, Mr Fraser, iq recent discussions with the executive of the association, the hopes of Public servants for improved salaries should be realised," Mr O'Keefe adfcd. ' Replying to critics* of the Government's import selection policy, the Minister of Works, Mr Semple, stated in the course of the Financial Debate in the House yesterday, that since the policy had been operating, 1,200 new factories had been established in the Dominion employing 40,000 men and women. Their annual wage and salary total was between £10,000,000 and £1?,000,000. If the import restrictions were lifted, the result, when industry got into its stride, would be that those 40,000 people would have to be looking for a job, because our industries could not compete against the sweated labour of other countries. But this, he; added, was not to say that we should not trade with the Old Country to the limit. "These remarks about industry are mischievous, poisonous propaganda, the sort of thing of which the Minister is a past master;" declared Mr J. T. Watts (Riccarton). The Opposition, he continued, had never said it would allow the country's industries to go out of existence, for it had just as great an interest in them as any other party, and when it became the Government'it realised that it would not last long if it put people on the labour market by causing unemployment. Parliamentary reporter.

With the enrolment of its ten thousandth member yesterday morning Auckland R.S.A. set a new level for the Dominion. The new member who took the association's roll into five figures was Miss Ruby Monteith, formerly of the Second New Zealand Hospital,, who returned from the Middle East recently. With the present rate of influx the association anticipates a, membership approaching 20,000 by the end of the year." The number of returned men from the present war who are on the roll now exceeds that of the Great War veterans. ■

The New Zealand Red Cross Society has received a cablegram from Australian Red Cross headquarters in Melbourne stating that it has expanded its information centre to deal with inquiries for Allied prisoners of war and civilians interned in the Far East, and is prepared to handle inquiries through tho New Zealand Red Cross on behalf of next of kin or relatives in New Zealand. They are requested to supply to headquarters of the New Zealand Red Cross, Wellington, the following particulars:—The name and address of the war prisoner, his number, if known, the rank, and, in the case of civilians, the full name and the location of the last known camp. All inquiries will be answered by cablegram, regardless of the cost or effort, and interested persons are advised to treat the matter as urgent. The need for the services of the Defence Forces Personnel Committee no- longer existed, now that hostilities had ended, stated the Minister of Defence, the Hon. F. Jones, yesterday. "It will be remembered," said the Minister. " that the committee was established to assist me in maintaining, as far as possible, a proper balance in the utilisation of man power between the armed services and civil employment. The committee, by its efforts and investigations throughout the Dominion, was able to submit to me from time to time valuable reports and recommendations in pursuance of its order of reference. I desire," added the Minister, " to take this opportunity of expressing my appreciation to the members of the committee for their services, wliich I know imposed a considerable burden"on their time, but which were rendered in tho general public t interest in a difficult period.''—-Wellington correspondent.

Little of an outstanding nature emerged from the Budget debate in the House of Representatives yesterday. To date 33 members have, taken part, 17 from the Opposition and 16 from the Government side of the House. TJie indications are that the debate should be concluded next week. The House adjourned at 5.30 p.m. until Tuesday afternoon. The Dunedin Returned Services Association has received a donation of £SOO from the Dunedin Savings Bank for educational bursaries. This is to assist in the education of children of 'deceased ex-servicemen and similar deserving cases. Since the association commenced this work some years ago jnany pupils have shown. their, worth, and are now holdiin'g positions of trust in the commercial and professional, world. '

During' the month of August, 88 building permits, to the value of £86j832, were , issued by the city engineer's office. These included 18 permits for new dwellings, valued at £27,801, and nine permits for house units for the Government Housing Department, valued at £13,935. In August of last year 52 permits for work valued at £38,466 were issued. Telegraphic advice has been received by the secretary of the Otago Acclimatisation Society (Mr L. Millar) that a notice has been gazetted' extending the open season for the trapping opossums in the Otago district until noon on September 15. Skins must be presented for stamping before October 15. In the early stages penicillin was costly to produce, said Mr W. G. McKinley, bacteriologist to the Waipawa Hospital Board, in an address to the Waipukurau Rotary Club. America was the first source of supiply, and when first made availablo to hospitals a quantity sufficient for an eighteen-hour treatment cost between. £8 and £9. Some time later the cost of the same amount droippdi to 395, then to 19s, and to-day it Was 10s 6d. Penicillin was becoming more plentiful all the time, and the speaker thought it would become much cheaper. Figures compiled by the Census and Statistics Department on alien races in New Zealand (at the 1936 census date) reveals a total of 2,887 Chinese. The chief centres figures were Wellington 537, Auckland 314, Dunedin 188, and Christchurch 79. Of the grand total of Chinese in the Dominion at that date 914 were market gardeners, 672 retailers of vegetables _ and fruit, and 210 were employed in laundry work. • . " About £550 was collected on the streets yesterday to provide funds for a war memorial for members of the Maori race who have served overseas in the defence of New Zealand. The memorial' will take the form of a bay in tho Centennial Hall at Otakou. The organisers of the appeal wish to thank the public for its generous response. There' are several promises of money still to be redeemed.

At present being unloaded from an overseas vessel at Dunedin is a large shipment of Canadian wheat. Brought into tho country to relieve the wheat shortage, this shipment will go direct to tiio mills in Otago and Southland, and the flour will be blended with the local product before distribution to