LOCAL AND GENERAL

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3028, 15 March 1917, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

By Order-in-Couiici 1 published in tlio Gazette last night tlio maximum wholesalo price of tsilk in Wellington district is fixed at one shilling and a haltpenny per gallon. Tlio order is made to'apply to the boroughs of Wellington, Miramar, Karori, Onslow, Lower Hutt, I'etone, and Eastbourne, the town districts of Johnsouvill® and Up. per Hutt, and tho Counties of Hutt and Malta ra. Tho luck of the l ballot sometimes falls in Ktrango places. Sonio mon, wilbVif; to go when tho marble says their turn has arrived, are missed by ballot aftvr ballot. Others who have relatives already al, the front seem lv> often g«(, d'rawr, ii: their stead. Yesterday's ballot included a man from the West i -Coast of tho South Island who is one ■ of a family of five koiib. Four of tlio boys nro already at the front, anci now tho last and romainins member of fha family luis boon railed. The lion. G. W Uussol! state.-) :i„t tho censorship of cinema films '.s to bo considerably tightened, ample lime Viving been givon to importers io instruct their buyers ns to thn No.v Koctami 6ta.uda.vd.—Press Abbh. Hill Bros. wißh to impress upon all their lady friend* tho desirability of alivay.-. currying the fiimoue Thinkvr Noli' Hnnk. especially us il. is given away freo lvith every le. packet of that wonderful labour-savor—"No Subbing" Laundry Eolg^—Advt i

Before, the. Military Service Board fl t Wainiato yesterday. Dr. (Miss) Cruickshank appealed 011 behalf of lier chauffeur (a discharged Navy mnn) as she could not drivo a car. Th« man appealed qs bains of more service in his present isiuiloyment. The appeal was dismissed, time being allowed until April 10. —Press Association. John Meagher, a jockey, employed at I rosser's_ stables, Porirua, was yesterday admitted to tho "Wellington Hospital, suffering from injuries to tlio scalp. It .appears that he was exercising a horse over hurdles when the animal Jell, and in rising kicked Meagher 011 the head. Meagher's condition is not considered serious. _ 1 oung Kin, twico previously convicted, was lined £50 at the Dunedin Magistrate's Court yesterday for having in his possession opium suitable for smoking.—Press Assn.' Tho recent floods on the East Coast have hit tlio natives rather badly. Since the advent of the potato blight these crops hare not been a .success, and the Maoris uow rely largely on tho kumnra, says a Gishorne paper. The damp summer has not been conducive to the growth of this vegetable, and to add io their other troubles, many of the plantations have been buried with silt. _ Ho Maori appears to taI;o things philosophically and regards it all as the hand of fate, and to outward appearance relies 011 tho samo fate to supply his future wants. The Nalivo Land Court a t Tokomaru Bay last week thought it judicious to suspend tlio sitting so as to allow the natives to take advantage of 11 spell of line weather to dry somo of their wool which had got wet in tho sliods in consequence of the floods, and also to enable them to reLrievc what they could of their crops. During tlie meeting of the Wellington. Accountant Students' Society last evening, the president of the society (Mr. K. AY. Hunt) said that as tlie result of a referendum taken, it wa's the desiro of tho majority of members that women should be admitted to membership of tho socioty. At the Magistrate's Court, Dannevirke, yesterday, in the case against Henry Kedwood, an official of the Woodville Jockey Club, charged with permitting investments to be received on the totalisator after the notified time of starting of the races, a conviction was recorded and a fine of £20 imposed, or two months' imprisonment with hard labour, the Magistrate (Mr. M'Carthy) holding that a. serious breach of the law bad been proved.—Press Assn. At the Dunedin Police Court yesterday, sa,ys a. Press Association telegram, William Forrester was fined £58 011 a charge of betting on licensed premises. Defendant .had previously been fined £50. A son of Mr SI. Adair, of Carey's Bay, Port Chalmers, who is *t tho front, in the course of a very interesting letter describes under what exciting and dangerous conditions wire entanglements are erected. He gives a graphic account of how a party, of which bo was one, went out in tho open, to avoid the difficulties of passing througli the trenches. Very soon "Fritz" was throwing, lead all round them, but it was not until heavy artillery was brought to bear that they sought the shelter of tho trendies. Ho describes the result of tho heavy projectiles, which fortunately fell in soft earth and were therefore comparatively harmless to those fairly close up. The party lost their way in a maze of trendies, and also lost several men, the bombardment proceeding, and finally got out of the trench and made their way back as best they could, "coughing and spluttering" from the effects of gas the shells contained. They had, as tho writer expressed it, "a very rotten time," and to make matters worse it was "pitch dark." Six of the party "walked right into a gun," which was fired just as they got to it, tlie wind of tho shell being felt by all of them. TIIO presence of gas increased • after this, and they resumed their gas helmets and pushed 011. The writer goes on to desoribe the passage of a valley where matters became even more live-

ly, and concludes: "I cannot understand to this- flay bow it was possible for a man to get through."

