LOCAL AND GENERAL

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 111, 4 February 1919, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

The Board of Trado lias completed tho inquiry on which it has been engaged for some time relating to the timber industry. The board is now working on the fixing of the prices for timber of different classes, and first it has to deal with the standardisation of the different classes of timber. After standardisation has been accomplished, it is not exnected that the fixing of prices for the different classes of timber will be a task of any difficulty. i The monthly report of the Men's Employment Bureau in Ghiiznee Street states that during January 153 new abdications were liiado by ■workers and 81 by employers. Tho number of engagement's completed during tho month was' 113.

Sullivan's Hotel at Ahaura has been broken into and the cash-box stolen. There is no olue, states a Press Association message from. Greymoutlj,

A policy in forestry was promised by Sir Francis Bell vin the course of a reply he made yesterday to a deputation of timber millers. The .Minister said that he had drafted recommendations to Cabinet, but that thev had not yet been finally considered by Cabinet. The projected policy included provision for education in forestry. He said also that he was preparing "new regulations for the timber industry. A basis of the amendments had already been arranged between nn advisory committee and the millers concerned," but the regulations had still to be submitted to Cabinet.

-V Press Association cable message from London states that Mr. Clutha Mackenzie expects to,sail for New Zealand in March. Ho has issued the last number of his highly successful "Chronicles of the Expeditionary Force." Mr. Mackenzie hopes to continue the publication in New Zealand. He suggests that a permanent memorial should be erected in .France to commemorate the association of the Australian and New Zealand troops on many fields.

Owing to Mr. P. S. K. Macassey," of the Crown Law Office, being engaged in the Supreme Court, the hearing of the.Moana poisoning inquiry, which was to have been resumed yesterday afternoon, was adjourned until 2.15 p.m. on Friday.

The position of fishermen who have been on active service, and who need assistance to enable them to return to their old occupation, was brought before the Minister of |Marine, the Hon. T. M. Wilford, at Auckland on Friday last. Mr. H. Barnsley, secretary of the Northern Fishermen's Union,-, stated that men who now wished to buy back their boats could not do so unless they were prepared to pay half'as much again as >the amounts lor which they sold them. Aid was needed Also in the purchasing of the gear. Mr. Wilford assured the deputation that the Cabinet had discussed th<; matter, but he could not say anything further than that a cablegram on the subject had been sent to England. He reminded the deputation, however, that returned soldiers who wished,to take up fishing could apply for financial assistance to the Hon. D. H. Guthrie. Personally, he would, do his utmost to assist any man applying in thie way.

Applications for the position of dircc* tor of the Wellington Technical College, vice Mr. W. S. La Trobe (resigned) will be considered at a meeting of the board to be held this evening. As it will,not he possible to.secure a director for at least a couple of months, an acting-di-rector will probably be appointed to carry out the duties in the meantime.

When the French Mission visited Akaroa, Mr. E. S. Le Lievre offered Sir James Allen, Minister of Defence, his' beautiful residence and. grounds at Akaroa as a convalescent home for wounded soldiers. While thanking Mr. Le Lievr? for his offer, Sir James Allen stated that the Department had accepted thfl offer of a number of convalescent horn's, and that they could not fill any more. In fact, it was hoped that as the number of" cases were decreasing with time, many of these convalescent homes would tw closed.

An inquiry was held by the Coroner, Mr. W. G. Riddell, S.M./aHlw Porirua Mental Asylum into the circumstances surrounding the death of an inmate of the institution. After hearing evidence of. witnesses, tho Coroner returned a verdict t&it deceased committed suicide by hanging himself in the plantation whilst suffering from mental depression.

• Two beautiful stained glass windows were unveiled, by Bishop' Sprptt at St. Thomas's Church, Newtown, on Sunday. The windows are a gift of an occasional worshipper at the church, and they complete the windows of tho. chancel. One renresents the. Lord appearing after his resurrection to St. Thomas, and ' the other represents tho Ascension.

