LOCAL AND GENERAL

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3169, 21 August 1917, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Following up the scheme for tho reexamination of tho men Tejected as medically unfit for military service, tho Defenco authorities aro arranging to sot up a camp at Feathorston for the reception of those men classed as Cl or C 2 by tho medical boards. At this camp tho men will bo put through a course of training, tho purpose of which will lie to mnlto them fit for tho more strenuous military training which is given to tho regular drafts of. reinforcements, lhe intontion is that later tho camp will bo situated at Tauherenikau.

Additional war regulations published last night make provision for the issue of a license by tho Attorney-General to an enemy alieu who has lieen naturalised to engage in foreign trade. It is made unlawful for any other person to act ns tho agent of an alien onemy who had not such a license to engngc in. foreign trado For the week ended last Saturday eight married and fourteen singlo men applied at the State Labour Bureau in Wellington for work. Six married and nine sin"lo were placet], tlireo in Government and twelve in private employment. Work was offered several Government labourers, but they declined to accept it There aro vacancies for {laxmill hiinds and driver?. Word hiis been received in Nuiiier (says our special correspondent) that Sir Joseph Ward will shortly speiilc at Napier on tho War. Loan,

"[ don't know that it is any morn iliflicult lo obtain tho ordinary drugs," Hiiid u Wellington pharmacist yesterday, "but (lie prices aro higher than they wore :i yenr ngo. Two of tho linos that aro ill shout supply at present uro beef essences and meat extracts generally, which, I suppose, are in great demand in tho hospitals in Europe, and baby foods. Tho export of "all English foods for bullies has been prohibited, and wo aro jiov only relying on stocks in hand mid on coloninl-iuado infant foods. There lire at present Brjmo Buglis.li Tjrands of infant food qnilo unobtainable at all, and tho choice will bo still further restricted as time advances."

At tho Napier Court yesterday a man was lined 28s. lor travelling on a tram without a ticket. This is the first prosecution of its kind since the Napier tramways w«ro installed. Judge Moule, in the County Court, Melbourne, on August 1, delivered an important reserved judgment in an action hi ought by Gcorgino Juno Boyd, _ St. Kilda, against tho New South 'Wales Monte do Picto Co.. of Swanston Street, Melbourne. Mrs. Boyd sought to have certain loan transactions with tho New South Wales Monte do Pieto reopened, as being "harsh and unconscionable," and that they should be reviewed by tho Court. It was alleged on behalf of Mrs. Boyd that .C 383 had been borrowed nt different times from June, 1916, Hint £o&2 had been repaid, and the company nllcg3d that JIIOS was still owing. Judge Moulo directed the present transaction lo be rc-opt-ned, as from its inception; that tho accounts be talten as on daily balance, according to the system adopted by the banks, Hie rale of interest chargeable lo be 25 per cent., and tho account taken upon half-yearly rests. The defendant company must pay whatever balancemight bo found due to Mrs. Boyd, and it would also have to pay tho costs. A stay of proceedings was granted. Heading of tho latest exploit of Captain Jackn, V.C., an enthusiastic Australian said: "That man'll bo a general if tho war lasts another two years. There is room for tho speculation. Ho has developed all tho qualities of leadership, is trusted by his men, and it would i appear, from what wo read of his doings, that whenever ho goes out he comes homo with the goods. Ho had been wounded three times (twico fatally, according lo tho cabled announcement.). Ho was ir-cn-tiuned to receive a bar to his V.0.-prae-ticnlly another T.C.—but the bar was attaciied to his M.C. for great gii"-intvy in a. night movement at BulleconrL ivliHi, his weapons failing, lio put a officer out with a punch of his hit, ana ho nnd a companion gathered in a Hun outpost and brought it back to tho britisli lines. Jacka is one of tho nurnoanestyle fighters, who believes in hitting hard, and much of Mβ success is due to n close following of his own ideas, when ho nns acted in extremely risky situations. ■Hβ is now in hospital in London, but will be back where the boys aro, and where (ho lighting is, as soon as ho is allov-ed to get tlioro. There is still a keen demand. for bricklayers in tho Maeterton district, to repair tho damage doao by tho carthnuako a fortnight ago.

