LOCAL AND GENERAL

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2454, 6 May 1915, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

The Prime Minister (the Rielit Hon. VV; F. M.issey) returns from llie King Country this morning, -and will rocoivo a deputation from Canterbury producers, presenting the Farmers' Union, the A. and P. Association, and also Ashburton and.South Canterbury. Tim members of the deputation arrive from the south this morning. • Tho date for the election of the chairman of the Harbour Board has not yet been fixed. This cannot, lie done until after the Chief Returning Oflicer (Mr. James Ames) has officially announced the result of the election of the City members. The position is the same in iwjjnrd tt l the fwent'lllJi-lh of Mo,vel' i%. euuttcillersi

At 3 p.m. to-morrow an interesting litcie ceremony will tako place in the grounds of the Roseneath School. It may be remembered that in December last the school organised a carnival in aid of the Belgian Fund, whereby the Bum of £100 was raised. In recognition of this effort the Belgian Consul (the Hon. C. J. Johnston) presented the school with a Belgian (lag. During the visit of tho Plimmer-Hall Comedy Co. it was thought that more money might bo raised by the selling of tho flag by auction. Miss Beatrico Dnv officiated as auctioneer, and the sum of £67 was raised thereby, the flag ultimately being bought back by Messrs. C. Smith, H. N. Liardet, J. Fuller, and C. Palliser, all residents of the districts. After the Bale tlm desire was expressed that Miss Day should formally hoist the flag in the school grounds, which act she has consented to do to-morrow afternoon. A new record in Zoo receipts was established for tlie raoiith of April. During that month the sum 0f.£127 7s. 6d. was taken at tho gates. When it is remembered that this amount is made up ou a threepenny charge (for adults only), and that no charge for ■ admission is made on Sundays, tlie deduction is that the people of Wellington are becoming slive to the fine attraction which exists at Newtown Park. A highly commendable reform has been instituted b.y the Electric Light Department ol the City Council this month in regard to its form of account. Hitherto householders and others using electricity for lighting as well as for heating have received two separate accounts printed on red and yellow paper respectively. The new form of account makes provision on the one form for charges under both . headings, as well as for goods, repairs, and meter rents. A further improvement included in the new form is a new column, which shows the net- amount paid after the discountis deducted, and another is that the connection number for both lighting and heat is tlie same with the addition of the letter A after the number, to idem ntv tlie heating account in the books. J he new form has brought about allevi ations in the system of book-keeping, but the net Tesult will mean a savins in time and labour as well as in the amount of printing needed.

01; not- an apprentice is entitled to receive nis wages when absent Irom work, because of sickness not due to his own fault, was the question Mr. V' V' -kettle, S.M., was called upon to decide at Auckland on Thursday. Messrs. G. Fraser and Sons were charged at the suit of the Investor of Awards with having failed to par an apprentice for a fortnight when lie" was aixay sick. Counsel for the defendants said according to the custom of the engineering trade, the wages were not paid in cases of sickness not the result of the nature of the employment. Mr. Kettle said the award was* clear that, ill cases of sickness not brought about by default of the apprentice, lie was entitled to be paid. The defendants quite honestly thought they were not entitled to pay, such wages. It was, however, evidently a breach of the award, and a penalty of 20s. would meet the case.-' Counsel said the back wages would be paid.

The Rev. R. E. Davies, of Knox I-Church, Dunedin. in a sermon on drink and tho war, said he regretted that tho Temperance Party in New Zealand had abandoned the reduction issue and gone for a more sweeping policy, for wLieh the country was not prepared. During recent years, in consequence, 'we had not reduced one license, in the Dominion. It was worthy of note that this policy was suggested by the Liquor Party. The preacher said he was convinced that there was an appetite for alcoholic drink in this country that would defeat any Prohibitipn law. They bad largely forsaken the old method of persuasion x and that of education for the easier one of legislative prohibition. 11l spite of all efforts, the tide of inebriety remained high and constant, and it oven threatened to rise. "Why," asked Mr. Davies, "should we not be willing tn do wh.it we can, because we cannot do all we would?"

