LOCAL AND GENERAL

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2764, 6 May 1916, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL

The postal authorities advise that the s.s. Manuka, which sailed- from Sydney on May 4 .for Wellington, is' bringing nil Australian mail only, and is due here on Monday. The Westraiia, which sailed. from, Sydney on May 3 for Auckland, is- bringing an Australian mail only, and is due here by,Maiu Trunk train on Tuesday morning. Up till yosterday afternoon,, no fewer than 2849 men had been 'enlisted at t'ho 'town Hall Rc-cruiting Office. To-day, being 'Accession Day, 'is • a Supreme, Court holiday.

No clue has yet been discovered. to lead to the arrest 6i the poison .respon-sible-for the burglary 'at Hataitai last week,'whou some £4 in cash was se-, cured by.the burglar. The .circun-. r stances connected with' the crime suggest that it was committed by the person responsible, for tho ; numerous uu-.. detected Burglaries in Oriental Bay. and other, parts of the 'city'.' r "Now, be sure, you men," said tlio n.c.o. to the new men in cnqip, whom he had marched to Headquarters to act as orderlies, "be sure you salute all offi-. cers." A raw-youth spoke up. "Isahited one. yesterday, sir," he said,"and 110 raised his hat to me." "That's because he thought you were' •o. funeraV' was -the- sergeant's quid: retort. "Step liv.ely,. lad! Step lively!"

"Personally, I think the. time is 'not far distant when the Government will have to put; into operation compulsory .military service,l'.-said.-the Hon.. Dr. K., M'Nab, Minister.. of. Marine • (according to the "New Zealand Herald")..He added .that lie did not think there were many more reinforcements in sight under the voluntary system. He rad recently boon in Southland, where there was a revival .of recruiting. _ Indeed, with the exception of Christch-irch, there had been a satisfactory bocm in, recruiting in the ■, whole',.of tlio South Island. vA portion -of Wellington had gone back, however. Dr. M'Nab said that Parliament would be legislating for compulsion in the course of' the approaching session; ''

• A well-attended meeting was heldrat Ijhe clubhouse of ;tho Commercial Travellers and Warehousemen's Association during tho luncheon hour yesterday, Mr. F. W. Manton presiding, at which progress was reported ' in . connection vvitli. tlie All-for-Empire scheme, which is noiv moving satisfactorily. Tho chairman detailed the steps already taken, and mentioned that the Prime Minister, Sir Joseph Ward, and other members of tho Cabinet, had promised their support and assistance •to tho league, and further'stated that tlio Town Hall had been secured fov the meetings on Empire Day. . The Headmasters' Association was being approached in connection, with' the schools celebration, and, on behaif of the Women's National Reserve,' tlie president (Dr. Platts-Mills) had expressed her willingness to assist, as also bad Mrs. M'Vicar, president .of tlio Ladies' Guild'of tlio New Zealand Natives' Association, and Utrs. Moore, secretary of •the Women's Social and Liberal League. Messrs. Hobday, Witt, Brinsden, Jl'Kcnzio, J. J. Reitch, Keall, T. K. Thomson, A. M. Lewis, Robertson, A. Marryntt, and Roberts were added to tlio committee, and tho meeting then adjourned. Yesterday, Detective-Sergeant Cox and Detective Carney arrested a man on various. charges of theft.

The opening night of the Wellington Orphans' Club is to take place this evoning in • the Masonic Hall, Boulcott Street. ■ ■ Tho Prime Minister, Sir Joseph Ward, tlie Hon. A. L. Herdman, His Worship the Mayor, and many other leading citizens have intimated to tho secretary, Mr. Herbert Wood, their intention of being present. There is on exhibition in one of Messrs. Stewart Dawson's windows a collection of rare and valuable Egyptian and' Turkish souvenir spoons. They wore collected by one of tho'New Zealand soldiers and sent to New Zealand. One of the spoons has a bullet-hole through- the bowl, and is stated to liavc been found on the body of a Turkish soldier.

In orderly/room at a military, camp, b of ore the commandant, a corporal had given his cvidcnco concerning the culprit. , The commandant turned to the man: "You've heard what the corporal has said, '"What's your story?'" Tho soldier pointed an accusing finger at the corporal. "That gentleman," ho raid, "he's never took to me from the day I come in, and, sir"—lie paused— "and I don't like tho 'ole business, sir," ho added impressively. Luckily, his was the last one on the list, otherwise the gravity of the Court might have bocir upset before all the prisoners could have been removed.Councillor M'Dougall will movo at Monday's meeting of tho Lower Hutt Borough Council:'"That a return ho presented to the council showing (a) tho amount of any unexpended loan moneys, if any, (b) what such loans woro .raised for, and (c) how such moneys aro invested, and, if earning interest,, to wliat account such interest is placed." Kirkcaldie' and Stains, Ltd., require tho services of machinists to operate -twelve, now power miicliines now being installed for the manufacture of blouses, skirts, underclothing, shirts and pyjamas. Experi-. onci'd operators paid either by piecework or at a weekly wage, at .their option. Juniors instructed'in--the use of power machines.—Advt. A winter coat? Good value nap and flceco cloth, in navy, brown, and grey, 50s. Geo, I'owlds, Ltd,, Manners Street—Advt.

