CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

Greymouth Evening Star, 11 May 1929, Page 5

CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

MONTHLY MEETING.

The monthly meeting of the Greymouth Chamber of Commerce took place yesterday afternoon, when, in the absence abrbad of Mr, Joseph McLean, President, Mr F. A. Kitchingham was in the chair. iMr Kitchingham reported briefly upon the interviews with the. Hon. W. B. Taverner, Minister of Railways, and stated that he ha!d expressed himself as being favourably impressed regarding cheap railage of straw to the Coast from Canterbury, but had been non-committal in regard to other matters.

Since the Minister’s visit, Mr J. B.

Bunt said that he had been in conversation with officers of the Forestry Department, and he thought there .was a reasonable prospect of reduction of royalties on silver pine. Intimation was received from the Railways Department that passengers from the North Island to the West Coast could reserve seats on the West Coast train while in that Island.—-The letter was received, Mr A. Naylor stating that the arrangement seemed to bo. very fair.

[ The Chairman added that there was , really nothing more to be said regarding the matter as long as people ' knew that they had the opportunity "of making the reservations in the North Island.

The Associated Chambers of Commerce forwarded an intimation that the Government had decided upon abolition of the cash on delivery system by postal parcels, but pointing out that, in accord with agreements with the British postal authorities, it would require twelve months before the carriage of such parcels could be discontinued. A specimen of a primary school progress card, which it was proposed to keep as a record of every pupil in the Dominion, was forwarded by the Education Department. It was explained that it was the intention of the Department that when a pupil finally left a primary school he should be given a copy of the record, mainly

in order that he might present it when seeking admission to a Secondary or Technical School. With reference to others who did not go to such schools, the Department was of opinion that the information contained on the card might be to employers when engaging young people upon leaving school, and an expression from the Chamber upon that point was sought. Mr Kitchingham said that usually an employer took a recommendation from a master as to the aptitude of an applicant for a position. Mr J. W. Greenslade thought that the proposal was .'in keeping with the new system of.training pupils in accordance with their aptitude. It was decided to leave the matter in abeyance to enable members to study the card to ascertain whether the information it would contain would be of use to e mployers as a

guide. In accordance with notice, Mr. Bunt moved that., for a three months ■ trial, meetings of the Chamber be held in the evening at 7.30 o’clock instead of in the afternoon. He explained that the business of members was usually of such a nature that it required their personal attention before closing time. If meetings of the Chamber were in the evening then at least they could give more time to matters which were submitted. It. had been said that members did not like to come out on winter nights, but he thought it was preferable to do so than to have to rush away from a meeting to close up businesses.

Mr. B. Tate seconded the motion. He and Mr. N. B. McCallum both said that the evening meetings were worth giving a trial. Mr. A. Naylor favoured the afternoon meetings, as he was one who did not wish to go out in the evenings too much. He considered that the business done during the last twelve months was quite satisfactory, as the Chamber had effected a lot of things for the district. Attendance was not everything as long as they got the right men to go along. However, he had no objection to a trial for three months. Mr. J. W. Greenslade expressed a similar willingness to accept the change as an experiment. The motion was' then carried. It was also decided that a suggestion that the meetings should be held somewhere nearer the residential area should be kept in view.