Unlighted Bicycles.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LXV, Issue 212, 7 August 1945, Page 4

Unlighted Bicycles.

Nine cyclists were charged in the Magistrate’s Court yesterday with nuin<r' unlighted bicycles in the city. A fine of £1 was imposed in each case. Traffic Inspector Perreau said that his department had received numerous complaints regarding unlighted bicycles being ridden at night and attempts were being made to check the practice. Burden of Taxation.

Requests that provision should be made in the Budget for a reduction of the present levels of taxation ; failiipr- that, removal of existing anomalies; and failing both, the appointment of a ltoyal Commission to investigate the incidence of taxation in New Zealand, are made by the Associated Chambers of Commerce in a letter to the Minister of Finance (Mr Nash). Building in Timber.

Speaking of the timber resources available and the efforts being made to regenerate the native forests with timber which would be useful, the Minister of Rehabilitation (Mr Skinner), in Palmerston North yesterday, said he was convinced that timber would be the main building material in l\ew Zealand for many years to come, it was with this in mind that the Government* had embarked on the tiaming uf carpenters at such trade training centres. “Ball at Their Feet.’’

Particular emphasis was laid by the Minister of Rehabilitation (Mr Skinner), at the opening of the carpentry trade training centre in Maire Street, yesterday, on the fact that the scheme could give a trainee an opportunity of becoming an artisan—it could not make him one. It was up to him. So tar the Government had found that the men had been eager to grasp the opportunity, and the results achieved to date had been be.youd even the best expectations. Unusual Accident.

Unusual circumstances attended an accident in which a Palmerston North resident recently indicted a nasty wound in his left wrist. He was trimming some leeks, anfi. in slashing a length of leaf from the head the knife hit a small stone embedded there and sliced inward toward the holder’s wrist, cuttino- the tendons and a blood vessel. A rapid trip to the Hospital was made and speedy treatment applied, with the result tluit the injured arm is now recovering and the use of the fingers appears to be unimpaired. Budget Likely on Thursday. A statement that he hoped to present the Budget in the House of Representatives on Thursday night was made by the Minister of Finance (Mr Nash) in reply to an inquiry last night. This will be Mr Nash’s eighth Budget, the other financial statements since the present Government came into office having been presented by the late lit. Hon. J. Savage and the Prime Minister (Mr Fraser) in 1939 and 194:2 respectively. On these occasions Mr Nash was’ absent from New Zealand and Mr Savage and Air Fraser were Acting-Ministers of Finance. Higher Freight Rates. Advice has been received by the Bureau of Importers from the Australian, -New Zealand Merchants and Shippers’ Association, London, that the new schedule of freight rates on outward cargo to New Zealand is now double that ruling before the war for all classes except one, in which the increase is slightly less. For instance, the pre-war rate of 45s for the firstclass had reached 70s by Alay 18, and is now 90s. Similarly, that for another class, 220 s pre-war, was 330 s on Alay 18 and is now 4405. The Bureau of Importers states that its view is that “however necessary these increases may be from the short-term view in the long run they must necessarily have a retarding effect on Britain’s export trade The freight rates will -raise the landed costs of British goods in overseas countries, thus giving a higher margin within which competitive goods could be manufactured in those overseas countries. Higher freight rates will have the effect of putting a brake on international trade.”