LOCAL AND GENERAL

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIV, 17 June 1930, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

A year ago to-day the earthquake occurred which did so much damage in the northern part of the South Island and caused the loss of 16 lives.

Drivers of the early morning cars from Westport (comments the Inangtfhua: "Times") report the frost as very severe in the valleys. Ice continually formed on the wind, screens of the, cars, and'the motors had to be stopped so that this could be cleared to enable the drivers to sec. Eventually the wind screens had to be left open, so bad did tlie ice on those become, and Uie keen ail' blowing through the cars did not add to the passengers' pleasure. Owing to engine trouble the morning train from Bolgrove to Nelson Avas delayed to-day. An engine was sent out from Nelson and the train Which is due each morning at 0.45 o'clock, arrived at 10 a.m

Forty yours ago Mr John Moore, of Auckland, wont out to Waikumetc Cemetery to choose, a plot of ground, for doctors told him that he had a weak heart and there was no knowing when he might go oh. lie is still very much alive, and recently celebrated his ninetieth birthday at Orey Lynn. Except for a slight deafness, the. old man shows very few signs of his great age. “Berlei” Corselletles, the new Princess line, 12/6 to 15/6.—E. Buxton and Co., Ltd.* An instructive display showing to what perfection has been attained in Men’s Suits is now on view in one of Messrs Trallien and Co.’s windows.* Another coat week at McKay's! Ladies Coats at about half prices.*

Tho difficulty which the Napier City Council is experiencing in raising the two loans which were approved by ratepayers at the recent poll is exemplified in'a letter received by tho town clerk (Mr John Dick) from the Public Trustee, Napier (states the "Telegraph"). "Regarding the £13,300 and £12,150 loans, stated the letter, "the Public Trustee regrets that .he is nimble to advance the monies required at the rate of interest mentioned. Even though tlie council may be prepared to endeavour to have tho interest increased to 6 per cent, in each case, the Public Trustee points out that, owing to the very heavy commitments of the office at the present time, it would be impossible to give any indication whether tho loans could be entertained at 6 per cent, for some considerable time." The communication is only one of a number of similar replies which the council has received from financial institutions. Fifteen institutions have been written to, and replies have been received from at least ten, stating that no money is available. The council is thus seriously hindered in its efforts to provide work for the relief of unemployment.

Reviewing the situation in which New Zealand is to-day, Mr W. J. Poison, M.P., president of tho Dominion Farmers' Union, stated at the annual conference which opened at Wellington to-day:—"Now it must be borne in mind that a return to a high level of prices cannot be looked for. The experts of the world, giving evidence before the Indian Currency Commission a few years ago, pointed out that the output of gold was iiot increasing and that this presaged ,a period of declining price levels. The level of prices started to rise about 1805 and hasjjone on fairly consistent-! ly ever since until the recent set-buck and that in 1921. When prices are on the up-grade primary produce benefits more than manufactured articles. The manufacturers' rent and wages do not rise as quickly as raw materials, hence the raw material producer gets the benefit of higher prices for his product without paying at once higher prices for the manufactured articles which he buys. That period has, however, now gone. The reverse process is now in operation. Primary produce will tend to decline faster than manufactured articles. The margins of profit on farming operations will, therefore, in the future, be an uncertain quantity." . The position is very unsatisfactory so far as tho river bar is concerned, states the Westport "News" of 11th inst. Restricted loadings have been imposed to such an extent as to seriously, interfere with the trade of the port. When vessels capable of carrying 6,000 tons are compelled to leave with only about half that quantity, it is bad business. It means that the U.S.S. Co., whose boats are chiefly concerned, will have seriously to think of sending their vessels across the Tasman sea, where full loadings can be assured. If the vessels can take full cargoes here, or something in the vicinity of full cargoes, it will pay the Company to accept loadings here in preference of going to Australia, 1200 miles away. If, however, all they can take, on account of the shallow bar, is only half that quantity then it will likely be better business for them to send the boats overseas. There is not much sentiment in business. It is evident that the harbour authorities must bestir themselves, either by adopting a more thorough system of dredging, or by pursuing some other means that will deepen the water, or trade will be lost, and once lost, it is hard to recover it. The port must be kept abreast of the times. While wool, mutton, and butter prices are down, the most should be made of the. coai trade, not merely in the local, but in tho national interests.

