LOCAL AND GENERAL

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 19, 17 October 1918, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

The left wing of the Forty-third Reinforcements have been reported from a port of call. The cablegram to the Minister of Defence states that tho general health of tho troops is splendid. ( The Government has discontinued the practice of sending casualty lists through the Tolegraph Office for posting at Post and Tolcgrapli offices in all parts of New Zealand. Tho transmission of these lists has entailed heavy expenditure and increase of telegraphic work. Some- time ago tho system, of distribution was altered, and a considerable saving effected; but it has now been decided to abolish the sys-j tern altogether. Next-of-kin, of course, will continue to receive tho usual telegraphic advice, but the posting of information for the general public will be discontinued.

Heavy rain 'fell in the Masterton district, on Tuesday night, and tho Tararua ranges aro again capped with snow.

Private Henry Bennett, a returned undischarged soldier, died at the New Plymouth Hospital on the afternoon of October 10. Deceased was a single man, 43 years of ago. His next-of-kin is his brother, Mr. John Bennett, Dovon Street, New Plymouth.

"When it was announced at yesterday's meeting of the ■Wellington Education Board that money for a' scholarship for boys in the Wellington district had been donated the chairman expressed tho hope that this would bo emulated by others who could afford to do so, and Mr. R. A. Wright, M.P., remarked on tho apatby of wealthy Wellingtonians .regarding scholarships.

Letters received from soldiers overseas state that they were promised a fortnight's leavo in New Zealand for each year of active service. Thus threeyear men expected six weeks' holiday in the Dominion. A question on this subject was put recently to the Minister of Defence by Mr. J. Payne, M.P. Sir James Allen replied: "Whatever the men wore promised at Home by way of duty furlough will be granted to them. In future duty furlough will be 28 days' leave (in New Zealand) on full pay, with a free railway pass for three weeks."

The Wellington Education Board has reinstated the inspectors' holiday, and in future the King's birthday and Empire Day are to be held on Juno 3.

: A nrisoner named Richard Pascafl, 63 years of age, serving a sentence oi" three months' imprisonment, imposed at Marton, on a charge of being an idle and disorderly person, died at the Terrace.Gaol yesterday morning. An inquest will be held.

The circumstances of the death of Mr. Thomae James Parker,, who died at his residence, 6-Lome Street, en Monday morning, were investigated by tho coroner, Mr.- W. G. Riddell, S.M., yesterday. Evidence was given that the deceased, who was 73 years of age, was formerly a seaman. He had recently been discharged from hospital, and had been in poor health. On Fri'day afternoon he was accidentally knocked down on the street, and was. then taken home. Dr. Kington Fyffe, who conducted the post-mortem examination, said death was due to oldstanding hemorrhage o'f the brain. A verdict was returned accordingly, the coroner remarking that from tho evidence it did not appear that the deceased's fall in the street had hastened his death.

The demand for increased wages for bricklayers is not confined to Wellington, and next week a council of conciliation will sit at Wanganui to hear a dispute arising out of new demands which the workers have made. The chief clause in the Wanganui demand is that concerning wages. The men are claiming the same rate as the Wellington men ask—2s. an hour.

t A circular was received by. the Wellington Education Board yesterday stating that tho definite authority' of the Department of Education was necessary prior to the undertaking of any work for whfch a grant was required. Members of the board objected to the circular, _ and the chairman instanced a caso in which money would have been saved but for a proposal to build being held up. He said that had a tender for the new Kelburn school been accepted by the board some time ago about £200 would havo been saved, but the board lacked the necessary authority, and eventually _ the extra money would havo to 'be laid out.

Under the impelling influence of necessity Germany is doing wonderful things in tho way of providing substitutes for that which £he cannot now secure. One of the chief discoveries made by our enemy in his need is the astonishing use that can be made of paper pulp. We ourselves wear paper ties and neckerchiefs, and do not know it. In Germany the women are weaving hats and dresses made of paper, of material as fine-spun' as silk and mercerised cotton. Hemp and jute have evidently given out, as samples of ropo recently found on the Western front show the German ropes to be made of spun paper, which stands a. considerable strain. Lieutenant Pat. Hanna, of Wellington, has forwarded a parcel of ersatz souvenirs to his partner, Mr, King. These consist of a pieco of paper rope, paper string, and a paper sand-bag (used in building trenches). The stuff of which the bag is made resembles a stout, coarse-spun canvas, the web of which is very even. In an accompanying ■ letter Lieutenant Hanna states that'tho women of France are keen on getting possession of these ersatz German sand-bags, which they embroider beautifully. Amongst the souvenirs is a handful of ersatz coffee which was taken from a German dugout, and which is made from burnt berries (split in half) and wheat, and certainly has a strong taste of tho real thine

Negotiations for the purchase by the Imperial authorities of New Zealand's oxport surplus •of butter and cheese will be opened very shortly. Tho High Commissioner has had the matter in hand for somo time, but bo has not yet been ablo to supply [full information as to tho wishes and intentions of the Imperial authorities. The butter and cheese committee may be called together within the next few days.

The night before the Niagara arrived in Auckland last week a meeting of the first saloon passengers was held, with the Right Hon. W. F. Massey in the chair, and a sum of £278 was,subscribed for tho crew of the ship.' A sum of £50 had been raised prcvipusly for the shipwrecked sailors' fund.

