LOCAL AND GENERAL

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 81, 31 December 1918, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

An Australian mail., comprising about 155 bags for New Zealand, arrived at Wellington- yesterday by tho steamer Perth from Newcastle. Large English and American mails, ex the Niagara at Auckland, also readied Wellington yesterday afternoon. Fivo bankruptcies have been recorded in the Wairarapa for tho present year, compared with a similar number last year, says our special correspondent. There have been fewer bankruptcies since the outbreak of war than at any period in the history of the district. , From to-morrow (New Year's Day) the censorship regulation regarding the registration of cable code addresses will no relaxed. A code address for cable messages may now lie accepted, subject to tho approval of the-Telegraph Office, but an abbreviated er a code signature to cable mftssajres will not bo accented. Cable messages for an unregistered address must be referred to the Telegraph Office for instructions. _ Base Records advise that 12/2487 Frederick Walter Shepherd, a discharged returned soldier, died at Auckland Hospital Annexe on December 26. Tho cause of death was gastric ulcer and peritonitis. The next-of-kin is Mr. H. G.- Shepherd (father), 33 S'eabourne Road, Bournemouth, England. Destitution and a wet night in Wellington led Stanley Alfred Donaldson to Beek refuge in the arms of the law on ; Sunday evening, with the result that lie appeared before two Justices yestet'day, charged with being a rogue and a vagabond, possessing insufficient means of support. Acting Sub-Inspector Emerson said that Donaldson had called at the Police Station at 11 p.m. on Sunday, and had asked to be locked up. He said that lie had had nothing to eat for three days. He had arrived in Wellington a week ago from Christchurch,. and had spent, in liquor, the little money that he had. On dry nights he had been able to sleep out, b'ut when it came on to rain—! Donaldson had previously served a term of three months' imprisonment for being "idle and disorderly," and lie hud also been before tho Court for theft. Ju th" opinion of the Acting Sub-Inspector ho wns somewhat weak mentally. The Court sentenced the defendant to a month's imprisonment.

In the course of the norning service .it All Saints' Church, Palmerston North, on Sunday, tho vicar pointed out a most interesting relic of the battlefield, which has been hung, by kind permission of Mrs. Martin, over the brouzo memorial of Surgeon-Major Martin in All Saints' Church. It is a flag, riddled with German shrapnel, which v--as flying over tho hospital at Bethune, where Major Martin was working, during the terrible fighting that took place at La Basse and Ypres in the early days of tho war.

Consequent upon the appointment of M.r. W. S. La Trobe as Government Director of Technical Schools, the question of.his successor to the directorship 01 the Wellington Technical School will have to be considered at once. Mr. La Trobe will take up liis new duties on February 1, so that it i« considered essential that a new local director should he found at once. To that end a meeting of the Technical Education Board will be held (in committee) on Saturday evening next. A Bill has been passed by the Commonwealth Parliament providing for (lie granting of a pension of -C 1750 lo I he federal Chief Justice. Mr. Borneo Gardiner, an cx-resideni id Wellington and former member of the Wellington Savago Club, has arrived unexpectedly in Wellington from London. A few weeks ago his mother hud a eeizure, and on the news being cabled Komo Mr. Gardiner at once Hindi' arrangements to leave, and was fori itititfc in being able to scwiro a passage by I lie Ayrshire. Unfortunately Mrs. Gardiner died whilst her soli was nl sea. Mr. Gardiner has, during his nbseiiro, made fur himself a niche in the vaudeville idagc in Fnglnwl, and after u ri'sl in Nmv Zealand he proposes to rclurn lo I'lngl.'iiul, where engagements in plenl.v nivnil. him. lie will he remembered in Wellington as !• gifted silflcur, but since leaving New Zealand ho has qualiliud as a, monologue entertainer, being now a capable performer on the piano, 'cello, ant! oboe. 11 is a long lime sin- i a spring and summer of such severity as (his year's have b»en locally (says Hie "Southland Times"). Considering the time of the year, the cold is very severe, a condition which cannot be wondered at, when right down almost, to the foot of the Takitimns and of other mountains in tho same range tho snow is lying thickly..

