LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2411, 17 March 1915, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Tlie Telegraph Office advise that from Ist proximo the cable rate to the United Kingdom via Eastern will bo reduced as follows:—Ordinary, 2s, Bd. per word; deferred, Is. 4d.; British Government, Is 4id. The rate for week-end messa.gos is also reduced to Bd. per word frith a minimum of 13s. 4d., hut weekend messages via Eastern are not to be, accepted until the company notify resumption of the week-end service. It is not the intention of the Minister of Education to call _ for applicants -at once to fill tho position of Director Of Physical Training, rendered vacant by the sudden death of Mr. JHoyd Garlick. Tho office duties in connection with the post have devolved on tho Chief Clerk of the Department (Mr. F. K. de Castro). When the time arrives to make such an appointment consideration will be given to medical knowledge of applicants as well as to their ability as instructors of physical training. ■- On Friday next the Mayor (Mr. J. P. Luke), the City Engineer (Mr. W. H. Morton)) and some of the hardiest members of the City Council, intend to explore the bush-clad mountain wilds of Orongorongo. The Object of the excursion—which will mean ono night under canvas—is to inspect tho Orongorongo Stream at that point where it is proposed in the no far distant future to tap the flow as an adjunct to the Wainui supply, via a 172-chain tunnel through a mountain range. The party will proceed as far as possible in motorcars, and then walk. The party will, leave town on Friday morning and re-' turn on Saturday afternoon. Great care is taken to provide against the possibility of secret dispatches from the Imperial Government to the New Zealand Government, which have to bo carried by steamers, falling into the hands of the enemy. They are placed in a special mail bag, and handed over to the custody of tho master of the ship. Tho bag is heavily weighted, and if the capture of the ship appears at any time to bo unavoidable tho captain's instructions are to throw the bag overboard. The heavy weight causes tho bag to sink at once. The dispatchesl are lost, of course, but they would be lost in such circumstances in any event, and if they go to the bottom of the sea they are safe from perusal by any alien enemy or any one else. The hearing of the Wellington Electrical Workers' dispute will be resumed by the Conciliation Council at 10.30 this morning. A scheme for the establishment of a bacteriological laboratory in connection with the Auckland Hospital was approved at a meeting of the board last night, says a Press Association _ telegram. It is proposed to appoint a bacteriologist at a salary of from £600 to £700, the Government paying half the salary. / One French industry that has' grown apace 6ince the beginning of August is the making of those funeral wreaths with which the cemeteries in France are always so primly decorated. Many a soldier's grave is marked to-day only by a cross and a cheap little tricolour waving gloriously in. the transient sunshine, but there is a big demand among those who may bring their lost ones nearer home to rest for the conventional everlasting mourning wreaths. The shop windows are filled with these things and with promises that orders will 'be instantly fulfilled at the workshops. Detectives Mason and Tricklebank arrested a man yesterday on a charge of the theft of a brief bag and contents from the Leviathan Hotel, 'Manners Stieet. Mumm, the champagne people, have been hit pretty badly _bv the war. They are Germans by birth, and three brothers hold commissions in the German Army. When the war broke out one of them, who was in France, was promptly interned, and the. others had to join their regiments. Then the French Government confiscated their property in France, because they were onemies, and the German Government confiscated their property in Germany because theirs was a French business. Among the reasons given in the Juvenile Court, Auckland, as to why the father of a small girl was not a fit and proper person to have control over her, was that he used to send her and her small brother to picture shows two or three timoS a day while he went and got drunk. On occasions, it was stated, he would send the boy With notes to various people for the purpose of borrowing money for drink. The girl had also been kept short of clothes, her garments having been kept in lieu of payment for board by. landladies who were unable to get the .father to pay. In one boardinghousa where they werestaying it was stated that some money was missed, suspicion falling upon the So he forced the boy to sign a confession admitting, that he, and not his father, had stolen the money, whereas the lad had not done so. Among the New Zealanders now on active service with the British Army is Surgeon-Lieutenant A. M'Cutcheon, $on of Mr. William M'Cutcheon, formerly of Auckland, who has been the representative of several New Zealand firms in England during the past few years. Letters from Mr. M'Cutcheon and his son 'have been received by friends in Auckland by the last mail. Writing generally of the war. Mr. M'Cutcheon says: "Eveu yet it seems to me that the general public have not yet realised that we are fighting for our very existence as a nation, and that every man is. wanted if we are to win. Germany also recognises that if she is defeated she is wiped out for good, so she is straining every nerve to beat the Allies. Personally, I have no doubt whatever but that Germany will go wider, but it will be at an awful sacrifice of life. Looking at the matter from a common-sense point