Mr. M'Carthy, S.M.. at Dannevirke yesterday, fined Harold Welch, of the Royal Oak Hotel, Weber. £50, with costs £5 13s. 3d., in default three months' imprisonment with hard labour, for breaches of the anti-shoutino-regulations. He held that defendant had endeavoured to escape punishment by indiscriminate perjury ancl subornation of perjury. He had also been openly floutiug the regulation;— Press Assn.

_ During the past few days, states the Ashburton correspondent of the "Lyttelton Times," anglers at the mouth of the Rangitata have had some big oatches, and fish up to 251b. have been landed. The river is literally alive with fish, all ranging from 101b. upwards,' and mostly of the quinnat salmon speoies.

In a statement regarding the shortago of labour for farms, made to tho Minister of Defence at Auckland, Mr. H. 11. MacKenzie stated that he knew of farms in the Franklin County where there was grass 3ft. high, with nothing to eat it. On tho Minister asking the reason. Mr. MacKenzie said the shortage of stock might have something to do with it, but tho principal cause )Y as Me calling' uo of farmers under the ballot for military service. One man. he said, on beimr mlled no', had "walked off his farm." "What fiecomes of the farm in such a case?" asked the Minister. "T do not know," said Mr. MacKenzie; "List I sunposo tho mortgagee steps in."

A sitting of the Board of Trade will be held at Masterton to-day to consider the meat auestion.

A Press Association message from Dannevirke states: Replying to a telegram from tho Dannevirke Chamber of Commerce asking (Tvhat was being done to conserve tho interests of business peoplo called up under tha ballot, Mr. William Ferguson, chainnan. of the National Efficiency Board, lias intimated that it desires to appoint a board of trustees in each district whers soldiers' businesses have to fco managed, and it was prepared to consider details in consection with such boards to suit the individual circumstances of snot business Particulars of cases forwarded would be considered and suit-able arrangements made.

; I'iis appeal of John Seton Hav, tech- [ meal engineer of tho Vcomira Oil Company, who appealed through his employer for exemption frcm military sorvicb, was dismissed by tho Third Military Board yesterday. 'Die case was heard tlio previous da.,-, Mr. M. Myers appearing for f,!ie appeilank. ii. was stated in evident that Mr. Hay was tho qno and only lubricating oil export in New Zealand.

I _ There woro lourieon men ui.ernployed i *,i 'Velluigton last week. according to a j rwort mado by the eity Labour ltareau. The applicants for work numbered 37, and 23 of thoso wero placed, 13 in Staio | employment.

During tlio ni'intli or February tlio Women's limploymeni, R,i?e»«, abiancli of the Slate liabou.' Department. received 155 applications from employers, and 75 applications firm workers. Seventy-two enga-gen-.orits were made. Thirty of those assisted wero married women, and t.hirty-stven urn single or widows. Sixty-nine came from the North Island and three from the South Island.

For suits thai. Irmli v P || a! a low )"in\ iuspect our special valuo Sports Suit-;, in browns and. grey*, 305., 31s. fid. Geo. Fowlds, Ltd.—-Adyt,

At the Supreme Court at Christchuicb yesterday. Sir J. JC. Dcmiiston dismissed (with £10 10s. costs against appellant) tho appeal of William Pollock, convicted by Mr. Bailey, S.JL, of betting on a train going to AsJiburton races—Press Association. The building trados are still busy ill Wellington, tho Department of Labour reports. The Department adds that this is tho case although it is difficult to obtain suita-blo men, and! there is evidonoo that shortage of materials is proveuting maay operations from being carried out. Many largo buildings ill the city aro being-paiuxed, as also are town and suburban houses. A Wellington resident who has been somewhat struck by the number of crops per year a. certain Chinese gardener gets out of his land, has maflo a rough calculation of tho amount- cf money tho tiller of tho soil forces tho earth to yield to him every year. The observations wore taken of a plot of garden measuring about 20 feet by 40 feet, and the estimated yield was £33 for the year. There is reported to be a big demand for engineers in Wollington just now. lCle:;trical engineers and general engineers are boing sought. r , Mr. A. K. Jul!, who has been chairman of tho Napier Harbour Board, lias (says our Napier correspondent) expressed his intention of not again accepting that position, and Mr. C. Ellison is named as his successor. The terms and conditions under which tho Government will purchase hides on behalf of the Imperial Government aro. set out in a Gazette Extraordinary published last night. Tho export of hides and caff-skins is by Order-in-Council prohibited to any destination except with the consent of tho Minister of Customs. On account of tho waterside workers holding their picnio oil Wednesday, March 21., tho day will bo a- wharf holiday, aud tho wharves bond and stores will bo closed on that day.