Interprovincial

New Zealand Tablet, 9 May 1912, Page 36

Interprovincial

On Saturday it was noticed in Christchurch (says the Press) that many of the landowners and farmers Who go to town by motor car travelled in on the trains, and one of these, for himself and family, took out a 50-trip ticket, as if he intended to wait till petrol resumed its normal price. - 1 , ,A Press Association message from Thames states that ; th 6 Hon. James McGowan, Minister of Mines, etc., in the Seddon and Ward Administrations from 1899 till 1908, was found dead on Tuesday morning in -a lavatory. The lavatory is outside the Royal Hotel, where he had resided for many years. He appeared to be in excellent health, and attended a farewell social on Monday night. He was in splendid form and 'chatted with his friends. The deceased was a native of County Down, and was 71 years of age. A Press Association message announces the death, at his residence at Wellington, on Monday night, of Mr. H. S. Warded; aged 82., Deceased came from England to New Zealand in 1855.. He was appointed resident magistrate that year, and became district judge in 1861, retiring in 1888. Deceased was for many years president of the New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts. He was chairman of the Police Commission in 1898, and was a member of the North Island Representation Commission. A tribute to the excellence of the New Zealand Inspection of Machinery Act came from America the other day (says the Wellington Post). The Hon. G. Laurenson on Friday evening stated to a deputation that a few days ago he received a request from the United States Consul for full information in regard to the working of the statute. Incidentally, the gentleman referred to wrote stating that the number of accidents in New Zealand was so phenomenally, small that it was felt there must be some provision in the New Zealand law which they had not in the United States. Following the advance that has occurred during the last year or . two in prices of articles and lines in everyday use and consumption, further increases in the prices of general groceries are probable (says a Press Association message from Auckland) and in some instances certain. • A reporter, during the course of his inquiries, learned from one of the largest wholesale distributors in Auckland that the prices on finely cut grocery lines are bound to advance very shortly. After careful calculation it has been ascertained that a wholesale importer’s business costs at least 1£ per cent, more to run now than was the case two or three years ago.