LOCAL AND GENERAL

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2652, 24 December 1915, Page 5

LOCAL AND GENERAL

By Order-in-Council gazetted the pro--lection i amoved from the following iniigenous New Zealand: birds:—Kea, ■Mack shag, white-throated shag, and sea shag. Tho tea is a'ground parrot found- in high country, which has acquired an evil habit or dovouring certain portions of living -sheep. The shags are- all fish devoiirers, and they also aot as hosts for fish parasites. .

Out of six hundred boys, who have passed tbroiiglr the New Plymouth High •School, 120 are to-day serving the' Empire at. the front, i and several lwve mado the supreme sacrifice. All tho bo ( ys who have left the school since 1912, with two exceptions, have offered their services to their country. Tho 1913 sonior football fifteen has ri unique record. Eleven of its members liavo left the school_ and all have gone. to. tho front, one (Private Crone) has already laid down his life whilst another (Lieutenant Lepper) line been wounded, and decorated for gallantry on the battlefield. .Ail appeal will probably be made to the old boys of the school to raise £1000 to erect a .memorial"library as a monument to the. brave "old boys."

In Hastings less than a month ago a movement was started to establish a Soldiers'.Club. Yesterday the % promoters handed over a handsomely-fur-nished, commodious \ room to returned soldiers and 'IVenthani men now on leave. Lady .Russell formally opened the club, and expressed the pleasure -it cave her to meet so many men who had gaJlxuitly fought for their country. men loudly cheered General Birdwood's letter to His Excellency the Governor, which was read by the Rev. Brocklehurst. Public subscriptions to the club total. £1168, as well as gifts of a billiard table, piano, and furniture. .Sufficient funds are now in hand to maintain the club for two years.

Proceedings*, for an alleged strike against-certain, builders' labourers in the "employ of Messrs. : Trevor Bros., contractors for the new Central Police Station, are being launched by the Department of Labour. The trouble; which occurred about a month ago, arose, it is alleged; on account of the employment of a non•unionist. In connection with the same case, another prosecution is'being made on a charge of inciting to strike. The cases will come on for hearing at the Magistrate's' Court' early in the. Now -Year.

For the first fortnight of December the gate-receipts'at the Zoo amounted to £27 13s. 6cL, as against £23 Bs. 3d. for the corresponding period of last .year. The elusive, but useful, insectivorous hedgehog is well represented in the Zoo now. Although fairly common in Wellington, three specimens have just been sent to the Zoo. Gifts of animals have been made by the following donors: Small birds, Wellington' Zoological Society ; parrot, Mr. W. Allen, Cuba Street; penguin, Mr. E. C. Hunt, Helen Street, Brooklyn; two hedgehogs, Mr. Haines, Mitchelltown; one hedgehog, Mr. Howard, Ghuznce Street. A thar was v recently born in the Zoo. .

The following sections .were successfully drawn yesterday at, the. meeting of the Wellington Land Board: Sec. 6, B. VII, Whirinaki, 493 acres', B. Hynes, O.R.P. j: Sec. 1, B. ■ VII, -..Whirinaki, 574 acres, A. O. Solly; Sec. 1, B. Xlli, Tararua, 300 acres, D. Fergus, renewable lease; Sec. 46, B. V.,_Kario, (j acres, H. J. Gordon; Sec. 47, B. V., 6 acres, W. T. Dowling; Sec. 48, B. V., 6.acres, J. Heald; Sec. 49, B, V.j f) aoresj C. G. M'lntyre;, Sec. 51, B. V., 7 aores, C. Willcocks; Sec. 55, B. V., 7 aores, T. V. Biswell; Sec. 69, B. V., 6 acres, J. Holden. •

Amended regulations relating to v pupil teachers and probationers, are gazetted.

; The-Minister, of Internal Affairs noti■jfies in tli|. Gazette 1 that' ne lias,'/directed fiat all war funds shall be audited by 'the' Audit Office, or by auditors appointed for the purpose by the Audit Office, ■and: that 'the first -audit in every case shall' be for the period ending December 31/1915.

For some time past, Mr. A. E. Tyer has been endeavouring to start fruit canning works in the_ Motueka district (says the Nelson "Mail"), and says that ho has now succeeded in making final .arrangements. Fori years Mr. Tyer has advocated this business to_ save waste/ He states that he was in an orchard at Ngatimoti when the finest 10-year-old English plum trees were cut down for firewood for want of canning facilities. The same thing applied to the dairy industry 25 years ago, bnt directly, the factory started the price of butter advanced; ■ Mr, Tyer further states that he has contracted'for all the fruit lie requires for the coming season, and is in the happy position of having more-orders in hand for the canned article than he can possibly do thie year. The labour difficulty, ho has solved by simply "getting it." Mr. Tyer is satisfied that by capable management ' and practical' knowledge of all departments , fruit i preserving can be made to pay, and that it will prove'of gr6at profit to the growers, as 'it takes ■up all grades 'and supplies districts which are unable to get the raw article.

