IN THE DOMINION,

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLI, Issue 3, 15 July 1908, Page 5

IN THE DOMINION,

It is reported that Rua, the Maori “prophet,” is to be prosecuted for his polygamous practices. Auckland is preparing for a New Zealand Industries Exhibition during the week of the American Fleet’s visit. Messrs. Holmes and Richardson have been appointed _by the Government to hold an inquiry into the brake equipment of the Auckland., tramways. During June, 782,603 passengers were carried on the Christchurch trams, as against 680,379 for the same month last year.

The Socialist party in Auckland has eucceeded in finding out about eighty unemployed men in the City. It is alleged, ■however, that the number of the workless is over 500 at present. The valuation of Southland County is as follows:—Capital value £5,812,578, and unimproved value £3,931,302, .showing an increase over the previous year of £262,321 in the former case and £192,470 in the latter.

The Wellington Diocesan Synod has resolved “That this Synod is of the opinion that the elimination of private profit in the licensed sale of intoxicating liquors will be of the greatest importance to the cause of temperance in this country.” The Wellington Trades and Labour Council has decided to solicit financial help for the members of the Bakers’ Union, now out on strike, from all the Trades. Councils and unions in the Dominion.

The returns of the Timaru Harbour Board for the half-year ended June 30 show the registered tonnage of vessels visiting the port as 234,777 tons; imports, 45,586 tons (which is a record for the port) ; exports, 41,245 tons, revenue, £12,600.

In consequence of the large number of emigrants now proceeding to New Zealand, Mr. W. f. iveeves (High Commissioner for New Zealand) has arranged with the New Zealand Shipping Company •to provide increased passenger accommodation after August.

Industrial development in New Zealand, as denoted by the number of factories, is most satisfactory. Otago provincial district has the largest number of factories, 889; Auckland comes next With 885; Wellington follows with a total of 846, and Canterbury comes next with 696.

There are 104 nominated passengers on the steamer Arawa, which arrived in Wellington early this week. The number includes 30 domestic servants, 17 of whom have been nominated by a syndicate of Hawke’s Bay ladies. The steamer is also bringing several farmers, with capital ranging from £ 300 down to £ 50. At the Wellington Diocesan Synod a motion was submitted affirming the principle and advisableness of granting to churchwomen the privilege of voting at parish meetings. The voting was: Clergy, Ayes 10; noes 22. Laity: Ayos 23; noes 10.. The motion was therefore Jost, as to carry it required an absolute majority in each section of the Synod.

The Anglican Bishop of Auckland (Dr. Neligan), who is at present in England, has informed his Commissary (Rev. Canon McMurray) that he is sending another priest for the Home Mission, the Rev. F. G. Harvie, 8.A., an old Wykehamist and Oxford man (2nd class theological honours). The Commissary has not yet decided in which district he .will be placed. Mr. and Mrs. John Fulford, of Pakowai. Hawke's Bay, last week celebrated .their diamond wedding. They are respectively eighty-two and eighty-four years of age, were married at St. Saviours Parish Church, Jersey, on April 24th, 1848, and arrived at Napier by the ship Clarence in 1875. They have four children, thirty-two grandchildren, and seventeen great grandchildren.

The Declining Birth-rate.

A bonus for babies was one of the requests put forward to the Minister for Labour by the deputation from the Workers’ Conference on July 6th. Surprising a s was the request, She reply of the Minister was even more

so. “The reduction in the natural increase of the population of New Zealand is so great that, when the Labour Department’s report is brought down, the position revealed will stagger the people of the Dominion,” said the Hon. Mr Millar.

The request of the deputation was that the Government should help to build up a white New Zealand by subsidising large families. The Minister’s reply was that beyond all doubt there was need for some action, as figures would prove. Statistics shortly to be presented would, he said, make people stop to think. These figures prove that there is a remarkable reduction of children of. certain ages attending schools, as compared with earlier years. If this continued, the Minister added, it will be impossible to keep up our industries with their increasing demands. What would be the best method of coping with the situation he could not at present say. but he agreed it was essential that something should be done in a practical way.

