LOCAL AND GENERAL

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2563, 10 September 1915, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Ilis Worship tho Mayor (Mr. J. P. Luke) has reooived tho following letter from the private secretary of His Excellency the Governor:—"By direction of tlio Govornor, I have the honour to inform you that His Majesty tho King lias .commanded that an expression or his thanks bo conveyed te Your Worship and to tlie councillors and the citizens of Wellington for your loyal message of congratulation on the occasion of His Majesty's Birthday." The Postmaster-General announces that ho lias arranged tltat in deferred and ifeek-eiul cable messages expressions representing numbers or quanti-, ties sucli as "sevenfourtwo," "ficethreequarters," etc., written as ono group may bo accepted and counted at tlie rate of fifteen,letters te a word. Meantime combinations representing amounts of money, such as "sevenaudsix," cannot bo accepted. It may bo possible shortly to include tie concession of such expressions and to extend both to ordinary cable messages. Our Masterteu correspondent, telegraphing last evening, reports that at a concert organised by tho railway employees, tho sum of £800 was received lor a Hag presented by the Hon. W. H. Herries. At the concert at Dalefield the previous evening, in aid of the -Wounded Soldiers' Fund, the sum of £1200 was obtainod for a flag.

"Is it a wise thing that details of what is going on in regard to the making of munitions in New Zealand should bo published in the nowspapers?" asked Mr. J. V. Brown in tho House of Repreyesterday. He thought such information should bo kept secret. The Minister of Defence (tlie Hon. J. Allen) said that ho thought it was unwise to allow any details with regard to munitions to get into the newspapers at all. This was his persona], opinion.; "Ho, ho I it's immaterial to me," cripd a young trooper named Alexander Hampden wlien asked in the Magistrate's Court yesterday whether lie wished to be tried by jury or by the Magistrate on a charge of using obsceno language.. Ho was also charged with drunkenness. "Oh, well I'll bo tried here," said tlio trooper later, with a jaunty sinilo. Evidence was called and wlien asked if he had any questions to put to the f constable accused cried, "No, I _ would not speak to the 'bleeder'." The Magistrate thereupon remarked that accused had better be romanded, as apparently he had not "quite recovered" from the effects of the previous night. Accused left the dock with a smirking smile at the constable.

Tho Wairarapa Executive of the War Fund decided yost-erday to reject tho scheme for o national fimd outlined by Mr. C. P. Skerrett, and to support the Government proposals with slight modification.

Councillor M'Kenzio'has given notice to move at next Monday's meeting of the Petone Borough Coiincil : "That the Government be asked, when bringing down an amendment to the Municipal Corporations Act, to extend the provisions of Section 175 of_ the Municipal Corporations Act, 1908, in order to enable a. council to declare by way of special order any private street, not less I than 40ft. wide, wliicli was laid out ' prior to January 1, 1008, to be a public street, provided that every private street to be so taken over shall first bo properly formed and 1 constructed by. the owners. The Petone police reported yesterday that on Tuesday niornmc a shop occupied by a- Chineso named Charlie Yuon was broken into and the sum of £3 abstracted from the till. A special meotingof the council of the Wellington. 'Central Chamber' of Commerce was held yesterday to consider a proposal that the British Trade Protection. Meeting to be held on Monday next, in conjunction with oho annual meeting of the Chamber, be jointlv held under tho auspices of both tho Chambers of Commerce in "Wellington.. Under the circumstances tho council clecidcd to fall in with tho'proposal, and has postponed its annual meeting to the evening of Wednesday next.

At tho conference of New Zealand Chambers, of Commerce, held in AVellington at the beginning of August, one of the principal matter's discussed was the subject of British trade protection. It was decided .by resolution that Chambers of Commerce throughout Now Zealand should hold meetings in the principal cities and towns to interest the public ill the fostering of British trade, trade with - British dependencies, and trade with Britain's Allies. Up to the timo of the war Germany and Austria did a considerable trade, with New Zealand in articles of everyday use, and the- object of the meeting is to endeavour to_ get citizens to resolve in some pratcicsl way to in future confine' their purchases to either goods made in tho Dominion, to British-made goods, or to goods made by Britain's Allies, to the exclusion of enemy-made goods. A public meeting to further this object will be held at Wellington in the Concert Chamber of the Town Hall on Monday, at 8 p.m.

