LOCAL AND GENERAL

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2314, 23 November 1914, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Common jurors summoned to be in attendance at the Supreme Court at 10.30 a.m. to-day will not be required until -Wednesday morning. '

A reminder is issued by the Postal Department that postal packets for soldiers are not now free'of postage. The rates to Samoa are the same as those within New Zealand, except that letters.are,oharged one penny per ounce. The rates fcn) dispatches to members of the main body of the Expeditionary Force are the same as those for England, viz:—For letters, one penny per ounce; for parcels up to 31b. one shilling, from 31b. to 71b. two shillings, and from 71b. to lllh. three shillings. Letters may be registered, but not insured, while parcels may neither bo registered nor insured.

There is at lease one veteran soldier in ■Wellington who was unusually interested in yesterday's memorial service—though unable to attend through infirmity—to the late Field-Marshal Earl Roberts, owing to having served with him in tho same regiment in India at the time of the Mutiny. This is Mr. James Grover, of Kilbirnie, a member of the Veterans' Association, and formerly a gunner in tho Bengal Horse Artillery, when the late Earl Roberts was a lieutenant in that regiment.

From tho point of view of the Dominion's everything is entirely satisfactory, the Minister of Finance (tho Hon. James Allen) a Dominion reporter yesterday. Tho war loan of £2,000,000 was duo of the amounts included' in the Imperial loan, and the renewal of tho Ward loan, due in December, had also been arranged for. '

The war spirit has evidently caught tho Maoris, according to tho following which appeared in the Plenty Times," Taiiranga:—"Should any ot His Majesty's enemies- contemplate lauding in the Bay of Plenty thoy are likely to meet with a .warm receptionfrom the Maoris, judging by the following letter when has been received •by Major Bonnott from a Nativo in this county. 'I and my friends wish you to su'pplv «s with seven Government guns with 700 rounds of ammunition, as wo are desirous of bomg ready and useful for defence. Kia ora koe toe King.'"

A popular-lecture and concert,'in aid of the Belgian Fund, and under tho auspices of the Moral and Physical Health Society, will be given, in tho Town''Hall Concert Chamber on Thursjlajj ayening next.

The operations of the Native Land Purchase Officer on tho East Coast, rel. marks tho "Poverty Bay Herald," seem' to be meeting with, a fair amount ofl success: At all events, cash appears plentiful, and some good stories reach; town concerning the lavish actions of& certain of tho Maori folk. Ono NatW m particular, who received a chequo to the extent of over £1000, immediately? sent to Gisborno for a taxi-car to brin# him to town for the races. The latest, advice respecting him is from oliurch, whore ho has- been enjoying • himself. '< Under the New Zealand Jaw it wouldf; appear, that the order may be reversed. a ? .f ar , as tho sins of the fathors being? visited upon the children, for a fo\/ days ago tho grandfather of a child was. sued at the < Auckland umrt tor maintenance, as his son was «& CU m from tllo Dominion' (savs tho v i-TfO' The grandfather explained that ho was G8 years of age, unable to 1 - work, and his tokl income was £'8 at' year. Ho also had a lifo interest in ai house and some mining shares, which! wer ? a B "« rc e of expense rather than; proht. His son s reversionary interest? ; m the house, he thought, might be* ■ worth about £100. He lad been tola? his son was a sailor, on the Philomel; Under the circumstances, Mr. 0. C. Ket- ; tie, S.M., decided that the case against * the grandfather should stand over, butf said he would make an order against' the son, and see if his interest in the 1 ' house could not be attached, also a nor-' tion of his pay.

Another instance emphasising tha long arm of the law is reported (writes tho Temuka correspondent of an ex-' change). About three years ago. al young man was convicted and fined atfj Temuka for an offence, and was given; the customary seven days in which toi find tho money. He went in search of ; the money, apparently to the other! hemisphere, returning to the Dominion* a couple of weeks ago to indulge hinwj self, among other luxuries, in then thrills of Carnival Week at Christ-! church. At the Cup' Meeting he cama beneath the friendly eye of Constable Smith, of Temuka. Mutual explana-j tions followed, and the young man en-<| joyed an extra thrill not anticipated htj connection with that particular roeet< ing. Tho upshot was.that he paid thej fine rather than undergo imprisonment* —paid up three years after the fine wasi imposed. .

