NEWS OF THE DAY

New Zealand Times, Volume XLVII, Issue 10924, 11 June 1921, Page 6

NEWS OF THE DAY

The Palmerston North Workers’ Educational Association has passed the following resolution :: —“That the,students attending the Palmerston North Workers’ Educational Association class express their sincere appreciation, of tho intellectual value of the tutor’s (Mr Marsh Roberts’s) lectures, and resent any attempt, to interfere with his freedom of action in the nature of his addresses to the class.”

The Minister for Education has conferred with the Waikato Hospital Board. He said he had found the buildings dilapidated, and repairs would be a very expensive proposition. There were only twenty patients, who could be accommodated at Pukeora Sanatorium Farm, winch was not paying. As a result of the conference, the board withdrew its opposition to the closing of the Waikato Sanatorium.

“Nine policemen out .of every te*i that enter the witness box commit perjury,” was the startling statement made by a witness in a case at the Invercargill Magistrate’s Court; and he proceeded to address the court on the subject. “You are antagonistic to the police?” asked Senior-Sergeant Eccles. “No!” shouted the witness, “but I want to see justioe done,” and in an excited manner hq again addressed the court, but the magistrate ordered him to stand down.

“It is an absolute scandal that honey-graders should be paid as poorly as they are,” said Mr it. O. Rymud at the Beekeepers’ Conference. “We have made representations to the Government, and I believe the heads of the horticultural division are with ns.” He referred to the importance of grading guarantees in the marketing of honey in other countries, and said that the only way to retain the services of efficient men was to pay them adequately. He maintained that honeygraders should be paid as much os tne graders of dairy produce.

It was generally agreed yesterday by a number of Labour officials, who were discussing the cost of living conference, that they failed to see how any good results could be achieved, seeing that the Government had • given a solemn pledge to the producers that the prices of butter and wheat would not be reduced for a certain period. In tho face of this promise, they contended, it was difficult to see how the cost of living, as far as these two important foodstuffs were concerned, could come down in the meantime. This apparently was also the opinion of the delegates at tho conference.

“What stops are being tn.k«n to pre. vent the spread of cattle-tick to the South Island?” was a question asKed by Mr C- H. Ensor at a meeting of the general committee of tho Canterbury A. and P. Association. It must be prevented from reaching the South Island from the North at all costs, he said, and . every precaution should’ be taken to effect this. “Beef will be rising again shortly,” said another member, “and there is every likelihood of North Island cattle being sent here.” It was decided, on the motion of Mr Ensor, to write to the Agricultural Department requesting that the necessary steps should he taken to keep the South Island stock clean.

The Arbitration Court will sit in Palmerston North on Thursday, Juno 16th.

The township of Shannon was named after Mr G. V. Shannon, win was one of the original promoters and l directors of the Wellington-Manavratu railway.

The annua! “farmers’ week” commences at Auckland on Monday next, when the provincial conference of the Farmers’ Union and several other gatherings will be held.

At the Police Court at Palmerston North, Frederick William Seaton pleaded guilty to a charge of bigamy, and was committed to the Supreme Court at Wellington for sentence.

A proposal is on foot to form a Council of Churches in Auckland, and a committee of four ministers and four laymen has been appointed to draft a constitution.

A man named H. Landes, while engaged on electrical fittings at the Hamilton Hotel (Hamilton), fell from the roof to the footpath, a distanco of 25 feet, a miraculous escape, being only slightly injured.

The Secretary, Post and Telegraph, advises that, until further notice, all full-rate and deferred cable messages for the United Kingdom are to be forwarded via Pacific, owing to interruption of Eastern route.

In the Magistrate’s Court at Auckland James Larkin and James McNully, two members of the crew of the Tasmania, admitted smuggling goodsi—spirits, tobacco, cigarettes, etc.—valued at £34, from the vessel, and were fined £IOO each, or six months in gaol.

The shortening of the road to Foxton and the removal of the Palmerston North railway station in accordance with the Deviation Commission’s report will be subjects for discussion at the next meeting of the Palmerston North Chamber of Commerce.

The Horowhenua County Council is taking steps to further protect the approach to the Shannon bridge over the Manawatu river, by planting a willow mat six chains long on the western bank. So far no further erosion has taken place since the last big flood.

At the Magistrate’s Covert yesterday, Mr R. T. Bailey, Inspector of Awards, proceeded against H. Gotlieb, of the Ideal Clothing Factory, for employing two girls for whom certificate® of fitness had not been issued. A fine of 10s and costs was inflicted by the magistrate. .

‘‘Speaking from a national standpoint,” said a Labour official yesterday, referring to the cost of living conference, “it must be recognised that it would be a bad thing for the country as a whole if the prices for our primary products dropped materially. The more the prices of these products fall the less money there is to come into the country from abroad for our exports Wihat is required is not that prices for our primary products should be lowered, but that wages should be raised to meet the level of those price®.”

The Repatriation Board met this weak, Mr T. S. Weston, chairman, presiding. Following are details of the application® considered at the meeting: Business loans declined, 10; business loans withdrawn, 1; business loans deferred, 1; business loans referred to Ministerial Board, 3; furniture loans granted, 26; furniture loans declined, 7; furniture loans deferred, 1; training allowance granted, 5; subsidised wages granted, 4; subsidised wages declined, 1; payment of fees granted, 3; transportation to Australia declined, 2; transportation to England deferred, 1 ; tools of trade deferred, I ; tools of trade declined, 1.

The honour recently conferred upon Sir John and Lady Luke was referred to at the meeting of the City Council. The Mayor said he was sure the council would join him in congratulating both on the honour they had received. It was a well-merited award—an award for honest, unselfish service. He moved that a suitable letter, signed by the council, should he forwarded to Sir John Luke. This was seconded by Councillor M. F. Luokie, who stated that he did not know of any two persons who deserved such an honour more than Sir John and Lady Luke, who had rendered Wellington and the country signal service during a time of stress and strain. The motion was carried unanimously.

The question of the annulment of marriages by the State for reasons which are not favoured by the Presbyterian Church was referred to at a meeting of the Christchurch Fresnytery. The Rev. J. Paterson stated that the Registrar-General had notified ministers that they must correct their registers regarding marriages which had been annulled. Mr Paterson Baid the church did not recognise certain reasons for annulling marriages which the State recognised. The letter from the Registrar-General did not ask for a simple intimation, of its receipt. There was a specified form to be used, and he thought some of the words iu that form were objectionable. It was decided that a committee should go into the matter, and report to the next meeting.

How many remember how money was made by the rabbiters in the early ’eighties? (asks the Gundagai, N.S.W., “Independent”). A man on the North Lachlan, when the rabbits firßt appealed, offered a bonus of 7s 6d each. “That will stop them,” he said. But it didn’t, and - the rabbits came so fast that he dropped the bonus to ss, and Btill they came. Then he dropped it to 2s, a then to _ls, and finally the rabbits stopped his bonus altogether. He couldn’t keep tip with them. For a time the men in the western country between Hay and the Darling paid a bonus of Is on rabbits, and Jimmy Tyson was one of them —even he believed that the bonus would beat the rabbit —but it didn’t. Big money was made by the trappers. _ There was a hotel out from Wilcannia that cleared about £7OOO in two years, and practically all of it was made out of the rabbiters would see them driving in a four-in-hand into Wilcannia. But when the bonus was stopped the trappers let their packs of dogs go wild, and themselves passed on to less lucrative work elsewhere.