LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2397, 1 March 1915, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

.When the Tainui, which arrived from Loudon on Saturday, wqs in port at Santa Cr"is; there were a large number of German ships interned there. Some of the passenger were still-on boarcj the passenger steamers. I'he Salvation Army's War Reliof and Kmergeney Fund, which a week ago otood nt £3000, roacbod £11,000 on Saturday.

As the Biverina did not leave Sydney until Ihursday of last week, she will not loach Auckland uufcil to-day, and in consequence the small English mail and the Australian mail she is bringing will itpt arrive in \Y Ellington until to-morrow morning, it should reach Thorndon by the Main Trunk at'6.2(i a.m. £a trick's Pay, • Wednesday, March ce^e^r . a ted in Wellington by a big sports meeting bo be held in Newtown. Park. The celebntion will be continued in the evening, when a national concert will be held in the Town Hall. Messrs. i'arquhar Young., James Jago, Miss Miklrcd Wrighton, Miss " Agnes WJJ'ef, and Miss Teresa. H'iilnroe"will, contribute towards the programme. "Hie collection to' be taken up in. the streets of the City to-day will he in ai'l ot the Belgiau women, who cave suffered by the. German invasion. These poor creatures are said to be in uigcnb need of help, and it is hoped that there will bo a liberal response from all classes.

