LOCAL AND GENERAL

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3179, 1 September 1917, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL

The Secretary, General Post Office, lias been advised that from "Juno 10 to September 30 legal time in Newfoundland lias been advanced one hour. •

The Wellington bankruptcy statistics 1 for the month of August show that oilijr ] ons petition was filed. ( Lying on the table at the luncheon 1 given by the- Eastern Extension Cable < Co. to the Postmaster-General and other i officials at the Grand Hotel yesterday 1 was a piece of twisted insulated cable. < wire, in which was half-buried a'sharks j tooth, discovered as a fault in one of 1 the Cook Strait cables. Referring to this i incident, Mr. B. It. Black,' superintend- i ent for tho company in New Zealand, < said that when he was on the Sherard Osborne cable steamer as a cadet, they ; picked 7 up a cable that had been sum- , larly faulted. This was at the time ot • the South African war, when every day , they heard that the war would soon be. over, yet it was spun out for years. When . a certain well-known weekly paper got , hold of the story, they carried the tale . on by relating that the shark was still , attached to the' tooth that was stuck into the cable when it was raised, and . on being cut. open it was found to bs ■ full of undigested press cables, amongst, which was one saying that the war would ; soon be'over. i ■ A speaker at the Post and Telegraph Conference smoke concert last evening complained that the pensions for widows of members of the service were inadequate. The pension was .£lB, and that amount had teen fixed on when the old-age pension was £VS. The old-age pension had since been increased to .626 and then to £59 The pensions for widows ot mem-bers-of the -service could be increased to.-£52 per- year, without, cost to the country, for the men -W™ 'fflmfc to make a sacrifice which would facilitate the increase. - . ■ A Press Association telegram' from Auckland states that at the conference of the North Auckland Development !]3oard a resolution waa passed urging the Government to raise a special loan . or £1,000,000 for the purpose of carp-rag out the comprehensive scheme ot development advocated by the board. A Press Association message from Eawera states :-The Chamber of, Commerce on Thursday night, unanimously adopted a motion expressing regret at the unfortunate position created bvthe threatened resignation of the LfflweiM Board, and wishing that the boards valuable services will be retained. An American named Washington B. Vanderlip has an idea which he claims will win the war. He would place nets across the Straits of Gibraltar, the Straits of Otranto, and the Dardanelles, making the Mediterranean a, lake, lie would have all supplies-|or Great Britain and France from the United Sta.es go from Pacific ports, the ships to travel via the Suez Canal. While such a trip might take. ninety days, yet the ship, would arrive safely, V$ urges that the United States drop the plan of buiHing wooden ships, and get busy <mjl<Jing freight cars and locomotives. hlity miles of net, -which can bo placed' in ninely days, will'win tho war, he concludes. ■ . Mr Mat Bradley,.bootmaker,.of MacStreet, Dunedin, was assaulted by an unknown man in his chop on Tuesday evening. It is customary for Mr Bi-adlev to visit his shop in tho evening, and on this occasion he arrived at 8 o'clock. Leaving' his keys and coat on the counter, lie switched on the lHit in his workshop, and proceeded to" tho back of tho. premises.. On returning, ho found tho light out, and saw the dim outline of a man ? figure in the slion Mr. Bradley' passed some remark about the failure of the light, and he then received a heavy blow.on the livid, which knocked him down, and when lie mado a determined effort to grapple with ' hid assailant- a second blow prostrated him on the floor. On recovering consciousness an hour later he sent a yassiii" boy for a policeman, and Constable TVConnoll. who was accosted, sont for Dr. Evans. Chief-Detective Bishop, accompanied bv Detectives Cameron and Hull, arrived a few minutes later, and found - a broken beer bottle, which! the assailnul hnil evidently used iiV his/attack on Mr Bradlev. 'With tho.keys which he had found on the counter the in--1 f ruder had opened tho safe, and stoion ' the sum of £28 in notes. Mr. Bradly.v, who did not-sou his assailant closely, ; was fortunately not seriously injured. "Are you satisfied with the war bonus?" Sir Joseph Ward asked the men gathered at tho Post and Telegraph snioko concert last evening, was 1 the answer in.strong chorus. : Archdeacon C. C. -Harper, formerly ' vicar of St. Peter's, Wellington, and now : vicar of Newington, London, fc.L., yrit- . ing to a friend in Wellington, says: We are (July 8; 1917) just now beir* trcat- , cd to a good dose of the enemy s irightfulness. They have discovered that thej ' run less risk of loss and can kill moic : women and children and civilians gen- ! erally. by aoroplano raids m..tie. a> tinie. This has often been done on to.isl ' towns and villages, but .wo havoj^ter- • day had our second visit '« L ° • a whole drove of air machines ho. an ■ parently try to W* tho city «l U.e 1 nc> - hour, when tho streets will bo lu lesi But thev were a lot too. soon. I hoy ' looked ust like a flock of wild duok, or-ratheivscagulls, as they did not A3, n " the wild-duck formation, ™ * on { '" 3 ful thing was to see how, when Jl.^ police, but just , ,hc tci e h *S° drivo"' ""duct™ on o their work. Eeall.Y, : ho E"tr people are .a wonderful peoi! i Of rour«c there is a. good deal ot ' I k about reprisals, but. I, believe the 3 majorfly of opinion is against them and 1 ourZclers, 1 think, can be trusted aot - to make us eternally, ashamed,-

