LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Wanganui Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16034, 27 January 1920, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

A wireless message has been received from the transport Ruapehu intimating that she expects to arrive in Auckland early on Thursday morning.

Two more men—named Smith and Robinson—have been arrested in Sydney and remanded on heavy bajl on charges of conspiracy to defraud in connection with the wheat inquiry finding.

The vital statistics for the Dominion show that during the last month there were 1142 births and 440 deaths registered. The proportion of births to 1000 of population was 2.23, and of deaths 0,86.

The following cases of influenza were reported between noon on January 19 and noon on January 22:—‘Auckland, 56 mild, 5 severe; Wellington, 81 mild, 1 severe; Canterbury, 8 mild, 1 pneumonic; Otago, 3 mild.

Replying to Sir Janies Allen’s invitation to accompany the Parliamentary party to Samoa. Dr Thacker, M.P., wired: “It is not my intention to proceed on the visit to Samoa. I think it is quite unnecessary on this juncture to incur t*iie expenditure the visit will cost.”

During the past year the arrivals in New Zealand totalled 20,9:11. Of these 9341 were males, 8822 females, and 2768 children. The departures’ numbered 19,877, comprising 10,086 men, 7440 women, and 2551 children, showing an excess of arrivals over departures of 1054. Of the arrivals, 11,568 came from Australia, 4668 from the United Kingdom, and 2251 from Canada, and of the departures 12,722 went to Australia, 3550 to the United Kingdom, 1358 to Canada, and 718 to the United States. Theic is distinct evidence that thieves of an enterprising description are operating in some parts of Now Zealand (says the Wellington Post). At the Wellington races on Thursday a- man who went to the tot-alisator found that he was •short of JMS, which he had carried in a back pocket. Not so long ago a returned soldier’ had in his possession cjuile a fair sum of money in gold. He also had a cheque, and was successful in persuading the bank teller to give him gold for the amount. For purposes of greater safety, he obtained the services of a bank official, who put a safety pin into the top of the hip picket that contained the gold. Do boarded the train to Auckland, but long before ho got there he discovered that the, safety'’pin and the, gold had disappeared. In another case a man went to a. \Vellington hank to pay in the sum of about .€6O. Most of it was in notes, and there was also an open cheque on another bank. Before he could roach the teller he looked down at his consignment, and found that all that was left of it was his deposit slip. He raced to the bank on which the open cheque had. been drawn, only to find that it had been cashed a minute or so previously. A, suggestion is made by a correspondent of the Melbourne Argus that tobacco should bo “locked out” until prices are reduced. This proposal, the Argus says, is really invoking Hie old and immutable law of supply and demand. It is obvious that if no one drank champagne it would cease to have any value. If men smoke less than their wont, tobacco prices will come down. It is not suggested that a league in Melbourne will influence the world’s prices of tobacco materially,_ but the fact remains thta prices are high generally because people will have the goods. Young women who pay 10s 6d for a pair of stockings would be pained at the suggestion that if they were not so eager’ to buy expensive articles the price” would fall. In the meantime, with tobacco, with beer, whisky, _ silk stockings, and with many other things, the remedy for high prices is in the hands of "the purchaser’s, lie or she can cease to he a purchaser, or only purchase to half the extent. In that case, supply will become greater than demand and prices will fall to nleet the altered conditions.

A cable from Ottawa states that tJio Government lifted the embargo on. the export of newspaper when the Fort Francis mills agreed, to fill Canadian newsprint orders.

