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Otago Witness, Issue 3993, 23 September 1930, Page 3

The extreme reluctance of the Government to cut down the grants for social services was expressed by the ActingPrime Alinister (Mr E. A. Ransom) on Thursday (reports our special correspondent in Wellington) in replying to a deputation for the Society for the Protection of Women and Children, which asked for the restoration of its grant of £lOO. In introducing the deputation, Mr R. A. Wright, M.P., said that the society was doing most important welfare work and this would have to be curtailed if the grant were withheld. He realised that there was a need for economy, but the Government had already restored or partially restored the grants for kindred societies. It was pointed out by the deputation that the society had been instrumental in keeping a great many of the homes together by tactful and friendly guidance. It had prevented many children being thrown on to the hands of the State. Their first consideration always was the State. In reply Mr Ransom said that the Government had been very reluctant to cut down the grants for social workers, and he hoped to make an arrangement whereby the society’s grant would be restored. If they could not restore the whole of the £lOO he would be very disappointed. The use of meat meal for feeding calves was dealt with by the Wanganui stock inspector (Air H. Cleland) at Brunswick and Kai Iwi recently. It is understood that several farmers are interested in this method of feeding calves, and have decided to give it a trial.

Perhaps the best illustration of the remarkable success of the Commercial Travellers and Warehousemen’s Association’s efforts on their “Big Day” was given on Thursday, when two ex-members of the association assessed the value of the goods which were collected. They found that the wearable value of the goods amounted to no less than £lO,OOO. Clothing and other useful articles are still coining to hand. The organiser (Air Ben Ellis) stated on ~ Thursday that he wished to thank the following for their assistance: — Churches, lodges, schoolmasters, Boy bcouts, the wireless stations, Screen Advertising, honorary assistants and schoolboys, motor car owners, lorry owners the Mayoress (Mrs R. S. Black) and lady helpers, the returned soldiers at “O ” shed the Harbour Board, private warehouses tor assistance in storage, and finally the thousands who had contributed clothing and other articles.

A conference was held on Wednesday between members of the Otago Harbour Board and the Dunedin Chamber of Commerce. The board was represented by the chairman (Captain Coll M’Donald) and Alessrs 11. E. Aloller, J. Loudon, J. AI‘C. Dickson, and W. Gow, and the chamber bv Alessrs A. C. Cameron (president) J B Waters, and H. P. West (secretary).’ A discussion took place on the railway connection to the Victoria wharf and matters affecting exports and imports and the tendency to convey goods from the wharf by motor lorry were also the subject of comment. The members of the board gave some valuable information regarding’ its operations and answered many questions on which the members of the chamber desired enlightenment. The point was emphasised by one of the representatives of the chamber that motor lorries were going to plaj’ a verj’ important part in the transportation of goods from the wharf to districts within a radius of 40 miles from the wharf. As a result of the conference a much better understanding between the board and the chamber has been established.

The Otago Education Board is at present feeling the effects of the general financial depression. At the meeting of the board on Thursday the chairman stated that the maintenance account had been overdrawn by £2500. This had been occasioned partly by the department’s reducing the grant unexpectedly by £250 a month. The department was not to blame, as the Treasury had reduced its grant. Unless permission could be given to carry forward a debit to next year, the board would require to close down on maintenance until the end of the year. It was decided that the department be urged to assist the board in this direction and to point out that unless it did so the remaining employees on maintenance work would have to be dismissed.

The first gliding club m the Dominion was formed on Tuesday night, when about 50 enthusiasts met in Palmerston North, elected a committee, and formed a club to the known as “The Alanawatu Gliding Club.” Air Al. Al. Alangan, who was responsible for the convening of the meeting, stated that the main object was to form the club, and keep it going. The intention was to charge a low subscription to enable all classes of the community te join. In answer to a question, Air Mangan stated that the estimated cost of making a practice glider would be about £l5, and he had no doubt that they would have the support of the Aero Club, and possibly the use of their ground. An imported glider would take two or three months to come to hand, and in the interval there was a danger of enthusiasm declining.

