LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2380, 9 February 1915, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Our evening contemporary yesterday celebrated its jubilee, and marked the occasion with an illustrated issue of twenty-four pages, containing an interesting reviow of Wellington s progress during the past fifty years. ' We have pleasure in congratulating the proprietors, editor, and staff of the "Evening Post" both on the occasion and on the highly interesting issue with which they have commemorated it. The postal authorities advise that the 6.5. Manuka, which is due to-day from Sydney, is bringing Australian mails only. The postal authorities advise that tie 6.5. Makura, which sailed from Suva on February 5 for Auckland, is bringing mails from America and the United Kingdom, via Vancouver. The Wellington portion is due by Main Trunk oxpress ou Wednesday morning. According to a Press Association message received from Invercargill last evening the Paloona arrived at the Bluff from Melbourne and Hobart at 10.30 p.m. A special train proceeded to the Bluff for the mails, the northern portion of which will be sent north by the first express this morning. The Telegraph Office advise that messages in code languages from the ABO fifth edition and Western Union codeß liiay now be accepted for Fiji. By Order-in-Council published in a Gazette Extraordinary, the previous Order-in-Council fixing the price at which wheat might be sold is revoked as from February 15 next. A statement by the Prime Minister setting out the reasons why the Government deemed it advisable to remove restrictions on the sale of wheat within New. Zealand waß published in The Dominion yesterday morning. The drought appears to bo broken in the Wairarapa, and the streams that were dried up a few weeks ago are again running (says a Press Association telegram from Mastorton). It is expected that there will shortly be a keen demand for store 6took. I Eighty-seven men appplied to the Wellington Labour Bureau last week fyr work. Fifty-five of them were placed in jjositions, 43 privately and 12 on public works. The bureau is still sending some men of a suitable class to public works. His Worship the Mayor made an appeal to the public some time .'ago in behalf Of the sufferers through the Huntly disaster. The sum of £335 13s. id. was received, and that sum is being paid over to the Public Trustee. The question of- the employment or the non-employment of ouomy subjects on the waterfront wa6 discussed by the Wliarf Labourers' Union on Sunday, and a resolution was passed that the alien members of the union should 'be accorded tbe samo treatment as other naturalised Germans, Austrians, or Turks in other parts of New Zealand. It was also decided that the Minister of Defeuco (Hon. James Allen) be waited on by a deputation to urge that if these men are not to be allowed to work on the wharves, employment should be found for them elsewhere. This step was decided upon, as it was considered that the _ present method penalised the men's wives and families. It is stated that of late about a dozen Gorman, Austrian, and Turkish members of the Whnrf Labourers' Union have been dismissed from their employment. Several of the dismissed men aro married—all of them to English \yomen—and havo families to be provided for. One of the men who lost his employment fought in the Maori War, another lias a son in the Territorials, and two havo 6ons with the Expeditionary Forces. At a meeting of tbo Wharf Labourers' Union, Mr. I l '. Curtice presiding, it was decided that the Waterside Workers' Hand should be taken over by tho union, and three members of the union were elected to tho Band Committee. Mossrs. C. W. Webber, T. Brindlo, and I M. Green were elected to represent the ' union on the Labour Representation Committee. Messrs. E. Brigden, W. Yonng, and W. Green were elected the representatives, of the stovedoro section I on the union executive. The total subscriptions received by the Hiiwke's Bay division of the British j Medical Association, with the assistance of the Hawke's Bay Automobile Association, towards providing motor at the front, amount to '.•jrfOO. Six motor ambulances will bo ordered through the High Commissioner, who will be instructed to place them at tho disposal of tho Imperial authorities for immediate use, but. Inter .to be, attached to the New Zealand forces oil their arrival in Europe — l Press Msnniatjotv

At the annual meeting of the Wellington Freezing Workers' Union, held la6t evening, at Petone, tlie following resolution was carried: "That this meeting of workers protests against tli9 inactivity of the Government in preventing the extraordinary rise in the price of foodstuffs, and calls upon its members to attend a mass meeting of protest, to be held in the Town Hall to-morrow evening." During the evening tlio followiug officers were elected: —President. Mr. J. Smith; vice-presi-dent, Mr. G. Pack wood; secretary, Mr. M. J. Reardon; treasurer, Mr. A. Bowden. At Thursday night's meeting of tho Wellington Cit,y Council, Councillor M. F. Luckie will move: —"That a poll of the ratepavers shall be taken at the earliest possible date to decide whether or not the council shall revert to the principle of rating on annual values in lieu of the present system of rating on unimproved values." Our Wanganui correspondent states