DOMINION ITEMS

Greymouth Evening Star, 7 December 1923, Page 2

DOMINION ITEMS

1 ‘ (Per Press Ajjsociation.) MEAT WORKS DISPUTE. GISBORNE, December 7. . The trouble at Vesty’s freezing works has been settled, the butchers having decided to resume work at the award rate, and refer the matter to the Disputes Committee for. settlement. TIMBER YARD FIRE. MASTERTON, December 6. A fire in the incipient stages was discovered in the timber yard of C. E. Daniell at 10.30 to-night. It had a good hold in a stack of Oregon and was not extinguished until the stack was destroyed. Fortunately there was no wind, or the loss of £14,000 worth of adjacent timber was inevitable. The water-pressure was totally inadequate to handle the conflagration had it spread. The insurance is £4OOO. A BABY’S DEATH. PALMERSTON N., December 7. The coroner’s enquiry into the death of Leslie Ellis, a child of ten months, showed that the mother was using a benzine iron, and a tin of benzine stood on the floor. The child upset it and its clothes were saturated. The mother, not noticing tms, picked the child up and the heat from the iron immediately ignited the clothes. The child was immediately placed in a bath, but died from its injuries. The coroner commented on the necessity of taking precautions when using benzine and keeping children away from it. STATE ADVANCES ACT. WELLINGTON, December 7. Interviewed regarding the operation of the State Advances Amendment Act, passed last, session, the ActinoMinister of Finance, Hon. Dowme Stewart, said he noticed criticism to the effect that more was being paid cut for the purchase of homes than for the erection of new homes, the inference being that sufficient steps were not being taken to remedy housing shortage. The figures showed, however, that for the specific purpose of erecting homes for workers since the new Act came into operation four months ago, £516,925 had been authorised for the erection of homes against £337,570 for the purchase of homes, the average loan for the erection of each home being £759. Money was being paid out at the rate of over half a million a month, and he fully anticipated the total of loans in the current year will approximate five million pounds.