A Dannovirke builder says he is unable to obtain carpenters despite the fact that ho is offering £]. a day wages. Several Napier men approached said such a wage was no good to them! The award rate is about Ms a day, but some want 2s (id an hour, a. 10-hour day, continuous employment wot or fine, and other apparently extravagant conditions. Complaints are being made that the assistance promised by the Government for municipal housing schemes is “totally insufficient to obtain even a semblance of relief for the community.” Auckland alone desires to build *75 houses, and will require .£(10,000, while the Governrm.su t assistance promised is a maximum of .£IO,OOO, which will not provide for more than 12 to 15 houses. Although prices for second-hand motor cars have advanced to an extraordinarily high level, apparently rates in New Zealand lag somewhat Ixrhind Iho.se. ruling in other countries. A man. from Australia lias recently purchased a. number in New Zealand as a, speculation. Ke is shipping thorn to Sydney for resale. It is understood that quite a number of second-hand ears have recently been shipped to Australia.. The restoration of the old historic Anglican church at Russell, which has been under consideration for some time past, will be undertaken shortly. The Government, in view of the connection of the building with the early colonisation of New Zealand, has agreed to assist in defraying the cost by "a £ for £ subsidy up to .£2OO. It was at this church, then known as the Koiurarcka, Mission Church, that Captain Hobson, as Lieutenant-Governor, read Ids hi torio proclamation of British sovereignly over New Zealand, on landing at: the Bay of Islands on January 30t.ii, 1840.

The head of an Auckland linn spike somewhat chillingly of his experience of women in business. He declared they had no initiative, and, ia fact, that there was no such person as ‘‘the busines woman.’’ Tim lady clerk, to his mind, was all right at the telephone switchboard, at the' ledgers, or using a typewriter, but slur had* no idea of how to interview a client. She lacked versatility, and was content to do drudgery, without Hie slightest ambition for better work. She could never take the place of a man, lieeause she had no faculty tor busines-. She had no belter position now, although the war had made. her numerically stronger. She was temperamentally unfitted for a commercial-life, except as an automaton.’’—Herald.

Ike roads which arc being constructed on Gallipoli will make it possible for ,tourists to motor from the Narrows through t Jig Anzao field of operations, and along the famous beach to Suvla> Bay. Already it is nossible to motor in dry weather over this route. Ji, starts from Khilid iJahr, on the Narrows, and winds across the peninsula past Lone Pine, the place which has teen chosen as the site of the central and to the sea, thence north* wards. New Zealand has no direct interest in Lon© Pino, which wars Ilia scene of a purely Australian action. The corresponding Now Zealand effort was over the much more rugged country on the left. The question is being asked why the central memorial obelisk should not be creeled on the first crest, above the landing place, in which New Zealand and Australian forces have a common interest. It was announced in Loudon carl? in November that ihc new Australian works of John Lysaght, Ltd. (at Newcastle) were expected to ix> in operation before the close of last year, and, further, according to the Financial Times, “iupursuauce of itsjpolicy to foster the metallurgical industries of the Commonwealth, the Australian Go\eminent it giving every encouragement tv the Lysaghit development so that the company will have the benefit of a Federal bonus, us well as tariff protect,ion and minimum freights.” flow different from the treatment of a .struggling iron industry in New Zealand by the Dominion Government, which lias doin' absolutely nothing to encourage it. Put LysaghL) are a very wealthy and influent ia) linn, with tons of money to develop an industry.

“The America,n eagle is screaming very loudly about the position to which it ha.s soared in the financial world/' remarked an Auckland business man recently, “but it forgets that the lower it torces the value of the sovereign through Britain’s adverse balance of trade and Wall Street speculation, the higher a barrier is created against its goods in British countries, hio doubt the present low rate of exchange Britain is faced with is proving a wonderful aid towards the reconstruction of British industry. Even in New Zealand thd exchange rate is acting against American industry. Within the last few weeks large orders have been cancelled by Auckland linns, and have been transferred to England for delivery when possible. Under the present conditions there are many American articles wo can do without, and others which wo can afford to wait for from another

source.” The Auckland waiorsidc workers bad a u extended smokc-oh on Saturday morning on account of the continuance of rain, and when over 000 men were congregated in the waiting-shod on tlm wharf the desultory talk suddenly took the form of an all-round debate, when someone started to discourse on the recent rise in the price of tobacco. Stump speeches became the order of the day, and members of the informal mootiim universally expressed the opinion that the prices of smoking material had "■one beyond the pitch of endurA discussion of the ways ami moans of meeting the position ended in a resolution being carried that ‘ Ins meeting of waterside workers pledges itself to refrain from smoking, and to do its utmost to advocate an extension of the self-denial until such time as a substantial reduction as made in tbo price of tobacco.”

