LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2428, 6 April 1915, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

A charge of having sold whisky without a license was made against Albert Henry Williams in tlie S.M. Court yesterday morning. Williams admitted the allegation, and the police stated that the liquor was sold to Constable A. H. Barhes. inspector Hendrey said tlfat ho understood that Williams -had stated that there was already a conviction against him, and sentence was deferred till Friday in order that the past might be investigated.

In the course of an interesting letter to a friend .at Linwood, Christchurch, says an exchange, a marine on board a warship says that "his veteel was down at Cocos Island for six days, and that the writer was aboard the wreck of the Emden every day. The divers were looking for a torpedo. ''I ain pleased to say they got one all complete. We had a hard job cetting it out of the submerged torpedo flat, and there were a lot of dead German sailors down there, and when the divers stirred things up it was very disagreeable. We also got two of her euns. One is going to England with the torpedo, and the other is going to Australia as a' curio. Another thing we got was a searchlight and 6000 Chinese dollars, and some good sets of doctor's instruments. The torpedo is worth £800 or £900. We had a cablegram from the Admiralty praising U6 for the work we had done. Our captain was so pleased he gave us 36 hours' leave."

The men of Expeditionary Force now on leave to visit their friends and relatives in the north will return to camp by a special train which left Auckland' last night. This train, which it was expected would consist of ten carriages, will arrive here about 7.85 o'clock to-night. Steps will be made at wayside stations to pick up other soldiers on leave. The railway authorities are making arrangements to take the train complete to Trentham the Game evening. The men's leave expires at. midnight to-night.

Sixty-seven years of age, and apparently homeless, Richard Dunn from the dock of the Magistrate's Court yesterday morning declined an offer of accommodation in the Ohiro Home, He said that he was active enough to work, but the police, who deemed him to be an incorrigible rogue, said that investigations had proved that Dunn did not live at the address lie had given them. The Court informed the aged defendant, that his address for the next three months would be Terrace Gaol.

Attempts 'are >6till being made in South Africa to stir up feeling against the British rule, writes a Pretoria correspondent ,to an es-London resident in Wellington, A mischievous and anonymous circular, typed in English (he says), has been circulated amongst. Dutch farmers in the Stellenbosch district (Cape Province) to the .effect that the' British Government is making arrangements to send to South Africa one million Belgium refugees with a view tq. establishing in South Africa a powerful British party to counterbalance the Boer element. A similar circular has' been published in Pretoria. The Mayors of both towns have decided to take steps to discover the identity of the perpetrators of the statements. Mr. Merriman, one. of v the most farseeing Dutchmen in South, Africa, points out the Belgian delegates who have been visiting the sub-continent are so opposed to leaving their country that' he has not, been able to discuss the matter with them. Personally he much regretted that such useful people ooulu not be got for South Africa.

Allegations of an aggravated assault on two women were made against Charles Dickson in 'the Magistrate's Court yesterday morning. Dickson, it was . said, had gone to the house of Alice Jones and Rose Tynan, and they had tried to ejeot him. One woman declared that her arm was badly hurt, and the other that Dickson had kicked her. .Dickson pleaded guilty to the charge, but said that he. had neither struck nor kicked either of the women. His penalty w'as three months' imprisonment. ' ' .

Bowlers have a sprightly way of doing their share • in contributing to the fund for the relief of the Belgians. Although they may not have followed the recent example set by the King and Lord Kitchener, they are nevertheless a loyal set of rnon who realise their obligations, and meet them, cheerfully. Whilst the Belgian Fund Pairs Tournament was in progress on Saturday afternoon, some Feilding visitors, who had succeeded in lowering the\cokmrs of tho Wellington Club in a two-rink "friendly," and a number .of other bowlers.adjourned to the Wellington Club's pavilion to say "Good-bye,, and whilst the little ceremony was in progress a conspicuously old -and shot-shattered Panama hat Worn by one of the visitors attracted some attention. Tinder the impression that -somebody might like to possess this relic of other days, the'hat was. lifted from the head of its owner, and'before ho could realise it was being sold by auction for the Belsian Fund. The anoient remnant was sold over and over again, and when the purchases were totalled it wag found that the sum of £8 Is. had been realised for the Fund. • And after all the old hat goes back with its owner to Feilding little the worse for its little trip to'- the pire City.

Thfe Waiwakaiho River (New Plymouth) rose very rapidly as a result.of heavy rain towards Mount Egmont on Friday morning.'A party camped on tile banks Bome distance above the Meeting of the Waters heard a roar about 9 a.m. and anticipating a big rise in the river went out to investigate,, when they saw a Bolid bank of water several feet hi|*h coming down.' For an hour or two the river ran bank-high, and then it fell almost as rapidly as it rose. ■