NEWS OF THE DAY

New Zealand Times, Volume L, Issue 11684, 23 November 1923, Page 4

NEWS OF THE DAY

Some 2250 acres in the Marlborough land district were gazetted yesterday as set apart for selection.

The work of laying down now drainpipes at Karori has been taken in hand by the waterworks department of the City Council. Mains are being laid in Karori road and in Slade terrace.

The usual proclamation further proroguing the meeting of Parliament from Thursday, November 29th, to Thursday, January 24th, 1924, was gazetted yesterday.

For the position of fees collector for the Auckland Hospital Board, 137 applications have been received. At its meeting the board referred the applications to the fees committee for consideration.

Regulations governing the administration of the Land and Income Tax Act, 1923, the returns of land and income, assessments, appeals from assessments, applications for special exemption, etc., were gazetted yesterday.

The milking'season is now almost at its highest in the Auckland district, nearly every cow being in profit. The fine weather and recent rains have made the pastures grow very well. The output from the Hikurangi Dairy Company’s factory is 1000 boxes of butter a week, as compared with 700 boxes five weeks ago.

The whole of the, freehold property and buildings of the D.1.C., Dunedin, which includes Watson’s Hotel, have been sold. It is understood that a syndicate is the purchaser, and that the present buildings will be demolished and a large modern hotel erected on the site. The purchase price has not been disclosed.

A visitor from the South Island told the local Tourist League that he caime north with the intention of going up the Wanganui river, but was told that the scenery on the Mole a n was so much finer that' he came on here (says the Taranaki “News”). This is not uncommon, but it was a surprise to find that the information was acquired in Wanganui.

The 5 per cent, rebate for the prompt payment of rates has proved a successful' experiment as far as the Whakatane Borough Council is concerned. During the rebate period, from October 6tn to 19th, rates to the amount of £4400 were paid into the borough office. Of this amount £4OOO was this year’s rates. ■ The record day during the period l was when £I4OO was received.

The action of the Wanganui River Trust an circularising up-river settlers in regard to taking over the river servioe was hot altogether successful. Opinion was equally divided among 62 settlers whether or not the trust should run the service, but a majority of 40 to 21 were against the present service being purchased. The trust sent out 100 circulars, the majority of settlers not replying. The trust will again consider the matter at a later date.

It appears that Wanganui Borough Is to be in the unique position of having three war memorials. An application wa6 received by the Wanganui Borough Council from Mr H. Mete Kingi urging that a site should he set aside in Moutoa Gardens for the natives’ war memorial, which is to take the form of 'a cairn of shell rock twenty feet high. The council agreed that the site was a suitable and historic one and the application was unanimously granted.

A New Plymouth motorist went to Wanganui to discover a benefit of direct overseas shipments to New Plymouth (says the Taranaki “Herald”). Benzine was purchased at New Plymouth at the rate of 2s 3d per gallon. In a Wanganui garage 3s was asked. When the difference between the respective prices : was mentioned, the seller remarked: “But you get direct shipments!” In connection with the above, it is interesting to mention that from now on Wanganui is also to get direct oil shipments. (

A cablegram has been received by the Mayor of Auckland (Mr J. H. Gunson), which illustrates the uncertainty of money market conditions at the present time and the depressing effect on investors of the unsettled conditions on the Continent. The £250,000 loan for street improvement, extension work at the Zoo, and for libraries, which the City Council recently floated in London, was underwritten just in time, as the day afterwards the market started to weaken again, the result being that of the quarter million only £32,800 was subscribed by the public, leaving the underwriters with £217,200 of the loan.

A statement that the natural increase in the works of the Dominion whs not being met by the number of apprentices coming forward was made at the meeting of the New Plymouth Technical College Board of Managers. It was also stated that no fully-trained artisans were out of employment .at the present time, the “out of work’’ being the men who had not served a proper apprenticeship. Mr A. L. Moore (director of the college) expressed the opinion that it was lamentable that with a population of nearly 14,000 the apprentices who had been articled lacked the desire’’to improve themselves.

An interesting incident in the his tory of the Ellerman Hall Line steamer City of Naples, which is berthed at Auckland, is the fact that she collided with a sunken wreck at the entrance to Dundee Harbour in 1918, and was submerged for about eight months. Eventually she was salvaged by her owners, who sued the Dundee Port Authorities for the heavy expense incurred, on the ground that the sunken wreck was not properly buoyed when the accident occurred. The owners of the City of Naples won the case, hut the Port Authorities successfully appealed against the verdict. The matter was then taken to the House of Lords, with the result that the shipowners were successful in their suit.

‘‘Whilst the Government considers Maoris should he treated in precisely the same manner as Euroepans, and those able to pay khould pay, yet it is felt that in a few districts boards are put to heavy expense in the treatment of Maoris suffering from enteric fever,” stated a circular letter from the Direc-tor-General of Public Health that was read at a meeting of the Auckland Hospital Board. Tho letter added that the Health Department would reimburse the board at the rate of £1 per week for each Maori patient suffering from enteric if the hospital fee could not be obtained. The chairman, Mr W. Wallace, said there were very few Maori patients at any time in Auckland hospital, hut that some other boards would benefit. “It is quite uncalled for,” declared Mr M. J. Coyle, referring to the request that Maori patients should receive the same treatment as Europeans. “All patients are treated alike in the Auckland hospital irrespective of creed or colour,” said Mr Wallace, 1