LOCAL AND GENERAL

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXI, 8 August 1928, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

The estimated population of New Zealand, excluding dependencies, was 1,453,517 at Ist April, .1928. The populations of the chief urban areas at the same date were estimated ns follows: Auckland, 206,810; Wellington, 130,120; Christchurch, 123,370; Dunedin, 84,060; •Hamilton, 17,350; Gisborne, 15,540; Napier, 18,870; Wanganui, <27,510; Palmerston North, 20,940; Nelson, 12,080; Timarii, 17,540; Invercargill, 22,910.

The executive committee of the Hospital Boards Association last week resolved to draw attention to the increasing number of vehicular accident cases treated in hospital, arid to urge that provision should be made for payment of public hospital expenses in connection with the proposed compulsory third party insurance cover. Renewed representations ' are also to be ’made with a view to ensuring that compensation :n respect of hospital expenses in industrial accident cases, should bo paid over to hospital authorities.

The total number and value of vehicles in the Dominion engaged in motor-transport in May, 1928, wero as follows: —vehicles, 2259, consisting of ’607 omnibuses, valued at £462,986 (an average of £763 per vehicle); 542 passenger service cavs, valued at £192,560 (average £355); 919 freight vehicles, £352,944 (£384); and 191 combined passenger and freight vehicles, £53,573 (£280). The North Island had over 70 per cent. of.the omnibuses, 63 per cent of the passenger service cars, 78 per cent, of the freight vehicles, and 52 per cent, of the combined passenger and freight vehicles. The number of persons engaged in connection with the services was 2931. In May the omnibuses carried 1,815,628 passengers for £50,236 (an average fare of 6J,d); passenger service cars, 73,683 passengers for £35,190 (an average of 9s\ 6J,d); while freight service vehicles carried 81,693 tons for. £50,834 (average 12s. 5d per ton). ; - When the annual meeting of the New ’Zealhnd Lawn Tennis Association is held in a few weeks’ time, there will be a proposal before it that an annual in-ter-island teams’ match be inaugurated. The idea of this match comes from the Wellington Association, which is seeking the first fix-turo to be played at Wellington during tho coming season. The constitution of the teams and details of the match are riot yet formulated, but it is possible that it will embrace both men and women -players whenever the standard justifies it. Tt is recognised that the South Island is not quite as strong in tennis as the North, hut in Wellington the need of more big tennis for leading players is held to justify the fixture.

The Ruakura experimental farm was described by Sir John Russell, the noted English soil scientist, who visited it last week, as a splendid institution. Sir John expressed surprise at the splendid quality of the pastures at Ruakura, at, this time of the year, and he considered the farm should be put to the fullest use either as an experimental station or as a training college for farmers. According to the Financial Statement which was brought down in the House of Representatives last night the Government’s policy of using surplus revenues for capital charges and debt repayment has resulted in an annual saving of £1,000,000 in debt charges.

An of the excellent dairying prospects has been enhanced vrflues for land, states the Auckland “Star” l . Numerous Sales have been effected recently in Morrinsville and surrounding districts, prices-indicating more than anything elsp that dairying is emphatically, on the up-grade. Interviewed, a wellknown estate agent stated that the value of land had increased by between £6 and £7 an acre over last year. He predicted that the favourable season that had just been experienced, together with the bright prospects for butterfat would induce still better prices finland. At the present, values could in-n-ease by another £5 or £6 an acre without ‘ the inflation point .being leached, and he was of tile opinion Lhf\t next year would see this advance take place.' If the increase went beyond that there would he a- boom, with results disastrous to sane farming. A pleasing feature of the present land market is the amount of cash being paid. The majority of properties selling now are small one-man improved farms. Sov oral sales of large, areas have, however, taken place, but these have been usually at prices allowing pi’ further improvements being made.,. The total State Expenditure in New Zealand for loading lias increased from £7 00,000 in 1923 to ijl,945,000 in 1928.' The amount of tobacco consumed by different smokers varies considerably. Some will use a couple of ounces a day, while others, are satisfied with less. The moderate smoker averages perhaps three ounces a ’week. Indulged in with discretion, tobacco is admittedly rather beneficial than otherwise. It is chiefly a question of nicotine. The habitual use of tobacco- heavily charged with nicotine may result in nerve and heart trouble or weakening of the eyesight. As a matter of fact, practically nil imported tobaccos contain an excess of nicotine. In that connection it may interest the reader to learn that the purest tobaccos produced are grown in New Zealand. They contain comparatively such a, small percentage of nicotine that they may be indulged in ad. lib., with safety. A peculiarity of their manufacture, by the wav, is that they are all toasted, fFence their fine flavour. They are adapted to all tastes. Rivei-hend Gold is mild. Navy Cut (Bulldog) medium, and Cut Plug No. 10 (Bull’s Head) full, icui can buy them at any tobacconists.*

