Untitled

Otago Witness, Issue 3594, 30 January 1923, Page 3

The price of butter has again been raised Id per lb. The retail price is now Is lOd per lb. Tile Chatham Islands children, who are at present visiting New Zeeland, arrived in Dunedin by the first express from the north on the 22nd, and were officially welcomed at the railway station by the Mayor (Mr J. S. Douglas) and representatives of the School Committees’ Association. Evidently the gun has not lo6t its attraction for holiday makers. Over 140 new arms were registered in the Dunedin ppflee district during December. No fewer than 7600 arms have been registered at the central office since the Act came into force. A man named William Walker Johnston escaped on Sunday from the Nelson Gaol, where he was waiting the decision of tho Prisons Board for a breach of his probationary license, issued at Auckland. He was smartly captured early on Monday morning by the Blenheim police, under Sergeant Clarkson, on his way to Christchurch in * taxi. t A Press Association message from M estport stales that on Monday afternoon Mr 11. E. Holland, M.P., sent the following reply to the Prime Minister’s telegram of Saturday :—“Thanks for definite information that Parliament will meet next month. With reference to the latter portion of your telegram, I fail to see how you can overlook the fact that only 38 members have been returned as Government supporters, as against 49 who sat in the last Parliament, and that the Government, therefore, cannot carry on unless it receives an aceession of strength from members who are elected as its opponents. I respectfully submit that the raising of ancient bogies does not dispose of this fact.’ 'The Waimate branch of the Farmers’ Union, at a meeting on Saturday, considered a letter from Mr D. F. Richardson, of Willowbxid-ge, in regard to a line of wheat grown by him which had not been purchased by the Government. The letter stated that although the Government grader has classed the wheat as undergrade, a miller had offered to take it at April prices. Mr Kippenberger said he had not had Ilia wheat accepted, and he asked the meeting to support a motion stating that some growers in the district had not received fair treatment from the Government. Hia wheat had been machine-cleaned and a grain buyer had said his wheat was true milling wheat. He moved—“ That this union expresses its dissatisfaction with the treatment some of the farmers in this district had received from the Government in regard to " their wheat, and regrets that the Government did not accept the suggestion that arbitrators should be appointed irt disputed cases.” The motion was carried unanimously. A story illustrative of cool nerve is told regarding an occurrence in the suburbs within the last few (Jays (says the Auckland Herald). A lady customer went to a small shop and was served by a new assistant. Next day she called again and, seeing the proprietor, said something about his having got an assistant. The reply was: “ That must have been the man who robbed the till while I was in the back room.” It must have required a steady nerve for the man to pose as an assistant) and serve a customer with the possibility of the proprietor returning at any moment. The man had his hat on when the customer entered the shop, but politely removed it while executing her order. . Some idea of the inroads of the “yellow leaf’ on the great flax-producing area in the Makerua Swamp, passed by all travellers ori* the Main Trunk line, may be gathered from the drastic reduction that has taken place in the number of strippers operating at the mills. Seifert’s big mill, (tt Mironui, is i-unning two in the place of nine; Te Mukunui, two, covering an area that was occupied by Ashlea, two, and Tokomaru, two; Aker’s mill, none, where 10 were formerly' running; Craw’s, none, where three were formerly at work. Investigations into the causifl and prevention of the disease are being conducted at Makerua Swamp by Mr Smerle, who has been engaged for the purpose. It is understood that he is inclined to attribute the disease to the flax being cut too close to the roots of the plant. This, it is said, weakens the resistance of the plant to attacks of disease. He proposes that cutting should be higher above the root than is usual, and oqly the outer loaves should be cut In this case a crop would be available every two years, and so compensate for the higher cost of cutting. It remains to be seen whether this as commercially practicable. The Gazette notifies that reduced postal and telegraph rates will operate on and after February 1 (says a Wellington Press Association message).

