LOCAL AND GENERAL

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2482, 8 June 1915, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

The Postal authorities advise tliat j the s.s. Moeraki, which is cine from ; Sydney to-day, is bringing Australian < mails onl>. 1 The Postal authorities advise that the 1 s.s. Riverina, which sailed from Sydney ' on June 3 for Auckland, is bringing Australian mails only, the Wellington portion of which is duo per Main Trunk ' express on Wednesday morning. j Tlio by-election for the Hay of Islands j seat is to take place to-day- The Gov- | eminent, cnntlitlale is Jlr. Wm. Stew- | art, of Kawakaiva, and the Opposition , nominee Afr. Geo. Meunios. of Raw one. - The poll will close at (i p.m. t _ j On tlio evenings ot June 'I, 5, and 6 ] a comet lias been wen in the southern j heavens by Mr. li. A. SlacDouald, or j Italcombe. Its brightness enualleu that of a tbir<l imu-Jiitude .-'tar. ami its position was half-wav bolw'oeii the smaller | Magellanic Cloud and Ihe star A'l" 111 Pavonis. Tin; <'omet was quite con- 1 spicuous l<< I,lie naked eye. and should | he. still visible. Very probably its path i lies under Ibe MawHa-.iic Cloud towards < the bright flar Aehernar. On the i tivpniiicK referred to tlio comet poejanaed 1 p. taint, tail, X 1

