LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2403, 8 March 1915, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The Postal authorities advise that tho s.s. Maheno, which sailed from Sydney on March 3 for Auckland, is bringing Australian mails, and also an English mail via Suez. R.M.S. Niagara, which sailed from Suva on March 4, is bringing English and Americau mails via Vancouver. The Wellington portion of these mails is expected to come forward by , tho Main Tmnk express on Monday, next..

Arthur Rottmarm, condemned .to death for the murder of Joseph M'Cann, Lucy Mary M'Cann, and John Joseph M'Cann (an infant) at Ruahine on December 28 last, will be executed at the Terrace Gaol at 8 o'clock this morning.

As several boys on board the Govern-* ment training ship, Amokura have about finished their apprenticeship, the following new boys will join the vessel this week; —R. B. Stanlake, of Kaikoura ; P. C. Laing, Waitara; N. H. Sollitt, Palmerston North; L. H. Seevers, Hastings : I. R. Murrell, Wellington. The Amokura will leave 'Wellington towarda the latter end of this week for a cruise ill, Cook Strait; so that the new boyß can yet their "sea legs" before tho vessel proceeds to the outlying southern islands of New Zealand.

In order to provide for the new road which follows the tramway track from Upper Willis Street to Brooklyn,'a strip of land will have to he acquired on the Ohiro Boad side of the junction of that thoroughfare and the new road, and probably another strip off Scager's corner.

A polico party, headed by Sergeant Kelly, of the. Manners Street Station, paid a surprise visit to premises in Holland Street, off Tory Street, yesterday, and seized a quantity of liquor. It is understood that several prosecutions will follow as a result .of the raid. -

The 1915 session of tho Victoria University College will open on Monday, March 22, .when the chairman of the Professorial Board wijl address new students in the gymnasium at 5.15 p.m., and the teaching staff will meet classes.

Whilst walking along the . beach at Paekakariki at about 4.30 p.m. on Saturday, Mr. E. E. Dryden, of Karori, wit* neSsfid a very fine spectacle in the form of a waterspout, which must have been, he thinks, between 400 ft. and 500 ft. in height. The sight was" witnessed just' at the time the brief southerly storm passed through Cook Strait, and it was then travelling northwards just out of the southern extremity of Kapiti Island.; The top of the spout was lost in a lowlying cloud, but half-way down it had a milky-white' aspect, and blackcoloured again near the sea. As he watched the phenomenon, it appeared to disperse, the final dissolution resembling the eifect of a submarine explosion.

A decision is to be arrived at this evening as to what means will be taken to dispose of the seven aores of patriotic potatoes, whioh are now ready for digging, at Island Bay.

The familiar blue slip receipt sent out to depositors of money in tne Government Savings Bank as soon as it passes through the books has been, dispensed with. In its place is now issued a narrow white, slip (one of a duplicate), with the name of the depositor, his address, account number,' and the amount' deposited neatly typewritten in the columns provided for tho purpose. When the slip is folded in half the name and address is visible through a "windowed" envelope. By the old process an erw velope was unnecessary.

Meagre particulars of an exciting in-< cident which occurred at tho camp of the Canterbury infantry at Zeitoun, Egypt, are contained in recent letters from Marlborough soldiers (says th» "Press"). It is stated that the horseß attached to a transport wagon stampeded, and in-their mad .career passed over Captain G. C. Griffiths's tent. An orderly, who was inside the tent, had one log fractured, and. several of Captain Griffiths's belongings wero brokon.

"A pile of bricks drying in tho sun with the ends of tho straw sacking out reminded one of the Jewish captivity,' • writes a soldier from Egypt. The women, too, with their graceful garments trailing in all kinds of dirt, and with pitcherg of water on their heads, are strangely, familiar. They are also very industrious, washing clothes in tho canal, dyeing the black cloth, which is tho unU versal feminine colour, weaving baskets, working in the fields, grinding corn, and generally keeping things going. Many New Zealand enthusiasts would get an awful shock if they sajv the way they bring up babies here. The poor littla things are not washed.from- the day. they are born until they are twelve months old, and thoir faces are usually covered with flies. They, don't seem to mind, but eye diseases and blindness are very common as a result.' 1

According to the Inspector of Factories, trade in the ; Napier and Hastings districts has shown an improvement during the past month.—Special correspondent.

Four Russians have enlisted in Auckland since the .commencement of the war. The price of the 21b. loaf will be raised, to od. in Dunedin from to-day. An inquest touching the death of Minnie M'Neill, who died at tho Hospital on Friday while undergoing an operation for the removal of her false teeth, : which she had swallowed, will bo held at 4 p.m. to-day. •. It was probably with recollections of ,ii disaster which overtook the Central Mission. Baud at a swimming carnival a year or so ago that a constable at last -Saturday's, swimming carnival peremptorily ordered off the roof of one of tho dressing-sheds a crowd of troopers enjoying a privileged view of the proceedings. "The shed Tvon't bo able to stand it," shouted tho constable to the men ; "get off at once." There ivas a precipitate retreat from the roof in question by the major portion of tho troopers, who viewed tho remainder of tho carui- , ral. from a loss elevated position. The incident alluded to at the opening of the paragraph, was when the staging on which the band'was playing collapsed, and bandsmen, musio, and instruments were made to form a struggling and motley collection in the water below. A new road has been planned by the City Engineer to connect Brooklyn with the southern end of Yogeltown, through an area of land excellently suited for settlement. This " road is ; splendidly graded, and nowhere is it steeper than one in fifteen, so that, if the future makes demands, it would be a good road for the extension' of the Brooklyn tramway to Newtown by way of . Vogeltown. A few days ago the plans were passed on. to the local residents "for suggestions," and 1 it is said that there exists a marked diversity of opinion as to whether or not the route outlined, by the City Engineer should be agreed to.