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Otago Daily Times, Issue 18316, 5 August 1921, Page 4

It will be necessary that the office of Acting Minister of Finance, which is at present filled by Sir Francis Bell, shall be hold by a member of the Ministry who possesses a seat in the House of Representatives for such portion of the ensuing session, as will elapse before the return of Mr Massey to New Zealand. We understand it is practically settled that Mr Downio Stewart will undertake the responsibilities of the office before the Parliament meets and discharge them until Mr Massey is prepared to resume them. The Mayor (Mr J. S. Douglas) returned to Dunedin last night from a business visit to Wellington. While there ho met the Hon. J. G. Coates and the Hon. W. Downie Stewart, and put before them the urgent necessity of providing some work near the city for the relief of unemployment among married men with families. The question was discussed at a meeting of Cabinet on Wednesday. Mr Douglas met the Ministers later and was told by Mr Coates that ho had given instructions to Mr Furkort (Chief Engineer) to prepare a report for him as to the possibility of putting any such works into operation near Dunedin; Mr Dotiglas raised the question of widening the road at Lookout Point, but Mr Coates took the view that this was a matter for the local authority and not for the Government. Ho, however, promised that if the local bodies, the Otago Motor Club, a#d the citizens generally contributed to the work the Government would consider a subsidy. It is possible that the Mayor may shortly call a meeting of those interested to discuss the whole question. The proposed work on the main north line is still as much “in the air” as over. The matter is still under consideration, as Ministers say, and the city still waiting for an announcement on the .nrojeot by the Hon. Mr Guthri. , Mr j>,c*g!ar. stated to the reporter that he wao well pleased with the assistance which Mr Downie Stewart had given him.

The second express from Christchurch was 25 minutes late in reaching Dunedin last night. The delay was caused by a broken down motor lorry, which left , the road at a steep crossing near Seacliff and planted itself resolutely across the railway line. Men were sent some distance ahead with lights to warn the train, and a detonator was placed on the lino as an additional precaution. When the train came along the driver pulled up promptly, and all hands set to work to shift the truck. The lorry, however, refused to be moved, and stuck fast to the clay, so the engine was detached from the train and used to pull it out of the road.

The power from Waipori failed about 4.30 yesterday afternoon, the cause of the breakdown being a short circuit in one of the switches controlling the generators in the power house. A smart change over was made to the emergency Diesel engines in Cumberland street, which kept the trams going. Tho switch was temporarily repaired by tho shift engineers and the power through again in about an hour’s time. The break was made more secure last night, and the defective part will probably be replaced on Sunday.

Two interesting badges that have been issued by the Australian Government are at present on view in the window of Mr R. T. Simpson, furrier, Princes street. The badges were sent from Australia to a lady resident in Dunedin, and are those issued to the mothers and next-of-kin of deceased and returned Australian soldiers. _ The badge ' issued to tho mothers and widows of fallen soldiers is of black silk, and mounted with silver bars. On tho upper silver bar is an olive branch, representing Peace, and immediately underneath, stamped in gold on the silk, are two crossed wattle branches and the rising sun, representing Australia, followed by tho Imperial Crown and the words: “Australian Military Forces. For Australia.” A smaller bodge of silver and blue enamel was issued by the Australian Defence Department to the next-of-kin of all Australian soldiers who fought in tho great war. It is surmounted by the Imperial Crown, followed by an oval encircling the letters A.I.F. (Australian Imperial Forces). Round the outer rim are the words: “Issued by the Department of Defence. To Women of Australia for Duty Done.”

The magisterial inquiry concerning the collision that occurred in the lower harbour on the evening of July 7 between the Canterbury Company’s steamer Calm and the barque Rothesay Hay will be opened at the Magistrate’s Court at 10.15 a.m. on Tuesday. The assessors will bo Captain Sundstrum (Dunedin) and Captain Broadhouse (Wellington). Mr A. C.. Hanlon will appear for Captain Braidwood, master of the Calm; Mr S. Solomon, K.C., for the owners and master (Captain Campbell) of the Rothesay Bay; and Mr J. C. Stephens on behalf of the Otago Harbour Board. Captain Beaumont, local Government superintendent of mercantile marine, will watch the proceedings on behalf of the Marine Department. In connection with an assault case which was ventilated in the City Police Court on Monday the name of the man assaulted was reported as Harry Dougherty; it should have been Doughty. The last of the Dunedin series of wool sales will be held in the Art Gallery Hall to-day, when some 12,000 bales will be submitted. A full bench of buyers will be in attendance. More than usual interest attaches to this sale from the fact that it will probably be the last of the dominion sales for the current season.