It is not expected that tlio business of the Masonic Grand Lodge of New Zealand, which meets in Auckland next Wednesday, will extend.... beyond two days (says the "Herald"). The probability is, indeed, that it will conclude on the Thursday morning. . The feat of freezing live fish ai.d reviving them ■ several'weeks or months later has been achieved by the Swiss scientist, M. Pictet (says a I.ondon papei}._ The scientist, put twenty-' eight live fish in a box that contained water rich in oxygen, in which several pieces o£ ice floated, Hie temperature of the water was then reduced slowly until it froze. At the end 'if about two montlis the cako was gradually thafred, and the. fish, it is said, were found alive. In such-an experiment, .the scientist reports, it is essential that the water be gradually 'frozen, and that_ it shall have contained pieces of ice for front 15 to 18 hours'before tho whole mass .is frozen. Tlio process of thawing must , also be slow. Through this process it is-believed-that Siberian sturgeon and Alaskan salmon ran be exported alive' to distant markets;

• Professor J. Jolly recently sent to the I.ondon "Times" a most interesting letter oil' some experiments he and Prolessor H. 11. Dixon have conducted oil the advantage's and disadvantages of' swimming in clothes—a subject whichmay bo of importance to any' one who travels by sea in these days. The popular notion is that clothes drag a swimmer down, hut the maximum downward drag of an ordinary sailor's clothes in sea-water was shewn to be only four, oimces. This was alter all air had been expelled from the clothes. In practice the drag for a considerable time would be less. At first there ha a sustaining force from the clothes. Of course, for a short and sharp burst of swimming clothes would obviously be a great impediment. The most important result of the experiments, however, Was to show that a clothed person'ill the 6ea loses warmth very much less rapidly than unciothcd persons. The explanation is that fabrics placed against the skin stop the circulation and prevent the bnd>>warmth from being carried off by the water. With a great amount of clothing it might ho possible to keep fairly warm evcu in very cold water. ;Thc moral is: Keep on your clothes, and if you have a lifebelt or life-saving waistcoat .keep on.plenty of them.

Mr. Robert Lea (manager .of the New Zealand Coal and Oil Company) has commenced a scheme of afforestation at Kaitangata (says an exchange), his object being to provide aij adequate sup^ ; ply of timber for mining props'for use in" the local mines. Already about 40,000 young bluegum trees are ready for transplanting, and in dno course 1 these will be planted-within the area of the coal reserve. At'present the pur- 1 cliase of mining props involves an annual cost' to the company of about £2000, and as the natural , bush, is rap- ■ idly being cut out and the distance for railing becomes greater, the advantaga of providing'.si good'supply in close pros- . imity to the mining- works will be apparent: It is, estimated f that in about ten or twelve year's. the company will . he able to draw upon its own supplies.' It is- not .the intention .of the company to go.ln' for other timber'at present'. ~,. Advices received' from,the : . United. States-show that a practical-trial'of the Victorian, system for settlement of irrigation districts is-to be made by the American Government. At Orland, on the west coast.of America, on-what js known as-the. Chaster railway'route, is an area of something like 20,000 acres, find-in this area it is proposed to introduce in a concrete form the Victorian system of land'settlement, which, according to the '• San Francisco "Chronicle," lias done much for ruraldevelopment in a number of countries - which 1 have. recently* adopted the ays-: tem. The newspaper describes xhe advantages of tho'-system, the'main-points., being : tho" buildinC-of houses, the:grad-' jug; of land: and the advancing of some-:-' thing like 60 per cent, of the value of ~ the improvements. _ The- result of _ introducing Australian ideas into America will be-watched with much interest by those who have been responsible for originating the system here. Mr. - Thos/ Sutcliffe, manager of* tho Wellington Branch of the. National In-' stirarice Co., has addressed the follow- ( inn letter'to His Worship the,' Mayor:— '-'We have pleasure in handing you here-' with our cheque fo-.' £250, to be devoted to tlio sick and wounded soldiers from any part of the Dominion. The amount is this branch's share, and is part of £1000 voted by our shareholders for the Sick "and Wounded Soldiers' Fund. The balance will bo • paid over in equal amounts at the other three centres. To enable returned disabled soldiers of fairly good education to fit themselves for the teaching profession; the Education "Department has decided to admit soldiers to training colleges. One of the conditions laid down is that tlio student must be the holder nf an in-' termediate'certificate or a higher certificate, or must produce evidence of the completion of at least- two years' satisfactory work in a secondary school, or its equivalent. In discussing the matter, the chairman of the Auckland Education' Board, Mr. G. J. Garland, said that this condition would so far limit the, choice cf students that very few would come forward. If it was..ihsisted upon, they might as well "close ths ' book." because only about 1 per cent, of those desiring ' employment could fulfil -the condition. The board appointed a committee, consisting of tie chairman, Mr. G. W. Murr.iy, the secretary, and the senior inspector, to draw up a letter to the Department, to he submitted to the board's next meeting. "