T A large number of union slaughtermen • presented themselves for engagement at the Burnside Freezing Works on Tuesday morning, when the slaughtering season commenced. These are the company’s old hands, and the management engaged as j many of them as was necessary The bad j weather has affected the growth and dej velopment of the lambs, and it is expected j that it will be several days before the ‘•boards” are working at full capacity. Additional slaughtermen will be placed on the pay roll as the occasion requires. It is expected that the daily tally of lambs slaughtered will be about 1500. Work also commenced on Tuesday morning at Mataura, where union labour was engaged, and , nearly all the men offering found employment. 1 “As soon as convenient I will attend to f the shifting of our premises off the roadline. At the same time I might mention * it is done under protest, and the action of ► the council towards Messrs Gilkison and Abernetby, who are also on the roadline, t will be carefully watched.” So wrote Mr .J. M'Connochie, Purakanui, to the Wai- ’ kouaiti County Council in reply to a letter f informing him that unless the premises were - moved at once proceedings would be taken t against him. It was again decided to _ inform the writer that his premises must ► be removed at once or legal proceedings . * would be taken. A unique record in riding was achieved by the family of Mr Dan O’Connell, of Seacliff, at the Waikouaiti Show. The . eldest boy, Jack, won the high jump and district jumping competitions on Puzzle. ‘ Miss Catherine O’Connell carried off the honours for lady rider, and Dan, a . younger brother, won the stockman’s race. Molly was adjudged the best girl rider under v 12, and Tom, aged seven, was the best boy * rider. Among the many articles which will be t reserved for tho dominion from H.M.S. - New Zealand (says our London correspon--1 dent, writing on December 7) will be a i picket boat, a motor launch, several 4in quick-firing anti-aircraft guns, and twopounder guns, six searchlights, a steam steering wheel, and range-finders. These articles, no doubt, will be put to practical use by the New Zealand navy. Article.of a sentimental value include silver bugles, a New Zealand drum, pictures, presentation plate, liqueur glasses, boars’ heads, tikis, scrolls with Maori inscriptions, and ail the contents of the ship’s laundry. fC

Mr Alan Jackson, who is at present on a visit to his relatives ill Dunedin, says that Ontario province is a “dry” district, whereas Quebec is a wet province. He stated that when the “dry” vote was carried many people alleged that the new law would not affect rich people, as they could well afford to pay a doctor for the certificate which would enable them to purchase a bottle of whisky. A large number of the doctors thereupon deckled that they would not issue a certificate of this nature whether a man was really ill or whether he only imagined he was. Of course, there were other doctors who would issue a certificate. The charge was 2do! (about. Ss) a certificate, and a medical man could only issue 50 per month. A bottle of whisky could then he obtained under the certificatei from the Government dispensary at. a cost of 255. On the 19th and 20th inst. 100 tons of fruit /left Beaumont, and on the 22nd 110 tofls were despatched, necessitating the running of a special as well as the ordinary double header train (two engines) (writes our Roxburgh correspondent). The fruit train from Beauijjont is now one of the recognised sights of the districts en route, and affords some idea of the great development of the industry in this district. “The Chatham Islands is no place for a farmer,” said Mr J. A. Thomson, head master of the Te One School, during the course of a visit paid to the Canterbury Education Board’s meeting by the Chatham Island school children. Mr Thomson added that it was the absentee landlords who were making money out of the islands, not the residents. The freight to bring sheep over to the mainland was 7s 6d per head, and with other charges on top of this a farmer could not make much out of sheep if he got, say, only 17s per head. He instanced the case of one farmer who had lost about 300 sheep out of a mob of 700 sent over to Lyttelton, and added: “You can’t expect Chatham Islands farmers to be wealthy.” Miss Johnson, a Canadian teacher, who has just completed a 12 months’ stay in Dunedin in connection with the system of exchange put into operation where desired and practicable, forwarded a letter of thanks to the Otago Education Board, which came under the notice of that body at its meeting last week. The writer expressed herself as impressed by the fact thac New Zealand is a wonderful country, while the kindness accorded to her in Dunedin would be a pleasant memory all her life.