of view, I can't see how this present war can go on for any length of time before some decisive battle is fought that will bring matters to a head. The enormous expense of keeping millions of soldiers in the field, and tho carnage that is going on, must quickly solve the issue—to say nothing of the economic pressure oil Germany through our Navy commanding the commerce of tho seas. If Lord Kitchener does not get the number of men lie wants voluntarily he is just the sort of man to insist on compulsion, and quite right, too, I say. I '. An aocideiit befell a young Maori named Rangi Hiroa, residing at Whakarewarewa, last Thursday. He was diving for pennies from tho bridge at the entrance to tho village, and, in accordance witli the usual practice of young Mnon divers at that place, put his takings into his mouth. When he attempted to eject them he involuntarily threw back his head, and one of the coins slipped down his throat. He was taken to the Rotorua Hospital, and an examination by X-ra.vs showed that the penny had been lodged in his aesopliagus. It was decided to send the patient to Auckland for treatment. A special meeting of the Hutt Park Committee will be held to-morrow evening for the purpose nf considering a notice of motion by Councillor Brocklebank to the >ffect that the period of thi Hutt Valley Trotting Club's lease (15 yaai's) b« roooiitidefcd, ,■

The chairman of the Wellington Education Board (tha Hon. J. G. W. Aitken) and the city members of the board (Messrs. Q, JI. Luke, W. H. Field, and Wm. Allan) paid a visit to Lower Hutt yesterday afternoon to inspect the new boundaries consequent on the opening of the school at East Hutt. The cargo of the steamer Wyandotte, from San Francisco, will include a larga consignment of flour, a good deal of which has been ordered for Wellington. The silting up of Oriental Bay—not as a fact, but ae a possible contingency —was referred to at the Rosoneath Ratepayers' Association meeting la6t night. There is a retaining wall round most of the foreshore of tin bay, and near the Kiosk spoil has been tipped behind the wall in fair quantities of late. Some members present at tha meeting expressed the opinion that owing to the absence of a ''return end" to the wall, the spoil was being washed away aiid deposited on the beach ill the bay. It was decided to ask the .City Council to direct that no more spoil be dumped there until the wiill is so'ittiprovd that it will retain it. The meeting also resolved to urge the council to go on with the long-promised improvement in the bay—the construction of tho esplanade. A touching incident occurred, outside the Auckland Magistrate's Court the other day. A case had been heard and adjourned, in which a wife applying for a separation order and maintenance had been telling a fairly lurid stofy of hotelier husband had ill-treated her. Meanwhile a little girl about three years of age, who had been living with her mother since the husband had left home by mutual agreement with his wife, was climbing all over her recovered father, while the complainant was relating what a bad_ man he was. When the (mse was adjourned, the child rati away from her mother calling out "Dad! Dad I" and had finally to be taken away, another road crying bitterly because she was separated from her' father. The Collector of Customß at Wellington has been advised that a launch containing two men is missing from Wellington Harbour. F. Nelson, with E. Sutton and anothor, whose name is not known, left Wellington on March 7 on • a fishing excursion in a steel lifeboat, which originally belonged to the wrecked steamer Devon. J'ho engine broke down just outsido the harbour, and the boat was blown across to the Wairau bar. Repairs were effected there,' and the boat left for Wellington on Saturday last, but has-not arrived as yet. Nelson and Sutton" wero in the boat when she left the Wairau bar, but the other man returned by tho coastal steamer Opawa, 011 March 10. To have a cart laden frith coal crash through one' roof and a heavy draught horse make its entrance through the side of the house into one's bedroom is not, fortunately, a common occurrence. The inmates of a residenco iti Upper MacLa"gan Street, Dunedin, however, had this experience about midday ou Saturday. To facilitate tho delivery of the coal the vehicle had to be backed near a steep embankment, and by some means horse and cart and all toppled on to the rOof. The hor66, falling through the shafts, _ landed in such a position that the side of the house had to be partly removed and the animal taken through the passage and out of the front door. A good deal of damage 'was done to crockery, etc., by the impact, and the inmates received tiio shock of their lives. When a Gisborne gentleman was visiting the Old Country he found he could not induce his friends amongst the farming community to buy frozen meat (says the "Poverty Bay Herald"). His cousin was one of the prejudiced. Since his return the informant sent' Home three carcasses of prime wethers for his relatives, who were interested in charity work, to distribute amongst the needy in the parisb_ for Christmas. He also asked his cousin to oblige him by trying a piece, himself. This he apparently did, for the sender has received a letter from his cousin, who says that tho meat was quite equal to the beet of English mutton. The carcasses were distributed amongst 26 families, who all testified to the excellence of the quality. The gentleman also mentioned that when at Home he invited the same relatives to tea, and, unknowingly, they ate and. praised up frozen lamb, which showed that much of the prejudice against frozen meat Was unjustified.