LOCAL AND GENERAL

Taranaki Daily News, 29 May 1933, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL

It was announced in the Supreme Court at New Plymouth on Saturday that there had been a settlement of the action in which the Guardian Trust and Executors Company of New Zealand Limited was to proceed against Brian Cuthbert Lysaght on a claim for a declaration that the defendant was liable for loss in the deceased estate of Arthur Sidney Tonks because of certain alleged breaches of trust, and for an inquiry regarding the amount alleged to have been lost or misapplied.

A heavy swell and a gale were responsible for a slight mishap at the port of New Plymouth yesterday. When the Paracombe was being berthed at 10. a.m. she touched the stern of the Opihi, which was berthed at the outer end of the Newton King wharf on me western side, and a large dent was made in the plates. The damage done was well above the waterline, but temporary repairs will delay the sailing of the Opihi until midnight to-night at the earliest. The vessel will proceed to Wellington for full repairs. The Paracombe was not damaged.

The deputation from the relief workers’ section of the New Plymouth General Labourers’ Union which visited Wellington on Friday to wait on the Minister of Employment (the Hon. A. Hamilton) and Mr. J. S. Jessep, acting-chairman of the Unemployment Board, reports that it was very favourably received. The deputation, consisting of Messrs H. Lawrence (chairman), B. Thome (secretary) and J. Whelan (a member) of the executive of the New Plymouth organisation, urged a greater allocation of relief funds to the New Plymouth district, and placed before the Minister claims for the consideration of the disabilities suffered under the no-compensation agreements, for more relief for single men in the town and for payment in wet weather. . "I think a considerable and definite improvement in conditions in New Zealand will be seen within the next 12 months,” said Mr. J. T. F. Mitchell, retiring president of the Auckland provincial council of affiliated agricultural and pastoral associations, addressing the annual conference. Mr. Mitchell said the past year had been a difficult one for all the associations, and they had been able to carry on in the belief that the economic situation would improve. The position had been obscure until a few weeks ago, but he now thought New Zealand had passed through its very worst time. When conditions improved, the associations would share in the benefit just as commercial institutions would. An instance of how savings can be effected in the production of text books came before the notice of the board of managers of the Seddon Memorial Technical College at a recent meeting. The principal, Mr. G. J. Park, placed before the board d sample of a text book for use by classes in applied mechanics, which had been produced by the college staff and printed in Auckland at a cost of about Is 9d. He pointed out that a similar book printed in Britain had been sold at 6s 6d, and he suggested, further attention should be given the question of providing text books at a lower cost. As a contrast to the charges made for some text books, the production of information free of charge by the Agricultural Department was also mentioned. The board approved of the principle being applied to other text books.

Those of our readers interested in football and hockey will be pleased to learn that suitable train arrangements have been made for the hockey tournament at Hawera and the Wanganui v. Taranaki representative football match at New Plymouth on King’s Birthday. Particulars will be found in our advertising columns in this issue.*

According to the official org-n of “The Free Discussions Club,” Victoria Co’lege, a Wellington girl student, who is endeavouring to complete her B.A. degree, worked in a hctel as a cook-housemaid at £1 a week during the last vacation. The girl’s home was not in Wellington, and she undertook this work to meet lecture and college fees totalling £l7 17s. “If there are girls walking the streets who tell you they cannot get enough to eat and be provided with shelter, they are not telling the truth.” This statement was made by Miss Jean Stevenson, national secretary of the Young Women’s Christian Association, speaking before the Rotary Club in Wellington.

The Government has let a contract for £5680 for the erection of a *w villa for women at the Stoke Mental Hospital, Nelson. The building is required to relieve congestion at the institution; The specifications provide for a single storey wooden building to accommodate 50 patients. The successful tenderer was C. S. Luney, Christchurch, A picturesque and impressive military ceremony will take place at the Auckland War Memorial Museum on the afternoon of Sunday, June 4, when the King’s Colours of the Ist, 2nd and 3rd Battalions, Auckland Regiment, New Zealand Expeditionary Force, which were presented after the war by His Majesty, will be consecrated by Archbishop Averill and trooped in the presence of the Governor-General, Lord Bledisloe. They will afterwards be handed to the museum authorities for safe keeping. The carnival held in January last to commemorate the opening of the new Napier was a marked success financially, the net profit being £576 9s 6d. In accordance with the conditions under which a permit for the art union in connection with the queen carnival was issued, £485 4s 6d has to be spent in effecting improvements to the Marine Parade foreshore. The Carnival Committee has empowered its finance committee to spend the balance of £9l 5s as it thinks fit.