A exhibition of patient good naturo was exhibited at Auckland on Thursday evening by a large audience which assembled at the usual time to witness the first production of a comedy performance at His Majesty's Theatre, states the "New Zealand Herald." The company of entertainers announced to appear travelled from Gisborno by- the Westralia, and did not arrive alongside the wharf until nearly 9 p.m. Meantime the audience' was notified of the contretemps, and the people wcro informed that if they would wait the performance would duly bo given. The great majority acquiesced, and sat where they were, a small minority deciding to leave and go again another iiight. At about 9 p.m. tho first member of the company arrived per taxi-cab, and he was followed at close intervals by the others. An interested group cf theatregcers stood out-" side the Arcade, watclmig one motor after another dash up and unload perturbed and breathless persons carrying handbags and portmanteaux, none of whom knew the way to the back of the stage, but all of the.n eventually reached that haven. Stage hands were busy for half an hour in commandeering odd articles of furniture wherewith to dress the stage. Then the orchestra played five selections, and as the hands of the clock pointed to 9.30 p.m. the audience, grown just a little restive, cheered to see the curtain rise at last. A wireless message cancelling the performance was handed in on tho Westralia about '1 p.m., but it did not reach the company's agents until after 8 p.m.; and the members of the company—most of who'ni had suffered greatly from seasickness—did not know that they were expected to play until the stormdelayed steamer was berthed in Auckland.

A gentleman at present in Hamilton has received an iftteresting letter from a nephew,»who is a middy on board the Queen Elizabeth, giving details of that vessel's departure from Portsmouth for the Dardanelles. The writer states (says the Auckland "Star") that the greatest secrecy was observed as to the new guns on this vessel, and care was taken to mislead German spies. At the time of tho vessel leaving Portsmouth it was thought that Portsmouth was surrounded by a flotilla of German submarines, therefore every precaution was taken to secure the safety of the Queen Elizabeth. In the darkness she slipped out, surrounded by 50 vessels, filled with German prisoners, and nothing further was heard of her until she readied tho Dardanelles.

All is not gold that glitters, says the "Otago Daily Times," referring to tha olcsing; of the King's Pictures, and tho i eduction of prices at the picture theatre in the Octagon which suggested an inquiry. Interrogated by a representative of' tiie paper, a gentleman in a position to place a finger on the pulse of the moving picture business likened kinema speculation, to <i mining boom. "Everybody save tho shareholder will tell you that the picture business is tho royal road to fortune." People go to Hie picturo theatre on a busy night, and oblivions to such mere circumstances as the thin houses on other nights, llu' heavy weoldv expenses, with the possibility of a high fluty to come on films, discover a veritahlo goldmine. Tho pioncors of the enterprise made big money. The. inevitable followed, nntu Dunedin had six picturo palaces, with a viiudovill? house, a theatre for tho passing show, and rumours of several additional kmoma theatres to contend for a sir,ne of business in what is recognised as an indifferent show town. Tho pinch, accentuated by diminished patronage on account of war conditions, was already being felt pretty generally in the picture business. And the end of i< ? The informant summed it up in wriis—tlw survival of thu atvcjt,

The members of the Plimmer-Hatf Comedy Company will pass through Wellington to-morrow, on route for ' the south. The sale of tickets on tie tramcars in aid of the Belgian Fund is to be started in Auckland. Special tickets are being provided with the Belgian colours, and containing a statement that if every; person boarding an Auckland car bought cne of these tickets the sum of £3000 would be raised every week for the fund. All the expenses in connection with the scheme are being paid by the Auckland Tramways Company. Notices will bo displayed in the cars inviting passengers to "buy a- penny Belgian, ticket," and tho conductors will can-" vass for contributions so far as their opportunities permit. All the tickets will be numbered, and tho proceeds .of the scheme will bo regularly paid into the Acting-Consul's fund. Some weeks ago it was announced that the question of fixing the proportion of cost to the.five contributing local bodies for the maintenance of the JJ&wpipe bridge over the Hutt River, had been held over peuding a meeting of the engineers of the local _ authorities con-i cerued. On inquiry being nrade yesten day it was ascertained that the confer« encs of engineers had not yet been and, like most things connected with the work, the allocation of the ooefc was still in abeyance.