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Otago Witness, Issue 3470, 14 September 1920, Page 3

V : \ The Arbitration Court has amended the shearers’ and shed hands’ award covering ' the Wellington, Northern Canterbury! Otago and Southland, and Marlborough industrial districts by the addition, of bonuses to the minimum prescribed rates. Tho bonuses are fixed as follows: —Adult workers on weekly wages, 10s a week; adult workers on hourly wages, 2£d an hour; youths on weekly wages, 5s a week; youths on hourly , wages, l£d an hour. i Transfers have been granted ’by tha Dunedin Incensing Committee as follows;—r Metropolitan Hotel, from Peter Robertson Reekie to John Frederick Hammorley; Captain Cook Hotel, from Eliza Hammerley (formerly Cahill) to Henry Mathia Allen; and ' City Hotel, from Williarr* Quirk to Samuel Dunn. “ I want to assure (you that we do- not intend to raise a compulsory loan for publio works purposes,” said the'Prime Minister, to an Auckland deputation on the 6th (says a Press Association message from Wellington). ‘‘There will be a loan for soldiers’ land settlement and for cleaning up in connection with the war, and probably the Bill authorising this loan will contain a compulsory clause, but I am of opinion that there is sufficient patriotic feeling 1 among people possessed of capital in *thu\ country to ensure that tho money required will be provided without fhe compulsory clause being put in operation. I think you will see later that I am right.’"

A clause in the Health Bill before Parliament makes provision for enlarging the powers of local bodies in regard to levying sanitary rates. A letter received by the Pert Chalmers Council yesterday evening from the chief health officer pointed this out, \ and quoted the following from clause 139 of the Health Bill:—(1) All expenses incurred by or on behalf of a local authority in carrying out any of the provisions of this Act may be paid by the local authority out of its general funds. (2) In order to meet any such expenses the local authority may, whether before or after, such expenses have been incurred, in addition to its other rating powers, make and levy by resolution a separate rate of such amount as may be necessary. (3) Where such expenses are incurred for the benefit of portion only of the district of the local authority, any separate rate under this section may be made and levied on that portion only. The town clerk of Port Chalmers said that hitherto a local body could levy a sanitary, rate not exceeding sixpence in the pound. The prospectus of the Farmers' Union Advocate (Ltd.), a new company that is being formed to place the Advocate on a sounder and more satisfactory basis, has been filed with the Registrar in Wellington. At a meeting of the Bruce County Council last week, Cr Scott remarked that other, public bodies seemed to have superannuation schemes, and such might be an incentive to the council's employees to remain .'n its employment. He thought that when a man spent his whole life in the service of a body or company, he deserved to be well treated when he gave up work. Cr Scott suggested that the clerk should be instructed to write to the neighbouring counties and see if some such scheme could be arranged. A motion' to* this effect was carried unanimously.

A Press Association telegram from Wei* lington states that according to advice 3 received at the office of the Shaw, Savill, and Albion Company the s Corinthic, which has 'the new Governor-General (Viscount Jellicoe. of Scapa) and Lady Jellicoe as passengers, left Colon on the 4th inst., and is due to arrive in Wellington on Sunday, September 26. The following extract from a private letter received from an ex-Otago runholder in Scotland has been placed at our disposal:— "I hope Sir J. Allen will wake up our people re frozen meat; the stuff the Gov* ernment are letting the butchers have is quite unfit for human food, and bound to prejudice consumers. I see two butchers*' shops every day on the way to my and am shocked every day. Two or three years'"frozen meat is not nice to look at, or. to smell. It smells stuffy, and how any* one can face it is a wonder. Until the publio cry out no Government official, moves." At a meeting of the Dunstan Presbytery at Alexandra on Tuesday the following re* solution was carried .on the motion of th* Rev. J, Standring :—"Whereas the presa of the dominion is constantly bearing testi,* mony that gambling i s a rampant arid grow>. ing evil throughout New Zealand, as evfc. denced by the enormous Bums of money passed through the totalisator at the racq meetings, and by means of the bookmakiry*

fraternity; and whereas this orgy of gambling is pandering to tho selfishness and oovetousnesa of human nature for gain that ia not honestly earned, and therefore in«Ld£ously weakening and destroying the

mrri.l fibre of the men, women, and the younger generation of the country; and whereas the Presbytery of Dunstan has already, with absolute unanimity, appealed to the Government to abolish the bookmak-