A request" was made by the Farmers’ Union that an investigation should be made by the Government “ into the huge discrepancy between the price of raw wool and the cost of manufactured woollen goods.” The Alinister of Industries and Commerce (Air P. A. de la Perrelle) has replied, stating: “ For some time past the woollen mills of the Dominion have had to meet keen competition from importations and are having a struggle to hold their own. This competition is keeping prices on a competitive basis. Local competition has also been very keen. rhe point raised by your executive relative to the cost of the raw material and the cost of the finished product applies not only to New Zealand-made woollen materials, but also to imported woollen goods. The request of your executive has been given careful consideration, but with a knowledge of the difficult circumstances under which the woollen industry is operating it is not considered that any good purpose would be served by an investigation such as that proposed.”

An interesting trial of strength occurred at the meeting of the Dunedin City Council last week, when Cr Clark, on behalf of the Finance Committee, asked the council to sanction the letting of the Town Hall for skating on six nights a week at a rental of £6O per week. Opinion was fairly evenly divided on the subject, some councillors considering that to permit" the hall to' be put to such a use would be sacrilege, while others ridiculed that viewpoint and stressed the value of the revenue that would result from the leasing of the building. An amendment was moved by* Ci’ Tapley embodying the rejection of the proposal, and on a division being taken the amendment was carried by six votes to five. The Town Hall will therefore not be used for skating, but a similar application in respect to the South Dunedin Town Hall ■was granted.

Saying that he always endeavoured to find a fraternal link with the company good enough to extend its hospitality to him, the Governor-General (Lord Bledisloe) .recounted some of his commercial experiences to those present at the smoke concert held by the Wellington Commercial Travellers and Warehousemen’s Association in celebration of Association Day. He had had a career of infinite variety, his Excellency said. He had helped in the conduct of many businesses, and had run, with temporary success, his own bacon factory, his own cheese factory, his own flourmill. He had carried out the delicate and difficult task of the Government’s chief grocer during part of the war period. He had shovelled coal into wagons in a colliery on his own estate during a coal strike. As a traveller, however, he found it difficult to justify himself as a colleague and a brother. The nearest he had ever attained to commercial travelling was when he ran several trade vans conveying sausages, pork pies and other commodities into villages surrounding bis home following the war. Mainly he had supplied shops in the villages, but he had sold to casual passersby. Unfortunately he had been prosecuted—quite unsuccessfully—for being a haw’ker without a license.

A reduction of tramway fares with the object of increasing traffic and revenue to overcome the small annual loss was tried in New Plymouth without success. After the lower fares had been in operation for a few months the loss on the operation increased, and the council has decided to revert to the previous higher fares.

One of the most important functions of the Returned Soldiers’ Association is its work among ex-servicemen who are in need of assistance of one kind or another, and an example of the success which is being attained was made known by the secretary of the Dunedin association (Mr J. M. White) last week, when speaking about the case of a returned man to whom a pension had been granted after it had been refused when first applied for in 1926. The man had been informed, when he first made application for the pension, that his physical condition did not warrant the granting of an allowance. However, as time went on his condition became worse, and for the past three years, he has been confined to his bed. The case was again brought before the Pensions Board, with the result that an allowance has been made, not only for the man, but for his wife also. The pensions have been made retrospective to 1926, and.-there will consequently be about £6OO to be collected. Mr White made appreciative reference to the ready help of medical men which, he said, was always available in these eases.

At a large gathering of dairy \ farmers, addressed at Woodville last week by Mr William Goodfellow, chairman of directors of Amalgamated Dairies, Ltd., a resolution was unanimously carried (to be cabled to the Prime Minister, Mr G. W. Forbes) urging him to support Empire preference at the Imperial Conference. The reserved judgment of Mr Justice Ostler was delivered at New Plymouth last week in the case in which exemption was sought by T. 0. List and H. Dickie, executors in the estate of Robert Bremer, from the payment of death duties on amounts due as gift duty, but not paid before testator’s death, nor having then been assessed. His Honor decided that the amount (.£1301) was deductible.

