LOCAL AND GENERAL

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXXIII, Issue 4809, 12 July 1939, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

A Christchurch visitor to Sydney who returned this week tells a rather good story of an attempt he made to pass a New Zealand florin piece. In entertaining some friends at a hotel bar he passed over an Australian coin and a New Zealand two-shilling piece. The barmaid picked up the money and was about to hand back the change when she noticed that one of the pieces was New Zealand coin. "Here," she exclaimed, "what game is this? We don't want any of your henpecked money here" —a rather contemptous reference to the kiwi which adorns the face of our two-shilling piece. "Where are you from, anyhow?" she said. "Bourke," was the reply. "Well, haven't you heard about this stuff out there?"

General disapproval of the principle of subsidised farm labour as represented by the Government's 4B scheme was expressed at the monthly meeting of the Waikato sub-provin-cial executive of the Farmers' Union held in Hamilton last week. It was stated that the attitude of the Union was that farmers should be placed in a position where they could pay competitive rates for labour. Members held that it was unfair to primary producers to endeavour to find work under the scheme at higher rates of pay and under better conditions enjoyed by the average farm hand, for those who were "misfits" in industry. It had an unsettling influence on farm workers and was unfair to these men who were among the highest skilled tradesmen in New Zealand.