NEWS OF THE DAY

New Zealand Times, Volume XLII, Issue 9598, 2 March 1917, Page 4

NEWS OF THE DAY

The Dominion Conference between representatives, of the shipowners and waterside workers .is- to be opened in Wellington next Wednesday. , For allowing a boy who was not engaged by his employer to assist him iri ( his. rtiilk rounds. A.'.Andrews,;.. of Cleveland street, Brooklyn, was fineu iOs in the Magistrate’s Court yesterday, at the instance of Mr G, H. Lightfoot, inspector of awarids.

The Hon. G. .W. Russell (Minister for Internal Affairs), , notifies in the current “Gazette” the receipt of a petition, praying that the, Featherston Town District be constituted “ahorough under the Municipal Corporations Act, 1908.

Bomb faif-iwhoat tallies are reported from the/Waimate district. Mr Walloon; of Waikakahi, threshed 100, acres and got 40 bushels per acre, A Broad Gully, farmer took lOOOsacks of wheat off liis pldbe, the average working put at 41 bushels; Other yields of 38 .and ov6r are .mentioned by the threshing mills working in the Mbrven district.

Before Mr W. G. Riddell. S.M., in the Ma&isif ate’s Court yesterdoy afternoon;. Margaret , Milner claimed from Jambs Finlay the, sain ,of £l4 16s, 6d, The defendant had. been ui occupation of a furnished house owned by the plaintiff,who made her claim in. respect of, articles-alleged to be missing since defendant’s tenancy, and damage alleged to have been caused .by, the. defendant,., .Mr, P. Levi appeared for the plaiiitiff and Air J. J. McGrath for. the. defendant. After hearing the evidence. His Worship said he,' was satisfied , that, the. plaintiff had suffered some damage, but.net nearly to the amount of £l4. He assessed the damage at £4; and awarded the plaintiff that amount.

...At : ty»e last meeting of the, Ashburton Borough Council, Councillor f. Ferriman suggested that a portion of the Domain should be utilised . for growing food, and that less attention Should be paid to growing Sowers.- The idea; He said; Had Been ..Adopted in other parts of the Dominion, aiid ho Considered the suggestion was worthy of consideration. Councillors favour: ed the suggestion, slating that ,it. wap necessary ‘hat the producing, powers of this country should be kept up, ji. order to .provide food for those, id heed. li was stated that.. there, wa./ a portjon ,of the Domain .that cop id be cropped; and the Domain Board was authorised to go. .into., the matter and report latch-. ,It, Whs suggested that some of the school pupils .might undertake to assist in the cultivation.

The difficulty .With, regard to valuations; declared Mr. Haroid Beauchamp at yesterday’s sitting of the Iloyal Commission on city leases, was to get those) who acted for the lessor id accept anything like a reasonable valuation; rind the same applied .to rates. For exriiriple. he Would be. very, glad iridried to sell his property in Wellington, at, the assessment made- by the local valuer. In fact, he would be prepared to take a slight reduction. That, to his mind, showed that the valuer was trying to , get every farthing out of the larid. Mr Milne, (ri Commissioner) : “I suppose that the real trouble is that the tenants who have entered into these contracts find , the contracts burdensome. That is,to say, that the rents , ; are , absurdly, high, based upon a high valuation, and not only have the rents been, increasing, but the rates also.” Mr, Beauchamp : “That is so-” The chairman: ‘‘That means that the capital value must be absurdly .high; and that the estimate that Wellington people put bri their property is very far wrong.” ... Further in reply tb Mr Milne, Mr Beauchamp said that he. considered present valuations absurdly, high, but o per cent, on a reasonable valuation would bo a fair .ireiitril. On the present, valuation, however, .the tenant "Was payirig too much. Mr O'Shea (city solicitor): “1 don't know any case in Wellington where 5 per cent, is being paid on the unimproved value.”

The mails which left New Zealand ot January 23rd per 11.M.5. Niagara, arrived in London on the 27ih ultimo, five days late. The Secretary to the Treasury acknowledges in the “Gazette” the receipt of the sum of £5, labelled “con science money,” sent by post by some person unknown to the Collector oCustoms, Christchurch.

An inquest will be held hy Mr " • G. lliddell, S.M., at the city courthouse at 2.15 p.m. to-day concerning the death of - Simpson Allan Auld, who was run over by a tram at tbe Summit last Tuesday.

The conference between the representatives of the shipowners of New Zealand, and the representatives of ine Federated Seamen’s Union of New Zealand concerning a proposed new working agreement has failed to arrive at a settlement. The conference has concluded. and no .further developments nave been outlined in the meantime. On account of the war. the Wesley Training College scheme, involving an expenditure of £20,000. has been temporarily suspended. The college .is that Being removed from Auckland to Paerata, about 23 miles from Auckland, so that the students may have practical training in farming operations. The farm land comprises 700 acres.

