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Otago Witness, Issue 3655, 1 April 1924, Page 3

The French vice-consul notifies that the sloop-of-war Aldebaran will remain in Wellington until April 2, and then will take her departure for Lyttelton and Dunedin. . The Aldebaran will leave the latter port on April 12, and is due at Auckland on April 16. Commander Hussen is in charge of the sloop.

Some weeks ago the classification of the lands within the rating area of the Taieri River Trust was completed, and according to the Taieri River Trust Act it was open to the owner or occupier of such land to object to the class in which his land was placed. It was generally anticipated that many objections would be forthcoming, as quite a number of the settlers within the rating area favour the levying of a flat rate rather than a graduated one, which will be the case when the land is classified. Contrary to expectations, however, no objections were received, and a hearing which was to take place before Mr J. R. Bartholomew, S.M., on the 24th at Out ram did not take place.

In connection with the statement made by Mr Hudson concerning the reduction of the price of chocolates, Mr R. E. M‘Dougall, of Aulsebrook and Co., the Christchurch manufacturers, asserts that there must have been a misunderstanding, as it was the first he had heard of a wholesale cut in the prices. There was no doubt that imported sweets were threatening the local industry, but a move by the New Zealand manufacturers some months ago had brought about such a reduction of prices in most lines that overseas manufacturers could not compete with local production. It was possible that the reduction spoken of was in reference to the price of very small lines for children, which had recently been agreed upon by a meeting of the association, but any such widespread reduction as referred to by Mr Hudson was, in Mr M'Dougall’s opinion, impracticable owing to the recent rise in the price of sugar.

The Christchurch City Council has approved of the principle of daylight saving, and decided to warmly support it and urge its adoption upon the Government.

A question that will have to be decided sooner or later —the earlier the better if bureaucracy is to be kept within given bounds (says the Manawatu Evening Standard) —is whether the civil servants are to rule the State, or the State to rule its employees. The matter is one of very great interest, and it might: also be said of grave concern to the public. New Zealanders pride themselves on being a democratic people, but it is to be feared that they are not sufficiently alive to the dangers which threaten the democracy from the growing power of those who from being their servants are apparently aspiring to become their masters ; and from those who, in the alleged interests of Labour, are striving to develop the “class-conscious” spirit in the hope of finally establishing a republic on Soviet lines. There is really very little to chooso between autocratic and bureaucratic governments, especially when, in the former case, the autocrats combine Communistic principles with their methods of governing.

The Health Minister’s attention was drawn in Wellington to a statement published last week that the Grey River Argus had credited him with declaring that conditions at the Westland mental hospital were “nothing better than Bedlam.” Sir Maui Pomare stated that his remark referred to that part of the building that had formerly been a gaol, and which the mental hospital authorities had been forced to use, because of exigencies of space. “I could not apply the remark to the whole institution,” said the Minister, “when the facts are that we have nearly completed a new block there. As a mattet of fact, some of the new building is already in use. A man would be foolish to say such a thing in reference to a new building. I was very glad, indeed, to see the new block so near completion. No reflection was meant either on the present or former administrative staffs of the hospital. Those ■who were formerly responsible for the administration there ivere forced to use the old gaol building to meet a contingency that arose, and I only meant that that building was unsuitable. I said (bat I was very glad to see that the early completion of the new block would moon that it would soon be possible to obviate continuing the use of the old gaol building.”

The dominion’s divorce returns for 1923 6how a slight increase over 1922, according to the latest Government abstract of statistics, In the year there were 066 petitions Sled for dissolution of marriage, 312 by husbands, and 354 by wives. In 1922 the total number was 643. The number of decrees mado absolute was the same in both years (522), while there were 603 decrees nisi last year and 543 in 1922. T 1 lero were two decrees for judicial separation in 1923 and one in 1922. Tor restitution of conjugal rights the petitions last year numbered 77 and the decrees 56, against 88 petitions and 57 decrees in 1922. Last year adultery was the grounds alleged in seeking divorce in 209 cases, desertion was the principal ground in 211 cases, e.-’p a ration for not less than three years in 173 cases, and non-compliance with an order for restitution of conjugal rights in 41 e*ses.

