LOCAL AND GENERAL

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 92, 11 January 1918, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

It has been reported to the police that burglars entered tho boot shop cr Mr. Kitchener, in Masterton, and removed goods to tho value of over £50. —Special correspondent.

The Thirty-fourth Reinforcements will march over the hill on January IC. A protest against the reported exclusion of Young and Howell from the Wellington , wharves was mado to the Hon. T. M. Wilford (Minister of Justice) by the president of the Auckland Seamen's Union. Tho Minister si-id that ho bad no knowledge of the matter, but promised to make inquiries on his return to Wellington.—Press Assn.

Tho members of the National _ Efficiency Board, who have been sitting in Wellington for the past few days, visited Featherston Camp yesterday. The Minister of Dcfenco (Sir James Allen) also went to Fentherston yesterday.

The Senate of tho University of New Zealand meets in Dunedin on AYctlnesday next. Tho Chancellor (Sir Robert Stout) leaves for , tho south toriif?ht, Dr. Anderson (Director of Education) to-morrow niffht, and tlie Minister of Education (the Hon. J. A. Hanan) on Monday night.

At the Timaru Magistrate's Court yesterday a journeyman was charged with a breach of the Plumbers' Registration Act in doing sanitary r.nd plumbing work, ho boing unregistered. The defence urged that tho man f.ad to do work to qualify for reparation, and the Act was complied with it tue employer "does" the work by being responsible for it. The employer also was charged. The Magistrate adopted the view of tho defence—that an apprentice could only gain a, knowledge of his work through practical experience. Counsel for the Health Department asked His Worship to state a caso for appeal.—Press Assn. It is almost uncanny to learn that the Cutty Sark, which fifty years ago was one of the most famous clipper ships in our mercantile marine, is still afloat and doing good work (writes the Scottish correspondent of tho "Overland China Mail"). In Portuguese ownership and named the Ferreira, she is engaged in trade along the West Coast of Africa. Built at Dumbarton on tho Clyde in 1869 for the China tea trade, she was a very fast ship, and as late as 1892 she covered 303 knots in A hours. Three years before that she sailed 1678 knots in 30 days. The Cutty Sark wan, in fact, the only _ vessel thrt could dispute the claim of the Thermopylae, built at Aberdeen, to bo the fastest sailing ship in the world. J. no Thermopylae was latterly owned by the Portuguese Navy, and when no longer suited for their needs she was decorated with flags, towed out to sea with a naval escort, and sunk with her colours flying. The Cutty Sark's fust voyage was from London to Shanghai, and Captain Hoodie, when interviewed, gives this account of the voyage: reached the equator in 17 days, blio behaved grandly. I knew I had something special under my feet, we voyage to Shanghai took 97* days. There was a famine in China,, and wo had to run with a cargo ofnce from Bangkok to Hong-Kong. The Chinese were more anxious for tho rice than we were for their tea. AYe took on 3100 tons of tea. at Shanghai, and our voyage home was made in splendid time.

Fifty recruits aro wanted for the Samoan Force. They must bo First Division men, between the ages of 2U and 46 years, and must have been classed C 2 (home service) by the medical boards. They will receive Expeditionary Force rates of pay, and will be required to enlist for the duration of the war and six months after. A oltinteers for this service, should apply to tho Director of Recruiting, Y.elhngThe conduct of New. Zealand soldiers while in England is very highly praised by the High Commissioner, Sir liiomas Mackenzie, in a letter received by the Presbyterian session clerk at \Uipu and read at the meoting of the Auckland Presbytery on Wednesday evening, states tho "Herald." Sir Thomas Mackenzie writes that their conduct is "first-rate," and on all sides the opinion is expressed that Zealand's soldiers are gentlemen and act as gentlemen. As the representative of New Zealand, it mado him very proud indeed to think of the degree to which they had carried the honour of the Dominion in the field and in the. home. Tho High Commissioner also spoke ot a visit ho had paid to Brockenhurst Hospital, where he bad spent four days making personal calls on the 1000 J\ew Zenlnndors beinc treated there. The conditions in which they live, from the point of view both of meciical attention and comfort, bo said, are excellent, while the people in the neighbourhood vie with each other in showing them kindness and consideration.

