LOCAL AND GENERAL

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2355, 11 January 1915, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

English and Ameriban mails,! via Vancouver, are coming here by the Niagara, which is due to arrive in Auckland this morning. The Atua, which is taking up tho Mahcno's running, is also due to arrive at the same port this morning with Australian mails. The southern portion of all three mails should arrive here on Tuesday morning. Tho Moeraki is duo to arrive here to-morrow morning with English and Australian mails, via Suez.

The Hon. R. H. Rhodes has issued a return of passenger bookings bv the Tourist Department bureaux for the period December 1!) to 31. The amount received was £5764 16s. 6d., against £5815 4s. 7d, last year.—-Press Association.

'• • J, £ The recent Waitotara Show resulted' in a sum of £200 being raised for the", British and Belgian Relief Fund, 'tie f profits of the show going for that purpose. -

A local fruit merchant complains bit-! terly on the manner in which banana ' shipments from tie Islands, which Have to be transhipped at Auckland, are' brought down the coast. On the way | down from the Island wind-sails and open hatches contribute to the free circulation of air, whioh helps to keep the bananas green, but last week the Wellington shipment, ex Navua, was brought down in the 'tween decks of the Victoria, apparently without any j thought for the perishable nature, of the fruit, end as the result the fruit ripened quickly, and instead of realis-. mg 15s. and 16s; a case, a considerable portion of the shipment' .only brought 9s. and 10s. a case, which' means a big loss to the grower. .

"Why, Jaikes, it was under this very tree that he promised to be my wife," sobbed out Nellie Denver (Miss! Irene in one of the most cmo-f tional scenes in ''The Silver King" afc ; the Grand Opera House on Saturday.' Then someone chortled, pointing ■ the 1 lapsus linguae, the audience burst' into laughter, and the actress, who had- : a moment or two before been simulating all the grief of a broken heart, re-; called what she had said, and her shaking shoulders informed the audi-* ence that shes* had comprehended the' coniio transposition of words she had made. Quite a minute elapsed before the actress ibecame tearful and the audience sympathetic once more.

"When I was in Parliament," said Mr. J. H. Bradney in Auckland the other evening, "I protested against what I considered absurd restrictions on fishing. X said fish were m easily ■ caught in Auckland that any man could do down to the wharf and catchy his breakfast with a bent nail. I have* been ridiculed over that, but yesterday I put it to the test. I armed myself with bent soft nails and fished near my office. In three minutes I' caught a yellowtail:_ To-day I was in*, vited out on a fishing excursion, only *' bent nails to be used. We caught W considerable number, only one gentleman failing." Mr. Bradney believes that trawling should be allowed in the gulf, and . that netting of creeks should be permitted, suitable meshes to -be i used to permit small fish to escape. The present regulations, he; remarked, v were approved by a former Govern-''' 1 meat, at the Tequest of the Fisher-V men's Union. r

A former resident of New Zealand, in a tetter which he ivrote from Calcutta to a relative at Masterton, says' that the tea gardens in India have not ■ been doing very well, as the aeents," thinking the market was going to' pieces, advised everyone to pluck finer, which, of course, means a considerably,,! reduccd output, and the prices of tea!*!] have not dropped as low as was ex- 't pected. It is too early in the dav to t : prophesy, hut prices may drop badly) before the end of the season: However,\ so far as the output is concerned, themischief is done. f

Owing to the many large demands i, made for forage during the past few f it is becoming increasingly! scarce in New Zealand. The Defence! Deoartment has several times recently! called tenders for forage for the var- • ious military services, and further tenders are being _ advertised this week in connection with Trentham camp. It is hoped that there will be a ready re- } sponse from produce merchants aad farmers in order that the utmost effi- ' ciency may bo maintained during the ) present crisis. , ,

_An exceptionally large oatch of a) f distinctly rare fish in the southern por-) tion of the fishing grounds—the New; Zealand turbot—was made by fishermen - in the vicinity of Waiau, Orepuki, Riverton, and' off the Riverton Beach recently. On Thursday a consignment of' 12 dozen turbot was received' at" Inveroargill from these localities, along with 120 dozen flounders. Suoh a large catch of turbot is decidedly rare, and a lead- j > ing man in the fishing industry told a J ■ 'Southland Times" reporter that it had; not coma under his notice for the past; SO years. The fish, which in many re-' spects resemble a flounder, were all in excellent condition, and the heaviest weighed up to 81b. The presence of the turbot in siich large numbers at this, period leads those competent to judge to the opinion that there must have . been some disturbance _at the fishing grounds, probably during the heavy spell of bad weather, and the quality of seaweed and other ooeanio substance in the nets after eaoh haul lends further colour to this view.