A concert in aid of the War Fund was given in Levin on Friday last by the boys of the Wereroa Trailing Faun, and was a great success. It is erpetcted that the sum of from £25 to £30 will be handed to the rund. r he d-iiferent items were as under, with .'director gxyeii in parentheses:—Musical rtenu by the boys' band and physical exercises by the schoolboys (under tha direction of Lieut. Herd) j bayonet exercises (Sergt. Hyden); boys 1 choir (Mr fi. Hmton); dumbbell exercises (Mr Marryatt), pipe band (Sergt. Asher), and sword exercises (Sergt. Lorrigan). Count Rene De Montaigu, who ii A o rem be r la§t ypas adjudged bpnkrnpt on his own petition at Rotorua, wa£ committed for trial at Hamilton. 6i Saturday on two charges under the Bankruptcy Act. It was shown in evidence that' Montaigu had an. income oi £68 per month, but was living at th< ■rate of £200. The estate °''< n pay ss. m the pound at the outside.—Press Association. Shortly after 9 o'clock on Saturday night a fir© broke, out in a shed at the back of a house at ,18 Tennyson Street, and quickly spread to the main building. The Central Fixe Brigade soon after arrival had the out break in hand, and prevented the fin spreading to the next house, which waf only a few' feet away. The back portion of tie house in which tie fire started wa6 badly damaged. The occupier was Mr. John Jepson, and the premises were used as a boardinghouse! The owner is Mrs. N. Austin Boulcott Street. Insurances were £501 on the building, in the Atlas office, anc £150 on the furniture, personal effects and piano, in the Queensland office. At the send-olf to the Expeditionary Reinforcement draft, says a Press Assu ciation telegram from Westport, it wai stated that so many men had enlistee from the collieries that the Westpor Coal Company might have to close on< of its mines owing to shortness of la bour. The pay-sheets show a reduc tion of £500 fortnightly., Forty-fou Territorials from the mines were sum moned. to go ; into camp next month, bu as this, exodus would about stop truck mg work entirely, the 1 men are to b divided between the " March and'Ma; camp. Of a country football tear which toured the district last winter thirteen enlisted,, and seven other mem bers of the club are to follow. Th West Coast's contribution to the force is the largest in proportion to popula tion in the Dominion. ' Speakers a the send-off contrasted the practica patriotism jf the coal'miners with thi allegations of disloyalty made agains them by a portion of the outside Pres during the strike. ! The sum of' £10 was collected by ft Waterside Workers' Band at Newtow Park yesterday afternoon for the re lief of a distressed family. Early last evening the launch Tan: wha, with a party including eome lac ies, was noticed off tho Petone Whar apparently in difficulties owing to somi mishap. Messrs. Fra-ser and Jenkin: attempted, ■" with the aid of anothe: launch, to assist, but failed owing t< her ignition giving out, and both craf were for a time in danger of beinj driven ashore. Some friends of thi party on the Taniwha, however, sue pecting that something was wrong a she had not returned to the Boat Hai i tour at the time expected, journeye to Petone in the Resolution, where th | Taniwha was picked up near the shore She was towed back to her moorings a the Boat Harbour, arriving there short l.y after 11 p.m. Messrs. Eraser arn Jenkins also managed to return t< Petone. The work of digging, bagging, am sending to market the "war potatoes' grown at Lower Hutt is well unde: way, and the crop so far exceeds all es pectations. A plot opposite the Belli Vue Gardens, wnich was the first lam I planted, has been relieved of 9 tons c first-class tubers, many of which weig | lib., and some considerably more. A this rate the yield will be 10 tons to th acre, but some plots 'are expected b experts to return from 12 to 15 tons whilst that at Mason's' Gardens wil probably outdo that quantity. The com mittee appointed to deal with the worl —Messrs. Baldwin, Burns, and Allen and other volunteers—have'\ worked in defatigably, but a certain amount o expense was incurred where labour wa employed, and remembering that up wards of 8 acres of land were planted it speaks well for the residents tha the expenditure vras not heavy. Th potatoes, are ser,t to those merchant who donated the seed, and aro sold a £6 per ton. The committee conside that if £5 per ton is cleared, under thi circumstances the sum of £200 shoule bft gathered.' The scheme was organised solely for local distress, but a; there is practically none in the dis trict, it is probable that the committe< will dispose of the fund in some othei 'direction. At Petone an area of lane under potatoes is to bo dug, and the potatoes stored this week, it being the intention of the council to distribute the crop where any cases of distres: may h>. • Four bankruptcies have been notified in Wellington during the past tw< months. For tho corresponding period of last year tho number was two. During February there were recorded in Dunediu 140 births, 73 deaths, ane 36 marriages. In February; 1914, the figures were 160 births, 62 deaths, anc 55 marriages. The net Customs returns for the month totalled £31,151 os. 9d. TJje February figures were £30,792 ss. 4d. The. beer duty for Febru ary totalled £3291 175., as agains £3046 4s. 10d. in February last year.Press Association, 1 Tho Union Company has replaced th< firemen who refused to work on the Komata, and the vessel left Aucklanc for Westport on Friday evening. ■ If the universal Saturday afternooi holiday is carried at the April poll, Fri day will become the late night for re tail shoppers. This was pointed out ai the annual meeting of the Royal Wei lington Choral Society by Mr. J. R. Burley, stated that a good propor tion of their members were employee in shops. In view of that contingency Mr. Burley suggested, end finally moved, that the practice night of the society be changed from Friday to Thursday night. The motion was about to bo.put when the chairman stated that it was a pity to tie the committeo down J particular night. If the Saturday half-holiday wore carried, they could depend that the society would make the best' arrangements possible for rehearsals. The members of the National 1 Reserve are to undergo drill in the bar•ack yard at Buoklc Street to-morrow 3vcning. ltiiles will bo provided 011 the ground. The gold returns from the various nines' in Auckland province for the nonth of February amounted to £54,181 17s. lOd. To this aniount the Ohiuenuri field contributed £52,654, and the I'hames field £1437.—Press Association.

It is stated that the Wellington Harbour Board has decided to formally lecogni&o tho Wellington Harbour Division of the St. John Ambulance Brigade. The' Wharves and Accounts Committee, has also decided 'to make an annual donation of £25 to the funds of fhe 1 ' division, to pay examination'fees for. all members of the board's permanent] ptaff passing the first-aid examinations,-; and to allow the division free use of all: ambulance stores and supplies at pre-! scut in the board's possession. A prao-i tico meeting has beaj arranged for' Friday, March 12, and lectures will bei held about the end of March. Although the Shaw-Savill liner Tajnui was tivo days late in leaving London for Wellington) it is said that she was fortunate in not being further delved, It appears that there is a great) shortage of labour at the London dockß,! thousands of the regular hands are! saitt to be m France, either in the fight* nig line or else working in transports.' The difficulty about the supply off marbkmm Sandy Bay, Nelson, ¥r tha t Parliament Buildings has not yei? A ?' llas already "beem < f CII ii. - 6tone siPpUed! % 6 , q , U ? rnos not been.' pawed by the Public Works Enpinoer. \vno is superintending tho erection' of ? building. Small pieces of stona 'inplenty, but big " b.ocks without faults required for 6peeial have apparently been' unobtainable. Tk ls h aß delayed the build-: mg *ork considerably. The Minister of Puhnc Works has now authorised iieasra. G. W. Morgan (Director of Geological Survey), F. W. Furkert (Inspecting Engineer), and J. D. LoucK (District Engineer for Wellington, who is in onargo of the works) to proceed) to Sane j- Bay and report upon, tie pospbiiity of getting marble of a suitabla qua-ity from the quarries. .

