LOCAL AND GENERAL

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 88, 7 January 1918, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

A Press Association message from Auckland states that the draft of returned soldiers who arrived on Saturday included sixteen second lieutenants, who are to join future reinforcements. Fourteen of them originally went to tho front with the Main" Body, and several have been on active service during the wliolo period without being wounded. v Speaking to a Christchurch reporter, Sir Joseph Ward said tho question of allowing subscribers of small suras in certificates in the previous loans to convert these and future subscriptions into bonds, for convenience sake, had been mentioned to him, and he hoped to be ablo to find a way of making it possible- for this to be done. If the end of tho war was definitely in sight it would be a comparatively simple matter, but as the situation was at present, tho problem was not quite so easy as it appeared afc first. The hearing of the dispute between the Wellington Drivers and the City Council will take place before the Conciliation Commissioner (Mr. W. H. Hagger) this morning. Notice has been given by Councillor L. M'Kenzio that at the next meeting of tho City Council he will inove: "That the Wellington City Council invite a conference of local bodies adjoining Wellington to discuss a comprehensive water scheme for tho future supply of Wellington and suburbs." .The New Zealand Waterside Workers' Federation at the recent conference resolved:—"That, in the opinion of the conference, the most practical way of dealing with the question of accidents on the waterfront would be for the Minister of Marine to set up a hoard of inquiry; such board to consist of three persons—one to be nominated by tho waterside workers, one ,bv the. employers, and one by the Marine Department: such board _to take evidence in all ports, examine witnesses, etc., as to why these nrcidents occur." The resolution has been tn Hip Minister of Marine (tho Hon. T. M. Wilford).

The value of the Chinese cash" hns been greatly inflated by the- war, according to a statement by Dr. 6. E. Morrison, political adviser to the Chinese Government. Speaking in Sydney recently, lie said it is-now estimated that China lias 400,000 tons of "cash." Fifty-four per cent, of it is pure copper, 42 per cent, is zinc, and the remainder lead and impurities. That vast mass is being purchased by the Japanese dealers in large quantities at some £30 a ton. There is every reason to believe 65,000 tons have been bought at that price, and the copjpr in it- alone has been sold at the great prices copper is ■ bringing in -Europe during these war times."

Major-General Sir A. W. Robin, Commandant of the Military Forces in Now Zealand, in a letter to LieutenantCplonel Oossgrove, Dominion Chief Scout, conveying the season's greetings, requested Lieutena/ut-Colouel Cossgrove "to extend to the Boy Scouts throughout the Dominion the grateful thanks and. appreciation of himself and staff for the patriotic way in which they have worked in assisting the Military authorities during the past year. Many duties have been performed by these lads, and their services hiivo been giveu with cheerfulness and zeal. Their actions have been an example to all, and the. spirit of self-sacrifice which is fostered by tho Scout teaching is without doubt the greatest factor in the winning of the war."

Tho spectacle of an elderly man of rotund dimensions fully clad from head to foot determinedly wading into the sea caused somo concern to the holiday crowd at New Brighton, on Wednesday afternoon. It looked like a case of attempted suicide. Fortunately their fears were soon set at rest, for the old chap commenced to frisk and frolic in the waves like a merman. The enjoyment of the merry throng in tho water had tempted him, and. thinking not of the unpleasant aftermath when ho would have to take himself homo all wet and shivery, he had plunged gaily in, complete in shore attire from bowler hat to boots. Tho Customs revenuo collected at the port of Auckland during December, according to a statement by tlin Hon. A. M. Myors was £278,080, a? compared with £278.292 for Dccombcr, 1916. The beer duty totalled £23,094 as compared with £16,747, an increase due to the increased duty.—Press Assn. Speaking to a Dominion reporter on Saturday regarding the stato of labour in the country, Mr. J. D. Cruickshank, whose business consists of supplying the farmer with the labour he requires, said that the shearing was now over, and all the sheep farmers had got through without any serious inconvenience. The harvest was now upon them, but at the present there was ample labour available and the report which had been circulated to the contrary was arrant humbug. "Thoyarn coming in every day," said Mr. Cruickshank, referring to the harvesters. "Only the other (lay I could not placn some men, and they went over to Blenheim on spec." Ploughmen wore not too plentiful, but the only form of labour that was really scarce in tho country was shephenk and cowmen. As mis pretty well known, all the. young men who wore shepherding, and endots who wore learning slipep farming generally, had pone off to the war, am it was really very difficult to got good shepherds for the out-back stations. A woman brought tlirco children— two boys aged four and five and a girl three yciirs^old—to tlie New Plymouth Police' Station on Wednesday night last, .111(1 stated that she was unable to maintain them further (states the "Tarauaki Herald")- A_ maintenance order bud been made against her husband, but the payments were not kept up. and as she had to go into the hospital shortly for an operation and bor parents could not take the children, she desired the police to control them. There is also a liiiby in arms, but this 1 he mother undertook to care l_nr horsrir. The children were committed to the Wellington Receiving Home. i'

