CONFERENCES.

Grey River Argus, 22 July 1926, Page 2

CONFERENCES.

BEAL ESTATE INSTITUTE. HAMILTON, July 21. The Dominion annual conference of .the Beal Estate Institute of New Zealand opened at Hamilton to-day with l a large attendance of members from the different affiliated associations throughout the Dominion. Mr B. Foote (Timaru) is the President. The delegates were welcomed by the Mayor of Hamilton, Mr J. R. FoW- The conference is expected to extend over 'three days. COUNTIES’ CONFERENCE. PRESIDENTIAL REVIEW. WELUNGTON, July 20. The Counties Conference has opened, Mr. Jull presiding. The attendance was over one hundred, from all parts of New Zealand. Mr. Jull said that after a full year’s experience, it was seen that the finance of the Main Highways Board would permit of an increase in the contribution. The Board was given power to increase the amount £ for £, which was paid last year. It had been found that as the counties became more alive to the benefits accruing from the Board’s contributions they also increased their expenditure with great benefit to the main highways. Taxation from motor traffic was steadily increasing, and the demand of the roads for maintenance was also proportionately greater. He was sanguine enough to believe that still greater contribution could with safety be granted by the Board, if legislative authority was obtained.

In regard to the complaint relating to alleged high administrative costs of county councils, he took the opportunity o>f going into the matter rather closely, and was able to show tnat the published statistics, because of the misleading method of compilation did not disclose the true position. The Statistician has expressed a desire to have the tables more accurately compiled. Mr. Jull trusted that county councils would undertake on their part to give every facility to have accuracv obtained.

Arising from a motion to- amend the Auctioneers’ Act to provide that license fees be paid to the county council in whose, district the auctioneers transact the bulk of their business, the chairman’s suggestion that there should he an apportionment at the close of the year, similar to- the heavy traffic fees, was adopted. An alteration from 25 per cent, to three-fifths of the persons qualified to vote, in the case of a petition for inclusion in a borough of a portion of a county was carried, also a motion that in any poll upon a proposal to include part of a county in a borough, each elector shall hav e and may exercise the number of votes he would be entitled to under Section 30 of the Counties Act, 1920 at election of a member of the council.

ELECTRICAL ENGINEERS. N.Z. Association. WELLINGTON, July 20. The conference of electrical supplyengineers was opened to-day by the Minister of Public Works. Between sixty and seventy delegates were present. The Minister stressed co-operation between the Public Works Department and the Association, adding that the Department fully appreciated the work the Association had done, was doing and would do. He was glad to see that the conference would discuss the soundness or otherwise of planting wooden poles all over une country. H$ also expressed the hope that it might be possible to arrive at some uniformity in charges. The executive’s report was adopted It emphasised the importance o f the forthcoming discussion on rules and regulations for electrical installations. The conference would also have b«fore it a model set of safety rules, the importance of which was obvious. Committees would be set up to consider the question of charges, and the desirability of some uniform system. It was pleasing to note that any iso lation that may have existed between the State Department and the supply authority engineers had now completely disappeared.