WELLINGTON NOTES.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 14800, 6 April 1910, Page 5

WELLINGTON NOTES.

(Fkou Our Own Correspondent.) ' WELLINGTON, April 4. The. local Labour Department states that in New Zealand special efforts ate made to find employment for farm couples with children. If a .married couplo is wanted on a farm, couples witlrchildrai are generally barred by the employers. 7 This is often'owing to want of accommodation on the farm. The majority"iikap.plicants for farm work have either one or two children. Many emplo'yerVliowever, when proper .'• representations are made to them, will-engage a good couple, even although; they may happen'to havo one or more children. The domestic servant difficulty has become- so acute thatmarried couples are now often engaged.(or farms when it is really the wife's services alono that are required. A good domestic in a faun household can command £52 (and found) a year, whereas married couples can be got for as low as-£72 (and found) per annum. An efficient ploughman and farm labourer with a wife who- is an efficient general , servant", will not accept uu<]er'£l2o a. year.'.. ,' '

The local police have recently been very active in connection with the proper observance of the Licensing Act, the administration of which has formerly beeY somewhat lax. .•-.--.

The captain of. tho steamer Queen "of tho South, which arrived here this morning, reports that during his recent voyage from Foxton to Wellington, 'after- passing Cape Terawhiti, the steamer ran into a large .number of dead fish floating on the water. These fish were off Karori Rock in thousands,-and the vessel steamed-through them for four miles, They extended in all directions,- and appeared to consist mainly of ling: ■ Dead fish have frequently been seen in the straits.. The presumption is thnl they are killed by some outbreak of thermal action. . ■■"'■

..,:.: " April 5.-". Mr Trela'wny, Australasian superintendent of the P. and O. Company, who is here just now, had-up till this afternoon'received no word from London.in regard to tho Wellington" call of'the P. and O. steamers next season... ..The probability, however,' is' that the statement about an alternate call at Auckland .and. Wellington is correct. The boats calling at Wellington would get not only the South Island passengers, but the great majority of those from the North Island as far as Now Plymouth on the West and Napier on "tho" East Coast. :""■■".

A correspondent writes that wild dogs .ire causing trouble, .in'the hills, at the back of They apparently hunt in packs, worrying eheep and : killing deer. The dead bodies of deer have been found near the, .beds of some of 'the streams flowing into the reservoir.- '■