Co-operative labourers employed on railway works in the North Island during August numbered 912, as against 278 in tho South Island, a total of 1190.' According to a return prepared by tho secretary of tho Auckland Railways League, Mr. R. R. Hunt, the numbers on each railway work in tho North Island were:—KakakawaHokiaroja, 114; Whang'aroi-North Auckland, Main Trunk, 196; Waiotira section, 25; Kniwnka southward, 92; Waiuku branch, 53; Waihi-Tauranga, 67; Maunganui-Taneatim, 176; Gis-borne-Wairoa, 38; Napier-Wairoa, 3; Opunako branch railway, I; Stratford Main Trunk, east end 94, west end 53. No worker was employed on the Gisbornc-Motu line. The co-oporativo ftliourcrs on road works numbered:— North Island, 682; South Islnnd, 212; total, 894.

Messrs. Wm. Campbell, Ltd., aro never fussy, but always calm, foroeful and dignified in their advocacy of "GOLDEN RULE" Soau, "GOLDEN RULE" Candles, "KEEP SMILING" Sandsoap, and "NO RUBBING" Laundry Help.-Advt.

The Minister of Defence has. written to the "Otago Daily Times" respecting the case of a soldier to whom inference was made in the issue of that journal of August 22, in which publicity was given to representations that the man in, question was suffering from the effects of injuries to his leg through a fall from a horse when fie was summoned to camp, that he did no training when he was in camp, that he was still unwell when he left the Dominion with a reinforcement draft, and that the--Defence Department had lost track of him. The Minister states that the man was an unwilling soldier, and when his appeal for exemption was dismissed efforts were made to secure that he should still he relieved of his military obligation. The man overstayed his leave from camp, and was arrested as a military defaulter. On his pleading that he' was under medical treatment, ho was taken before a medical officer and. granted fourteen days' extension of leave. He made repeated attempts to get out of camp on medical grounds, and was examined by a medical board four times in the three months prior to his embarkation, and was classed as "fit A" each time. On the last occasion on which lie was examined the Medical Board commented that he was malingering.

Some points on the administration of war pensions were dealt with by Mr. j. D. Harper at last night's meeting of the ■Wellington Returned Soldiers' Association. Mr. Harper is the association's representative on the War Pensions Board. He stated that it was necessary that, personal application should be made for pensions as pensions were not granted automatically as soon as. soldiers returned to New Zealand. Until each cae was dealt with a man received a provisional pension. That pension was no indication of the amount a man would receive for his disability. It was the board's function to decide what a man's disability was, and there was a fixed scata laid down for such. Mr. Harper said that lie had been on the board for five months, and ho could positively affirmthat during that period in not one single case had a man's income and property been taken into consideration when' the amount of his pension was being decid-' ed. Of course, in the case of dependants such matters had .to be taken into account. As snon as a permanent pension was granted it could not he reduced on account of a man's earning power, hut it could be increased if a man's disability became worse.

" A beautiful auroral'display was seen last evening. Tho display would have been even more beautiful if the moon had not been so bright.

A conference of delegates from Victoria College Council, the Professorial Board, the Graduates' Association, and the Students' Association is to meet to consider the question of erecting a ball to the memory of Victoria College, students who have fallen in the war.

Why does a cow cross the road? This is not a riddle or a "catch," as some less serious readers may bo apt to conclude, says the Christchurch "Press." It is a gravely propounded and furnished with a scientific solution by the "Scientific American." It is of practical importance to tho motorist, to whom the inconvenient tendency of the cow to cross the road at inopportune times is frequently a source of embarrassment, if of nothing worse It appears that the reason why the cow on the right side of the road turns to cross over to the left, and vice versa, is first because cacli eye in the cow—also, it mav be added, in another terror to motorists, the chicken—is independent of _ the other, and may be focussed on a different object without mental' confusion; and, secondly, because the eye of the animal which sees and_ appreciates the danger of the approaching car is by instinct kept on the dangerous objects. To turn to the .right and escape, would blind the animal during the period of turning, and this she will not willingly do. But alter she runs across the road in front of the car, the eye with which she first observed it will keep it clearly and continuously in view, and. sho thinks, thus'allow her to escane the impending danger. Even when she is safely across the road, if she is turned round by encountering a fence, or by ohantfc, so as to perceive the enemy with the other eye. she has been observed to run for dear life to.recross tho road to the side whence_ sho has just come. An instinctive action, originally protective, is thus mado a source of danger to the animal, and, incidentally, it'may bo added, to the motorist.

The Wellington Labour Representation Committee last evening _ took strong exception to the attitude hitherto taken up by the Wellington City Council in connection with the question of proportional representation, and it was resolved that the Labour members of Parliament be asked to draft an amending Bill making it mandatory on local bodies to carry out the Local Bodies' Act so far as it related to proportional representation.

A sum of money has been donated by Mr. J.-'L. Heckler, of Masterton, for tlis establishment of a scholarship for the sons of fallen soldiers. Mr. Forsyth (chairman) made tbis announcement at yesterday's meeting of the Wellington' Education Board. Mr. Heckler lost a brother at tho front, and the scholarship is to perpetuate his memory. His offer is to give capital moneys for fourteen years to proviso junior scholarships of two years'tenure, to be held at Wellington College, and to bo open to all boys in the schools df the Wellington education district. Details as to the holding of the scholarship are to be left to the donor, the headmaster of Wellington College (Mr. J. P. Firth), and the chairman of the board.