"Some time ago," writes Mr. CV'WV Adams, "I out that Revelp, Street in Hokitika would probably be/ flooded by tho sea, whenever the foU lowing combination of circumstances oc-' curred, viz.:—(l)A gale; (2) ! spring tides; (3) a low barometer; (4>, a flood in the Hokitika River; and (5), tho_ sun and moon being at or near l , their greatest declination north \or,j, south. _But thero is a sixth factor/ which, if it is in operation, is mora' potent than all _the other five taken to-i 'gether, and which it will be altogether! hopeless to fight against. ' Geologists are all agreed that in tho past, a great?, part of the East Coast of New Zea-' land has been subject to several upjheavals. I. myself have seen five dis-:'' tinct lines of sandhills roughly ' to the present coast-lino; each ono! marking what at one time was high-'! water mark., This can be seen at thai present day near Flat Point, on theii east coast of the Wellington proving cial district. Similarly, in the South!' Island, I have seen abridge of heavy; boulders that had been thrown up by the sea, but which is now high and dry beyond the reach of the waves.' Also on the West' Coast aro evidence* of a considerable sinking in many' places; witness the West Coast Sounds, which geologists assert were scooped out by glaciers in former times by glacial' action. Now, it is just possible that the- \ rising of the East Coast, and the sinking of the West Coast, has not yet'l come to an end, in which case it wouldbo prudent for the dwellers in Hokitika I '.- to move on to higher ground."

In a letter to a friend in Auckland*; tho head of J. H. Smyth, Ltd.. the well-'v known stamp-dealing firm of Sydney,/ writes regarding the Samoan provisional ■ stamps:—"These are causmg soma worry, for there has apparently been a. good deal of speculating in them in., Apia, and tho holdera want such tall? prices that business is out of the question altogether. I am afraid that some>; of them. will 'burn their fingers' very, badly, and never get their money back.' None of the collectors here will touch.'" them at the prices asked. In fact, we got small supplies of some of tke» denominations from a private source, which we. are able to sell at half thoseil prices, and "make a handsome profit."- )

A nan who began searching aaxionsljj. the other day on the pavement in Queen*/ Street, Auckland, and who showed by; 1 the great number of matches ha wasted that the loss object was something v that he valued very highly, soon at-' tracte.da crowd. He steadfastly refused to divulge what he was seeking, but/, the crowd, no doubt thinking that the,' 5 cause of the search was something well' worth finding, were soon helping the; distressed searcher, who displayed considerable embarrassment whenever he! was asked for a description of the object of the mysterious quest. Eventu-j ally, in an extremity'of 'distress, thei' searcher obtained the services of some cabmen and their lamps, and the search | continued with greater diligence than j ever. The people, who had been at-: traoted to the scene by the commotion,, then began to whisper of sudden at- ! tacks of mental, aberration, and the, * man in desperation announced that ib] was one of his false teeth that he had' lost. The crowd soon melted away, and left the searcher to continue bis, quest alone. .

Mr. F. T. Baxter, of Burwood, formerly of the Lismore Agricultural College, who has been for the past threei years in the service of the American Bureau of Agriculture at Manila, returned to Syduey by the Nikko Mara* having determined to settle in Austral lia. Before leaving for Sydney, Mr, Baxter paid a visit to Hong-Kong, Shanghai, and Kobe. Mr. Baxter declared that Japan was getting a largtf amount of tho trade whioh Germany, formerly had with Russia, and alsof with Chinai; and not only that, Japan was fully cognisant of the Gorniart trade whioh she might pick up m Aus-,. tralia. .She had already patterns of Gorman manufactures sold in the Commonwealth, and she was already receiv-. ing somo good orders. 'But in the; Eastern seas," said Mr. Baxter, "Japan, has dealt tho German trade a terrific; facer.' 1 . ■■ - ■ ' . ■