The City Fire Brigade received a call about a quarter to 5 o’clock yesterday afternoon, and on proceeding to Maitland street discovered that the oause of the alarm was a kapok mattress catching fire in a house owned by Mr Sim, and occupied by Mrs Duthie. The mattress had been placed in front of a fire to dry, and had by some means become ignited. Beyond the mattress being and the room slightly scorched, no damage was done.

Fqr a good many years past mention has been made from tinte to time of the intention of the Telegraph Department to introduce the Murray telegraphic printer, an invention of a New Zealander (says a Wellington Press Association message). War intervened, and the machines are now only beginning to come to hand in parts. Keyboards and distributors for eight sets arrived some months ago; &nd the operators have been learning how to handle the instruments, which are extremely delicate. Eight receivers have just arrived, but these are of the Bordeaux type, which differs from Murray’s. They are preferred in America, as errors are more easily corrected, but print on tape instead of filling up a whole page like Murray’s. The latter, however, are in such demand that they could not be obtained for another year. , instruments are very costly, two complete sets running info £4OOO. They will be employed in the cities to begin with, and some of the large provincial towns will then be connected up, but it is not likely that any will be in practical working order till the end of the year. In the Magistrate’s Court, Wellington, yesterday, William Edward Parker was charged with having attempted to obtain £l4 14s from the New Zealand Insurance Company by falsely representing that as the result of an accident on the steamer Rama he had been totally incapacitated and unable to work for a period (says a Press Association message). He told the company that he. had done no work since the accident, when, os a matter of fact, ho had worked on the steamer Kennedy. A fine of £lO (afterwards reduced to £7 on the appeal of counsel) was imposed. In the City Police Court yesterday morning, before Mr H. Y. Widdowson, S.M., Sarah Ann Thelma Gribben made an application for the cancellation, variation, or suspension of a maintenance order requiring her to pay 7s 6d a week for the support of her child. The evidence showed that the defendant was in a very indifferent state of health and had frequent breaks in employment, but at the same time she had made no genuine attempt to keep up the order. The magistrate, in declining the application, said the order would have to be kept up, but if the girl’s state of health interfered with her earning capacity the matter could again be reviewed. Messrs J. H. Hancock (chairman) J. B. Shacklock, J. W. Dove, and J. J. Clark, attended the meeting of the Ocean Beach Domain Board yesterday. The chairman’s allocation of grounds to the Rugby Football Union, Football Association, and Ladies’ Hockey Association was approved. A formal resolution was carried making levies as follows on the municipalities named: —City of Dunedin, £835 6s 4d; Borough of St. Kilda, £6l 12s 7d. The secretary explained that this meant an increase of £3 for the city and £2 for the borough as compared with last year’s figures. After liquidating liability that had been incurred (and paid for) they would have about £4OO to carry on their ordinary works.

A Press Association telegram from Wellington says that the estimated total population of the dominion on June 30 was 1,284,050. Between April 17 and June 30 the births exceeded the deaths by 5768, and immigration exceeded emigration by 561. The probation system was warmly sup ported by the Rev. F. R. Jeffreys, honorary probation officer at Auckland, in the course of an interview yesterday (wires our Auckland correspondent]. He stated that fully 90 per cent, of the 500 probationers who had been in his care during the last six years had turned out satisfactorily. “I am absolutely convinced,” he said, “that probation has been one of the finest things in tho administration of justice. It is not merely reformative, but it is also punitive, and a deterrent.” Mr Jeffreys also mentioned that during his six years of office, probationers under his charge hod paid back £IOOO to people who had been robbed, and £6OO to tho Treasury, representing- recovered costs. All this money was paid weekly or monthly in small sums, and in this way the folly of dishonesty was impressed upon tho offender. Where relatives made restitution steps were taken to make the probationer reimburse them.

Advice has been received by tho Canterbury Steamship Company from Captain Munro, managing director, who is at present in England, that he is arranging to purchase a now and up-to-dato steamer for the South Island-Wellington-Wanganui trade. This steamer, which is just being completed, has a capacity of 850 tons, and will be ready to leave for New Zealand shortly.

