LOCAL AND GENERAL

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 39, 9 November 1917, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Sir James Allen announced iu Now Plymouth last night that tho Thirtieth Reinforcements had Tenoned a port of call, all safe.—Press Aesn.

The Governor-General has received the following message from Princess Christian in reply to a telegram of condolence which His Excelloncy transmitted to Her Itoyal Highness, through the Secretary'of State for the Colonies:— "Pray accept my sincere thanks, and convey to the Government and peoplo of New Zealand my profound appreciation of their sympathy."

Tho reach of the long arm of'the law was demonstrated in. the Magistrate's Court yesterday morning, before Mr. S. 10. M'Carthy, S.M., when an articled seaman on an oversea vessel was charged with deserting from tho vessol on December 81, 1907. Inspector Marsack said that tho desertion took place ten years ago, and the man had since been in respectable occupation. The vessel had since been wrecked, and under the circumstances he would ask permission to withdraw the charge. Thiß was granted. Next-of-kin and other persons wishing to' Bay good-bye to departing soldiers will not ho allowed alongside departing transports in the future, It being considered necessary to limit access to the wharves to people having business there, and holdipg passes issued under the new regulations. Tho Defence authorities have made another arrangement for tho benefit of the next-of-kin of the soldiers. When a draft is about to depnrt, a special train will be run to Trentham Camp for tho benofit of the next-of-kin, who will learn of tho time through the soldiers. Parents will bo able to see their boys at the camp, and will be taken back to town to the same train. Small parcels intended for the soldiers may be handed to the men personally in tho camps, or may be addressed to tho soldiore, care of tho Transport Shipping Office, K Shed. Distribution will then he made by the quartermasters aboard the transports.

The Thirty-third Infantry Reinforcements wont on extended leave from Featherston Camp yesterday.

The CI Camp, which is ct present o,sfcal>li4hed in 'the canvas 'portion of Featherston Camp, will bo moved to Tauherenikau shortly.

Regulations under the parb of the Statute Law Amendrnont Act of last session relating to prisons are gazetted. Under the regulations it is deolored that all prisons shall he divided into three classes '—Prisons, special prisons, and police gaols. It is declared that certain other prison institutions shall bo called eiinply "institutions," with special, names according to their character. These will include Borstal institutions, reformatories for men, and reformatories for women. The Invercarglll prison is henceforward to he known as the Invercargill Borstal Institution, the Waikeria Prison as tho Waikeria Reformatory for Men, and tho Addington Prison as tho Addington Reformatory for Women.

The officers and men of the Thirty-first, and Thirty-second Reinforcements tc.vo completed their training in New Zealand, and will he addressed by tho GovernorGeneral (Lord Liverpool) at Trcnthnm Camp to-day. Tho parado will take place at 11.45 a.m.

Orders havo boon issued in the training camps that members of departing reinforcements who may wish to obtain leave for business or domestic reasons must make application on a special form in timo for their casos to bo considered by the Wellington Military Servico Board b'eforo tho final arrangements are made for tho departure of thoir draft. It lias been found that each month tlioro are somo men who, having completed their training, desire to obtain leavo for reasons that appoar to them to bo urgent. _ Tho granting of this leavo means somotimes that tho men concerned liavo to' be put back to a later reinforcement, and then their places require to be filled by otlier men, who probably havo not had tho same amount of training. All tho applications will now bo considered by tho board. Experience has shown that most of them can bo refused without undue hardship, but in somo casos tho reasons urged in support of tho request for loave aro strong enough. to convince the board that tjie concession should bo granted.

The Court .of Arbitration held a sitting yesterday, and converted into awards the agreements arrived at by tho Conciliation Council in the iron and brass-moulders' disputo and the boilermakers' dispute. Several applications to strike out parties were made. W. E. Campbell and Co., Wangauui, wero struck out of the Iron moulders'/ Award, and Hatrick and Co. w.oro struck out of tho Boilermakers' Award. Decision was reserved respecting applications to strike out the Wellington Gas Company, Wellington Moat Export Company, and tho Gear Meat Company from the Boilermakers' Award.

