LOCAL AND GENERAL

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2700, 21 February 1916, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Australian mails only will arrive by the Manuka, which is expected to reach port at 5 o'clock this evening from Sydnoy.

The Aucklnnd waterside workers have decided by '292 votes to 213 to join the N'ew Zealand Arbitration Federation. The decision was unexpected. The union will require to surrender the right of selection and may bo committed to a 10 p.m. day. The door will be opened to any wharf workers wlio have been unable to work on the wharves since the 1913 strike.—Press Association.

Three times during tho week-end tho Fir? Brigade was called out to deal with fires. Two were' gorse fires —ono an vacant sections in Palliser Road, Kosencath, on Saturday afternoon, and one on _ the 'Town Belt, at the top of Constable Street, yesterday afternoon. Yesterday morning they were called to a five in Aro Street in a shed occupied by J. O'Brien i't his asphalt works. In one corner of the 3hed was a bedroom, and this room was totally destroyed. No one was actually sleeping in the room at the time.

The sneak thief has found a new scope for his activities in Christchurch. Owing to the war. lead has become very valuable, with the result that several householders in that city have discovered within the last day or two that the lead-piping in their outhouses lias been cut out mid taken away by some acquisitive individual. It is understood tho police are making inquiries in regard to the matter.

The Wellington Automobile Club has arranged for a motor-car picnic to bo (liven to returned soldiers next Saturday afternoon. The arrangements are that the members of the club and their lady friends are to meet in Post Office Square at 11.30 p.m., for a run to Trentham. In the case of each car, it is proposed that the host and hostess will, in tlie matter of refreshments, provide for tlie soldiers in the car, except for milk and hot water, which are to be provided by the president of the club (Mr. Izard). Tlie club lias kindly been granted tho use of the grounds of Mr. John Barton's residence, at Trentham, as a rendezvous.

For some time tho Minister of Defence lia-s been considering the question of how best to provide for tlie housing and control of unruly convalescent soldiers, whose presence in ordinary hospitals or camp hospitals may be subversive of good order and disoipline. Experience at B anmer and elsewhere has already shown that there are soldiers who require' stricter control than is possible at hospitals or other institutions under civil control. Tho Defenco Minister stated on Saturday that he had been considering whether it would not bs necessary to establish a special hospital in each island to which refractory patients could be sent. These hospitals would be under strict military control, and only those men would be sent to them who would not submit to the discipline of the hospitals and camps controlled by the Public Health Department. Mr. Allen thought that the existence of these special military . _ hospitals would have a good disciplinary effect, and would make it more easily possible to, control the men at institutions like Rotorua and 'Hanmer.

A deputation headed by the Mayor of Wellington waited upon the Minister of Education on Saturday to urge that when a new technical school, is to bs built in Wellington it'should be built on the Mount Cook site. Mr. Hanan promised to give the request full consideration.

. Esoitement was caused in Manners S|reet between 9 and 10 o'clock on Saturday morning by the sound of falling glass. An express, upon which was fastened three large iron girders, was proceeding aloiifj the street, when some object caused tho horse to_sh t y. Owing to the suddenness of the incident a tram proceeding along at tlie_ time was unable to pull up before it had crashed into the girdere. The latter swung around, and crashed into one of tho plate-glass windows of Craig and Go.'s glass and crockery establishment. The window was smashed to atoms, as was the crockery, and it/was some twenty minutes before the horse and' _ vehicle could be removed from the position in which the extraordinary mishap had placed them. The Wellington-Lyttelton ferry boats will in tho near future, irttead or berthiiig at the outer toss of tho Queeu b Wharf, tie up at what is known at present as the Wool Wharf, which has been widened by 34 feet, to a width of /0 feet, and extended 100 feet. A shelter shed 230 feet by 30 feet is being erected. Adjoining tiie berth a luggage office and a ticket office are to be erected 1 . The bottom of the harbour has had to bo dredged to a depth of 34 feet. Tlie proposed now railway statioii ill be within about'2oo yards of the new ferry wharf, and the tramway system will also" adjust itself to meet tho. new traffic. "When I came from Lytteltoii on Saturday night by the Maori,' said Mr. W. lv. Haselden, S.M., to a Dominion reporter yesterday, "there were about two hundred soldiers on board. had the run of the whole ship, and their conduot was an example to all troops travelling under such conditions, llicro was an impromptu danc; and concert, winding up -it 10 P- n V. th £ „ tional Anthem. For sobriety, n bse "=® of objectionable language, and cheerful demeanour, the men were models ot whait we would wish our warriors to be, and it was heartily appreciated and admired by the civilians on board.