■ 'Filer •retail price index (Dominion weighted average) for the three food groups as - at loth June was 1571 (on the base average prices in the four centres during the years 1909-13 equals 1000), an increase of 4 points as compared with that for the previous month, and of 46.0 per cent over that for July, 1914, slates the Abstract of Statistics issued yesterday. Minor' reductions in the prices of some commodities, are reflected by a decrease in the index number of the groceries group of 3 points. Bacon prices still show- a general increase, but lliis movoment is veiled by llie reduction in price of both butter and eggs. Continued increases in the prices of beef and mutton, due to dearer live stock, have caused a further increase of 39 points in the index number for the meat group. Expenditure on food constitutes somewhat" less than two-fifths of the expenditure of an average household. In order to present a more complete picture of movements in retail prices generally, statistics regarding tho retail prices of clothing, drapery, and footwear, and miscellaneous items of family expenditure, are collected at quat* terlv intervals, and when combined with tiie' indexes for food, rent, fuel, and light, approximately-87 per cent of the average household expenditure is represented. The June indexes for food, fuel, and light, and the May indexes for the clothing and miscellaneous groups have been combined with the February indexes for the rent group. The resultant “all groups” index is 62.0 per cent, above that for July. 1914. so that it now takes £1 12s 4?d on the average to purchase what could be purchased for £1 in that, month.

All the Catholic Bishops will attend, the Eucharistic Conference at. Sydney next month. Aijchbishop Redwood leaves next week, states n Wellington Press Association telegram. Speaking at a meeting of the executive committee of the'Nelson Progress League yesterday afternoon Mr Gould (president) said it .had not been called at the dictates of anonymous correspondence which hud appeared in the press. One anonymous letter suggesting what the League could do was written by a man who bad been a member of that body but had attended only one meeting in" over twelve months. The anonymous correspondence contained little Constructive suggestions or prac tical help. The League welcomed any criticism so long as it was constructive Tt had been suggested that' the League deputation to Wellington on railway matters would consist of a chosen few; but, said Mr Gould, any member of the League or any citizens would* be welcomed. “There is no- such thing as a chosen few in the Progress League,” lie concluded.

A change the system of numbering motor-cars was recently advocated _by the ", New Zealand Farmers’ Union, which considered that the Government should introduce a system which would not. involve the changingof number plates every year. The following reply lias been received by the Farmers’ Union: —“The Government is* still of the opinion that the nunrber-plate system is the best that can' be devised under the scheme of motor taxation by annual licensedees, and the following are some of the advantages which are claimed for this system:—-(1) With the •English system, in order to be sure that the license is not a fake, and. is otherwise correct, it? is necessary for the car to be stopped, and, therefore, defrauding under the English system-is much simpler than tinder the number-plate system, under which it is impossible.to evade payment of annual license-fees fo». any appreciable time. For q. small expense in <the cost of tile plates tfie country is saved .considerable expense in ascertaining whether license fees have been paid, in prosecuting delinquents, and recovering" defense fees of which it might otherwise have been defrauded. (2) The present system preserves an annual check on the number, ownership, and location of the motor-vehicles in the Dominion. This is obviously a great assistance in the unravelling of crimes in which the use of a motor-car is Concerned, and the number-plate system is very heartily supported by the police.” ’

