LOCAL AND GENERAL

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2963, 29 December 1916, Page 1

LOCAL AND GENERAL

The postal authorities advise that tlio mails -which left Now' Zealand on November 11, via Suez, , arrived in London on t : Jio morning of December 25. '

"Ho could not got labour to help him to work his farm, so lie married," remarked a lawyer, quite seriously, when, appealing for the oxemption of n farmer at tho Military Service Board yesterday.

Details concerning tlie property oF a struggling farmer were related at ■the- Military Sorvico Board yesterday. After listening to the story, the Chairman of the Board (Mr; D. G. A. Cooper, S.M.) asked: "When you took on this proposition, did you expect to make ado of it?" Appellant: '.'I did." ' Mr. Cooper: "Do you still hold out that hope?" Appellant: "Yes; 1 reckon I will make a do of it yet." Mr. Cooper: "You do 1 Then you must have a big heart. I pity any poor (fcrmans who get up against you." ,

During the four days preceding Christmas 4730 telegrams were forwarded from Napier, and 6051 received, the figures for the corresponding period of last year being 5092 and 6051 respectively. • • ■

Three Port Melbourne men, J. W. Patterson, C. Peterson, and Ruport Greaves, were fishing over the fishing ground known as the lluLbly, three miles off Point Cook, recontly, when a monster sjiark, 20ft. long, drove its r«out, torpedo-wise, through the starboard sido of their 20-foot yacht. Peterson liad hooked a large cod, and was hauling it up, whort. ho saw the shark pass tinder the boat. At this spot tho water is 40ft. deep, and very clear. Peterson hauled tho cod to tho surface. At that instant the snout of tho shark shot just under tho iisli on the line, aud the shark, nose oil, struck tho boat with great force. Smashing through the outer shell and the inner lining of the boat, tho snout penetrated right into the yacht., Rebounding, the shark rolled over three times on the surface of the water, and then swam slowly away. The hole made by the shark in the inner lining of the boat was six inches in diameter and eight inches below tho water line. The water was pouring into tlio boat in a stream, when Peterson, with a bag, managed to stop the hole. Meanwhile his companions had unshipped some of tho ballast and stacked the remainder on the port side of the .boat, giving hoi' a list that lifted the damaged boards on tho starboard sido abovo the water line. An auxiliary motor-driven screw that the yacht carried was set in motion, and iu this'precarious condition three miles of water was 'traversed, and the boat beached on Point Cook. There temporary repairs wore effected, and tho return journey to Port Melbourne was mado without further mishap.

"Don't you think your mother would bo woman enough to stand tlio shook of parting from you when ,sho knows you arc going to do your duty to your country?" was the question put to an appellant at tlio Military Service-Board yesterday. The appellant had no particular answer to make, and lie was reminded that many a loving mother had Tiad to make the great sacrifice of partins with her son.. Use the most up-to-date method for washing clothes, that is "No Rubbing tdinndry Help," ns it cleanses clothes perfectly without rubbing, and wo guarantee it not to injure the most, delicate fabrics.—William Campbell, Ltd.—Advt.

"I think it would be a good thing to dismiss the appeals of tlieso gentlemen who don't turn up," remarked the Presidout of the Military Service Board yesterday, after some of the appellants luul failed to respond to a call for them to come forward. "They get tired of waiting, hut the Board gets a. good deal more tired of working."

A meeting of the Mt. Hector Track Committee was held in Greytown on Wednesday evening, ulion a letter from tho Tourist Department was read, relative to the erection of a hut in the Tauherenikau Valley. It was decided to got plans ready for the same, and to try and collect at least £10 towards the cost of erection. As the building is to meet tho 'demands of tourists, it is honed they will assist the committee in defraying the expense of its erection. A number of parties have already been up tho track this season. Telling tho Military Service Board yesterday of the scarcity of. coachsmiths. the manager of a local firm said that after six months' advertising throughout New Zealand he had received one solitary reply, and that from a man who was not a coaohsmith at all, but a blacksmith in a mine on tho West Coast—an unsuitable man. We understand! (says a Taranaki. paper) that in tho will of the late Mr. Daniel Hughes there are only two bequests, one to his granddaughter, at present at school at Wanganui, of £500, and the other of his gold watch to his eldest son, Mr. D. J. Hughes. With those exceptions there is an equal distribution of the property. Should, however, any difficulty arise in its division between any two of the beneficiaries, both having a preference for the same property, the will stipulates that they must "toss for it"—a rough-and-ready method characteristic 'of the sporting instincts of the' lato Mr. Daniel Hughes. . There is no festival-season vnoation for tho Wellington Military Service Board.: Yesterday it dealt with nineteen appeals, to-day ten or a dozen more will bo taken, and so. on the list (runs. It is estimated that the- visitors in Napier : during this Christmas time ox-' ceedcd ! past years' total to a considerable extent. The tramway revenue was approximately £50 more than last year, and reports from shopkeepers, says our special correspondent, indicate that the Christmas trade was phenomenal. Boardinghouses and hotels were crowded out. A lad named Archibald Coley, says 'our Masterton correspondent, fell from a tree at the Mnnaia, and sustained a compound fracture of tho leg. Tho Wairarapa Amateur Athletio Club held a sports meeting on tho Park Oval on Boxing Day. The'takings at tho Rates and grandstand amounted to £57. •