The first general meeting of the Otago Persian Cat Club was held last evening in the Trades Hall. There was a large and enthusiastic attendance, and 45 members were enrolled. 'After general discussion of ways and means, the following office-bearers wore elected:—President, Mr Abernethy; treasurer and secretary, Mr T. Money; trustee, Mrs Ponton; steward, Mrs Bonn; committee —Mrs Laurenson (convenor), Mrs Benn, Mrs Hunt, Mr M'Lean, Mr Hunt, Mrs Arundall, Mrs Leitch, Miss Ayre, Mrs Hemsley, Mrs Adair. Tho Dunedin Starr Bowkett Society’s usual meeting of shareholders was held last evening in the Oddfellows’ Hall, Stuart street, Mr A. Sligo being in the chair. A fair number of shareholders were present. The 105th appropriation cf £SOO in No. 3 group was disposed of by ballot, cluster No. 378, held by one shareholder, being drawn. The 25th appropriation of 500 in No. 4 group was also disposed of by ballot, cluster No. 145, held by two shareholders, being drawn. Licensing statistics show that there were 105,639 licensed premises in England and Wales in 1920, and it is expected that these will decrease by 952 during the current year, as compared with a decrease of 612 in 1919 (says a cable message to the Australian papers). On the other hand, the number of registered clubs was 8994, the highest on record. It is estimated that these will increase by 900 during the current year:

The entries for the,University degree examinations have closed. The total number of entries has not yet been ascertained, but the figure is believed to be a record one, as also was the number of entries last year. The entries for the matriculation examination are to close on October 16 as, heretofore.

The reported rising and unrest amongst native residents of the island of Niue, in connection with the murder of a natiw policeman, occasioned surprise in European quarters here (states the Star). In a letter to an Aucklander, a white of 25 years’ residence in those parts, states: “We were all surprised on reading the stirring of the so-called rising and unrest. It waa exaggerated in the extreme. There was no resistance of any of those arrested. There have been several trials of the person charged with murder, in which be professed innocence, but lately he has admitted a great deal, and is now bringing others into it, which will cause delay and retrials.” Quite a novel confidence trick has been worked off on shopkeepers in the city twice during the past fortnight (says an Auckland exchange). A man walked up to the counter of a shop in Great North road the other day holding in one hand a £5 note carefully' folded and knotted as careful people frequently do fold and knot such bank paper to eliminate the chance of confusing it with £1 notes. He earnestly requested that the man behind the counter should do . him the favour of exchanging five £1 notes for the fiver. On having tho singles carefully counted out to him ha gathered them up with a careless sweep, tossed down his knotted note on the counter, and, with a curt “Thanks!” smartly made his exit. By the time the shopkeeper had discovered that he had paid away five £1 notes for a piece of crinkled, knotted, and blank brown paper; the trickster had made good his escape. The same trick was worked again, this time with a piece of blank dirty-white paper, at a business place in Birkenhead.

Discussing the American tariff situation on June 30, the New York Sun remarked; "The fact is that the wool schedule is a surrender to the sheep farmers of the West, who have been threatened with ruin for more than a year because of the slump in the domestic market for wool and because of the great influx of wool from Australia, Now Zealand, and other places. Despite the drastic provision of the Emergency Tariff Bill the United States is now and will continue to be for some time glutted with wool, and the Fordney-Penroso Bill is an appreciation of that fact. If the old schedule K with its basic rate of 11 or 12 cents a pound aroused a furore in Congress and the Republican Party it would be, expected that the new rate, appreciably higher, would oause even a greater storm. But such will not be the case, for conditions have changed and the necessity for protection of the sheep farmers is admitted by almost every one to be as great as the necessity for protection of every other kind of farmer.

Leave the traffic in your dost. Ride a Harley-Davidson motor cycle, and be first on toe road.—W. A. Justice and Co., Otago agents. 292 Princes street. Dunedin.—Advt. It does us good to see housewives dancing for joy at 9.30 a.m. bn washing days, duo to their/ intelligent use of “No Rubbing” Laundry Help, that famous abolisher of washboard slavery.—Murdoch and ■ Co., grocers, agents for “No Rubbing.”—Advt. Here’s a Plum.—2o only Jute sofa squares, 7ft x 4ft, good cokurings; usually 65s—to be cleared at 39s 6d each.—Mollisons (Ltd.). Advt.

“Cheerio.” Conviviality and friendship Suggest the best—Wa Uon s No. 10 whisky. —Advt. A. E. J. Blakeley, dentist, Bank of Australasia, corner of Bond and Rattray streets (next Telegraph Office). Telephone 1850. Advt.

Save Your Eyes.—Consult Peter Q. Dick. D.8.0.A-, F. 1.0., London, consulting and oculists’ optician.—“ Peter Dick,” _ jewellera and opticians, Moray place, Dunedin.—Advt.