A former student at Christ’s College and Canterbury, .College, who has done well in Australia, is Professor P. MacCullum, Who arrived at Auckland from Sydney by the Ulimaroa yesterday, wires “The Mail’s” correspondent. Professor Mac.Cullum . has occupied the Chair of Pathology at the Melbourne Medical School for three years, and is proceeding to Blenheim, where his, marriage to Miss Ursula Grace takes place on 'Wednesday next. Professor MacCullum said that the Melbourne School of Medicine was a very fine one, but although much larger than the Dunedin School, he could not say it was in any way an advance on it.

Comment on the'fact that, a man should be suffering from internal injuries, and that they should not be detected, was made by Mr Justice Sim when summing up in the Supreme Court at Wellington yesterday in the case in which Thomas George Needham’s widow claimed £IOOO damages from the Wellington City Corporation ip respect of the death of her husband, 'who. was fatally injured when bis express and a tramcar collided (reports “The Post”).

“It excites one’s astonishment a little,” said his Honour, “that a man should have Jive ribs broken and three ribs dislocated, one lung pierced by a broken rib, and his liver torn by a broken rib; that a, man suffering all I hose in juries should lie taken, into the Wellington Hospital, should he examined by two doctors, and then he subjected to an X-ray examination, and that he should he discharged from hospital as a perfectly well man, and that not one oft those injuries should be discovered. I don’t want to say anything disrespectful about the doctors at the Wellington Hospital, but it is certainly very astonishing that such a thing should happen.” The jury awarded £650 damages, including £SOO to Mrs Needham and £IOO lo Needham’s mother. The jury added a j'ider to the effect that they considered .that sufficient care was not exercised by the hospital authorities.

After eclipsing the ' Australian egglaying record a White Leghorn named “t-Toppy.” owned by Mr F. Parker, of Market Tlasen, near Lincoln, England, died from exhaustion. She now lies in a (lower-adorned grave. “Hoppv” laid 15 eggs in a week, and a total of 324 for (lie eight months before her death.

Particulars are advertised of a series of meetings arranged bv the National Tobacco Company, to he held in various country districts from the 9lh to the £oth inst.

Tn the Supreme Court in Chambers at Wellington on the application of Mr 11. L. Harley, his Honour Mr Justice MacGregor granted probate of the will of Elizabeth Mary Esther Taylor, Jate of Stoke, widow, deceased, to Godfrey Nunn Taylor and Mary Phoebe Giblin, the executors named in the will. Alfred Gould announces details of an auction sale of superior furniture, new giainophones and records, roofing iron, gate, tank, sashes, doors, pungas, etc., to be held at the Rooms on Friday next, at 2 p.m.

The chorus-of the Nelson Harmonic Society will resume practice at the School of Music to-morrow evening at eight o’clock, when the secretary will be glad to admit new members. Mendelssohn’s Walpurgi’s Night and Cowan’s .Song of Thanksgiving will be rehearsed for the next concert.

