News in Brief

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 366, 7 March 1932, Page 6

News in Brief

Anniversary Days. The view that it would be desirable to have the anniversary day of each province celebrated on the Monday nearest the actual date was adopted by the council of the Auckland Chamber of Commerce. The committee did not favour any change in the observance of the Sovereign’s Birthday and Anzac Day. The Solution. “ We want the right atmosphere throughout the world, and we can all play a part,” said the Yen Archdeacon P. B. Ilaggitt at St Stephen’s Church last night, when touching on the troublous conditions of to-day. “ The worst of it is we feel so hopeless. We feel that the solution is in other hands, and they appear so incapable. But it is not merely by legislation and organisation that recovery can be brought about. We want public opinion raised to a Christian level.” United States To-day. According to an officer of the American steamer Golden Cloud the cost of living has dropped in the United States by about 30 per cent while wages have only dropped 10 per cent. Business people are feeling the hard times. Motor-cars are being sold exceptionally cheaply. The most favoured investments appear to be life insurance stock. The seasonal work in California provides a vast amount, but, like everywhere else, people who have jobs are “ hanging on ” to them. Motor-car stock has had an upward tendency of late and Ford expects to dispose of 2,000,000 cars of a new model which will have eight cylinders and of which there is much talk in the United States at the present time. Seven Hundred Local Bodies. In New Zealand at the present time there are approximately 700 local bodies operating, said Professor R. M. Algie, speaking to members of the Auckland Creditmen’s Club. He described the number as “ staggering.” " On an average, the number in each body is about nine or ten,” he said. “ That means that at each election, we, in this small country, have to find some 7000 men and women to fill responsible positions, positions of trust and authority over us. I suggest that such a search is too great a strain on the community. Administrators are not showered down like rain from heaven. It is- disappointing to think how rarely one comes across men of sufficiently wide training and experience, sufficiently sound judgment and sufficiently strong character to mark them as ideal representatives. There are certainly not 7000 of them.” It followed, therefore, that in making selections, electors perforce had to be content with second best.