Local and General.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XIII, Issue 283, 15 November 1923, Page 4

Local and General.

Australian mails by the Ulimaroa at Wellington are due nfere this evening.

An Adelaide cable states that Mr. John Cowan has been appointed to the Cabinet vacancy caused by the death of 8' J. G. Bice, Chief Secretary.

The Labour Department has consented to apply to th© Arbitration Court for a judgment as to whether employers are liable to pay wages to apprentices while in military camps this month and February. The Department contends the wages must be paid, as no award provision exists to the contrary. “I just want to let you know that ! am getting along fine up this way, and have worked up quite a decent little business. My £2OO worth of stock has just about trebled now, and I have no doubt about the future, and shall ever be grateful to your association for the assistance tendered inc.”—Letter from a soldier settler in Taranaki to the Waitotara Patriotic Association.

Cabinet yesterday agreed to th© suggestion that the term for hospital board loans should be extended from ten to twenty years, thus considerably reducing the annual charges on the loans, and the consequent requirements in the way of local body levies and Government subsidies.

Th© recognised main road from Takapau tu Hastings and Napier is ten miles longer than a better road traversing Onga Onga and "Maraekakaho, and the Hawke’s Bay County Council is going to take steps to let the public know the fact by erecting finger posts. The Hastings Girls' Friedly Society lodge will bo opened next Saturday at 2.3 U p.m., when all interesied are invited to attend The gathering will take the form of a “pound afternoon,” when donations of goods weighing a pound will be gratefully received. All members, honorary associates, and working associates arc requested to be in attendance.

The official opening of th© Napier Sailing Club will take place on Saturday next at 2.30 p.m. on the club’s grounds by the Mayor (Mr. J. B. Andrew). An entertaining sports programme has been arranged, so should the weather hold good an enjoyable tim© is promised to all. Afternoon tea and soft drinks will be provided, on th© grounds. Aard cars will be leaving th© town at 2 p.m.

At on© tim© it was decided to enforce the dog tax on th© Chatham Islands (says th© Christchurch “Press”). With this object in view summonses were issued to a largo number of natives. Fines wer© inflicted, but these were not paid, and th© natives gathered around th© lock-up clamouring to be allowed to “take it out.’’ Needless to say. no further attempt has been made to collect th© tax.

The inquest on th© body of Arthur C. Potts, who was found dead recently at th© Tomqana yards, early in ' the morning, which was adjourned so that the contents of the stomach might be anaylsed, was concluded yesterday afternoon in Hastings, before Mr. R. W. Dyer, coroner, 'ill© analyst’s report showed that there were no indications of poison in th© stomach, and a verdict was returned that death was probably caused either by a shock or concussion, as the result of a fall. .

A series of conferences of sub-com-mittees of the South Canterbury Power Board and the Tunaru Borough Council has been held negotiating for the sale to th© Board of the Council’s electric light and power plant. Yesterday the committees met, when the difference in the prices stood* at £lO,OOO. After two hours’ deliberation an agreement was come to and th© sale completed at £85,000. the parties dividing th© difference. The price includes approximately £ll,OOO sinking fund.

Letters arriving by recent mails from th© United States have in some cases borne th© new 2-conT stamp bearing the head of the late President Harding. The face is shown in profile with th© title “Harding” printed below. The colour of th© stamp is black on white. Th© reproduction of President Harding’s head as th© central figure of th© 2-ceht stamp is an unusual tribute lor th© United States authorities. the stamps generally bearing the likeness of Presidents who hav© long been historical figures, such as Washington and Lincoln.

Mr. W. E. Spencer and Mr. J. T. Mair, th© Education Department’s architect, with Mr. G. F. Roach, chairman of the H.B. Education Board, visited th© Hastings West School yesterday, as the result of th© representations made by Mr. A. J. Kirkham, chairman of the committee, urging that the work of remodelling the school b© proceeded with during th© Christmas holidays. Mr. Spencer was impressed with th© necessity of proceeding with the work as soon as possible, and said he would do what he could to urge the matter forward, to meet the wishes of th© committee.

Th© benefits of a municipal bank wer© urged by Mi*. T. Bloodworth at a meeting of the Auckland City Council (relates the “Herald”). In Great Britain, especially in Birmingham, said Mr. Bloodworth, he understood that not only were these banks of great value to the municipality, but of much benefit to th© citizens, and were paying 2 per cent., and even 3 per cent, on current accounts. H© suggested that this scheme be looked into, as the banking institutions were taking heavy toll of the country. Th© Mayor, while expressing his interest in the suggestion. pointed out that any such move on the part of the Council would be quite unauthorised in the absence of an amendment to the Municipal Corporations Act.

Mr. L. W. Fowler, who recently wrote to the Minister of Agriculture (Hon. R. F. Bollard) questioning whether the proposed agreement with Nelson Bros., Ltd, could legally be enforced inasmuch as the company proposed to return certain parts of the slaughtered animals, has received a reply, dated November 10th, in the course of which the Minister says: “So far as the question of offal is concerned, th© original draft of the agreement is being altered, so that it provides that butchers can claim any part of the animal for their own purposes, provided notice to that effect is given before the animal is slaughtered. This, on the one hand, safeguards the butchers’ interests, and on the other ensures that the company has t<> dispose of, properly, any offal the butchers do not require ” On© of the principal objecting butchers (Thompson Bros-) on being shown the letter, expressed the opinion that this alteration would meet their wihscs.