LOCAL AND GENERAL

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2365, 22 January 1915, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

The postal authorities advise that the tl' A T? no >, whio ! l Bailed fr °m Sydney for Auokland on Wednesday, is bringing Australian mails, and also an English mad, via Suez. The Wellington P ol^' oll w due per Main Trunk express on Monday afternoon next. The out-patients' department of the Wellington Hospital mil be closed today on aooount of the holiday. Uurgent Hospital treate d at the General The new bathing shed ereoted by the n £ oa the at Island t>ay will be opened to-morrow with a carnival that has been arranged by the Island Bay Surf Club. Brigade received a call to f*ortkland last night, but it was only to suppress an incipient outbreak of ore amongst a pile of pine needles which uad been set alight by some children. 'Yesterday afternoon the Mayor (Mr. t- p : puke) accompanied by Mr. Geo. •?? (chairman of the Reserves Committee), the City Engineer (Mr. W. H. Morton), and Mr. W. B. Simpson, the professional golf-player, made an inspection of the eastern slopes of the Mount Viotoria range (the Kilblrnle side, in orger to gauge the possibilities of that area of the Town Belt as a site for municipal golf links. This does not mean that the Island Bay cite oas been jettisoned, but before any expenditure is involved the Mayor desires to have lull data as to the adaptability of the unused sites for golfing purposes for the enlightenment of the oounoil. whloh is to hold its first meeting of the year on Monday next. A Bpooial meeting of the Harbour Board is to be held on Wednesday to oonfirm the rolls of payers of Harbour «ue3 for the year 1915. At Wanganui Raoeoourse a refresher oamp i« in progress, 800 officers and non-commissioned officers and oadets f . rom the Wellington Military Distriot Area being under oanvas in oharge of Major _ Morrison and staff officers. Favoured by good weather conditions a strenuous training programme is being carried out.—Press Association. Shortly before 8 o'clook last evening a man fell into the harbour near the j* . • Constable Gurden resoued him after some diffioulty. The man was conveyed to the look-up and put to hed._ He is little the worse for his immersion, „nd will appear before tne Uourt this morning on' a oharse of insobriety. " * The parents of a youth off the Amotura are rather anxious as to the lad's whereabouts. He came down by train to join the Amokura on January 13, and it is understood he got off the train on. the journey down. Since then nothing has been heard of him. The description of the missing lad is: Short DUUd, dark complexion, oval features, dark hair, large eyes, well-set figure, blue uniform, white covered cap, little unger of the right hand badly scarred, ihe initials of the lad aie F.EPS «^i? ot^ er is Particularly anxious and as ! £ +l a , ns j < ? ne who has information as to the lads whereabouts to com--

A little boy of 10 or 11. years of Vrai;r!t P ¥ m J ! T th another W m u-Un\ f'i ?* ab<)ut 8.80 last night, fihen he faded to notice the approach r He was taocked down and had a remarkable escape from serious injury. The motorman promptly stopped the oar and when the U Jl=% PU l d i fr S m UDder tho minnp \ sustained only minor bruises to his face and body. A woman was arrested at Petone yesterday on a charge of stealing £3 ig s in, money and.a hand-lag of a total value-of £5. She will appear before the Court this morning. PP f leeti 5 K for a® New Year h«M W ? i,7 S oro , ueh Council was held last night, the Mayor'(Mr. 10. 0 ?S P l w A f- most v of a fo ™ al nature. A resolution was passed imposing 10 kniw 5 611 ? lt7 on th ® rates, anl the Kaiwarra drainage instalments. h , The reports from the Hospital last was iniurfld^in 5 lbert who was injured in a motor-car accident ™ Wednesday, and Mr. Harding S in^ 1 " of , suffering from an injury to his knee, showed that hnth pro .f 6asin # V «-V well. F. o. Hyde wlo was on Monday was reported to be a Uttle

4 th ® <3elo ? atea attending the annual conference of the New Zs^ takL foTa W? 1 wiU be »«*? >> I 543-iml© trip on an "obsorSJw?; Th ® tr >P include B.tLtKr.S'iS"' seemed V6f y curious, tnat it was more economical to benzine to Otaki by motor than by rail