At' tho meeting of the 1 executive committee of the Nelson branch of the New Zealand Farmers’ Union held to-day, Mr J. Martin, a Riwaka delegate, said a strong protest should bo sent to the Government against the construction of the Botorua-Taupo railway. It was a case of North v. South Island, and unless some action was taken Nelson would lie robbed of its railway. Ho moved that a strong protest bo forwarded to Messrs Atmore and Hudson, , M.’sP., against the construction of the RotoruaTaupo line while the gap remains in tho Nelson-West Coast line. —The motion was seconded by Mr Pagan and carried.—The general feeling was expressed that everything should bo done to back up the deputation from tho Progress Lea gue, which is to wait on members at an early date. The total number of admissions into the public hospitals in the Dominion during the year 1927 was 68,303. There were 4452 patients in hospital at the hoginning of the year, tho total number of cases dealt with during the year being thus 72,755, equal- to a rate of 506 per 10,000 of , mean population, including Maoris; or, in other words, one out of every 20 persons in the Dominion received some degree of medical treatment in public hospitals in 1927. A total of 47,150 persons were treated in hospitals situated in the North Island, and 25,605 in those in the South Island.' Tho rates for the two islands were 513 and 492 per 10,000 of mean population respectively. The Minister of Customs has made the following reply to the New Zealand Farmers’ Union in response to the latter’s request that the duty of £1 per ton on cement should be removed “Your union will, I think, agree that it is not in tho interests of the trade of the Dominion that the tariff should be continually altered. Such " a course would bring uncertainty ,inlo commercial transactions, and thus .would interfere with ' the normal course of trade. With respect to the duty oh cement vnur union is probably aware that there are about 600 persons engaged in the production of this article in the Dominion, and that if the duty were removed ns requested by your union a considerable number of inen would he thrown out of work, tints adding to the present difficulty concerning unemployment,”

In the past agriculture had often depended upon chance for its profitable discoveries,', declared Sir John Russell, when talking about the advances of scientific agriculture. He instanced a illustration the fact that Bordeaux mixture, the specific for potato blight and other curses-which had annually caused enormous losses, its discovery to the action of a French farmer who prepared an unpalatable concoction which, whilst not injuring the fruit, would make them distasteful to marauding youngsters.

For generations the Maori people have grown torore, which has become known as the native tobacco plant-, and is not to be confhsed with the manufactured article (writes a Rotorua correspondent). Round about the Rotorua lakeside and in. many places stretching from there right out to the sunny Bay of Plenty, the plant groyvs in a most prolific manner. Realising this', and having heard that the Government is out to assist tobacco growers, the Natives of the' Arawa tribe requested that Mr C. E. Lowe, tobacco instructor, should be sent to them to see' if the lands could produce the more highly commercialised tobacco plants. He came, saw, and was satisfied. Now he is in Rotorua seeing to the commencement of an industry that within the iiext\few- years,’ it is confidently anticipated, will return; to the Maoris of the Arawa tribe over £20,000 per annum. It will also give them work which is congenial, and; as"Lotic of their number said, “there, is no doubt that the new industry, will take my people out of their indolent state and give them a new lease of life.”

’Speaking of the wonders of tho soil. Sir John Russell said that at first sight, soil might seem to be a dead and inert mass. But in reality it was teeming with»the life’of minuto organisms. “It seems almost a tragedy that the farmer, always amongst these wonders, sees nothing and knows. nothing of them. He is. Hike a blind map standing before a beautiful picture, or a deaf man in a cathedral where a great organ is being played by a master.” . . . * “In comparison with many* other countries we are fortunate in New Zealand in Having only a. small percentage of our .cattle affected with tuberculosis,” staled the Director of Agriculture in the course of a reply to the New Zealand Farmers’ Union on tho. subject. ‘The latest returns show that' in cattle of all classes inspected on slaughter at meat export slaughterhouses, and abattoirs, only slightly over 5 per cent were found affected in'any degree. In dairy’ cows alone, however, the percentage would probably be a little higher.”

The principal statistics relating to the building and construction industry for the year ended 31st March, 1927, /have recently become available, states the Abstract of Statistics, and are as follows, the cori esponding figures for the previous year being given in parentheses for comparative purposes: —Persons engaged, 10,745 (9942); salaries and wages paid, £2,532,900 (£2,429,£31): value of work done, 1 £8,714,743 (£8,i53,383). Several indications arc given in these figures that activity in the building and construction industry was more pronounced in 1926-27 than in 1925-26.