LOCAL AND GENERAL
The Postal authorities advise that the s.s. Wimmera, which is due iron) Hobart on Friday next, is bringing Australian mails only. A Proclamation just gazetted extends the time within which bank notes must bo accepted as legal tender to June 30, 1916. Hitherto it has been the custom of the Defence Department to notify tire next-of-kin, by telegram, of all instances of soldiers admitted to hospital from the various military training camps. It lias now been decided that, in future, minor cases will bo communicated to tho relatives by letter instead of by telegrani, and thus obviate the disquieting effects which • the receipt of telegrams naturally produoes on the recipients. In urgent _ cases, where the condition of the patient is serious, an urgent wire will be dispatched to tho next-of-kin as at present, when the attending medical officer recommends such a course of action. A copy of a letter received by a wellknown elcctrical engineer.in New Zealand from a member of the same profession In Birmingham who is engaged in the manufacture of munitions has been Handed to the Hon. Arthur Myers, Minister in Charge of Munitions and Supplies, and the following extract from the letter may prove of interest to readers, being, as it is, the statement of one able to speak with some knowledge or the facts: —"Great Britain is becoming a huge arsenal. Practically eyery Birmingham facTory is doing its bit, and that means something, but the new factories that have just about got started are a sight. It will be no feast that we have in England the finest machine shops in the world. Everything that money and brains could do is being done, slowly perhaps, but sure."
The Mayor (Mr. J. P. Luke) has been in communication with the Railway Department, with a view to obtaining suitable train facilities for concert and entertainment parties travelling to Trentham. The result, as disclosed in the following letter from the Department, is that the arrangement made last year at the instance of the Mayor will' agaii} come into operation: "Arrangements can be made for a car to be attached to the train leaving Lambton at 6.14 p.m., and on the return journey a car will be attached to the train leaving Trentham at 10.10 p.m. and reaching Lambton at 11.20 p.m. I might mention that tho train is a. heavily laden goods- train, and tho actual running cannot be fixed with certainty. The performers will be granted firstclass travelling, on second-class ordinary tickets,, provided they have some means of identification." With reference to- the last sentence in the letter from the Department, cards will be supplied at the office of the Mayor or tho Town Clerk, to artists travelling to the Trentham Camp to give entertainments there.
A Press Association message sent from London on December 22 last stated that the High Commissioner had said that "nine-tenths of the parcels of comforts for New Zealand soldiers sent to the front were not properly addressed, andhad been returned to the High Com-
missioner's office, London." The Minister of Defence cabled immediately this telegram was published, asking if it was correct. He has received the following reply:—"January 17. With reference to your telegram, my statement was quito the reverse. I said that tho addresses of 90 per cent, of the parccls could be read. Since that day added packages are arriving from Egypt not well addressed."
No difficulty is being experienced in finding employment for worldess men who apply to the Labour Department in the different centres throughout New Zealand. The 'Wellington Labour Bureau dealt with 65 applications for work last week, and found work for 48 men, 27 in private employment. Work for the remaining 17 is in view in the country /districts. At Duncdin four applicants out. of a total of nine were placed in private employment. Christchurch had 69 applications to doal'witb, and placed 33 men, many being sent to painters' jobs at Featherston Camp. Though there were 36 unprovided for, only a;few were willing to accept work as 'labourers at Featherston Camp. Auckland placed 14 men cut of 41 applying. There were no urgent -cases among the others. The remount officers in Timaru, Messrs. C. S. Neville and A. JL Paterson, have been busily engaged during the past week in inspecting and purchasing horses on behalf of the Dofence Department. They have now completed the purchase of 70 horses in this district, and considering the number that have already left South Canterbury,' it is surprising, remarks tho "Post," that the latest horses secured are such a fine lot.
Addressing the delegates to the conference of nurserymen /yesterday, tho Mayor of Wellington (Mr. J. P. Luke) referred to the possibility of the industry ■ they represented finding employment for returned soldiers. If, virile maintaining and expanding their industry, remarked His Worship, they could employ a number of returned soldiers, by building them back to health, and at the same time providing them with occupations they could carry out to the Benefit" of themselves and tho community, then the nurserymen would bo doing a splendid work on behalf of "the people of New Zealand.
Mrs. Holland, of Filled Street,. Dunediu, has 31 relatives at the; front, and she has two sons to include in that number.
. Writing from Salonika under date November -1, .Sergeant Alex. Prentice, of No. 1 New Zealand Stationary Hos-
pital. said:—"At the present time we are being affoi'ded an opportunity of 3 eein< r the formation of an immense Anglo-French army, sido by side with the mobilisation of the Grecian thousands. The whole place is full of soldiers, all moiing north. To-day wo seo a whole hillside cqvercd in tents, aud to-morrow everything is gone. Tho Frenchmen are magnificent soldiers, and if they are the fruit of conscription then let us have it every time, for in Kitchener's army there are too many boys and not enough of big, strong, lusty men. In equipment, uniform, and everything the French appear to advantage, 'and their cheerful, happy faces ore an indication that tliej; are in earnest about the wholo business, even though they are conscripts." The two deck hands on the .Union Company's tug Teravrhiti are asking ihe owners to mako an eight-hour day for six days a week, together with overtime, and Sunday and holiday pay. They also request that the company should "find" them with board and lodging- As an alternative they request £15 ss. in wages per montii,. and aro willing to "find" themselves. Negotiations are now proceeding between the company and'tho men.
