LOCAL AND GENERAL

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 247, 6 July 1918, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL

The Actinß.Pruue Minister (Sir James Allen) has received the following telegram from Mr; A. A. Winslow, Ameri. can Consul-General: "I thank von for Iho kind sentiments contained in vour message from the New Zealand Government to the people of the country T have tho honour to represent in this' Dominion, and can assuve you that they are reciprocated In the end that Prussianism "•ill lie overthrown and liberty, truth, and justice, will he assured to all nations."

Sergeant Wade, of the Lnmbton Polico Station, yesterday arrested tho fnllest man who has fallen into the clutches ot the Wellington police. The man's height registers Oft. BJin. He is alleged to liavo stolen a set. of harness at Waitotara, and will make his appearance' iu tho Magistrate's Court to-day.

A Press Association telegram from Tinircru states that K. Wchards, of Waihoa Downs, claimed £2W from the Public Works Department *as compensation for. land taken for tho extension of tho

Waihoa Downs Railway and for damage to the. rest of the estate. The Compensation Court to-day awarded him ,£1179 10s, The calling up nf male teachers and the maintenance of education instruction in public schools was discussed by tho Canterbury Education Beard yesterday. It was resolved that as the board had no difficulties in Ailing vacancies caused by teachers going into active service it should not. appeal on behalf of any teachers.—Press Assn. Twelve pairs of women's silk stockings were found concealed on a. waterside worker as lie was leaving ' the Queen's Wharf last night, lie was arrested by Constable Cleverly of the wharf police and charged with the theft of the stockings. ~ Mr.,. William Mitchell,, of the building firm of Mitchell and .lung, of Wellington nnd Sydney, says that the'news'publish-' ed yesterday morning about building' in Sydney may bo correct, but the heading, "lluilding Slump in Sydney," certainly conveyed an erroneous impression. Mr. Mitchell says that figures arc not always ciuite reliable, though they may bo quite correct in the mam, as it may happen that somo big contracts are let right at. the end of a year, and the amount of

[ money represented by the contract prices go into that year, though it may be spread out for vhe whole of the' next year, whilst the figures for tho latter year would be minus those amounts, and so show up badly in a yearly comparison. Mr. Mitchell, who only returned to Wellington a fortnight ago after a long stay in Sydney, said that the average amount spent in building in Sydney during the four years of war has not varied a great deal, and nothing in the nature of a. slump has occurred. He is interested in large brick works at St. Peter's and Hm-stvillo (suburbs of Sydney), turning out in normal times a million bricks a month, and says that if anyone would feel the pinch of a building slump at once it would bc_ the brick-making companies, and nothing of the sort had occurred. The amount of building in progress in Sydney is certainly not what it was in pre-war days,- but there was no slump, of that lie was unite, certain.

Although tlio woi'k.of controlling tindistribution of conl is conducted without attracting much public attention, a very close watch on these, matters is being exorcised by those who arc-associat-ed with the Minister in Charge of ~Sh\nitions and Supplies. It is, therefore, well to remind the public that tlio regulations affecting the supply and distribution of coal arc to be -strictly enforced, liy way of emphasising this it may be mentioned that quite recently n householder who had infringed Hie regulations by obtaining an undue supply was ordered to return the coal secured without permit, ami were it not that there were extenuating circumstances surrounding the case, a prosecution would have been entered.

The Amalgamated Society of Engineers, I Wellington, has passed the following motion: "That this meeting of engineers emphatically protests against the introduction of national service or conscription of labour in any form. I'ho workers have been penalised too much already. The constant stream of returned soldiers is being used by the employers to reduce wages, and this, with tho overincreusing prices of commodities, has shiiwn us that the present Administration could not bo trusted to deal with such a dangerous measure as the conscription of labour. .Further, no promise, that the abovo (i.e., conscription . of Inbuilt') would not be used for private profit could be accepted, as tlio pledges nave been broken too frequently in connection with the Military Service Act, and that, our delegate to tlio Labour Conference be instructed to yoto accordingly." ■

An inquest will he held at. 10 o'clock lliis morning int.> the cause, of death of an infant, named Robert I). Kyle, aged 12 months, who was found' dead in bed by his mother. The parents reside at S3 Hawkestoiif Street.

