LOCAL AND GENERAL

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXIX, Issue 4723, 23 July 1935, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

To-night Mr. F. C. Perry, formerly resident in Te Kuiti, will deliver a lecture in the Presbyterian Church at 7.30, his subject being- "The Mission to Lepers." Mr. Perry is New Zealand Secretary of the Mission, and the lecture will show what is being done to ameliorate the lot of these striken people. A ocrdial invitation is accorded the public to attend the lecture.

Criticism of the Transport Act, particularly in its application to the restriction of goods services, was voiced by delegates at the conference of the New Zealand Farmers' Union last week. A resolution was passed urging an amendment of the Act by the discontinuance of the licensing of goods services in rural districts. Mr. P. J. G'Regan (Wetsland) described the Act as a most iniquitous sort of thing. It called upon a man to state why his living should not be taken away from him, a'nd it gave big and well-established firms an unjust advantage.

Heavy losses to the Dominion which might accrue under a system of guaranteed prices to farmers such as that suggested by the Labour Party, were indicated by Mr. M. E. Lyons, Nationalist candidate in the Lyttelton by-election, in an address at Woolston on Wednesday night. Mr. Lyons quoted figures to show the total losses, if there were a unit loss of Id a pound on each of the most important primary products. The loss on butter, he said would be approximately £1,200,000, on cheese £BOO,OOO, on beef £BOO,OOO, on mutton £1,200,000, on lamb £1,300,000, and on wool £1,250,000. "These figures will suggest the loss which the consuming public might have to face if such a proposal were made effective," said Mr. Lyons.

There may be plenty of honour and glory in being able to write "J.P." after one's name, but evidently there are itmes when being a justice of the peace means a lot of work for no monetary return. At least this was the experience of a certain Hastings J.P., who recently was called on to put his signature to no less than 155 documents during the day. Wanganui once had a J.P. who was called upon one day to append his signature to over 200 documents. One day the watchhouse•keeper thought he would have a joke with the J.P. and made out a summons in his name and slipped it in among a number of others for signature. When the J.P. had finished his obligations, the constable gravely handed him the summons, and nearly took the J.P.'s breath away. "I will have a look next time at what I am signing," he remarked.

"The cream spends 36 hours chasingl the swordfish round the Bay of Islands," humorously commented Mr. W. Johnson, a Maori supplier, at a recent meeting of the Hikurangi Dairy Company, when advocating the deviation of cream collected from the Kerikeri Inlet to the Moerewa factory. "This is where most of our second grade stuff comes," he added. The chairman said the directors had met suppliers from the Kerikeri Inlet district at Russell, but had failed to persuade them to send their cream to the Bay of Islands factory. Mr. S. J. Wood said that the cream cost Id to land at the Opua wharf and the suppliers had to pay an excess cartage charge of id for its transport on the railway.. Still they preferred to send their produce to Hikurangi. The cream from Kerekeri Inlet was not of high grade.

The Government's policy of specifying New Zealand woollen material where it can be utilised makes the New Zealand woollen cloth for manuState departments some of the best customers of New Zealand woollen mills. The Post Office alone requires 12,2000 yards of cloth for uniforms, and another 300 yards for caps each year. Waterproof clothing has to be made from cotton which must be imported, but the material is made up for the Post Office in New Zealand, and even the cork helmets used by postmen are of local manufacture. As the purchasing agent for other State departments, the Post Office annually buys New Zealand cloth as follows:—Defence, 10,000 yards; Education, 1350 yards; Legislative and Internal Affairs, 650 yards; Mental Hospitals, 8900 yards; Police, 4000 yards; and Prisons, 1060 yards. These purchases, in addition to those of the 12,500 yards bought by the Post Office, make a total of 38,460 yards. Another big customer for New Zealand woolen cloth for manufacture into staff clothing is the aßilways Department, which requires about 10,000 yards per annum.