At a special meeting of the executive of the' Hotel and Restaurant Workers' liuion, held yesterday afternoon, Mr. Weber Todman was .appointed assist-
ant secretary. For men who appreciate a good bow tie we would recommend an inspection of our stock of "ready tied," or 'to tie," at Is. and Ib. 6d. Geo. 'P'owlds, Ltd., Man* a&rs Street.—Advt,
Arrangements have been made lot the Union Company's tug Terawhiti to tow the To Anau from Wellington l<) Dunedin, where the lntver vessel will ba overhauled and altered as quickly a9 -> possible to suit her for special scrrice. Yesterday the Terawhiti was signing on her crow for the trip, and she wanted three liroineii. At first they demanded £5 for the run, and this, it is understood, was agreed to. When they came to sign ou, however, they stipulated that they must be paid £5 for the first four days from the time of engage* ment and £1 for every subsequent day away from Wellington. As the latter demand came at a late hour it was de< cided to hold the matter in abeyance till to-day. It might be pointed jut, however, ' that if the Terawhiti get 3 away to-lay she sliouklbe back here itliin four days, provide!, everytb goes smoothly. ,If this happens to bo the case, her. firemen will be paid at the rate of £1 ss. per day.
A heated moment arrived _at tha Conciliation Council in Christohurchi (says an exchange) during the hearing of the drapers' dispute when the Commissioner announced that drapery firms were worse off to-day than they werfl 1 last August, when an award was madfl in Wellington. Two of the union' 6 assessors challenged the. statement, and 6aid that they had figures in their pock* ets to show that the returns had im creased, and the balance-shects showed the same fact. "You arc talking through your neck," eaid the Commit sioner tersely, and proceeded to his nexf point. One of the assessors took excejv tion to the statement. "You can tak< exception to what you like," said thrf Commissioner, "but when you talk ol drapers' returns you aro talking through your neck. Don't talk nonsense. OonuJ hero and talk sens©." "I object to ii coming from adignified gentleman likd yourself," said tho assessor. The mat< ter then dropped.
Somewhero on tlie map there is A place called Wellington, towards which, when its whereabouts is discovered, there will set in a rush for gold whicli will distance all the other rushes yei heard of. The following from TuesSay's "Lyttelton Times" supports this notion: —"Speaking to a 'Lyttelton Times' reporter yesterday, Mr. R* Soppy, who has just returned from :< visit to the North Island, said that in Wellington business was booming. The war has been a perfcct god-send toi thousands of people in Wellington," hs remarked, "for the greater part of tha war expenditure is made there. EverjJ hotel and boardinghouse is full. YoU can't get a bed anywhere. 'I got'a bed at last and the proprietor of the placa told mo that if business 7 went. along as it had been for the past year, when' t v ne lease ran out. in three or four years he would ibe able to retire. I made particular inquiries. One draper said, 'It may sound strange, but to be candid I shall be sorry when the war's over.' Outside restaurants _ I saw queues of men waiting to get in. Tobacconists and hairdressers are busy; from morning to night. They arc coining money. Practically everybody said the same' thing. Thty had never had such a mn of prosperity, and naturally don't want Trentham interfered with. It is too good a business proposition. ; In the Manawatu I heard tha same tiling.. The camps had brouglit business. Things are flourishing in tho north all ri^ht."
The argument that the AucklanJ Queen Carnival was an expensivo method by which to raise money is held to be completely disposed of by the announcement that the working _ ex' penses of the executive of the amounted to a littlo over 1 pei cent. The executive's certified bal-ance-sheet has just been issued, and shows that a sum of £29,294 18s. <xL was raised for the Patriotic Fund. Tha total expenses amounted to £349, sa fliat a sum of £28,945 18s. od*. had been paid over to the central executive. A feature connected with tlio expends wire is that the disbursements for sals* ries and wages totalled only £45.
An incident in which tragedy an<3 comedy were pathetically blended waa related by Sir C. H. Kason, chairman of Bovril Australian Estates, Ltd., in his address to shareholders at tho an* nual meeting of the company. Last yearj the chairman, who at one time was Premier of Western Australia, inspected tho company's properties, wiiicK extend across Northern Australia to Darwin. "Shortly before'l arrived a# the station," he told' his audience, "there liad been some murders committed by the natives, and some of the culprits had been tried at Darwin and sen>;nced to bo hanged. The authorities thought, as they might be excused for thinking', that instead of hanging them all in the capital city of Darwin, it would have a deterrent cffect upon the other natives if they 6cnt one of the culprits to he hanged in his own district, and got together as many of tha tribe as possible, with his friends and relatives. Accordingly, one of the culprits was sent down to the neighbourhood of our station, and the police got together as many of his frieods and relatives and members of his trfbo as they, could, and they hanged the man from :» tree in their presence, but instead or its having the desired effoat, the natives never had such fun in their lives. They looked upon it as a gorgeous pantomime, and implored the police to give them an encore performance, they being willing to provide auotiiei; man."
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Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2673, 20 January 1916, Page 4
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2,077LOCAL AND GENERAL Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2673, 20 January 1916, Page 4
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