With regard to the Second Division, Mr. D. Jones, president- of -the North Canterbury Farmers' Union; said at a recent meoting that ho thought-the Government could not afford to make a very severe raid on the Second Division, because production had to go on,- and it was chiefly (ho Second Division men who were carrying tho whole burden. of Iho country. The financial responsibilities of the Government wero inouting up, and he \;thought these, responsibilities would prevent-many Second Division men being called mpon. A conference is to be held in Wellington on Tuesday next, between representatives of tho Federated Seamen's Union and the shipowners with regard- to the interpretation of certain clauses in the agreement nrrived at early this year, particularly the clause dealing -with the limitation of hours.

The rules of the Wellington Gas AVorkors' Union, are now before" the' Labour IJcpa'tment for revision prior to that body .being registered. When that formality has been complied with,- the new union will formulate its demands,-which will in duo course be considered by the Conciliation Council, and, ■subsequently, if necessary, the Arbitration Court.

Tho Mayor of Christcliurch (M r. 11. Holland) and Councillor L. J. iloward haVo arrived in Wellington for tho purpose of interviewing the Government on the subject of the Lyttelton-Christchuich

train service. . The-members of nm Xc egrapli Officers', Association is (000. All nro "financial" members, and that fact, it is said, may bo due.tothe scheme ot deducting their inscriptionsi from tho salaries of-the members. Twelve hundredandnine, members''of tho associa-

lion are on (tftivo service. Speaking of England as it is to-day. Sir Joseph Ward -said. at. the Post an! Telegraph smoke concert last evening, that one of tho greatest transformations was in the mother of Parliaments He had see. MO members assembled there passing hun dreds of millions of pounds in an horn in order that the British Empire would not go down for want of funds. His Honour Mr. Justice Hosking and ft jury of twelve yesterday resumed tho hearing o£ tho case in which Leall.Cecil Arnold claimed fronv M*r»»t Ivog r?(l4fi 10s.. in connection with an aw-i Fndant The plaintiff said ft.t*,J sitting in a'motor-shed in John btieet, a^ lp «th^fenS tot at tn/ time of- tho accident tho driver of the lorry was not acting m the Regular course of his emp oymenbut was going about business of his on." m ltft to the jury to of linuor when the accident occurred. Sffid up., to lire * «*«'• Many people »« «ondenns "hot bir * ™I%K> we£Tspted together and P uaka, which ™te.n*H^* -ciTle across Cook Stoart. i was done in 36 hourst>y u«> Ue 1,11 7' 6 vorf atoched hereto would have !£s■ AVo approximately, the comgift to has meant that save. • -«'+!,» This vear being the centenary of tne *vpnt in a manner worthy of tne ocui • ri,o Town Hall.has.been engaged for the even*™ of Monday,..6ejtember n,t which all. Catholics are invited I°''' hL „Yl Olcl hoys' from' districts outcolumns. • ...-. Messrs Baldwin and Eayward, patent attS and consulting engmeeH; of 215 Lambton Quay, report that recenuy 7t? * f Lurford Hamilton, shaving A, V'Haddon? London, liquid conmirror; \\. « aa °SS' Auc kland, worm , ductorsj; W. L- i fit . drive; G. *!■ g ' e ' Auckland, fire : engine; 0. E. jUuand, Bwiveln)«m: E--P- Jones- vb] Eltham, 1 & te covif J.' Washington; Ngapatai poS, W fastener for harness. ...