Domestic Servants.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLV, Issue 12, 21 September 1910, Page 4

Domestic Servants.

Dearth of domestic labour still continues to be a problem with householder*. In the latest number of the “ Labour Journal ” figures show how much the demand exceeds tlie supply. In Auckland there were 240 applications from employers for domestic labour. This number included 00 for generals, 16 for cooks, 25 housemaids and waitresses. Only 57. of these positions could be filled at tha Auckland Women’s Employment Branch, including eight eooks, 15 generals and 10 housemaids and waitresses.

In Wellington there were 145 aplica. tions from employers, but only 51 engagements could be made. Generals Werg much in demand, 01 being wanted, but only 14 positions were filled. At Christchurch the applications were 237, including 107 generals. Only 58 positions were filled, including 18 generals. In Dunedin the figures were 116 and 39 respectively.

Maternity Assistance. T'he promised Maternity Assistance $lll made its appearance last week as an Amendment to the Hospitals and Charitable Act. Jt provides that Hospital Boards are to supply medical attendance to married women in child birth, where the combined incomes of the parents sor the preceding year are £2OO or under. The application to the Board for such Assistance is to ‘be made at least a month before the event, and is to be accompanied by a fee of £l. The attendance to be supplied is either that of 4 doctor or a registered midwife, and does not extend beyond 14 days after the birth, and does not include nursing. It is to be supplied at the mother's residence, unless the board think it more Convenient that it should be at one of their institutions or elsewhere. The Expenditure of a board under this head is entitled to double the ordinary Government subsidy on levies from local ’bodies, in respect of expenditure other than capital expenditure. Among tJie other provisions of the bill is one giving the Hospital Boards control of infectious diseases instead of local bodies having Control. The Broad Arrow. Tn the House of Representatives last Week the member for Dunedin Central (Mr J. F. Arnold) had some rather strong remarks to make, based upon a petition he had received from the warders at the Mt. Eden gaol at Auckland. The petition read as follows: — “Having read in the Auckland ‘Star’ a report of the discussion of the Crimes’ Act Amendment Bill in the Legislative Council, in which were certain remarks passed by the Minister for Justice and the lion. W. Beehan as to the warders ilot being tactful, etc., in their duties, We would esteem it a favour if you would Ask the Minister to name the officers referred to, and also those whom he does not know what to do with, as we feel that a great slur has been cast upon ns as a body of men doing our best in the interest of the service in general, and also the name of any prisoner who has -been harassed by an officer during the last three years.” The petition was signed by 2.5 warders. “I have correspondence from other gaols showing that the officers generally share the feeling exhibited in Auckland.” added the member for Dunedin Central. “Members will have noticed that in the last three or four years the departmental reports show the number of prisoners punished for insubordination or misconduct in gaol has been gradually decreasing. The reason is that there is a .feeling that the department, does not wish it to be shown to the public that there is misbehaviour by prisoners in our gaols. The prisoners know the feeling exactly, and, instead of there being the discipline there should be with the worse class of prisoners, the prisoners to-day are commanding the prisons, instead of the •officers. The officers do not report misconduct by prisoners, and we get the returns we do in consequence.” (Mr Fisher: Can you suggest a reason? Mr Arnold: Yes. The prisoners know and say openly that they cannot only pass remarks with regard to warders, hut can insult them, and can do things they would not dare to do two or three years ago. I am not blaming the permanent head of the department (Mr al degrave), for he is trying to do the right thing as far as he can. but. if this is the state of things to-day under the present law, and if the Minister of Justice continues to introduce such bills, And to emphasise the fact that he does pot desire prisoners to be punished, but wants them treated kindly and in a gentlemanly manner and tenderly nursed, then the time will soon come when, throughout the whole Dominion, the prisoners will be the head of the Prisons’ Department, instead of the officer who should be administering it. Incipient Criminality. The discussion upon the Crimes Amendment Bill was brought to a conclusion In the House last week, when the Hon. Geo. Fowhls replied. The Minister explained that it was intended to have one Prison Appeal Board for the whole Dominion, and perhaps one member would be an unofficial one. Replying to criticism -of the proposal to vest Magistrates with power to order refer Jnative treatment to prisoners, he pointed out that members had largely overlooked the fact that the bill aimed at dealing with incipient criminality. It Was Intended to catch offenders in their