Australia's population {exclusive of' full-blooded aboriginals) lias passed tins n.OOd.flO!) point. This achievement, delayed by the outbreak of war, (lie departure of troops, and the practical cessation of immigraiion, was, according lo (ho Commonwealth Statistician, made in September last. Mr. Knibbs recalls that in ISOfl the population of Australia (aboriginals not counted) was 5217, whilst a century later it reached :i,7liri..l.'lA. The Australian population attained its first million in 1858 (70 years after settlement was effectedi; its second million in 1R77; its thin! in 1880; and ils fourth in IMS. Thus, since the attainment, of the lirst million in 1838 the average addition to the Australian population has been mv> million even- fifteen years The decline of Sfllil and !>H,liKi respectively in 111 15 and 101(1 was followed by an increase or . r i!.',!>B(i in population in 1017. For the first, nine, mouths of this year the net increase has been upwards of IJG.OOII, and Mr. Kniblw is of opinion that with the renuinpliiin of .i-irmal conditions for immigration and the repatriation of Iroops from abroad. Australia's population will roach 5.100,000 persons by the. end of March, 1021; the, next census.

The possibility of any cniisid«r:iblo proportion of the Australian munition workers now in England swelling tlifi ranks of Ihe unemployed on the;r return lo the Comnionwenll.lt is not seriously entertained in' Victorian industrial circles. Inquiries made at Ihe Lalxiur Bureau recently on behalf of an Australian paper confirm employers' starch menfs that, there is a keen and unsatisfied demand for artisans of all descriptions, and tha{. the bulk of Victorias 2(130 munition workers abroad, particularly tho carpenters and wood-workers, are'likely to ho welcomed with open amis on their relurn. The building trade, it is nointed out, is nartially paralysed for want of artisans, and there is no likelihood of tho simply exceeding the demand, oven when all the wood and other workers connected with the building trade, and now in tho A.LF. abroad, are returned from the front. In fact, it is stated that if the Commonwealth Govern, ment proceeds with anything like vigour with its ,£50,000,000 houso-building scheme, the shortage of building labour promises to become acute. As against this there arc, it is recugnised, the unknown and incalculable possibilities of post-war immigration.

Though postage stamps are not legal tender, it will not be an offence, Treasury officials sav, for the Railways Department, embarrassed by tho scarcity of pence and halfpence, to give stamps as change at tho ticket offices, states a Melbourne paper. It has been suggested that the Railways Commissioners could escape the difficulty by insisting on tho observance of the by-law that each passenger must tender the exact fare, but the passenger, short, perhaps, of small change, would be no more inclined to make an over-payment than would bo Department be to risk the loss of business. The bronze scarcity is not likely to last long enough to compel the Department to amend its faies to even money. T'ho Secretary to the Treasury staled that a cable message from India respecting future coinage was expected at any hour.

Influenza has completely died out in Masterton and district, says-our, special correspondent.

American conditions as to penology show a considerable advance on those pro-1 vailing in New Zealand prisons. In recent years experiments in the treatment of men sent to gaol for indefinite periods have been carried out here, but the Prison Board is not prepared to go as far as has tho Warden of Oklahoma State penitentiary. , The Warden not only employs prisoners outside the prison without guards, but allows the best of them to go "down town" on Saturday nights. At Indiana Reformatory some inmates are often sent out (o capture others who have escaped! It is pointed out in the annual report of the board that at French Island and Castloniaind Farm opportunities' are provided for applying a lest to tho honour and trustworthiness of prisoners. At no time are French Island prisoners under lock and key, mid £rei|iiently men are sent to work away from camp without supervision. Generally the prisoners appreciate the trust reposed ny them, and the svstem is calculated to develop their self-respect, and is of value, in proving their reformation.

The annual report of the Administrator of Norfolk Island for the year ended June 30 states that owing to lack of shipping facilities the exports and -imports declined. Tho local industries are confined principally to lemons and fish, Imfc there are indications that the whaling industry is to be revived. The total •>rea placed under cultivation for wheat, Indian corn, potatoes, and other commodities was 2514 acres, while the estimated number of coffee treps is 24,1.00, and the approximate yield 45,7551b. At the end of December last the population consisted of 337 males and 427 females, while the Molanesiniis in thy mission numbered 114 and the tourists five, making a total of 833. The vital statistics •or 1917 showed that there were 23 births, 12 deaths, and five marriages. The island celebrated Australia Day, France's Day, and Our Day and contributed to many patriotic fluids, the total being ,£ISSO, while tho Norfolk Island honour roll contains 7S names of natives of (lie island and other residents wlio enlisted m the Australian and New Zealand Forces-12 were killed in action and 12 wounded or incapacitated. The establishment of a wireless station at Norfolk Island is being considered by the Australian Naval authorities.

Regarding the recent epidemic, a Christ-church paper says: ''It the Health Department knows now definitely what this deadlv sickness is, let us have tho name quite candidly. In. the Sydney papers latest to hand it is announced very emphatically that the complaint has bev'n finally diagnosed as epidemic pneumonia in its pandemic form. It is asserted that this term has now been adopted not only by the Australian and Amer«n Quarantine services, but also by the Department of Health in New Zealand.