The slump in cattle prices and the high returns for wool have revolutionised the outlook on the grazing properties through the north-west of New South Wales (reports our Sydney correspondent). As rapidly as areas can bp wire netted and j rendered dog-proof, the transition to j merinos is taking place. On every hand j are rolls of netting awaiting erection. The : recent drop in cost to about £SO a mite for | first-class material means a substantial sav- | ing to the struggling settler. Applicants j for wire netting under the Federal scheme j are being hampered, however, by the de--1 lay of the New South Wales Government jin making ihe material available. This they | cannot understand, especially as other States 1 have accepted the conditions. With rattle, | unless prime enough for market, at saerij fico rates, and sheep soaring to unheard-of J prices, the men out in the north-west are j giving more attention to the golden fleece.

The shortage of water at Port Chalmers is still very pronounced, and the water is discoloured because the reservoir is very low. The Borough Council is taking the initial steps to secure a permanent supply of more ample dimensions. If an underground sup ply can be tapped by boring and run into the reservoir the present difficulty will be overcome. The council lias this in view, and is obtaining a report on the matter. In the meantime the users of water are urged to be careful that no waste takes place.

At the annual meeting of the Dunedin Burns Club on the 27th a beautiful handworked silk banner in blue and gold was received from Mrs Maxwell, B.avensbourne. Tiro banner was the workmanship of a Japanese, and is of striking design. The arms of Scotland in red and gold and the words “‘Scotland For Ever” surmount a lifebuoy, which is flanked on either side by national flags, one beneath the other. A very hearty vote of thanks to Mrs Maxwell for her handsome gift was carried by

acclamation. It is the intention of the club to frame the banner and to insert the photograph of Robert Burns in the vacant circle in the lifebuoy. The whole design, which is on a blue background, is particularly effective.

A regulation issued on the 27th for the prevention of the introduction into New Zealand of diseases affecting dogs (reports our Wellington correspondent) prescribes six months as the period of quarantine for dogs arriving from the United Kingdom, the period to include the time occupied by the passage.

The amount of £l3l which the Govern ment set apart for payment for the de struction of deer in the Otago Acclimatisation District is now exhausted.

An Order-in-Couneil gives consent to the raising of a loan of £125,000 for road construction in .the Mount Eden district, £47,500 for the Tamaki West Road Board, and £50,000 for the Grey Electric Power Board.

Messrs Williamson, Jeffery (Ltd.), wholesale manufacturing and importing stationers, of Dunedin, have decided to add to their branches in Wellington and Invercargill a branch in Christchurch to enable them to cope with their Canterbury and West Coast- business. The new branch is being opened immediately in Lichfield street.

Tlie Postmaster-General has prohibited the issue of money orders or the registration of postal matter in connection with the limbless and maimed soldiers “Great Austral ” art union in Sydney.

Our Wellington correspondent reports that bran and pollard are exempt from all Customs duties except primage (1 per cent.) by an Order-in-Council issued on Thursday.

A phenomenon af rare oocurrence is reported from Longreach, in Central Queensland (writes gur Sydney correspondent), when, in the midst of a storm on March 15, there was a downpour of small fish. Within a few minutes after the storm worked up over the township every hollow and rivulet was filled with thousands upon thousands of small fish, ranging from an inch to four inches in length. The fish were of a-kind quite unknown in the district. The nearest point at which they are found is 500 miles away, in the swamp country of the far west, Their journey must have been swift, since they survived it. Fish fell in a storm at Quirindi (New South Wales) some years ago, and they have fallen in Queensland before, and there have also been recorded showers of frogs and worms. Whirlwinds, it- is explained, are responsible.