"I have the waddy to protect myself," explained a witness in the Magistrate's Court yesterday, when taxed ; with having one in his possession. "You i see," continued the witness, who was < the proprietor of a _ lodginghouse, "if i anyone were to strike me, well, then i tho waddy " He left tho sentence j unfinished. "But," he added, "1 would ! not use my waddy off my own premises i —110 (with a significant nod) that would j not be lawful. I have the waddy to protect mypelf; that's the first commandincut—"'look after yourself.' " Later the same witness again showed his thoughtfulness in anothor direction, for when questioned about his having been as- 1 saulted he dived his liand into his coat j pocket, mid after a rustling of tins and 1 other articles, from out ot its depth he ' proudly produced a tooth. "That's ■ what he knooked out when he assaulted ' me," he explained. "Ho knocked out another one, but I don't know where it ' is." .About 500 soldiers who had been on leave to seo their friends arrived back in Wellington on Sunday from various parts of New Zealand. A letter to hand from Masterton reads:—"l read tho very learned lettor of 'Sniper' in Saturday's issue, and as he thinks tobacco is so bad for tho bovs at tho front, I reason it must be bad for me, and therefore I intend to give up smoking, until the end of tho war. and send the money to buy tobacco j for the boys, because the thing J appre- t eiated getting most myself during the ( Boer War was Jib. of tobacco sent to i me; and a pipe off duty was appreci- ; at-ed by,—l am, etc., 'A Smoker. 1 enclose ai postal note for ss, for the fund." \ The Wellington Chamber of Com- f m erce has for some time been communi- < eating with the Postal Department with j reference to the carrying of parcels by i the express trains between Wellington and Auckland. At present parcels can | be sent by the 12.50 p.m. train, but , the Chamber of Commerce suggested , that if parcels could not be sent by . both expresses, the evening one would < bo the more convenient to business people. The Secretary of the Post Office has replied painting out that as the travelling post office is attached to i the midday train, so as to deal with , South Island correspondence, it would be impossible to carry parcels in any j other train. Mr. T. Ballinger pointed < out that it appeared that the Railway ] Department was fairing parcels on the ( evening train, at little more than tho postal charge, and was delivering them at the other end. Tills fact was not generally known, and it might get over t the difficulty. There was some discrepancy in tho J evidence of two witnesses in the Mag- j istrate's Court yesterday as to the distance between the door of a certain house and the front gate. "Well, ' said one witness when questioned by a lawyer, 4 'it would be about 17 or 18 yards—about the distance from myself ° to' the prisoner." Broad smiles broke out on the faces of the listeners in court, as the estimate was very obvi- ;> ously woefully at fault. Later on an- I other witness gave an estimate of the 11 same distance, and after mature con- i: sideration remarked "Oh, about two 1 stops." ' c The Napier Borough Council has decided to submit to the ratepayers a pro- \ posal to borrow £60,000 for purposes <| of tramway extensions, -electric light, c line extensions, and necessary additions j to the power-house plant.—Press Asso- tThe Patea Chamber of Commerce on t May 11 passed the following resolution: c "That it is advisable in the opinion of this Chamber that in all contracts of d local bodies for works a provision should (j bo inserted as follows: 'That except g where expressly provided herein to the t contrary, all goods and material for use o on this contract shall be of British or d British colonial manufacture.' " The r resolution was forwarded to the Wellington Chamber of Commerce., with 0 the suggestion tint all _ local bodies t should be urged' to adopt it. The Cham- c ber of Commerce yesterday decided to [ ( approve the principle, and recommended a that the matter should be brought up v at the Conference of Chambers of Commerce. X The following Chambers of Commerce j have replied approving .of the holding e of a conference in Wellington, as sug- j-, gested by the Wellington Chamber _ of f, Commerce: —Te Kuiti, Napier, Christ- , church, Masterton, Gisborne, Marl- s borough, Wellington Central, Tauranga, „ and Wanganui. A committee consisting e of the president of tho Wellington f, Chamber (Mr. J. Macintosh) and vicepresident (Mr. E. W. Waterhouse), and 0 Messrs. Foster and W. E. Bennett, was | ( set up to go on with the matter. 1 j Dates have been secured at the Grand Opera House by the Wellington Ama- \ teur Operatic Society for the produc- 1 tion of Planquette's opera, "Les Cloches \ de Corneville," from September 2p to v October 2. Rehearsals will commence o under tho direction of Mr. Bernard Pago I on Monday next. a The-outlook for the wintry months appears to be'very cheerful, despite the \ disturbed nature of things m general p (says the Farmers' Union "Advocate ). v It 'is always distressing to hear of un- n employment during the cold days of i winter, and this year the prospects were f certainly not very rosy, but tho splen- j did returns for our produce hare brig it- i ened very considerably the outlook. Una i coupled with tho fact that our purchases i have been reduced argues favourably i for plenty of work and plenty of money, f Some time ago the Palmerston North j Patriotic Society decided to erect permanent offices. On Saturday afternoon a volunteer squad started the wort, r and by 5 o'clock a substantial three- r roomed building had been erectcd in ] the Square.—Press Association. . j On Saturday afternoon the Mayor of I Petone (Mr. J. W. M'Ewail), Council- : lors List, Cox, Brocklebank, Trueman, 1 M'Keilzie, M'Dougall, and the borough engineer (Mr. A. Cowie) made a tour of inspection through Petone. Several 1 streets requiring attention were noted, i and the work at the sea front and Ho- o creation Ground was found to be pro- r gressing favourably. * Gunner George Douglas M'lntyre, of J the Field Artillery, who was reported 1 wounded in yesterday's casualty list, is 1 a son of Mr. Harry M "Intyre (formerly a crack Wellington footballer, of the Poneke Club, and a New Zealand representative), and a nephew of Mr. a Charles M'lntyre, secretary of tho New p ■Zealand Natives' Association. a A letter was '.-eceired from Messrs. A. and T. Buit at the meeting of the Wellington Chamber of Commerce yesterday, regarding the sending of tho s.s. Delphic out'from England in bal- t last, and suggesting that as merchants t in New Zealand were so hampered for t want of stocks, it was extraordinary i that this course should be adopted. } The president of the Chamber (Mr. J. J Macintosh) said that he thought they j all know that there was also a shortage e of labour in London. Tho taking away f of the'ships in ballast he did not think- ] accentuated the position one iota. Hie j ships were urgently needed hero to take i supplies Home. Mr. C. W. Jonos said j that it was exceedingly improbable that ' the people Arranging the matter would ] have'sent out the ship .in ballast if they could have dono anything else. f Business men and ship ownom would ; sooner send out cargo than ballast. Mr. i Macintosh thought they could do iioth- ; ing unless "they could get hold of tho *' Kaiser." It- was decided to reply to " the effect that the matter was not one 1 for the Chamber to take action in. ' When refusing to make an award in 1 the Tally Clerks' dispnto in April last, t His Honour Mr. Justice Stringer inti- ' mated that ho would later take an op- ' norhmif.v of putting his reasons ii< writ- ( ing so that they might be properly re- . corded. In accordance with this" inti- j mation. His Honour's written judgment t was filed vesterday with the Clerk of 1 (3lr. G. S. Clark).. U

At next Friday's meeting of tho Teachers' Institute, Mr. J. Hutton will move: "That considering that the Education Act marked an advance in education involving additional expenditure of public money, and that the. Empire is at the present time engaged in the greatest war in its history, this District Institute is of opinion that no steps should ho taken to secure amendments iu the Act while the war continuos." The roll number of the Napier branch' of tho National Reserve is now 373. There will be on view in Messrs. Howe and Sowman's (tobacconists, Lambton Quay) window,' a knife, together With case, which is being used bv the Turks at the Dardanelles. Iho one on exhibition was taken frOm a. Turk who was captured by the Zealaiiders. The exhibit will no doubt bo of great interest, as it will convey, to the people what our boys have ■ to contend with at the front.