LOCAL AND GENERAL

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 229, 15 June 1918, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Base lieiwds report Hint the "Wcllin"ton men who returned to New Zealand by Transport 165, will arrive by (rain iu Wellington at 4.-18 p.m. to-day.

The Hon. W. D. S. Mac Donald, Actiii"-Postmaster-General, has received notification that .the. following' are information bureaux in regard to prisoners of war: —Germany: (1) Bavarm: Zentralkomiilee vom Uoten Kreiiz, Abtoilung fur Kriegngefnngene in Miinchen, Brieiinerstrasso 53. (2) Abtieliin;; Vila of Wiirttemberg: Landesvereins vom llolen Krouz fur Kriegsgefangenen-fursorge in Stuttgart, Neuer Schlossplniz 1, Akad.isnie. Spain: Head Office of (he Spanish Eed Cross, 65 rue Atoclia a. Madrid (Asamblea siiprema dp la Cruz Eoja espanola, Calle do Atocha Go Madrid). Turkey: Commission of prisoners of war of the Turkish l?cd. Crescent Society.

What lie termed a scandalous tiling was related by Jlr. 11. A. Knight at a meeting of the executive of the Canterbury Patriotic Fund. lie said a soldier who had gwen generously to the war funds, had since given his life for his country. and licfiiiuatlied iiis estate, amounting to ,£3-12, to the Patriotic Fund. Now the Government coolly requested die estate to pay death duty on flie amount. Considering the amount of capital expenditure the public had saved the Clovernmenl: by their donations to war funds, Mr. Knight thought (he Government's action was scandalous. He moved:—"That; The matter be referred to the Advisory Board to communicate with the Government." The motion was carried unanimously.

A well-iittonded meeting of ratepayers and householders of the Newlands and l'aparangi districts iv.is held on Thursday evening, to consider a letter from the Education Board to the Johnsonville School Committee proposing to dose down the Infant Ride School at ' Newlnnds. Tho proposal has created much surprise and indignation in the district, where tho school lias been a valued asset for over ten years, cut-wins for the education of, children up to the Third Standard, who, if the. board's proposal is carried into effect, will, it is claimed, have to walk too great a distance for children of tendor years, and this on fciic dangerous Ngaliauranga Gorge Koail. crowded at school limes with motors and livn-stoclc. After lengthy discussion am! much testimony to the' usefulness of the school Io the district, it was unanimously agreed to HPR every effort to retain Hie. school for the ohililren. and to this end a deputation was appointed l' n ,v:| i'- "I-' 0 " the Board of Kilucnliun to si'e if their anlion win not Uo ransellcd. The meeting then niijouriicil till next. \vi:A

.\ .yuiinjf married woman was convicted in fho Jlastcrron JiaßHlralc's Court: yesterday under the Children's Life l'rotei'tion Act for taking a child wilder promise of. payment witlraitt. having; a licenno to do- to, telegraphs our special ci'rrespoij'leut.

The question of the exemption of transport workers from military service crops up practically every .sitting of the Olngo Miliary Service Hi'urd in Diinedin and was revived on Tuesday, when a Port ChalnJens engineer nppliul lor the exemption of one oi his employees on the ground that he wns engaged in nil essential industry—transport and shipping: work. The chairman of the board (Mr. 11. Y. Widdowson, 5.11.), in reply to a suggestion by Captain Tree that in some ((iiarters Port Chalmers was looked upon as a sanctuary for exempted men, said lie had hoped that the Government would ere now have taken some steps to organise this branch of industry. Captain l'reo (military representative) said he thought that if the whole of the engineering workers wore properly organised and co-ordinated all the transport' work could be dono without Jhe necessity of exempting any First .Division, men. Thcve were long intervals during which men engaged on transport work at tho Port were kept cooling their heels, and it apparently paid engineering )irniS i to keep them hanging on in anticipation of the transport work-. He thought some scheme should Ik? devised whereby tho enjjineeriii;; whops in Dunwlin could make their men available'- i(t Port when occasion demanded it.' Mr.' 11. Kellett 'said he thought that something of the' kind suggested was necessary. The chairman considered (hat the time had arrived when the Efficiency Hoard should go into Ihe wholo mailer' and submit' a report, and that promplly. Ho stated that ho would write, to Wellington at once on the subject.

On October 6, 188 V, Sir James Carroll. Sir Joseph AYard, and Sir James Allen wore sworn in as w\v members of the House of ■ Representatives. They, are todny, says ail exc.i unge, the veterans of the living so I'm , as actual service is concerned, running love), considerably in the lead of anyone else. Thirty-one years, ten Parliaments, and 36 sessions, make the record of each of. them. Mr. Massey, Sir William- Frnse'r, and Sir Frederick T,fmc, who burst into politics in October, 1891, coino next with eight Parliaments mid* 28 sessions to their account (26 sessions in Sir Frederick Ling's cusp). Mr. Merries. Mr. Hnddo, and T)r. Newman have each seven Parliaments in t.lieir memories. Dr. Newman is really the veteran of the House, in'respect of tho fact that he first became w member in 18SJ. Following them . conip. ill'order, according to length of service. M-ssrs. Colvin, Ell. TTanan, Rhodes, YVilforr], Sidey, siiitl Marnier." These have sat in sixPnrlia.mehts, and all the rest have •'shorter records.