Apparently the New Zealand railways had to face competition of road transport in the early days. Sixty years ago a correspondent wrote to the Timaru "Herald" alleging that there were "actually drays on the road running the railway, figuratively, off the line." It was the Selwyn line that was under discussion, as the railway had not reached Timaru then.

Though the quantity of winter feed available throughout the Marlborough district at present is no greater than in previous years, pastoralists and particularly dairymen are facing the dead period of the year with excellent prospects (states the "Express"). The _ late summer, or the excellent early winter season, has resulted in a remarkable conservation of supplies of and other winter fodder. This usually begins to go out to the stock about the end of April, but most farmers are beginning to draw upon it only now and some have not yet started. This means that supplies for the remainder of the winter are plentiful.

•Dealing with farming costs in liis presidential address to the New Zealand Farmers’ Union conference at Wellington to-day, Mr W. J. Poison, M.P. stated:—-“With decreasing re; turns from farming operations the poorer class lands will go out of use. It will not pay to farm them. With a reduced agricultural and pastoral acreage there will be a tendency to decline in output which may or may not be off-set by improved farmingmethods on better class lands. But every acre that goes out of use means a corresponding loss to the Dominion, entailing a decline in the demand for services in the towns and in consequence an increase in the ranks of ou,r unemployed. The Rt. Hon. J. H. Thomas, Britain’s Minister in charge of the unemployment problem, holds to the policy that the best course to pursue to provide further employment is to increase reproductive work. The mere spending of money on purposeless and unreproductivc public works only hastens the day of inevitable crisis. Our unemployment problem, our farming problem, cannot be met by borrowing money only, which increases the burdens of the country. These two problems, farming and unemployment, can only be met by reducing the costs of production so that a profit will be available at the lower levels of prices, which will doubtless prevail in the years immediately before us.’’ Large numbers of people were seen viewing the interesting display .showing how the new “Minster" Suits are made, in one of Messrs Trathen and Co.’s windows.* Special purchase at McKay’s ! Ladies’ Repp Coat Frocks, smartly cut with pleats in skirt. Worth 75/. Clearing at 35/-.* Tweed Pleated Skirts in nice shades of Brown and Fawn mixtures. Worth 17/6. Clearing at 10/6 this week at McKay’s.* St. Mary's Social Club announces that, it is holding a series of dance evenings, the first of which commences to-morrow night in the ball, Manuka street. Art Silk Brassi-Bockers, a three-piece garment for evening wear, 17/6 and 23/6. — E. Buxton and Co., Ltd.* Ladies’ All Wool Jumpers’! A special purchase at McKay’s in Women and O.S. Tbev’re easily worth 19/6, but out they go this week at 12/6.* Women’s All Wool Vests, “St. Margaret’s” and other well known brands, | 6/11 to 16/6. —E. Buxton and Co., Ltd.*,

