LOCAL AND GENERAL

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2685, 3 February 1916, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

The work of the Recruiting Board was referred to briefly by the Prime Minister (the. Right Hon. W. F. Massey) yesterday. Circulars are being addressed to the local bodies, whose co-opera-tion in the work of enlistment is being sought under the scheme. These cir-, culars will be accompanied by alphabetical lists, showing the men of military age in each of the districts, "The work is going on steadily, and I think satisfactorily," remarked the Prime Minister. "It will be about a fortnight yet before wo get the whole of the printing finished. The first lot of "circular letters and lists will probably go out at the end of the week." The Minister of Customs notifies for general information that the exportation from New Zealand of drysalted hides not exceeding 451b. in weighty is prohibited unless _ tlie special sanction of the Minister is first obtained. A Magisterial inquiry into the stranding of tlio Kaitoa on Sunday last will be held in the Wellington Magistrate's Court at 10 a.m. on Friday. The two nautical assessors have vet to be appointed. From New Plymouth another case is reported of the punishment of a person for affixing a used postage stamp to a letter in pro-payment of postage. This mode of attempting to defraud the Government is, of course, relatively infrequent. It would be just as well for would-be offenders to notice that the punishment fixed by law for the use of a defaced stamp for purposes of post<ige is severe, namely, a fine of £50. Friday night was one to be remembeied in Greymouth. For somo weeKs past the place had been in a fever of excitement over a Queen Carnival, which saw the return of Miss Muriel Arnott as Queen, and £6000 raised for the Wounded Soldiers' Fund of Greymouth. On Friday evening the Coronation took place in the Opera House under the able direction of Mr. Tom Pollard. For tho purpose of the function the atage represented tho throneroom, being set with the scene of the last act of 'Taul Jones," borrowed from the Wellington Amatour Operatic Society. Vast preparations for the French Red Cross Saturday are being made in Napier and Hastings. Hundreds of willing workers are coming forward, and it is already anticipated that there will be a record collection.

Our Napier correspondent states that Mr. E. J. Watt has given £100 to the Hastings. Soldiers' Club. To date the subscriptions towards this club amount to £1528.

"There are some terribly bad concerts being given by incompetents in the sacred cause of charity (writes a London correspondent), and really when I listen to some of the singers I have heard within the past six months and realise that many of them have been giving "their services" for hospital n'ard concerts for the sick and wounded, it astonishes me that any of tho sick and wounded who are susceptible ever recover from their sickness or wounds. I can quite understand the mental attitude of the Tommy who, bored to extinction by the attentions of an amateur nurse, put upon his pillow a notico to the effect that "I am too ill to be nursed."

_ "It will be a calamity to the dairying districts if the. war lasts much longer, remarked a Nirealia dairy farmer to a "Wairarapa Age" reporter, "as already the greatest difficulty is found ill securing the necessary labour, and any further strain -will compel many to relinquish tho industry."

Probably no previous decision arrived at by the Government . in connection with the trade war against the enemy has (says the "Sydney Morning Herald ') aroused so much interest in commercial circles as lias the latest edict of the Prime Minister (Mr. Hughes), to the effect that all persons of enemy origin, whether naturalised or not, must be removed from the lists of shareholders of all Australian, companies. Mr. Mahon. denied a rumour that the proclamations would'not ho applicable to naturalised persons. When asked how he proposed to prevent the evasion of tho 'rule by the transfer of shares to dummy holders, the Minister said that that practice could he checked l by tho imposition of heavy. penalties on' both the person transferring tho shares and tho person in whose name they were registered.

Tho following letter has been forwarded to His Worship the Mayor by Captain D. Sinisan: —"Some time ago I wrote a letter to the Press in reference to the granting of free tram rides to undischarged returned soldiers. As you are iiware, Sir, Wellington has the benefit of tho main training camp at Trentham, to a great extent. Cities not so favourably situated have recognised the justice of granting these facilities to returned soldiers, under certain conditions. These cities are Invercargill, Dunedin, and Christchurch. The time has now arrived for a special answer. Many of our returned soldiers have to travel daily to and from hospital—the.v have to come into town to get their pay. If residing at the hostel recently started they have to pay each way. As they have to attend periodical examinations, they have again to travel by tram and pay. 1 am confident tho public will support tho granting of this, and I luiow the men will appreciate the concession. It could bo arranged by a. monthly pass of a cer-. tain colour being issued to all returned Wellington men undergoing medical treatment, or convalescent. I ask you, Sir, to decide which course I shall take •—whether to approach you as Mayor with a deputation of some hundreds of returned soldiers, or ask you to call a public meeting on behalf of these men. This concession would enable the men to take advantage of tile sea-bathing, and also to visit Ihc various nlnces of interest,, thereby hastening their recovery."

