LOCAL AND GENERAL

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2615, 10 November 1915, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

On account of a shortage of firemen tlie Maori is coming uo to Wellington from Lyttelton tliis morning under easy steam. She is not due in port before 3.30 a.m. On account of trouble with tlieSfiremen, the Mararoa was 25 minutes late in getting away to Lyttelton last evening.

Colonel Logan's weekly report on the health of our troops at Samoa is brief, as follows"Private G. Harwood, haemorrhoids, and Private R. Lang, gastritis, convalescent."

Asked yesterday whether the increased land taxation was having the effect of forcing land on' to the market, the Prime Minister said there was certainly a lot of land on the market at present. Ho did not know what the cause was, but it was a fact, and there was also a good deal of subdivision going on.

The War Pensions Board sat all yesterday aftornoon, dealing with a largo number of and adjourned to sit again this evening to consider tho remainder.

A conference of commanding officers in the National Reserve, , from the Auckland, Wellington, Canterbury, and Otago districts, will be held in Wellington te-dav, for tlie purpose of framing regulations, to be submitted to the Government for approval, as required under tlio Defence Amendment Ac?, l'Jls. By the Act passed last session, the National Reserve was recognised under Sub-section 3 as a military organisation, and it is necessarv to approve of tlie {regulations for the organisation and training of members.

At the meeting of tlie Petone Technical School Board last evening, the director (Mr. J. Lynskey) reported that an examination in wool-classing was held recently when five candidates passed the final section and four the first sect on. Only one candidate failed. The examiner (Mr. S. V. Burridge) had expressed his pleasure at tlio standard attained by the candidates. ' \

A cemetery is not usually looked upon as a place where vandals may exercise their destructive talents, but the sacredness of the Green island Cemetery, says the "Otago Daily Times," seeni6 to_ have been violated from time to time iii a quite extraordinary manner. A lengthy disoussion took place on this matter at a monthly meeting of tlie local borough council the other evening, and numerous acts of desecration were related. Amongst the violations that have taken place were the turning over of tombstones and seats, the transposition of wreaths on the graves, or the removal of these wreaths altogether, the breaking of water taps, and the throwing of material on to the paths. It was decided that notices should he erected in the cemetery offering a reward for information that would lead to a conviction.

Amongst the New Zealanders who attended one of the recent recruiting meetings in London was Mr. J. A. Jickell, of Auckland, a native of Stock-ton-on-Tces, who, after 30 years' residence in New Zealand, recently proceeded to London, and, being too old to join the army, is offering his services as a munition worker. Mr. Jickell's three sons have been fighting in Gallipoli. "It is splendid," said Mr. Jickell to a "Daily Chronicle" representative, "to see the remarkable enthusiasm in New Zealand for the cause of the Mother Country. I left Wellington on August 14. On board our ship thero wero 14 men, who were paying their own passage money in order that they might enlist in England because, slthough they were fit men every one of them, they wero just- a bit below the New Zealand stanwhich is rather high." When asked if the new penny-half-penny stamp was to be made available to a greater' extent, the PostmasterGeneral (Sir Joseph Ward) explained to an Auckland reporter that when tlho change from penny postage was made there was a very large supply oi penny stamps in 6tock, and as these had been officially checked, they actually represented money. It was, therefore, necessary to issue a corresponding number of halfpenny stamps, in order to provido the -corollary. As soon as these were absorbed, to a reasonable extent, however, a full supply of pennyhalfpenny stamps would be issued.

There was an interested assemblage of people at the Thorndon station yesterday afternoon to witness tlie arrival of a batch of fifteen Gorman prisoners of war from Samoa, who have either been sentenced to various terms of imprisonment or ordered' to be interned at Somes Island. The men, wlio arrived in charge of Captain Algie and a guard, were met by another armed guard, and marched to the Alexandra Barracks, from whence they will bo transported to prison or tlie island, as their cases demand.

