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Otago Witness, Issue 3581, 31 October 1922, Page 3

The reduction of Id per lb in the price of butter, which came into operation last week, brings the retail price down to Is ’Od per lb for standard brands (wires our Christchurch correspondent), in conformity with the price now ruling in other centres. The reduction was not unexpected. Some grocers are inclined to think that the drop should have been 2d _ instead of Id. Very heavy supplies of eggs continue to be received by wholesale dealers throughout the dominion, and prices are lower than for some years past. The position is that more eggs are being produced at present than can be absorbed in the dominion, and bakers are securing supplies for winter at a cheap rate. A wholesale dealer stated on Wednesday morning that arrangements are under way to ship a large quantity of eggs to London, and if a good export trade can be developed the position of poultry farmers will improve considerably. The wholesale price of flour is to he reduced by £2 at the end of this month, and corresponding reductions may be expected in retail prices. By Order-in-Gouncil the maximum prices of flour and bread liavo been reduced in accordance with an announcement made in the House recently by the Hon. W. Nosworthy (says a Wellington Press Association message). The reduced prices are: For flour £ls 10s per ton, f.0.b., southern ports; and for bread, in the main centres of tho South Island, per 21f loaf, sid cash over the counter, 5Jd hooked over the counter. 6d cash on delivery, and 6id booked and delivered. The maximum prices of bread sold in the main centres of the North Island are £d jicr 21b loaf higher than in the south. The change in tile price of flour is effective from October and of bread prices from October 30 in tho South Island and November 6 in the north. Orders-in-Council will be gazetted this we»k together with notification that the maximum bread prices as at present specially fixed by the Board of Trade for small centres shall, throughout the dominion, be reduced by £d per 21b loaf. The motor cycle reliability trial from Palmerston to Clyde was won by Mr G. Walters, who, on his Indian machine, carried two other “broken down” competitors on his side car to Clyde The total weight of the persons carried was 45 stone. Mr Walters left Palmerston at 10.30 a.in. on Saturday, and reached Clyde at 6.15 p.m. The road was decidedly heavy, and a moderate to strong wind interfered with the riders’ progress. A further meeting of the representatives of the Clutha County Council, Bruce County Council, Balelutha Borough Council, Milton Borough Council, and South Taieri residents r .tpet-d to make im-niries Into the nosslbilities of creating a Power Board for South t.tuo. met til ■ ; < «> «' chambers on the 24th. Mr H. M. Driver occupied the ciiair, and a general uiscn.sion on the whole question took place. Mr W. B. Steel, secretary of the Otago Expansion League, was present by invitation, and explained to the representatives the proposal for an I Itago Electric Power Board, consisting of the live counties of Waihemo, Waikouaiti. Taieri, Bruce, and Clutha, including the borough. This board, if formed, he said, would be in a position to accept the Public Works Department’s offer of tho output from Waipori, arranged between the department and the City Council, and having no difficulty to get over in regard to a generating station, would start without the handicap of other less fortunate bodies. It was also emphasised that the Dunedin City Council was prepared <o hand over to such a board, when consituted, all its country connections and reticulations at valuation, so that the board would commence with a revenue-earning property from its inception. The meeting expressed itself as favourable to this proposal, and a small sub-committee was set up to get the actual details from the Dunedin City Council, and also to secure expert advice anil an estimate of the cost of the main reticulation for tho full district scheme. Another meeting of representatives will be called shortly to receive the report of tho subcommittee. The unemployment position, taking the figures supplied by the Labour Department as a barometer, shows little alteration over a period. There are at present 49 names on tho department’s books, and only three of these aro of men looking for light work. The others are of men desirous of obtaining employment in an unskilled capacity. A month ago the number was 55, unj for the month before is was 5L

