LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2305, 12 November 1914, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The fire brigade- received a call last evening to a chimney fire in Ghuznee Street. No damage was done.

The attention of Mr. Massey laving been drawn to the steady rise in prices of all commodities and itecessary household requirements, he said that no Commission could fix the prices of any articles that have to be imported (says a Press Association telegram from Auckland). All they could do was to prevent excessive profits being made at this end. It had been reported that in consequence of the price of sugar ndvanoing in Europe and Germany's exportation having ceased, we must expect en increase in New Zealand. The same applied to drugs and other commodities, a largo proportion of which came from Germany. Drugs cannot be'procured in England for the same prices as formerly.

•The- Mayor of "Wellington (Mr. f. P. Luke) has agreed to act as a central collecting and controlling agent respecting Christmas gifts for the New Zealand troops at Samoa. Mr. Inks will bo glad to receive contributions to this fund. An effort will b& made to have the gifts sent to Samoa free of, charge.

■Tack Dillimore, the seaman against whom the charge lias been partly heard of allegedly wounding another seaman named Martin Beharrio,- was, on the application of Chief-Detective Broberg in .the Magistrate's Court yesterday, further remanded to November 18.

"I earn my bread by the sweat of my brow," was the tremulous yet emphatic reply of an old grey-haired man named Michael Callaghan, when charged at tho Magistrate's Court yesterday morning with being an "idle and disorderly person with insufficient means of 'support." Inspector Hendrey explained that for some days past ho had been living in an old hut at Ngahaurauga, and that certain things pointed to n suspicion that Callaghan was not right mentally. He bad been an inmate of Obiro Home for a while, but had left there without leave. "His ago is given as SS, but I think he is older than that," lemarked tho Inspector. llio Magistrate (looking at accused): "Yes, voyj" Pti'fih mors tlin.n that, I will re mand him for a week."-

In an election speech atAuoklandon Tuesday, the Hon. G. Fowlds said the Government should at once undertake the organisation of a further large expeditionary force. More men 6hould bo mobilised and put into training immediately, so that if required they could proceed without delay to the Continent, and take their place in the fighting lino. If for lack of sufficient reinforcements the war was to drag on another eighteen, months or two years, it would bo deplorable. It would be cheaper to send more troops from Now' Zealand and other Dominions now than wait for tho war to drag on' and see whether more men were wanted or not.—Pres6 Association.

The following boys have filled vacancies on the training ship Amokura recently:—W. C. Collins, V. R. Sussex, J. F. 0- Williams, of Wellington; F. S. Halliday, of Russell; L. D; White, of Kaikoura; W. Stubbs, of Christchurch; b. Stalker, of Woodend, Canterbury; G. A. Body, of Ashburton; G. D. Kerr, of Gisborne; W. H. L. Cruller, of Kaeo, Auckland; W. A. Morris, of Dunediu. Boys who have left the vessel are: T. Joyce and A. J. Grant have gone ashore; C. Hardloy and: F. Newton, joined the Kittawa; C. J. Hay and L. J. Massey, joined the Alexander; W. Moore, joined the Pukaki; W. H. Oadwallader, F. M. Retter, _ and S. H. Faulkner, joined the Aparima.

The Telegraph Office advise that ra<Jlo telegrams can now be accepted _ for Apia (Samoa) for transmission direct from the Tadio station at Awanui. The charge is sixpence per word inclusive of the inland charge.

It would appear, according to a West Coast (South Island) paper, that nearly all tho beaches on the coast have bean cutting away by the action of the sea. In some places the sand, is cut out almost into the bush. In consequence of this erosion, many patches of gold-bear-ing black sand have been thrown up, seme of this being very rich. Several parties of men have been at work on the Sandfly beach, south of the Waiho, for some time, doing remarkably well. Gne party of two men secured over £400 each' for the last three months.. On the Five Mile Beach also, some good patches arb got. As the beaches are still cutting away, muoh more gold will be found.

A small boy walked into the Christchurch police station on Monday looking for work. ,Aged fourteen, short and sturdy, he had come from England as a nominated immigrant to his cousin, who was employing him on a milk round, in minding pigs and washing cans. He was paid Bs.. a week, out of which he had to make up £11 to repay his passage money to his cousin emEloyer. The boy was hot satisfied, if e could get better employment, and went to the police station to see. The police advised him to stick to his present situation and he seemed very disappointed that thoy could not help Mm.

