LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1737, 30 April 1913, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The jiobtnl authorities advise that the Manuka, which tailed from Sydney on Saturday last, luis 011 board 1111 Auslralinn mail. She is due to arrive here today. Questioned yesterday on Ihe subject nf the recent aliael; on a. reporter by Territorials in a South Island camp and the somewhat similar occurrence which look place later at Oringi enni|i, the Hon. 1!. 11. h'hodes (.-Voting-Minister for Defence) stilted that he hail litllj more to say on Hie subject 111,-in 111111 any irregularity wbicli <«-nim-d in a Territorial camp would be fully ini|iiired into by the military authorities. The Minister added that lie agreed wi(li General Godley that it was undesirable that a Territorial' undergoing training ill camp .should act as a reporter. Kelcase eaiuo yesterday tii thirty-two persons, who had been afi'cctcd with measles, ami interned on Somes' Island. Another ease has'developed 011 the island, but otherwise the health of the patients is reported to bo excellent. "There were two of the older eirls who had never even seen a train—they didn't know whether a lako was bigger tlian a river!" said Mr. T. Moss, referring at the meeting of the "Wellington Munition Board yesterday, to the country school excursions to 11.M.5. New Zealand. The board had received letters of thanks and appreciation from the country for the manner in which the school excursions had been carried out. In this connection several members expressed their a.ppreciatiou of the painstaking care that hail been shown by Mr. G. L. Stewart (the board's secretary) in perfecting the transport arrangements. Mr. .1. Dineea (thn board's truant officer) was also cr.inniondcd tor valuable assist,nice rendered in connectvjn with tho transport arrangements. Both .Air. Stewart anil 111-. Dineen worn accorded 11 special vote of thanks'. Mr. Dineen has iu the meantime been lent to the Tourist Department for further service during the northern tour of the warship.

Addressing a meeting of electors in Sydney Street ijjchuolreoin Jnst evening, Mr. „\I. Taiekie declared that there was 110 class of service l'or which citizens paid more lieavity than that connected with hospital and charitable aid. "Lawyers," softly interjected an auditor. "Perhaps you aro right," said Mr. Ltickie. Tho recent earthquake was serious enough to damnge'the chimneys of three of Hie schools in the Wellington Education Board's district. The chimneys aro to be examined for structural' defccts. "I have got no plums to give anybody," said Councillor L. M'Kenzie to a meeting of electors in (he Sydney Street .Schoolroom last evening. "You have a few pills, though," said nil auditor, and Sir. M'Kenzio had to wait some time for the laughter to subside before ho could go on with his speech. ' Argument was heard in tho District Court, Sydney, last week concerning the fees charged by an export witness who had given evidence in a recent Supreme Court action. Tho witness claimed live guineas a day, and his claim was disputed. Judge Backhouse, in fixing the amount to lie paid to the plaintiff, allowed the five guineas a day, because he said that clearly that fee had been agreed upon. "But,"' ho remarked, "'fivo guineas a day for an expert whose experience is mainly practical, seems to. 1110 to bo rather exorbitant. He certainly could not earn that amount at his owji occupation. As was said at a meeting of solicitors in England some littlo time ago, there are two things which arc' killing the goose that lays the golden eggs. One is counsel's fees and the other tho fees of experts." Our Greytown correspondent states that a public meeting held there last evening approved of a water-drainage scheme to cost .CIS,OOO, ' •

At tho, final meeting of tho Citizens' Easter Carnival Sports Committee, held 011 Monday evening, . a letter was read from Hie College Students' Association, asking for a supplementary grant towards students' expenses in connection wUli tlio sports. On tho motion of 111". H. M'Keowen it was decided that 110 further grant be made in connection with'the niter-University sports. On the motion of .Mr. Keesing, it was resolved that tho £7 saved from tho fancy dress carnival be devoted lu tho expend 1 turo entailed for athletic prizes. Tho various events held under the auspices of tho committee yielded the following- amountsLyall Baygala, .£81) 17s. 5d.; boxing tourney, A'J5 Ds.;.tenuis,- JJIO Gs. Id.; bowling tourney, .£lB 10s. These, together with small supplementary amounts, made a total of XIH7 15s. fld. In conclusion tho chairman (Mr. A. A. Jfa|-ryatt) thanked the members of the committee for their whole-hearted support, and in particular thanked Sir. G. S. Hill, their secretary, for his valuable usi-islance.

An "inclopcndent" cable message from Vancouver, published in the Sydney "Sun." states that a new mode of telegraphic transmission, of which Mr. John Gott, consulting engineer of tho Commercial Cable Co., is .l lie inventor, made it possible the other day for Vancouver to.talk instantly with London, a distance of 7000 miles. Some idea of tho rabidity with which communication can he carried on may Ixv gathered from tho fact that within four minutes of tho message being dispatched to London a reply was received at Vancouver. The details of the invention are, of course, secret, but this much is known, that it repeats tho cable signs to tho land instruments, thus saving much time. It is claimed that if tho invention is adopted the transmission of cables between London and Australia will Ijc considerably expedited.

