LOCAL AND GENERAL

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3046, 5 April 1917, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

The Dominion will not be published to-morrow (Good Friday).

The big nugget which was reported yesterday to have been found m tlio Moonlight district 6n tho AVest Coast, and brought into Groymouth, has beoli purchased from an individual miner by the Bunk of New South Wales. Tho largest nugget. ("Tho Roddy Mackenzie"), found near Ross, was 9Do_is. Some years ago a nngget 78Joz. _ in weight was found iu the Moonlight district.—Press Assn.

A short time ago the Chief Postmaster in Wellington issued iioticcs to the ocoupants of 1660 houses, whose places of residence stand so far back from the road as to cause a serious waste of. time in tho delivery at the door of postal matter, informing such that it was not proposed to continue that service much longer, and advising them to provide letter boxes near the street gate. Out of the 1660 who received the notices, 1400 replied by securing letter boxes and placing them in a position convenient to the postman. In 260 instanoes no notico was taken. That, however, will not be for long, for within a week , the Post Office authorities will issue instructions_ that correspondence is not to be delivered to such places. In times,like the present, when .the authorities are harassed in many ways for want of labour, the publio must Dβ made to assist the public services or take the consequences.

The "Manawatu Times" waxes facetious at the oxgensG of the of tho War Regulations in the following strain:— "Somo weeks ago tho Acting-Prime Blank annoimcod at Blank, and subsequently at Blank, that H.M.S. Blank wag en route \o Blank, and invited the Blanks of this blank? Blank to give her crew a blanky welcome. This significant information duly appeared in nil tho'newspapers in Blank. Later on the Blank arrived at Blank and the Mayor' of Blank entertained her. personnel. Certain newspapers published in Blank recorded the simple fact that the Wankers of tlie crews of the Blank had arrived and been duly welcomed; and that certain eulogistic references bad been mad© to their blank services while fighting for the King of Blank against certain unpublishable Blanks situated at Blank. For this blank offence the liewspapors of Blank; havo beoii hauled up before a Blank' and convicted without penalty of a blank of the Blaiilc Regulations. . Which all coos to show that certain Blanks are sadly lacking in blank, and that tho safest way for newspapers to conduct themselves in this time of blank ,is to blank out everything' wbich is calculated to lead people io suppose that the authorities of, tlie Blank Department aro anything but blank! And if tho newspapers are to be persecuted for a comparative!v yoniaT offence, why are not proceedings instituted against tho original 6ffender, iho Acting-Primo Blank of Blank?" • .

Tho late Colour-Sergeant Samuel Atkins, of Wellington, whoso death wag reported yesterday, saw some stirring sights iu India at the time that country was aflame with mutiny, and no white man's life was safe./' In. addition to the inevitable horrors_ of war, in those times due to the primitive charadter of the services attached to tie Army, cholera in all its hideousness had to bo fought inside the walls of the cities, whilst ' tho maddened myriads of Sepoys had to be kept at bay without with cannon ball and rifle bullet. Sergeant Atkins eaid that on one' ocoasion it was reported that a' soldier named Joe Wilson .had died of cholera.' The man was wrapped in o. slieefc and put into tho .dead-house. During tho night tho sentry posted near was badly frightened by a figure peering out of tho window, and saying: "What time is it, mate?" Thinking that it must surely be the ghost of Joe Wilson, tho sentry, instead of telling the time, 1 fled 'to the barracks, to relate bis experience. Joe,' it appears, was a lonjf way from dead, and soon, made it clear that be wae not his own ghost, but a very material person. . i- '

Two prisonors remanded from Monday were sentenced by the Chief Justice, Sir Robert Stout, in the Supreme Court yesterday. Their names were James Cooper and Arthur Baillie. Both of the men were concerned in the. theft of a case of tobacco, which Baillie took, and which Cooper purohased from Baillie while knowing, that it was stolen. Cooper was shown to have been convicted in 1907 of assault and sentenced to two months'' imprisonment. His Honour could »not therefore grant probation' in bis Cooper was sentenced toeix months' imprisonment with hard labour, and Baillie (young, and previously of good oharacter) was granted probation for twelve months. of the Hotel and Restaurant Employees' Union have been meeting in Wellington lately to consider proposals for a Dominion award. These proposals have now been drafted, and they will bo submitted to the employers in due course. _ The existing award expires on April 17 nest. • ■ ■ • ••'■■.