Among the visitors to the camp of the Maori troops at Avondale on Saturday was- Mr. T. Ryan, chairman of the South Australian Education Commission. The visitor addressed the men, and spoke of the surprise at finding such splendid physique among the Maoris, and said it was an eye-opener to him to find them such a splendid stamp of men. He had come in contact with nearly all the dark races south' of the equator, and he could not compare the Maoris with any of them. Therefore he must compare them with a!.' that was best among the English, Scotch, and Irish. He rejoiced to see the Maoriß so loyal to the British flag, which, he knew, they would fight for to the last. Although he was very busy visiting the rural and secondary schools on behalf of his Government, he felt ho must spare the time to come to 6ee the Maori soldiers,- and now he had seen them, be thanked God ho had come. He would watch their career in the fighting line with very great interest. At the conclusion of slr. Ryan's speech, a number of tho soldiers stnppjd to the waist and gave the visitor an exhibition of the old-time war dances. The ceremony ended with the National Anthem;

Tho freedom which Germans in England enjoyed after the outbreak of the war with Germany was commented upon by Mr. A. E. Harding, of Mangawhare, who returned to Auckland by the Riverina, after a seven months' trip to Great Britain. "One thing which struck me was the foolish way Germans were allowed to be at large," said Mr. Harding to a "Herald?' reporter. "This does not apply to Britain alone', however, as the Overseas Dominions have been equally oulpable. But in Britain the people were cool and calm, and that was evidenced by the way they let tho Germans move about. Just before I left there was a move to displace _ Germans from their positions as waiters, as people felt they were eavesdropping. I do not think there are many Germans at large now."

Observations ahow that two quite new disturbances have appeared on the sun, says Mr. Clement Wragge. This means an alteration of the wireless or the ethorio wave lengths operating between tho sun and the earth, and is favourable for intervening rain in Australia, Tasmania, and New Zealand. The decreasing effort of the solar minimum is manifested in the aotivity at Rotorua. The persistency of tho minimum period has been probably due to the influence of Alpha Centauri—the brightest pointer to the Southern Orosß —on our sun.

The quantity of strawberries reaching the Aucklandimarket during the last few days is less than half that received at this time last year, says the "Herald." So serious has been the effect of the past three months' drought on tho crop that it is considered that even if the fruit realised ss. per box there would be no profit 'for the growers. Most of the old beds are doad for lack of sufficient moisture, and the fruit from the younger plants in not up to standard. Some very fair berries have been marketed lately at a price varying from Is. 3d. to Is. 9d. a box. Practically no berries are being shipped to southern markets, so keen is the local demand.

The Wellington office of the Bristol and Dominions Producers' Association, Ltd., have been advised by their head office, Bristol, that they had the pleasure of a visit from Mr. William Broughton, of Canterbury, and his two sons, also Mr. M'Farlane, a member of the Wellington Harbour Board; also_ a direotor of the National Dairy Association of New Zealand; and Mr. K,. Ellison, the latter association's representative in London. It is understood that Mr. M'Farlane particularly ivas oulogistio in his remarks concerning the facilities at Avonmouth, the port of Bristol, and a good deal of surprise was expressed by all these gentlemen when they entered tho cold storage and were shown between 18,000 and 20,000 tons of meat stored there.

A man was arrestod by Detective Bailey yesterday on a charge of desert-' ing his wife in New South Wales. He will appear in Court this morning.

Tho Napier sittings of the Arbitration Court commence to-morrow. Tho Court -will sit at Palmereton North on November 17, and at Wanganm on November 20.

At a quarter to ten on Monday night His Honour Mr. Justico Cooper,_ presiding over a publio meeting hold in St. Luke's Hall, Ecmuera, Auckland, to appeal for help for tho distressed refugees of Belgium, announced that a donation of £100 bad been promised to give tho Rcmuera subscription list a start. It was tho signal for a remarkable demonstration of enthusiasm. Tho littlo hall attached to St. Luko's is not a particularly commodious one, and, packed as it was, probably held not more than three or four hundred people, but within half an hour of the initial contribution being announced tho handsome sum of £1000 was handed in or proinised.-'Auoklaud "Star,"

An ordinary meeting of the Plumborc' Board-was hold in the old Parliamentary Buildings yesterday. Dr. Frengley presided.

Tho work of drafting members of the Maori contingent into special units according to their tribes has been completed at the Avondale camp. The training of the soldiers in the more intricate manoeuvres of warfare has not yet commenced. The officers in charge express their satisfaction with the conduct and smartness of the men.

Sugar has been again advanced in price, a_ further £1 por ton being charged by the Colonial Sugar Refining Company as from Saturday. This is the third rise made within two months, amounting in the aggregate to £3 ss. per ton.

Secretaries of chambers of commerce in Now Zealand are reeiving a letter from the Manchester Association of Importers and Exporters enclosing the following resolution :— "The association representing all classes of the mercantile and manufacturing community of this district hereby give expression to their feelings of gratitude for and admiration of tho 6pint of loyalty and devotion to the British Empire shown at this crisis by the King's overseas dominions and possessions in offering the services of their troops and by giving valuable assistance in other ways. .The united services of the soldiers of His Majesty the King assembled from all parts of the Empire to take part in this great war will further ' strengthen the ties and interests which already bind together the various sec-" tiona of tho Empire in . one united whole."