Recently Mr. J. Adamsoii, a member of the Queensland Legislature, paid a visit to Now Zealand for tlio purpose of inquiring concerning tho operation of compulsory military service. Writing to the Minister of Defenco (Sir James Allen), Mr. Adamsoii says: "Whilo I was in New Zealand I found that Hie statements which had been circulated throughout Australia by tho Labour Prose lor many mouths wero untrue. When I got back to Australia from the Dominion I contradicted these statements at every meeting addressed by me. Your replies to my cablegram did much good, but came too late to remove the wrong impressions concerning the working of conscription in your country, impressions created by months of lying propaganda." When asked by a "Otago Daily Times" reporter whether Territorial officers retained their rank when they joined tho Expeditionary Force, Sir James Allen said that they did not necessarily do so. They must first provo themselves in camp. Then there was tho question of room for commissioned officers to ho considered, also. At present the commissioned ranks wero full. He was trying to arrange with the Imperial authorities for the absorption ot capable Territorial officers in the British Army. Men who had done good service in the field were returning to New Zealand for commissions, and these men wero deserving of primary consideration.

Tho following is taken from the "Kansas City Star" of August 8, 1917: "The New Zealand troops, wearing field hats liko our own, peaked nfc the top, and with a red hatband instead of our (U.S.A.) cord, seem to mo to possess a certain lithe grace of carriage and distinction of countenance all their own. They, too, are tall, slender fellows, without tho awkwardness of the Australian or the beef of tho English. They remind me ol Harvard and Yale track teams done up in khaki. You would think them born aristocrats from their cleanlychiselled features and well-set-up forms. I find, too, that others hero have received the same impression of them."—Dr. Burris A. Jenkins, writing from "Somewhere in France."

"Sports and Warriors" was a, toast proposed by Mr. D. Reese at a farewell to Gunner M. J. Guthric in Christchurch. ■ Mr. Reese said that in times of peace sportsmen were classed as warriors because of their doughty deeds in the field. Tlio man who made a century at cricket, who scored a try at football, who stroked a winning crow or skipped a successful rink, were warriors indeed. Despite the fact that the footballer thought tho bowler was a man who had "slipped a cog or gono down a peg," it was equally a fact that bowling was a fine exerciso and gave physical fitness. The physical fitness of our boys who had jumped from the boats on that memorable twenty-fifth of April, 1915, and had scaled* the cliffs and heights at Gallipoli, had had its beginning in the sports in which they had indulged m their school life and in the days of their subsequent vigorous young manhood. The same remarks applied to the men of the Homeland, and in particular the Canadians, who had many great deeds to their credit. They should also remember the fine eporting spirit of the merchant sailormen, ivlio, after arriving in port after being rescued from a torpedoed vessel, were ready to sail again and brave all dangers for King and Empire. The system of sport that had been introduced into tho schools was playing a great part in developing physical fitness. Truly it could be said that Britons were a nation of sports and warriors. Sir Douglas Haig was an admirable example, for he had in his college lifo been a member of an Oxford eight.

A change in the system of educating the Maori youth of the country was advocated by the Hon. A. T. Ngata, M.P., at a conference of Native school teachers in Auckland. Mr. Ngata said the Native village school Eystem had fulfilled all expectations, but he felt tho time had come for the Government to realise that the training of the Maori boys should be along industrial lines. He held that the salvation of the Maori lay in work, and they should givo a bias to education that would depriyo the Maori lad of his stiff collar, and instil into him an ambition to become a home-builder. He suggested what he called a- "kind of sorting out school" of the large Native district, to which the best boys of the village schools could be sent and later setected, according to their ability for admission to a secondary school, where they would be given an agricultural education. This could be followed with a course at either Lincoln Agricultural College, in Canterbury, or Hawkesmiry College, in New South Wales. Other scholars not fitted for agricultural pursuits could be sent to technical schools, whore manual trades, including electricity and engineering, are taught, while a few more suitable for a professional life could be Bent to secondary schools where they would qualify to go forward for matriculation. He emphasised the point that the weakness of the present system lay in the fact that its main objective was to prepare the Maori scholars for matriculation and the Civil Service. For the Maori girls Mr. Ngata suggested an educational system which would have for its main features homemaking and nursing.