LOCAL AND GENERAL

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3162, 14 August 1917, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

It will bo three years .to-morrow since the advance guard left New Zealand for service at Samoa, In granting a numb?r of exemptions from jury service yesterday. His Honour Mr. Justice Hosking jooulariy remarked that he was afraid tlioro might be inoro applicants if the men summoned saw how easily eoino wore getting off. "flowovor, I am quite prepared to bo lenient in these times/' said Hia Honour,

"when so many are suffering from the effects of tho war, and find it so difficult to get pooplo to take their places." Most of tho men now enlisting at tho Town Hull are naming the Thirty-fourth or £>o Thirty-fifth Reinforcement as the jTrait tiiey wish to join. Sonio are looking jis far ahead as tho Thirty-sixth draw. The State Labour Bureau in the city states that it has had eeveral applications of late from formers who wish to secure labourers for their farms. The position at preeent is that these fdtualiojis are still unfilled, notwithstanding that the pay is said to be very good. Oflicors of the Defence Department, who havo been scouring tho Wuirorapu. district for "ehirkore" have, Bays ouir special correspondent, ."ailed to lecato more than two or three. A deputation was to havo met the Prime Minister yesterday concerning the provision of a hydro-electric scheme for the North Island, but tho interview was postponed. This morning, a deputation, is to meet Mr. Maesoy in order to ask him to arrango for tho protection of sports grounds during the war period. A record sum of noarly i£soo was tul'.en a I the Masterton Patriotic Shop on Saturday. Wellington has not been nearly such a wet city as some of the other centres during the first 6oven months of the present year. Auckland, for example, baa put up a new record for itself as regards rainfall. The average rainfall for the soven months ended July 31 in that I city is 25.64 inches, but during the -pre- ■ seiit year the fall was 51.19 inches. These figures were supplied by the Government Meteorologist (Mr. D. C. Bates).' A wharf labourer named Eobert Anderson fell into the harbour last evening, as a result of his foot elipping, from the hulk Luttenvorth, which he was assisting to moor next to a steamer. He was rf6cued before anything serious happened.

In view of the different statements made l>y the Minister of Defence and the British Medical Association .with regard to a request that the former claimed to have mado for twenty additional men to carry out an early examination of tho Second Division, the following resolution was carried at last night's meeting of the Second Division League: "That this meeting views with surprise and disappointment the conflicting statements of tho Minister of Defence and the British Medical Association regarding the provision of extra medical men foi carrying out the league's request for a preballot medical examination of each class, and, realising that precious time ie being allowed to slip by, respectfully requests the Minister of Defence to take advantage of the British Medical Association's promise to carry out this work by giving such instructions to his officers as will ensure the necessary urraugenieuts. being nuiilo without delay." During tho week ended August 1(1, fourteen married and fifteen einglo men applied at the State Labour Bureau in Wellington for work. Employment wan found for nino married andnino single men. Thirteen of those placed were sent to private employment and iivo to Government employment. Those assisted to work were farmhands, hotel workers, genera! labourers, a gardener, and ■a bricklayer. At the meeting of the Masterton A. and P. Association on Saturday Mr. A. M'Donald stated that ample funds wore available for the purchase of an experimental farm for soldiers suffering irom sholl-sliock. Tho difficulty, however, was in finding a suitable site. The bridge over tho Wliareama I(iver, near Tinui, suffered so much by bst week's ourtliquake that it has beau closed for traffic. Five toudeifl, including ono from Wellington, have been received for the eiccliuii of a .Soldiers' Club at, Musterton. A distinct shock of earthquake whs experienced in Masterton a few minutes before 11 o'clock yeaterduy inorniiif;, enys our special correspondent. Apart from the oases arising out of Saturday night's riot in Cuba Street and a few cases of insobriety, there wub very littlo othor business doue in the Magistrate's Court yesterday, Annie Lawrenfion was bound over to keep the peace towards Annie Clark for a period of 12 nionthp, suri'l ins being fixed at .£IOO in her own recognisance, <uul two others at ,CSO each. Mr. S. E. M'Carthy, S.M., jraa..fi». MAepA ■- -