A man named B. 11. Parker, postmaster at Owaka, was arrested last week on a charge of carnally knowing a girl under the age of 16 years. He was brought before the court, at Owaka, and was remanded to appear on February 1, bail being allowed in his own recognisance of £2OO and one surety of a similar amount. Tuesday’s output of fruit from Beaumont constitutes a record for a single day (writes our Roxburgh correspondent), 5562 cases, aggregating 89 tons, being consigned. The highest for one day last year was 78 tons Large shipments are being made to Christchurch and the North Island. At the Magistrate’s Court charges involving breaches of the Legislature Act- were preferred against Lydia Cheetham ..(two charges.)., Lydia Poland (two charges)). Frederick Vincent Rutherford (four charges), and Peter Callaghan .(four charges) (says a Christchurch Press Association message). The two first-named were charged with making false statements in enrolment forms and signing the names of other people on the claims for enrolment. Rutherford signed his name as a witness to the signatures, which he had not seen written, at Callaghan’s request. The women were fined 10s each on one charge and ordered to pay costs on the other. Callaghan was fined 40s and costs on each charge, and Rutherford was fined 20s ora each charge. A list of the retail prices to be charged to school pupils for drawing books came under the notice of the Otago Education Board last Week. It set forth that books for which 9d had been charged would in future be sold at fid, while the sixpenny book had been reduced in price to 4d. This, it was explained, was due to a fall in the price of raw material. Satisfaction was expressed, by members of the board at the announcement, and this will doubtless be shared by the parents. Piofessor Macmillan Brown (the Chancellor) announced at the meeting of the Senate of the New Zealand University on Wednesday afternoon that he had been so pleased with the poem which had been submitted in connection with the Macmillan Brown prize in Otago that he had decider! to increase by £2OO the amount of the fund in the case of the New Zealand University competition, thus bringing up its monetary value to at least the level of the Otago prize. The announcement was received with applause by rhe members of the Senate, and at the desire of the Chancellor a small sub-committee was appointed to draw up regulations for the New Zealand University competition on similar lines to those governing the Otago competition. A Wellington Press Association message says that the Arawa brought 323 immigrants for the following centres: —Auckland 105, Napier 24, Greymouth 4, New Plymouth 13, Wanganui 10, Wellington 38, Nelson 2, Gisborne 4, Westport 46, Lyttelton 40, Timaru 1, Dunedin 13, Bluff 6. Included in the number is a party of 40 domestics. At the Christchurch Magistrate’s Court (says a Press Association message), William Bryce, driver of Bing Boy in the Prebbleton Handicap at the Canterbury Park Trotting Club’s meeting on January 2, was charged on the information of t.he Inspector of the S.P.C.A. with having cruelly beaten the animal during the race. The case for the prosecution was that the defendant had no chance of winning, and had given his horse a severe flogging with a whip which had a steel core. The horse was inspected after the race, and 10 distinct weals of from 12 to 16 inches long were found on its sides The stewards had held an inquiry, and had cautioned Bryce for excessive use of the whip. The defendant said he had given the horse five or six cuts at the start as he would not face the barrier, and two “clouts” coming up the straight. He had hit the shaft at the finish, and not the horse. Two veterinary said that their inspection did not disclose that the horse had been badly treated. The information, was dismissed, his Worship mentioning that the horse had been whipped, but not more severely titan the occasion demanded. Our London correspondent (writing on December 7) states that the High Commissioner has been in communication with various regiments in Great Britain, and as a result he has now obtained between two hundred and three hundred presentation copies of regimental war histories for the Dominion War Museum. The majority of these volumes have already been posted to New Zealand. Others will follow. The history of the Grenadier Guards comprises some three volumes, and each of these has on the fly leaf the autograph of his' Royal Highness the Duke of Connaught, Colonel of the Regiment. The spectacle of Carpentier and others amassing fortunes by fighting with their arms and hands while French professors are losing their arms and hands to science at the most meagre pay in the service of radiology, has caused a sharp reacton in the French press and in Parliament, in which there is a movement henceforth to suppress professional boxing. The unsavoury details of Siki’s behaviour, as an ignorant arid arrogant possessor of wealth, together with the publicity attending the Uriqui-MuUhesvs tight, struck French sensibilities on t.he same day that Professor Vaillant, a hospital radiologist, who had already lost one arm and hand, was forced to have amputated the other arm, which was burned by radium. It is pointed out that ‘the boxers who win fortunes for beating each other get pages of publicity, while the plight of a doctor living in comparative poverty is barely noticed in the newspapers. One deputy proposes that boxing be restricted solely to an athletic sport. The French press is now insisting on recognition for the men who sacrifice their lives for science, rather than praise for pugilists whose greatest conquests are before the clamour of the circus. In reply to a question last -week, the Chief Justice (Sir Robert Stout) said the Oamaru election petition would be heard on February 9. The dates had not yet been fixed for the hearing of the North Island petitions, but he understood that the investigation at Eden would commence on February 7.

