LOCAL AND GENERAL

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3118, 23 June 1917, Page 8

LOCAL AND GENERAL

1 — The Defence Minister has received ad- j vice that the hospital ship Marama ha 3 ' reached her destination. Voluntary recruiting will close to-day as far as reservisf.s of the First Division who are over 21 years of age are concerned. The men remaining in the division after to-day will have to wait. tho order to present themselves for medical examination at the time fixed by the Defence authorities. A ballot will be takon next week to provide tho recruits required to compete tho Thirty-third Reinforcements. A. Pre,-? Association cablegram from Sydney states that the flood danger has been a.verted. The Murray is steadily falling. The Court. of Appeal will sit in Wellington on Monday next. x The Minister of Internal AffaiTS (the Hon. 05. W. Russell) has received a letter from Mrs. IT. Grady, of Wellington Terrace, widow of tho late Mr. Frank Grady, in which she states that it was her late hiuband's wish that tho collection of pictures he had made should be handed over to the Government for tho National Art Collection. On Wednesday, tho Minister mado a personal inspection of the pictures at Mrs. Grady's residence, and ho has forwarded to her a letter expressing very high appreciation of the munificent eift she is making to tho Government, and stating that arrangements will shortly be mado to jrialse a. selection from the pictures. Special preference will be given to the pictures by Now Zealand artists, among whom may be mentioned Barraud. Gully, and Kate Bperry. and also to pictures by leading English artists represented in tho collection. The Ministership expressed the hope to Mrs. Grady that before long a National Art Gallery will be established. and has promised in. pursuance_ of her request that the collection of pictures, which will probablv be not less than 25 in number, will be named "Tho Frank Grady Collection." The well-known meteorologist, Mr. Clement L. Wragge, has (says tho Auckland "Herald") issued the following weather forecast: "The siiiii continues ill an abnormal condition of upheaval, and a now mighty eruption is now approaching the central solar meridian. The earth is responding and throbbing under the titanic wireless waves which pull our atmosphere as by tidal action. Hence a renewal of bad weather is probable in various parts of the Dominion and Australia generally, but the results will 1m modified or intensified by latitude and physiographical features. Despite the intervening fine spell the meaning of the sunstorms is too potent to be ignored." A Press Association telegram from Palmerston North states that a conference of motor garage proprietors yesterday decided to form an association for the whole motor trade of the Dominion. Jlr. John Bett, of Palmerston, is the first president, and fifteen members, representing different districts of the Dominion, were appointed a council to conduct tho association's business. One hundred and thirty firms joined, and representatives were present from Dunedin, Invercargill, Timaru, Christchurch, and Auckland. Representative* of the butter industry met the members of the Board of Trade last night to discusß matters connected with the butter-fat levy- "The conference will be continued to-day» The garrison officers will meet this afternoon for a staff ride, which will be conducted by Major Sleeman. A special meeting of the New Zealand executive of the 1.0.0. F., M.TJ., will be held in Wellington, on July 4, to make arrangements for the biennial conference, which is to be held in Wellington next Master. The applications for the position of city milk manager have been carefully considered by tho Public Health Committee of the C'ity Council, and it is understood that they have been fined down to two names, which will be submitted to the full council, with a recommendation, at next. Tuesday's meeting. TTntil tho appointment is made the council is not likely to do anything in connection with the securing of a site for tho milk station. Several city sites have been inspected, and are under offer to the council. The Government Statistician notifies that siuco the publication of the Gazette of those drawn in the seventh ballot evidence lias been produced that Francis Doherty, of 21 Murphy Street, Wellington. was already a member of tho Expeditionary Force, he having left New Zealand with the Twenty-second Reinforcements. The following interesting facts, plated in tho British House of Commons by tho Secretary to the War Office, illustrate the high valuo of inoculation for typhoid fever:—Tn tho British Army the typhoid fever cases wero fifteen times_ higher among those who had not been inoculated than among tho inoculated, and tho death ratio seventy times higher among those not inoculated. The following motion will b° considered at Monday's meeting of the Petone Borough Council:—"That it is the wish of the Petone Borough Council that the Government allow all letters, newspapers and parcels to be carried free of postage to soldiers and sailors who aTe on active service at 'he front. The heavy tax on many persons who are eking out a bare, existence is almost prohibitive in sending comforts and reading matter to t.ho=e that are trrateful for them. . We suggest that the articles, be conveyed free of chaTge, which will mean taxation over the whole' of the people instead of a portion as at present. Major Andrews told -an exceedingly funnv etorv. last evening during the course of his lecture on tho evacuation of Gallipoli. Among the devices for de-: wiving the Turks was an arrangement of rifles which were fired by drmmng water held in kerosone tins. When Maior Andrews went his rounds he saw a soldier sitting below one of these placed rifles. The soldier on seeing the Major iumped urn' suddenly and displaced tho paraphernalia. The brick holding down the rifle fell on the man s lwid. the rifle was fired, and the man rolled ami cried, "Bv God, they have <iot me. TT« was exceedingly surprised when he found he was not serious]v hurt. The prisoner who was submitted to a, severe operation in Auckland recently in order to remove pressure from tlm brain is reported to be making a good recoverv. He has now been taken from the Auckland Hospital by the officers of the Justice Department and placed m the Auckland Prison Infirmary. The hospital authorities protested against hisremoval, but an official medical report i» stated to be to the effect that the change has not retarded his recovery The prisoner is undergoing a life sentence for attempted murder, and the operation wa> undertaken in , the belief that would remove tho criminal tendencies that cansed his downfall. , ' Fortunate indeed, says a Hawkes Bay correspondent, are the soldiers who have secured land in the Returned Soldiers Settlement at Takapau. After the wear and tear of battle, we find them making their homes on the sunny hills of the north. The soldier farmers have a. splendid field for their labour, as the land is some of the best m Hawkes Bay, and well watered by streams. The soldiers have fenced and ploughed their holdings. Some have sheep farms and some have dairy farms. No farm is of le=s area than 100 acres, and the value of each runs from -£2000 upwards. One can read the names of each farm on tho gales; all are gathered from liallipoli, stern reminders of sacred spots j on Turkish soil. Behind the settlement lio tho snow-clad Riiahine ranges. Onl.y soldiers are allowed to occupy the block, and well have they earned this peaceful healthy home. When' the war is over, ami dim in the memory, the settlement j will remain a monument to future generations of whatthcGovermiicnthasdo.no for thoso who voluntarily fought their country's battles. Beattio is hard to rub out when it comes to making big sales of "No Rubbing" Laundry Help. He is a champion of the first water, and gives ono of the popular Thinker Note Books free with evory Is. packet of "No Rubbing."—Advt. Everybody wishing for warm feet these winter evenings should inspect felt slippers at Is. lid., felt buckle toots ss. 3d. to Bs. Gd., at Geo. Fowlds, Ltd., Manners 1 Street.—Adrt. <

