LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2489, 16 June 1915, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

There are twenty-six members of the Royal Wellington Choral Society in New Zealand's defence forces. The first death to be recorded amongst them is that of Private A. T. Perry, whoso death at tho Dardanelles was recorded last week.

The French Consul at Auckland has been advised that the French gunboat Zelee and the German steamer Walkure, now lying in Papeete Harbour, are shortly to be sold. Tbe vessels were sunk during the bombardment of Papeete by the German warships Soharnhorst and Gniesenau.

According to letters received yesterday from Egypt, Lady Godley is doing great service in tending to tho wounded New Zealanders from the Dardanelles. When_ the mail loft she had already been instrumental in establishing two convalescent homes, one at Cairo and the other at Alexandria, and had been active in getting many of her English friends to billet convalescents.

Tho annual meeting of the New Zealand Club, Wellington, was held last evening. Mr. F. S. Pope presided. Officers were elected as follow Pat-ron, His Excellency the Governor; president. Mr. R. H. Webb; vice-presidents, Mossrs. C. E. AYheeler and R. B. Davis; past-presidents, Messrs. A. R. Atkinson and F. S. Pope; committee, Messrs. W. M. Page, W. E. Spencer, C. M. Luke, Robert Hall, and C. R. Smith; hon. secretary and treasurer, Mr. G. D. Sutton.

An inouest is to be held at 4 p.m. tomorrow concerning the death of a new-ly-born child, who was found dead by the side of its mother on Saturday.

Mr. E. Stuart Bruce, in the course of a lecture delivered in London, said that the aerial surprise of the war was the durability of the aeroplane. Most people thought that the aeroplane was a light and fragile thing, succumbing easily to wear and tear, and very vulnerable to bullets. But aeroplanes 6eemed to have a charmed life., During eight months of war the French had made 10,000 reconnaissances, corresponding to 18,000 hours of flight, representing a distance of 1,300,000 kilometres, equal to 45 times round tho world. One aeroplane now on view in Paris had been 250 hours in the air, haH 48 times directed the French artillery, and had been seven times engaged in singlo combat with German airmen.

Through the generosity of two donors, the "Wellington branch of the Neiv Zealand Patriotic Society was enabled to present fourteen officors and noncommissioned officers of the Wellington artillerv and infantry sections' of tho Fifth Reinforcements with binoculars. The soldiers in question wore not up to tho last provided with glasses. One gentleman interested expresses tho opinion that 110 officcr or responsible non-commissioned officer should be allowed to go to the front without binoculars, it being tantamount to sending men into the field blindfolded.

Tho New Zealand Club decidcd at its annual meeting, held last evening, to donate 40 guineas to the Wounded Soldiers' Fund.

An Auckland resident tho other day aired his views on the war in a public place, and said that if he liad tho opportunity lie would go and fight for Germany. He _ was reported to the military,authorities, who, says a Press Association telegram, promptly arrested him, and he is now confined in the detention barracks at one of the forts.

The statue of the late liight Hon.' li. .1. Seddon, which ha,": boon raised in Parliament Grounds, is to bo unveiled on the day that Parliament opens. Juue 24.

- Three boys, aged !), S, and 9 years respectively. will lio charged m tho •Juvenile Court, to-morrow morning with stealing a quantity of ironmongery.

... / An instance of the ridiculous value which is sometimes placed on land was given by a land agent who appeared as a witness in a compensation case heard at the Supreme Court at Christchurch on Thursday (says a southern paper). An area of land in Sydenham, 32 perches in extent, had been taken over by the Railway Department, which offered £300 as compensation under the Public Works Act. The witness said that one of the heirs to the estate, a man in England, who had never seen the land, had written to the Government complaining that it was defrauding him of a million pounds, whereas the actual value of the land was about £4001 "I suppose you undeceived him," remarked his Honour Mr. Justice Denniston, with a smile. "Oh, no! The Government attended to that/' replied tho witness. "I didn't think it was worth bothering about."

A. matter mentioned by Captain Henry in his report to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals last night was that of the cutting of tails and manes of the troop horses leaving for tho front. It was unanimouslv decided to write to the Minister of Defence asking that the practice be discontinued. The matter appeared to impress members of the society, and there was general disapproval when the matter was mentioned by the inspector. "Wliab are their tails for?" exclaimed onp member of the society.

The Mayor of Duriedin received tie following telegram from the Hon. J. Allen on Sunday:—"ln the casualty lists this morning the Otago Battalion shows considerable losses in killed from Anril 26 to June 2, and missing on May 15, and from May 1 to Slay 23— namely, killed 61, and missing 93. My sincere sympathy is with all those in Dunedin and Otago who have suffered loss or who are in anxiety about tho missing. To those who nave suffered loss it will be some consolation that those near and dear to them died in the very noblest of causes—the death they would have selected had the choice been with them. —(Signed) J. Allen."