early stages and prevent their developing into a life of crime. The number of persons convicted upon indictment last year totalled 330, whilst there were no less than 3,493 persons convicted summarily by magistrates. If they omitted the latter they would simply allow this incipient class to go on until they qualified, after a life of crime, for the indeterminate sentence passed by a judge. The proposed combination of a Supreme Court judge and the experts would, to his mind, make an ideal board. It was not intended to pay an additional salary for this work, although it might, in course of time, compel the appointment of an extra judge. Products from pripetition with free labour. The complaint in the past had arisen from the fact that the product of the gaols was confined to one or two industries. The more divergence of work in the prisons, therefore, the better it would be for the prisoners themselves, and for the prevention of competition. Experience in America showed that the value of products from prisons was almost infinitesimal compared with the output of the industries concerned. The proposed reformatory farms would be of such a kind that they would in no wav come into competition with free labour. Above all, however, they should 'bear in mind the value to society of the reforms of these men just starting into a career of crime. The clause prohibiting probationary prisoners from leaving the Dominion without the written permission of the Minister was a necessary compliance with international law, which required countries not only to refrain from shipping criminals to other countries, .but also to refrain fretn being a party to their leaving. These men they should remember, were only prisoners on patrol. The second reading was agreed to on the voices, and the bill was' referred to the statutes Revision Committee. Tire at Palmerston. The Union Bank of Australia, in the Square at Palmerston North, was destroyed by fire shortly before three o clock on Friday. The outbreak occurred in the kitchen, and spread rapidly, Mr. Barnicoat, the manager and his family escaping in their night attire, the strong room was not damaged, and the papers are all intact. The insurance on the bank and contents is £1475 in the Alliance. State Guaranteed Advances. A meeting of the State Guaranteed Advances Department, presided over by Sir Joseph Ward, last week, authorised loans totalling £241,000. The Ironsand Industry. Dr. Bell, Government geologist, in Iris annual report, comments on the possibilities of the At est Coast ironsand industry, and says reassortment of the sands by the winds and the sea waves is constantly proceeding, and they are thus separated from the lighter material. There are heaps of rich black sands, containing hundreds of tons of high-grade material, which, in the future, with exhaustion of iron ores more easily treated metallurgically, will be of great value. They are especially conspicuous in the neighbourhood of the sand dunes just north of the mouth of the Awakino river. Antarctic Exploration. Mr. C H. Meares and Lieutenant W. M. Bruce arrived from Sydney by the Moana last week with nineteen Siberian ponies and thirty-one Russian sledge dogs. The animals are in excellent condition, after fifty days’ sea travelling. Messrs. Meares and Bruce await the Terra Nova, the Antarctic exploring ship, at Lyttelton. Mr. Meares spent some months collecting dogs in Siberia. He was joined at Vladivostock by Lieut. Bruce. No Mint for New Zealand. An interesting statement was made bv the Prime Minister in the House of Representatives last week relative, to the minting of silver coins. Replying to a question by Mr. Lang, the Prime Minister said that under the Australian scheme of coinage the ('ommonwe'altll proposes to issue both gold and silver coins. It is not clear, however, whether the present mints under the Imperial Act would remain, or whether they would be brought under the Commonwealth Coinage Act. Negotiations have been proceeding with the Commonwealth in re-