A wharf worker named Daniel Donovan, a residont of (juooii Street, met with an accident when crossing Kent Terrnco last ovoning. He was about to cross tho street, and whon ho stepped out from behind a tramcar he was 6truck by a passing motor-car and knocked down. A small bono in tho vicinity of his right anklo was broken.

Several Auckland institutions, states tho "New Zealand Herald," benefit under the terms of tho will of tho. late Mr, Alexander E. D. Watson, formerly of Devonport, who died in Sydney on October 5. Mr. Watson left no children, and after his widow and his relations aro liberally provided for, his will declares that the undermentioned charities and public institutions shall benefit in his residuary cstato in tho following pro-portions-.—Dr. Bnrnardo's Homes, four twenty-sixths; Leslie Presbyterian OrShanngo (Auckland), Burnside Orphan lomo (Sydney), Salvation Army (Auckland), Salvation Army (Sydney), Devonport Borough Council (for extending or completing the foreshore esplanade), Auckland Centre oj tho St. John Ambulance Association, Auckland Municipal Art Gallery, Sydney Art Gallery, and Auokland City Council (for the purchase of public, statuary), , one-twenty-sixth each.

In a- letter acknowledging congratulations from tho members of the Railway Service, the parents of Corporal Leslie Andrew, V.C., give somo typical instances of their son's modesty and soldierly bearing. So far, thoy'say, their son has mado no mention of his winning the V.C., but expresses his pride and pleasuro at being recommended for liis commission on tho field for work dona in "No Man's." His mates, in writing, praise Corporal Andrew for his deeds, and consider him worthy of the highest award for bravery. The young hero is silent on the matter of his escapes from death, but he has sent to his parents two cartridges from his poucn with aci enemy bullet embedded in them. Truly (says the "Kailway Officers' Advocate ) the parents have reason to be proud of such a son, and we, as brotherofiicers, aro to an equal dogreo as proud of such a comrade.

An interesting ceremony will take place id Rosenoath to-morrow, when His' Excellency tho Governor-General will unveil, at 3 p.m., the recently-erected memorial to those ex-pupils of the school who have fallen at'tho front during the present war. The Mayor (Mr. J. P. Luke, C.M.G.) will also bo present, and a ghard of honour will bo supplied by tho Keturned Soldiers' Association. It has been arlanijed lor a band to bo i? attendance. Tho memorial has been erected outside tlio entrance to tho school grounds, on ft triangular, piece of load donated by tho City Council, and consists of a stepped base on which stands a square pedestal about six feet high, with marble panols to receive the names of those who havo fallen in the great war. Standing on this is a Grecian Doric colnmn, of study proportions, typifying strength, surmounted with tho globe representing the Empire. Tho total height of tlio memorial is about 18ft. The work was carried out by Mr. Walter Tonics, and was designed by Mr. William M. Page, Tj.It.LB.A., architect. The drawing was hung in tho recent exhibition of the New Zealand Academy of Fino Arts.

By notices published in the Gazette for this week tho two administrative'offices of Deputy-Superintendent of the State Advances Department nnd of AsBistanfSecretary to the Treasury aro created in the Public Service.

Regulations aro gazetted under the .Registration of Aliens Act of last session, They prescribe, in particular the information that an alien applying for registration is required to eupply. anil the stops ho must take to securo registration,

A meeting was hold in tho Now Contury Hall last evening, under the auspices of tho Wellington Labour Representation Committoe, to form a branch of tho New Zealand Labour Party. Mr. W. Maddison was in tho chair, and tho speakers included Mrs. Snow, Messrs. H. Holland, Humphries, and J. Glover. _ It was decided to form a Wellington. Bast brunch of the party, and a committee was. set up.

Tho old Victorian conviot ship Success, after voyaging round tho world from Melbourne, where she was taught for "show" purposes, hns turned up at Louisville (United States), and news was received in_ Sydney recently that she is to be commissioned for sea again. On account of the scarcity of tonnage for deopsea carrying trade, a shipping firm has bought her, and plans to turn her into n, cargo vessel. Tho old craft, which was on exhibition in Sydney Harbour eomo years ago, was built more than 60 years ago. With tho cells removed it is expected the ship can carry 750,000 ft. of timber, and tho now owners are fitting her out for that trade. The Success is one of tho few sailing vessels in the world made of solid teat, and her hull is said to bo won'derfuly well 1 preserved. The be remembered as a feature at tho Panama-Pacifio Exhibition.