Towards the latter end of Ootober the Government took the duty of £1 per ton off flour, and the Gazette nofl™,. prac «m i ng j the fact stated that Sour would be admitted duty free until Febnzary 1. As this date is now on™ a little over, a week away, the Prime the dutv Li mnß ,fP to have tne duty free provision extended for at least another su months. The present is £l 7 °loq° Ur tra£l P i Auei™lh\ u . Amenoall ' last-named - 4 ln - Tery B reat favour by the nn+lL v a not such a pure white as the ISew Zealand or Australian flour. Messrs-. H. Baldwin and Co. have been advised that the steamer Hornelen wlZ a r m T 011 y edl) esday last for | Wellington with a large ouantity of wheat andflour. Messrs. Baldwin and vo. have 160 tons of flour on this vessel. A Press Association telegram from Christchiiroh states that a public meeting on Wednesday night, the Mayor pre-1 siding, passed a resolution expressing the desirabihfcv of forming a branch of Hie Workers Educational Association of iwiglrmd, and preparing the ground for the visit of its representative, Mr. Meredith Atkinson, now in Australasia. Sir Robert' Stout paid- he would like to see the University system extended hy the professors or their assistants going to minor towns and lecturing on different subjects every year;

At yesterday's meeting 0 f the Wellington Hospital and Charitable ild Board a letter was read from the New Zealand Automate Bakeries; Ltd.. making a special offer to the hoard respectin? the supply of trend to the Hospital. A reply was forwarded to the company stating that tie hoard was quite satisfied with its present mothod or baking its own bread.

Aa was stated some little time ago the Labour Department is now takinc a census of members of industrial unions m New Kea'and: Tho date named for closing the censuß is January 31 and tliere are rtill cinnv union secretaries who. hare not sent in-their returns. The Department states. that the provides a penalty against ma - defa "' fc in this matf i fche ,lmon ? are lia W® to a fine If

Members of the Region of Frontiersmen now 111 camp at Tronthorn,' have decided to give a dinner at Barrett's Hotel at / .30 p.m. on Tuosday next, to td 8 n '' ersmen ara cordially in-

1 he W ellington Hospithl and Charitnole Aid Board will enter" into their new offices in the Bacteriological Block in Hospital grounds during the first, week m February. The contractors &> not vacate tbo premises until next

A Chinesei named Sam Wah was fine<? 10s. and costs in tie Magistrate's Court; Masterton, yesterday for selling oigaw ettes to a youth under fifteen years or ogo.

The Auokland Grammar Sohool continues to maintain its reputation and to uphold the distinction of being tha most successful college in the Domini ion, and one of the most prominent to the whole of Australasia, states thai Auckland, "Star." The school has long) been known to seouro' more passes at the annual examinations than anv' other in New Zealand, and this yeaV tne results prove even more satisfao-i torv than m former years. Of the 110.' Matriculation candidates returned as' successful in the Auckland district, over* 6b per cent, wore pupils of the Gram--mar School Ten of the 30 junior narl tional scholarships awarded in the Do-j w won wore secured by scholars at thd college, while in the Publio Service btj animation, formerly known Is junior Civil Service, the college was r£ presented by 28 of the 44 candidate* Kdistrlr BUOCeSBfuI k th ° Auc M The dangers of attempting to board) ®" n ra , m m motion were onoe more de-i monstrated on Tuesday night, statespie Chnstehuroh "Press." lie fcraini leaving Lyttelton at 6.10 p.m. w C S 1&Ja 9 !?, a man > who looked! il i waterside worker, was seen waiU tog beside the track. As thetrain a r aptd rate, drew level! ¥ m the man plaoed a bundle on! 11114 endeavoured td get on board. The pace of the traiS oaused ham to miss his footing, and lJ was dragged some distanoe before h® was able to extnoate himself from hisl dangerous plight. ' .The latesynstonoe of contracts bej mg lost to British firms through theiif failure to agree to deliver promptly iaj provided in the case of the Dominion Portland Cement Company, which is' Xi 200 '™ on em,tion 3 plant at Tikorangi, near Whangarei (re* Ports the Auckland "Herald"). Mr S, Irwin Crookee, engineer to the com* pany, states that_ the oompany required tts electrical equipment to arrive at a Tu S +? u 9 English companies iiiv ??• ddo their 40 Sep ™ tlm .° mentioned, whereas til's « g^eer ' ae firm ® of America V? efilu * 9 tlme and fulfilled the order within a day or two of that date,: Mr Crookej states that he found Linw | TOab . le to , gw preference to British' nims owing to the difficulty regarding delivery, and therefore a contract wort hi about £14,000 had to go elsewhere,, lucre was no material difference in the cost as quoted by the different firms.

