LOCAL AND GENERAL

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2721, 16 March 1916, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Tlio Postal authorities advise that the s.s. Maitai, which left Wellington on March 9, carrying mails for Australia and the United Kingdom, arrived at Sydney 011 Tuesday morning.

"The Public Works Department has no intention of stopping work on the Olira tunnel," said the Prime Minister .yesterday. "The headings will be kept going fvom both sides. Ido not •suppose that what is happening will retard the final completion of the tunnel, because if they get the headings through our drainage and ventilation difficulties will be made easyV

At many of the bays round Wellington the presence of sharks, due to tho long spell of hot weather, lias been reported. ' A resident of Worser Bay states that he saw live good-sized sharks off the Worser Bay wharf a short time back.

At 6.40 o'clock yesterday morning the Fire Brigade answered a call to tho •Willis Street Public School, where a shelter-shed, detached from tho main building, was found to be on fire. The fiamos were soon suppressed, but the shod is used in the evenings as a miniature rifle range, and it is considered likely that an acetylene lamp may have been placed in the cupboard before it was extinguished. The fire, it is thought, was smouldering some time before the alarm was given.

The Newtown Stato School, which lias been fumigated, will not be reopened until Monday morning.

During an interview with a reporter this morning (states our Napier correspondent) the Commissioner of Crown bauds, Mr. W. H. Skinner, said that tho war nad not had an appreciable effect in retarding settlement in Hawke's Hay, and the past year had been a most successful one amongst Crown tenants, Ho judged that from the number of leaseholds which had been turned into freeholds.

As there is at present an urgent call 011 Government money, 'tlie .building of the proposed isolation block to the Napier Hospital ■ will have to remain in abeyance until after the war.

Certain l trouble that arose over the manning of the barque Autiope, which recently sailed from Wellington for i\;upara, led to ,correspondence with the Marine Department, and. Mr. W. T, Young, secretary of the Seamen's Union, -lias now received the follownig reply from the Hon. Dr. M'Nab, Minister of Marine: ' Dear sir,—l beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter of date 9th instant, containing copy of a resolution passed, by your council ill reference to tho suspension of ike manning scale on board tho Antiopa. I am very pleased to learn that the Antiopa sailed with her full complement of ten A.B.'s, and, in. view of the inaccurate nature of the representations made by the agents to tho Department, my one regret is that the whole crow did not succeed in obtaining the sum paid to tlie two A.B.'s taken on at the last moment."

German firms in Japan are endeavouring to retain and secure businesses by operating under Japanoso nainos. The Auckland Chamber of Commerce last week had its attention drawn, to a list of German traders who had tried tho simple expedient of a change of name. The list which was supplied by the British Ambassador .at Tokio. li'ho intimated that trading with the enemy was strictly prohibited, was as follows: —Yokohama—Wiuckler and Co. (T. Miyabe), Bergmnuu and Co. (Asada Shokai), Otto Heimers and Co. (Nigo Shoten). Becker and Co. (Kato Gomei Kaisha). ICobc—Bergraanri and Co, (Sawada and Co.), M. Raspe and Co. (Kato and Co.), Becker and Co. (Toyo liussan Export Co.), Carloivitz and Co, (Takashiro), Wiuckler and Co. (Kubota lixportiug Co.), Van Nierop and Co. (Kasai and Co.), V. Hermann, of Siemens, Schukert and Co.' (Tanaka T, Goda).

