LOCAL AND GENERAL

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 303, 11 September 1918, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

The Acting Postmaster-General, the Hon. W.i D. S. MacDonakl, announces the loss nt sea- by euoiny action of certain parcel mails for Egypt. The mails contained parcels posted:—At Wellington, between 2 p.m. on April 9 and 10 a.m. on' April 15 last; at-Auckland, from April 8 to 12; at Cliristchurch, from April 8 to li); at Dunedin, from April 3 to .10. "Pinowood," the ten-roomed residence of Mrs. E. Hay, at Idris lload, Fendalton, lias been totally destroyed by lire, says a Press Association telegram i'roni Cliristchurch. Tho insurances total £1460 in tho Now Zealand Office. Appeals by six bakers are to bo heard at to-day's sitting of tho Military -Service Board. -When the subject ; was mentioned yesterday tbo 'representative oxpressed the opinion that women should bo trained for this kind of work. ■ Very little sickness exists in _ tho military camps' at .the present time. The influenza has abated and no fresh cases of measles have been reported for ten days. The oerebro-spinal meningitis cases in the military hospitals aro now all convnloscent. Tho Wellington draft for tho Forty-' sixth Reinforcements will assemble at tbo Buckle Street Barracks at 2 p.m. to-day. Tho men will be given leave after' tho roll has been called, and will lie taken to camp early to-morrow morning. The recruits from other parts of New Zealand aro reaching tho camps. The mobilisation will bo complete by the end of tho week. The Minister of Defenco has received advice that the Forty-second Reinforcements and the Thirty-ninth Mounteds have been reported from ports of call "all well." The Minister has advice also that tbo second New Zealand hospital ship has cleared a port of. call. The question of instituting a fiveday week in tho clothing factories _ of Auckland is under consideration. Messrs. Macktiy, Logan, and Caldwell, Ltd., have,'says'the "Herald,'' decided, at the suggestion of their employees, to put the systom into operation this week, on four months' trial. I'ia work will therefore bo done hi their factories next Saturday. It is probable, also, that tho same plan will bo adopted in at least ono other largo city factory. The employees claim that under the new system they can, by regular attendance from Monday to Friday, equal the output hitherto attained in the fivo and a half days, as tho improvement in their licalth, by reason of the longer week-end rest, will lessen the amount of broken time, especially in tho, case of female operatives. "The position is getting rather acute now, and I think it is necessary that the Court should scrutinise any application of a landlord to put a tenant out, particularly ,in a case like this where tho tenant is a good tenant, and pays the rent, but more particularly whero there has been an elfort to increase the rent because of certain repairs. The Act ia perfectly clear. Ono cannot increase any rent because of repairs, but only in case of substantial alterations and additions." These remarks were made by Mr. F. V. Frazer, S.M., in a case at tho Magistrate's Court yesterday, in which Louise Ducre, widow, of Longburn, proceeded against George Kidd, labourer, cf Wellington, to recover possession of a house in Francis Place, of which the defendant was tho tenant. Mr. Albert •Wylie appeared for plaintiff, and- Mr. P. W. Jackson for defendant. Tlio ground of tho plaintiff's ease was that she wanted the place for her own occupation, but plaintiff was not present,in Court, the only evidence on her behalf being]given by her agent, W. F. Egger's. His Worship held that before coming to a decision ho should hear direct evidence from the plaintiff herself. The Act required that the Court should be satisfied that the owner of the promises required them fur his or her own occupation. The only. evidence given for the plaintiff in tho present case was by an agent, who was under tho impression that tho plaintiff required the premises for her own use. That was insufficient evidence. There had been a scheme to raise the rent to 12s. (id. from 10s. per week, which only mado him a little bit suspicious, and in view of the fact that there was no definite evidence from the plaintiff herself ho did not think ho ought to make an order for possession. Plaintiff was non-suited.