The drainage ' system of \Pelone, which was commenced in IDI4, is about one-third finished, according to a. borough sanitary inspector, who gave evidence at the Military.! Service Board yesterday. There were, lie said, 1400 houses to connect with the system, and about five hundred of these connections had been completed, leaving nino hundred yet to bo mado.

-The 'bumpy' state of the highway about Courtenay Place and Clyde Quay was referred to by a witness at .tho Military Service Board yesterday. Ho was; the manager of a coachbuilding firm, and he said that that portion of tho dity roadways Teferred; to was a trap for drivers of vehicles, and caused numerous conveyances to be taken to the repair shops with broken springs.

Twenty-one teams have entered for the bowling tournament to be held in Masterton next week. These include two teams , from the Lower Hutt and one from tho Thorndon Club.

The Academy of Fine. Aits, which has been enlarged, so as to allow for' {he better accommodation of the pictures, was visited by the Hon. G. W. Russell, Minister of Internal Affairs. The Minister, who was conducted through the building by the president, expressed; himself as highly ._ pleased with the alterations'. The national collection, including the Chevalier .and Swainson collections, was viewed. ,A painting by JEtaeburn-, owned by Sirs. Harry Crawford, will bo in the cliargo of the Academy for a few months longer, while Mrs. Crawford is in England/ Mrs. Stuart Menteith has offered to lend a seascape by S. Binning Munro, of tho Royal Academy. Pending the acceptance of ; tho offer, tho picture is in tho ■ care of tho society temporarily. An effort is to be made to onen the Academy in the forenoon.

The "British Medical Journal" lias recently been dealing with the therapeutic possibilities of automobilism. .It is mainly a question of fresh air under pressure, and lias long since been fully realised by cyclists. . The .matter, liowicver, has been gono into very fully by French savants, who state that motoring is an excellent specific in anaemia, dyspepsia, neurasthenia, • insomnia, gout, asthma, tuberculosis, and diseases of the kidneys. lij their opinion the value of motor driving is based on tho stimulus it affords to the pulse, and to the greater absorption of ozone, duo to-the rapidity, of the / motion' through the air, and tile facilities tho car affords of quickly bringing the occupants from one stratum of the atmosphere to another.. The excitement incidental in driving and its effect on tlio nerve system is also commented on. Of course, this is a factor which, can be overdone, but it is certainly valuable if the driver is reasonable, and does not travel at a pace which causes too great, a strain on tho system. It is also suggested that tlio diseases which are most baffling are niainly the -product of listlessness and inaction, and that the most valuablo and really sane antidote to such ills, at least at thoir incipient stage,' is the health-giving pursuit of such occupations, irrespective of any momentary stimulus attaching.. as leave as little time to count our ills or discuss, much less brood over, tho sins and injuries of our fellows. Neurotic people are seldom physically active; their outlook is tho antithesis to such occupations as would lift their minds outside tho groove that is_ _ Teally self-centred. Medical authorities, however, are aereed that high speeds are undesirable in respect both of those who drive and those who are driven.

"Mr. —— is an experienced tradesman, and, if he was sent to the front, would it not be a serious loss," asked an advocate of a witness at' tho Military Service Board yesterday. .Tlio answer was quick: "It is a simple calculation; there would bo one man less."

Now that the Aurora is making her way to Ross Sea many anxious thoughts will be directed tcwards the party whom it is intended to relieve. In this connection (says a Dunedin paper) wo may'reproduce what Sir Ernest Shackleton said at Dunedin about Frank Wilde:—"The party on Elephant Island were all good men, but tlio outstanding man amongst them was their leader. Frank He is an optimist, if ever there was one. Every day, lie rolled up his sleeping-bag, and said: 'The boss is coming, boys, perhaps t(>-d!iy.' Ho never lost henrt,, though it was a rotten place to'be ill— literally rotten, for the glacier they were .on the foot of was. calving, big pieces being thrown off to within about 36ft: of where our boat was lying. To Wilde's' tact, foreo of character, and ability is primarily duo the safety of the party." These aro encouraging words. Whilst waiting for a wireless message about Mackintosh's party let us comfort ourselves with the belief that, there is pretty sure to lie amongst thom another Frank Wilde, who hopefully directs attention to the north and expresses his faith in his raoo by some such act as rolling up his sleeping-bag every day. '