The high cost and also the ditliculty of obtaining iron girders for building construction have led to the revival of the use of timber for the purpose. An interesting and ingenious method ot utilising timber for girders was notiwd on a garage now in course ol erection at Christchurch, states the Sun. These are claimed to be the largest limber girders in the city. They arc of Oregon, Each girder consists oi three pieces, 68ft by 10ft by 2in. These pieces are separated by blocks, and the whole is then clamped together by iron bolts. If suspended horizontally and not on edge, no doubt a piece by would snap under its own weight, bull united and reinforced by bolting, they should do their work well. They arrived on the building site in 74ft lengths, and, owing to their length and liability, to snap, unless united, careful manoeuvring was necessary to get them in posi* tion.

I* Ripe peaches are being sold retail in Nelson at 2d per lb. No change locally hae occurred in the cement situation and this essential building commodity is still as shout as ever. It is understood that a Taranaki Association of honey producers, which has stores at present at Waitara, intends to remove them to Wanganui and to erect them at Castlecliff. A second offender for insobriety named oohn Winn, who was before the Court made his second appearance this morning, when he was sentenced to seven days’ imprisonment by Mr Wyvern Wilson, S.M. Exports from the Port of Wanganui for the week ended January 20th were valued as under: Lamb, £3999; mutton, 4 15,499; other meat, .£18,733; tallow, J. 421-5. timber, .£4789; and wool, .£108,144. The local legal practitioners are desirieus of having a deeds stamp and registration office established locally, and a deputation from the Law Society is to proceed to Wellington shortly to urge this matter upon the authorities. Over 10.000 tons of coal are due to arrive in Auckland during the- next fortnight or eo, providing nothing goes wrong to hold up the shipments, which are coming from Westport and Newcastle. Many of the officers and “‘other ranks” who recently returned to England from North Russia managed to bring home beautiful souvenirs of their visit in the shape of furs, and in some cases even pearls. These could be bought from the inhabitants at very advantageous prices, owing to the state of the exchange and the bad state of trade generally. One remarkable purchase, was that of a silver fox, bought for less than £5. It was sold to a London dealer for 300 guineas. We understand that, with a view to the expediting of the harbour works, the Harbour Board's Engineer, Air X. M. Haszard, at the instance of the Board’s chairman, Mr A. G. Bignell, will report to next meeting of the Board on the following matters: Stone output at quarry; dredging river channel, and more satisfactory results from working the dredge Kaione; extension of south an d north moles; completion of basso wall: continuation of south river training wall below Landgnard Bluff; extension of slips at Pntiki; advisability cr otherwise of erecting an engineering workshop, and procuring plant suitable for ordinary repairs to dredge machinery and other plant and slip, with capable mechanical engineer in charge. A soda fountain in a cafe at Henley Beach, near Adelaide, exploded recently. The fountain had not been working properly, and a commercial traveller was endeavouring to adjust it. Although the pressure gauge showed only Sib, a violent explosion occurred. The roof and walla were blown outwards, and the floor was covered with debris. An assistant was severely cut on the face and suffered ihorn shock. The commercial traveller was unconscious for a few minutes, and his face and one eye were severely lacerated. Every button was torn from his du-t coat and vest, and his watch chain was snapped in two. Medical assistance had to bo sought for the sufferers. A itc'-tit arrival in Sydney was the Rev. Fran!: W. Gorman, of the Atkinson Memorial Church, Portland, Oregon, win wiil join the Fulier vaudeville circuit, and will tour Australia and “robably New Zealand. He is known »3 ‘'the singing paison,” and be w:m forced into this queer adventure by the miserable inadequacy of the salaries paid to ministers in the Uniter! States —which does no? vcm very different from ether countries in that K-sp;ct. Mr Ociman hope- io save enough in 18 monies to era-do him to return, for a season at least, to his church work. Mi- German says that, in addition to doing what- work lay to his hand among the theatre people, he Intended to preach on Sundays wherever he happened to !*?. It was a strange undertaking, but his conscience was clear. Ho was finding abundant opportunities for following his hobby—the study of sociological conditions —and when he had sufficient money saved he would devote himself exclusively to the work of his church 'again.