■ The Climtohurch Licensed Victual-' lers; Association has (states a southerni exctmigo) agreed upon a standardised' price-list for the sale of spirits in/ l/liristohurch. Since the war begancei**! tain imported spirits, such as somS whiskies, brandy, and wines, including! champagne, have been obtainable from: abroad only at increased prices, which the importers have passed on to the! retailers. The notelkeepers h&Ye not sol' tar raised, and do not intend to raise, the price of drink sold aoross the bar? but to protect themselves, have agreed® upon certain minimum standard pricea' for liquors specially affected by tho war! and sold,in bulk.

. Seven land - agents' hcepsea wery* granted in the Magistrate's Uourt, Mag« | terton, on Wednesday. ! For some reason or other the rodsntrf ; .—the weasel, the stoat, and the ferret— brought into this country Eome . years' dgo, for the purpose of killing out ther rabbits, are viewed with a great deal' of antipathy, more especially by gun i men, who never mies an opportunity of shooting them whenever it,offers. Trapi pers, also, wage consistent waifard against them; but, in spite of these sev-I disabilities, the .rodents , appear to be increasing.. . Whether,they, ~are ful-i Ailing the purpose for which they wera brought here is hard to sav, hut the! majority of opinion is that they are notyj as, if there is onv feathered game on poultry in the district, the rodents pay] all their"attenton to them. As an sk] lustration, the foreman of the electrics power house at tho Fraser River' inJ> formed an\"Otago Daily Times" reported last week that he had lost a whole 'o'atcm of 42 ohiokens in one night* by the deJ predations of Btoats. A remarkable in-] Stance of maternal devotion was brought? under : notice. It'is a well-known factt that when a weasel starts to track down' a rabbit it sticks unerringly to the trail of the one doomed victim—it will pass! by other rabbits which may cross itsj path and follow on the trail of the one', first This rabbit appears to' realise the situation, and soon becomes; paralysed with fear. On the other' hand, should a rabbit lie with young; and a. weasel oome anywhere near, thai doe will at once attaok it with the great* est courage, and easily put it to flight. There are a number of weasels and rabbits round abdut the power'house, and the sight is often witnessed of a weasetj fleeing before a. desperate doe which; has a nest of yomg in the vicinity. 1

Continuing their series of entertain-] ments to_ the troopers at Trentham camp, which have been uninterruptedly) given each week since the inauguration; of the camp, the Salvation Army au-i thorities on Wednesday evaninpr. again _ provifled a programme of exceptional merit. It was giveiy by the Salvation Army CKty stars, -under the'direction of Major Col-l ledge, of national headquarters. programme was of a varied nature, audi each item was loudly applauded by ai crowded and enthusiastic gathering,; Last Sunday ' the ■■ church parade was one of the largest ever held, and there, were over 1000 omen present at the' Army's morning service, which was' conducted by Staff-Captain Walls, of national headquarters. The institute' was crowded at the evening meeting,' when the staff-captain gave the address. The late Mr. James Gerrie, of Dun-! edin, who died recently, was born in! 1840. at Newbyth, Scotland. He earned to New Zealand by the Phoenix in) 1860. The late Mr. Gerrie contracted! freighting for the Dunstnn gold rush, braving the vicissitudes of weather and the attacks of robbers, by whom he was : more than once visited. Horsa dealing tgps to Wangnnii paid him well. While on a s trip Home in 1870 he married, and returning to the Dominion by the ship M'AuslnmT 'in 1871, settled in Oamaru in 1872. Ho was a-carpenter there (says the "Mail") for thirty years,, rr-firing to Dunodin twelve years ago. While at Oamaru Mr. was ai staunch supporter of St. Paul's ChurohV He was one of the tw<o foundation members of the Court Pride of the* s Leith Foresters' Lodge in Dunedin. He! leaves a widow, six married sons, andj eleven grandchildren.