"It seems to me preposterous that, a working man earning £2 14s. ' a week should have to pay, «C 1 a week in rent for a house," was tho remark of Mr! W. 8.. Fisher, the Official Assignee, at Auckland on Monday, when a labourer and gardener was explaining his position, to his creditors. Bankrupt was telling tliem that he could not get a house about Hemuera. (where his work mainly lay) for less. Ono of tho creditors said lie was only paying Os. a week, and another creditor 5H id til pro were plenty of houses at the lower end of Khyber Pass Road for ]i!s. and Ms. a week. Bankrupt said ho had never succeeded in getting one. Peoplo did not cater for tho working man nowadays in tho house line. The result was that, frequently two or more families had. to take a house conjointly.

Two prisoners—Fuller and Furzer—will 1)0 brought up for sentence at the Supreme Court at 10 o'clock to-morrow. They have pleaded guilty to a charge of attempting to commit theft.

The quiet but persistent efforts of tho Public Health officers in the direction of Mveetening the buck promises of public and private houses in the country are now begiuning to tell (states the Dunedin "Star"). In some townships it used to be quito customary to encounter indescribnblo horrors and unspeakable filth, 'that stato of affairs is boinpr improved, ami no fuss is mudo about it. In certain settlement* a move has been mado to systeinaiiso the sanitary work. "Roxburgh, Clinton. and Aliddlemarch lead the way in this mailer, the residents in each of these townships having instituted a system of their own with the necessary depot, and other places will gradually bo brought: into liii' 3in the snm'o way. Ofcagn will in lime bo thus rid of a reproach that has been the Mtbjcct of comment more or loss' throughout the rural districts of the Domillion. CAE ECONOMY AND THE BAY.(IU). A' keen demand has arisen in Into years for n light, moderately-priced, economical small car. Such a car fills the requirements of the commercial traveller or of tho motorist who, owning a big pleuBiiro car, requires a small, reliable, cheaprunning car as a town runabout. The 8-12 h.p. Clement lloyard is the car (hat fills tho bill. Its prico is j®s, inclusivo of hood, wind shield, aud fivo lamps, It seals three persons. Its weight is llcwt and its nominal h.p. 12, practically Si hundredweight to (ho horse-power. I( s petrol consumption is one gallon to .10 miles; lubricating oil, one gallon (o 500 miles. Tyres to last 10,000, cost. J!l7 2s. for four covsrs. Speed, 40 miles per hour on the llat. Hill-climbing ability: ear can climb I lie Paekakariki llill on (he second gear al. 15 miles an .hour. It is built bv ,-\. Clement, Paris, (lie celebrated French automobile engineer, mid its running expenses, including allowance for depreciation. do not exceed i'.VJ per annum. It can be had tin is lit <1 in either green, dark blue, or Kremh gre.y, and we can uive delivery in five minut'S. Adams Limited, Agents for Clement Hsynrd ears. («inige. Tuam Street, Cluistchurch. IVpots at Wanganui and Pnlnrorston North, Agents, Tourist Motor Co,, Hastiiii!,—Advt,

■When tlio t!nion Company's cargo carrier Karon was at Lyttelton lust.' week, representations wero made by the firemen regarding their work, with tlio result that tho company agreed that in future the vessel should carry six firemen instead of three firemen and two trimmers. Assisted immigrants Jo the number of 13 are on board the Now Zealand Shipping Company's steamer R.uapeliu, clue at Wellington from London on I'Yiday nest. They include six domestic servants, two housewives, and three children, and two farmers. This is die smallest number oi immigrants in one vessel that Hie Government- linmigi-alion Department has yet had to ileal with. A new idea fur Wellington is an openair class-room, a . projwisal I'm 1 the nrevision of which, emanating from the committee of the South Wellington School, was' before Iho Wellington Education Hoard yesterday. Curiously enough, the idea, it* was. painted out by the chairman of tho board (Mr. l.ce), is not: .supported by Ihe headmaster of the school, or tho board's inspectors. 'The matter is to be discussed at a conference between (ho eommillee, the headmaster, the chairman of tlx; board, the chief inspector, and tho board's clerk of works. The report of the medical officer of t.lio St. Helens Hospital, Wellington, for tho year ended .March 31, 1013, shows tin increase of -f0 patients, -It of whom were indoor eases. There wero in all 308 cases' during the year and of the total number of patients 218 were in-patients. There wero no maternal deaths during the year and only seven deat'is.of infants, all of them, tlio report states, cases with very little chance of life. The practice of accommodating country patients some time before labour, it is stated, has 'been of undoubted benefit. In return for the Hag which tho children of the twelve State schools of Wellington sent to the schools of Wellington, Shropshire, in England, in Mil), the children of Ihe three council schools of Iho English town have forwarded, for presentation on Empire day next (Jla.v 24) a silken Union .Tack, emblazoned with the .Shropshire County Arms, and accompanied by nine photographs of local events, "as an emblem of that kinship which ,so firmly binds all'trne members of the Bri-/ tish Empire." The_first meeting of the 1013 session of tho Wellington Philosophical Society will bo held ill Bellamy's, Parliament iiuild>ngs, this evening at 8 o'clock. Members are reminded of tho change of place of meeting, as tho room at. tho Dominion Museum is not available. The' president. Professor T. 11. Eastci-field, will deliver his presidential address ou "Somo Recent Advances in Chemistry."