NEWS AND NOTES.

Hokitika Guardian, 15 April 1929, Page 5

NEWS AND NOTES.

“N**w Zealand is on tlit‘ verge of a rciii.scital ion nl •fold and nllkt. inincra!j iit-i n«5 activit.it*>.” stated an experienced milling viigiiioer to a ”l)<>- • ii ll i<j ll reporter in Wellington. “This "ill ho brought about through the fact l: l ,! * t it is now possible to extract ’\'or\' mineral and metal contained in "I'es. Alt. Lyall is already utilising nljihnrie acid derived from ore con- ■ •ntrates in the mannlactnre of superihosj'hates. and the hulk of the prods from That mine come from that ’•"•■'Uch of its operations. The Hauraki toldfields eon La in millions of tons of re•raetor.v low-grade ore of a value of roni oilwt. to ]2dwt. It may not to long Indore numerous companies spring up in the Dominion to develop the latent wealth eontaind in New Zealand*s low-grade ores. The Companies Act will need to h ( > revised to facilitate the cheaper formation of these companies.”

111-starred from the start of her career has been the Wanganui dredge Kaione. on which one man was killed and two others were gravely hurt, in a recent explosion. Drought out some years ago as the last word in design and construction, the vessel proved hopelessly unsuited to working the class of material she was required to handle at Wanganui, and an ancient pontoon dredge that looked more like a relic of tlx* gold dredging days than a marine unit continued to keep the Wanganui Diver as clear of silt as possible. Whim put to work in harder material in Wellington Harbour the! Kaione was at once successful. Never-j theless the owners had difficulty in j seliing her, though she was on the bar-j 'rain counter for years. It is eliarac- 1 feristic of the evil influence that lias brooded over the Kaiono that the tragedy Irrpponed when she was on the point of departing for a new sphere* of action at Nelson.

Dofarians in New Zealand were recently astounded by the announcement that the Pope has forbidden priests of the Homan Catholic Church to join rotary clubs. Some light was thrown on tin* reasons for this decision hv an Irish priest now resident in Home, who is at present on a visit to the Dominion. The speaker emphasised the point that he was giving his private opinion on the matter and was not speaking on behalf of the church. He said that in France, the head council of Freemasonry was a body known as the Grand Orient, which was not only anti-Catho-lic. hut it also wished to abolish all religions. The Grand Orient was purely anti-religious. English Kreeinasonrv broke with the Grand Orient .‘lO or 40 years ago, added the speaker. .Many of tin* members of the Grand Orient, which held that the belief in God was ridiculous, had obtained prominent positions in the Rotary clubs ol I ranee and fspain. In Spain especially the bishops of various dioceses had noticed this fact, and they had held that they could not have Roman Catholics in clubs controlled by men who were avowedly anti-religious. The priest who imparted this information mentioned that in America, which he had recently visited, tin* Dotary clubs were not affected in that way. and both in the United States and in Ireland, Catholic priests took ail active part in Rotary work.

In the course of the first of 11 series of addresses oil local government which lie is delivering in Auckland, Pro less r Beishaw said that the linance of local bodies had now approached the magnitude of national finance. In 1918 State expenditure, including that on railways, was £15,(190,001), and in 11)2(5 L‘2;i,5()0,1)0U. Jn that period local body expenditure ro.se lrom £7,000,000 to £“21.000.000. It was now almost as great as national expenditure and was increasing far more rapidly. In the same way taxation increased by 40 percent, between 1917 and 1920, whereas rates increased by over 100 per cent. State indebtedness was £151,009.000 in 1918 and £240,00!),(XX) in 1920. Local body indebtedness rose from £2" ,500,000 to £59,500,000 in that period, the percentage increases here I icing, roughly, 50 and 100 respectively.

The annual conference of progress leagues ol the ‘South Island is tu be opened in Blenheim next Thursday. Among the remits to be considered with a view to their being sent on as recommendations to the Government are the following from the Marlborough Progress League and the Otago Expansion League: The matters ol roads to communicate with Westland; afforestation of head waters of rivers and waste lands; the acquisition of scenic reserves in the South Island; tfie introduction of a superior class of fur-hearing opossum into the forest lands of the south and Most Coast with a view to making possible, a lucrative local industry at a period ol tile year when unemployment is most, in evidence; the advisability of settling parties upon tTie land under conditions similar to those of the group settlement scheme which has worked so well in Western Australia.