Mr. Bird, Inspector of Native Schools, who, accompanied by Mrs. Bird, left Wellington early last month in the s.s. Moaua for Rarotonga, returned to AVellington by tho s.s. Maitai, after spending nine days in Rarotonga, during which lie inspected the Arorangi and Ngatangiia Government schools in that island. Owing to tho shortness of bis stay, Mr. Bird was unable to visit the Arawa Government school at Aitutaki. , He, however arranged tho> settlement of the difficulty in connection with tho establishment of a Government school at Avarua, tho chief settlomeiit at Rarotonga, where one is much desired.

Ballots were. taken recently among waterside workers at tlie port of Wellington on the following matters relating to working conditions: —(l) • That the working hours shall bo from 7 a.m. till 10 p.m., except 'in the case of a ship finishing at midnight, when men may not work later than midnight; this not to apply to Sunday midnight Btaits ; (2) that not less than one liour shall be allowed for meals before restarting work. The voting was: On the first question, 651 in favour and 32 against; on tho second Question, 578 in favour, 47 against. Several small boys appeared before Mr. D. G. A. Cooper, S.M., at a sitting of the Juvonilo Court yesterday. A. lad of 15 years was remanded to'Soptombor 14 on a charge of obtaining £10 from a man by false pretences. The boy liad been arrested the previous evening by Constable Johnston. Another lad of 14 years" was admonished and discharged for stealing a piece of timber the property of the Harbour Board, and a hoy of the same ago similarly dealt witli for/having a pea rifle in his possession. Tlio pea rifle was ordered to bo confiscated. 'iVo youths, 15 and 10 years respbetively, were also admonished and discharged for damaging a motor-cycle. Five members of _ the Territorial Force have .been dismissed from tho Now Zealand Defence Forces, the.v haying been convicted by. the civil power.

A Maori baby named Makuini Koronelio, aged cno year and eight months, (lied suddenly at 33 AVollington Terrace, vosterday morning. An inquest will l)o hold at 4 p.m. to-day at the Magistrate's Court.

Mr. AV. AV. Bird, Inspector of Native Schools, returned from Rarotonga by tho Maitai after a visit of inspection to tho main island. Tliero aro only three schools altogether in the group, two at Raratonga and ono at Aitutaki, but on this occasion Mr. Bird only had time to visit tho two at Raratonga. Ono had an attendance roll of 200, ■ and the other one of 134, with tho exception of half-a-dozen children the scholars were Raratongaus. Mr. AV. A. Reece, formerly of Christchurch, but now a prominent official in the General Electric Company of America, has been appointed manager for tho company of the electrical works at Monte A r ideo. Before taking up that appointment Mr. Reece came across the Pacific to visit his people, and in doing so took in the Panama Canal zone, which is of immense interest to electricians on account of the big plants established there in connection with the working of the looks. There it was found that the insulators and generators I were seriously'affected by the humidity of the air, and such troublo was experienced that specially-constructed powerhouses had to be erected, also special sheds alongside for tho generation of steam for the dry-heating of the .powerhouses in order to combat the atmospheric conditions, which were inimical to efficiency. Mr. Reece stated that tho General Electric Company's big works at Schnectady were busily employed turning out shell cases, and a big new plant had been installed specially for that purpose. The Steel Trust's works were turning out shells ready for action —tho complete article—but tho Electric Company could only produce' the cases. Nearly every engineering works from the Atlantic to the Pacific was in re-ceipt-of. orders for munitions, which they were endeavouring to fulfil, and when there was an advance from the AA'est it would not he any shortage of munitions that, would,stop the Allies.