WELLINGTON NOTES

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXVI, Issue 18074, 12 January 1921, Page 5

WELLINGTON NOTES

(Special to the “Chronicle.”) WELLINGTON, Jan. 10. NATIONAL WAR MEMORIAL. To all appearances Parliament will have the opportunity again next session of debating the subject of rhe National War Memorial, which will probaply appeal’ as an unexpended vote on the Estimates. That the site of the memorial is to be in Wellington is definitely settled; and also that the memorial is not to be utilitarian in character. But this still leaves much open lor debate. There is the site first of all. Several sites have been suggested. The aim of those who have the matter in hand —or probably it would be correct to say hud, for no one seems to be giving the matter much attention now—was to discover a site which would be prominent and yet accessible'. The memorial must stand out from the surrounding country, but it must also be reached without difficulty. Unfortunately most land in Wellington that can be reached without difficulty has already been,reached and built upon. Some city and Government reserves remain; but they do not offer a wide choice. At one time there was keen interest in the matter locally, and when Mr Massey, being on a trip in the harbor, chanced to remark to a fellowpassenger that .a certain point would be suitable for a memorial, there was a spirited discussion in the press. On another occasion the chairman of the Education Board persuaded the Prime Minister to pay a visit with him to one of the city’s most congested school areas. At once the rumour spread that Mr Massey had been to Mount Cook to view the memorial site. Mt. Cook already holds barracks, some prison buildings, and is to hold a technical college. What remains of the area has been set aside front time to time, but always unofficially, for an art gallery, a museum, a public school site, and just a few other purposes. It is a Wellington habit to choose Mt. Cook for any new public building. Up to the present most of the buildings erected there—at least in recent years—are castles in the air. Perhaps the site of the war memorial will be settled in a year or two. When Parliament adjourned the site question was left open till members of the Cabinet could go in a body to make inspections. They have not been yet. When the site is chosen there will be only the form and design of the memorial to be decided. Of course it would not do to hurry that. The erection of the memorial is bound to take years; but if we have peace for a long time the memorial will probably be erected before the next war.

RIVAL ASIATICS. Indians are now monopolising the street fruit trade in Wellington; but as the people who are feeling their rivalry most are the Chinamen the European customer sheds no tears, but buys from the man who sells cheapest. For very many years there has been strong feeling against the monopoly in the hands of the Chinese “floot merchant," but the feel ing has never been translated into strong action. Europeans have tried to keep going in the business, and some of them have managed to do so right up to the present, but their competition is not keenly felt by the Chinamen. The Chinese seem to understand intensive market gardening, and can cultivate expensive suburban. land so as to make it yield a good profit. Of course, they work all hours, and the European is toll that they are all pnitners.” Presumably the Chinaman thinks it necessary in these days to excuse himself for working hard. In the markets, too, they have a method of their own, and if they compete among themselves for goods sold at auction they never seem to feel the competition half as much as the white fruiterer who tries to keep in. “Partners” is again the explanation. The Indians, however, have discovered the Chinaman's secret, or a new one of their own. The barrow trade really began with men of Cockney type, but lately it has come more and more into the hands of the Indians. The City Council sells the stands by auction, and there are sixteen of them in various parts of the city. At the last auction the price realised tor the whole of the stands for one quarter was £4Bl. The highest price paid was £46, which represents quite a tidy rent. Even with these prices, however, the Indians are undercutting the Chinamen. The white men who have been squeezed out of the barrow trade say that the Indians are able to live cheaply. That may account for their beating the white fruiterers, but the man who can live more cheaply than the Chinese has a long way to go yet before he will be able to claim a cost of living bonus.

NOT SO MUCH BORROWING. When the war ended local bodies all felt that they should do something to catch up the arrears of war years; and they all wished to do that something at the same time. The first thing they thought of was borrowing, and the sum of their efforts was a desire to borrow about ten millions. That was the total represented by applications for permission to borrow which the Treasury dealt with last. year. Naturally only a small part of the money was obtained, probably because the Government refused to increase the rate of interest. Now the Government is’ allowing the terms for some loans to ]>e varied, but the local bodies seem to have arrived at an understanding of the position. The Prime i Minister states that local bodies are j not now so keen on raising loans as they were some time ago. The Government is sanctioning more favotirI able terms for loans where the work jis urgent, or where the money is ’.'•anted for renewal of a loan. ' As the local bodies are now realising that they cannot all do all they want all at once, there is a chance of some of them doing what they want I most in a reasonable period. CUSTOMS AND TRADE BALANCE. The Government will naturally be pleased to receive a Customs revenue

of £6,250,000 for nine months wnen it anticipated receiving only six millions tor the whole financial year. Bast year the revenue lor the nine months was £3,240,702. There is. however, another side to the question; Customs revenue means imports, and New Zealand has been ouying much more in the past yeax’ than she has sold. The official explanation of the buoyancy of the Customs returns is that the orders placed some time ago, when it was not expected that they would be fully filled, have now come to hand —and in great quantities. Imports for tile eleven months ended November were valued at £55,557,699, compared with £28,098,677 lor the eleven menths of 1919. The figures ior the complete year are not yet available, but they are expected to show an even greater increase. Bank returns so far received for the December quarter show that the Importations are causing a call to be made on the assistance of the banks. Advances and discounts in the case of two banks whose returns are first published are greater than the total of fixed and free desposits for the quarter. PHOSPHATES FROM NAURU. The first cargo of raw phosphates from Nauru Island should reach NewZealand very soon now. Work at the island has gone ahead rapidly, and it is now safe to say that this year tho Dominion will receive as much of tho phosphate as she requires. The cargoes will be brought in the uncrv.shed state, as crushing on the island would be an expensive job, entailing the erection of machinery in unsuitable places, and bagging the phosphates before shipment, as otherwise most of it would find its way into the sea in the loading process. No difficulty is anticipated in the crushing and treatment in New Zealand. The new works erected by a farmers’ company at Onehunga will be capable of handling a large quantity, and thev will, moreover, be a factor in controlling the price to be charged to the farmer. These works are to be inspected by the Prime Minister when ho goes to Auckland at the end of the rnenth. There are extensive works in other parts of New Zealand, and already it is probable there is sufficient plant in working order or in process of erection to meet the Dominion’s requirements.