The pensioning of the old horse at the* Costiey Horne farm, which is 25 years ot age, with 21 years of hard work to his credit, has brought to the minds of many lovers of horse flesh the ages of many old horses which they have known (says the Auckland Star). Probably one of the oldest horses in the Auckland province is a wellmade old cob ending his days peacefully on a 1000-acre farm not far from To Ivuiti, who can claim 40 summers as his span ot life. Over 30 years ago he was carrying the newspapers between Pa tea and WavcrJey, and previous to that lie used to carry four children every day about a distance of four miles to school. In fact, he carried the whole of ]0 of a family at different periods to the nearest schoolhouse, and as these children grew up and got married

he in turn carried their children to school, and oven got the length of carrying one of tile third generation. When he was 28 years of age he was brought to Te Kuiti, and the change of country and feet seemed to renew his youth, for he dir about six years’ light work there, which meant that at 35 years of age he was going strong. When the spring time comes In can still enjoy a gallop over the hills will the younger bloods, and is as sure footer as ever he was. Very few horses live tr j his great age, for it is generally known ! that a good few working horses die when j they arc' between 20 and 25 years of age. i He is what is called a centenarian amongst ' horses

At the quarterly luncheon of the Progress League on Wednesday (wires our Christchurch correspondent) Dr Chilton, Rector of Canterbury College, in the course of his remarks said that he had always supported the Progress League's efforts to have education carried into all parts ol the province. He cited the University of Minnesota as an institution which worked upon this principle, 'that university had a central office, but no large buildings, because it held classes in all sorts of places, wherever people wanted instruction. The Canterbury Education Board has announced that all schools under its jurisdiction will close for the six weeks’ holidays a week before Christmas. Inquiries at the office of the Otago Board show that the question of the date of closing will, on this occasion, as in the past, be left to the respective committees for decision. The Canterbury Board is probably the only one in the dominion to enforce uniformity in this respect. Grocers in the city and suburbs were advised on Wednesday that the two principal Dunedin butter-making- companies had reduced the price of butter by Id per lb, as from yesterday. This means that the wholesale price for pats is npw Is 8d per lb. A Highland Pipe Band contest is to be held in Wellington on December 27 next, and the Dunedin Highland Pipe Band has decided to enter. The following telegram was sent to the Minister of Lands (the lion. D. 11. Guthrie) on Wednesday by the secretary of the Dunedin Returned Soldiers’ Association: —“Repudiate your suggestion, that opposition to Mr T. C'arruthers is on account of Returned Soldiers’ Association nominee not being appointed. Settlers are willing to accept an impartial member, but consider that Mr Carruthers is placed in an impossible position, jpeing manager of Poplar Grove when its purchase was actually effected.” Our Alexandra correspondent wires that the Queen Carnival effort made to raise £250 to freshly equip with new uniforms and other necessary articles the Alexandra Brass Hand and the Alexandra Volunteer Fire Brigade, finished up on the 25th with receipts totalling £550. The sports on Labour Day wore marred by disagreeable weather in the morning, which improved, however, in the afternoon. Each of the three queen candidates received over £l5O. The shocking growth of sexual immorality is one of the great obstacles to the spread of the gospel in Australia, according to the Bishop of Willochra (Dr Gilbert White), in an address to the South Australian Synod (wires our Sydney correspondent). “In my opinion,” he said, “this widespread immorality is before all things the cause ot our half-empty churches, and the general indifference to religion. It creates a barrier between the soul and God, and poisons the moral and social life. It is the real cause for many other evils, of drunkenness and extravagance, of lying and deceit, of unhappy homes and miserable lives. To' shut our eyes to an evil so widespread is sheer folly. The particular reason why I refer to it here is that the commonwealth statistics show clearly that the evil begins Lo a large extent with our boys and girls, and in my opinion, this is often the case because the parents have been either too careless, too cowardly, or not seldom too conscience stricken, to warn their children of the moral dangers to which their sex exposes them, and their children are in consequence ruined in body and soul simply as the result of their parents’ neglect. It is difficult to exaggerate the guilt of parents who thus betray their child’s future to save themselves a difficult or unpleasant task. A further £IOOO worth of Australian flour has been received by the European Student Relief Fund from the London administrators of the unallocated funds seni forward by the Australian Relief r uiid for stricken Europe. This makes a total of £3500 worth of flour and corned beef. Mr Donald Grant, one of the European Student Relief workers iu Russia, said that the students in his area were absolutely overcome when they heard they were going to get meat, as they had not tasted meat for so long. At the beginning of July, Mr Grant wrote: “The funds sent to us permit us to give one meal a day to 20 per cent, of these starving students in the famine area. I found it a heart-breaking task to choose the 20 per cent., for it is an absolute fact that 90 per cent, of the students are as needy as those wo have been obliged to select.” I’p to August 1 New Zealand had paid in to the Student Relief Fund £1235 8s Id. Severe comment upon the spirit of lawlessness winch lias become markedly evident among a section of the community lias been made (writes our Sydney correspondent; by the New South Wales Governor (Sir Walter Davidson). “"Ihero is to-day more foul-mouthed iarrikinism t-lian I have noted before,” said bir Walter Davidson. "1 vviil not ascribe this passing phase to any par licular group of causes, but there is a breaking away from the spirit of orderliness and respect for the law which, if not checked by. public opinion, will lower Australia in the eyes of decent nations, who watch us and our development continually, 'they are moods which vviil change if people get the hint. Just now there is a fashion for loul and dirty talk. 11 he stuff has little meaning though the words are strong, bet yourself, every man and woman of you, to check the silly imitative folly among the boys, and endeavour to make the people—nearly ail are right-minded people—ashamed to let their land be associated with a reputation for cursing and swearing and all sorts of libidinous folly.” A Tress Association message from Christchurch says that the Canterbury Progress League passed the following resolution : - “'j hat the Government be respectfully asked if ii will state distinctly for what reasons it is proposed to establish a dominion flat rate charge for hydro-electricity, and also what good reason, if any, can bo advanced against this province enjoying its natural and geographical advantages, plus the result nf its pioneer work in generating electric power,”