Tho Second Wellington Military Service Board will conclude its session in tho city to-day. The Church of England Military Affairs Committee has just cabled Home another £1800 for tho immediate erection of threo more Church Army huts— these are tho Auckland No. 2, No. 3, and No. 4 Huts. Since the. commencement of the present year, tins conimitteo has remitted no less than £11,044. for the purpose of building these recreation huts' in the iiring-linc. • Tho list of tho remaining reservists'in Class C, Second Division, is now being prepared for publication in a Gazette Extraordinary ou Wednesday next. In addition to 4000 Class C men, the Gazette will call up smiio hundreds of accretions to tho First Division and earlier clasßcs of the married men. The lirst ballot in Class D (threo children) is to ho taken in January. On Sunday (says our Carterton correspondent) a motor-cyclist named E. Murray, of Masterton, while proceeding down the, Rimutakn. Hill, met with an accident through his cycle skidding, resulting in a broken leg. He was picked up by another cyclist a little later, and the'latter communicated through tho Waivarapa Automobile Associntion's telephone with the military hospital, -who sent their motor ambulance to the scene of the accident, and removed the injured mail to the Greytown Hospital. The 'Wellington managers nf the Copper Trail are still without information regarding the advance made', by the Auckland Trail last week. The Wellington Trail has made some further progress since it was announced to have reached Silverhone on Saturday. An interesting contribution, came yesterday from a small boy .named "Billy," wlio presented a pillar of coppers exactly his own height. The pennies were kept in position by four sticks lashed lengthways, and they numbered 564, the donor's height being 3ft. 3in. For tbe purposes of the Trail, of course, the pennies go edge to edgo and will cover a distance of nearly nineteen yards. Seven largo secondary schools have made arrangements to hold barracks of military instruction in tbe near future They are Otago High School, Nelson College Clirist's Collego (Christclnircli), Wanganui College, King's College (Auckland), Now Plymouth High School, and Napier High School. Barracks have already been hold at \\cllington College, Waitnki Hicch-School, and Timam High School. These barracks of instruction wero inaugurated last.year by the Director of Military Training (Lieutenant-Colonel J. L. Sleeman), aud. they havo proved very popular as well as a means of imparting sound elementary military training to,largo bodies of' boys. The racehorse Hnstie has been donated by Mr. E. Short, of Parorangi, to the Fund for the Crippled Soldiers Hostel. Any winnings going to the horse from fnturo engagements beforo he is disposed of on behalf of the fund will go to the hostel. The gross gate receipts for tho Wel-lington-Auckland match at the Athletic Park last Saturday amounted to £329 /15s. At last night's .meeting of the Management Committee of the Wellington Rugby Union it was announced that excellent work had been done by Sergeant-Instructor T. R.. Brooks m disposing of tickets at Trentham Camp for the match, a net sum of £87 /?• being realised by him. On the motion of the chairman, Mr. D. D. AVoir, a veto of thanks was accorded SergeantInstructor Brooks for his services. A full military funeral was yesterday morning accorded to the Fraiico-Tahi-tian reservist, Tetiamana-a-Atea, who died in tho Victoria Hospital on Sunday. Those present included the General Officer Commanding (Sir Alfred Robin) .and Staff.; Suygeon-Goncral Henderson (Director of Medical Services), Mr. James Macintosh (French Consular Agent), Captain R. W. Smith, elf the New Zealand Rifle Brigade (who represented the Defence Department), and Captain Gentry (who was in chargo of the draft of reservists).' Tho firing party and band were .from Trentham Camp, the gun-carriage was supplied by D Battery, and the horses and drivers by tho New . Zealand Garrison Artillery. Chaplain Taylor officiated at the gravosido. As the coftn was being .placed on tho gun-carriage the band played the "Marseillaiso. The body was interred in the soldiers cemetery at Karori. A general ordor has been issued by tho Commandant of the New Zealand Forces defining the conditions of homo service. It is provided that homo service men arc to bo attested for the period of the war and six months thereafter, but may bo granted leave without pay without notice at their own request (if approved by the head of their branch), if found guilty of misconduct or if found to bo unfit or unsuitable. All promotions in home service arc to be temporary. Returned discharged soldiers are to be given preference of employment in all cases. Attention was drawn at tho Magistrate's Court at Pukekohe to tho fact that it is an offenco to sell the skins of cattlo or sheep minus the ears. Two Maoris wero prosecuted for this offence, it boing explained that the case was brought as a warning. The provision that the ears must bo on tho skins \vbb made as the brand marks on them furnish clues in tho event of an endeavour being made to dispose of tho hides of stolen cattle: Nominal penalties were imposed on the Maoris in this particular case. How a carpenter who had his right arm disabled in the war benefited by the provision made ifor special' tuition to returned soldiers has been related by Mr. A. Harris, M.P. The ex-soldier took up a course in school teaching, studying at the Christclnircli Normal School. Haying since passed the necessary qualifying examination, he had now become a teachel' in one of tho Canterbury schools. Tho Bendigo "Independent" is agitating for the Commonwealth Government to engage tho services of Mi\ J. B. Merrctt, Christclnircli, as organiser of the poultry industry. The "Independent'' states that ."it would bo a sound investment if Mr. Merrett's services could' be secured for one or two years. He has improved conditions in New Zealand to an appreciable exteut. No doubt his work in New Zealand is so very well organised that it could bo left for a while with others while we in Australia are reaping the benefit of.his knowledge and organising abilI *>'•'•