LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 21 April 1925, Page 7

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

A Sydney message stated that De Volumnia’s" wheat charter (or Fremantle was cancelled, and the vessel sailed direct for Singapore.

For the month of Maxell permits for buildings issued by the borough inspector totalled £llß2. At a large gathering of Maoris at Urenui on Saturday Rr. Buck stated that the Government was prepared to open an inquiry regarding the right of the Maoris to compensation for land confiscated in Taranaki.

In all probability near'y 270 pupils of the Fit ham school will enter into occupation of the new school on the Conway Road on Monday. All inside work at the school, has been completed, save for the fitting of furniture and the enamelling of the dental clinic.— Argus.

During the financial year ended March 31 the Christchurch Tramway Board made a loss of £10,205. Earnings from operations were £266,071, operating expenses £185,028, interest and sinking fund £55,854, depreciation and renewals £30,063, and fire reserve £1331.

.iWnotiqe of interest to members and intending members of the Haw,era Operatic Society appears in this issue, a special meeting being convened for Thursday’ next at Borough Council Chambers at. 8 o’clock. A full attendance is requested, as the matter of the optra to be staged by the society this season will be fully gone into. Yesterday tbe Health Department’s stringent epidemic regulations were lifted, and consequently the■ children had their first opportunity in miaiiy weeks of attending' a public performanee. In the evening there were over 30 youthful ones at the pictures, and once again their merry laughter was heard greeting the many humorous situations arising in “the comedy’.” A London cable message states that All Saints’ British Church, Wandsworth, was crowded to hear a jazz band from a well-known West End music hall accompany the hymns at the evening service’. This is the first time a jazz hand has taken part in a church service. The congregation of All Saints’ includes a number of theatricals.

The steamer Gallic will load at G fborne this week a shipload of frozen veal and beef for Genoa, this being the first shipment ever made direct to Italy from Poverty Ray. There is a possibility that the. trade.may grow to Roily luge proportions and he a decided benefit to the district.

Ever since the settlement of the recent waterfront trouble at New Plymouth, evidence’ has been provided on the wharves of an arganisation policy of ‘go slow,’ states an exchange. Work at the port has not proceeded with the usual despatch, and there lias been considerable delay to boats. The position has become acute now, the work of loading several Home liners, taking nearly twice as long as usual. Mr F. C. Thomas, known throughout New Zealand as a sporting journalist and a trotting handicapped, was exceedingly pleasecl at the success of the Easter meeting of the Hawera Trotting Club, for which he was handicapper.’ Speaking to an Argus representative on liis return to Christchurch, Mr Thomas said he was certainly of opinion that trotting is increasing in favour in Taranaki. ’Mr Thomas should know, as he was handicapper for many years for the Wannabe Plains Trotting Club, which has now assumed the name of “Hawera.’’

Five Elthani motorists in a Ford car had a thrill on the Mangamingi Ridge on Sunday afternoon, when the car got out of control going down the hil 1 ., and, after an attempt to stop it by running it into the bank, it turned round and balanced on the edge of a steep bank. The car, which was going to the Presbyterian church service at ' Mangamjngi, was occupied by the following: Mr T. McQueen (driver), Rev. Oscar Blundell (New Plymouth). Mr Thomas Hodgen, Mrs R. L. Garden, and Miss Garden. —Argus. The North Canterbury Hospital Board, which commenced its financial year with a deficit of £11,865, finished up with a surplus of £1166. Nearly half a million —£479,000, to be exact—bad been handled by the hoard during the year, and fees had increased remarkably. The total of the estimated requirements for the year 1925-26 was £167,875, ns compared with £158,875 for the previous year.. The board expected that next year fees would provide an equally good source of revenue. A deputation from the Typographical Union and the Government Printing Office waited on the Hon. G. J. Anderson (Minister for Labour) at Wellington yesterday, objecting to more than six apprentices .being employed. Incidentally, the speakers criticised the low wages paid as being responsible for the shortage of compositors in the printing office. Outside offices, it was alleged, paid 5s to 10s a week more. The Minister, in reply, contended that with superannuation and other privileges Government employees were better off tha n other compositors. If the staff preferred it they could forego these privileges and work under the award of the Arbitration Court. The Public Service Commissioner was willing to let them have whichever they liked.