Any proposal which is directed to making the farm a more attractive sphere of toil, and thereby increasing the supply of labour available for the primary industry, merits sympathetic consideration. If the motives prompting it are purely altruistic, so much the more are they commendable. Farm labour is not of a character which may be said to attract men who possess no desire to live anything in the nature of a sheltered existence, or who have no inclination towards the strenuous combat with the soil. All the more reason exists, therefore, for bringing within reach of the farm worker any particular compensations that may relieve somewhat the relative isolation and monotony of his lot. The amenities of rural life, as we see it in the dominion, are not its strong point. There is no reason to doubt that the problem of labour in the country districts would be considerably less acute than it periodically is if the conditions of rural life, among which housing is all-important, were more tolerable than is actually the case in too many instances. — editorial
Balclutha hospital approved
The South Otago Hospital Board finally adopted plans submitted by Mr Wales for its base hospital at Balclutha. These plans provide for 42 patients and special accommodation for another 10 or more. The hospital will be built on the pavilion system, with a corridor running east and west and the wards running out from it lying nearly north and south. The buildings will consist of three pavilions and will cover several acres; in addition there will be the nurses’ home and other blocks. The style adopted will give the maximum amount of sunshine to each ward besides providing for economic working. Very special attention has been given to the operating theatre and it is asserted it will be one of the most up-to-date in the dominion. An X-ray plant for diagnosis is provided for. Every function of a base hospital has been thought out and as far as possible provided for. It is estimated that the building of the base hospital at Balclutha will take two years.
Mail workers out of sorts
"We again point out the loss of valuable time in locating the insufficiently addressed correspondence" says the Post and Telegraph journal Katipo. "lt is on the increase, and this will continue unless the department takes prompt action in dealing with it. Our senior sorters have as much as they can do without this work increasing. Some idea of this increase is shown by the necessity of working 20 to 90 minutes every night in addition to the time lost in the day. Result: The sorters are kept on longer than necessary, the lighting bill is increased. If the department insists upon doing its customers’ legitimate work, then we ask that some extra, assistance be given the senior sorters during the day, so that there will be no interference with the sorting at night.”
‘NZ’ guns returned to NZ
The Imperial naval authorities have apportioned to New Zealand 15 of the 4-inch guns which were removed from the dominion's gift battle cruiser HMS New Zealand, after she was condemned. Four of the guns have already arrived from England, and will be added to the armament of the Wellington coast defence battery. The Auckland forts are to receive seven guns, together with several of the powerful searchlight projectors with which the battle-cruiser was equipped.
— ODT, 3.8.1923; compiled by Peter Dowden
