LOCAL AND GENERAL

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2597, 20 October 1915, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

The Postal authorities advise that the dispatch of Australian and English mails which left here by tlio s.s. Jloeraki on October 14 reached Sydney on the afternoon of October 18.

His Excellency the Governor lias issued tlie following circular to the people of Now Zealand: "As I havo received many inquiries regarding Red Cross matters, I think it would bo well to hold a meeting with the object of co-ordinating effort and preventing overlapping. 1 propose, therefore, to invito two representatives from each of tho four centres of the Order of St. John, and one from each of tho subcentres; while at the same time _ I should bo very glad if other societies working for tho same object would also send one representative. Tho wholo position could then be discussed, and it is hoped that as the outcome of tho meeting a more satisfactory working basis will be arrived a>. It- is proposed to hold the meeting at Government House, Wellington, on Wednesday, November 10, at- 10.15 a.m., and it is particularly requested that all societies desiring to be represented will communicate with the aidc-de-camp-in-waiting, stating tho name of the society, and also that of its representative, so that- some estimate can be formed.as to the probable size of tho meeting."

Tho following report on the -health of the troops at Samoa, dated October 16, lias been received from Colonel Logan:—"Health of troops good. Sergeant A. A. M'Arthur lymphangitis, Privates T. Willis gout, J. M. Meredith bronchitis, S. V. Syme debility." Somo severe strictures on the work of medical officors who reject recruits for no verj - iiivious reasons were passed by metnbm of tlio Volunteer Fire Police at their meeting last night. Mr. James Do.vle said that it appeared to him that the medical men to whom was entrusted the duty of accepting or rejecting men offering were not exercising ordinary common sense. He spoke especially o'f the rejection of his own son, who, though a sood athlete, » good shot, and as tough as _ wire, was rejected.for a varicose vein in his leg. A. relative of this man, a mero boy of 18 years, about Bst. in weight, had been accepted, and he ventured to .say that tho young man would soo tho boy out half a dozen times. lie would suggest that in future medical men should take somo account of a man's general physique, especially as it .was ii. fact that many men went through life with varicose veins and were never conscious of them. Several other members of the Corps endorsed Mr. Doyle's remarks, and mentioned other instances of men having been rejected for defects which would not impair their usefulness it!; soldiers. Tho Superintendent, of the Fire Brigade said he had in his corps some men who had 'been rejected', and they were among the best mon, physically, that he had ever had in the brigade, quito fit for tho arduous work of fire-fighting. -

A Hod Cross meeting held at Petono oil Monday evening was well attended, the Mayor (Mr. J. W. M'Bwan) presiding. In speaking in support of the movement, Mr. M'Ewan said that it was clear from reports that much suffering and loss of life could be avoided if tho wounded were attended flo promptly, and the present appeal was to assist those at tho front. He trusted that all would respond by giving in a- spirit of self-sacrifice. Tho speaker suggested that on Thursday and Friday next a canvass of tho town should be' made, and on Saturday street collections taken up, wheal the Municipal and Gear Company's Bands might be asked to parade. The meeting decided to adopt the sdfemo, and details were then arranged for the work. A girl named Morrell, 12 years of age, fell from a swing at Day's Bay yes-, terday afternoon, and broko one of her thighs. Tho little sufferer was removed to tho Hospital. The new police station in Lower Taranaki Street is rapidly approaclmg completion. The fine stable accommodaton at tho back is practically complete, and the interior plastering of the station itself is being done. The Mayor (Mr. J. P. Luke) stated yesterday that as soon as the police vacated tho old station in Manners Street a start would ho made to demolish it. All the arrangements were mado to proceed at onco with the street-widening' schcmc which hangs on the removal ot tho little brick building that has dono duty as a police station for over a decade. A slico of land is to bo thrown into Manners Street, oil' the block in question, between the existing station and the Royal Oak Hotel. The oxpeiisc to the city will not be very great, though it may interfere with the rent revenue for'a time",--but tho benefit that will_ result wil. be felt at onco and for all time. Men who like a fine plait straw will ho pleased to inspect, the stock at Geo. l r o<vl<k> JMtl.i Maimers SUcet, U'liu prlco Is 7s, 6d,-Advt. .

In reference to tho meetings of shearers in the Masterton district, it now transpires that these meetings wero of a private character and wero not convened by the union, so that a breach of tho Act has apparently not been committed.

How a young trooper of the Auckland Mounted Iliiles, Evan limes-Jones, of JCiliiluhi, Waikato, was severely wound- j ed in tho great fight on Gallipoli on August 8, and afterwards carried to safety by a member of the Maori Contingent, is told in a letter received by ! the young man's parents from an Alexandria hospital. "I can't describe tho awful din, and tho shriek of the shells," says the trooper in his letter. "Bullets fell like rain, and men went down all round me." They had stopped for a while in a little hollow, and there the writer was hit in the thigh. After his injury was bound tip he "began to crawl away, and had gone about 200 yards when he met a party of Maoris. "One, a big strong chap, called Edwards, offered to carry me," continues Trooper Innes-Jones. "Well, he carried me on his back for about two miles over somo of the roughest country out. At every clear space—and there were a good few of them —we wero sniped at, and I saw many men fall. Edwards would have a .spoil, and then rush across like a great strong bull, with me on his back, ex-" pecting to feel one of those deadly, mewing bullets go into one or 'both or us. Some 0. these open places wero 200 yards across. I tvas hit about 10.30 a.m., and we got down to tho end of that infernal gullv about half-pa6t four. Hero Edwards loft me in charge of some Australians, and, after dark, I was carried on a strotchor about a. aiile and a ■half round to the landing pier, where I lay with 500 others all night and all next day. The sun was awful, and spent bullets patted into the bank alongside me all day and night. Two went into the sand just by my head." Apparently attracted by tho dazzling rays of the light, a large black swan dashed itself against tho Cane ■ Egmont lighthouse on Sunday night last, with tho result that the glass was shattered and the bird iustajitly killed. The Marino Department has been advised that, as a result of this strange occurrence, the light is practically obscured to the northward and eastward 'Repairs will be carried out as soon as the weather permits. There will bo a large supply of flat and other varieties of fish on sale at tho Municipal Market this morning.