The annual conference of the Red Cross Society will be held in Christ-church tomorrow. The Wellington district is to be represented bv Mrs. J. P. Luke, Mrs. T. H. Lowry'" (Hastings), Mrs. Martin (Martinborough). Hon. G. Cnrson, M.L.C. (Wanganui), Colonel W. H. S. Moorhouse, and Mr. T. Young.

At. the annual meeting, of the New Zealand Institute in Christchurch on Saturday, Professor H. B, Kirk (Wellington) stated (as telegraphed briefly) that tho Wellington, Philosophical Society had obtained ,£SO towards the construction of a tide-predicting machine, had spent another ,£64, and had applied for a further grant of The Minister of Intornal •Affairs, however, under his power of controlling tho issue of Government ' research grants, had withhold his sanction, nnd no payment could be made. He moved a motion regretting that the Minister vetoed the grant, and naked in future that the Minister should givo reasons. Tho Hon. G. W. Russell replied that ho was justified, as, so far as his Department was concerned, the machine was of doubtful benefit. It more concerned the Marine Department. Ho would, however, insist on controlling expenditure for which lie was responsible to Parliament. The '.notion was withdrawn.

Tho offer of the Auckland Provincial Farmers' Union to -place its organisation' at the disposal of tho Government in connection with, tho repatriation of soldiers has been accepted by the Minister of Lands, the H6n„D. H. Guthrio (states the "Herald"). Mr. Guthrie characterises tho offer as most generous, and in his letter states that representatives of the union will be appointed to the several district repatriation l committees. An extraordinary caso of cruelty to< animals has come under .the notice of tho Waihi nolice (states an exchange). It is alleged tliat a cow was tied to a rail in a femall pen at Paeroa for a period of five days. The police found that the cow had a short chain, 2ft. or 3ft. in length, attached to its horns, the other end being fastened to a rail of the enclosure. A calf, apparently a few weeks old, was in, an adjoining pen. Both animals wero in a starved condition, and there was no evidence that they had had food or water. Tho chain was attached to a lower rail, and the head of the beast was, therefore, pulled downwards. The following notice had been placed on the gate of the pen:—"This cowib dangerous, and is being broken in on scientific plans." The police are taking action in the matter.

While trying to beat out a grass fire at Waipawa, Mr.' J. Eccloton was overcome by the smoke, fell into the flames, and was so severely burnt that he was taken to the hospital at Waipukui'au. Mr. Lindsay (a neighbour) had been burning off some dry grass, the flames spread to his house, and it was in trying bsave tho dwelling that the accident occurred.

When Coleridge enumerated the "two and seventy 6tenches" of Cologne, he forgot to mention its one perfume, which at tho time he wrote tho poem had a wellestablished celebrity. Its. composition was then a well-kept secret of the family of Farina, v ho came from Italy to Germany about the end of tho seventeenth century, but it is a secret no longer. Nor is the popular scent now distilled from ile-wers, at any rate in Cologne. If our men of the army of occupation should send home presents of the water, it will probably bo derived from coal tar.

Wellington Badio Station will be. within communication range of the following steamers to-night: Maori, Mararoa, Mono-■n-ai, and Tahiti. Last night Auckland Eadio was to have been within range of the Wnitomo and Ceylon.

The "Sydney Daily Telegraph" states that it has been learned that Private Malthouse has died of starvation in the prison camp at Buhleben, Gcirinany. The deceased was captured when the Matunga was sunk by the German raider Wolf. It is quit© evident, says tho "Telegraph," that goods which had been sent to deceased by hia wife and friends never reached him. His letters to his wife were pathetic in his description of the sufferings fro™, hunger and privation, and in his appeals for food. Mrs. Malthouse sent sufficient food and comforts to sustain half a dozen men for the full time her husband had been a prisoner, yet they were commandeered.

