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Otago Witness, Issue 3145, 24 June 1914, Page 11

A considerable amount of money must have been spent by visitors to Dunedin during Show Week. Two' instances of very largo “takings” have come under our notice. It is said that one leading Dunedin tea room disposed of several thousand pies during the week, and that about a ton and a-half of mutton was required for the meat-fillings, while a fish shop, situated in the centre of the town, is credited with taking over £2OO for the seven days. What the harvest for the hotels must have been can only be a matter of conjecture. The delegates from the Dunedin Licensed Victuallers’ Association, who met the representatives of the Hotel Employees’ Union in conference last Wednesday, and arrived at a tentative agreement as regards future wages, etc., of the employees, reported the result of their deliberations on Friday to a meeting of the members of the association. The association, however, would not ratify all tbc clauses agreed upon at the conference, and its delegates were requested to again confer with the union’s delegates and endeavour to come to an amicable agreement as regards the demands objected to by the association.

A meeting of the directors of the Otago Farmers’ Union Mutual Fire Insurance Association was held at Messrs Hugh Mitchell and Co.’s office on Friday, when there was a full attendance. Mr Wm. Gray was re-elected chairman for the ensuing 12 months. A large amount of'correspondence was brought forward, all of which indicated an added interest by the farmers in the association. The secretary reported that the various agents had boon doing good work. Several letters were received as to the question of the association taking up stock insurance. It was decided that the secretary or chairman attend the conference to be held in Wellington on July 22, to consider the general working of the i Mutual Fire Insurance Association, and the question of adding several forms of insurances on to the present business. The total insurances to date wore reported to bo £194,877, which represents a large increase of business since the last meeting of directors.

It will bo remembered that at the invitation of-the Council of Churches a conference was held some weeks ago between the Bakers and Pastrycooks’ Union and the Master Bakers’ Association with the view of ascertaining whether some amicable arrangement could be arrived at in regard to tho day of the annual picnic. After a very full discussion the following resolution

was agreed to, with the recommendation that it be approved by the Operatives’ Union: —“That if the employees accept the Wednesday of the retail trade picnic, no foreman or employee will be compelled to return for sponging, or penalised should ho decline to I’eturn, nor shall he be expected to be in any way responsible for the result of the sponging which may be done at the request of the employers by someone else.” The master bakers’ representatives further agree to recommend their association to pay the employees for that day, and that both parties agree to recommend their respective unions to accept this settlement, and make a fair experiment of it next year. The president and secretary of the Council of Churches undertake to wait upon employers who arc not members of the Master Bakers’ Association, and endeavour to get their approval.” The secretary of the Church Council (Rev. G. Heighway) reports that ho has just received official notification from the Bakers’ and Pastrycooks’ Union that it declines to accept Wednesday as the day on which to hold its annual picnic.

Our Cromwell correspondent states that the weather since the first week in June has been mild—so mild, in fact, that there is a conspicuous growth on many pastures. There has also been an absence of frost, the hardest so far this season being early in May. On several days recently the valley has been enveloped in a heavy fog. Very mild winters during the past three years have been heralded by rough weather in the opening months. No losses of stock have been reported so far, and the majority of the settlers have now taken all precautions ,to guard against . any rough weather.

The operations of the Otago Acclimatisation Association jn the destruction of hawks appear to be meeting with a large amount of success. Since the association decided to purchase hawks’ feet at 5d per pair, close on 12,000 birds have been accounted for to the society, which has been called upon to disburse about £l5O as remuneration to the bird-destroyers. It should be pointed out that the society is paying 3d per pair effect —not per “head,” as it has-been found far cleaner to handle the buds’ feet than their heads, the latter, in cases where they have to be sent a distance, generally coming to hand in an advanced stage of putrefaction.

The election of a member of the Otago University Council by members of school committees within the Otago University district, which comprises Otago and Southland, closed on the 18th at 5 p.m. The condidates nominated were Messrs Parker M'Kinlay and Archibald Miller. The voting papers were opened by the returning officer (the registrar of the University), and the result of the voting is as follows: —Mr Parker M'Kinlay, 736 votes; Mr Archibald Miller, SSO votes. There were no fewer than 55 informal votes recorded.

Sir Hartmann Wolfgang Just, Assistant Under-secretary of State for the Colonies, arrived in Dunedin by the express from the south on .Friday morning, accompanied by Mr James Hislop, Under-secretary of the Department of Internal AffUirs, who is escorting tine distinguished visitor through the dominion. Sir Hartmann has occupied his office for seven years. The department with which he is connected is concerned with many matters affecting the dominion, and his visit is the outcome of the decision of the Home authorities to bring that department into touch as much as ' possible with the outlying parts of the Empire. It is probable that in the future other representatives of the department will make a visit to this side of the world. Shortly after his arrival in Dunedin on Friday Sir Hartmann, under the guidance of Mr J. A. Johnstone, motored to the Botanical Gardens, then to the Upper Junction, going from there along the Waitati road until a view was obtained of Blueskin Bay, after which the party returned to the Junction, went down the Port Chalmers road, and came back to Dunedin by the lower road. In the afternoon Sir Hartmann was taken in Mr John Roberts’s motor ear to the Museum and the Hockcn Library, after which a visit was paid to the Peninsula, the party reaching the vicinity of Sandymount by the high road. The weather was fine, and our visitor obtained a good view of magnificent stretch of scenery. I.n the evening Sir Hartmann met a number of representative business men at the Fcrnhill Club. Although he has been only a few days in New Zealand our visitor, following the route mapped out for his approval by Mr Hislop, has already covered a deal of ground. The picturesqueness of Queenstown impressed him greatly, and his keen business eye noted the splendid tract of agricultural land in Southland and on the Tokomairiro and Taieri Plains.