.Applications' for employment from returned soldiers arc being received daily ill the. Labour Bureau which is run in conjunction with the office of the Wellington Behivnod Soldiers' Association, slates Mr. Thbmns Bohlson, the local secretary. Employment almost of every kind is asked for (skilled and unskilled), hut owing to (ho evident slackness of the season, difficulty is being; found in placing ihe s majority h suitable positions. 'I'ho returned soldiers' labour bureau is established entirely apart .from any (iovcrnment .institution, and the secretary would be clad if every employer would .imm'ediut.eiy'eoriinninicato. with lit? bureau whenever a vacancy occurs.

The Court of.Appeal (First Division) has been adjourned until Monday, June '2i, at 10 a.m. ■ ■•-..-■•

In connection with' France's Bay, "the Mayor'of Ilnnedin lias -generously consented fo set aside July 13' and'ls (a Saturday and' Monday), as days on which a special appeal will j>3 made in the streets for Franco's Day. , ■" "■'■'■■

The. proposed scheme of providing ,'n lift from Oriental Bay to Crescent Bond having been postponed,, we have urged upon, the council.(says the annual report of the liosoneath ' Ratepayers' Association) the necessity of improving our access to the district by way of Lindum Terrace. AVe are pleased to report that the City Council .have agreed to , place a. sum. on tha estimates for the carrying out of the City Engineer's suggested scheme, of improvement.. We. are pleased to.note that the work in connection'with the Oriental toy Esplanade .has gone steadily on, and a considerable stretch of wall has been added during the year. General satisfaction is expressed by visitors in tho district at the great improvement already apparent, and (he general opinion is'that when completed this esplanade will compare favourably with any south of the Line! . ..-.'... .... , ■ . ~ ..'•. .-•,:

The conversion of land near" the wireless station 011,-Tinakori hills into a cemetery for dead horses led to Eddie May being proceeded against before Mr. B. B. McCarthy, S.M., at the Magistrate's Court yesterday by the city corporation. The charge against May was (hat on May -1 he deposited a dead horso on land in (ho city so as to cause a nuisance. Mr. J. O'Shoa, who represented the corporation', stilted that defendant had buried the animal near tht, wireless etatiun. Altogether, he hud deposited threo horses there. Di-feiidum; was iine'd ••Co, with costs £\ 165..' and His Worship ordered .that defendant should pay ~£l for each day, or part of day, the 'nuisance remained unabated.

During the past few months-there has been considerable local agitation for increased accommodation at the Palmorston town schools, and as a result the Minister for Education (Hon. J. A. Hauan) was invited to Pnlmerston to make a personal inspection of the schools and meet the school committees. The Minister consented, and duly arrived in I'almersloii on Thursday. That afternoon, aceumpanisd by the Mayor (Mr. J. A. Nash), Mr. D. Buick (member for the district), and the chairmen of the (own schools, the Minister made a round of visits to the. schools, and in tho evening received a delegation from the committees, when mutters concerning the schools, and education generally were brought before him.

Mr. Colin Morison. of Glen Morvon, Greytowii, (lied yesterday, at the age of M years, telegraphs our Masterton correspondent. Mr. Morison had been niliiij? for n considerable period.

Tho Minister of Defence had advice yesterday l|w> the transport conveying the main part of the Thirly-seventh Reinforcement-! had reached another port of call "all well." . . .

Tho hearing of evidence was concluded yesterday before '.Sir. S. E, M'Carthy, S.M., in the case in • which "Willtn.ni Hart, clerk,, of Wellington, proceeded against William Alfred Mowbray, merchant, of Lower Hutt, to recover tho sum of £11 169. Gd., as damages arising out of the result of a collision between his motor-cycle and defendant's motorear. In giving judgment, His Worship held that neither party was to blame, and considered that the accident γ-as inevitable. Judgment was .given for with costs £2 11s. Sd. At (he hearing 'Mr'. E. M ; . Slndden appeared for plaintiff, and Mr. M. Myers for defendant.

A fish story which has the merit of being true comes to hand in a letter recently received in Dimcdin from a captain in the K.A.11.C. now serving with the Forces in Mesopotamia, states the "Otago Daily Times." It lives an idea of the extraordinary- size to which lish may attain in the Euphrates River. "Our fishermen, a regular 'bad hat, '. says the captain, "created a small sensation a few days ago by marching in with the most enormous fish—probably a record for the country—T've ever seen. He had tnkcri*>it.Qii n length of telephone wire with a huge triple hook ■■Hid a primitive bait of flour paste, but it had required eight strong inon to haul it out. It turned out on measurement to be Off. Win. long, with si ■rirth of +ff., and it weighed 214 Hi. .Wo were tremendously generous, handing it out freely to our Indian iind British personnel, and yet th"vi! has boon enough left to give iis a fish course at every meal since. These big Euolira.les fish, 'contrary to what might be expected, make mosi excellent eating—never coarse—in fact, the. larger they are tho better, for-the bones in the smaller ones are a painful nuisance." The Italian Administration notifies that from June 10 code addresses will not be permitted in cable messages. The address nrnl signature must. lie. Indicated by the Christian and surname of the addressee and the sender, respectively. The Hon. T. M. Wilford is to lecture on the war at Tiinaru on June -7 or 23, in aid of the Timaru Boys' High School llomoriiil Fund. According to the "Berliner TnjrrbUH." the manager of one of the principal insurance companies has staled that no fewer than 'M burglaries are reported to his oflice daily. Many linsinM?es and householders are not. insured, so that the real number of crimes against propeWy in Berlin is much higher, Can Berlinwonder ? . .- ■.