ing evil and the totalisator, and protested against any attempts to encourage and develop the gambling mania; and whereas this Presbytery has reason to believe that the evil principles of gambling is most surely entering into the Church life of the dominion in the important matter of financing the work of Christ by means of bazaars, carnivals, etc., with their accompaniments of raffles and other ingenious devices for obtaining money in questionable ways rather than by the dutiful exercise of Christian liberality; now, therefore, the Presbytery strongly enjoins the congregations within its bounds to honour the Great Head of the Church by carrying on His work both in the church and in the world without resorting to the adventitious aids which even the secular press decries as detrimental to the best interests of the people, and the progress of the dominion." It is stated unofficially that most of the appeals heard in Dunedin b-" the Railway Appeal Board have been upheld. Our Wellington correspondent wires that the Petitions Committee has no recommendation to make regarding a petition from J. Francis and 77 others, and ~R. L. Geddes and another praying for a grant of land from the Kyeburn Station. Our Wellington correspondent •wires that it has been stated in commercial circles in Wellington that clause 23 of the Land and Income Tax Amendment Bill has the effect of repealing the free-of-income tax provision in relation to war loan debentures now" in the hands of investors. The Prime Minister said to-night, in answer to a question on the point, that the Government had not the least intention of going back upon any contract it had made. The effect of the clause in question had been discussed in Cabinet, and he had been assured by the law officers that the clause would not interfere with war loan debentures issued under the free-of-income tax arrangement.

Mr Massey proposes to set up a committee to report upon the present and future prices of butter in the dominion, especially with regard to the probability of the present exportable surplus being purchased by the Imperial Government at a considerable increase in price as compared with the last season's output (wires our Wellington correspondent). The committee will consist of Messrs Atmore, J. R. Hamilton, Hawken, Hockley, Kellett, M'Combs, M'Leod, Nash, Poland, Powdrell, and the Prime Minister.

The Otago Land Board had a long discussion at its meeting on the Bth regarding the unoccupied sections of the Clifton Settlement, the points raised being the allocation of additional areas to soldiers already on the ground who have asked for such additions and the ' disposal of the sections which are not affected by such applications. It was ultimately decided to postpone any decision for one month, - the settlers in the meantime to be invited to lodge applications specifying the additional areas desired. ' _

There were 119 Native village schools in operation last year (states our Wellington correspondent), all except two being in the North Island. There are in addition five Native mission schools, and Maori scholars are attending 531 public schools. There are 10 Native boarding schools affording secondary education to Maoris. There have been small increases in all the figures relating to numbers, average yearly attendance, and regularity of attendance. Over 5000 Native children attend the public schools,, and the total number of Maori children receiving primary education is 9737.

Our Wellington correspondent wires that Mr'J. Edie has presented petitioncs asking for an inquiry as to the correctness of the probation officer's statement regarding Patrick Martin Neill, of Tuapeka, who was sentenced by Mr Justice Sim at Dunedin to three years' reformative treatment for breaking a baker's shop window at Lawrence.

Mumps, measles,' and whooping cough are very prevalent amongst children at Port Chalmers at present. These maladies are in this instance of a mild form.

In the Supreme Court on Friday morning, before his Honor Mr Justice Sim, decrees nisi were granted in two petitions by husbands for divorce on the ground of insanity. On the suggestion of Mr Hanlon, who appeared for one of the petitioners, his Honor stated that, in his opinion, it was very desirable that the names of the parties should not be published in cases of this kind.

A Sydney cable message states that Miss Emily Roach, of Narrantera, at the Albury Show, rode Mr Weir's horse Musician over a high jump of 7ft Oiin, breaking the Australian record by l^in. Mr J. Nesbit Jones, who died in Christchurch a short time ago, bequeathed £IOO each to the Rev. Mother of the Convent of the Good Shepherd, Christchurch; the Rev. Mother of Nazareth House, the Rev. Mother of the Sacred Heart Monastery, Lower High street; and the Rector of St. Bede's College, Papanui. Senior Cadets and Territorials are forbidden by a new paragraph which is being inserted in company orders to carry any rounds cf ball ammunition 'to a place ot instruction, or to take any Government ammunition, whether obtained on payment or not, away from a rifle range or place of instruction. Special instructions, are. also being issued to prevent accidents on rifle ranges.

The possibility of getting a certain amount, of oil from the Taranaki wells has been brought under the notice of the Government by Mr Smith, the member for Taranaki, and it is understood that the Government have decided to further assist the local operations (wires our Wellington correspondent). Though there may not be any very large quantities in the strata, there is Btill the probability that these pockets may be quite profitably worked. There is an idea that up to the present time the borers have gone too deep, and that if they stop when they strike oil in the first instance quite a profitable industry may be established. Future operations will be

conducted on these lines, and the results will, in vview of the present shortage of oil, be looked forward to with a great deal of interest.