Twenty reservists of the Second Division 'who claimed to have been 'jailed in the wrong class had their appeals allowed by the Auckland Board yesterday. Tliey included one man with three children and two with five. The chairman said if they had taken the trouble to givo the correct notification to the statistician such mistakes would not have occurred.—Press Assn. The casworkK dispute, which ims been the subject of negotiations and sittings of tho Conciliation Council, has now boon practically settled. When last before the Council, on December 20, no agreement could be arrived at, except on minor points, and the dispute was therefore referred to the Arbitration Court. Since that time, however, m. Hagger has been in touch witli tto Gas Company and the Gasworkers' Union, and it is now announced that an agreement has been reached on all except some details of minor importance. The agreement between parties when "the strike terminated provided that the benefits of any settlement should date from that time, not from the time when the award or agreement might be made. In the Magistrate's Court at Auckland yesterday, flfter evidence had heert given' by the police, Jessie Janet Martin. ■ a barmaid, employed in the Criterion Hotel, admitted that she bad acted ns assistant for Joseph Eces. a hookmakor, wbo was fined £90 a few days ago. The detectives said that defendant bad been carrying on bookmaking in tho hotel bar in association with Bees for months. . A fine of £3j was imposed.—Press Assn. This world is still a small place, as tho Paton Brothers, of Dannovirke, recently discovered, says tho Dannevirke "News," and adds: They wero returning from the front, one from France, the other from Mesopotamia. Neither had any knowledge of tho. other's whereabouts. One wns walking: along the street at a port of call with somo soldier friends when he espied another soldier in tho distance, mid remarked , that ho wus very much like his brothor. Such turned out to be tho case. And ilmnnh travelling by different steamers llu'v arrived in New Zealand within three hours nf each other. Imported I'notls are frequently old nnd stale. DOCTORS' CREAM O' GROATS aro always fresh. Test it to-<iay.—Advt.

A public meeting held at.Auckland yesterday decided that Anniversary Day should he observed on Monday, January 28, instead of on the following day, the due date.

A man named Arthur Ernest Jones, alleged to have deserted from llotoaira Camp, was arrested by the civil police yesterday.

An interesting test was carried out Inst week in Brisbane, to prove the correctness or fallacy of a claim jnndc by Mr. Fullerton, of Uyinpie, that lie could locate petroleum under the ground by means of a device he has i invented .(says the Brisbane "Daily Mail"). It is said that a Gympie syndicate hud carried out testa, and it was suggested that the Minos Department should also do so, the lines of the experiment being laid down by Mr. Andrews, a member of the syndicate. It was stipulated that four cases of petroleum should be placed in an alleyway in the basement of the Treasury Buildings, in which the Mines Department ie situated. Then it was arranged that Afr. Fullerton should walk along the corridor, two lloors abov'c tho alleyway, and endenvour to locate the exact spot under winch the petroloum lay. Tho corridor i , ; about 250 feet long, and in tho first'attempt Mr. Fuller brought his instrument to a stop, hut it transpired that ho. was 35 feet out of his reckoning. The cases were then moved, and on the second ocoasion he was 82 fee!, out. The party then decided to mako lest by using one of tho large sewer i ins. Agnin four cases wer? nlnccd to ••t'her in Jflie sewer, and Mr. Fullprtoii lvns ph'Oii tho line on the surface, along "hrch the sewer ran» He carried mr. his test, hut failed to ?.et within 29 feet of the spot. An official of the Mines Department regarded the tost as a failure.