During Jemmy the women's branch of the Wellington Labour Bureau assisted sixty-five women to employment. Twenty-six were married, and thirtynine single. There were four cooks, thirty-three day workers, twelve domestics, five housemaids, two housekeepers, one matron, ono nurse, six pantrymaids, and one waitress.

Proposals for the amendment of the Slops and Offices Act were discussed by the conference of representatives o£ Soft-goods Employees' Union in Wellington recently. Amendments wore suggested in the provisions, permitting shopkeepers to observe two late nights in Christmas and New Year weeks, and fclio extension of the late nis*bt to 11 o'clock. Payment of overtime to workers receiving in excess of £200 per annum was also discussed, and proposals for the reduction of the weekly working hours, at present 52, with tlio observance of the following closing hours: On four days in the week, 5.30 p.m.; on the late night, 8 o'clock; and oti the weekly half-holiday, 12 o'clock. It was decided to hold another conference about July, when ' Parliament is sitting, to draft suitable amendments I'} the Shops and Offices Act, for submission to the Minister of Labour (the Eight Hon. W. F. Massey), with the object of securing their embodiment in an Amending Bill. Gratitude is not such an extremely common virtue as to be overlooked when it shows up. A letter has been received from a member of the Samoan garrison at Apia by the Mayor, in which the writer says: "My sincere thanks for your great kindness to my wife and children since I left New Zealand. . , . I think it is splendid of yourself and your committee the way <you arc helping our dear ones whilst we are awav. . . . You can't imagine how much all you kind people are relieving the minds of married men away from home. I can assure you It's half the battle to know that someone at home has an eye on our famines, and is ready to lend a hand, should they require it. I beg of you to ' thank Mrs. Luke and her committee for the paresis that they were so kind in Bonding to the Wellington men of our garrison." War prices in England are commented upon in a letter from a New Zealand man, who lias been residing in the Old Country for about ten years past. Rents everywhere have been increased, be says, and important articles of food are retailing at the following prices:—English beef and mutton, Is. 2d. per lb.; butter, Is. 9d. per lb.; sugar, 6Jd. per lb.; rice, 4]<l. per lb; potatoes, lOd. tier stone; and bacon Is. 2d. per lb. lish is at a famine figure even at Grimsby. "Not once or twice in one rough island story: The path of Duty was tlio road to glory. The' foregoing lines surmount the village Roll of Honour at Chew Magna, in Somerset. The name of every village lad who lias enlisted is inscribed on a board in- tlio village street. The board, it is stated, has been a great incentive to recruiting, because no man whose name is not on this board will be popular in his native village again.

A returned soldier ex Willochra; told a reporter yesterday that the North Island troops greatly appreciated tlio kindness of the South Island Indies. Not only at Dunedin and Christchurch were the men treated with every hospitality, but, as the South Island express conveyed them north, they were showered with favours in the way of "smokes" and refreshments at places such as Oamaru, Timaru, and Ashburton. Everywhere they received a splendid welcome. jY return issued by the Official Assignee in Bankruptcy in Wellington foi the year ended January 31 shows that, as far as the city was concerned, ten debtors' and two creditors' petitions wer.e lodged, while eight disoharges were granted." Assets as per bankrupts' statements totalled £932 19s. 2d.; amount owing to secured creditors, £3537 10s. Bd.; liabilities, £'1766 3s. 3d. Assets realised by the Assignee' totalled £3853 Is. 3d., while £282-1 was paid in dividends and £909 lis. 4d. in other settlements.

Great enthusiasm marked an auction sale of cricket relies at Scott's Hotel, Melbourne, on January 21, and the 40 lots sold realised £517. The total of t'lio cricketers' tribute will' reach between £2400 and £2500.- The Blackball! ball {mid has already contributed £510 to flio total. The princinal items at the sale were the bat used by W. L. Murdoch in his 1800 English tow, 70 guineas; an autographed bat of the late Victor Tmmper, used by him in the 1903-4 season, 55 guineas; another autographed bat of Trumper's, 35 guineas ; autographed bat of Clem Hill, 20 puineaSi autograph bat of Warwick Armstrong, 26 Guineas'. The scoring book of the. 18S2 Australian Eleven, which includes the score of the test match in which Australia first heat England on even terms in England, wai sold to Mr. Thomas Millear for 33 guineas. This book has bfen in the possession of Mr. Thomas For an ever since the end of that tour, and the purchaser requested that it sliould be handed back to him. The roistered colours of the 1882 Australian Eleven—the only ones in existence—wore sold io Mr. H. L. Austin for 2K guineas. These colours were offered by Mr. J. Blackani. and Mr. Austin asked tint they should be handed baojv to Mr. Blackham. "Lady Sheep Farmer" lias forwarded £200 to the Mayor of Christchurch for the Patriotic Fund "to encourage the others."