lation to the circulation of their coins in New Zealand. Sir Joseph Ward added that reciprocal arrangements with regard to the coins of this Dominion and Australia would be expedient if a satisfactory arrangement could be arrived at as to the profits upon silver coinage. The establishment of a mint in New Zealand would not pay. Proposals were contemplated for the minting by the Imperial authorities of New Zealand silver on a basis of New Zealand receiving a fair proportion of the profits upon such minting. Mr. Lang said he hoped that it special New Zealand coins were minted, the Government would first of all call for competitive designs for the cast. The Waihi LdEine. Dr. Bell, director of the geological survey, lias been engaged making an examination of the W’aihi mine, ami will issue a special report thereon in his bulletin in February next, which deals with the whole of the Ohinemuri district. It is understood that this report will prove of great value, not only to the W’aihi Company, but to the whole of the W’aihi field. The bulletin also deals with the matter of the most likely places to conduct prospecting operations. A good deal of dissatisfaction is felt in W’aihi in connection with the want of facilities for obtaining maps of the geological survey as carried on throughout 'the Dominion. It appears that all the maps are kept in Wellington, and very few people know how to obtain them through, want of publicity. The attention of Mr. Poland, member for the district, is being drawn to the matter. Members Curious. A brief remark incidentally dropped by Sir Joseph Ward in the House of Representatives last week has promoted a guessing competition among the members of Parliament. The Prime Minister on the motion to go into committee of supply, said that before the session was over the Government would show, in regard l to one matter, that it was not afraid to go on with an inquiry, whether the member who had brought up the subject liked it or not. When inquiries were made -on Saturday, Sir Joseph indicated that he did 'not desire to discuss the subject outside the House. Whatever he had to say would be said in the House. Some members think that the remark referred to Mr. Hine’s charges, though Oppositionists declare that it is highly improbable that Mr. Hine is the member of Sir Joseph’s allusion. There is another guess—the Income Tax Department. There are several members who have pressed for further information about that Department. Collection of Native Rates. “The machinery in force for the collection of rates on native land at the present time is complete enough if studiously attended t->,” remarked the llon. James Carroll, when interviewed upon this subject, which has agitated the minds of members of many local bodies of the North Island. In many cases, he went on to say, it should result in much greater revenue, from native lands than obtained at present. It only required the clerk of a local body to become familiar with native blocks, and the placing of the same on the valuation roll, and in extreme cases the Government would gladly assist in the collection. Only that day a native had shown him receipts for rates he paid. “I have been trying to simplify the process of collection of rates by legislation.’’ added the Native Minister, ‘‘but with the slow progress the House is making, and the blocking of business that is going on this session, J am not oversanguine that we shall accomplish all we desire this year.” Gisborne Oil Wells. Tho directors of the Gisborne Oil Company on Saturday considered a cabled offer from London to sink four bores to 3000 ft. In view of the satisfactory boring now proceeding decision was deferred for the present. A Threatened Capital. “Then* is a majority of members in this House who are in favour of shifting the capital away from Wellington.’’ declared Mr. Luurensoii on Friday, “and,” In* added, “we are going to take an early opportunity of putting that pro-

posal before Parliament. Once we rouse the country to a sense of what has taken place here in the bolstering up of private property they will be with us. The memlier for Lyttelton had been speaking in tones of fierce indignation at the amount of public money that was >pent in Wellington, and the ceaseless cravings <>f the Wellington public for such expen diture, and he finished up with the above threat. “hut will be shifted out of Pal lament before then/’ remarked Mr. Herd man. ‘‘l will have shifted Parliament out of Wellington by that time.” was Mr. I.au renson’s reply. Mr. Wright took up the cudgels on behalf of Wellington. “It had never asked the Government for any public money. ’’ be declared. “The Government had had to erect buildings for its own purposes.’’ Air. Ell: “What about the new railway station that is being asked for?” At this stage the ('hairman of Conimittees put a stop to the controversy, which he ruled had nothing to do with the bill under discussion. Bowron Bros.’ Returns. Three additional cases against Bowion Brothers for making false returns of income wore heard at Christchurch last week, all involving large '•urns of money. Defendants were convicted in each case. Only nominal fines were inllicted, the main penalty being the enforcement of three times the amount of the tax. evaded. The Shearers' Dispute. The Canterbury shearers’ dispute was not in any way benefited by the attempt made to secure a settlement through the medium of three special Commissioners. The Inion representative declined to give an undertaking that no steps would be taken to prevent the men accepting work if they were dissatisfied with the award, and a deadlock follow cd, which there seems to be little hope will be overcome. Mr. Waddell, secretary of the Shearers’ I nion, now says that if the shearers’ oiler to work for £ 1 a hundred is not immediately accepted, they will demand 22 (i per hundred. Live-saving Society. The Wanganui branch of the Royal Life-saving Society is preparing a large class for examination by Mr Wm. Henry, founder and chief secretary of the Society, who is visiting Xew Zealand. The branch is also trying to arrange a tour for a team from the Manly Surf Bathing Club to visit Xew Zealand about Christmas and give demonstrations throughout the Dominion of surf-bathing and life-saving, as organised on the ocean •beaches in Australia. Circulars have been sent to the principal aililiated branches throughout the Dominion, and encouraging replies have been received.