The total produce in bushels (except where otherwise stated) of the various grain and pulse crops throughout the Dominion last year was as tinder: Wheat. , 7,120,770 bushels; oats, 7,673,601; . barley, 825,651; maize, 342,780; peas and beans, 166,594; ryegrass, in bushels .of 201 b, 799,407; cocksfoot, 1,550,89p1b; potatoes, 333,649 tons.

The Minister for Customs (the Hon Arthur Myers) gazetted yesterday, m substitution for lists previously, published, a lengthy list of ar J- lci ® ,s , P r0 j hibi'ed to be imported to .the united Kingdom. The articles, in question range from aerated, v/aters, agricultural machinery, and air-guns, to works of art, wringers and mangles, and yeast.. , A little child named Robinson had a miraculous escape from being killed last evening between 6,'iid 6-30 o clock. She crossed over the road in front of a Irani car, but through the prompt acdon of the motorman slie, was caught by the lifeguard and, carried along. She was taken into Mr Leh McKenzie’s pharmacy, where she w,as attended to. ft Was foiihd that no bones . were broken, but that the child had Demises and cuts all over her body, a At the Wesley Haft,. Taranaki street, last night, a lecture was delivered, by Chaplain-Captain Read entitled.:. “Fifty Thousand Miles .bn a ; Hospital Ship.”, The vice-president of.the Wesleyan Conference, Mr JV Veale, occupie dthe chair, and there was a large and anpteciative audience. .During tho course* of the lecture Captain Read exhibited a very interesting senes ,of views of Egypt, Malta, Greece, France, England and* Dublin. , Threshing-mill , experience has verified tho early statement that springsown, pats would, prove a failure, so far as thrashing for grain is concerned. Tho Oamaru “Mail” reports instances where the results were so poor -that the mills were stopped, and the crops ressrfed for chaff. , , This will mean that the total production of oats-m No'-th Otago, despite, the Tact that autumn sowings have* yielded very well bn the average, will bear only n distant relation to'the area sown. , A North Taranaki countryman. felt quite important a few weeks ago when he got notice from the Land and. Income Tax Department to send particula :s ol his income. _ Not wishing to appear as poverty-stricken as he was, and wanting to be as good as nia neighbour, he showed his , income to be quite » respectable ambiint. . Two treek* ago he received a little ; bill of SCO from the depaftmefit as hiS contribution towards fife, cost, of The war, Tha niah has hot £6o.to.ibless himself with, and what, the department will do to extract blood out, of a stone is efc ercising the minds of those “in the know.”

“Have not the rates in Wellington increased in recent years?’* asked..Mi Milne at the sitting of the City Leases Commission yesterday. -.“Very Co??. I'*" 1 '*" crably,” replied' Mr Harold Beauchamp. , ■ “la not that,”. asked .Mi Milne, “a burden on the lease that ought to have been taken into Consideration jn fixing, the -rentals? . Mr Beanckanjp: “Certainly.” Mr CrSnea: “Our rate is cbual to about 3s in the £ on.the annual value.. The rate has increased one-tenth of, a -penny. Mr Milne: “But the valuations have increased?” Mr Beauchamp; “Very considerably. ,J Mr Miino. “Hit .extra rates are an additional rental?” Mr Beauchamp: “Yes, a very considerable one.”. In the Magistrate’s Court yesterday , Mr W G. Riddell. S.M., heard a castin which Mr G. H. Lightfoot, inspector of awards, proceeded , against the Marble Bar Co., Ltd., for the recovery of penalties for two alleged breaches of the 'Wellington private hotel and refreshment room workers’ award. Defendants were charged with: (1) Having . employee! a female worker in the kitchen at the rate of 25s per week, m,tead of 30s;. (2) having failed, .to cause a time-sheet showing the number of hours wbfked by each employee io be posted in a conspicuous place. ■Vfter hearing the evidence, the magis r trate held that there., wa-j insufficient proof, and plaintiff was nonsuited in respect of both cases. Mr A. IV. Blair appeared for defendants.

Giving evidence before the City Leases Commission yesterday, Dr Fitchett (Public Trustee) stated that the Public Trust, the Government Insurance, and. the State Advances department's lent. .pH nothing but the. Government valuation—a. special. r hlU a ‘ tion, not the land-tax valuation. They attached, he added, far more importance to the Government valuation than to private valuations, though the latter., mere a check bn the Government valuation. The chairman (Mr Justice Hoskins:)“The Government valuers have a great deal of experience and become very skilled- 51 Mr Skerrett: “Your Honour may hold that vieir; but; neither in country lands nor town lands, do I. consider theni capable of making such a valuation as. could be relied upon for really important purposes. Lots of them .have grown up in the department. They have most of them never been concerned in the buying or selling or. even the farming of land.” Dr Fitchett: .‘;I have no brief for the Valuation Department, but. the Public Trust invests, . large amounts on the Government valuation, and for years past we have not bad half-a-dozen cases There, the, aecuHty has gone, bad, and the , experience. .of the Government Insurance is, . _tlie same-” His Honour; ‘"Hie Government valuer would have at his command personally the . largest stock of information as toi values. . It can be said of most , valuers in New. 2/ealand that they have' simply grown lip. -There is no school where all these principles are taught.”