Some overseas ships which have visited Sydney recently have carried a structure oil their bows resembling a steel girder. "The girder" is really a paravane, used in mined areas. A vessel when about to enter a danger /.one lowered the paravnne below the waterline, ' where it opened in the shape of a fan. The edge, being sharp, cut the wire on coming into contact with a mine, and allowed tho mine to come to the top clear of tho ship. It was then dealt with by the gunmen,

To say that an author expresses himself iu "plain, crisp phrases" is to pay him a compliment, but when, in the process of getting into type, the 'unfortunate author achieves through the pen of his reviewer some Weal fame as a writer of "plain cryptic Sentences," something has to be done to keep the peace. The author ■in question is Mr. Charles Wilson, the review of whose brochure, "The Corner Shop," in yesterday's Dominion, referring to "plain cryptic phrases," and thus gave "The Corner Shop" a unique advertisement.

The huge importations of bronze coin required to remedy-the shortage of "small change" in the Commonwealth is a striking illustration of the immense demand for pence and halfpence in the community (says the Melbourne "Age"). The average member of the public knows very little about the ordinary currency of the day, save that a generous supply_ of it is decidedly useful in everyday life, but the Commonwealth Treasury officials harbour much strange lore relating to little-known characteristics and features of our coinage. It is not generally realised, for instance, that the present bronze coinage is linked with the Imperial system of weights and measures, 60 that the new penny, halfpenny, _and farthing are required to be of the weight respectively of one-third, one-fifth, and one-tenth' of an avoirdupoi3 ounce, though the weights were not stamped on the coins. Nevertheless,, for the man who wishes to incisure out an ounce of some commodity three new pennies will form a handv substitute for a weight. In the same way the halfpence are coined exactly of the diameter of an Imperial inch, while a. penny is about one and oneeighth of an inch in ; diameter. The post surprising fact in relation to the weights of everyday currency, however, is ehipted in answer to the question, "How 'many one-pound notes weigh as much as a sovereign?" Few people will guess that the answar is "Four." One thousand sovereigns weigh about 181b., and lUw £1 notes weigh 441b.

Private E. J. Ashby, Details, -lata A/50, found guilty by court-martial of absenting himself without leave and losing by neglect his equipment, clothing, and regimental necessaries, was sentenced to 48 hours' detention, and stoppages to pay for deficiencies in. kit amounting to £1 6s. lid.

It will be Temembered, said the Hon. G. W. Russell at ( Cliristchurch. -yesr terday, "that during.the recent Parliamentary session there occurred what was kr.own as the 'kidnapping incident, - in which a lady who had taken a very active part in the epidemic campaign in Wellington endeavoured by rather ridicitlous means to induce me at midnight to visit some of the slums in Wellington. It was a clear case of mental breakdown caused-by overstrain in the strenuous wtTk the lady had done during the epidemic. She has now completely recovered from her trouble, and has indicated to nu her regret for what happened and her 'desire to appear before a Royal Commission in order to give evidence as to the condition of things she discovered during the' epidemic."—Press Assn.-

The secretary of the Auckland, Second Division League has now_ received a reply to his letter to the Minister of Defence regarding the position of discharged soldiers who were undergoing training in the Cl.Camp on November 12, 1918, under the Discharged Soldiers Settlement Act (fiays the "Star ). Sir James Allen states that Section 18 of the Repatriation Act applies to soldiers who were in CI Camp on above date, ana that the term "whether absolutely or contingently medically fit" which occurs in Section 18 was expressly drawn in order to cover the cases of men m the special training camp : Therefore, all men whQ wore in camp on November 12, ISIB, are entitled to trie benefits of Section 2 and 3 of the Discharged Soldiers Settlement Act, and should rpply to «» p™J™ Lands Office accordingly. The Miniver ■points out, however, that discharged spldiers who have not served abroad are not eligible to take part in any land ballot uiidctr -this, Act.