Many of tho men who have gono to tho front havo been unfortunate enough to loso the use of limbs, and perhaps those who lose the use of the right ami are most to bo pitied. Some of them, however, become remarkably expert with the left arm, and a fino pieco of work by a Christchurch boy who had only his loft arm to use has just arrived here (soys the Christchuren "Press")- It takes the form of a highclass piece of needlework, and the artist is Lance-Corporal B. L. Rice, who left Christchurch with the Nineteenth Reinforcements, and who eventually lost tho use of his right arm. While he was in the No. 2 General Hospital at WaJton-on-Thames, a needlework competition, for wounded New Zealandcrs, held. Lance-Corporal Rico succeeded in winning the first prize, and his effort he forwarded to his mother, who- lives .it No. 46 Brett's Road. It has just arrived here, and takes the form of the First Canterbury Regimental badge, a stork, with the scroll, "Ist Canterbury Regiment. Ake Alto, Kia Kaha." Tho badge is beautifullj worked in white and light green on a bluish background, and the scroll is artistically executed in gold. The work was done entirely with theleft hand, and is a pieco of work of which the soldier, and the recipient, might well be proud. To reassure the people of London, Lord Montagu of Beaulieu recently calculated the chances of being killed or wounded in an air raid. He found that in five raids the chance against a person in London being killed was 163.000 to 1, and the chance against being wounded 32,467 to 1. In at:j one raid the chauoes were 625,000 to 1, and 87..000 to 1 respectively. He adds that in the first nine months of 1917, 487 persons were killed and 14,104 wounded in traffic casualties in London streets, so London traffic is more dangerous than German bombs. So are- a number of other things, sucti aa consumption and cancer and diseases of infants. The trouble is that tuey am scented as part of life, and German bombs are not. Perhaps these figures will comfort many people. The individual feeling is that* in ro largo a community there is not much chance of being hit, just as a soldier going into action usually counts on others being hit, but not himself. But it does not do to pin so much faith on figures as did the doctor who told a patient he had a serious disease, but would certainly weover. When the patient asked him why ho was bo certain he replied that statistics showed that one person in 25 recovered, and 24 patients suffering from the disease had died.

War continues to destroy life's pleasant little foibles (says a London paper). The railway companies recently announced that in future they wilt not accept for transmission luggage labelled with relics of bygone journeys. This is a sad blow to the traveller who, in the quiet of a winter's evening, found a melancholy pleasure in musing over the railway and hotel labels plastered nil over his battered trunks. Gone for ever are tlie days when the traveller, witli a semblance of conscious pride, shows to an admiring friend the labels which betoken the cosmopolitan. And, worse still, the action of the railway "companies lias put u effeck on tho bogus international traveller, the gentleman who made « nobby of collecting lugpago labels and bespattered his. trunks with them, in the fond delusion that his fellow-creatures mistook him for a frequenter of famous foreign \vn tering-places.

In tho Taranaki meat works recently a couple of Australian butchers appeared (states the Wangamii "Chronicle"). As soon as they took off their coats the other workmen held a meeting, and immediately decided to inform the management that if the visitors went on they would go off. A representative of the men saw the Australians and told them of the position, stating that they had nothing against them personally—indeed, they were willing to help them financially, if necessary—but they to tho principle of Australians filling tho places of their own men who had gone to the front, and simply would not work alongside them. The management wisely decided to consult the wishes of its own staff, and the Australians went elsewhere. [ One of them afterwards secured a job in another works, only to find that the workmen them took up a similar attitude. Tiro employees of the freezing works throughout the Dominion resent very much the'incoming of Australians, who arc not subject to military conscription, and there is a united determination not to work in any place where they arc employed.

The extromo usefulness of tho dentist in the military service, with his technical skill and knowledge, added 1o that of tho physician and surgeon, has been amply proved during the present war (says the Melbourne "Age )• It was acknowledged many months ago by tho Defence authorities, wlifin, after some pressing, they decided to appoint dentists as commissioned officers in tho A.l.F.—a decision which they havo never found cause to regret. I heRoyal Australian Navy is following suit hy'deciding to appoint a surgeon dentist for service afloat, wliere his skill may be expected to be found enuaily valuable to the men. and in the Commonwealth Gazette" Inst week it was announced that applications from persons qualified for appointment wcro desired The active and deferred pay nttnchiiiEC to the position begins at £Mi nor annum, with a uniform allowance of Is. por day and rations, or allowanco in lieu of tiiom amounting from Is. Sfl. to Is. Sd. per day. .