It is stated in the monthly report, of the Labour Department that there are at present awaiting work three farm labourers. It is anticipated that they will be* placed readily enough before long, but it is not at all an uncommon experience in the unemployment office of the Department to re-, ceivo application for work from a man describing himself as 3 farm labourer.

The monthly report of the Labour Department refers to the fact that a number of small shops have closed down in recent weeks. As far as can be loarned.tbo cause has nothing to do with business conditions. •. Inese small retailers did not at any tune employ labour, so that they are notcloswg because of the difficulty, oi? obtara.ins workers now. The fact is that the owners of the businesses hav.e sold out to go into camp themselves. Niimbers of instances of this are to be found in the city. . A; young man named Harold Keys, who absconded from bail entered by his father to the amount of £250, sin connection with cattle-stealing (states a Press Association message from Hamilton), has been arrested .atHunterville on another charge. lie denied his Saentity, but upon the arrival of Detective Cooney abandoned the pica Prisoner, who was going under the name of Henry Garrett, was lodged in Mount Eden Gaol, and will bo charged here on April 12. A dairy farmer stated at the Military Service Board at Patoerston North this week that with his brother he was milking; 125 cows, and a brother who had a farm in tho north was milking 60.. Captain Walker, tho military representative, said a case was mentioned at the board a few days ago where a fanner and his sister were milking 70 cows between them, and also milked- 30 cows overy clay for a relative who. had an adjoining farm.

The extension of the personally con- '. ducted tours, so popular In America, to Australia and New Zealand has lately been engaging the attention of promiueht American tourist agenoies, which have evidenced a desire to establish a popular tourist traffic between these countries, says tho "New Zealand Hor--1 nld." The first party of this kind lias ' nmved and the officer in charge of ' tlie Auckland Tourist Bureau has made ' out a complete itinerary for a month's ) travel in New Zealand, during which [ all tho principal scenio attractions will , be visited. ; Warmur pyjamas for the colder nights. ~ —Splendid lino at 7s, 6d. just opened at Gv>. JYwldß,, Ltd,, Manners 6fcr«ofc.-<

During the present month the Second Wellington Military 'Service Board, under the chairmanship of Mr. J. W. Poynton, S.M., will hear cases in Wellington. The dates have not yet boen fixed donnitcly. The third board completed ibs Wellington work yesterday, and will leave for tho East Coast next week.

. A reservist was fined 10s. at Master-* ton ou Wednesday for leaving for Gisborno without notifying his change of address, as required by tho Military Service Act. • ' ■,

.Considerable anxiety is felt in Maeterton concerning the new railway time-table, says our speoial correspondent. It is thought that the proposals should 1 bo submitted to the local Chamber of Commerce Wore being finally adopted.

Tho Masterton branch' of the W.O.T.U. has decided to unjte with similar'-bodies in the Dominion in urging the Government to bring about certaia reforms bearing upon social purity.-,

Yesterday morning William Henry Hobbs, of tho Woodville post office staff, was oharged with stealing postal packets containing cheques, postal notes, etc. Accused confessed to n. number of the charges, and pleaded guilty. He. was remanded to the, Supremo Court at Wellington for sentence. Bail was refused.—Press Assn.

-The out-patients department.of the Wellington hospital will be closed on Friday, Monday, and Tuesday nest (Easter holidays). TJrgcnt cases will do treated at tho Main Hospital.

The annual congress of the New Zealand Painters and Decorators'. Federation will open at Wanganui on Easter Monday. The executive has forwarded a number of important remits, which include consideration of the Efficiency Board, the attitude of the Arbitration Court to the trade, the best means of protecting the trade during he period' following the closo of the war. Other remits include a five-day week proposal, prohibition of the use of white and red lead in paintine work; the cost of living, affiliations with the United Federation of Labour. Amongst remits dealing with .the Arbitration Court are proposals for a Dominion award, and that a ballot be taken on the question of cancelling registration under-the Act. .

