Untitled

Otago Witness, Issue 3549, 28 March 1922, Page 3

The Mayor (Mr J. S. Douglas) presided on the 20th over a meeting of the Council of tlie Young Citizens’ League at which the following office-bearers were elected:— President, Mr R. Gilkison; vice-presidents—-the Mayor, Professor Strong; hon. medical adviser Dr Meeredy; organiser, Mr J. M. Innes; hon. secretary (pro tern), Mr Carrington treasurer, Mr P. B. Foote; executive committee —Mrs Mactio, Misses M‘Kenzie and Runeiman, Messrs J. J. Clark and S. Dunkley. The new organiser is an elderly gentleman of some 70 years. “I have just come back from Auckland,” said a Dunedin business man last week; “I / was there for nine days, and I did not see the sun once It rained every day, and there was a muggy heat that was most oppressive.” But he observed that Auckland people did not go about complaining of their weather, as some of the residents of some other cities do. By the will of Mrs Mary Kennedy (widow of Mr Martin Kennedy, of Wellington) the sum of £II,OOO has been bequeathed to Catholic institutions and charities, the bequests inoludmg £IOOO for high altar, new St. Mary of the Angels (Boulcott-street); £2OO for Masses; £250 (given prior to death) to the new St. Patrick’ College Building Fund; £250 (given prior to death) to the new Marist Brothers’ Novitiate for New Zealand. The following sums have been placed in trust for the following objects, which will receive the income therefrom: £250, St. Vincent de Paul Sowing Guild; £250. Foreign Missions: £SOO, St. Joseph's Orphanage, Upper Hutt; £IOOO, Marist Seminary, Greenmeadows, for educating candidates io the priesthood; £SOO, for Masses; £SOO. Mill llill Fathers, Rotorua; £2OOO, Home of Compassion, Island Bay; £SOO, relief of poor in Wellington; £SOO, Order of the Good Shepherd, Christchurch; £IOOO, for the personal benefit and comfort of the Marist Brothers in Wellington; £2OOO, primary education, Wellington (Catholic Education Board); £250. for education of poor children Sacred Heart Primary School, Island Bav.

-Among the things recovered from the ■war (writes the London correspondent of tile Argus) were five grammes of radium bromide, taken from gun sights by the Disposal Board. In all, radium to the value of £72,500 was saved and was made available for medical research. It weighed five grammes, and has now been divided into portions for distribution from such centres as London. Birmingham, Cardiff, Aberdeen, and Ireland. Tn each case the portion of radium of bromide was put into a little hollow tube of platinum about the size of a small gramophone needle. It is said that tfc rfp were not. h&lf-ft- dozen ehr mists or physicist' in the country have Undertaken the delicate task iS sharing out the five grammes. Soma ..oft t ; he portions were oi.lv oiw*-hini»ir« illh <*f a gramme eac'h. Profess* it Sydney Russ and Mr Harrison Glow <!i<i the work of making up the portions. The annual meeting of householders fo. the ele.-iion of school comniiiiees wili \'-o }»«■'«! oi la ■ Apt i 2 ■' l •' P- :;; - TV n:;roes of houstdn-Idets nominated for dtyi.i oi I are to be sent, into the chairman of the School Committee befw 8 o clock p.m. on Wednesday, April 5. lies is Ha Only form of nomination a. II o wed in n;iriots where die average attendai, e nt tin public school for 1921 cx< ceded 120. H districts v here the average was not moi r than 120, noiiuiiations may he made jo ebov*: or hy word of mouth at the annu n meeting. An ex-resident of ( , iiristihtir<'h wtm e Dow 64ationed at lk-t,..via writer- as tollow?

! o a member of the Press staff (telegraphs o-ur correspondent) : “Things ‘are very bad in Java just now and business is .practically nil. Many firms are tottering and there have been many collapses among the. Chinese big htms. We are hoping for better times soon, but the average cost -of living does not come down. Sueli things as bread, rice, and sugar, etc , are lower, but rents an>l general living' expenses are still on tlie iipwaixl track. The taxation is awful, and on March 1 all import, 'duties will rise another 10 per cent. People will not. be able to live here toon.” A party pi Taiminga residents visited the Peninsula, on which Bowentown Pa stands, f * few days ;l,go (say s a correspondent of the New- Zealand Herald) Mr F. A. Turner, one of tire party, was successful in finding part of a Maori axe. made of stone, and numerous obsidian tools. ile also found the remains of a skeleton of a moa, which was discovered lying betide a iie:p r.f small .‘tones such as are understood to have been carried in the gizzards ■.if these birds. 'The bones were shattered •md chalky, showing that they had been v posed .for a long period. Borne of the pices of shin bo-no were about a foot tong and on being shown to Captain Gil in- pi Mair were identified by him as moo bones. 'The stones were equivalent to a do rhie handful arid were worn and rounded. A Press Assax-ialion message says: that, the < 'hrifttchuroli Hospital Board Managejuont has decided to levy a uniform fee of 9s a ilay and £5 3» a week; half rates b eiiildreu.