• Owing to the difficulty of securing the material necessary, for carrying oa repair work at Hillside, the "Otago Daily. Times" states that the Railway Depart: ment has found it necessary to dispense with the services of a number of men. the object being to reduce • the staff in proportion to the falling off in the amount of work. At the end of lost week nino men, who were taken on some few months ago to cope with extra, work over a tempoiary period, were paid off, and it, may lie necessary to follow this course with some.others in the near future. The position is stated to.he similar to that which' occurred at. Addington the other day, tut an unfortunate feature in connection with the matter is that a number of the employees who are thus thrown out of work are married men.

A curiosity of nature has been revealed by Dr. Ring, an Auckland veterinary surgeon, who operated Tecently oa n. circus horse. The animal had been, afflicted for three years with a. running Goro on the back of one of its ears. It was decided to perform an operation, when a tooth was found and'extracted. Unlike many more purely British centres, Hong Kong does not mince matter 3 relating to the Germans. The following resolution was passed by the committee of the Hong Kong Chamber of Commerce,' a.nd afterwards submitted to the Hong Kong Legislative Council, through the chamber's representative, the Hon. SI. P. H. Holyoak: "It is the opinion of. this chamber that it is in the best interests of the colony of "Bong Kong that persons of German nationality should lie excluded therefrom for a period of at least ten years following the declaration, of peace; and that subsequently they be only admitted into tho colony under strict license." Although the New Zealand Government is not accepting skilled mochanica for munition service at Home, Sydney files show that there is a keea demand for such experts in New South .Wales. Mr. Bussel Sinclair, who is. selecting mechanics in that State for mumitionmaking in England, stated recently that a large batch 'of men who had been engaged for this work would leave for England at an early date. Theje were still a large number of vacancies for fitters, carpenters, turi.ers, and cabinetmakers, who could work on aeroplanes. In fact, all kinds of skilled mechanics were wanted, and they would be found employment immediately on arrival in. England.

Local shipping men do not agree with • tlie suggestion that New Zealand should' be building large vessels to take the place of those diverted to other uses, says the Auckland "Star." • One authority says that there are not the required yards in New Zealand nor the shipwrights. The kauri timber which is obtainable is far too expensive and diflicult to get in suitable lengths. ihe hardwood for Hie frames is similarly hard to get, and if steel frames were decided upon they could not be obtained from abroad owing to-the export of steel goods being practically suspended, lne same difficulty would be found in obtaininß the canvas, wire rigging, ropes,, anchors, and chains, and even if all tte' materials were at hand it would rate twelve months to build a vessel, and the final cost would not make it worth while. Soldiers on the point of leaving ior the front nre usually embarrassed bythe liberality with Tchich friends and relatives shower upon them presents which it is assumed will be of use to them in their military We. It is, there fore, desirable to make known the fact that any articles beyond the officially, issued kit have to be discarded on arrival in England. As a matter of feet, when a soldier comes to the actual campaUing part of his career he has with him only as much as he can carry on Ms back A letter from a young Aiicklander now at Sling Camp states that on the arrival of his cogent at, *S camp an inspection parade « which any missing article of issue was supplied, but everything else in wg. man's kit. was taken away. The eacnfice was in some cases heavy, lor instance one man lo.st a brand new sleepS which must have cost the donor ■ind the winter can hardly be said to ime "farted. The outlook for lauita, ttoefo e is very serious, and oomobint

" Messrs Baldwin and Kayward, patent motor: T. Bell.'Anckland, soap powder; T Pattie, Auckland, string cutter; Stern. Anderson'and Co'., San Francisco sepa. ratine molybdenum compounds; G. H. Stone 5 Auckland, gate fastener; Dr. Macburin Wellington, treating kaun gum; ■F H Dowden! Wellington, fly catchers ?:■ G. Thompson, Auckland, broom Handle. ■ ■ • '