LOCAL AND GENERAL

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 83, 2 January 1919, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

A Press Association telegram firom Invercargill states that tho deaths from the influenza opidemic in the AVallace and, Southland districts totalled 352. The convoy to which the transport taking the Forty-first Reinforcements to England was attached was attacked- three times by submarines when a day's steam from its destination. The first warning came about 10.30 a.m., when the signal indicating that a submarine had-been sighted was hoisted. Destroyers came into action immediately, and gunfire and depth charges prevented :he enemy doing any damage. One torpedo-boat destroyer steamed at right angles across tho wnko of the convoy, and emitted great volumes of dense black smoke, which, settling on the watc, formed an effective screen. Another attack, was made soon after midday, and this time a destroyer signalled that she had sunk a submarine—a fact \yhicli created the greatest enthusiasm. Later in the afternoon a third attack ivns beaten off successfully. The year 1919 is a bad one for eclipses, so far as New Zealand is concerned. There will bo a total eclipse of the 6un on Slay 29-30, and an annual eclipse on November 23; the moon will bo partially eolipsed on May 8. All tlieao phenomena are, however, invisible in thia country.

A local firm with an agency for the best Italian marble has received cable advice recording an increase of 80 ppr cent, since the armistice was signed. The manager of the finu is not aware of the reason for this onormous increase, but he surmises .that with the cessation of hostilities the demand for marble for the rebuilding operations in those cities which have suffered structural damage through gun-fire or bomb-dropping will be very heavy. It is taken for granted, too. that the wages of quarrymen and inarble workers in Italy have been increased through the exigencies of war. As the result of the increase several orders have been cancelled, and the usual buyers are said to be holding bnck. At New Brighton on Anniversary Day, while two young women were silting on the sands, one of I hem saw a lady's handbag lying close at hand without anyone in charge of it. On opening it she discovered a bank book; with .£350 (o credit, a roll of notes, and some silver.' Later in the afternoon (says the Christchurch "Sun") she noticed two women apparently looking for Something. She spoke to them; and ascertained that the lady to whom tho property belonged had not noticed her loss until she had returned to the city, and then came back at once to look, for her bag. The woman' who found the bng returned it to the thankful owner. Her reward wns a curt "thank you." One of the neutral writers oil the war, who observed the doings of the Germans during the days of the early occupation of France, has told a. story which is so characteristic-of the, Hun mentality, as. to be worth repeating. A chateau had fallen into the hands of tho invaders. The unfortunate owners watch- ! Ed the stripping of their walls and rooms without hope, until suddenly there came upon the scene a German officer whom they had known in the past, whom they 'had entertained in their home, and' to whom they , had shown every, courtesy. To this officer they at once appealed, with the. result that he requested them to accompany him round the house,' and to point out every article they desired to save. Overjoyed at. their fortune in finding their friend, thisy proceeded to pick out the real treasures of the chateau. When the labour was complete, and these treasures had been carefully selected and collected, theirjate gusst calmly turned, to his soldier servant,, and directed him to have these carefully packed, and dispatched to his address in Germany: That was. fTie German method of returning old friendship and courtesy. . . During the past year 436 operations under anaesthesia were performed at the Palmerston Hospital. Out of this large number only eight deaths occurred. Included in . the list were 88 cases of appendicitis, of which there were ( two. deaths. ' : ■ , Attention is drawn to the annual report of the inspector of inebriate establishments in Victoria (Dr. AV. E. Jones) to tho growth of the dimg habit. F*uu personal experience, Dr. Jones holds the opinion!that there is an increasing use. of sedatives, amounting to a doiinite misuse.. Some returned soldiers have exhibited this failing. He could not help the "uncomfortable feeling" that the medical faculty is responsible for many cases of drug iliabit' through the indiscreet provision of prescriptions. The . hospital-, tiained-nurse was not entirely guiltless, and it was a common thing to find in the. armamentarium of such a nurse a hypodermic syringe; • tabloids of . morphine, veronal, asperin, and similar sedatives. Dr. Jones suggests that as a precaution against the, improper acquisition of drugs, doctors' prescriptions containing a liypnotic should ,be marked with , the exact number of doses, the prescription not to.be repeated without instructions from. the doctor. Nurses should aUo.be prohibited from obtaining dangerous-narcotics' from .''chemists without a doctor's prescription. : These points should be cleared'up, he considers, by a joint conference of doctors and cliemisls. Shortly before 6 p.m. on 1 Christmas Day it was reported to' Constable D. -J. O'Neill, at Eahotu, Taranaki, thnt there was a mine lying on the beach between Eahotu and' Oaonui.. The constable proceeded where directed aiid found-near tho mouth' of the Matoti Stream a naval mine, washed -well up on the beach.. About five chains away were a number of lifebelts—jointed belts such ns are supplied to passengers and crows'of .ships. One of the lifebelts has the letters "R.A.M.C." (Koy'al Army Medical Corns) printed oh it, and written in indelible pencil is "A. A. Roberts, 52,076." No markings appeaf on the other four. The mine is ' roughly egg-shaped, thicker at one end than at the othei', the length being about four feet and the greatest thickness about two feet and ahalf. At the big end (which would bo uppermost when the mine was moored) there are five, horns and near them is-a plug. At-the . other end (tho anchorage end) a loop is formed by a metnl bar, and attached to this bar are a pulley, with-a small piece of cable still round iti and an irregular shaped copper, castTing, on one side of which is a dial numbered (from J to 20. Inscribed on tho bar are the numerals "18 108." Attached to the end of the mine itself is about 18 inohes of chain, somewhat heavier than a dog-chain, and close'to where one end of the bar is joined are two insulated fuses. Forty-four lifebelts wero discovered on various parts of the. beach between Oaonui and Okato and handed to the Customs officials. 1 There, is still no'sign of the new American wooden schooner,"Georgette, whioh left San Francisco on October 18 for Wellington, and is now considerably overdue. Mr. H. Hooper,, of'Lyall Bay, informed a reporter yestqrday that while walking on the bcach at Lyall Bay early on Christmas morning he crnne across some wreckage which may have come from the Georgette should disaster have overtaken her. A complete door, the upper portion' louvred and painted white and the lower part a dark torra-cotta, portion of the-lower part of a second door, and two or. three feet of planking apparently from 'a clinker-built dinghy,, wore found by Mr. Hooper, but at the time the likelihood that-a disaster had occurred did not enter his mind, though ho took particular notice of the wreckage, which was picked up .by a wood collector a little' later. Some shipping officials consider that, the vessel's delayed appearance is merely, due to- westerly gales, and she will come in sight as soon as conditions become favourable. The vital statistics for December (says a Press-Association telegram from Dunedin) were—Births, 127; .marriages, .*l3; deaths, 201. The figures for December, 1917, were—Births, 124; marriages, 54; deaths, 64. Ah Australian report says that fifty-five transports will arrive in Australia between January and April. Tho majority of the transports will be steamers which have formerly . visited Australia, representing units of the AA'hite Star, _ Blue Funnel, Commonwealth and Dominion, Aberdeen, Federal ships, and other lines, and also vessels belonging to companies which have no regular connection here, such as the Union Castle. About thirty former cargo vessels, averaging 5000 tons deadweight each, the majority of which are British standard ship 3, are also included in tho total referred to. Practically tho whole of the vessels will proceed to Australia in ballast for the purpose of loading wheat for Eastorn Mediterranean iports and elsewhere. In addition to the list mentioned twelve other steamers, units of the Commonwealth Austral fleet and enemy requisition, will he trading regularly hetween ths United Kingdom and Australia.