Pea Canning Industry.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIX, Issue 297, 16 November 1939, Page 6

Pea Canning Industry.

With an area of no less than 230 acres sown down this season, the growing; 0 f peas for canning has developed into an important industry in Hawke s Bay.

Workmen Commandeered. The architect of the Wanganui Education Board (Mr E. It. Hodge) reported to the monthly meeting of the board yesterday that nine of the board’s building staff, mainly carpenters, had been commandeered for' military construction purposes at Waiouru. Pacific Survey Flight.

One of Pan-American Airways’ __ six Boeing clippers will leave San Francisco for Auckland at noon next Saturday, and is scheduled to alight on the Auckland harbour about 3.30 o’clock on the afternoon of Thursday, November 23. The machine will be engaged on the flight purely for survey purposes. It will be The second such journey made over the new South Pacific air route, and no passengers, mail or cargo will he carried. Unhelpful Statements.

Statements alleging that there is a shortage of sugar and tea. were criticised by the Sugar Controller (Mr B. L Dallard), in an interview last night. He said that such statements were distinctly unhelpful in these difficult times. The consuming public was hyper-sensitive, and such statements tended to create a quite unnecessary apprehension by giving rise to the idea that there really might be a shortage. Further State Houses. Advice was received from the Education Department, at the monthly meeting of the Wanganui Education Board yesterday, that the Housing Department wished to acquire the site of the old College Street School. The letter also advised the hoard to negotiate for the purchase of a further area of two acres of ground adjoining the present playgrounds. The chairman (Mr E. F. Hemingway) indicated that he would submit a report on the subject at the next meeting. Food for Trout.

A report bv Mr TV. J. Phillipps, of the Dominion Museum, on his observations of the breeding habits of the English water snail as acclimatised in New Zealand was read at last night’s meeting of the council of the Wellington Acclimatisation Society. Mr Phillipps suggested that if liberated snails would help materially to solve the problem of food for trout. He said lie had visited Foxton, where the water snails were still living, and had also made four visits to Masterton. Young water snails from Foxton had been placed in the head waters of races supplying the hatchery and though, so far, no snails had been taken, undoubted eggs had been secured, showing that those snails had at least arrived at maturity.

Materials Not Available. In the course of a verbal report on the difficulty of securing certain materials, to the Wanganui Education Board yesterday, the architect (Mr E. R. Hodge) said" that he was unable to secure putty, and had been offered the loan of a five gallon drum of oil for painting. Ship To Be Sold.

The stranded liner Port Bowen is to be sold as she lies. The Port Bowen went aground off i Castlecliff at midnight on July 19 when inward bound from Pic-ton. and more than a month ago the Wanganui Harbour Board gave notice to the owners to remove the ship from the beach. Maori Camp Negotiations.

Negotiations for the establishment of the Maori Battalion camp at the Showgrounds at Palmerston North have been carried a further stage by the Manawatu A. and P. Association, and it is understood that matters have reached a point where only the final decision of the Minister of Defence (Hon. F. Jones) is now awaited. Fashions In History.

A reception will shortly he held, in the lecture hall adjoining the women’s court at the Centennial Exhibition, for women pioneers and direct descendants. A feature will be a parade of period costumes covering fashions of the last 100 years. Much rehearsal is being undertaken for this parade, as deportment and poise are so necessary for the wearing of some of the costumes and hats. Treacherous By-Paths.

“The flowery meadows described by the money reform apostles, familiar to us all some years ago, have proved to lead into treacherous by-paths,” Mr R. V. 'White, of Dunedin, said at yesterday’s conference of the Associated Chambers of Commerce during a discussion on the Reserve Bank. “New Zealand must somehow or other get out of the sticky slough into which follies have taken her.”