Cries were heard' coming from the direction of the Queen's Wharf, Auckland, at about ton o'clock on Friday j night; but at the time little attention; was paid, as it was thought that some- ( body was addressing a meeting in Quay, Street. At about eleven o'clock, however, a Harbour Board employee, named John M'Queen, was attracted by the persistent calls, and, on going to tho locality whence they proceeded, perceived a man in the water, grasping the side of a boat.' M'Queen got the man on to the wharf, and, seeing that he was suffering from cramp, summoned Constable M'Hugh, who took him to the Hospital. The man, who gave his nam? as John Leitch, had by some means : fallen over the east side of the Queen's, Wharf, and Tie had the unpleasant ex-! perience of keeping his head above' water, shouting for holp the while until he was lesoued'abouk an hour later. v In the Hospital grounds yesterday af- 1 . ternoon, the Salvation' Army Citadel i Silver Band rendered a musical programme, and a collection, taken up in' aid of the institution, totalled £3 76. '

The street collection taken up by th 9 Salvation Army on Saturday for the New Year War Relief and Emergency Fund amounted to just short'of £45i. This amount will be supplemented bv the collections in Wellington South and other outlying portions of the city.

By the midday train to-day about 200 me,n will leave Auckland for the Trentham camp as part of tlie fifth' reinforcement draft for the Neyr Zealand Expeditionary Foroo. Reoruiting for this draft has been proceeding aotively - in Auckland during the last few days, and, although about half of the volunteers have boen rejected by tho medical authorities, the number required, Jt is anticipated, will bo available by Monday morning; The 59 volunteers from • land for service in Samoa will also be • paraded on Monday, and proceed to Trmtham. The Auckland militarv district is supplying 110 rank and file for Samoa, some of whom will join the train en route. The nest reinforcement will, it is expected, leave Auckland about the middle of next month.

C ; Inexcusable bungling has marked the handling of mails intended for tlio Australian force in Egypt (says the Melbourne "Argus"). 'At least three, and apparently four, times mails have ' passed through Suez without being landed. The letters addressed to tlio , men in Egypt have been taken_ on to . London, It will bo learnod with intense disappointment by relatives in Australia that the letters intended to reach Egypt by Christmas will not be delivered there until weir into the New Year. It will tie equally disappointing to the. men. who at; Christmas .time would naturally- expeot greetings from their friends in Australia. Tno New Zealandors lave received their Christmas letters, because, doubtless, their • Defence Department has had the foresight to ensure this. Somebody has •• blundered, and the result is that many thousands of letters have. been overoarried.'

After a fair-weather passage, the Fed-eral-Shire chaptered steamer El Cordobes arrived in Auckland from Liverpool oe Friday. On the voyage the vessel called at Lae Palmas to take ifi bunker coal, and 1 there were then 1' Gorman merchantmen' in port. _ The crews of these vessels, oiie of the oroccra of the El' Cordobes states, were badly off in many ways>rnd were selling cargo in order to obtain provisions. A British cruiser called in lit Las. Palm as every morning to see that none of tlio ueiman boats had escaped. After the Cordobes left Las Palmas, on, .November 11, a large 6teamor was sighted on the bow. While' rhpse oil board the 1M Cordobes were watching ino-' vessel, the latter suddenly altered her oourse, and hauled down upon tho cf.r<ro vessel. All on board the El Cordob.V thought that a German vessel was- about to -oapture them. Much to their relief they found.the strange vessel 1 to be a British armed merchantman, which, aftor- due, inquiry, allowed tho El Cordobes to proceed on her voyage.