Mr J. R. Bartholomew, S.M., conducted a brief sitting of the City Police Court on Wednesday morning. Gh r i s t op her Smith pleaded ‘‘Guilty” to a charge of using obscene language in Fleet street. Subinspector Bccles stated that on the previous evening ibis young man and another went in to a refreshment shop in the Arcade and asked for a soda and glasses, i hey were served by Miss Tail, a sister of the proprietor, and when her back was turned they poured whisky into the glasses bhe knew this was illegal, poured the whisky out, and asked them to leave. When they reiused to do so she called Constable Enright and tile men left with some reluctance. They returned, however, when the constable moved away, ami when he went back th. accused, as he was going out of the door, turned round and called the girl by a vile epithet', which the Sub-insijector wrote and handed to the bench. Constable Enright arrested him ancl took him down lo the station, but he bolted out of the taxi and wa> caught in the railway yards only after a chase of about a mile. "You will see,” said the Sub-inspector, “that man s action;are those of a blackguard, lie cannot put up the excuse of drunkenness, as he was perfectly sober when ho came to the station. SinitLx said he came from Waitahuna and had been working lately at Waipori. Ho did not remember swearing at all. Mr Bartholomew: Perhaps you did not realise that you are liable to 12 months' imprisonment for an offonee of this sort? Accused,: l did not think it was erioiis. Mr Barthololuevv ; could ho much more serious than using language of that sort ton woman. However, as you have not beep in trouble before, 1 will not send you to gaol this time. Smith was e uiviY-reo and lined T 3, together with wiine-se.-’ expenses- (18s), the alternative l eing one m« • ni lid i npi is<>n lent At the meeting of the executive of the Dunedin R.S.A. last night tlu* president (the Rev. H. Maclean) moved that the e\ ecu live associate itself with the District Conned in its protest against the appointment of Mr T. Carruthers as a. member of the Land Revision Board for Otago. \\ iter the matter of land revision w;;< first considered by the R.S.A. it was thought, lie said, that there would be a big <"mmi.--sion, and the R.S. V rightly considered that it ought to be represented on such a commission. It was not anticipated th" ' there would be a board consisting of only two members, and it was not because the R.S.A. was not represented that it objected to Uie appointment of Mr Carruthers, but