“ Pagans ” Who Go to Church.

Utterances regarding the alleged paganism of New Zealanders formed the basis* of a sermon preached at the St. Alban’s Methodist Church, Christchurch, on Sunday morning by the Rev. W. A. Sinclair, who quoted statistics to show that, professedly, at any rate, the majority of the people of New Zealand were religious, though, he said measured by the standard of church-going, it would seem that many people were not much concerned about Christianity in Christchurch. Still, the church-goers, allowing for children, and those who were unable to attend, and occasional attendants, numbered as high as one in every three of the population, as against London’s one in five. From the standpoint of humane and just legislation and general public sentiment, there was a strong Christian spirit in New Zealand. New Zealand was going to be a great nation in the future, and it was essential that the nation should be built up on secure foundations. There was undoubtedly a degree of spiritual apathy in this land which would have to be combated.

Wealth of “ Poverty Bay.”

Hie Committee on the Nomenclature of Places in the Dominion should be able to make out a good case for making a change in the name given by Captain Cook to the East Coast bay, which was adopted to designate the whole of Poverty Bay district, with Gisborne as its port. Statistical returns for the year ended June 30 show that the export trade of the port reached the handsome total of £ 946,499. The wool clip in the past 10 years has more than doubled, having increased from 7,830,000 lbs to 15,678,903 lbs. The mutton export has increased from 9,379.6971 b to 15,825.4721 b over the same period. A large lamb export has been built up, the increase being from 52,0231 b in 1898, to 3,487,1381 b last year, and similarly the export of beef has increased in a remarkable manner, the figures being 755.5001 b in 1898 and 5,127,7621 b in 1908. The values of last year’s export of staple products were: — Wool, £391,972; mutton, £218,663; lamb, £72,232; beef, £64,097.

The Dearth of Clergy

Speaking at the opening of the 19th Synod of the Wellington Anglican diocese, on Tuesday, July 7, the Ven. Archdeacon Fancourt (commissary of the Bishop of Wellington), who presided, drew attention to the dearth of clergy in the diocese. Several parochial districts were now. and had been for some time past, without clergy, and several clergymen were in need of assistant curates. It was almost hopeless to look for the latter from England. “We must train our own clergy if we are to have assistant curates, and if the ranks of our clergy are not to be hopelessly depicted,” he continued. He hoped to see, as an outcome of the Hadfield Memorial Hostel, a fair proportion of young men who would come to be prepared for the ministry of the Church. There wore men willing and anxious to enter the ministry Of the Church, Put they had not the

means wherewith to support themselves during their course of preparation without assistance. It was the bounden duty of the Church to see that such men were not lost to the ministry, which meant that the laity must bear the cost of tho training and educating of its clergy.

The Auckland Tramways Dispute.

The special Board of Conciliation set up to determine the points at issue between the Auckland Electric Tramways Company and the Tramways Union sat during last week at the Supreme Court buildings, Auckland. Dr. McArthur, S.M., presided, and associated with him on the Bench were Messrs. P. M. Hansen and E. H. Morris (representing the company) and Messrs. H. Carter and G. Sherry (representing the employees). Mr. J. J. Walklate, associated with Messrs. G. Grosvenor and W. B. Lysaght, conducted the case for the Company, and Mr. A. Rosser, with Messrs. C. W. Smith and P. C. Buckley, appeared for the employees. The hearing of evidence on behalf of the employees concluded on Friday last, when the Board adjourned until this week.

Labour Department's Report.

The Labour Department report presented to Parliament on Friday, states that skilled labour has had a successful year in New Zealand. In woollen mills there has been a shortage of labour. The number of men assisted by the Department since it was instituted is 58,782, with 93,226 dependent on them. There has been an increase of 798 factories and of 3315 workers. During the year the total amount of wages paid in factories was £5,319,019, against £4,831,037 for the previous year. The average wage was £67 13/-, an increase over that of 1906-7, which was £64 3/-. The following are extracts from the report:—“In each of the chief centres there has been a grave increase in the hours of overtime worked. In Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, and Dunedin, 73,018 hours have been thus added to the normal time of employment. Overtime work, especially for women, is an almost unmixed evil as regards the workers themselves, even when tempered by consideration of the extra wages earned, but such operations certainly show a state of industrial prosperity hitherto unprecedented. The comparative percentage of females employed has decreased, and although more than double the number of women and girls are now employed, compared with those of 1895, the ratio of employment of females to that of the males has steadily decreased.