that at a meeting of the Wanganui Harbour Board an interesting letter was received by the board from its dredgemaster, Mr. C. J. Swann, who is supervising the building of the boards' now dredge at Paisley, Scotland. Writing under date December 14; Mr. Swana stated that the hull was now plated, the 1 boilers well advanced, and the engine parts were beiug assembled. Owing to the rush of work for war purposes, skilled labour for the work in private yards was very scarce, added to which was tho fact that 100 of the contractors' men bad joined the colours. Under the circumstances, however, the work was - proceeding satisfactorily, though the contractors had notified him that the handicaps referred to would prevent them from having the dredge conmleted in anything like the time specified. The board accented the latte'*. and resolved that the engineer and secretary draft and send a letter to the contractors pointing out that tbe progress of the board's" works iargelv depended on tho dredge, and askiiin them, to push ahead as fast as possible Married men in Canada, says Miss Lefroy, hon. secretary of the British Women's Emigration Association aro not allowed to join the expeditionary contingents without the consent of their wives. Of the married men who wish to volunteer, 40 per cent, had received that permission. A belated request for a "Standard" ccrtificato was received last evening by, the council of the New Zealand Amateurl Athletic Association. The applicant was J. M. Millard, who said that at the Australasian championship meeting in 1911 ho cleared 21ft. sin. in the long jump, and that if the standard for the event was 21ft. lie was entitled to a certificate. The case is being investigated. Eight applications for reinstatement to tho amateur ranks were considered, by the council of the New Zealand Amateur Athletic Association last evening. Reinstatement was granted to Robert S. Kirk, A. W. Tresidor, C. France, and W. D. Boreham. B. R. M'Kernan was advised to apply again in 1916; C. E. Falkner was referred to the New South Wales Association; and. A. D. Lynch was referred to the Swimming Associa<tion. Adaptation to circumstances is a deBirable thing, but it puzzles one' to guess exactly how the adaptation was performed in the case of a popular melodrama advertised in the current issue of the "Stage." Tho piece is called"Margaret—Rod X Nurse," but the authoress professes to be willing to allow it to be performed under its old (and presumably pre-war) title of "Married to the Wrong Woman." Presently we shall learn that "East Lynne 1 ■ has beon renamed "With the Huns to Liege." The English word which has most impressed the Belgians, writes "E.," is "swank," and they use it frequently and very enthusiastically. Verhaeren himself has been heard to speak of "swankers," and the other evening, when I dined at a house where a Belgian lady was a guest, I heard her use "swank" and "swanker" at least half-a-dozen times, laughing very gaily as she did so. There is, it appears, a German word somewhat similar to "swank" with something of tho samo meaning. One of the minor results of the war,, according to women, is the increase m tho good manners of men, and this, they allege, is due to the soldiers. Before the war, they say, women frequently bad to stand in tubes and trams while men sat. Now a woman entering a. crowded carriage is almost embarrassed by the number of men who rise to offer seats 1 to her. It was the soldiers who began this return to courtesy. The women vow that you will never see a woman standing in any vehicle in which there is a soldier sitting, and the effect on the civilian males has been contagious. This result is very odd when one remembers that many nave always associated war with t a hardening of manner and a coarsening of nature. The Otago Central irrigation works which the Government opened recently have provided employment for quite a number of men, but it was reported yesterday that thero aro vacancies for more. Tho mysterious foreigner known aa Lndmit Gromica, who has so far apparently baffled the police as to Ilia real identity and nationality, again appeared in the Magistrate's Court yesterday charged with being idle and disorderly, with insufficient means of support. He had to be again remanded. Inspector Hendrey oxplained that sine® Gromica had been before the Court different foreigners had unsuccessfully; endeavoured to converse with nun inPortuguese, Spanish, Italian. German, and Russian. "l am perfectly sure ha understands English," said in tho inspector, "yet he won't converse with anyone. A man who saw him yesterday states that he Temembers Gromica as working in Wellington some years ago." To all ihis Gromica remained in a state of placid unconcern, and said nothing at all. He is to appear before tho Court on Monday next, when the medical report as to his mental condition will probably be forthcoming. A young girl of 18 years appeared before Mr. X). G. A. Cooper, S.M., in tho Magistrate's Court yesterday charged with the theft of a gold wrist- ; let watch valued at £5. Chief Detoo--' tive Boddam said the girl was more to, bo pitied than anything else, while this s was. her first lapse. The Magistrate said he was sorry to see such a young <nrl charged with theft; ho would giva her another chance, however, and convict and order hor to como up for sentenco when callcd upon.