DOMINION ITEMS

Greymouth Evening Star, 11 December 1945, Page 2

DOMINION ITEMS

SMASH-AND-GRAB AUCKLAND, December 10. Twenty-five watches valued -at £l2O were stolen in a smash-and-grab raid carried out at the Wellesley Jewellers, Wellesley Street, shortly after • midnight on Friday. Chinese on the opposite side of the street heard the crash of glass and saw a man fill his pockets and run away. The watches stolen comprised the whole of the proprietors’ Christmas stock of those lines. WELLINGTON TRAMWAYS. WELLINGTON, December 11. Negotiations for a settlement of the Wellington tramway dispute wefe adjourned in the Conciliation Council yesterday. They will be resumed on Thursday, but in the meantime, a warning to the public that another tramway strike will almost certainly occur on Friday has been given by the Secretary of the Wellington Tramway Employees’ Union (Mr. P. A. Hansen). The official report of the negotiations yesterday said that the parties had failed to arrive at a settlement and had adjourned until Thursday. DUNEDIN BUTCHERS. DUNEDIN, December 11. Alleging the Master Butchers’ Association had broken the agreement with the union respecting the closing of shops over the Christmas and New Year periods speakers, at a meeting attended by 100 members of the Dunedin Butchers’ Union took strong exception to the Association’s decision to observe only the statutory holidays, Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day. The union President, Mr. L. Hesford, said an agreement was made for closing the shops from 9 p.m. Friday, December 21, until the morning of Thursday, December 27, with a further holiday period from December 29 to January 3. He emphasised that their award provided that such agreement was as binding as if inserted in the award, and the union demanded that its terms be adhered to. SAFEBREAKERS CAUSE FIRE WELLINGTON, December 11. “The thoughtless use of wallpaper to muffle the explosion of the charge,” in an attempt by thieves to blow an office safe, was considered by Chief Detective W. H. Dunlop to be the cause of the fire which broke out on Sunday morning in the premises of Hill and Jackson, Ltd., Ghuznee Street, Wellington. The outbreak originated in the room where the safe was located and after the firemen had quickly extinguished the blaze, it was discovered that the old safe which contained told records was surrounded by rolls of charred wallpaper. An attempt had been made to open it by an explosive, and wallpaper had obviously been stacked round it to deaden the blast of the explosion, and it is .thought the paper caught alight in the explosion. CHRISTMAS SHOPPING. HASTINGS, December 11. A protest at the hasty way in which the Shops and Offices Amendment Act passed through the House and introduced at a time when great inconvenience was caused to. customers engaged in shopping is to be sent by the Hastings Chamber of Commerce to the Minister of Labour, the Prime Minister, and to the member for Hawke's Bay. Viewing the legislation not from the businessman’s point of view, 'bst from that of the consumer, Mr. Hugh Baird thought the Chamber should strongly object to the hasty nature of the legislation. To introduce this legislation only three Saturdays before Christmas was a great inconvenience to the bulk of purchasers and to women and children in particular. Employers were not so much worried by the change because if they, put through any extra business on Saturday mornings, the bulk of it was absorbed in taxation. HARBOUR BOARD’S LOSS. WELLINGTON, December 10. Additional evidence was placed before the Price Tribunal, to-day, in support of the Wellington Harbour Board’s re-application for an increase of approximately 37 per cent, in certain dues and charges, which were declared essential, if the Board was to continue cargo handling. The figures showed that the profit from wharfingers’ department, the Board’s principal working department, had deteriorated from'6.l pence per ton, In 1939 to a deficiency of 12.2 pence in 1945. The actual loss on working in the 12 months ended September 30 last was £143,541. This included only half the increase in wages awarded from April, 1945. hence this year’s expenditure would include £23,500 for wages, additional to that macle last year. PRODUCER GAS VEHICLES WELLINGTON, December 10. The. Minister of Transport (Mr. O’Brien) made a further statement to-day on the revocation of the emergency regulations which exempted producer gas vehicles from the mileage tax. “Under regulations passed in 1934,” said the Minister, “power is given to the Minister of Transport to authorise a reduction by 70 per cent, of the mileage tax payable on motor vehicles propelled by similar types of apparatus to the- Diamond gasogene suction gas plant. This was one of the early types of producer gas devices, and during the war’the number of different types has increased considerably. In the circumstances, I have ruled that all of the devices of the type obtaining power from producer gas are to qualify for this concession, and thus a 70 per cent, reduction in the usual mileage tax payable will operate for all producer gas driven vehicles. This will be effective as from December 1 last, when the former exemption was revoked.” INSPECTING AIRCRAFT-CARRIER BLENHEIM, December 10. A record crowd of Marlborough people converged on Picton yesterday to see the Indefatigable, and completely overtaxed the facilities available. As a consequeunce, more than 2000 people who hoped to visit the ship were unable to do so. The fleet’s launches were ‘engaged in levying people to the carrier, which anchored about two miles from the waterfront, while the minesweeper Mai Mai, acting as tender to the carrier, was also scheduled to run a shuttle service. She, however, was mobbed for the first trip, her commander claiming that over 1000 people got on board. As a consequence, he ordered to tie up after the first trip to the Indefatigable. The tender’s orders were to carry only 200. The conditions were brilliant and the carrier and escort were an impressive picture when they sailed from the anchorage after a delay, due to the slow process of 1 clearing the ship by means of a lowleVer gangway.