“There is a real dearth of effective manual labour, but what is far more important, the Dominion itself will supply less and less for some considerable time. This is owing to the low birthrate and to the absence of any labour reserve that can reinfore.e the depleted ranks of the workers as tune removes them one by one through sickness, age, death, or (in the case of women") by marriage. The birthrate fell from 41.32 per thousand in 1876-80 to only 27.08 per thousand in 1906. If we take the

ease of girls of suitable age to work in factories, we find that in New Zealand, between the years 1891-96 there was an increase of 21.62 per cent, in the number of girls between 15 and 21 years of age. In the next five years the increase had fallen to 6.77 per cent., and in the five years ending 1906 the rate of increase further fell to 1.86 per cent.

“Mr Hally, the inspector of factories in Dunedin, in his report draws attention to the fact that the average daily attendance at Dunedin schools fell from 4148 pupils in 1887, to 2882 in 1907. These returns are taken from the report of the Education Board of Otago, and in spite of the large increase of population show, generally, a remarkable state of affairs. The figures regarding the boys are very much on the same lines as those of their sisters. Such figures, as the result of 20 years’ national growth, are absolutely startling to those who have the welfare of the people generally at heart.”

Advances to Settlers

The 14th annual report and balancesheet of the Advances to Settlers Department presented to Parliament shows that there were 3183 applications, amounting to £1,668.135. The advances actually granted during the year numbered 2371 for £1,197,416. This is an increase on the previous year's advance of £429,686. Up to March 31 last the Board had authorised 22,456 advances, the net advances being £6,937,950. The advances authorised show that the Wellington provincial district has been by far the largest borrower, with a total of £2,085,678. Auckland! £1,707,283), Taranaki ( £1,450,549), and Otago and Southland (£1,351,435) come next on the list.

The advances authorised last year were: Auckland, £321,510; Taranaki, £221,930; Hawke's Bay, £24,960; Wellington, £424,600; Marlborough, £53,255; Nelson, £19.215; Westland, £35,705; Canterbury, £135,770; Otago, and Southland, £118,505; total, £1,355,450. The advances outstanding amount to £4,186,020. Of this sum £3,154,546 is lent on freeholds, £938.151 on leaseholds, and £93.322 on freeholds and leaseholds combined, and 11.713 mortgagors are now indebted to the Department. In no case has a loss been made by the Department, and the Department at the end of the year had no securities on its hands. The total amount of interest collected for the year amounted to £172,060. In the workers’ branch the advances authorised so far are — Auckland, £71,270; Taranaki, £8570; Hawke’s Bay, £17.435; Wellington, £69,280; Marlborough, £8900; Nelson. £4785; Westland, £14.580; Canterbury, £71.160; Otago and Southland, £30,325; total. £296,305.

Snowstorms and Floods.

During the past week, many parts of the South Island have been visited by severe snowstorms and floods, causing stoppage of railway traffic and much loss of property. In some parts of Central

