LOCAL AND GENERAL

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2687, 5 February 1916, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

The Postal authorities advise that the s.s. Riverina, which sailed from Sydney at noon on January' 3," for ..Wellington, is bringing an Australian mail only, and is due here on Monday. The Postmaster-General has received official notice from the New Zealand Base Army Post Office that on November 12 last 183 bags of Now Zealand mail, chiefly parcels, and containing 78 registered articles, were lost at. sea.' The parcels would be among those dispatched from New Zealand on Septem-' ber 23 last and re-addressed- parcels of earlier dispatches. Tho Mayor yesterday purchased fifty cases of apples and fifty cases of pears to be placed on board tho troopsliip lllimaroa. The fruit was purchased with funds provided by tho' Mayor's Patriotic Committee. The Union Company's collier Komitta was taken tip on the Wellington' Patent Slip yesterday afternoon without any difficulty, the.cradle reaching its'final resting place about 5 p.m. As the vessel began to leave the water the strain on the hauling gear became very noticeable till the water in the vessel's hull began to diminish through the holes in her bottom. An examination was made, and it was found that four plates oil tiie starboard sido are damaged about 20 feet, from the bows. Two plates on the port side, the saaie distance along, were also found to be damaged. Several frames and rivets will have to be replaced and some of the damaged plates removed altogether. It is understood_ that the main bulkhead between No. 2 hold and the engine-room is started and it will receive attention. It Is impossible to say how long the rc»air6 will take*

_ A proclamation has . been gazetted prohibiting the exi>ortation of hides, weighing forty-five .pounds each or over, except with the consent of tho Minister of Customs. The Government tax iu connection with the Wellington Racing Club's Summer Meeting, held on January 20, -2, and 24, amounted to £6149 2s. lOd. "When the football season opens in , Sydney it will be found that thenar has had a most marked effect upon the game," said Mr. R. H. Messenger, tho well-known Australian three-quar-ter back, who arrived, in Auckland by tho Victoria'on Wednesday. "Large numbers of Australia's foremost players have discarded the jersey for tl'ie khaki uniform, and I doubt whether there, will be any first-grade football in Sydney this year." Questioned as to whether recruiting was satisfactory in Sydney, 3lr. Messenger said that men were coming forward splendidly, and ■ that there was no reason for com plaint. The. restrictions on the. sending oi wireless messages to troopships were demonstrated in Auckland on Wednesday. Mr. A. H. Miles, of Wellington, had come, from that city to meet his son (says the "Herald"), one of the invalided Eoldiers returning by the Roto-, rua. • He received a wireless message from his son, and, desiring to send a reply welcoming him home and intimating that he would meet him on arrival, ho presented the iressage at the .Chief Post Office. He was informed that tho message could not be sent, as \ it .was contrary to the Defence Depart- > ment's regulations to send messages to ~ ships carrying 6oldiers, without special permission. Mr. Miles promptly went to the Defence Office, but was informed there that there was no knowledg< of any such regulation, and that the office was not ill a position to issue an J . permission for the message to be sent. Upon returning to the post office Mr. lilies was/instructed that the message could not be sent without,special pepmission from the naval authorities Sin Wellington.

A proclamation has been published ii the Gazette declaring the following articles absolute contraband (in addition . to those set out in the first of the proclamation issued on October 14; 1!)15): Cork, including cork .dust; bones ill any form, whole or crushed, and bone-ash; soap, and vegetable fibreß and yarns made therefrom. Several amendments are also made to the schcd. ules of the October proclamation. In the first schedule, which deals with absolute contraband, for the word "acetuie," are substituted the words "acetones, and raw or finished material usable -for their preparation." For »' "phosphorus" is substituted "olios-' phorus and its compounds." Item 26 of the schedule is altered to read: "Motor vehicles of all kinds and their component parts and accessories." The alteration consists of tlie addition of the ! two,last words. In the same schedule the more general term lead is substituted, for tlie words "lead—pig. sheet, or pipe." The following articles are added to the second schedule, which relates to conditional contraband "Casein, .bladders, guts, casings, and sausage skins." ; A new office, as far as New Zealand is concerned, lias been created by the Siilvatiqn Army in the appointment of Captain (Jliss) Glover to the position of Samaritan officer in Auckland. Captain Glover will take over from the present officers of the Army the duties _of relieving distress out of funds which ivill be placed at her disposal. For the present, her headquarters will ba at..the Parnell Rescue Home. Captain Glover's installation took pVice at a meeting held last evening. The members of the City Council will probably pay their rcinual visit to the Waintii waterworks next week. At the Petone Police Court yesterday, before Messrs. J. W. M'Ewnn, and A. Coles, J.P.'s, Frank Vincent Gully ,was sentenced to one month's imprisonment with hard labour, for being .an idlo and tiisorderly person, witK insufficient means of support. On a cliargo of drunkenness he was convicted and discharged. It is eight weeks to-morrow since a boy' named Reginald Dick, aged five years whose parents reside at 10 Sydney Street, Petolie, mysteriously disappeared from the foreshore. In spite of .every effort put forth by the local police and friends of Mr. Dick, not- a trace' has been discovered of the iniss,ing boy. Various rumours have been circulated as to his having been seen in different places, but upon investigation these have proved to be without foundation.