Mr John Potter, who has been a familiar figure in the North-East Valley district for a period approaching 60 years, hag just retired from an occupation, which had at least one outstanding feature. Mr Potter, who is now <4 years of age and has resided in Otago since 1859, took charge of his father’s milk run when he was quite a young lad, and until a few days ago, when he decided to give it up, he never missed a day in carrying out his task. This involved rising about 3 o’clock in the morn, ing and passing Normanby on his round at 5 o’clock. To have carried out such an undertaking daily for so long under exposure to all sorts of weather conditions has been the lot of probably very few engaged in the industry. The need for encouraging agricultural education in districts such as Taieri was emphasised by Mr A. E. Ansell (Reform member for Chalmers) during the discussion of the Education Department’s Estimates in the House of Representatives on Tuesday. He thanked the Minister of Education (Mr H. Atmore) for what he had already done in this direction, and he pointed out the necesstiy for the department to purchase further land which he considered would undoubtedly be required in the near future for the extension of agricultural courses. Land was available at present, and unless the opportunity were taken to acquire it the extension of agricultural courses would prove difficult in time to come. The Minister was sympathetic in his reply, and he said he would visit the district in the near future to see what steps could be taken to carry out Mr Ansell’s suggestions.

A prominent resident of Timaru (says the Herald) offers the suggestion that the problem of a stand-by plant for South Canterbury can be solved by an arrange ment with the Union Steam Ship Company for the use of one of the steamers now laid up at Port Chalmers. It is suggested that a steamer, engined with something like 1200 to 1500 indicated horse-power, might be secured and moored at one of the Timaru wharves, and converted into a floating stand-by plant.

Transportation of secondary school pupils in districts without railway facilities was discussed by Mr A. E. Ansell (Reform member for Chalmers) during consideration of the Education Department’s Estimates in the House of Representatives on Tuesday. He drew the attention of the Minister of Education (Mr H. Atmore) to the burden now placed on some parents who had to pay the cost of transport for their children, and he asked that the Minister should give the question his earnest consideration. The Minister said the question was one of finance, but he would endeavour to deal with it as soon as possible.

Thus the Wanganui Herald: “The Dunedin town clerk returned from the Municipal Conference held at Brisbane a little while ago with the proud boast that among the cities of New Zealand and the Commonwealth Dunedin alone paid its way and showed a respectable balance sheet. The Evening Post, dealing only with the tram services of Wellington and the southern city, is not disposed to accept this contention. ‘On a cash basis,’ it admits, ‘ Wellington is probably dearer than Dunedin, but, if the fact that the regular traveller can ride four or five sections for threepence is allowed for, Wellington should be a rival for cheapness.’ A more effective retort, however, would have been that while Dunedin escapes a vast amount of national taxation by municipalising its various services and trading activities, Wellington, Auckland, Christchurch, and other large centres, here and in Australia, rely upon private enterprise for their activities and so are liable for national taxation. In plain words, while private enterprise is taxed up to the hilt everywhere, municipal enterprise escapes this burden altogether. ’ Hence the proud boast of the well-equipped city of Dunedin that it is better managed than its contemporaries.” It may be added, as throwing some light on the foregoing, that it was Mr Mackenzie, the tramways manager, after attending a transport conference in Brisbane, who made the remarks upon which the Herald bases its comment. Moreover, it might be asked, if the municipalising of trading services avoids heavy taxation, is it good business or bad business? The question is one which a ratepayer in one of the northern centres might very well put to his town clerk.

Two young lovers who ran away together from Christchurch appeared in the Auckland Police Court on Tuesday. Mavis Good, aged 19, a shop assistant, pleaded guilty to incurring a debt of £6 7s with a city firm by fraud, and Eric Neville Hill, aged 18, a caterer, was charged with being idle and disorderly. Chief Detective Hammond said that the couple worked for a while in Wellington and then came to Auckland, where Good got employment as a theatre usher. She went to a grocer’s, said she was Mrs Hill, that her husband was going to take over a city restaurant, and that they had a fashionable flat. She went also to other firms, and altogether owed £7O. The parents of the couple would not allow them to marry. The magistrate (Mr F. K. Hunt) placed the girl on probation for three years, ordered restitution, and gave her in charge of the Salvation Army pending her return to Christchurch. In the case of Hill, counsel said his parents • were wealthy Christchurch people, and the father wanted him to go home. The magistrate granted two years’ probation and ordered the restitution of £6 17s.

