LOCAL AND GENERAL

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2775, 19 May 1916, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Tho postal authorities advise .that tho s.s. Victoria, which sailed from Sydney at 3 p.m. on May 17 for Aucklnnd, is bringing mails from Australia and United Kingdom, via Suez. The 1 Wellington portion is due here on Tuesday morning. No cases of infantile paralysis -were reported in the Wellington Health District yesterday. >lr. E. Focke. formerly German Consular Agent in Wellington, was interned on Somes Island yesterday. The Senate of the University of NewZealand will meet in Wellington on June 22 for the conferring of degrees. "Golf.is not a game; it is an intelligent exercise," declared Councillor J. Fuller at the City Council last evening,' when someone raised a question about Sunday golf. The milk problem was before the Wellington Council last evening, when a deputation from the Milk Vendors' Association placed its case before the council. The vendors' case has already been published in The Dominion. They statod to the council that, whereas the farmers had risen their price C 25 per cent., the vendors' rise was only 174 l>er cent. The Farmers' Association controlled 80 per cent, of the milk. Councillors remarked that it appeared that, while the farmers had raised tho prico by fivepence, tho vendors had raised it-by eightpence. The Mayor suggested that. the I matter, should not be further considered until after the farmers had pnt their case—at the next meoting of the council. Ho sometimes wondered if it would not be better to put the money a clearinghouse I would cost into a'municipal milk vending enterprise. Councillor J. E. Fitzgerald, who was in favour of discussing tho question without further dolay, said that one means of eft'ectiug an improvement would be to make the train services good enough to enable the Palmerston North farmers to come into competition with the farmers who now supplied tho market. It was decided to discuss ■ tho matter further after' the farmers had appeared before tho council.

Last evening the 1916-17 estimates for various Corporation services were presented to the City Council. Tho Library Department, estimated its revenue at ,£3B63—Central Library «£540, Newtown ,£270, Brooklyn .£2O, rates .£3033. The expenditure also was estimated at ,£3863. The receipts for the Fire Brigade were set down at .£BOO. The expenditure was reckoned to amount to .£l4,s9o—wnges, etc., ,£8785, new plant ,£BOS, and new station for Constable Street .£SOOO. The wnges bill in tho new estimates shows an increase of .£IOOS on last year's account. Tho City Engineer estimated that ,£2550 would bo spent (chiefly in wages) in ; tho forestry department during the year.

Fennel, which flourishes rather t too well in Wellington, has been declared by tho City Council to be a. noxious weed.

The Vogeltown and Mornington Electors' Association are to he informed, in reply to their request for the extension of the Wallace Street tramway to Hutchison Road, that there is no material procurable at present to enable the work to bo undertaken, but that when same can bo obtained the matter will receive tho consideration of the council.

The Napier Chamber of Commerce yesterday decided to write to all the other Chambers in the Dominion with a view to getting, their support to a proposal to urge the Government to provide for licensed porters at the railway station. To tho credit of commercial travellers be it said, "No Rubbing Laundry Help" is selling fast, Is. package [Sufficient seven weeks' washing. Contains nothing injurious; ,£lO guarantee. All eroccrs—Advt.

