Gold Mining Industry

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21643, 13 May 1932, Page 6

Gold Mining Industry

To-morrow a large party consisting of members of the i Dunedin Chamber of Commerce will visit Lawrence for the purpose of gaining first-hand knowledge as to what is being done in the revival of the gold mining industry in that district. The Mayor (Mr R. S. Black) will accompany the party, which will leave by motor cars at 11.30 a.in.

Municipal Organ Recital Patrons of the municipal organ recitals are requested to note the change in the date of the next recital., which will be given on Monday evening, May 16, at 8 o’clock. The programme which has been prepared by the city . organist (Dr V. L. Galway) is one that will appeal to all lovers of the organ. For the first time at these recitals will be , heard Mendelssohn’s greatest organ Sonata, that in F minor, and a stirring Trumpet Minuet by Hollins. The programme also includes attractive items by Arcadelt, Schumann, Mansfield, Wagner, Elgar and Schubert. The supporting artist is Mr J. B. R. Benton, whose splendid bass voice will be heard in Haydn’s “Rolling in Foaming Billows." Post Office Foundations

A pump was working on the water which has accumulated in the vault of the new Poet Office yesterday, and by evening it had been pretty well cleared out. The city engineer (Mr J. G. Alexander) and the district public works engineer (Mr T. M. Ball) are to confer to-day with the object of taking measures to tifly up the place.

Main North Road Clear Advice received by the Otago Motor Club states that the Main North road is now clear for traffic between Dunedin and north of Timaru,

A Forged Bank Note The National Bank of New Zealand advises that a forged fl note of the National Bank of New Zealand, No, 430,282, purporting to be signed by George Barr and countersigned by E. Johnstone, has been presented for payment at Auckland. The note (says a Press Association telegram from Wellington) a wellwashed appearance, and the printing is bad, but it is on good paper. It is an obvious forgery. A Ruse that Failed

A strange signature on a withdrawal slip accounted for by the showing of a had swathed in bandages did not induce a teller at the Post Office Savings Bank in Christchurch into paying out a sum of £ll2 to a mau who said his name was George Young. The teller’s suspicions were communicated to the police, and “ Young ” was met outside the post office by Detective Jarrold, who escorted him to the police station, removed the bandages, and found no injury. In consequence “ Young,” otherwise Edward John Watson, a salesman, aged 29, appeared in the Magistrate’s Court, where he pleaded guilty to forging and attempting to utter a Post Office Savings Bank withdrawal slip for £ll2, and stealing £1 in money from George Young.

Unlawful Weapons A Press Association telegram from Wellington states that a proclamation published in last night’s Gazette extends the definition of the term “ unlawful weapon ” in the Arms Act to include “gas guns" and other similar weapons.

Free Place System Pointing out the seriousness of some of the education cuts, the annual report of the New Zealand Secondary Schools Association regrets the danger to “ the whole free place system.” Reduction of this system “ puts a premium on examination smartness.” It “ aids private schools at the expense of departmental schools.” It increases the unemployment of both youths and teachers, and “ doubles the effect of raising the school age to six years.” While the association is prepared to bear its equitable share of burdens, it feels that the -Economy Commission did not sufficiently . value the mental, moral and spiritual, and was too much influenced by the desire to provide education as a commodity at the cheapest rate. A nation that restricts education at the expense of general intelligence and social security risks the ultimate loss of many millions owing to its effort to save some. A similar note is found in the annual report of the New Zealand Secondary Schools Assistants’ Association. The Economy Commission, the association thinks, has failed to see “ the more intangible benefits ” of “ a liberal and free post-primary education.” Educational loss in youth is irreparable. The proposed economy means to teachers less salary, bigger classes, blocked promotion, and increased unemployment. Tint impression has been formed that the “ lack of funds made it impossible for the Government to give our case the sympathetic treatment and consideration tliat it deserved.”

A Tax Inequality A marked anomaly in the operation of the new unemployment tax lias been disclosed. ’ It lias been decided that if a business of any kind has its yearly balance later than April 30, 1932, the Is in the f tax payable this month will be levied on the income for 1930-31, instead of on that for 1931-32. If tax at the old rate of 3d in the £ has been paid on the whole 1930-31 income credit will be given for one-third of the total aipoimt paid. Such businesses, presumably, will continue to be assessed on earlier periods than others which balance by April 30 yearly, so long as the present unemployment tax remains in force. The many persons whose incomes were lower in 1931-32 than in 1930-31 will be considerably penalised in having the quadrupled tax applied to them, in effect, several months earlier than to others balancing before May 1 each year.

Striking Auroral Display Gradually shading from blue to a delicate pink and finally changing to a deep red glow, the western sky presented to Dunedin residents late yesterday afternoon a sight of extraordinary beauty. Beginning shortly after 5 o’clock when most people were out of doors, the display of natural colour was so striking as to become a subject of general interest and admiration. It reached the zenith of its beauty when the sky behind the surrounding hills became suffused with a soft pink glow, extending high into the heavens. This manifestation of Nature in one of her most artistic moods is described by meteorologists as a type of auroral display and is attributed to electrically charged particles, probably emanating from the sun, entering the atmosphere surrounding the earth. The phenomenon is fairly common in this latitude, but since it rarely attains such a degree of brilliance as it did last evening, it probably passes in most cases unobserved or is believed to be an unusually beautiful sunset. Adequate Legal Notice

