LOCAL AND GENERAL

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2340, 23 December 1914, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

The Supreme Court Office will be closed from Christmas Eve until January 3. From the latter date until the end of .the summer vacation, the office will be open every day from 10 a.m. until 1 p.m. The City Council offices will close for the Christmas and New Year holidays at noon to-morrow, and business will not be resumed until Monday, January 4. Bathers who take their daily swims in the open harbour should beware just now of jelly fish. Most of the varieties are harmless enough, but specimens have been seen in the harbour lately of one of the most poisonous of jelly fish on our coasts. Tnis species i.3 red in colour, with long feelers, pnd a. touch from it will cause poisoning, severe enough in cases to make a patient very ill, and sometimes delirious for several days. The senior military officers from various parts of New Zealand who are at present in conference at Trentham camp expressed themselves as astonished at the rapid progress the men of the Third Reinforcements (now training at Trentham) have made in the five days they have been under instruction. A Press Association telegram from Dunedin states that cable advicci ha? been received that the discharge of cargoes from the German steamers Wismar and Lubeck, now at Batavia, has been authorised. The cargo will be put at the disposal of at the aotual port, according to Clause 10 of the Bill of.Lading on payment in Batavia of the unpaid freight and a general average of 10 per cent, in the case of the Wismar and 5 per cent, in the- case of the Lubeck; all charges from dong,side the German steamers to be borne by the consignees, During November 962 tradesmen and labourers in the Wellington district were assisted by the Department of Labour. Twelve were carpenters, twenty-seven farm-hands, eleven hot-el-wcrkers, fifty-seven painters, and 855 labourers. Eighty-nine of these were married men, thirteen wives, and fourteen children. Sixty-seven of those assisted came from the North Island, thirty-three from the South Island, twenty-four from the Commonwealth, and 105 from Great Britain. The. Women's Branch in Wellington assisted 48 domestics—twenty-one married,' and twenty-seven single. The private Arbitration Court seo up to decide the ground rentals of f ;ome nineteen of the City Corporation's Lambton leaseholds, has concluded its deliberations. Its decisions will not bo made known until February 1. In the next few '-reeks Wellington will see a good deal of representative cricket, ana as the wickets are facilitating century-making this season some good performances are looked- for. On Christmas Day and Boxing Day Marlborough will- appear here; on January 1, 2, and 4 Otago and Wellington mei,t on tho Basin Reserve; and on January 8, 9, and 11 the Canterbury team will, be engaged in this City. A letter received by the curator of the Wellington Zoo from Mr. A. Le Soeuf, curator of the Sydney Zoo, antrcludes as follows:—"I congratulate you on the young animals you have, and on your exceedingly small death-iate. I do not know of any gardens tlu.t can show a like result." Sydney papers to hand by yesterday's mail chronicle a rise in the price ol broad in the Sydney and Newcastle districts to 4d. for tho 21b. loaf. The Government which proclaimed the rise is a Labour Government. On the day following the Government proclamation the secretary of the Master Bakers' Association (Mr.'Thompson) reported that a meeting of tho master bakers of New South Wales had been held to consider the matter. There was a record attendance and tho following motion was carried unanimously:—"That this meeting emphatically protests to the Necessary Conmiodities Control Commission that the rise in the prico of bread as fixed by that body is not commcnsurato with the increases iu prices of flour and cost of production." Cases of shoplifting hs.vo recently been discovered in many large_ Auckland retail establishments, particularly those devoted to drapery, and retailers are taking steps to protect themselves from this class of crime. One drapery establishment is employing three private detectives; in another shop- thero arc two men always 011 watch for lightfingered people. Leniency in the past has, says a northern exchange, probably led to an increase in tho number of cases of shoplifting, and retailers have now agreed amongst themselves that prosecutions will follow in all eases of shop-lifting reputed to them, irrespective of the station of life of the detected nersons. and with no distinctions be"tvatm kleptomania and tliclU

The report of labour and industrial matters winch was issued last week in Melbourne, under the direction of ,the Minister for Home Affairs (Mr. Archibald) by the Commonwealth Statistician (Mr. G. H. Knibbs), shows that tho total number of unions in the several States increased from 621 in 1912 to' 710 in 1913, and the membership from 433,224 to 497,925. Of tho 497,925 unionists, 477,721 are males and 20|204 females. The number of unions registered under the Commonwealth Con-' ciliation and Arbitration Act was 84,' with a membership of 295,760. The state of trade in Wellington iB reported by the Labour Department to bo as follows:—Cycle and motoring,, fair; coachbuilding, normal; meat-freez-ing, busy; printing, busy; woodworking, brisk; building, busy; engineering,, busy; leather, busy; clothing, busy; retail, fair; unskilled labour, fair. To lose £200 in bank notes in the course of a walk from a city restaurant to the railway station was the unfortunate experience the other day of an Auckland blacksmith. The man had just sold his business, and the notesone for £100, and several others for large amounts—were carelessly placed m his hip-pocket. The police state that there are undoubtedly pickpockets operating in the city, but consider that in this instance the blacksmith must have dropped the' notes on the pavement. Boys. and girls who cannot swim, and! who wish to learn the art, are invited to attend Te Aro Baths this afternoon, when Mr. T. Shields will reopen his classes. Mr. Shields's work as a free instructor is well known, he having taught many pupils how to swim in wonderfully short periods. The.final meeting for the year of the Karori Borough Council was held last night. There was very little business on the order paper, practically all being of a formal nature. The matter or drainage and the tramway question were held over to the New Year. We have to acknowledge Christmas greetings from His Worship the Mayor, councillors and staff of .the City Corporation, Chief-Detective Broberg, and members of the detective staff, the Australasian Institute of Marine Engineers, the Telegraph messengers, and: the Sisters of. Compassion. Employment for Wellington women and girls is being found iu the fruitgrowing districts of-Nelson by the Department of Labour. The Women's Branch of the Department reports that a demand has set in for fruit-pickers; Those wanted at present will be employed in the raspberry gardens. The; Department in Wellington has had a number of applicants, and a dozen have already been selected for the work.There are still some vacancies. It is not unusual (says the Christchurch "Press") to hear of the arrest of a ship, but in Christchurch the arrest of a motor-car is not of frequent occurrence. The City Corporation Traffic Inspector, Mr. H. Macintosh, found it' necessary ou Saturday to take a motor-car into custody. For some considerable period, at the busiest timei of the morning, Mr. Macintosh noticed a Biilall Ford car outside Ballantyne's, standing parallel with the cabstand, and so interfering with the traffic, that in order to pass it vehicles had to go on tho "mproper" side of the road. As no one claimed the car within a reasonable period, Mr. Macintosh placed himself in the chauffeur's seat, and drove tho car to the police station, where it was subsequently claimed by its owner.