Reference to a new rotary printing press, recently installed by the Yorkshire Post, an English newspaper, was made by Mr. E. Swailes at the Napier Rotary Club. He said that it was capable of printing 20-page newspapers at the rate of 160,000 per hour, which was the equivalent of 3,200,000 pages of the average newspaper in New Zealand. The press was considered to be one of the largest in the world, and was certainly the finest-looking machine in the world. Its construction had given employment to hundreds of men for over a year.

This year’s award of Lord Bledisloe’s trophy for garden displays of native flora has been awarded to Mr. A. Atkinson, of York Bay, it was reported to the committee of the Wellington Horticultural Society on Wednesday evening. The award is for the garden-containing the best display of New Zealand native flora as its principal feature. There was a fair number of entries in the competition this year, and the judges were Dr. L. Cockayne and Mr. J. G. Mackenzie. The view was expressed by the Chief Justice, Sir Michael Myers, in the Supreme Court in Wellington that too much laxity was being shown in regard to the production of documents with a view to their admissibility as evidence, and also in regard to questions asked by counsel in examination in chief and cross-examination. “I am not speaking in particular of this case,” added His Honour. “I am speaking generally, and it is just about time an effort was made to stop it.” “It is remarkable what employers will do for boys who are in urgent need,” said Mr. V. French at a meeting of the South Christchurch Boys’ Employment Committee. “If boys are willing to go into the country many farmers are ready to provide work for them. Only, a few days ago four boys I know of were taken into employment .by farmers. It was not a case of cheap labour, for the boys did not know even how to milk. But they now have employment, they are willing to learn, and the farmers have thus been able to do a great service for them.”

“And now I’m going to call on one of the A.C.’s,” said Mr. W. Toomath, secretary of the Early Settlers’ Association, at a birthday function in Wellington. “People of to-day would scarcely know what was meant by the term AC.’s, but in the early days the Armed Constabulary were the men to whom the settlers looked for protection. I call on Mr. Thomas Ralph, the last of the A.C.’s” “You’re a good way put there, Mr. Secretary,” said Mr. Ralph. “I was ■ not an A.C. I belonged to the Wellington Colonial Defence Force, which »vas stationed at Pahautanui in 1864 ” A shipment of 2500 tons of wheat was loaded at Lyttelton by the Commonwealth and Dominion Line steamer Port Nicholson, which left Auckland on Saturday for London. The consignment, which is all in bags, is for London, Avonmouth, Liverpool and Glasgow. The Port Nicholson is the third vessel to load wheat for export in the South within the past week. The British steamers Dalmore and Welcombe each loaded large consignments for Shanghai. The Dalmore took 6000 tons in bulk from Timaru, while the Welcombe’s cargo consisted of 3000 tons in bulk and 5000 tons in sacks, which was loaded at Lyttelton at the same time that the Port Nicholson was loading.

Bankers are disinclined to comment on the criticism of the Government s Reserve Bank Bill made by Mr. H. M. Rushworth, M.P. for the Bay of Islands, at the Auckland provincial farmers’ conference at Whangarei. One leading bank manager in Wellington, however, remarked that Mr. Rushworth was wide of the mark in inferring that the Government’s proposals were “part of the ghastly conspiracy to transfer the control of New Zealand first to the Bank of New Zealand and then to the Bank of International Settlements. . . .” The Bank of New Zealand had nothing whatever to do with the Government s proposals in regard to a central bank. When Mr. Rushworth referred to the “Bank of New Zealand” he doubtless meant the “Reserve Bank of New Zealand,” the establishment of which was recommended by Sir Otto Niemeyer in his report to the Government on banking and currency in New Zealand, and which was the bank proposed to be set up under the Government’s Bill. The whole of the western sky over Highfield and Kingsdown showed a ruddy glare on Saturday evening from shortly after seven o’clock until nine o’clock, says a Christchurch newspaper. Many residents of Timaru commented on this and wondered where the fire was. The glare was caused by several fires lighted in the expectation of bringing rain. During the week a local resident advised farmers to light fires throughout the district on Saturday night at seven o’clock sharp. It was essential that the fires should not be lighted one nfinute before or after that time, and he gave an assurance that rain would follow within either a few hours or a few days. The prophecy met with a good deal of derision, but apparently there were some who took the advice, and had that faith, which, they were assured, was essential to success. Most perversely, Sunday dawned with the promise of a beautiful day, a promise which was, amply fulfilled. The long-desired rain is as far away as ever, so it seems. Many smart women have been shopping lately at Scanlans Ltd. for millinery as the firm has doubled the size and variety of its hat collections during the past week. Here at the Melbourne Corner you can take your pick of scores of all the latest ready-to-wear felt pull-ons including trimmed models at 4s lid and 7s lid.*