"A , simple problem in arithmetic" was propounded by Councillor E,. A. Wright in a question addressed to the Mayor at the City Council meeting last night. He said that for one penny tho council would carry a passenger from tho Government Buildings to tho Botanical Gardens, a distance of one mile and 30 chains, .but there was another section —from Government Buildings to Pnrk Street—\rhich wasonly'4l chains. "What should tho council charge for that section?" he asked. The council actually charged a .penny for both sections, and he thought this was an anomaly. The Mayor said that the Government Buildings-Park Street section wag certainly very short, but •it had to bo retained because the council was losing £400 a year on the tunning alone of the Wadestown trams, and, the Wadestown ratepayers having secured the remission of the special rate of £1600, the total cost to tho city tramway was £2000 a year. •

Straying cattlo are still a nuisance in Borne of the suburbs of Wellington. Cattlo are depastured- on the roads at night, and they do irreparable damage occasionally to growing hcdgeß. Thiß has long been a. grievance of some suburban residents. A reference_to the matter was mado at the meeting cf the City Counoil last night.,. The Mayor remarked that the seriousness of the trouble had been, mentioned lately in court by the City Solicitor, and it appeared that the Stipendiary Magistrate (Mr. L. G. Eeid) was alivo id this, for ho had fined an offender 205., and costs. '

A correspondent lias written, inojlir-.. ing as to thojiosition of mon who aro classed as "ht for homo service" by the medical boards. These .reservists am not "liable at all for service abroad. '.'Homo service" is likely to mean nothing. If they (should want mon for eervico in, .industries, or in clerical work, tho Government have tbs right to call on the reservists classed as fit for home service, Kut it is! a _call which will in all human probability, never be made. Our correspondent was a> teacher, and T£ ie safe to assume that teachers will ho not only allowed but requested to remain in their present ocoupation.

'T have been asked," said the Eon. W. D. S. Mac Donald at Invercargill on Saturday, "why I don't do some work myself. Well, my secretary has worked/it out, and found that, for the last month or two, I have been working fourteen and a half hours a day and three Sundays out ' of four. Still, some people say: 'What are you loafing, around here about? Why don't you. go>and do something yourself?"', ■■■' . •.-■.

In the Supreme Court yesterday morning the Chief.Justice, Sir Robert Stout, granted &' decree absolute in divorce in the case of Herbert John Osborne v. Elizabeth Osborne and Roland William' Henry Goddard. Petitioner was granted custody of the children. .

With reference, to a letter from Mr. D. Cossgrovei which appeared in a recent issue of the Christchuroh "Press," on the subjeot of the efficacy of koromiko buds in thb treatment of virulent dysentery, Mr. J. A. D. Chisholm, Redcliffs, .wriles that since his previous, communications to the "Press" on the subjects on May 9 and 16, 1916, the method of forwarding koromiko, buds overseas in impervious bags has proved successful. He adds: "I have had letters from Gallipoli, Egypt, Salisbury Plains, Salonika, and Efence, and in every case oures are /'recorded, the most interesting being one who was bo ill that he feared that he ; would not live until his letter reached New Zealand,, but he is not only_ alive, but has been promoted • from signaller to dispatch rider,,and has been in this employment twelve months, and says in a letter reoeived by last'.;' mail, that ho never felt better in hi . Efe." Mr. Chisholm has found thai three buds of the North Island, koromiko, plucked green antt chewed and swallowed, or twelve buds of the South Island koromiko, is the right quantity to be taken by adults. The best way to give it_ to children is to mince it up like mint is cut up for mint sauce, place in dessertspoon with milk, half the quantity for children over twelve, less for younger. Mr. James Young, curator of_ the Christchurch Botanical Gardens, informs 'Mr. Chisholm that ho will be only too pleased to supply leaves to anyono who requires them.