LOCAL AND GENERAL

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 31, 31 October 1918, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

"No one can deny that it is a- great record New Zealand possesses in connoction with the war," remarked the Minister of Internal Affairs (Hon. G. W. Euesell) in tho House of Representatives last night. "It is a record of which our Dominion will feel proud. The hearts of our children and our grandchildren, and those who como after them, will bound with pride when they remember that this young country, settled less than eighty years, was able to undertake 6uch a huge financial responsibility and bear its full share of the burdens of Empire in connection irith this war."

Influenza to a severe, but not serious, extent suddenly attacked the officers and crew of the Union Steam Ship Company's trans-Pacific steamer Paloona, when slie was between San Francisco and Tahiti, outwnrd bound to New Zealand. Altogether 25 of her crew suffered, and in order to check the outbreaks the patients wero isolated and the ship disinfected. Those affected wero well again within a week of the first case.

The phenomenally heavy rain on Tuesday played havoc with (he wood blocks in the southern half of Kent Terrace. Fov a distance of about a hundred yards the blocks were under-ilocded, mid thereby loosened, and thrown up in waves and hummocks dangerous to traffic. The section in question needs re-blocking. In the meantime temporary repairs are being effected. Fortunately, the disturbance is on tho eastern side of the terrace, traveling the line of the big etormwater culvert, which had to stand a considerable strain during Tuesdny's downpour.

Replying to a. question in the House of Representatives yesterday, the Minister of Railways said that tho return ■ known usually as D 3, tho railway classification list, would be laid en the tajble in the near future.

The Forty-sixth Infantry Reinforcements will march over .the Rimutaka Hill, from Featherston to Trentham, on Thursday, November 7, making an early start from the former enmp on that day. The troops will go into 'bivouac at Kaitoke on the first night out, and on the second day will march to Upper Hutt and Mangaron* where field work Rnd night operations \will be carried out. Trentham camp will be reached early on Saturday, November 9.

In the course of the discussion on company war taxation at yesterday's conference of Chambers of Commerce, Mr. H. W. Hudso.n (.*':ckland) said that there was one of tho best-known lAuckland companies with 642 shareholders (with 499 of them holding- less than 200 shares), and that company had only pnid one dividend in four years. The profits, which would have paid a normal dividend each year,' had pretty well all gone in war taxation.

"Wo think the time has arrived when enterprises making for the increase Of production of the country should botaken in hand and pressed to completion as rapidly as possible," was an addition made to ithe annual report of the executive of the New Zealand Chambers of Commerce at yesterday's conference. The addition was made on the motion of Mr. C. M. Luke, of tho Wellington Central Chamber.

The honorary treasurers (Sir Thomas Devitt and Sir H. Acton Blake) have received on behalf of King.George's Fund for Sailors a gift of ,£IO,OOO from file British Women's Paiiriotiu Association in the Argentine Republic. The amount was part of the proceeds iaised by a bazaar held early in Juno in aid of war charities.

Makara County suffered severely from Tuesday's downpour. The storm was centred immediately over [Mount Kaka, as within a mile north and eoath of the hill the effect of the storm is scarcely noticeable, beyond what is experienced in ordinary floods. All strenms having their origin in the Kaka Hill became in a few minutes raging torrents, carayinc with' them lruge quantities of stone, grave] and timber, and' depositing tiieni on lands never before known to have been under flood. In the course of these streams fences hnve been '.evclled to the ground or swept entirely .way. The engine-room of the pumping station of Hie Johnsonvillo waterworks was flooded to the window sills. Almost nil the culverts in tho eour?e of the flood have suffered n severe strain, and cue of the largest, in the county has been washed entirely out. Odp sma.ll bvfcke has gone, and retaining walls on the Ohoriu-Tnlcn-nu-Makura. Eoad have been Demolished. The road itself has been from four to six feet under water, virile dpbns has been scattered over its torn surface from end to end. At present ttie-rond i* • ""P a *'- dble, and it will not be fit for trathc for probably some weeks. Gauss of available labour have been prat on to elFnnt an opening. . Tt is at present impossible tn estimate Hie mnoniit. of dnningP, M certain lengths of r<wd« in tl'" storm nren linve not yet been insn»orod.