At the annual meeting of the South Canterbury brancli of the Mancjiestet , Unity of Oddfellows last week, the Provincial Grand Master (Bro. J. Demp6ey) said the question which was uppermost in the friendly society mind today was "What effect will the Wat have?" The' Manchester Unity at thfi present moment bad well over'l2o,ooo members serving in His- Majesty's' forces. The Order had rightly detor. niinod that t'ho contributions of. thesti men should be paid for them and calculating on a low average contribution of £1 per man per annum it meant that the Order bad got to face a bill of £120,0011 yearly. Further,- the Manchester Unity had beeu able to decide tTiat all benefits should be paid, and when they remembered that all actuarial calculations were being distributed by the toll of death and injury this terrible war is taking, tlioy would realise something of what this meant. But they wero determined to face the consequences of their decision and would cheerfully meet any requirements placed upon them. •

"Wheat in Australia- for local consumption is 4s. 6d. a bushel, and the price of bread 6Jd. a loaf," said Mr. A. It. Hart at the Timaru Farmers' Union meeting on. Saturday. "In Timaru wheat is 4s. Gd., yet the price of the loaf is 9d." This, lie said, was surely out of all proportion. In Wairoata bread was only Bd. He thought that as producers they should bring the matter before the authorities, as - the price of bread was altogether too high. It was decided to place the matter before the Board of Trade, expressing surprise at the unreasonable price of bread when compared with' the prica of wheat. \

Never before in the history of tho Napier Hospital has the accommodation been so iaxed (states Dr. Valintine, Inspector-General of Hospitals, in a report to the -Hawke's 13 ay Hospital Board), lie had found that there were on March 8 no fewer than 169 patients under treatment. Ho was of opinion, however, that a considerable portion of these -cases could, without disadvantage to themselves,, be discharged from the institution. After going over the cases carefully with the resident officors, he had coijie to the conclusion thai twenty-six might be discharged immediately. .On the 1 Iti spector-G cneral' s recommendation, the 'board has decided to discharge. somo of tho patient?, to remove others to the Park Island institution, and to send all patients •in the early stages of consumption to tho Sanatorium at Cambridge.

Ail important point in tho article published in The Dominion yesterday on tho subject of ."An American View of Australia," Svas lost by the word "factions" being printed as ''functions." The paragraph, whioh is worth reprinting in full, should have re<id as follows:—"That the wage question is ail economic problem, which should bo kept aloof from politics; that the function of Government is not to appease its warring factions by compromising fundamental principles, but to protcct the rights of every citizen by the use of all the power at its command when necessary; that the 'more Government intervenes in private business the mere it will. bo compelled to intervene* and that it is aisy to cha<;t but almost impossible to nmcal such measures, es pocially when their effect is the creation of a huge governmental machine."

At the next meeting of the Hospital and Charitable Aid Board, Dr. I'lattsMills will move: (1) "That instructions bo given to the architect to complete tho approved plans and specifications for the proposed additions over Ward IV and adjoining corridor, which will provide special " wards for eye, ear, nose, ana throat cases, and tho necessary operating rooms" ; (21 "that, pending the construction and completion of these additions, the board reconsider its decision with regard to utilising the nppor story, at present unused, of the Children's Hospital." ■

With tho object of effecting a war economy at the rate of £500 a year or so, tho Lambeth Council have decided ,to purchase no more works of fiction for the municipal public libraries during the continuance "of the war. One other Metropolitan Borough Council, that of Wandsworth, took a similar step some months ago.

Tho sum of £8 Bs. was realised by an art union for a bedspread and silk kimono tTrawn in the Mayor's room yesterday afternoon. Doth articles wero presented by Mrs. R. J. 'Nyhite, and were won by Mrs. Dunce and Mrs. Simnionds _ (<ff Karori) respectively. The money iVfor the Wounded Soldiers and Sailors' Fumj,

A 6hock of earthquake, fairly severe, was felt in Wellington at 6.35 yesterday morning.

Shortly after 6 o'clock yesterday evening 3. fog, which 1} increased in density, settled down about the entrance to Wellington harbour. TIIO Manuka, which arrived from Sydney shortly after 7 p.m., managed to cofne through without delay, but the Maori, which left for Lyttel-. ton about 8 o'clock, encountered a very thick bank - , and Captain Manning found it nec.essn.ry to anchor in the entrance. TJp tiH a late hour the fog showed no signs of lifting, but the ferry steamer was ultimately able to 'eel her way out at 1.20 a.m. The Arawa, from London, which was to arrive." about 10 o'clock last night, was also held up.

