LOCAL AND GENERAL

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 139, 1 March 1918, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Advice has been received by tho Minister of Defence that the Now Zealand hospital .ship which left , the Dominion some weeks ago has reached another port of call, "all well."

Tho attention of the Hon. tho Minister of Defence having been drawn to the fact that it is difficult for friends of soldiers studying the 'Casualty reports exhibited at all,post officos t<, ascertain who is the soldier referred to, arrangements havo now been made under which, in addition to the naim. of tho soldier, the postal address of his next-of-kin will' in every ease bo inserted alongside the name.

Only ouo petition in bankruptcy was lodged in Wellington during the last month, the sanio as in February last year.

Ifc is notified- in the Gazette that Colonel G. J. Smith has been authorised to convene courts-martial and to confirm findings and sentences thereof.

The increase in the cost of living iu the United Kingdom is illustrated by figures published by the London "Economist." The prices of cereals and meats' advanced 113.8 per cent, between July 31,1914, and November 30, 1917. fho increase in the ease of dtlicr foodstuffs amounted to 92.9 per cent. These figures are based upon wholesale prices, and it is safe to assume that the' increases had been accflutuated by the time tho goods reached tho consumers. The increase in tho cost of living in New Zealand during the war period'.is calculated officialIy'to have been less than 30 per cent.

Tlio Thirty-fifth Machine-gunners find Specialists engaged in battle practice at I'apawai, the operations being under the direction of Major I'Yaser, Chief M:tchinc-gun Instructor. A wide field was covered, and the work done was considered to reflect credit on the instructional staff.

A report from Murchisoii states that during the absence of tho ltev. Mr. Ferry, who had boon called away ior a fortnight, larrikins raided his woodliuuse, smashed iiis tank, wash-tubs, and wringers, and wasted all washing requisites and soap, destroyed a copper, cut pieces out of one of the doors, ruutod out all choice- flowers, and turned them upside down and replanted them in the same ground.

The Mayor of Wanganui has tabled it motion for next meeting of the I3orough Council, that u committee be set up to inquire and report on tho following matters, with power to oxamino witnesses and call for and inspect documents: (1) The work of the ffahgauui Fire Brigade during tho recent fires at Foster's and Willis's, and the circumstances as to water pressure, etc., under which they worked. (2) The equipment of the brigade and the repair aud condition of its present plant. (3) The future policy of the Borough Council with regard to tho finances ';nd control of the brigade. (4) Such other questions as may arise or can profitably bo dealt with in the course of such inquiry.

' The doer-shooting regulations for the coming season are puulished in the Gazette.

A meeting of local Lodies' delegates representing tuo wiiolo waikaco district yesterday decided to erect a soldiers' memorial in Hamilton, to tako the form of a hail, museum, and soldiers' club. Great, enthusiasm was displayed and tho prospects of the campaign are excellent. The site, ono of the finest in tlio town, was given by the Borough Council, and is valued at £i)QUU.—Press Assn.

In the Chamber of Commerce yesterday afternoon Mr. S. George iNuthan, in conjunction with Messrs. B. Smith and Co., offered for sale by public auction the whole of tho progeria's in the estate of tho late Josepn Burne, deceased, a residence of 10 rooms on Wellington Terrace, with a frontage of 40 feet, being sold for £1850 to Mr. U. B. Morris. The reserve on tho balance of the properties was not reached, so they were passed in, and are now open for private sale.

The war record of tho family of Mrs. W. It. Cameron, of Mornington, is one that stands out as a particularly notable and inspiring example, even in theso days of heroic giving and sacrifice. Of the four sons, Keith, the eldest, left with the Main Body, and went through iho Gallipoli campaign. There he received injuries from shell concussion that laid him aside for 10 months, but when word was last received ho was about to sit for his commission in tie Officers' Training Camp at Cambridge. The' second sou, Lieutenant Alick Cameron, went away with tho artillery section of tho Eighth Reinforcements, and has been through all tho hottest fighting with the New Zealanders in France without yet having been on sick parade. He was hit with shell on one occasion, but remained with his unit. Lieutenant Cliye Cameron, after going Into camp with the Nineteenth Reinforcements, left with the Twenty-fourths. Tho youngest son, Corporal Stuart Cameron, enlisted as soon as ho came of age, and went away with tho Twenty-eighth Artillery. The three younger brothers spent last. Christmas Day all together close up to the fighting lino in France. Of tho two daughters, the younger, Miss Dorothy Cameron, who is a certificated massouse, has just been accepted for hospital service in England, so that of the six brothers and sisters there remains now only one sister not on active service.

As an instance of the overcrowded state of schools, Mr. C. T. Aschnmn stated to the porkers' Educational Association, Ghristchurch, on Saturday night that in one case the sixth standard consisted of eighty-six children with only one teacher assisted bv •' a pupil-teacher. In tho same school the fifth standard also numbered eightysix, with one teacher and a first-year pupil-teacher, while the fourth standard numbered one hundred, with one teacher and a pupil-teacher. "You cannot teach children in Inilk like that," Mr. Aschman said, "and if the people, knew of tho overcrowding of our schools and the ghastly unhygienic _ state of sonic of theni they would rise in wrath.

A resourceful solicitor tried a littlo logic on Mr. W. A. Barton, S.M., at the Magistrate's Court, Gisborne, last week, which to a layman/seemed absolutely sound and unanswerable, but apparently not very sound from a legal point of view, or, at any rate, did not uchievo its purpose (says the "Times"). A man was being chargod with assisting a prohibited man to consume liquor, but tlio evidence only showed that the accused was seen in the act of handling a bottle containing whisky, from which, oresumabli', he was about to take a drink. How could it be eaid, Mr. Burnard asked, that a man who was about to take a drink himself was assisting another to drink. On the other hand was he not, by drinking tho liquor himself, making it impoßßiblo for the ether man to drink it? "You suggest," said tho Magistrate, "that defendant acted as though lie would say to his companion, 'Now you aro a prohibited man. You can t drink tliis, so I'll drink it myself. He refused to accept such an interpretation of the man's conduct.

The results of the Wellington Eed Cross raffles are as follow:—Georgette blouse, ticket No. 1, Mrs. Alfred Smith, Hobson Street; £100 section of laud, ticket No. 60, Miss Nita Wright, 6 Tinakori Road.