Otago the snow was from five to six feet deep. Two trains on the Central Otago line had a trying experience. A goods train was stuck in 4 feet of snow near Rough Ridge for nearly two hours. Later, another train, with 12 passengers, including a couple on their honey moon* tried to push through. Both trains got embedded. A ballast engine was sent to their relief, but got no nearer than a quarter of a mile. Finally the passengers struggled bavk in the ballast engine, arriving at Rough Ridge at 2 a.m. on Thursday. The bride fainted from exhaustion. James McCormack, a rabbiter, had a terrible experience. He left Naseby for Kyeburn on Tuesday, and was caught in the snowstorm. He sheltered in a small cave till Friday morning, without food or lire, and was then driven out by cold and hunger, with his feet so severely frostbitten as to be useless. He crawled over three miles to an outlying town, reaching it on Friday night. It is expected that amputation of both feet will be necessary. In some places, settlers had to be rescueci from their homes in boats, owing to floods. The Budget. I'he following figures are culled from the Financial Stat‘merit laid before Parliament on Tuesday, 7th July, by the Prime Minister and the Colonial Treasurer, Sir .Joseph Ward: — The revenue for the year just closed reached the record sum of £9,055.946, exceed ing that of the previous year by £656,871. Every class of revenue, with cuo exception, has contributed to this splendid result. Customs show an increase of L‘ 162.525, railways £143.999, and stamps L‘ 185.207. Compared with the previous year the? details are as follows: In--1907 8. 1906-7. crease. £ £ £ Customs 3.103,565 2,941,040 IG2 525 Railways 2,7(55.395 2,621,396 143,999 •Stamps 1,550.934 1,365.727 185,207 band tax .... 537,846 447.342 90,504 Income (ax .. 304,905 277,867 27.038 Beer duty ... . 113,973 107,583 6,391 Registration and other fees .. 129.166 119,444 9,722 Marine 42.217 Territorial reve»U 0 289.603 250,901 38,702 Dec’e. Miscellaneous.. 218.342 2126,885 8,543 Totals . .. £9,055,946 £8.399,075 Total increase £656,871 The results of the transactions for the year may be summarised thus: — Balance brought forward April 1. 1907, £717,825. Receipts during the year: Revenue, 1X9,055,946; other receipts, £8043; total, .1 £9,063,989. Expenditure during the year: Appropriations, £8,213.965. Excess of receipts over expenditure, £850,024. Balance at March 31, 1908. £767,849. The increase lor five years in revenue is £2,034.560, and the increase in expenditure £1,779,684. The estimated expenditure for the present year amounts to £8,662,993, or £449,028 more than that of last year. Interest and Sinking Fund will require an additional £78,000 to meet interest due, principally on the million loan and the debentures issued under the Reserve Funds and Securities Act. Coming to the Departmental Appropriations, there is an increase of £371,000 consequent on the growing requirements of the publit service. The Postal and Telegraph Department is responsible for £89,000 of this amount, the salary vote showing an increase of £55,000. which is caused by the employment of additional officers and the payment of increments under the Departmental Classification Act. Working railways ask for an additional £56,700. As the Department expects to earn £2,835,000 for the 12 months, there will be a net return of £815,000 to the Consolidated Fund. The Lands and Survey Department shows an increase of £59,900, which is required for’surveys and for providing and equipping additional surveyors, also to cover the cost of grass seeds and relief given to settlers consequent on the drought and bush fires. Defence Services need £38,000 more than was expended last year. Of this sum £14,000 is to cover the cost of the recent Easter manoeuvres held throughout the Dominion. The Education Department asks for an additional £35,000, which to a great extent is due to natural increase of the Services, further sums being required for

technical education, training colleges, and secondary education, industries, and commerce. The Tourist Department is responsible for an increase of £ 16,700. The chief cause of the increase is owing to the recoveries made by the Department being credited to revenue as required by the legislation passed last session, instead of to the vote as hitherto. The Police Department shows an increase of £ 15,600, accounted for by the necessity to provide more police protection to localities that are insufficiently policed, and for the payment to members of the force of the increased rate of pay, as fixed by regulation. The increase of £13,000 in the agricultural class is due chiefly to the additional amount required for inspection of dairies and noxious weeds. Bringing the estimates ot expenditure and revenue together, the position at the close of the current financial year may be set down as follows: —Estimated revenue, £8,985,000; estimated expenditure, £8,662,993; excess of revenue over expenditure, £ 323,007; add balance from last year, £76,849; total, £1,089,856. From this amount 1 propose to set aside £BOO,OOO for transfer to’ the Public Works Fund, and £60,000 for an additional contribution to the British navy, leaving a balance of £239,856 for such further appropriations as may be asked for in the Supplementary Estimates. It is proposed to set aside £350,000 for telegraph and telephone extension, making a total of £2,350,000. In order to enable provision to be made for this sum, 1 propose to pay to the Public Works from the consolidated revenue £BOO,OOO, a,nd to raise a loan for these purposes of £1,250,000. This, with the £191,800 available from last year’s loan, and the £200.000 authorised under the Post Oflice Savings Bank Fund Investment Account, out of which the erection of post offices in Auckland and Wellington will be provided for, gives a total of Ways and Means for the current year of £2,441,800.