In conneotion with the exchange of flags between the Now Zealand aud New South' Wales Railway Departments. which is to take place on Anzao Day (April 25), at Petone, the initial steps have been taken to erect a flagpole 60ft. in height at Petone railway station. The "base" is to be lowered into a large hole dug for the purpose to-day.

The Greymouth police are making Inquiries into a matter which occasioned the railway authorities, at Greymouth some concern on Wednesday morning (says an exchange). When the Rnefton train was approaching town the driver noticed, when opposite the brewery, that a piece of iron rail had been placed across the line. He immediately pulled up the train, and removed the obstacle, which, had the engine collided with it, might < have caused deraijment. How the rail got on the line is a mystery, but the surrounding circumstances are such as to prompt the wisdom of tho Railway Department in placing the matter with the police for further investigation.

"Tile only unpleasant. feature I found," Baid Mr. J. de Cordova, an American tourist, after a trip through New Zealand, "was in connection with flio railway service. The delays at tho spall stations were numerous and vexatious. I see no reason why the waiting time at the important stations should not be lessened, why many' ol the small stations should not bo eliminated from tho stopping-places, and trains should not be considerably speeded up."

"German musicians at the beginning ofithe war," said John Philip Sousa at his recent birthday celobration, "wero busy all over , Germany composing marches of victory. Every week three or four inarches of victory made their appearance. But of late the output has stopped. ".Output stopped, eh?" said the reporter. "I wonder, then, what tho German musicians are composing now?" Mr. Sousa smiled. "Peace overtures, most likely," he said.

Two novel classes' wore included in tile schedule for tho Waikato Central Agricultural and Pastoral Association's show at Cambridge. One class was for the lady with the largest number of sons who have enlisted, and in this Mrs. S. H. Liddington and Mrs. F. Ottoole were equal first, with four sons each, i The other class was s for the lady with the largest family in the Cambridge district. Mrs. S. H. Liddington, with thirteen children, was the winner. 1 -

Councillor T. Bush will move at the next council meeting that: "In order that a record of the council's proceedings may be in the hands of every councillor, the minutes of the council since April 1, 1915, and the future minutes of the council be printed, and a complete copy furnished to each councillor. . In the case of future minutes a copy to be furnished prior to their confirmation."

For failing to register for military service, a youth at the Petone Police

Court was fined 405., in default seven days' military detention. The father

of the youth deniod any shirking of responsibilities, and stated that ho did not look to the Dofenoe Department for protection, hut to God. ,He added that his conscience forbade him to do .anything other thjn he was doing. The Magistrate ■ stated that if the youth appeared again the fine would be heavier. Much has been written about the manner in which the officers of American sailing ships "liazo" the members of their crews, but an incident occurred in Auckland recently, says the "Star," 'in which the crew "got it on" to the skipper. When an American four-masted barque was lying in the harbour the shift's cook took it into his head to get on the spree. He walked' off the ship, and started to enjoy himself in the city. _ Here was a quandary for the captain—a ship without a ' cook and a crew of twenty-five hungry sailors waiting to be fed. They had to be fed, by all the laws of shipping the onus was on the skipper to supply . them with proper meals, and in the absence of the cook the skipper's only way out of the difficulty was to send the men to a restaurant ashore for their meals. The men relished both the position and the meals, for, in their eagerness to take it out of the "old man," they developed tremendous appetites, _ that resulted in extra f restaurant charges for "returns," and the mounting bill of damages drove the skipper to despair. . At' last the skipper ran against Sergeant Cahill, of the waterBide police, and mentioned his troubles. "That's easy to get over,'' cheerfully replied the sympathetic sergeant. "I'll fix you up." With a wide knowledge of the way of sailors ashore, the sergeant located the defaulting sea-cook in a couple of hours, and talked over the subject of deserting seauica so persuasively that the cook made _ extra special fast time back to the ship.