Joining the reinforcements appears to be a popular hobby with persons who appear in the Supreme Court to ansyer criminal charges. According to the statements of prisoners, many of them'have been arrested. when on the very point of going to seo the recruiting officer, and others have declared that but for a bout of drinking they would have been already in camp. Ono of the accused persons at the present-criminal sessions did not profess any intention of taking the King's shilling. She was a woman. •

The field officers' mess at Trentham camp will give a farewell dinner to the officers of tlie Bth Reinforcements at 6 o'clock this evening, at the mess room, Trentham. A concert is to follow at 7.30 p.m., and supper at 10.30 p.m. Arrangements have been made for a special train at 11.30 p.m. from' Trentham to Wellington, and special traniß will meet this train on its arrival in town. Officers' wives and friends are cordially invited to the concert, dance,and supper. The secretary of the Island Bay Municipal Electors' Association (Mr. E. J. Colley) states that the City Council has advised his association that it purposes running a tramcar on Sunday mornings from the bay to the City at 8.50 a.m. during the summer months. That there is an eager demand for seaside sections in Wellington,_ despite the war and the orobleus it involves, has heen made abundantly clear in tha case of one estate just placed on the market. Four' days agoMr S. George Nathan, acting on behalf o f the Joseph Estate, issued .a sale plan of sections fronting on Oliiro Bay, at the foot of the Happy Valley Road, and already twenty-seven sections have been:soldl at prices varying, from £70 to £100. The advance of summer has created an eager demand for house accommodation, and at the present time there is remarkably little obtainable at any of the seaside resorts in tho vicinity of the City. Writing from a troopship to a fnond in Wellington, a member of the h Reinforcements says:— I felt. m * * top form after my four months m camp, and much better for the expene.K.e All of us are tremendously pleased with the i send-off that Wellington 6 a ve lis, ™d are determined to prove worthy of such an ovaaon. Tills is a 'Ed sea boat. With the exception o! the last three days (the letter is dated October 18) the weather has been perfect and the seas calm. The accommodation is very good, and the meals first" class."

Geo. Fowlds, Ltd., are offering some of the most comfortable fitting, newest Fhapes. in English Boots, at -4s. 6d. to B7s 6<l. An inspection is invited, tho will cost you nothing — Advt.

A boy ten years of age appeared before Mr. D. G. A. Cooper, S.M., at the Juvenile Court yesterday, and was convicted of tie theft of a watch valued at 80s. He was ordered to receivo nine strokes of the birch.

A flower day in connection with the Y.M.C.A.'s eftorts to raise funds for comforts for lads in the trenches is to be held at Carterton on Saturday afternoon. The secretary of the Petone Bowline Club has forwarded to the proper quarter a chequo for £4 10s., being the amount'subscribed by the members towards the Shilling Christmas Gift Fund. Writing from a hospital ship while en route to England, Private Oscar Hughes (a nephew of Mi'. F. T. Moore, of Johnsonville) says: "The sad news of our cutting-up in the early part of August will be stale news by tho time this letter leaches you. It is a wonder any of us survived. We were after one of tho hardest positions on Gallipoli. and the Wellington Regiment had to take it. We moved ovei; the top of a rise at four in the mornuig, and got some distance before we met any opposition—then the Turks opened fire. Wo charged on until we got what we wanted, and once we got it you may depend wo held it, but it cost us dear. We could not get ammunition, water, or reinforcements. Our machine-guns wore smashed up. A shell landed in our headquarters, killing our colonel. All but two of our officers were killed. But we 'hung on till night arrived, and then we got help. The Turks had crojvded up to within ten years of us, but had not the go in tliem/to chargethank Goodness—or they would .have swept us away, for we were but a very t'bin grey line. Out of 900 men we had only 180 left. Just t-11 those who said we' were merely Massey's Touring •Army that we have paid for our trip a thousand times over. I am glad to be away from the sound of tho guns for a while. Francis (his cousin, Trooper F. J. G. Moore) was looking fit when I left the peninsula.

Tlie epidemic of typhoid amongst the Natives in Mongonui County, _ although stamped out in some places, is still in evidence. There were'. some deaths — three or four—last week, end this week a ohild died at Peri a under circumstances pointing to at least a probability of typhoid. During the smfllljpos scare "tho movements of the Natives were strictly regulated, whereas during tho present epidemic, which has resulted in a heavier fatality lisi than the smallpox, the Natives are (says the Auckland "Star" of Saturday) apparently allowed perfect freedom of movement, wi'th results dangerous to themselves, and incidentally to the general population. The Kaitaia Chamber of Commerce decided at its last meeting to bring the matter under the notice of the Minister. The disease, it may be eaid, is prevalent in the_ Paniapuria, Pukepoto, and Het'ekino districts chiefly. _____