Interprovincial

New Zealand Tablet, 26 January 1911, Page 158

Interprovincial

Hastings is to have a ferro-concrete picture theatre, to seat 1200 people. Somewhere about half a million sterling is the sum which'the New Zealand Dairy Association (Auckland) expects to pay its suppliers this season. It is stated that contracts have been made for the supply of no less than 40,000,000 feet of timber from the West Coast of New Zealand to Australia. In a report of some bowling matches the Patea County Press discloses the pleasing circumstance that three married ladies and a clergyman took part in the game. In the last four years no fewer than 15,141 pianos have been imported to New Zealand. British-made pianos last year exceeded the foreign-made in number. The bovs in the Rakaia district are making a good deal of money collecting small birds' eggs. Nearly twice as many have been accounted for so far this season as for the whole of last season. w There are seven fruit inspectors in New Zealand at the present time, whose salaries aggregate £1295; thirteen orchard instructors, with salaries amounting to £2250; and eleven dairy instructors, whose salaries total £3190. .The Rotorua correspondent of the Auckland Star reported on Thursday that a new geyser had broken out in Sulphur Bay on a strip of land known as Shag Island, immediately" behind the new bath buildings. It was playing shots from 10ft to 20ft without intermission. A short time ago Palmerston North residents decided to raise £3oooby public subscription to purchase a supply of radium for curative purposes. Meanwhile there has been a difference of opinion amongst the doctors over the matter, which has been deferred for the present. A Masterton apiarist has now no fewer than 1200 colonies of bees, situated in 11 different parts of the district. The output of honey this year is likely to be considerably larger than last year, the season having been more favorable. Prince Leopold of Battenberg (second son of the Princess Beatrice) reached Wellington from Auckland by the Main Trunk train on Monday afternoon, and was met by the Governor, the Prime Minister, and Cabinet Ministers. Of the medals awarded by the Royal Academy of Music and Royal College of Music for the local examinations, the gold medal in the advanced grade has been won by Miss Mary Ingerton, Wellington (singing; pupil of St. Mary's Convent), 138 marks. Flaxmillers in the Manawatu have another trouble to bear on the top of the present low prices. A grub has been at work on the standing flax in the swamps, and spoilt a great many blades, thus reducing the quality of the fibre. It is believed that the absence of floods last winter accounts for the presence of the noxious pest. Legacies which run into five figures are not very plentiful (says the Dominion), but, like other rare things, they do happen at times. Our Feilding correspondent states that it is reported that a resident of Kiwitea has received a cablegram, and on opening it found that, consequent on the death of a relative, he had become legatee to a sum of £60,000. The Prime Minister has stated to a contemporary that no invitation has been received by the Government for members of the Legislature to attend the Coronation ceremony. Sir Joseph Ward also has stated that no contingent of troops will be dispatched to represent New Zealand at the Coronation ceremony. At the present time (states the Minister for Public Works) the Government has 1706 men employed on railway construction works in the North Island, and 1655 (out of a total of 2087 throughout New Zealand) on road construction works. Mr. McKenzie, says the Government could do with more laborers, but there was generally a shortage at this time of tho year, many men being engaged shearing or grass-seeding. A man well over 80 years of age was charged at Napier with being an idle and disorderly person; in other words, with being homeless. He refused to go to the Old Men's Home, which he declared was not a home, ' but a pandemonium.' He was sentenced to three months' imprisonment. Asked where he resided, the reply was: 'ln gaol; as soon as I come out I am arrested and sent back.' The movement in favor of a universal Saturday halfholiday is growing in Auckland, and the association which has been formed to bring about this objective intends making strenuous efforts to have special legislation dealing with the subject passed next session. At present agents are canvassing the city and suburbs, and at least 20,000 signatures will, it is hoped, be obtained to the petition to Parliament upon the need for a compulsory Saturday halfholiday. Writing with reference to harvesting work in North Canterbury, the Press says:—Very active steps were taken to secure grain crops after the gale, which were all but ripe, and the harvesters were busy on Friday and Saturday, and some were intending to reap yesterday. The

wheat on Saturday was in a state in which the wind, if it became violent, would have a more damaging effect than by the wind on Thursday night or Friday morning. A good deal of extra labor has been occasioned by setting up the stocks and stacks, and on some of the farms there will be a fair picking for pigs and fowls from the grain shed on the ground. Caterpillars have been noticed this season in one, if not more, of the grain crops on Kaiapoi Island. In the instance referred to the pest did a good deal of damage."" ■

Mr. J. D. Henry, an authority and author on the subject of colonial oil, is paying a visit to New Zealand to investigate the prospects of the Dominion’s petroleum as a competitor in the world’s markets. In the course of an interview he said; ‘I have two objects in coming to the Dominion. First of all lam here to represent quite professionally certain important financial interests in London; and in the next place I am interested in the subject of British colonial oil as an author, and in that connection everything associated with the history and present-day developments of the oil industry here will be of interest to me. As to the feeling in London on matters of oil production in the colonies, I can assure you that it is better now than it has ever been in the history of the industry.’ A Press Association telegram states that the Hon. Dr. Findlay told a reporter in Christchurch that the case of Inspector Gillies had been considered by Cabinet, and it had been decided that his retirement must stand. The Minister also stated that a Prison Board would be appointed shortly, consisting of one lay member from each of the four centres, and three official members, including a judge of the Supreme Court. New police regulations have been drafted, and are now being reviewed by the Crown Law Officers. They will be submitted to the police inspectors in due course. The promotions, consequent on the retirement of high officers in the Police Force, will probably not be announced for a month or two. Referring to the Webster claim, Dr. Findlay explained that Great Britain and the United States had agreed to the appointment of an International Commission to consider this and claims of a like nature between subjects of the two Powers. The commission will sit at Washington on a date to be fixed. In these days when so much is heard of the strained relations between employer and worker, it is a pleasure to be able to record an instance of generosity of which one of the immediate and best effects must be to strengthen and preserve mutual confidence (states the New Zealand limes). In March last a young Australian miner was failed by an explosion in a Reeftou mine. He had been the principal support of his widowed mother, but as she was resident in Victoria she was unable to claim under the Workers’ Compensation, the Act of 1908 containing express provision excluding persons not domiciled or res£ dent in New Zealand at the date of the accident. The hardship of the case was intensified by the circumstance that the deceased had built a cottage and had intended shortly bringing his mother to this country to live with him. When the case was submitted to Mr. F. J. O’Regan in his capacity of solicitor for the union of which deceased was a member, he advised that the mother had no claim but he ventured under the circumstances to apply to the employing company—the Consolidated Goldfields of New Zealand—for a compassionate allowance for her. The attorney for the company, Mr. D. Ziman, of Reefton, has now replied, enclosing a cheque for £IOO for the poor woman. r