LOCAL AND GENERAL

Hawera Star, Volume L, 4 December 1930, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

The American tourist, liner Malolo sailed, from Auckland for Suva last night. The tourists paid warm tribute to New Zealand’s scenic wonders and hospitality. A number of them intend to return for further holiday-making. A well-known New Orleans banker described the Rotorua golf course as the iinest in the world.

The stair of t'he Pa tea Uaijbour Board’s dredge, when putting a pieice of drift-wood into the furnace, noticed a large lump of quartz embedded: in j the timber. On examination .the quailtz was found to be gold-bearing, but whether the log 'to which it was attached came from Up the river or was washed up on the beach after drifting from the South Island' coast, where gold deposits exist, it is impossible to say. A conference has been arranged between the management of the Stockton mine and the Miners’ Union to discuss the conditions of working of the 0 o’clock shift, which was the .matter in dispute during the recent strike. It is hoped as a result of the conference that the question will bo finally settled to the satisfaction of all parties. Nearly 00,000 radio listeners are licensed in New Zealand, according to the official figures made up .to October--31. 'Receiving licenses total. 58,781, made up as follow: Wellington, 24,223; Auckland, 17,530; Canterbury, 0707; Otago, 6395. Dealer’s licenses number--1198, transmitting, receiving 'and special licenses 260, .and free licenses’ 239. Addressing a conference oif local bodies in t'he Dunedin Town Hall, Mr W. Bromley, .a .member of the Unemployment Board, said that .the town of Fox ton was in a deplorable state at present. Nobody paid his rates and nobody paid his storekeeper. There was real hardship in the town, due 1 to the fact ‘that 'the price of flax had fallen very considerably. Unusual interest lias been evinced in the series, of farmers’ meetings to. be held throughout the Dominion to discuss political questions, and exceptionally keen enthusiasm was shown at; meetings of New Plymouth and Wan-i ganui committees yesterday. The indications are that the massed meeting to be held in Hawera on December 17, at 10.30 a.m., will be the largest gathering of farmers yet seen in the province.

It would seem Ithat Rear-Admira'l R. E. Byrd is not so well known in the United .States as New Zealand is given to believe, states the Dunedin correspondent. of the ''Times.” In September last, an Otago firm sent the. explorer a personal letter directed to his Nc(w Tofik address. Not finding him there, the postal authorities re-add,ress-ed the letter ltd Rochester, Where again the Rear-Admiral could not .be located, so the Post' 'Office in America liberally stamped) the envelope, ''Unknown,” and re!turned it to the sender, .who received it by the m’ail.

A meeting of the “Salaman Case” committee was held in New Plymouth last night, when it was announced that over 3000 signatures had been placed on the petition forms sent out. Petitions are still coming in from all parts of the Dominion and many additional testimonials have also been forwarded. The committee is still awaiting replies from the acting-Prime Minister and the Minister of Justice, but is in the meantime following up the resolutions passed at the recent public meeting. One hundred and twentynine petition forms carrying the 3000 odd signatures are being forwarded to the Minister of Justice. The Dominion executive of the 1 R.S.A. yesterday passed a resolution: ‘‘This Dominion executive has read with dismay statements in the Press indicating the intention on the part of the Government to dispense with the services of a large number of members of the New Zeaalnd permanent force, officers and other ranks, most of them men who actively served in the Great War and some of them men who gave up their civil avocations to take positions in the N'ew Zealand permanent forces after their return from the war, and emphatically protests against the dismissal of any men who served their country in the war.’ The resolution lias been communicated to the Minister of Defence with the request that it receive his most earnest support. Differing from the version given aj day or two ago at Auckland, Mr C. E. Brown \s account of the berthing at Wellington last week of the Matson liner Malolo tells of promptness and efficiency on the part of the port and health authorities and the Customs officers. Mr Brown, who lives in Sydney, is general manager for Australia and New Zealand of the Matson Navigation Company. Ho was a passenger on the Malolo from Australia to New Zealand and was on board when the ship was going through the pratique formalities at Wellington. Through the Now Zealand agents, Burns, Philp and Company, it was learned yesterday that Mr Brown' had commented on the minimum delay with which the vessel had been berthed. The Customs and health officers’ procedure was all that could be desired, he said, and considering the conditions the berthing was carried out "with a minimum of delay, having regard to the safety of the ship and the wharf.