CURRENT TOPICS

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 6361, 8 November 1907, Page 4

CURRENT TOPICS

AGEICULTUEAL LABOUEEES. Under the Bill which passed its final stages in tho House yesterday agricultural labourers are to be provided with proper sleeping accommodation. This Bill was originally introduced by Mr Flatman as a private Bill, but it received the Government imprimatur, and was taken up by the Minister of Labour. Eeplying on the third reading, the Hon. Mr Millar,said ho thought Mr Flatman ought to be pleased at the way in which the Bill had been received. Some of the accommodation hitherto provided for agricultural labourers was disgraceful. Tho Bill met with the approval of both labourers and employers. If . anyone imagined, however, that under this Bill there was to be an army of inspectors he was making a very great mistake. He knew that tho hen. member for Geraldine had given the Government a difficult task in administering the new law, but he hoped to co-operate with his colleague, tho Minister of Agriculture, in this matter, and utilise the services of tho recently appointed dairy inspectors. When the stock inspectors went on their rounds they could advise him in regard to the shearing-sheds, and on receipt of such a report, a man wonld be sent to see what was advisable to be done. But there was no proposal to employ an army - of inspectors, because this Bill dealt with a man’s private home and it required great tact and judgment when going into a man’s home to see what was being done. WEIGHT OF HEATH SACKS. The Extension of Commerce Committee yesterday reported to the House that the weight of cereals in sacks carried over the railways should not exceed 2001 b. It recommended the Government to bring such a new regulation into operation as early as practioable without subjecting producers to loss. Sir Joseph Ward, in reply to tho leader of the Opposition, said the committee had gone very carefully into this matter! The Railways Department required to make a regulation for the carriage of cereals beyond the SflOlb sack at a very much higher rate. The department, of eonraa. could not refuse to carry sacks in ozceM, hut, without exespthm, those who gave

evidence before the committee were favourable to the 2001 b weight. Later on he would gazette a regulation making provision in accordance with the committee’s recommendation.

THE WEATHER FOR THE MONTH. Tho gentleman whose rule for forecasting tho weather was quoted in this column on Wednesday forwards the following forecast, in accordance with his rule, for the. month November €th to December 4th:—Bain, very slight; wind, light; sky, mostly bright; range of temperature, 50 to 75 deg. Fahr; in other words four weeks of fine summer weather, without violent storms of either wind or rain. This forecast applies to a radius of, say, ton miles around Wellington. Captain Edwin’s daily forecast is for tho whole Dominion.

PAR AP ARAUMU AND ITS APPETITE. It was Napoleon who said that armies “marched npon their bellies.’’ If the evidence of a witness who appeared in the Compensation Court yesterday can bo taken as authoritative, the growth and progress of township villages and cities may also be determined by the appetites of their denizens. This gentleman, who desired to show that Paraparaumu was thriving and prosperous, said that fourteen years ago, when ho established a butcher’s business there, ho used to sell “half a body of beef and .two shoep per week," but now there were required for tho consumption of the inhabitants of this evidently glowing township no less than four to six bodies of beef and some ■ thirty sheep, to say nothing about calves, lambs, and pigs, and an occasional rabbit or two. Verily Paraparanmu is marching forward—"on its belly." INTERESTING MEMORIAL. The members of the Second Contingent which left New Zealand’s shores to participate in the South African War have hit npon a novel method of commemorating tho memories of those of their comrades who were smitten down by tho missiles and ravages of war. They subscribed amongst themselves and gave an order to Alcock and Company, of Wellington, to construct one of their standard tables, which, will by the end of next week be placed into position at the Veterans’ Home at Auckland. The table, which cost 100 guineas and is accompanied by all the necessary accessories, is built of Australian blaokwood, has adj usting toes, and is fitted with Imperial low cushions. It has a very fine smooth, slate bed, the surface haying been specially prepared, and the table should prove a happy medium for enabling the old warriors to while away their idle moments. It has a brass plate on which is inscribed: —“This table was presented to the Voterano’ Homo by the members of the Second New Zealand Contingent, 1907, in memory of their comrades who laid down their lives tho Boer War, South Africa, 1000 and 1001." One of the prime movers in the matter was the Rev. A. H. Norris, of Pigeon Bay, Canterbury. STILL GREATER WELLINGTON. It was reported to the City Council last evening that the Finance and Property Committee had been interviewed by a committee from the Karori Borough Council with reference to the amalgamation of the borough with the city. The committee recommended that a committee be appointed to act with j a committee appointed by the borough | for the purpose of settling a scheme of i amalgamation with cither tho whole or part of tho borough. The matter was 'referred to the Finance Committee to furnish a report.