A decision was given by Mr Justice Herdman in the Supreme Court in Auckland a few days ago that a newspaper advertisement is sufficient legal notice of a sitting of the Assessment Court. The point was contested by Albert Beasley, farmer, a Newmarket ratepayer, who took action against Mr W. R. M'Kean, S.M., judge of the Assessment Court, and the Newmarket Borough Council. He asked for a writ of prohibition to restrain Mr M'Kean, who sat and determined objections to valuations in the Newmarket Borough, from signing the borough valuation roll until plaintiff’s objection had been determined. “it seems to me that I would be perpetrating an absurdity,” said his Honor, “were I to lay it down that publication in a newspaper was sufficient under section 31 and that some other kind of notice was necessary when the court was proceeding to exercise its jurisdiction under section 28.” Under the Valuation of Land Act the judge of the Assessment Court was obliged to do just what Mr M'Kean did in the present case. He thought the Act intended to provide for giving notice in a public manner of the place and time at which a public institution would commence to perform its duties, and his Honor could find nothing in the Statute which required him to decide that the interpretation placed upon section 28 by the learned stipendiary magistrate was contrary to law. His Best “ Catch ” The second prize ticket of £SOO in the “ Happy Days ” art union, credited to ■‘P. J. 0. 8.,” Masterton,”' is held by Mr James O’Brien, of Messrs O’Brien Bros., a Pahiatua butchery firm. Mr O’Brien has been suffering from ill-health for the past 12 months, and has been away from Pahiatua recuperating. A few weeks ago he was staying with friends in Masterton, and bought a ticket from a street seller. He heard a rumour on Sunday that he had won a prize, but it was not until Monday morning when he opened his newspaper that he discovered the extent of his good fortune. Mr O’Brien is a married man with one child. He is known as an expert angler, but this easily represents his largest “ catch.” Payment of Surgeons “ By no stretch of the imagination can surgeons be called overpaid in New Zealand,” said an Auckland doctor when asked to comment on the cabled statement of a Harley street practitioner that surgeons were grossly overpaid. “I have never heard of £2OO being charged for an operation in tbis country, and the maximum fee approved by the New Zealand branch of the British Medical Association is £IOO. All surgeons in the Dominion have a scale of fees drawn up by the branch for their guidance. For instance, the fee recommended for' a major operation on the eye is from £25 to £IOO. The same fees are prescribed for an amputation of the hip or for a caesarean section. Personally, I have never received more than £3O for any of those operations. . Take, also, the fees ap* proved for- X-ray examinations. They range from £2 to £lO, but you will .never hear of anyone being charged the maximum. It is more often fl, £2, or £3. Surgeons’ fees in New Zealand are extremely moderate, and in the ■ present times no surgeon dare charge the maximum fees which the British Medical Association allows. It is interesting to note that the British Medical Association stipulates that its recommended fees are exclusive of charges for after-attendance or payments to operating-room assistants, yet in my own case both those charges are paid out of my own pocket.” A Luxury Yacht

Elaborate plans for the construction of a £IO,OOO steel yacht, which will. be seen on the Waitemata Harbour, are at present nearing completion at the home of Mr Charles Hanson, Motui'ekareka Island, Hauraki Gulf. A cousin, Mr E; E. Hanson, of Scotland, will be the owner. The yacht will be built next year by a Scottish firm famous for its old-time clipper sailing vessels, which has forwarded revised specifications and plans to Mr C. Hanson. As soon as the yacht is ready, Mr C. Hanson and three Aucklanders will proceed to England to form part ot the crew of seven which will bring the boat to Auckland. “This will be the finest auxiliary yacht of its class to be seen in the Southern Hemisphere,” said Mr Hanson to atNew Zealand Herald reporter. “The idea was first broached ■last June between my cousin and myself, and I have devoted my time in the long winter evenings to the drawing and layout of the plans.” It is intended to sail to New Zealand from Scotland by a leisurely route, via the Mediterranean, Suez, Colombo, Singapore, Adelaide, Dunedin, Wellington and Auckland. The yaclit will remain in New Zealand for three or four years, with Auckland as its headquarters, and numerous trips to the different islands in the Pacific will be made.

Harbour Board Economies Proposals for further reductions in expenditure were presented by the Economies Committee at a special meeting of the Otago Harbour Board held last night. After a lengthy discussion in committee, the board decided: “That consideration of the whole matter of economies be deferred until a special meeting of the board to be held in committee not later than the middle of June, and that the Economies Committee submit to that meeting a report making such recommendations as it deems fit to cover the position, involving, if necessary, alterations in the policy of the board.”

Remission of Racing Taxes The Christchurch Presbytery on Wednesday adopted a resolution protesting against the Government’s reducing educational facilities in the primary schools 'and at the,same time remitting £35,00t> in totalisator taxes. Commenting editorially on this resolution the Christchurch Press says: “Those, and only those, who think of racing as a vicious sport and of a crowd on a racecourse as a congregation of evildoers will agree with the presbytery. Others will see at once that there is no inconsistency in the Government’s actions whatever. It is cutting down the cost of education because it must, and with as much consideration for schools and scholars as possible.. It is remitting a fraction of the totalisator tax because it must, considering its own revenue needs equally with those of the clubs. Unless the clubs are relieved, many of them will stop holding meetings, as some have done already; and the State’s revenue from this source will collapse. Its concession is not generosity, or partiality, but insurance, which first of all protects the Consolidated Fund and the direct taxpayer, and then the racing club, and the primary school as well.” Blood Transfusion Service

A Wellington blood transfusion service was formed on Wednesday, and will commence its activities forthwith. Several medical men were present, and were unanimous in the opinion that it would render invaluable service to the citizens generally, and to patients in particular; for, although the service will only be required occasionally, when it is required it is-a matter of great urgency. Many names have been enrolled of persons willing to give their services without charge.