Although arrangements were made to convey as many as 1000 passengers to the waterside workers’ picnic at Evansdale on Wednesday, the actual number to leave Dunedin and Port Chalmers by rail for the picnic was only 599. The next sitting here of the Supreme Court in bankruptcy will be on February 12, and the court will sit on the following dhy to consider criminal eases. The following will appear for trial on the undermentioned charges:—Herbert Maurice Flynn and Thomas M'Farlane. breaking, entering, and theft; Cyril Shirley, theft; and William John Quan, robbery. Che following are the prisoners for sentence: — Andrew Johnson and Michael Size (breaking and era taring ’with intent to commit a crime). Well over 1000 excursionists from the Waimea Plains made a holiday trip to Queenstown on t'he 25th (wires our Queenstown correspondent). A special train left Riversdale early in the morning .with a large contingent of people from that district, the number being reinforced at all stations en route. The Earnslaw brought a party from Kingston, her arrival being timed'*' for 1 o’clock. The day was gloriously fine, so the visitors were able to enjoy the outing to the full. Large numbers availed themselves of the launch trips round the bay, and several parties motored for short runs Into the country, but the majority spent the time in the town itself and the immediate environs. Tho return journey was commenced at 3.30 p.m. Two similar excursions from Winton and Lumsden will be run early next month.

The newly-formed Harbour Board of the Tolaga Bay district took a poll last week on the proposal to raise a loan of £IOO,OOO for the erection of a wharf and road approaches (says a Gisborne Press Association message). The proposal was carried by 115 votes to 21. One return of about a dozen votes is still to come. It is intended to start the work as soon as possible. A Minneapolis attorney, Mr George S. Grimes, has secured a verdict for £2lO from a jury consisting of seven women and five men for damages sustained by an inefficient telephone service. He sued for £630 for time lost between 1917 and 1920 through getting the wrong numbers, waiting for the exchange, and answering calls not intended for him. The North Western Bell Telephone Company is appealing against the verdict on the grounds that it is not liable for damages when it gives as good a service as it can in the circumstances. Mr Grimes says : “At least 20.000 business men of Minneapolis, I am sure, have irs good oases as mine against the company.” The postal revenue collected in New Zealand during December totalled £404.720, compared with £381.118 in the corresponding quarter of 1921 Isays a Wellington Press Association telegram). The telegraph revenue last quarter amounted to £395.525, compared with £365.357 for the previous corresponding period. The Consolidated Fund receipts for the December quarter totalled £11,656,831 and the expenditure £8,216,236. The respective figures a year ago were £10,258,586 and £8,102.238. The balance sheet last quarter was £3,440,594, and at December 31, 1921, it was £2,156,347*

Writing on December 14, our London correspondent gays: —Sir James Alien is at present on the West Coast of England in response to several invitations. Tlie event that called him to Newport was the opening of a new wholesale fish market. While there he met the chief business men of the city, all of whom are anxious to extend their trade relations with New Zealand. After the ceremony at the quay a luncheon was held at the Town Hall, Sir Garrod Thomas presiding. Sir Henry Mather Jackson proposed the toast ‘Newport’s New Enterprise.’ He said they had been* handicapped at the docks because they had no odd storage, but now they had a splendid ioe factory and odd store, as well as a wholesale fish market. What they had seen gave them much hope for the future, beoause Newport was so conveniently situated not only in regard to South Wales, but to the Midlands. The sale of fish locally ought to be enormous. Sir Jamee Allen, in responding to the toast of ‘The Dominion Governments,’ aaid that what the dominions had done duiffg the Great War they would, if the need came, do again. Three years ago Britain was producing 67 per cent, of her meat supply, but to-day it ■was only producing 53 per cent. The rest came from the dominions. In order to do this they must have cdd storage. He realised from the industries he had seen that if New Zealand sent cargoes of meat to Newport, Newport would be able to obtain return cargoes suitable for New Zealand.” “New Zealanders do not realise the fame which Dr Truby King has won in all parts of Great Britain, America* and Europe,’'' remarked Dr Ada Paterson, of Wellington, in the course of an interview a few days ago. “Infant welfare institutions in every country I visited have adopted his system, and everywhere I went I heard praise for it. He is recognised as the leading authority on infant welfare, and when I visited various clinics and said I had been sent from New Zealand to gain information, people were plainly surprised, saying they themselves would like to hear what is being done in so progressive a country. After a year’s investigations, I have come back more than ever impressed with the great value of Dr King’s work.” Sir Donald M’Gavin, K.C.M.G., Directorgeneral of Medical Services, and the Hon. Dr Collins, C.M.G., chairman of the New Zealand Council, Red Cross Society, paid a special visit to the Red Cross Home at Montecillo on Thursday, the visitors being received by the chairman and members of the local Red Cross. Both expressed themselves as being highly pleased with the management and the comforts of the home, and in the progress of the soldier patients, on whose behalf the Medical Service and Red Cross were putting forth their best efforts. The visitors were considerably im- tJ pressed with the beautiful appearance of the grounds surrounding the home, and were warm in their praise of the gratifying results achieved by the gardener in charge, Mr W. J. Moir, who is a returned soldier. During the voyage of the Shaw, Savill liner Arawa, which arrived at Wellington on Wednesday from London (says a Press Association message) one of the vessel’s quartermasters (William Ellis) was accidentally knocked overboard in mid-ocean during boat drill. He was rescued after being nearly half an hour in the water. The accident occurred about 4.30 on the afternoon of December 30, the day before the vessel arrived at Colon. The weather was fine and warm, with the sun shining brightly, but the sea was beginning to rise. A rather extraordinary accident is reported as having occurred at a dairy factory near Kaponga (Taranaki). It appears that one of the wires connected with the power plant short-circuited, and in some inexplicable manner a short current was transmitted through the whole building. At the time several of the staff were handling metal or working in water, and all were thrown backwards by the shock. Only one man was not affected. He, having lost a leg, was wearing a wooden leg with a rubber tip, and he did not feel it, presumably because there was no oirouit through his body. The Napier Chamber of Commerce on Thursday discussed the proposed new telephone charges and carried the following resolution (says a Napier Press Association telegram): ‘‘Assuming that a loss as stated by the Minister has been arrived at after all reasonable economies in the working of the department have been effected, this chamber would approve of an increase in the flat rate sufficient only to avoid any great loss. It feels that the non-subscrib-ing portion of the community should bear some portion of the cost of the service, seeing that it derives both direct and indirect benefits. Moreover, the increase should be as small as possible in view of the probable loss in business and the usefulness of the service. The chamber does not favour the toll system which, from information received, does not give satisfaction in other countries.’’