Messrs. 11. 11. Cook and Co., of 24 Groy Street, Wellington, report tho sale Inst week of two largo estates, in which "Wellington people- aro interested. Mount Whitnow, a sheep run in Canterbury, o< S7lB acres, was gold to Mr. A. D. Kennedy, of Featherstou Street, Wellington, tho purchase prico Ijeing- in the vicinity of .£32,000. Tho well-kuowu Happy Valley Estate, Wellington, containing 5500 acres, has changed hands to Mr."J. D. Kobertson, of Fuirlio, tho prico being within the vicinity gf The samu firm also report that two other places of from 1250 acres to 2195 acres, have changed hands during the lost fortnight through them. To-day tho Conciliation Commissioner (Mr. W. H. llagger) will coutinuo tho hearing of the private hotel workers' dispute. On Thursday ho will hear applications to join parties to the award covering builders' labourers and general labourers. The shearers' and the Wellington tramway employees' disputes will be heard next week. Tho Lower Hutt Borough Inspector has laid informations against eight drivers of motor vehicles charging them with exceeding the speed limit on tho three days of tho last Wellington race meeting. At a meeting of tho Second Division League last evening Mr. C. H. Chapman was appointed lion, secretary to the National Federation. A mass, of correspondence dealing with the national organisation was dealt with. It was reported that new branches aro fitill being froiued, the latest being at Blenheim and Taivruuga. A small delegation from the Auckland Second Division League attended an Auckland Chamber of Commerce meeting to request that tho chamber extend its sympathy to Iho league in its aims and methods, which were placed in detail ou the table. Tho chairman assured the visitors of careful attention to their request, and the papers were handed to a sub-committee for attention and report. "It seems to me," said Mr. H. W. Hudeon later, "that the league is working for pensions proportionate to the mans earnings prior to enlistment. For instance, if a man gets .£SOO a year cow, ho ehould get a greater pension for disablement than the man receiving .£IOO. On the face of it this system seems i wrong." He considered that a limb was a limb, no mattor who owned it. "fancy ft schoolboy sitting <lown to tackle a subject like that," said a member of the Auckland Chamber of Commerce when the subject of the essay for the annual Chamber of Commerce prize w<l6 announced. "There is not a man," ho continued, "who can deal at all satisfactorily with this subject. Ihe chairman promptly said tliat it was a, topical themo, "and probably, he naivelv suggested, "the schoolboys will do well with ft, as they can deal with it wi h fresh minds." Tho chamber agreed to approve tho recommended subject, n was "Tho Commercial Policy of tho Allies after the War." A soldier tried by court-martial at Featherstou camp on a charge of desert j ing has been soi/ieneed to nine naoutho imprisonment with hard labour. The vexed question of whether or pot Maoris hjive an uua.liena.ble right to shoot native pigeons, irrespective ot. Government proclamations of a close eeasou, was liaised again at ft meeting of the council of tho Auckland Acclimatisation Society. A communication was received from the Minister of Internal Aflairs touching on the matter of conserving- the native pigeon, in which the Minister mado a definite statement that neither Maori nor half-casto had any woro right than Europeans in the matter of enootiiiK pigeons. The council decided to request the Minister to obtain a. legal opinion on 'the point from the Crown Law Office, and to advise acclimatisation socioties of tho decision, in order that the societies might have a eeouro ground on which to take action.

Mr. V. J. Lamer,, ohairman of the Claims Board of tho Auckland Patriotic Association, lias opened tho subject of Government grants to widows. He instanced tho case of a widow \yhoso son had fallen in action. She was in receipt of a pension of 10s. per week, this Tjoiug quite inadequate. Ueplying to representations made by Mr. Larner, the Commissioner of Pontons has written saying that in cases where the applicant was not affluent a warpeiwion of nt least 15s. a weei, and more if necessary, was granted. This made a, distinction lietween a widow and a mother with a husband perhaps in regular work. Tho Commissioner concluded by inviting for reconsideration by tho Pensions Board, cases where 10s. per week was not deemed adequate. According to Mr. lamer, tho Commissioner had always displayed the -utmost consideration, and liad ns3isted a great deal in representations for reconsiderations rf allowances.