DUNEDIN NOTES.

Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 4328, 24 August 1937, Page 4

DUNEDIN NOTES.

| From Our Own Correspondent). August 13, The chief social feature in Dunedin this week was the Plunket Ball, held in the big Town Hall. It was organised by the Drapers, Clothiers, and Boot lletailers’ Association, and ' its object was to help the Plunkett Society in its appeal for funds to erect new buildings for the KaritaneHarris Hospital. His Excellency the i 'Governor-General graced the function, which was attended by more than ; a thousand people. A substantial sum ; should be netted. The appeal for [ money for the purpose indicated has > brought a gratifying response. To en--5 able the work to be carried out £20,- ‘ 000 was asked for, and to date ! £8,450 has been subscribed. In ad- [ dition to this the Society had accumu- > fated a building fund of its own of i £5,000, so that there is in sight at ' the moment £13,450. The Karitane--1 Harris Hospital building was the ’ gift of the late Mr Wolf Harris. It . has done notable service since the s Society was established a quarter of I a century ago, but it is now quite 1 inadequate for the calls upon it. Ad--1 ditions have been made from time | to time, but it is realised that it ' would be impossible to carry the [ patchwork process any further with i good results. The committee there- : lore decided to take its courage in 5 its hands and to erect an up-to-date ! building close to the present one. ' On Monday Lord Galway turned .the . first sod on the site on which it in' proposed to begin the construction l work. The operations of the Plunket f Society have conferred an inestimable boon on the people in town and [ country, and there is every expectation that the sum asked for will be 5 subscribed. r Before last Saturday’s test match i was played at Wellington there seem* k ed to be a wave of pessimism in New £ Zealand about this country’s prosr pects. Complaints were made that . the best team had not been chosen. 3 Even in Dunedin there seemed to be , doubts about the success of the " Trevathan-.Simon combination behind : the scrum. In reading the comments ,of the northern papers after the • game, it seems clear that the work ; of these two players paved the } , way to victory. The other Otago i back (Taylor) also distinguished himl self. Much credit is also due to f the forwards. With a man short for | the greater part of the game they ’ held their own in a remarkable way. L When the score is analysed, it is [• evident that New Zealand "had little r to spare, and it must be (recognised that the state of the ground was | against the Springboks. All the ( same, it was a notable victory. , The Dunedin Chamber of iOom--3 merce has had its jubilee this week, j and it celebrated the event with a • dinner. Efforts to form a chamber s before 1887 were not very promising, • but the present body has had a successful career. The chief speaker ' at Tuesday night’s function was Sir ! Percy Sargood, and he dwelt on mat- ■ ters of prime importance to New Zeai land. Because of his long experience f | in business in this city he was' entitled to speak with authority. When ’ the Dunedin Chamber was (formed this country was just emerging from the ’ pioneer stage. The discovery of the refrigerating process saw the real beginning of our overseas marketing of primary products. Under private enterprise it was developed With cour- , age, vision, and enterprise to its present condition, and it is now the foundation and mainstay of the country’s, present prosperity. We had a clear illustration of this in the depression years. As soon as prices for our exports sagged at Home a slump in New Zealand followed. This lesson does, not seem to have impressed our Labour Government very much, but a turn in the economic tide would soon bring realisation of its | importance. .Sir Percy Sargood’s ! speech was in no sense a political deliverance. It was tolerant and impartial. He put in a word for private enterprise, which has done so much to develop our resources; he referred to defence and migration, which are intimately connected, and while exhibiting no carping spirit, pointed out the dangers of over-indulgence in sport, and in various forms of pleasure and entertainment. AIL these matters are worthy of careful study, for In the condition of world affairs to-day grave responsibilities face the Government and people of this small Dominion. Many complaints are heard about the burden of taxation in New Zealand. The Labour Government promised to lighten it, but so far nothing has been done in that way. Luckily we are enjoying a period of prosperity, otherwise the position would ' be serious indeed. Among the promises made was one to abolish the Sales tax, but when Labour took office it soon saw that to do away with such a ready source of revenue would be extremely embarrassing. For the first half of this year this tax yielded £1,673,064, so that the decision ol Labour to overlook its promise can bo readily understood. One great advantage from this State’s point of

view is that this money is gathered in with very little expense. The racing- fraternity also make important contributions to the State. According to the calculation of a writer in the Christchurch Tress’ the race-going public paid to the Government £30,000 last week, i The first cut into the total amount of the investments is 121 per cent, totalisator tax, of which the club retain 71 (

per cent., tlie remaining 5 per cent, going to the Government. Alter that deduction another 5 per cent, is taken off as dividend tax, and. the State takes all of this. That is not the end' of the Government’s revenue. One per cent, is taken from the stakes' as stakes tax, and amusement tax is deducted from the gate receipts. From these several taxes the Government derived in six days’ racing in Christchurch, almost £3O- - Of that sum £15,000 was totalisator tax, £13,000 dividend tax, £SOO amusement tax, and £2OO stakes tax. It is pointed out that this estimate is approximate, for certain figures were not disclosed, but there is no doubt that it is fair and accurate. The wool prospects continue . favourable. It is suggested that prices may bo even higher for the raw material than they were last year. If rates go too high, however, there is a danger of a breakdown through manufacturers being unable to pay them. To be successful in the face of the introduction of so many substitutes our wool, like other exportable products, must be kept at a high standard, and New Zealand, Australia, and South Africa are now co-operating in the matter of wool publicity and research. In line with this action arrangements have been made for wool research to be undertaken at Otago University, mainly in the department of chemistry. This work is made possiblej by a grant from the wool manufacturers’ Research Association, whose funds are provided equally by the New Zealand Woollen Industry and the Government. Research in the matter of the growers’ problems is also proceeding as the outcome of the decision of the Empire Wool Conference in Melbourne at the beginning of the year to create an international fund to promote wool research in various centres and to conduct publicity overseas. In all branches of our primary products if success is to be maintained co-operation among the Government, the producer, the manufacturer and.the shipping interists is essential. One would imagine that New Zealand is not a particularly good country for aviation, because of the fact that it is a little strip of land set in a mighty ocean and therefore swept by winds. So efficient, however, are the planes to-day that services from Auckland in the north to Dunedin in the south arc conducted with almost unfailing regularity. It takes a very big storm, indeed, seriously to interfere with the usual .schedule. The Otago Aero Club lias ,a remarkably good record. Since its inception the time flown by its .'machines totals 7,194 hours, representing approximately 540,000 miles. The annual report of the Aero iClub states that the work of training pilots and fostering the spirit of air-mindedness has been pushed steadily forward. The number of flying 'members has increased rapidly during the last few months, and greater interest , than ever before has been taken in the airport. There have been very few mishaps of any kind, and since the club was formed only one fatal accident has been reported. That was on March 25 when a pupil of the club was killed by a crash on the Taieri Plain. Every decade since Bleriot crossed the English Channel in 1909 has seen amazing developments in aviation. The Tasman has been conquered, air mails are carried up and down the Dominion, and very soon we may expect to see pleasure cruises by plane a common occurrence. One trip that will be a source of endues,s delight to Dunedin people will be an afternoon flight from tills city over the Southern lakes. Its practicability has been demonstrated, and it is only a matter of little time before it will be freely available.