A Dunodin soldier, who was "gassed" in Franco and is now in hospital in England,! in a lettor to a friend, states:— "By tha way, I don't know what our Government is thinking ahont sending some of the men that bto coming in the Inter reinforcemonts. Mind you, I am not .speaking of them as a whole, as they aro up to standard, hut thero are some old men—perhaps in some cases old hefore their time—and others with different complaints who will probably never leavo England except in ,a hospital boat back to New Zealand. Yet the Government has to go to the expense of training, equipping, and transporting , these men to England, each man costing, I supvoso, by tho time ho. is landed here, pretty near a 'century.' On top of this perhaps a ponsion to pay in New Zenland after discharge, and never even getting within 50 miles oj tho firing linn nftor nil that trouble ond expense. Thero is a mistake somewhere—doctors or what, T don't know, and as for the expense, well, I suppose poor old John Bull suffers again."

"The proposal to prevent excessive smoking by young girls, made in the British Parliament by Mr. .Tacobson.i will novo the approval of tho medical profession," writes a doctor in a London paper, "T would not condemn an occasional cigarette or even from ono to thrro dailv for a .full-grown woman, hut if a girl begins on a small scale in her 'teens she is more likely than a man to smoke too much in tho course of time. Tobacco is a powerful drug, and once a girl has taken a few soothing doses of it she becomes, a slave to the habit. Soon her digestion becomes disordered. This makes the blood impure, and this in turn ruins her complexion. Her growth is more or less hindered by tho tobacco noison, her nervous system depressed, and her heart weakened. Wrinkles como on prematurely in tho enso of tho confirmed woman smoker,"

On account of tho continuation of tho war fchero will bo no annual conferenca of tho New Zealand Builders' and Contractors' Federation this year.

Mr. F. Thompson, tho manager of tho Christchurcli .Tramways, speaks very strongly against the practico of boarding moving care. This practico, ho says,-is highly dangerous, and was" much, in evidence last Monday, tho first day of tho Now Zealand Cup meeting. "Wo have got through so far without accidents," added Mr. Thompson, "but if peoplo porsist in taking such great risks wo shall bo exceedingly fortunate if wo continno to do so." Christohurch is not tho only place where people suffer from tho delusion that tho car just going by is th© only one that will suit thorn.

Tho public havo accepted tho amusement tax with equanimity, and as far as can be gathered tho impost has not affected business in the city playhouses. There is only ono "fly in the umber," so to 6peak, as far as tho couvenionco cf the public is concerned, and that is the extra time that is necessarily taken in selling tickets during rush times, when tho time taken in giving tho odd chango affects a quick dispatch. This could, perhaps, be got over by arranging places near the theatre whero day sales could be-purchased, and making +ho »amo well known to patrons; That should prevent tho necessity of having to form queues outside-tho theatre tioket-boxes.

Tho Railway Officers' Institute has passed tho following resolution :-"That the representatives of tho railway officers, assembled in council, havo decided to endorse with all emphasis thfl action of the Grand Council of State Servants Th thoir representations to the Government with a view to reduction of the high cost of living, and desire to impress upon the Government and tho Minister of Railways the urgent necessity of making a prompt and' practical effort to reduce the price of necessary household commodities. Tho unanimous opinion cf the railway officers is that ths difficulties attached to this problem should not bo insarmountablo to the Government. This coumoil further resolve? that should tho Government fail to reduce the cost of commodities to a degree commensurate with tho wage-earners' decreased expending power, it wilt use its best endeavours to obtain an increaso in the salaries of its lower-paid members. The railway officers realise thnt in the present conditions it is necessary for each and every ono of them to accept a measure of sacrifice, but they emphatically object to be sacrificed for the biinofifc of tho profiteer."