The Hon. J. G. Coates (Postmastergeneral) stated last week in reply to a question whether it was proposed to increase the telephone charges that the department was considering a revision ot the charges, but nothing definite had yet been placed before him (wires our special reporter from Alexandra). In the event of a graduated scale being introduced, added the Minister, it will operate equitably in the case of all classes of subscribers. In any case the filial decision rests with the Cabinet. The Cromwell Development .Company’s works, which ha\e been stopped lor some time owing to the absence abroad of Mr P. It. Sargood (chairman), are about to be restarted, with a view to attaining their objective, which is to get tile water on the flat. It is expected that this will be completed by the spring. Mr Sargood told our special reporter last week that he had every hope of the realisation of his original idea, winch was the reticulation of the whole of the Atclyneux Valley- and a radius of 50 miles around Cromwell with electric power and light. As a portion of that scheme it would be necessary that electrical pumping- stations should be established ; n various places to raise the water to the high levels of the splendidly fertile terraces, which would then be made highly productive. At the meeting of the New Zealand Utility Poultry Club it was reported that a white Leghorn in a single pen egg-laying competition had up till the 20th laid 519 eggs, thus creating a fresh dominion record (says a Christchurch Press Association message). The bird, which is the property of Mr W. 11. West, of Christchurch, will be kept for a further 20 days to complete the year. The theft of £llO in notes and about £4O worth of wearing apparel and other valuables is reported from a residence et Onehunga (says an Auckland Press Association message). The stolen property w-as not all taken at one time, the money being missed first, the other losses taking place a few days after.. The Prime Minister stated last week that income tax payments had quite come up to expectations (says a Wellington Press Association message). This he attributed in a large measure to the rebate of 5 per cent, offered for prompt payment. It was the opinion of all financial experts, added Mr Massey, that but for this inducement the collection of the tax would not have been nearly so successfui. A Press Association message from Invercargill says a. meeting- or shareholders of the Southland Farmers' Co-operative Association resolved to increase the capital of the association to £325,00C by ..he issue of 15,000 £5 deposit preference shares, to be available only to persons having deposits ( r credits with the. association. The Middlemarch branch of the Farmers Union, at its recent monthly meeting, passed a resolution protesting “against the excessive charges now being made by the telephone department, and requesting the provincial executive to urge the department to reduce them to the former level. ’ The General Committee of the Manawatu A. and P. .Association discussed the Government’s amusement tax, gate receipts, and members’ subscriptions (says a Palmerston North Press Association message). It was decided to write to all v associations up lo Hawke’s Bay and in Manawatu, and also llie members of Parliament for Ihe respective districts, objecting to the tax, and to arrange a joint deputation to the Prime Minister urging him to exempt associations from the operation of the tax. It was decided to write to the Council of Agriculture soliciting- its support.