On the motion of the chairman of the Chai'itnblo Aid Committee (Mr. D. Campbell), the following-recommendation was agreed to by the Hospital and Charitable Aid Board yesterday:—"That the plans, as approved by the committee, for the liflw isolation ward for senile male patients at Ohiro Home, provided for in tho estimates, bo forwarded to the Hospitals Department for approval and consent, wider Section 01, Snb-wctioii 3 of tho Hospitals Act, 1909." The intention, Mr. Campbell explained, was to provido separate accommodation altogether for the fienilo male patients at the Home, wlio should not lie permitted to mix With the others. The building would.bo erected oil the hill at the buck of the Home, and would provide accommodation for eight persons. It was proposed to heat the newwal'd -with hot-water radiators. The total cost would be in the vicinity of ,£SOO. The statement filed in the estate of John B. Johns, livery-stable keeper, Masterton, shows assots .£69! and liabilities ,£3OO. Tho bankrupt attributes his failure to tho falling-off in trade in consequence of the war and the inability to realise the assets. The printers of Wellington draw the attention of the public to the fact that oiving to tho difficulty of scouring supplies, and also that materials, freights, and other charges having been advanced from 100 per cent, to 150 per cent., with a possibility of u further advance, it is impossible to maintain prices at past rates. . • An amusing letter from a Wanganui. non-com. with the Now: Zealand Rifle Brigade has just been received. The. writer, in referring to the unique circumstances under which many of the New Zealand boys first saw tho Prince of Wales, ''says: "The boys were all marched down to sanitary quarters, every man taking all his belongings. He then stripped, and all his clothes were put into a closed room and fumigated. Each man was given a bucket of hot water, well saturated with disinfectant, and had to thoroughly waspi himself. But the funniest thing about it was this, we had just come back from our wash, had drawn our kits from the fumigator, and were just beginning to dress when the captain called us to attention. I just had ! on a shirt, while quite a number had nothing on, and we 'had to stand like that while the Prince of Wales inspected us. . There was a big staff with him, General Godley, etc., and they aimply had to laugh as they passed along at the spectacle we presented. Rather peculiar circumstances under wliioli to see the Prince for tho first time, eh? I shall never forget my introduction to Royalty." . The Finance Committee reported to the Wellington City Council last evening that they had received a report and plan from the City Engineer in connection with the drainago of Day's Bay. He estimated the cost of tho work at JG5500. Tho committee recommended that a. copy of the report and plan should bo forwarded to the Hutt County Council. A special meeting of the City Council is to be held to consider the quetsion of war bonus to" employees, and the City Engineer is to ba instructed to bring down such reports as may be necessary to en-, able the council to deal with the matter. . i . Duplication, of street names in Wellington was drawn attentio nto by the City. Engineer last evening at the meeting of tho City Council. He gave these instances:—Brougham Street, City, and Brougham Avenue, off Brougham Street,' City; Wright Street, oft Hargreaves Street, City, find Wright Street, Vogoltown; Tainui Terrace, off Tasinan Street, Citj", and Tainui Terrace, Maramii; Victoria Street, City, and Victoria Road, Roseneath; High Street (recently re-nam-ed from Grant Road North), and High Street, Island Bay; Heaton Terrace, Brooklyn, and Heaton Road, Mitchelltown. ■ The Wellington- City Council ■ has received a letter from Messrs. Briscoe and Company, advising that the cast-iron pipes and fittings on order by the Corporation. aro oh board the s.s. Rangatira, now ashore near Cape Town. The City Engineer states that it will be extremely difficult to replace these pipes, which were manufactured for this Corporation. Their loss will prevent many necessary extensions and renewals being made. ' - The teachers and scholars of the Cross Creek School were awarded a holiday on Tuesday by the Minister of Education for the patriotic entertainment they gave at the Cross Creek station to the Parliamentary party that visited Featherston While the latter were en route for Wellington. Last year this school contributed i£lso to patriotic funds by entertainments, thus averaging ,£3 per child. At the annual examination the scholars obtained 100 per cent, pass, though being one short, on tho teaching staff.

Advice has reached New Zealand that G8 bags of parcels were lost on the steamship Maloja.: The approximate ilato of posting these was from February 1G to 23. Thero were also New Zealand parcels redirected vo England aboard tho ship. With regard to the proposed erection of a new ophthalmic ward in connection with the Wellington Hospital, itwas reported at yesterday's meeting of the Hospital Board that draft olans of •lie new ward had been submitted to the Inspector-General of Hospitals (Dr. Yalintine). As the result of that action. Dr. Valintine had decided that no fiction should be taken immediately, as he wished to obtain n full report of the accommodation in tho Hospital. That report, was being furnished, but in the meantime tliey could do nothing to further the erection of ,an ophthalmic ijarfl. "I have just come from a meeting where the called a lot of soft-headed fools. If they do this, I will believe that it is a fact." This was the remark of Mr. J. W. M'Ewan .at yesterday's meeting of the Wellington Hospital and Charitablo Aid Board, when ft letter was read from the trustees of the Presbyterian Collegiate Sohool asking tho board to repair certain leaks in the Toof. Tho Rev." J. Iv. Elliott asked that the request lie considered favourably, and moved that the letter be referred to tho Hospital Committee. Mr. M'Ewan, however, objected to the request being granted as tho lease had been entered into in all qot--faith only a fow months ago. He, however, did not object to the letter being referred to the Hospital Committee. Pickpockets aro operating in Auckland, judging by tho experience- of Mr. James S. Cockertou, who writes as follows to the "Star":—"Before the police give their attention tp minor matters, would it not tie well if they rounded up the professional thieves? Ou Friday night, at about 7.45, I walked from 'Cargen' to Queen's Wharf to mako a purchase at a shop. After .rounding the corner from Customs Street I put my hand into my pocket, preparatory to doing so, I found that some light-fingered individual had taken from ,£1 to ,£3 from tho outside pocket of my jacket. As it was all in silver, he must have been an accomplished professional to do it without my knowledge." At the secondary schools conference, Mr. W. .J. Morrell moved that tho attention of the Defence authorities be called to tho difficulties of officering school cadet corps in war time, and that in view of tho national importance- of military training, they be asked to make provision for meeting these difficulties. Iu seconding the motion pro forma, Mr. J. P. l''irth (Wellington) said that the motion should not be entertained. If the schools were short of offioors what did it matter as long as these men were able to go. to fight for their country? The senior boys in tho schools could very well act as officers. Tho Defence authorities had enough: difficulties to contend with. Why mako more for them. (Hear, hear.) Tho motion was withdrawn..