Av. interesting lecture on-the "Organisation of a Battalion in France" was given before Iho Wellington Officers' .Institute last night. The lecture included a detailed iKvount of the organisation of tho New Zealand Fourth Brigade, which was formed last year from accumulated reinforcements and disbanded this year. The Commandant of tlio Force's, Major-General Sir Alfred Robin, was present.

A donation of from a donor who iocs not wish the name to be mentioned lias been received towards the fund for rebuilding St. Mary's Cathedral, Boulcott Street, which was destroyed by tire recently. The total sum in hand now stands at .CSIOO.

In Iho course of his comments on Thursday night on the decision of llio (iovernmont lo clo.se down certain publications, (ho Hey. Howard lllliott said that it would bo' possible I'ov his friends to borrow copies of n certain paper. In reference to thai advice the following extract from the War licgulations of October 11, HHii, may be interesting;— "No person having the possession or custody.of 11.prohibited .publication shall deliver or offer to deliver the tame to nny other person or permit the-tame to bo vend, or .'examined by nny ■other person,"

The Wellington Poultry, Pigeon, and Canary Society concluded its exhibition last evening, ami thu general opinion of (he fanciers was .that 1 lit* exhibition was the best held by the society in recent year.;. A number of .-'ales were effected iii all classes, and there is promise that (he number of exhibitors will be increased next year.

German poison gas has given the shell of the coconut a humane as well as a commercial value. Thousands of coconuts are being shipped from Porto Kico, so that the shells may lie used in tho manufacture of gas mas);-, for American troops in France. The shell of the coconut, it was found, after much experimentation, could bo made into a high grade, of charcoal. This charcoal, it is said, is a valuable antidote for poison gases.

The epidemic of diphtheria which has been prevailing in the Auckland province for several weeks shows a. slight diminution (says the •'.Herald"). Five cases were reported on Wednesday—two from the country, one from the city area, and two from suburban districts.' Only one of tha patients was of school age. Of the cases notified on Tups-lay, only two patients were of sellout age.. The disease continues to be of a mild form, aiid the public health officer is of opinion that with a spell of dry weather the epidemic will abate altogether.

"1 have been up and down 'hat line for the past thirty years or so, and I have never seen anything like it before," remarked Captain S. M. M'Ucc, Command Paymaster at Chrislchurch, to a ".Sun" representative, respecting the icrecent bad weather in Christchurch. Captain M'Ges left Chrislchurch on 'Tuesday, with tho intention of meeting officers from Hanmer, but he was unable in get beyond Waipara. ' Most of the paddocks between Christchurch and ICaiapoi," continued Captain M'Gce, "were just a sea of water. At liangiora we found snow everywhere. One man who descended from our railway carriage plunged into snow nearly up to his knees. Beyond Eangiora the' country was just a sheet of snow,. with fences sticking out ,of tho white expanse of country; The railway line had been cleared, but at Balcairn the train had to wait for about an hour, while a man went forward on foot to see that tho line was all right. Telegraph poles were down all over the place, and the wires were in a terrible tangle. It was almost inconceivable that the weight of the snow on poles and wires could have such an effect. Where poles lvero still standing, wires that were taut before had been bent down until they sagged on to the ground. Hardwood poles had been snapped in two like carrots, and .iron pole.s had been bent over at right angles. We had to.stop on one .bridge because n tangle of wires had fouled a ventilator on the guard's van. However, there was a telegraph gang on tho train, and the men cleared the wires. At Waipara (here was untrodden snow 15 inches deep on the platform—we measured the depth. We could not get beyond Waipara. I heard that in one section beyond Waipara only one telegraph pole was standing in a length of three miles and a half of line.