Sixty per cent, of the West Coast sawmills arc now closed down owing to depression in the industry, and others will cease operations shortly, says the Christchurch "Press." Included in the latter is the mill of William Qoss, Ltd., at Moana. About twenty-five men will bo rendered idle, including six who live on the southern shore of Lake Brunner, and who will be obliged to leave there through the journeys across the lake of the limber rafts, which also carry their stores, ceasing. The big sawmill at Kotuku also closed down recently. Both rimu and white pine are affected by the slump, and a general shortage of orders is reported. The Wellington demand has fallen off considerably through quieter times in the building trade, and the Canterbury market is expected to make a recovery locally when the big construction projects, for which plans are being drawn, are commenced. Better reports are coming from Otago and Southland, where the sawmills are working more regularly. A Christchurch timber merchant remarked that an embargo on all imports, except Californian redwood, appeared to be the only remedy for the present state of affairs.' Redwood must be exempted because it was indispensable for doors and sashes and use in work exposed to the weather, its durability and quality of not twisting or curling under these conditions giving it a special value. The "Abstract of Statistics" for May states: —"The retail-price index (Dominion weighted average) for the three food groups as at 15th April was 1540 (on the base —average prices in the four centres during the year 1909-13=1000), a decrease of 1 point as compared with that for the previous month, and an increase of 43.9 per cent, over that for July, 1914. The index number for the groceries group has fallen 7 points, which is principally accounted for by minor fluctuations in prices of potatoes and onions. The general increase in eggprices, counteracted somewhat by the reduction in the prices • of butter and cheese, has resulted in an upward movement of 49 points in the dairy-produce index number. Further reductions in all classes of meat prices is reflected in the fall of 28 points in the index number for this 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 the retail prices of clothing, drapery, and footwear, and of miscellaneous items of family expenditure, are collected at quarterly intervals, and when combined with the indexes for food, rent, and fuel and light approximately 87 per cent, of the average household expenditure is represented. The April food and fuel and light index numbers, when combined with the February rent, clothing, _ drapery, footwear, and miscellaneous index numbers, give an all-groups index 58.8 per cent, above the July, 1914, level, so that it now takes £1 lis 9d, on the average, to purchase what could have been purchased for £1 in that month."

The recent rains have been welcomed by Hawkes Bay orchardists, many of whom have had to delay their seasonal ploughing owing to the dry state of the ground (states the "Telegraph"). Most of them, however, have been concentrating on pruning operations so that their programme would not be retarded.

An exceptionally fine fat Shorthorn bullock, locally grown, is on view in Mr F. Fairey's shop. The carcase turns the scale at 14501b5.'

"People are continually asking whether the department will supply sodium chlorate. I want to make it clear that the department will not do so as long as merchants handle the crystals at a reasonable price. If. on the other hand, anything approaching cornering or profiteering is found, the department will certainly intervene." Mr J. W. Deem, Director of the Fields Division, made I his statement at a demonstration on eradicating noxious weeds in Taranaki. Farmers had to realise that the merchants incurred a fair amount, of expense in indenting and holding supplies for the initial year, that they had overhead expenses and had to make provision for bad debts. A reasonable price would be. in the vicinity of 6d a lb for small quantities. It was satisfactory to note that some firms had ordered large amounts; some as much as 200 tons; therefore, there need be no alarm as to shortage.

"Yes, indeed. There is still a good market for stamps in most parts of the world," said a well-known Wanganui philatelist when asked if it were true that the demand for stamps was still being maintained. He proceeded to cite one instance where a collection of approximately on 6 million foreign stamps had been sold to a big London firm of dealers by Dr. W. E. Floyd, of Manchester. It is, he said, worthy of mention that Dr. Floyd's collection of stamps of the old Italian State of Modena gained a gold medal at the International Philatelic Exhibition in Faris in 1925, a silver-gold medal at New York in 1926, and (in competition, with all the leading Italian stamp collectors) a gold medal at the Italian National Exhibition at Turin in 1929. ,

Dealing with unemployment among teachers, the annual report of the Otago Education Board states: —"While unemployment in Otago has not been as acute as in some other districts in that it has been possible to find fairly regular relieving work for all teachers after the middle of the year, nevertheless in the board's opinion it is not in the interests of young teachers that they should remnin out of work for months at a time after the completion of their training. It is suggested that they be attached to schools which would not involve their living away from home, and that they be paid a sustenance allowance of £6 per month until such time as they receive relieving or permanent, work; such allowance, however, not to be continued after, say, October of their first year out of training."