Housing Construction. The transfer of men. mostly carpenters, from State housing work to jobs in military camps, has given the Housing Department a serious setback and a consequent, difficulty has been experienced in keeping bricklayers going, said the Minister in Charge of State Housing (Hon. 11. T. Armstrong), in an interview. Now that the men were resuming work with the department the position so far as labour was concerned would be eased considerably and the programme for the Dominion would be pushed on as fast as possible. Shortages of Stocks. Acute shortages of builders’ hardware and practically all lines of household hardware are reported by Wellington merchants and retailers. One merchant said yesterday that corrugated iron stocks were almost nonexistent in Wellington. Rubber hose was almost unprocurable. W’a I Hoarding, essential for most house building jobs, was one of the lines of which tiiero was scarcely a sheet to be had. Ordinary water piping for house connections was absolutely short, a Government commandeer having a good deal to do with this. Depredations of Vermin.

Information about his observations of hedgehogs, stoats and weasels was given by Mr M. I. Mitchinson, of Wellington, in a letter read at last night’s meeting of the council of the Wellington Acclimatisation Society. From his experience, said Mr Mitchinson. he had found that hedgehogs would eat all eggs and young, even turkey chicks and fowl eggs and chicks. “As regards stoats and weasels,” added Dir Mitchinson, “they will kill all bird life on the ground and destroy all eggs. I have watched a weasel stalk quail on the edge of the fern.”

Higher Cost of Living. Figures intended to prove an increase in tlie cost of living were submitted to the Court of Arbitration by Mr F. P. Walsh, secretary of the Seamen's Union, when pleading for increased wages for employees of the Devonport Steam Ferry Company. From the time the Court made its basic wage pronouncement on November 2, 1936, up to last August, there had been an increase of 131 points, or 15.2 per cent., in the cost of living index, he said. To this must be added an extra 4d in the £1 wage tax, which made in round figures an increase of 17 per cent. Need for Objective. “You will, of necessity, require to base your deliberations on the position as you find it here in New Zealand to-day—not as it was‘ three, or five, or 20'years ago. It is the ever-changing future that calls for ceaseless vigilance of the best brains -of industry and commerce,” declared the GovernorGeneral (Viscount Galway) when opening the Chambers of Commerce conference yesterday. “What is needed above all to-day is a definite objective —preferably one within the confines of our Empire—that is possible of achievement and can be honestly pursued in the interests of all classes. I sincerely hope that such an objective may be your aim,” added His Excellency. Munificent Gift.

A gift of £SOO toward the building of the projected Anglican Cathedral for Wellington was announced yesterday by the organising secretary of the appeal, Canon D. B. Malcolm. He said the donation came as a most welcome surprise, and he had no idea of the identity of the donor. The bank had simply notified him that the money had been paid into the cathedral account. Canon Malcolm mentioned also that within the last four weeks the sum of £9OO, exclusive of the £SOO already referred to, had been received in the form of promises redeemed. Tn addition, £SO had come in during this week.

Types of Criticism. “I do not want it to be understood that 1 am advocating the stifling of discussion which is aimed at ascertaining and implementing the best methods to achieve the common object of victory,” said the president of the Associated Chambers of Commerce, Mr M. S. Myers, of Dunedin, his address to the annual conference yesterday. “On the contrary, constructive criticism is of the greatest benefit to those who are criticised. It is only mean, contemptible, negative or destrutive criticism that is to be condemned. What I know you want to gain recognition for is the fairness and the value of constructive criticism that comes into the former category.” Service For Children.

High praise for the free municipal library* service to children offered at Palmerston North (and now adopted at W anganui) was expressed at the monthly meeting of the Wanganui Education Board. The chairman (Mr E. F. Hemingway) introduced the subject in referring" to the inception of the scheme in Wanganui, and Mr W. H. Brown pointed out that the Wanganui City Council had adopted the measure after inspecting the Palmerston North undertaking. The chairman said it was a very fine measure. The senior inspector (Mr E. Croshv) said the free library service to children was the most forward educational movement in the city in the last decade. It now remained only for the teachers to stimulate the children’s interest in the facilities available.