There appears in this paper on another page a Press Association telegram from Hamilton setting out that a prisoner charged with forgery had stated that he had sent the sum of £23 to Mr Singer, solicitor, of Auckland, vo settle an account for £l6 10s. Mr Justice Edwards characterised the incident as “extraordinary,” and said the legal costs should .not have been more than half a guinea. Mr A. Singer, the solicitor referred to, when seen by an Auckland Star reporter, said that the explanation, so far as ho was concerned, was exceedingly simple. The accused in this case had come to his office and handed over £23 to be retained for his defence, and out of the sum mentioned he (Mr Singer) paid to Kempthorne, Prosser, and Co. practically £lO in >-jstificaiion of their claim, and of expense to which that firm had been put. Accused asked that Mr Singer- should go to Te 1 .roha to defend, and to this course counsel agreed,

stipulating the payment' of £lO 10s as ex* penses for the trip. Accused had complied with his request. “But from that day to this,” added Mr Singer, “I have hoard nothing further from him, and it comes as a complete surprise to me to learn that ho was before the Supreme Court at Hamilton yesterday.”

The Council of the Royal Colonial Institute, desiring to encourage the rising generation to acquire a better and moro extended 'knowledge and appreciation of his Majesty’s Empire, is offering prizes to young men and women undergoing education, for essays on subjects of Imperial concern. The subject selected for the present year’s competition is “In What Sense Can an Empire Prove Itself to be Great?” One prize of £2O is open to undergraduate members of any university in the British Empire, and one prize of £2O and one of £lO are open to pupils of any college or school in the British Empire, who do not exceed the age of 19 years at the time fixed for sending in the essays (October 20, 1914). A copy of the conditions under which essays will be accepted may be inspected at this office. A parcel of about 70lb of new potatoes, grown on the Peninsula, made their appearance on the local market during the week. The first lot, of about 501 b, realised 8d per lb, and the second consignment 6d per lb. The potatoes were of fine quality for this very early period of the year. A movement is on foot on the part of climbers and visitors to Mount Cook for the erection of a fitting memorial to Mr King, the English tourist', and Guides Thomson and Richmond, -whose lives were lost some months ago in an avalanche on Mount Cook, and a committee has been formed in Dunedin with the object of securing subscriptions for this purpose. Various ideas have been discussed, and it is now considered that a hut (with commemorative slab) on the Haast Ridge would.be the most fitting tribute to the unfortunate climbers. It is thought that the English Alpine Glub may make a substantial donation, and that the Government will subsidise £1 for £1 any amount raised, so there should be no difficulty in providing sufficient means to erect a hut that would serve climbers for many years, and mark in a fitting manner the sympathy of Alpinists w r ith the victims of the avalanche. An amusing, but unpleasant, experience happened to a well-known Waimahaka resi-. dent; Having arranged to be away for a few days with his wife and family (says the Southland Times correspondent), ho made his house secure, as he thought. A large pig (just about ready to kill) was let out of its stye, so that it could forage of itself in the garden. On his return some three days later he was surprised to find the pig anxiously waiting for him in the front room. With his two front feet on the window sill, he was peering out between the curtains, ready to welcome his master’s return. The pig must have forced 'open the door, and then closed it again, and during his stay amused himself by chewing the bottom out of a couch, eating half a bag of flour, half a bag of sugar, sundry door mats, linoleum, etc. It is needless to say that the pig had a warm reception on his owner’s return. At the conclusion of a conference of electrical engineers, contractors, and others at Christchurch (says the Press), a request was preferred by Mr E. G. Foster, of Invercargill, that the conference should pass a motion, asking the United Press Association to forward to the New Zealand newspapers again the quotations of the metal market at Home. If the papers here were able to publish periodically the position of the Home metal market it would greatly assist people dealing with tenders dependent upon the current prices of metal, Mr Brown seconded the motion, and said that New Zealand was completely out of touch with the metal market at Home, in which decided fluctuations were quite frequent. The motion was carried without further discussion, the Mayor, w r ho was in the chair, remarking that there could be no disagreement upon the point.

Mr M. Laracy, secretary of the Shearers’ Union at Wellington, has received an interesting communication from the wellknown shearer, Mr W. • Darrell, relating to the conditions in the Argentine. “The shearing in the Argentine,” ho writes, ‘‘commences about September, but it is no place for a white man to shear, or, indeed, do any other kind of manual labour; the half-breeds that do the shearing hero receive what would be in English money about a penny halfpenny per head, just about half of what we would get in Australia. The conditions of living, too, are very rough. I do not think I shall remain very long in Brazil, where I went after leaving the Argentine, and may go on to Mexico.”

Kauri gum is found in most unexpected places. Mr H. P. Kavanagh, formerly engaged as Crown Lands ranger (says a special telegram to the Wellington Post), in giving evidence before the Gum Lands Commission, staled that he had specimens of kauri gum which had been dug from the Auckland Town Hall site, within a short distance of the volcanic area. He had also specimens which had been dug up at Ponsonby and at Freeman’s Bay. Tha chairman of the commission (Mr R. P. Greville) remarked that on the west coast of tho Auckland province there was an outcrop of lignite nearly a mile long and 30ft thick. Fifty feet below the top of iho cliff, at the bottom of tho lignite, a quantity of kauri gum had been found. From its position below the lignite, the gum must have been deposited there at anything from 20,000 to 25,000 years ago.