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Manawatu Standard, Volume LVII, Issue 211, 6 August 1937, Page 6

From reports received by the police, it appears that a number of spurious half-crowns, believed to have been manufactured a considerable time ago, are still in circulation in Auckland. Wages and overtime rates are all that remain to be settled after yesterday’s Conciliation Council hearing ot the seagoing ships’ carpenters’ dispute heard before the Wellington Commissioner, Mr M. J. Reardon. The dispute concerns the Union Steam Ship Company only.

“If the importation of Australian oranges is allowed without stringent restrictions, the effect on the local market will be disastrous. Large quantities of New Zealand apples and pears will be unsaleable and will have to be destroyed,” was the text of a resolution moved by Mr W. A. Tate (Wairarapa) and carried at the annual conference yesterday of the New Zealand Fruitgrowers’ Federation. The conference decided to ask the Director of Internal Marketing to draw the Government’s attention to the matter. —Press Association. .

Further ' indications of the unprecedented activity in the motor trade in New Zealand this year may be found in returns compiled by the Comptroller of Customs. The figures 6how that the dutiable value of all motor-cars, chassis and commercial vehicles imported into the Dominion for the first six months of the year reached the record figure of £2,697 575. The number of vehicles and chassis imported, 17.287, also constitutes a record. The previous record was established in 1925, when the dutiable value of motor imports for the first six months of the year amounted to £2,204,650.

The largest all-welded plate girder in the Dominion was placed in position to-day in the new theatre being erected in Palmerston North. Weighing over eight tons, it is 66ft. long and 6ft. lin. high, being designed to support the front of the circle. A dairy produce prices order was published with the Gazette last night enabling the Government to continue' payment of the present prices lor butter and cheese as from August 1 until such time as the Guaranteed Prices Committee’s report is received by the Government and new prices are fixed. —Press Association.

A survey of ICO acres of land a mile to the north of Pahiatua was carried out yesterday b.v Messrs A. Prichard, Avintion Department, and D. Hakwell, Public Works Department. with members of the Pahiatua Borough Council in connection with a proposed landing ground for aviation purposes. The site is considered to be very favourable for the purpose in view.

A pamphlet reviewing the first year in otfice of the Labour Government has been compiled by Mr J. Thorn, M.P. for Thames, and has just been issued. Of a particularly wide scope, the booklet traverses the administrative and legislative work of the Government, presenting a concise record in easily accessible form. Students of social, economic, and political problems will find much of interest in this informative compilation. A motor-cyclist who recently made a pedestrian jump for his life at the corner of Lower Cuba Street and Wakefield Street, Wellington, found to his discomfiture that he had caught a tartar, for the pedestrian happened to be Traffic Inspector P. Hazeldon who promptly ran him in for failing to give way to a pedestrian on an authorised street crossing. He was fined 10s and costs for his indiscretion when he appeared before Mr W. F. Stihvell, S.M., in the Wellington Magistrate’s Court yesterday.—Press Association. A relic of the Great War made its appearance in a Christchurch garden last week in the nature of a “pineapple” or hand grenade (states the Star-Sun), fitvo young boys had decided to dig a hole, and when about 3ft down they came upon this object. Their first thought was to throw it in the river, as they did not like the look of it, but one boy decided to take it homo, and his father found him trying to pull the pin out. When the father discovered what it was he took it to the police station, where it was not enthusiastically received. The complaint by a Wellington engineering firm that the Government was compelling • contractors for the equipment of its buildings to purchase steel furniture and , office equipment from the railway workshops was replied to yesterday by the Minister of Railways, Hon. D. G. Sullivan. Mr Sullivan. who said the company in question had enjoyed and was still enjoying a suuwtantial share of Government work, denied that the Ra.ilway Department had any advantage over private enterprise so far as exchange and the nayment of import duty was concerned.

“That in view of the high cost of locally manufactured cases and the difficulty of obtaining a supply, the Government be asked for permission to bring in a larger quantity of imported cases,” was a remit passed by the New Zealand Fruit-growers’ Federation at its annual conference at Wellington yesterday. It was decided to try to obtain supplies of imported cases for the 1938 export season; also,. to the Government to pay more attention to afforestation and to make ample supplies of case timber available from State plantations, at reasonable rates.

After investigating the frost-fighting methods employed in the orchards of California, Mr Lloyd Williams, of the Department of Agriculture, considers that only four methods can be recommended to New Zealand growers —Lard pail oil heaters, low stock oil heaters, briquette heaters, and central heating with hot air. Mr Williams yesterday told the annual conference of the New Zealand Fruit-growers’ Federation at Wellington the results of his investigation. The conference decided to ask the Government to make Mr Williams available to give advice to districts affected by 'frost. The recent appointment of additional justices of the peace means a corresponding addition to the number of those who by tradition are entitled to the honour of having “esquire” written after their names, comments an exchange. Once reserved for a person undergoing an apprenticeship to knighthood, the title is now a courtesy one for the sons of peers, noblemen of foreign countries, the eldest son of knights and baronets, barristers-at-law, and solicitors, justices' of the peace, and mayors, while in office, holders of superior offices under the Crown, and persons styled as esquires in royal patents or commissions.

In England 1937 is expected to be the best wage year since 1920, according to a newspaper cutting brought home by Mr H. F. Herbert, of Christchurch. This report, taken from the Daily Express, shows that for the first five months of the year changes of wage rates have resulted in a net increase of about £367,000 a week to 2,900,000 workers. “With applications for increases for nearly 2,000,000 workers now under discussion it is likely that the rising trend will be maintained at least for the rest of the year,” states the report, which adds that on June 1 the cost of living stood at 62 per cent, above the" July, 1914 level, the same as on May 1, but eight points higher than a year ago.

Special mention by the Invercargill branch of the Returned Soldiers’ Association that it had the oldest veteran of the Great War, aged 86 years, in its ranks, reminded the Opunake branch at its annual reunion on Saturday night that it has a member, aged 85 years. He is Mr Thomas McLellan, who joined the New Zealand Expeditionary Force at the age of 66 years. Leaving with the 21st Reinforcement; and joining the 2nd Hawke’s Bay Infantry Company, attached to the Wellington Battalion, Mr McLellan was in action at Messines and was invalided back to New Zealand in 1918. Until a few weeks ago Mr McLellan enjoyed excellent health, hut he is at present confined to his bed, and he was unable to attend the reunion. A car was discovered upside down in a drain which runs parallel with the Palmerston North-Ashhurst road about midnight on Wednesday. The discovery was made by a passing motorist, who summoned Constable Fischer, of Ashhurst, to the scene. As there was only a small clearance between the bottom of the drain and the hood ot the car, there was some anxiety as to the fate of the driver and any passengers he might have carried. The vehicle was turned over, but there was no one inside, although a woman’s hat and a pair of gloves were floating on the water in the drain. The rims and tyres of the two right-hand wheels had been ripped off and were found lying in the bottom of the drain. The car was later removed, it is understood, to Woodville.

Timber foundations, probably those of the original London Bridge, built in 1176, have been discovered during excavation behind Adelaide House, at Fresh Wharf .The timbers, which are of elm, are in a very good state of preservation.