LOCAL AND GENERAL

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 64, 8 December 1917, Page 8

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Tho strength of tho ■ troops in the CI Camp at Tauherenikau is now well over 1000, and the same satisfactory results obtained hitherto are being maintain-. ciT, So percentage of men made lit for Class A being over 60 per cent.

Letters received by local representatives of Home firms by the latest English mail convey tho information that the Imperial Government has prohibited the export from thn United Kingdom of all asbestos roofing slates and and stainless steel cutlery. The slates that are being turned out by the English factories havo all been eoniman.deercd by the Government, who. use them largely in the construction' of aerodromes, liutments, and other military struotures in England, Franco, and elsewhere. It k assumed that stainless cutlery has been placed on the prohibited list as a. good deal of ferro-chrome is used in its manufacture. ' ( '

As the outcome of' a suggestion made by Mr. H. N. M'Leod, of Wellington, who is now on a visit to London, it has been decided by tho Wellington Patriotic Society "to cable Christmas greetings to New Zealand soldiers at all fronts. Subscriptions to cover the cost may be snnt to the bon. secretary .of the society, Mr. Joseph Lewis.

With the consent of the Fcatherston Camp authorities, the Y.M.C.A. is building a room near' the camp gates, which will be the headquarters of tho .field secretary, and also a rest-room for visitors who have to wait until after parade hours to see relatives or friends among the troops in camp. Frequently the waits are long, and in inclement weather the new room will, be appreciated.

A recently-issued regulation, requiring members of education boards' "to limit their travelling expenses to the ordinary hotel tariff, plus railway fares, is being resented by members of the Wellington board. A circular is to be sent to the Minister of Education, pointing out that members of education boards, unlike members of the Public Service, receive no salary for their services, and give their time and postage stamps free. .

A Press Association telegram from Auckland states that fourteen hundred ex-pupils of Auckland Grammar School are serving at the front; 379 have sustained casualties, of' whom 176 have died. Forty-eight have gained honours and decorations, and'twenty have been mentioned in dispatches. ■

Not every boy can say.that he-has eighty relatives at the front. . At the annual prize-giving at St. Stephen's School for Maori boys in Auckland, .Bishop Aver-ill, when presenting a prize for good conduct 'to Tamalra' Tangiora, stated that this boy had no fewer than eighty, relatives at-the front. Tamaku is the son of Rape Tangiora, a loyal Maori who served with the British troops aaginst Tβ Kooti. Hape was one of a family of nine, while his wife also came from a numerous family, and it is from those two families of the Ngatikahnngungu tribe that Tamaku's many fighting relatives have sprung. The relatives at the front. include five brothers—one of whom has been killed and two wounded—and the rest are uncles, nephews, cousins, nnd second-cousins. Tamaku's people come from the Gisborne district.

Since the war commenced the Auckland, branch of the Society for Cruelty to Animals has collected and sent Home the sum of £600 for the Blue Cross Fund. The London Society has ' also taken over the care of the French war dogs—those wonderful animals which act as sentinels and messengers. They also seek out' the wounded,' and, of course, become exposed to the ordinary and many dangers of the battlefield and meet with casualties. For this reason the society hae opened, hospitals for the treatment-of-dogs..'.■ The extraordinary method by which iv German, P. Willing, tried to escape from the concentration camp at Holdswortny, was told before a military court in Sydney recently. Willms was one of a party outside the main compound for the purposes of recreation. When the men were being rounded up to return to the camp one. of the guard noticed some freshly-dug- ground. He .placed his foot on one end of the plot, and it sank under his weight. Moving a yard further along he put more weight into his effort this time, and out jumped Willms, who had buried himself with the idea of escaping later. Willms pleaded guilty to a charge 0/ attempting to escape from the camp and explained that in his view he v'as perfectly at liberty to attempt to escape. He said he could have escaped hundreds of times on previous occasions, uut scorned to break his parole. When under guard the circumstances were entirely different. The sentence of the Court was sent to the confirming authorities.

. Some years ago .Sheffield manufacturers established a fund of about £10,000'" to enable action to be taken against persons in. any part of tho world found to be guilty of the fraudulent use of the word "Sheffield." The name is recognised as ( a standard of excellence, and the Britisli firms entitled to use it discovered that -unscrupulous foreigners were placing :t on goods thatwero not even manufactured in. the United Kingdom. A reminder of_ the existence of. this fund has been issued by the Sheffield Cutlers, Company. "The Cutlers' Company desire to. bring the existence of ■ this fund • before the notice of manufacturers and merchants all over the world," runs a notice in the "Board of Trade Journal." "They will commence proceedings, without hesitation, against anyone who illegally uses the word, 'Sheffield, upon goods which are not manufactured iu that city, upon proof being furnished to them of the perpetration of such fraud." . Tho company asks for the assistance of tho public in protecting the good name of Sheffield, which at present, by the way, is concerned mainly with the production of munitions for tho armies of Britain and tho Allies.

Tbc annual report of .the New Zealand Natives' Association records a successful year. The number of members who have been claimed by tho war has put a financial strain on tho association, but there is nevertheless a credit balance showing on the year's operations. The orchestra, states the report, has met with greater success than was expected, and the conductor asks, more members to apply for a place in it. The Ladies' Guild, has been carrying on good work among tho sick and wounded soldiers' iu the..city. Tho ladies visit the Hospital twice weekly, and provide all kinds of delicacies but of their fundi/. They have also organised parties and musical entertainments for the sick in hospital. ' Tho latest branch of the association is a Social and Democratic Club, , which shows considerable promise: : The cr/mmitteo devotes part of the report to a suggestion for the establishment of a Memorial Brick Fund—a matter that is for the moment in abeyance. .