The departure of the Manuka from 'Wellington for Sydney has been further postponed until 10 o’clock tonight.

Cable advice has been received by the General Post Office from San Francisco that there wero no i New Zealand or Australian mails on hoard the Laconia, recently sunk in the' Atlantic.

The fire among the hush on the hills to the westward of the Upper Karori reservoir, which started an Wednesday, ivas riot checked until early yesterday morning, when it was beaten out, A considerable area of native bush was destroyed. The flames broke out again during the afternoon and appeared to make good headway before the northerly breeze. “Is not the small size of tile sections in Wellington one reason why the leases will not pay?” was a. point raised at yesterday’s sitting of the Royal Commission on the city leases hy Mr Thomas, of Dunedin, one of the Commissioners. . “"Wellington has always been handicapped in that way,” replied Mr Harold Beauchamp. The chairman: “That is tho reason of the high capital value.” Mr Thomas: ‘Would it not case the difficulty if the corporation could acquire the small sections and roplot them? 11 Mr Beauchamp;. “I, don’t think that would alter the position very much;” 1 Captain J. W. A. .Niesigh, win represented the New South IVales Government at the San Francisco Exposition, and is now in Wellington, last a gathering of local pressmen in.-Bar-rett's Hotel yesterday afternoon.. Captain Niesigh, who. is on a mission to New. Zealand in connection with the World’s Press Congress, tq be held'-at Sydney in 1918, gave an _ interesting outline of the scope and objects:of .the Congress, which are cosmopolitan. and comprehensive.. Delegates, from. pTory department of a riewispaper office, literary. mechanical arid commercial, will be present from ev.cry part of the world, and conferences of an educational character .will be held, .The. visiting delegates "’ill he , the guests ,of ‘ New South Wales, arid every facility will be given them for seeing Australia and adding to their knowledge of the country, its industries, social and economic conditions, arid other matters of interest. .

An extraordinary find was made bn Saturday, afternoon at St. Heller’s Bay by a resident, Mr F. u. Hutchinson, Auckland. While, walking along the beach east of, the wharf; lie saw something .white ip the sand near the mouth of the creek, just above high-water mark. On examining it he unearthed a skull, and after some further investigation with a trowel, .laid bare three complete human , skeletons; two of adults and one of a, child about three years of ago. All three were covered with about nine inches of sand. They lay with feet pbxntitig_ .in various directions, the , assumption being,, that they were those of Maoris,, seeing that Europeans, if buried in such n spot, would ,bb laid side bv side. One skull bears a round perforated hole, which seems to indicate that the owner mot w?tb a violent death. The teeth are complete and perfectly sound, an unusual'thing except in, a Maori. Mr Hutchinson communicated with , the constable at Ellerslio, but, the latter, being convinced that the skeletons were those of natives and that, tho deaths Dad taken place many years . ago; decided .to take. no official ‘;iotico_, pf; tho matter. "

~ Reference was made by the Hon. GW. Russell, Minister for Internal Affairs, in the course of an, interview, to the historical research work, done by Hoh. Dr 11. McKab. Ouo cause of special regret in connection with Dr MoNah’s lamented death, the Minister said, was the prospect of the djistonoal researchwork on .which he was engaged being stayed. Dr McNall bkd collected a very large amount of material for a further work, in addition to that already published by him. The Minister said he was, given to understand that this .material was of an exceptionally valuable character, and, If, Dr McNgh had been spared, he would, no, doubt, have continued the work as far as his Ministerial duties would, permit. It was understood that Dr McNab had left no will, and tliat rip provisiori had been made for ihb continuation of his historical work, or for anyone to take possession of the material he had gathered. Mr Russell assumed that the estate would be administered by the Public Trustee, and he (the Minister) proposed to communicate with that official with a view of ascertaining whether it was possible to obtain possession of the historical material left by Dr McNab. ,It it was possible to obtain the material tlio Minister proposed to lay the matter before the Board of Science and Art, for its ebrisideration and recommendations. He had no doubt that the board would approach the subject frbrii an extremely sympathetic point of view, arid that a scheme would be evolved by means of which the work undertaken by Dr McNab would be continued.,