America believes milk to be the most nutritious of all foods. In order to impress this on the people, vast advertising campaigns are continually in progress, pointing out to all that, relatively milk is the best and cheapest of foods. One pound of cheese contains as much nutriment as 241 b of beef tains as much nutriment as 2|!b of beef steak, 6 4-51 b of c-hicken, of ham, 71b of codfish, 25 eggs, 3jjlb beans, Blb peas, a--19 2-31 bof tomatoes. Is it any wonder that there is a lively demand for New Zealand cheese on the Home market? In the four principal cities the death rate per XOGO of population during February was as follows (metropolitan areas being given in parentheses) : —Auckland. 0.82 (0.65) ; Wellington. 0.78 (0.68); Christchurch, 0.82 (0.69); Dunedin, 0.53 (0.51). Including the suburban portions. ('hristchurch is the highest, and Dunedin the lowest. The total births registered for the four principal suburban areas amounted to 739. as against 818 in January —a decrease of 79. The deaths in February were 285 —a decrease of 43 compared with the previous month. Thirty-six of the deaths were of children under five years of ! age, being 12.46 per cent, of the whole | number. Thirty of these were under one j year of age. j The glass-manufacturing works commenced i in Auckland by an Australian firm will be I affected by cheap lines of bottles, jars, | etc., made in Japan (telegraphs our Welj lington correspondent). An exhibition of the company’s glassware was given in Pariiament Buildings during the session, and j it was then understood that the company j was anxious to get a strong preference I through the Customs over the articles made in .Japan by cheap labour. The attention of sportsmen is directed to the fact that clause 14 of the Animals’ Protection Act, 1921. provides that no per-on shall take or kill any imported game or native game during an open seasot! in any district- unless he is the holder of a. license tinder this act: to take or kill imported game or native game in suc-h district during that season.'’ The fee for the shooting- of native and imported game for the coming season within the boundaries of the Otago Acclimatisation Society’s district hits been fixed at £l- - monthly return of the patients in the Dunedin. Hospital, submitted at. last week’s meeting of the Otago Hospital Board, showed that at ihe end of February there was a total of 482 admissions and 244 disi -barges, leaving 2.38 in hospital. The re ! turn was received

A Press Association message from Wellington says; “With reference to the protests of A. and P. Societies against their being called on to pay the amusement tax, the Prime Minister stated that, as he had said when the tax was imposed, the Government. was obliged to take revenue front sources which had hitherto escaped taxation. He hoped to be able next session to ask Parliament, to amend the law so as to relieve A. and P. shows from future payments. He had replied to quite a number of societies to this effect. ’ A simple method of catching earwigs has been brought under the notice of a representative of the Daily Times. The method is to take an ordinary wooden matchbox, open it about, a quarter of an inch, and pass a fine wire between the bottom of the box and the outer case. This wire, terminating- in a hook, enables the trap to be hung to the plant where the pest, congregates. If earwigs are at all plentiful, half a dozen may be found in each box when examined in the morning.

The annual meeting of the Dunedin Burns Club was held on the 22nd inst. in the Lower Burns Hall. Mr Alex. M’Leod (president of the club) occupied the chair. There was a fair attendance of members. The annual report, showed the club to be in a very healthy condition, both financially and otherwise. A net, profit of £IOB 14s Id had been made on the year's work, chiefly through the splendid success of the Hallowe’en and anniversary concerts. In moving the adoption of the report Mr M’Leod expressed his pleasure at the success of the monthly meetings, giving credit, to the secretary (Mr J. Paterson) for the high standard 'of the concerts presented. He also mentioned the death of Mr Dugald M’Pherson. a past president of the chib. Mr J. Wallace (vice-president) seconded the adoption oj the report, which was carried

by acclamation. The election of officebearers resulted us follows-President, Air Dugald Paterson: vice-presidents—Messrs J. Wallace and W. Nicolson; secretary, Mr Jas. Paterson; treasurer, Alt- Alex. AJ'Millan; commit tee Messrs D. Attld. W. Richardson, *1 . Gilchrist, M. Brown. N. At‘Donald, J. Weir. R. APKinlay, A. M’Leod. R. Paterson. A hearty vote of thanks to the committee, the retiring president (Alt M’Leod). the press, and Air Jas. Brown (hon. auditor) concluded the meeting. Statistics gazetted last week show (says a Wellington Press Association message) that, excluding multiple charges. 14,079 persons, 846 of whom were women, were arrested and dealt with at the Alagistrate’s Courts of the dominion during the year 1921. Of these 11,562 rnen and 749 women were summarily convicted, while 914 men and 20 women were committed to the Supreme Court for sentence, and 487 men and 22 women were committed for trial. No fewer than 26,242 distinct cases, of which 1359 were women, were dealt with on summonses. Of ihese 20,090 men and 1050 women were summarily convicted, and one woman and 54 men wore committed for sentence. while 63 men and 15 women were committed for trial. Of 39,013 civil cases dealt with by the Magistrates’ Courts, 34,588, involving £685,479, concerned Europeans only, the total amount recovered being £585.183. The number of cases in which Maoris were concerned, whether as plaintiffs or defendants, was 4425, the total amount involved being £77.126. and the amount recovered £49,680.