LOCAL AND GENERAL

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2613, 8 November 1915, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Australian and English mails are due in Wellington by the Manuka, arriving in port from Sydney to-day.

Mr. Ernest H. Clay, of the Petone railway staff, who 'was injured by a train at Petone on Friday, died in the Wellington Hospital on Saturday afternoon.

During the month of September, it is officially stated, there was an appreciable increase in the amount of the tsolefraph business in New Zealand. Ordinary telegrams increased by 35,748, bureau messages by 34,068, and the total for all codes by 70,967 messages. The total increases in net revenue amounted to £3554, tho inoreaso in number of telegrams being almost 9 per cent., and the amount slightly over 13 per cent., as compared with September of the previous year. This all-round increase of business is highly satisfactory to the Department.

As no settlement has been arrived at between the stokehold crow of the Pateena and l/he Union Company, it has been decided to lay the vessel up indefinitely. Those members of the crew who have already signed on will be paid off, and the Mapourika_ will maintain tho Wellington-Picton-Nelson service pro torn."

A small fire broke out in the Trocar dero Hotel on Saturday evening, but no damage of consequence was done. The outbreak occurred in a kapoc maOtross in a spare room, and the Central Firo Station reports that nothing but the mattress was injured.

Tho following cablegram, signed by General Godloy and Lieut.-Colonel Rhodes, has been received by the Hon. J. Allen:—"Officers and men of New Zealand Expeditionary Force join with us in asking you relatives of nurses, non-conimissionedi officers, and men of our No. 1 Hospital, who perished in the Marquette, • our sincerest sympathy with, them in their bereavement." A man from out-back strolled into Motueka. tho other day to fill \ip his national registration card. That man. or rattier his family, has a record which will take some beating. Tho schedule stated that he was one of a family of 17—fourteen boys and three girls. Eight sons served in tho Sudan campaign and twelve in the Boer War. Four have been killed at Gnllipoli, and threo arc at present in the training camps. Though 53 years of age, a married man witli threo children, and suffering from tho cffects of the campaign in South Africa, lie is still anxious to do l)is "littlo bit," and offers his services in the 1 present strugglo.

A Masonic meeting will be held at Trcntham Camp on Thursday evening of this week. A train will leave AVellington at 6.55, and all brethren who can conveniently do so are requested to attend tho - function.

Chevrolet.—Here is an opportunity for a reliable up-to-date motor-oar at a reasonable price. Equipment includes only accessories of proven qualities, such as Zenith carburettor, Connecticut ignition, Autolito 6olf-stnrter, grey muffler. These aro only some of tho splendid features of the famous Chevrolet car. Pull particulars will be mailed you if you communicate with The Dominion Motor VeblclM, Ltd., 65 Courts nw Plaoe.—Advt,

Tho secretary of the Hastings branch o? tho Y.M.C.A, is obtaining a consignment of roses and carnations, which (states our Napier correspondent) will lie forwarded to Wellington for a monster sale in aid of the society's military work in Egypt and New Zealand.

Tlio ship Discovery, which is well known in New Zealand, having carried Captain Scott and his companions to the Southern Seas on their laist expedition, is now in Manchester. The sails have boon taken off' l;er, the masts shortened, and left without wards, and the bowsprit and jibboom have been unshipped. She is no longer a sailing vessel, but a steamship She may he slow, but she will be sure and safe, for fcer timbers are a stride in thickness. Since her Antarctic voyage she has traded to Hudson Bay and New York from London and other places, but she is now to kee]» up a service between Manchesi tor, Nantes, and Bordeaux.

Tho difficulty between the waterside workers and the stevedores- who are discharging the British Imperial Oil Co.'s Physa. hod not been settled, and consequently very little work was done on the vessel on Saturday. The stevedores have offered Mie men lis. 4d. for a day's work of seven hours, but tho latter demand 2s. per hour.