Tlie special committee set up by tho secondary schools conference to consider the proposed alterations in regard to the matriculation examinations reported yesterday that tho possible maximum marks for each of tho subjects, English elementary, mathematics, Latin, Greek, French, and German, should bo 400; for any science, 400; history, 200; geography, 200; music, 200; drawing, 200. .The aggregate numbtr of marks counted for any subject in which the candidato fails s'uTil reacli .10 per cent. Tn order to pass the examination the candidate must obtain an aggregate of 840 marks ou tho altered maximum. Discussion on tlie report has been set down for this morning. Commercial travellers aro hauling in storekeepers' orders for No Rubbing Laundry Help with commendable zeal, becauso it lightens woman's toil on washing days—Advt.

,The Hon. G. W. Russell states that Sat"/ Jirday, June 3, has been fixed as the data of the opening of the sanatorium for returned soldiers at Ilanmer. The institution is 011 the 6a 1110 lines as the one crected at Rotorua, and when full? equipped will accommodate between SCO and 400 men. The name of the new sanatorium will be announced at the opening ceremony. 111 ft paragraph which appeared in ihe Dominion* yesterday, concerning th« running of troop trains from Featherston Camp to llasterum, the number of men who availed themselves-of last Saturday night's train was shown as 50. This, obviously, was ft misprint. The number was about 250. It- has been decided that io future troop trains will run ' from 4h« camp to jMastovton and Carterton on Wednesday and Friday night?, leaving the camp at 1.30 p.m. and returning about 11 o'clock. Chi the train which ran. on Wednesday night, 300 men travelled, 50 gotting off at Carterton and the remainder at Masterton. j\ll who made, the trip appeared to enjoy it, and many of the officers and men expressed warm appreciation of the hospiwlity offered by the people of these towns. Sir. Jasper Kruger, nephew of President Kruger, is now in training in England 'with the South Africans. Writing from Egypt to his mother and father, at Balmain, New South Wales, Driver F. C., Horton, under date March 28, says"We liave our hands full with the new training. A lot of horses hav« arrived. They came straight from th« . depot, aiid so far only one horse has been mounted.' I might say that the honours lay with the horse, and it will be fnnny watching the trials. Indians with camela are acting as water-carriers and' transport. They got on very well with the boys. I hear that some of the soldiers are playing up at Liverpool. T also see that tne military is discharging thorn. They should not do it, but send them straight over here. If the heads do not fix .them up in a couple of weeks here—well, my experience of military life is very misleading. I was brigade orderly the , other day, and 200 .new hands came in. I had ■ to laugh when the colonel started to address them. He said, lien, you come here to work.. I hope you heard wh&t I aiid—work. You have to get up at 6 a.m; mid work till 5 p.m. Do not think you are finished then. There are lectures livo nights a week, and sometimos six. If' any man is not prepared to seo thia through he 'can step out of the lines now v and go back to where he came from." You'd have laughed. If you had seen the new hands' faces when they heard the colonel's remarks; but they all stood fast, and will be licked into shape by «nd bye, though the 'old man' was drawing the long bow a bit. It's not all work, you know, but ft makes men."