At a meeting of the -Karori School Committee held on' Thursday : it was decided to'approve of the Karqri Borough Council undertaking -"'the making of a new playground. '' The total amount in hand for tho work "is £160. Half of this amount was subscribed by. the residents of the district, tho other .half being a subsidy received from the Education Department.'. The work is £o be put in hand at onco: Jfc was also reported that' tho new additions to the Infants' School was well in hand, and tho work is expected to bo finished next month. The comnjitt'ee some timo ago requested the Education Board to instal the electric, light, in the'new build' ing while • being-'erected;', but"'no reply has yet been received. . -...•'

Tho Dunedin correspondent of the Lyttelton Times" States that the hotolkeepors of tho southern city have accepted six o'clock closing without' any fufis and with very little comment.' The fnlhng-off so for is said to bo anything from 33 to 50 per cent., with no appreciably increased" bottlo trade. There appears to ho coneiderable resentment on the part of those hotelkeepers who are-obliged to keep fairly large staffs at the attitudo taken up by the officers of tho Hotel Employees' Union. Some little time ago, they say, an agreement as to wages was come to f>.t a meeting, of the Conciliation Council, the employers understanding that the union would later agree to a wn-'cession-regarding the abolishing of the weekly half-holiday. The-union, bowever, has notified the. employers that this concession-will not be made, and further is advising the employees thai if they do not take the half-holiday as provided by the award, the union will prosecute. • It is understood "tfiat tWe proceeding is adopted by the _ union under pressure from.unions outside the Otago centre; : • Most unmarried men of military ago can nowadays be classed as either soldiers, reservists, or deserters. One such man in Auckland, however, seems •to be regarded by the military auth'on"ties as coming under none of the, these categories (says the "HeraldJ ). "when tho national register was being compiled this man duly, sent in his name, received.-his certificate of registration, and waited for his name to be , drawn in. the ballot. Reinforcement , after reinforcement was called \ip, till it was announced that the First Division was exhausted. - Then the nondescript youth offered himself for enlistment 'but was informed by the local military authorities that he could not be accepted for service, because voluntary enlistment for full-aee First Division men had. been officially closed. His employers became concerned as to their 'responsibility for. employing an unenlisted man of military years, but their anxiety was appeased by the production of an official certificate that Uβ had offered his services as a soldier and been -rejected. Apparently someone, somewhere, has blundered in allowing him to escape from the military drag net, for he has been officially'informed that no responsibility for the odd situation, rests upon hjmself, and that be can continue at" his work with equanimity.; Among seven hundred wounded soldiers who returned to' Australia very recently was Private J. Lewis,_a New Zealander,'. who enlisted in Sydney. After being nearly two years away, he has been, sent home suffering _ from trench feet. He was wounded in the throat'and.legs, at Louvebavjust after the German,retreat fro- mthe Somme. At Louvebai, he says, they had their 'first "stunt" in open country.■'■_ About 4.30 a.m. a little-dog-a away from the.Fritzes and joined tliem. He started barking furiously, and immediately the Germans turned tho machine-guns on them, and wiped out half their battalion. The Germans, he says, train'dogs to act as spies, and when they bark they know they have come across a party. The Wellington Orphans' Club have consented to put on'at-the Town Hall next Wednesday the successful comedy . entitled "Bill's Birthday.". This is the performance that was so well received at the "ladies' night some few weeks back, and the club have had numerous requests to .repeat. The whole of the proceeds will • be devoted to the Citizens' Gift Fund. The box plan will be open .at the Bristol on Monday. . v ' '•.-,.. A'meeting of the members- of the Wellington Rowing Club .decided m try and revive; an ■' interest m the sport, and a committee-of old members was elected, comprising Messrs. A. J. Bishop, B. Crawford,' W.. Shilling, A. Hill,'A. Barry, R. Hayes, and F. Staveley. Mr. A. W. Jackson was reelected captain, and Mr. .F. Lacey wae elected secretary and' treasurer. Practicallyall the' active 'mcmßers of the club are on active, service..-.; A number have' lost" their lives;- Out-.of, a .membership of seventy, sixty are. serving— a "record of which tho club •Iβ justly proud. An effort is being.made to secure new membei'6. Several promising youths ■ have already been elected, and it is hoped old row-, ers will rally around tlioir.old club. On Monday next, at 11.5 i a.m., the Hon. A. M. Myers will officially open the new offices of the National Provident Fund in the Central Police Station in Johnston Street. Tho department js now installed in its new quarters, which include one .very large room for the clerical staff, with an outlook on ■to Johnston Street. The offices of the secretary (Mr. R, E. Hayes) and the head office staff are situated on the same floor (the third), and in the same wing, in rooms that overlook the big central courtyard'in the centre of the block. It is understood that the arrangement made to get into more direct communication with tho general public by having' a public office in the busiest part of Manners Street has been quite successful. The Waterside Workers' Band will play selections at Newtown Park tomorrow afternoon.-. . Messrß. Baldwin and Rayward, patent attornoys a'nd consulting engineers, of 21.5 Xambton- Quay, report that recently they acted as agents in filing tho following; applications for letters patent of New Zealand:—R. RosseTrevor, Auckland, extracting: oils; J. 'Kristofcrsen,,-Auckland,, fruit picker; British Alumiuium. Co., London, magnesium chloride; Fuel Saving Company, Now -York", locomotive, firebox; _ AVesteru- Rubber Company, Washington, composition of matter; J. Peterson, New York,- power generating; C. W. T.c Jiarquilnd. Auckland, gas stove; Puncture , Cure Company, Cakary, puncture composition: 11. A. T. Grattan. Auckland, eating utensil; R. P. Park, Melbourne, reducing ore; F. J. Sivyer, Edmonton, coke manufacture.