Immigration.

The Department of Immigration presented its annual report to the House on July 9. The report stated that statistics did not bear out the complaints that the New Zealand Government was flooding the Dominion with immigrants. On the contrary, the returns showed that only 2.651 J adults, equalling 3,104 souls, had reached our shores by way of reduced rate passages during the past year, as against 3141 J adults, equalling 3,712 souls, for the previous year, the smallernumber arising chiefly from the strict supervision exercised by the High Commissioner over the applicants. The new settlers brought with them in cash declared capital to the amount of £70,056, and many in addition possessed a small annual income, amounting in the total to £1,052. The New Zealand Government contributed passage money to the amount of £10,423. The arrivals included 807 farmers, 307 artisans, and 395 domestics of all classes. The number of adults brought out on the nomination of relatives was 480.

“ No License ” and Increased Crime.

The second year of no-license in Invercargill ended on June 30. The local Court returns show that the total convictions for criminal offences for 1905-6 (the last year of license) numbered 338. In 1906-7 they were 382, and in the year just ended 368. The respective figures for drunkenness are 145, 113, and 86; affiliation, 13, 13, 21; prohibition orders, 66, 51, 43; lunacy, 13, 19, 21; procuring liquor while prohibited, 3, 13, 10; sly-grog, 1,9, 3; theft, 21, 41, 71; assault, 16, 8,4; indecency, 2,1, 4; indecent language, 12, 12, 7.

Accidents, Suicides, etc.

An elderly woman named Petersen, a resident of Matamau, who was thrown out of a trap owing to the horse bolting, on Saturday, died on July 7, never having regained consciousness. Gilbert Sylvester Oswald, a well-known resident of- Jervois-road, Ponsonby, committed suicide during the night of July 7, apparently using some strong acid poison for the rash act. A shocking fatality occurred at the Newmarket railway station on July Bth, when S. P. McMahon, a labourer on the permanent way staff, met instant death bv being run over by a passing train.

A man named Collins was drowned in the flood near Ruamahunga bridge, Watrarapa. He started to walk from a camp at the bridge to Martinborough, and the next thing known of him was the rinding of his body. Chas. Henry Stables, accountant at P. Hayman and Co.’s establishment, committed suicide by cutting his throat in the bathroom at his residence. He leaves a young widow. A shocking accident occurred at the Talisman gold mine, Waihi, last Friday, when two men, named Charles Lewis arid John Chester, were killed. No other person at the time, but the men of the night shift, whn going on to relieve Lewis and Chester, found two bodies near the face of the level. It is supposed that a premature explosion or a miss-hole occurred. Lewis was apparently killed instantaneously, but Chester was alive when found, though he died three hours later. A young man named John Trigance, aged about 22, belonging to Linwood, was at work some two or three miles up a gully, on the slopes of Mount Herbert, grubbing tussocks, when the ground, which was soaked by the recent heavy rain, gave way, ami he fell over a cliff about 50ft. He sustained concussion of the brain, but is likely to recover.

Wm. Matthews, aged 73, a resident of Linwood, Christchurch, drank some poisonous liniment in mistake for an influenza cure Tnixture on Wednesday, and died two days later from the effects of the poison. Miss Lughune, aged 32 (who was burned in the fire which destroyed Corby’s Hotel, St. Helens, a few days ago), has died.in the Westport Hospital. A man attempted suicide by cutting his throat with a razor in the Ohakune station yard last Friday, but was stopped by a mate before he had inflicted serious injury, and was taken into custody.