"I submit that this case gives an example of the reasons why the Transport Act was brought into force," said Mr. E. M. Mackersey, counsel for E. W. Bentley, who objected yesterday at the sitting of the Transport Authority to the granting of a license to Webbs Motors, Ltd., to run a seasonal tourist service between the Chateau Tongariro and Waitomo Caves. Mr. Mackersey's submission was that the proposed service was unnecessary; it was a case of another service coming in, and by taking advantage of the seasonal trade', picking the eyes out of a business which had been in existence for many years. The manager of the Waitomo Hostel had said that Bentley had carried on his business of carrying passengers to a'nd from the Hostel and rail satisfactorily, and" that' such a local service as Bentley's, available at all times, was essential to the Waitomo Caves Hostel. Apparently the Railway Department was going to put on railcars the summer following next, which would run at a time that would be convenient for tourists going between the Chateau and Waitomo Caves, continued Mr. Mackersey, holding that there would then be no justification for the proposed service. In the meantime he contended that Bentley's service would be seriously disorganised. For Webbs Motors, Ltd., it was contended that the proposed service would provide a feeder to Bentley's service rather than be in opposition to it, but Bentley did not agree with this view. Opposition was also forthcoming from the Railway Department and the decision was reserved.

"So far as I can read the future, I should say that prices will be satisfactory up till Christmas. After that, all is mystery. In fact, there are very few of us, and even of the wisest and best informed, who can say reliably what will happen before Christmas," said Mr. D. Stent, chairman of directors, at the annual meeting of the Taihape Co-operative Dairy' C 6., Ltd., on Saturday.

During a discussion on the danger of barberry spreading if not kept undel* proper control, at the monthly meeting of the Horowhenua County Council, Cr. A. J. Gimblett remarked that he had paid £1 for his original plants, but he would willingly now pay £lO to see them all go. The chairman (Cr. G. A." Monk) pointed out that where barberry was grown for protective purposes the only way to. prevent its spreading was by cutting off the flowers. He had known cases of birds carrying the seed fully a mile.

The fact that in New Zealand, with its high yield of milk, there was only a comparatively small internal consumption of the product was referred to by Dr. F. H. McDowell, of the Dairy Research Institute, when speaking to the Palmerston North Royal Society. In America he had seen waggons drawn up in the cities with loads of milk for immediate consumption, and a bottle of milk was more readily sought than even a cup of tea. JProfessor W. Riddet stated that he believed it indisputable that more people died from lack of milk than from the harmful germs with which it was sometimes contaminated.

"The lifting of a ban on smoking by women at Holloway College, London, resulted in a decrease in smoking, which had formerly gone on surreptitiously," said Dr. Helen Simpson, a graduate of Canterbury College and the University of London, when asked to comment on the decision of the professorial board at Auckland University College not to allow women to smoke in the common room» "I can think of possible reasons why smoking should be forbidden to all students," she added, "but I cannot imagine any which would apply only to women. Of course, I do not know whether smoking has more harmful effects on women than on men." '' /: '

An amusing sidelight on the Prince of Wales's tour of South Africa was given by Professor F. Clarke, adviser of overseas students at the Institute of Education, University of London, in an address to students of Weir House recently. Arrangements were made,' he said, for the Prince to have luncheon at a town far away in the veldt, where the Mayor was an ardent Nationalist. Being perturbed by the thought that some of his hot-headed supporters might misconstrue his action in proposing the King's health, he asked a friend's advice on the subject. He was reassured on being told that it was only a formality that meant 'nothing in particular. When the time came, the Mayor's mind being rather confused with all the instructions he had received, he rose majestically and said: "Gentlemen, the King," and added, "His Majesty is always drunk on such occasions, and the less said about it the better."

"When the time is opportune and the money available, I will use my best endeavours to have the work on the South Island Main Trunk line restarted—and I don't say that simply with a view to pleasing you," remarked the Minister of Education and Employment (the Hon. S. G. Smith), in the course of his reply at a civic reception at Blenheim. What would have to be taken into consideration, he went on, was the benefit of the completed line to the Dominion as a whole. "I was a member of the Cabinet that curtailed railway works in New Zealand, and I don't think that there are many in this room who have really heard how close to disaster this country was when the sudden and disastrous climax brought by the reduction of the national income came," he said, in explaining why the construction work on the various lines had been brought to an abrupt conclusion.