. 'i'h? Government Printing Office build, mg is to bo considerably increased in suso by the estocsiou of tke .rear portion: gf the building out to the Featherstott Street frontage. 'lie extension will consist of three 'stories and a"basemeri.L and the roof, which' it' is intended may : for recreation* piirposes, will'be nst, Gnrronnded by a, high'parapet. Ther • completed building , will cover almost the whole of thesblock on which it now: addition will .make possible the introduction of the machinery necessary .to make_ the establishment: one of the best printing houses m the; Southern Hemisphere. Tenders are tx>~ mg called for the new building, ' , Hie first excursion of the Wellington-' Field Naturalist' Club was held at WilJ ton's Bush on Saturday afternoon. Al--though the weather was threatening); fifteen enthusiastic members put in an; appearance. Before commencing tho tour of the buslr, Dr. L. Cockayne,, I'-R-S., the president of the club, gave! a short address, stating briefly-the na- 1 ture of the bush about to be tolled,.' and what was of special interest in it,i The tour of the bush was then begun. Plant after plant,, tree after tree, fern after fern was identified, and the peculiarities of each pointed out by the president. The remarkable variations in the forms of certain plants were! specially pointed out and noted. Under. special permit from the Minister in Charge of Scenery Preservation, soma natural history specimens were collected for reference and for the establishment of an herbarium.

Harvest festival services were held t at the Vivian Street Citadel of the Sal* j vation Army yesterday, and there were s large congregations at the three ser. , vices, which were conducted by Briga- ' dier Gist. The decorations were a> ranged by Adjutant and Mrs. Bladin, assisted bv the local officers aud sole diery. Brigadier Gist gave a stirring i address in the morning on the "Barren, - Fig Tree," and another in the afternoon on ' 'Ruth Gleaning. 1 ' He again - gave an appropriate address in the . evening. The' services were of a very ' beany "character, and were rendered, i the more inspirational by selections by; the kind, and the city songsters, under Major Colledge. Nugget Bay fishermen are now utilising the tongue of the groper, eaid to be, a great Maori delicacy, as an article of"' sale (says the Balchtha "Free Press)., Hitherto the tongue has beea cast awajj: with the head; but it may ba that the, ; increased demand for iish, 1 upon the "war" prices ruling for meat, ' has caused the fishermen to utilise what in the past has been wasted. Hie Dnnedin correspondent of an exchange telegraphs that a certain industrial union voted a sum of money to the Labour Representation ' Committer towards the expenses of the Labour candidates at the recent elections,Later it was determined to make a levy on the members to make good the amount voted. This is now objected to by a member of the union, who claims that the payment was ultra vires, and he is suing the executive to recover the money expended, and tak« ing proceedings against the union to restrain it from preceding with the Dunedin levy. The case will come k* fore the Supreme Court. Mr. D. B. M'Laren, who has ed to Christchurch from a visit to Tas* mania, states that affairs are fairly! prosperous in that country. There has been a very good yield of fruit, especially apples and apricots, ■ and as thi3 is one of the principal articles of* export it will bring, in a large amount of revenue. Mr. M'Laren was surprised at the extent <j{ some of the ot4 chards, at the care bestowed upon thei trees, and at tho thoroughness with' which tho work of tho industry wai undertaken. At one place he saw 36® acres in apples. One contract forj jams and preserves for the Army andj iSavy, just completed, represented; £20,000. i In the interview with Mr. Arthur) Alexander in Friday's issue of The Dominion mention was cursorily mada that when studying in Wellington under Mr. Mauchan Barnett he was afraid ha had not learnt very much. As soma people may have gained the impression that the reference reOected on the teaching _ ability of Mr. Barnett, it should be explained that nothing was further from Mr. Alexander's thoughts. Ths sentence should' have implied that Alexander did. not learn as much as he should, confessedly through his own; fault, under so able a teacher as Mr* Maughan Barnett.