Speaking in favour of a high preferential duty against German goods in the future, Mr. J..H. Marriner, of the Christchurch Chamber of Commerce, said at Yesterday's conference, that in tho past some exporting houses in England had made vast fortunes by importing great quantities of manufactures from Germany and Austria; and assembling and boxing tlie.m v.p, and exporting them, as British manufactures. The boxes were marked accordingly, but there were no marks at all on the goods themselves. Mr Marriner pointed out that tho greatest'part of tho cost of tlio articles was espendod in labour, and that meant the onriching of the nation where that labour was employed- Other speakers emphasised the fact that n great deal of foreign cnnital had been employed in alle»odly English manufacturing firm*, and"thi\£ ejicli n nracticp should be ngidlv guartal against in tho future.

The executive of the Association of Now Zealand Chambers of Commerce, in the course of its annual report, presented at yesterday's conference, said:—"As lias been the'case in previous years, many of the resolutions could only bo carried into effect by cither amending or fresh legislation, and in response to representations Ministers of the Crown have intimated that Parliament would deal with matters of war legislation only. The executive is stroßjfly of opinion that there arc many matters affecting the. commercial interests of tho Dominion which could,have been dealt with by Parliament. It realises that Hio present may not bo an qppqrtune time to press for Government action which will involve tho expenditure of public money, mid that matters relating lo the Dominion's part in the war, ihe disposal of our produco and its transport overseas, war finance, etc., must first bo dealt with; but there are matter* such as our bankluptcy laws—non-contentious in chnrnc- ' ter and urgently requiring reform—which could with advnntage have been considered by Parliament. The executiyo has communicated with tho Prime Minister and hoe urged that the drafting and consideration of legislation affecting 'domestic' affairs in the Dominion (should uot UV>- be-Ww-ed."

The Wellington City R«d Cross "Our Day" Appeal Committee acknowledge wilt tlmnlis the following f miliar donations:—D. A. Kwan, .£250; Mrs. E. Hiddiford, .C 150; Wellington South School, Sixth Standard. <£»; J. P. Luke, M.P., ,£5 55.; J. Mackenzie, £2 'is.

The Merchant Serrice Guild recently wrote to the Shipowners' Federation asking for a war-risk bonus cf .£3 a month for masters and officers on vessels under COO tons. The federation is prepared to offer .£2 only, and yesterday morning a well-attended meeting of members of the guild was unanimous in the hope that Hie owners would lake into consideration the officers' posilion and grant the request of .ED. The RPijmen :*(ive already obtained a substantial bonus.

Statements that appear in English medical journals regarding Uie influenza epidemic show that few cases have proved fatal, and that grave complications are rare. This is reassuring, in view of the cable messages received lately concerning the large numbers of fatal cases in South Africa and America, The "Journal of Public Health" says the duration of an epidemic in any one- locality is from four to eight weeks. During'this short period of time it has been estimated that some 40 per cent. , of the population fall victim to the disease. This sudden, almost simultaneous, attack of largo numbers of people is due to the very general susceptibility to the disease and its very short incubation period, Influenza was at one time n notifiable disease in New Zealand, but was removed from the list owing to the,fact that it was found incontrollable by public health measures. Theoretically," notification, isolation and disinfection are called for, but in actual practice these measures must break down, the journal states, owing to the impossibility of making an exact diagnosis in the early stages of an epidemic or in mild cases at any time; the rapid diffusion of tho disease from such unrecognised cases, and the fact that, unlike the cdmmon infectious diseases, influenza attacks adults rather than children, ■ and adult 3 are notoriously much harder to isolate than children. The virus of influenza has very slight resistance to/ outside influences, and soon dies after leaving the body. The disease is.not spread to any extent, if at all, bv infected Urticles, but is transmitted directly from one person to another in the. minute droplets of saliva given off in coughing, sneezing, or even in talking.

Tho Civil Service Temporary Clerks' Association held a special general meeting in the Oddfellows Hall last night when it was resolved thai it be an instruction to the general committee to wait upon the Public Service Commissioner, unci ask that he give the following matters his consideration:-(l) That the question of payment for overtime be reconsidered,; (2) thai owing to the increased cost of living all salaries to temporary clerks be immediately increased; (3) that all salaries be paid fortnightly, instead of monthly, as at present.

The Auckland section of the Public Service Association passed a resolution demanding the Government during the current session to take such steps as would lead to a substantial increase of the salaries of Public- Servants, giving special attention to the salaries of the lower-paid Assn.