Considerable amusement wa.s caused on the Dunedin Station platform after the arrival of the north express the other evening. A tall, well-built man alighted from the train, and, after surveying his surroundings, put a stick through the handle of his bag and hoisted it on to his shoulder and marched along the platform. Arriving at- the exit, his bag still over his shoulder, he approached a policeman, and in accents which at once stamped him as a son of Erin, he asked for directions to reach a certain lodging house. While being informed where to go, two enterprising carriers rushed up, and made as if to secure the man’s bag. Without a moment’s hesitation, the son of Erin dropped bag and stick and made a mighty sweep with his fists at the carriers, who luckily dodged the blows, and as they beat a hasty retreat the stranger said: “I’ll be- aft her teaching t-him to rob a respectable citizen, I will,” and his eyes gleamed as he turned on the smiling crowd which had gathered, me policeman discreetly retired to a quiet corner where he could give vent to his feelings in the form of amused laughter, while the stranger, securing possession of his bag and stick, marched sedately away.

There was shown to a New Zealand Times representative recently a remarkable product of German ingenuity and industry, which, in some unexplained manner, has been permitted to come into New Zealand, and which, if allowed full freedom of importation. may do incalculable harm. It is a large oval disc on which are placed what seem at first glance to be 19 British sovereigns, of the reigns of Queen Victoria, King Edward, and King George, showing both the obverse and reverse sides. It is a remarkably clever piece of work, for on a cursory examination the coins look like real sovereigns. But when they are looked into glosely it is found that they are made of some base metal, evidently poured into dies on which the British sovereigns have been stamped, and afterwards coated with a thin covering of gold so that it is very difficult to distinguish them from real coins. The coins are welded together into an oval shape, and it is said that they were sent to New Zealand as “curios,” with the idea of being used as paper-weights. There are one or two points in connection with the matter that arc likely to be inquired into by the authorities, because it is dangerous for any representations of sovereigns to bo in circulation, even in the apparently innocent form of “curios” and paper-weights. For, in the hands of unscrupulous persons, they might afford the means of perpetrating frauds.

The secretary of the Wellington Education Board stated at Tuesday’s meeting of the board (reports our correspondent) that more applications were received from teachers for positions in town schools than could be placed, but that there was still a shortage of teachers for country schools. Teachers coming from the training colleges refused to go into the country, and there were still a large number of uncertificated teachers in those schools. It was further stated that many women teachers were marrying and that tended to make less difficult the placing of teachers. Never at any time had the board a surplus of teachers. The tendency was for a more liberal staffing.

The demand for supplies of bran and pollard has now overtaken the production of the New Zealand mills, a the shortage is causing difficulty, particularly in the North Island. The Government has now agreed to the granting of permits for the importation of these commodities. Permits will be issued only on condition that information is given as to (lie probable date and the port of importation, and the quantity of each commodity required. The permits will expire two months after the ante of issue. The Government has also agreed to the suspension of duty on bran and pollard so long as the present shortage exists.

The position of the city tvater supply during the last fortnight was summarised at the meeting of the City Council on Wednesday by the chairman of the Water Committee (Cr Begg). He said that since their last meeting the fog and showers they had had on their catchment areas had amounted to half an inch on the Ross Creek and Whare Flat areas, and an inch at Sullivan’s dam. The intakes were now showing a gradual decrease, and that morning they were down to the level they were some time ago. Fortunately they had been able to store a few million gallons, and they were now exactly where they stood about the end of February prior to the last shower. The restrictions would have to remain, and he trusted that before the next meeting they would have the supply augmented by another shower. If citizens would assist them to economise their storage Would probably see them through the season. They started to gain on the 14th inst., when they gained 789,000 gallons, 2,541,000 gallons the next day, and 2,965,000 gallons on the following Sunday. Last Sunday they started on the other side of the ledger and had lost on consecutive days 140,000 gallons, 243,000 gallons, 535,000, and 234,000, and that day they had lost 800,000. That showed that the little storage they had made would soon disappear. Cr Haliiday asked if the present state of affairs did not show that the city’s present supply was not sufficient. Was it not time that the council went into the question of further supply, especially when the Exhibition was expected to add 25,000 to the population? Cr Begg replied that until other loan proposals were dealt with it was impossible to bring forward a new water loan, but he could assure Cr Halliday that the matter was not being lost sight of.