From time to time one sees some strange addresses of places, showing that the people in the United Kingdom are not conversant with the geography of NewZealand and Australia. The latest is from the Kerryman of July 26, a weekly paperpublished in Tralee, the chief town of Kerry, Ireland. Under the heading of “ A Notable Kerry Pastor ” and giving a report copied from the Bendigo Advertiser, of a welcome extended to the Right Rev. Monsignor T. Rooney, pastor of St. Kilian’s Church, Bendigo (Victoria), on his return after a holiday to his native county, Kerry, it states: “ The venerated pastor, who was feted on his return to the parish, is a brother of the Rev. Edward Rooney, Eaglehawk, Victoria, Aria, NewZealand.”

The recently-erected extension to the University Museum will be officially opened by his Excellency the GovernorGeneral (Lord Bledisloe) on Wednesday, October 15. His Excellency will arrive in Dunedin by the express from the north on Tuesday afternoon, October 14, and will reach the main entrance to the Museum at 2.55 p.m. on the following day. A report was submitted at the meeting of the University Council on Tuesday afternoon on the conference between the council and the Otago Harbour Board with respect to the site of the new maternity hospital. The report, stated that Mr L. D. Ritchie had moved that a small committee be set up comprising tw-o members of the Hospital Board, two members of the University Council, two members of the Medical Faculty, and one member representing the local branch of the Obstetrical Society, this committee to draw up a report to be submitted to a combined meeting of the council and the Hospital Board. The resolution had been seconded by Mr W. J. Morrell and carried without dissent. Messrs L. D. Ritchie (treasurer) and Dr Fitzgerald (chairman of the Medical Committee) were appointed the council’s representatives on the committee.

During the past few years so many reports have appeared in reference to the ambergris camps and deer-stalkers’ huts on the western beaches of Stewart Island that visitors are now coming across with the main intention of visiting these fascinating places. Within the past fortnight (says the Southland News) a number of parties have gone to Mason’s Bay, Little and Big Hellfire, and Ruggedy. One visitor hailed from as far north as Auckland, and one from Wellington. Two others came from Dunedin, and two from Kelso. Two women from Invercargill undertook the journey to Mason’s Bay and stayed at Mr Adam Adamson’s late camp. They stated that the trip was so fascinating, and the beach so alluring, that they would go back again in the summer holidays. The various camps erected by Mr F. Traill, who has made a speciality of this convenience for deer stalkers, were thoroughly appreciated, the cave camp at Big Hellfire being specially sought after. Several of the visitors secured samples of ambergris, one boy finding quite a nice piece of matured grade. Mr Smith, of the Southland Acclimatisation staff, is camped up the Ruggedy plain, engaged in culling deer, but from the experience of those who have been across the island lately, the deer at present seem to be well back in the bush.

The permanent head of the Government Law-drafting Department, Mr J. Christie, has left for England, where it is understood he will link up with the New Zealand Delegation to the Imperial Conference and render legal assistance in connection with its work. The main object of his visit, however, arises out of a contract entered into by the Government with Messrs Butterworths, Ltd., for the publication of an annotated edition of the New Zealand Statutes. Mr Christie will confer in London with Messrs Butterworth’s editorial staff.

A case which occupied the attention of the Supreme Court on Tuesday related to the disappearance of James Edward Hume, a son of James Hume, the original proprietor of Ashburn Hall. James Edward Hume went to Malaya in 1902, and after a few letters had been received’from him in that year nothing further had been heard from him. Mr Justice Kennedy was asked, to presume that James Edward Hume had died, and after hearing the addresses of counsel he reserved his decision. It is interesting to record that a brother of the man who disappeared is Fergus Hume, the author of “ The Mystery of a Hansom Cab,” who now resides in Essex, and a sister is Mrs Mary HumeWilleby, her husband being the well-known composer. These are the only members of the Hume family now known to be alive.