A man named Jolin Bothwall had a narrow escape, from death at Otira last week. , He was spitting some holes in the footings whe;i a shot went off prematurely and knocked him over. Knowing that if the other shot n;eut off ho would be killed, he got' on his' hands and knees and crawled into a big drain on the opposite side, thereby getting to safety. He was severely shot abont the face, arms, and the lower part of the back, and was removed to the hospital. J. Nichollas, the shift boss, escaped with a cut over the eye and a severe shock.

. Lieutenant-Colonel Loach,. who is still on:crutches and making slow progress towards recovery from the severe wound to. his leg sustained at Gallipoli, attended -tlhe prize distribution at the Rangiora. High School last week; and took advantage of the opportunity to deliver a few outspoken' comments on tho call for men. In the call for men and yet; more men, he said, there was need 'for everyone to }'elp. He would urge everyone; present to do what lay in their, power to induce every Bligible young man to enlist. The women could help very materially. They had done splendid work in connection .vith the relief effort, and he' could Jrom personal knowledge say how highly their work was appreciated by the men it the front. Ho had often seen tears in the eyes of the men when they received the gifts. Whilst a. noblo vork waß being done by so many of tho yomen he regretted to say that there vere some whose conduct was reprehensible. Their influence was being used to keep men from enlisting. In some places he knew that mothers were' preventing their sons from doing .their duty. Ho could assure them that if the men did not come forward voluntarily compulsion would bo inevitable.

The new name plates for streets that are being placed in position are a' great improvement on tho one 3 they supplant, The new lettering appears in white on a dark-bhio enamelled ground. The letteringis, as ib should be, bold and easily decipherable at a considerable distance, and tho plates generally havo a bright, iieat appearance. There aro many street intersections in Wellington where tliero are either 110 namo plates at all or all semblance of the lettering has long since been worn off by-tho weather.' The need for new and improved name platos is urgent.

Tho Lower Hutt branch of the Women's National _ Reserve is holding a "Flower Day" in tho Town Hall this svening, in aid of soldiers' dependents »nd the ; JGdifch Cavoll Cot Fund. All people who have promised flowers for that day are asked to leave them to-day it the Y.M.C.A., Willis Street, Welling•<on. Miss Bunny, Lower Hutt, ia sec-jsi>-ur for the •"Flower Day."-

While working alongside the steamer Mararoa yesterdaj 7 , Thomas R. Wilson, employed by the Union ttompau <*< ceived a severe cut on. the forearm. Tho wound was dressed by Dr. M'Evedy and the injured man was then liakea no his homo at 85 Dixon Street.

Reference was made yesterday at the annual Christmas reunion of the Audit staff by the Auditor-General (Colonel R. J. Collins, C.M.G., D.5.0.) to the war. Colonel Collins said) the Departmental staff, though limited in ■number, was represented at the front by twelve officers, and seven men waiting to be called upon. Sympathetic reference was made to tlie death of Clarence Thompson by drowning. He had been a favourite officer, and much liked by his comrades. Colonel Collins said he felt sure ho was voicing the mind of his staff when he hoped those away would havo a glorious career and return safe .and sound tp New Zealand.

Taking advantage of the Hon. Jas. Allen's visit to Wanganui, Mr. Howie on Friday (says the "Chronicle"; brought under the Minister's notice the anxiety occasioned to parents and relatives of men at the front owing to' the seeming impossibility of getting any information as to their condition. He mentioned the case of a number of lads from that district, his own son among them, who had been reported as wounded in the fighting from August 7 to 28. Since that'time, although repeated efforts had been made to obtain information by cabl?, they had been unable to learn anything as to the fate of the men in whom they were interested. In reply, Mr. Allen said it was a very difficult problem, which they could not possibly control from this end. All the information the Department received was scut out to the next-of-kin immediately. The difficulty with regard to many men reported missing was that even those at tho front could not find out anything about them. "Our practice," said Mr. Allen, "is never to report a man as dead' unless we have, received liis identification badge and definite proof that ho was dead." Only tlip other day he had received from a .soldier a letter stating that lie was a prisoner in Constantinople. That man had been missing for over four months, and it was only through his having written that the uncertainty as to his fate had been cleared up. The Red Cross and the Red Crescent in Constantinople wore co-oper-ating to give us all the information procurable, ■ but it was a ; very difficult matter indeed. If, however, there wore any cases warranting special inquiry, and such cases were reported to- him, he could'cause special inquiry to be made.