The fall which has taken place in the value of New Zealand dairy produce jn the Home markets (remarks the Taranaki Daily News) does not readily lend itself to a satisfactory explanation, especially in view of the fact that, the price of Danish butter is well maintained. Why should the London market buy Danish butter at 212 s per cwt, when New Zealand butter, of an equal quality, can only be placed at 40s less? Of course, there are consumers who are prepared to pay any price for the article they prefer, but, speaking generally, British consumers are not in the habit of paying over 4d per lb for one kind of butter when its equivalent in intrinsic value can be obtained at a price that much lower. Whilst New Zealand butter has not fallen to anything like a “panic” price, the impression that a deliberate attempt is being made to reduce the intrinsic value of the dominion’s dairy produce in order to force down prices is not altogether absent.

Observing that arrangements had been entered into with the Union Steam Ship Company to load cargo at the chief ports of New Zealand for Java, Mr P. de la Perrelle, M.P. for Awarua, wrote to the Minister of Industries and Commerce inquiring if the Government had any voice in the shipping arrangement. If so, he (the member) urged that Bluff be one of the ports, as Southland was a big exporting province in butter and cheese, and had sugar of milk and condensed milk factories in close proximity to Bluff. The Hon. W. Downie Stewart has replied saying the service will not be a subsidised one, and, therefore, the Government has no voice in the matter. He proposed, however, to ask the company concerned favourably to consider the request, and had written the general manager of the Union Steam Ship Company, and on receipt of the reply would forward it on to the member.

In an endurance swim by two schoolgirls remarkable performances were registered at the swimming baths at Hokitika last week. Lucy Payne, aged 15 years, and Alva MTntosh, aged 12 years, attempted to beat the previous bath record of two and a-quarter miles. Lucy Payne swam two and a-half miles, thus beating the record by aquarter of a mile, and then stopped. Little Alva MTntosh kept on swimming and finished up after going 214 lengths of the bath, a distance of nearly three miles 70 yards, covered in three minutes under three hours. The girl did not seem to be the least bit exhausted as she climbed out of the baths after her long swim.

The present small demand for heifers calves has caused several of the farmers in the Waikato to wish they had not taken the trouble of rearing their calves (says the Morrinsville correspondent of the Auckland Star). At the last Morrinsville stock sale one pen was knocked down at 8s per head, while a better lot sold at only 12s. This caused the owner of one of the lots to remark that he predicted a shortage of calves next season If there were no prospects of better prices being realised. He estimated that it took 15s or £1 worth of fresh milk to feed a calf during tl first two weeks, and to pay the farmer for the cost and trouble of rearing, the animals would need to be sold for at least 30s each. If they could not get the price it would be better to “knock them on the head” and sell the skins, which were worth about 6s each. That Is what had happened to the steer calves, with the result that there was now a shortage.

A Police Court care the age of which is supposed to be a record for the dominion was heard at Te Kuiti yesterday (says a Press Association telegram), when William Ware, of Frankton, was charged with having in 1900 sold whisky to Natives at Te Kuiti. Senior-sergeant Matthews said he laid the original information when a constable at Te Kuiti. Accused disappeared soon after, but witness recognised him at Hamilton in December, 1923. The senior sergeant gave evidence of having overheard accused selling liquor to Nikora, a Native constable, and other Maoris. He seized liquor on the premises of Noble, accused’s employer, of whom witness had not since heard. Nikora was the Crown’s principal witness, but when examined through an interpreter he seemed hostile and said he could not remember the events referred to by the police. The case was dismissed.

The Railway Department advises that word has been received from headquarters that the train leaving Dunedin for Port Chalmers at 6-15 p.m. will leave at 5.55 p.nr. as from May 1 next.

In order to press forward the establishment of a Hospital Boards’ Association the North Canterbury Hospital Board has decided to forward the following remit to the next conference of hospital boards (says a Christchurch Press Association message): “That in view of the urgent necessity of securing united action on the part of all hospital boards throughout the dominion for adequate treatment of tuberculosis and venereal disease, and also for securing legislation to deal with defaulting husbands, this conference should appoint a sub-com-mittee to draft proposals for the formation of a Hospital Boards’ Association.”