because Mr Carruthers was an interested parly. JTe added that the Minister’s reply was really a recognition of the rightness of the R.S.A. in its objection, as the Minister said that. Mr Carruthers would be engaged on the work in a different part of the district from Middlemarch. The motion was seconded by Mr P. Anderson, and supported by Mr M*Nish, who said that what they wanted was merely an impartial board. Mr MTTae added to those remarks that although employed in another part of the district Mr (knruthors would be associated with his colleague in any report that might be brought down. The motion was carried. “The World’s Rive Stock Supplies” is the heading to an elaborate tabular statement in “Meat and Wool.*’ It shows what the world possessed in the matter of sheep, cattle, and swine before the war, and what it possesses to-day, on -most recent estimates. r J he total figures are as follow, the pre-war numbers being given in parentheses Cattle, 431,160,000 (437,505,000) ; sheep, 387.044.000 (500.535.000) ; swine, 150,942,000 (1 69,595,000). f J lie figures can only be taken as approximate; but they show a heavy reduction, while the consumptive demand ha.-? necessarily increased. “My visit to France inc’mied a tour of the battlefields in the section where the New Zeahu d troop-- wc re m<>st 1 he area presents a scene of desolation and destruction, ’ said Bishop Brodie on his return to Christchurch. “1 ho question of ‘reparation’ assumes a piuctical importance when considered on the battlefield: it has to he remembered that of 291 towns, 214 have been completely dosliTm-l and i.ord to the ground, and the 30 * mimT-.x *em< teries convex some ide i of tin* doHmoiion of life. I concluded inv ybit to the battlefields b v visiting the ei;\ of Amiens. When I introduced myself to ihc bishop of that city, he replied, ‘A Now Zealand**! i- w come here: the people of Franco, and especially of these pans, can n* xvr forget the glorious work- of the hoys of Australia and New Zealand during the (Beat War.’ ” The War Pensions Board wi’l -it L: Dun edin on the 31st inst. On Wodi <• day, November 1. the board .id proceed to Middlemarch. and the fixiu'vs thereafter are Ranfutly and Ophir. The following week the board will sit at Milton, Balcltiha, and Invercargill, and later will cover the country between Invercargill and Queenstown, ( romwell, Alexandra, and Eawrenco

Messrs Love Bros. (Ltd.), of Port Chalmers, are carrying out a £40,000 building contract at Otira. This firm has secured a further contract with the Government in the same looality for the construction of refreshment rooms and staff accommodation, the price being over £BOOO. Our Wellington correspondent wires that the petition of Mr J. S. Douglas and 342 others regarding the Mossburn-Manapouri and Te Anau road has been referred to the Government for consideration. A Press Association wire from Blenheim Bays that Mr (“Pussyfoot”) Johnson, when leaving Blenheim for Nelson on a recent visit, entered the Club Hotel before 9 o’clock and purchased two cigars. A local paper featured the fact that Mr Johnson was not above entering licensed premises during prohibited hours. Mr Johnson, in a lefter to the editor, admits the fact as stated, and demands that if he violated the law that he be prosecuted, or the accusation contained in the newspaper be withdrawn. At the Cromwell development works the pumps were set in motion on Tuesday (telegraphs our correspondent) and with only one unit in action no difficulty was experienced in delivering water through the pipes. The pumps are still being run at intervals with a view to remedying any defects in the plant. As a sequel to a street fight on labour Day (says a Waimate Press Association message), George Bremner, a young man, labourer at Waimate, was charged on the 26th before Messrs G. Dash and P. Grant, J.P.’s, with assaulting David James Stewart, 24 years of age, of Timaru, with intent to cause actual bodily harm. The evidence taken at the hospital, where Stewart is critically ill, showed thjpt a party of Waimate youths were laughing across the street at a Timaru party. The latter crossed over to see why, and Bremner, egged on by the others, commenced to fight Stewart. Both adjourned round the corner and continued. The next thing Stewart knew was that he wan being carried to the doctor’s house. Bremner was remanded for a week. The police asked that the bail be substantial in view of the possible seriousness of the charge. It was granted in self of £3OO and two securities of £3OO, one of which was immediately forthcoming.