That the Federal Government of Australia is not letting opportunities pass for improving its finances is evidenced by the fact that a Dunedin business man who has recently been in Australia was called upon to pay a tax on an assessed income during a 37 days’ business visit to the other side. Of the amount collected a considerable proportion went to the Unemployed Fund.

As a result of a report received from Wellington that many members of the crew of the Tahiti, including 60 stewards, have complained that no relief has been made available to them by the Shipwreck Relief Society, inquiries were made last week, and it was found that, under the rules of the society, no relief can be given to the crew or passengers of a ship unless it is wrecked in New Zealand waters. The Tahiti disaster occurred hundreds of miles from New Zealand, and consequently the society is bound by its rule to refrain from offering relief.

The recent successful performance of the pantomime “Jack and Jill” by pupils of the Otago Girls’ High School resulted in a total net profit for the three nights of £212 7s Id. The net proceeds for the second night were earmarked for the Unemployment Fund which will benefit to the extent of £9B 6s 7d. The High Schools’ Board at its meeting on Wednesday received from the principal (Miss M. H. M. King) the statement of income and expenditure, and decided that a chque for the amount due to the Unemployment Fund, together with a copy of the statement, be forwarded to the town clerk for the Mayor’s Fund. The board also decided to congratulate Miss King on the very creditable manner in which the pantomime was produced

Mr Justice Kennedy has granted probate in the estates of the following deceased persons:—George Lyman Sise, of Dunedin (Mr F. S. Brent); Henry Lethaby, of Dunedin (Mr G. T. Baylee); Archibald M’Bride, of Oamaru (Mr J. B. Callan); Catherine Angus, of Oamaru (Mr P. C. Hjorring); and Catherine Tolmie, of Puerua (Mr J. T. Walter). Letters of administration have also been granted in the estates of Mary Paterson Scott, of Broad Bay (Mr E. E. Collier), and Samuel James Luke, of Dunedin (Mr J. Lang). It is understood that another skating rink is to be opened shortly in Dowling street. A syndicate has been formed, and the necessary alterations are now being made to the basement portion of Messrs Clarke, Marshall’s premises.

For the next few weeks important work is to be carried out at the tunnel at Waipori every Sunday between 1 a.m, and 3 p.m. in order to prepare for next winter’s load. This work will involve emptying the tunnel during these hours, and the department will therefore have to rely, for the time being, on the power from the No. 1 station (which utilises the water in the river before it comes to the tunnel), the steam plant, and the Diesel’engines. It is found that domestic users take the greater part of the loading during the hours mentioned, and the department asks all consumers of power supplied from Waipori to limit their requirements for cooking and water heating in every possible way, and particularly from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.. If consumers restrict their demands, as requested, the department hopes -to meet the wants of everybody. If, however, the loading becomes too heavy it is highly probable that some localities will have their power temporarily cut off. Mr E. J. Howard, M.P., states that he has received a letter from an elector of Christchurch South, suggesting that the following resolution should be moved by the Labour Party in the House of Representatives:—“ln view- of the unemployment problem and the economic position of the Dominion generally, we move that the increase in salary granted to members of Parliament some time ago be discontinued during the period of the depression, and the amount involved be voted for the relief of unemployment.” Mr Howard states th’at the writer did not enclose his address, but he would like to inform him and thousands of other people, who were also under a misapprehension, that the bonus of £lOO paid to members of Parliament last session was for one year only, and has been discontinued. The position was that members of Parliament were paid £450 a year, having suffered a 10 per cent, cut in their honoraria in 1922, when the public servants’ salaries were reduced.

Mr W. E. Barron, A.0.5.M., who has spent many years in mining in South Africa, has been appointed general manager of the N.C. Exploration Company (1910), Ltd., operating in North-east Rhodesia. It was while mining at the Rhodesia Broken Hill Development Company’s mine in 1921 that Mr Barron made the discovery of human remains of a very primitive type. The skull of Homo rhodesiensis shows a close resemblance to the skull of Neanderthal man from the caves of Belgium, France, and Gibraltar.