A deputation of members of tho Wellington Drivers' Union waited on tho Finance Committee of the City Council yesterday in. regard to tlio wages ol drivers in the corporation employ. T.ho committee will report to the council on Thursday evening in regard to the matters touched upon. A thrilling experience is reported from Kuakitmii by a Gisborno paper. Mr. David Siitlierlnnd and Miss D. Watt (Ins sister-in-law) were driving in a buggy, and ivlion negotiating a bad portion ot o'-o of the cuttings, the buggy went over tho bank. Both occupants succeeded in jumping clear, but the buggy and pair of horses fell about 100 feet. Mrs. Sutherland, who was riding behind, observed the buggy going over; her screama attracted the attention of a man who was working down the bank, and he moved away just in time to escape being struck by the falling vehicle. One of the horses was killed instantaneously, whilst tho buggy was smashed to matchwood. T,ato advices from Homo show that footwear is soaring to phenomenal pnecs and that there ia a strong probability o£ exportation of boots and shoes to JXew Zealand and elsewhere being stopped (says an exchange). Tho British Government in April issued further instructions tn restrict still more tho exportation of footwear, nnd now manufacturers are required to obtain from tha Board of Irade a licence for each shipment before the noods can be sent forward. Orders placed with a Home firm in February and March will be advanced from 4s. to ss. Gd. per pair on the prices preceding orders. Leather values arc continually rising, and at latest wern up to four limes above pre-war rates. Some classes of leather are unprocurable, because tho Government has prohibited importation. In addition the factory staffs have been depleted by calliii" up all fit men between 18 and 41 years of age, and tho Government requisitions upon manufacturers are growing steadily. Ono firm reports having supplied one. million pairs of boots for army purposes.

During tho present great war the psychology of courage unci its concomitant, fear, have often been, discussed freely by Ihoso who have "been through hell to glory,-" and, in the majority of cases, whilst men havo gone over the top "like greyhounds from the slips," few ol'.them have not acknowledged at some time or other the sense of tear. Only recently a. young man writing homo to L"3 i-artnts in Wellington said that it would be ridiculous to eay that he was not afraid, for ho was, but there was something else taht camo to one's aid as ono rushed forward to meet the Hun, some primitive desire to tear forward and toll thosevbo had slain one's comrades. The writer of that letter di<l no tperhape realise that fear is quite a natural instinct bora of a dread of losing one's life —it is tlio flesh crying ou,l for protection; and that aid which comes to 30 per cent, of men at the proper moment is the purest firm of courage. It is only the craven who turns and runs in the face of imminent danger. The truly courageous goes forward to do or die. This deEnition of courage is not new. In "Count Basil," a tragedy bv Johanna Baillie, published away bacK in 1798 one of the characters, Count Eosinberg, eays: "The brave man is not he who feels no fear, for that were (stupid and irrational, but ho whose noble soul ite feare subdues and bravely dares the danger nature shrinks from. Speaking of climatic conditions at a meetinfg of the Palmereton Philosophical Society, Mr. J. W. Poynton. made some remarks in his lecture which, are of interest to those living in the Manawatu and Wairarapa districts. . He eaid—The prevailing south-west winds, charged with moisture, which is mostly deposited on tho west coasts of both islands, is a climatic feature of great importance. Nelson owes its sunshine and calm to ttio barrier of Jlount Arthur and Ins lesser neighbours, while tho wet area from near Dannevirke to Eketahuna is duo to the "an of about 30 miles in the Ruiihine fountains, which stretches from Shannon to the north of tho Manawatu Gorge. The moisture-laden, western winds How through this low saddle, and tho Blight clovation given to the air current by the hills in this gap (they cannot be called mountains) cools it sumciently to bring about condensation from Woodville to Dannovirke and Eketahuna. Further south on the west coast near Otaki and Levin the mountains attain ii height of moro than 5000 feet. In tho path of tho moving nir they. are like a huge rock in a deep-flowing river. They cause a calm or backwash ot air, as the rock does in the streani, it. For this reason Levin and Otaki nio drier, sunnier, ami less windy tha" either Palmerston North or. Wellington Tho almost constantly moving mass ot air meeting with the obstruction of these lofty areas is divided, amWwirls around them to the south through Cook Strait at Wellington and to tho north through tho Shannon Gorgo gap, like the water current at the sides of the obstruct!ns rock. We havo thus from differentbut clearly recognisable causes many cl iintce which, despite our complaints about the vn»arics of our weather, arc, fairly constant from year to year, and in time, wll causo changes in the nature of our introduced flora. Thwa different soils and climates will bo found suitable to the introduction of other plants now to us.