Before Mr. D. 6. A. Cooper, S.M.. in tho Magistrate's Court oil Saturday, an elderly man, named Robert Young, pleaded not guilty to the theft of articles valued at £1, the property of Walter M'lntyre. Tlio theft is alleged to have taken _ place on the steamer Corinna, and. in order that witnesses may bo available, Young was remanded until November 11. Francis Flynn, for drunkenness, was fined 10s., tho alternative being forty-eight hours' imprisonment.

A lady walked into the Auckland Y.M.C.A. building last week, andj taking off lier gloves, removed from her finger a diamond ring which she handed to the goneral secretary to bo realised on with'a view to purchasing comforts for soldiers at tho front. The giver is a widow who has made cash, donations to the full extent of her means, and now desires to make further personal sacrifices for the patriotic cause. In parting with the ring (valued at several guineas) the lady remarked that 6ho felt she could not do enough for the soldiers who are fighting tlie Empire's battles.

A substantial addition to tie store accommodation, at a moderate cost, has been provided in tho shape of a twostory Duilding erected on tho Defence Store site in Buckle Street. Acting under instructions from the Minister in Charge of Munitions and Supplies (Hon. Arthur M. Myers), the construction was supervised.by Sir: Loucli, DisEngineer, and Mr. Smith, of the Public Works Department. The building is of wood, the walls are covered with iron, and the roof with iron laid on felt and wire-netting. The floor area is about 5000 superficial feet. _ A cart-dock for motor lorries, is provided at ono end, and a second gateway at tho side gives convenient access to the building. An friction-hoist has been installed "over the cart-dock for loading and unloading goods. On the first floor fittings for clothing, hats, caps, and saddlery are now near completion. On the ground floor will bo stored heavy goods, tools, boots, etc. The. building was commenced on the 4th, and completed on October 29. Taking into account two wet days and one public holiday, which somewhat interfered with progress, the dispatch with which the score was erectcd reflects credit on all concerned.-

A lecture \, on the "Economics of War" was delivered in tho People's Picture Palace last evening by Mr. J. Condliffe, lecturer to the Workers' Educational Association. Mr. Condliifo remarked that wars onco were private affairs—means of settling private disputes—but for many years they had been State affairs. ■He touched on the evolution of war to show that interState strife' bad altered fronl hand-to-hand fighting to highly scientific undertakings. War, he said, was not good for trade in general, though it benefited certain sections. On tiho subject of war indemnities, lie observed that the indemnity arising out of the Franco-Prussian war was not njnch good to tho receiver, Germany. He mentioned four ways of paying for a war —(1) by loan, (2) by taxation, (3) by confiscation of labour and property, (4) by paper currency. The commonest, he added, were tho two mentioned first.

An enthusiastic Navy Leaguer in the Auokland district has been busy of late enrolling fresh members. Writing to the Wellington branch secretary or the league, he remarks: —"I think a lot of the farmers would not believe the gravity of the war until they actually 6aw Uhlans in their paddocks. Two neighbours of mine who have cleared about £1000 this year from chaff and bullocks gave but 10s. each to the Belgian fund. They have three large oat stacks waiting for a rise in price from the present terrific prices. Fortunately these sort of people are fairly few and far between."

In referring to the wreok of th# Emden, and the prospects of salvage, a Singapore correspondent of the "Sydney Morning Herald" says: "On passing the wreck at the- end of last month, on the voyage to Singapore, I noticed that tho ship had apparently broken her back. All tho gutted after-part where I had walked about taking photos of the damage done is now under water, and her remaining mast has gone. She has evidently only started breaking up quite recently, as a ship passed a fortnight before w r e did, and then the Emden appeared quite normal. It is evident, therefore, that she is feeling the strain at last; and no wonder, for huge seas pound in there day and night for six months, and tho wonder is she has stood so long. If the Admiralty wanted to do anything they should have done it before last March or April. Now to hope to see her drop anchor in Port Jackson is to be. either unduly optimistic, or to realise one of the finest engineering feats that ever happened. Messrs. Fairburn and Silk, of Wanganui, have an advertisement in 'this issue offering for sale tho plant and machinery of a butter factory.