LOCAL AND GENERAL

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 118, 12 February 1919, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL

The San Francisco , mail boat Paloona arrived in port at 10 o'clock last night. She will berth to-morrow morning. The Auckland Presbytery decided last night (says a Press Association "lessafie) to initiate an appeal for for the purpose of erecting a boys', home for the Auckland provincial district as a'thanksgiving forthe conclusion of'peons. "I am told that there is a lot of waste coal in New Zealand," said Professor Easterfield to a member of the Industries Committee, of Parliament yesterday. "I fancy," added the professor, "that that is mostly what we get in our grates at present." . Indent agents,, particularly for soft and Manchester goods, are doing very little business of late. Although it is being persistently etated that prices' cannot decrease for some time to come, those in the trade realise that there must be solid reductions this year, so they hesitate to indent. One indentar.of Manchester goods, whose annual orders invariably run into fouir figures in each of the four centres, has returned to Wellington without having "opened his. book." The position is that those in the trade do not care to place big orders at the pre-. sent extremely high prices ruling (the highest, probably, in the history of the trade), and are rather prepared to defend on existing stocks lasting out rather than buy high and have to sell low, "If a young man shows himself to be competent, to engage in scientific re-, search at the present time, all he can (jet is ,£IOO at the 'beginning for one or two years from the Education Department. He becomes a research student or some such thing," said Dr. .Cockayne in giving evidence before the Industries Committee of Parliament yesterday. "There is a most talented young woman in Dunedin," continued the doctoi, "probably the most talented yoiinp woman that the University has turned out, and she gets this .£IOO a year in her work, but she- can't even pay an hotel bill from it." "That's quite sufficient to starve on." commented Mr. .T. T. M. Hornsby,. M.P. ■ , A deputation from,the New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts will wait on the Hon. G. W. Russell at 10 o'clock on-Fri-day to urge the erection of tho Dominion Art Gallery as a national peace memorial. What has been described as a tombstone vailing has 'been erected on a portion of the main road •in North-East Valley, Dunedin, states a southern ■ contemporary. The work, which appears to be an eyesoro to many residents, •' was only finished last week, but' some wise person decorated the railing witli a, ilacard bearing tho following inscrip-tion-.-"Sacred to.the memory of the City Engineer; by his works yo shall know him—R.l.P." The vicar of the parish of Hikurangi (Rev. AV. E. Connolly) recently performed a baptismal service at' Hukurunui, at which the water used was brought from the River Jordan, in Palestine, by a returned trooper,' Mr. Harry Johnso-n. It was a unique happening, and probably the first of its kind in New Zealand. ■ Mr. W. Leadley,'secretary of the Christchurch Returned , Soldiers' Association, informed a reporter on Saturday that there were still thirty-five unemployed returned soldiers on the association's books, a- good many , of these.being clerks. Asked if he had .received many applications from the different firms for men for clerical work, Mr. Leadley. stated that only one' private firm, and one Government Department, kid approached him since tho beginning of January. The omission to write "not negotiable" on a cheque is one that tradesmen should regard as extremely risky, as a case just reported to the. police proves, (says the. "Lyttelton Times"). A Ch'ristehurch tradesman paid an account with a crossed cheque for £21 odd. The -person to whom it was paid lost it, and' tho loss was reported' to the bank, arid payment stopped. Meanwhile .the finder of. the cheque had forged an 'endorsement on tho cheque in the name of the person to whom "it was made payable, and had tendered it at a city establishment in payment for a suit of clothes valued at £i 10s. This was on Friday ■ night, at an hour when it would not have been easy to find, out the genuineness of the cheque. The firm, however, accepted the cheque, and gave ..£2O in change, together with the suit. The cheque was' paid;.in, but payment was stopped. However, it is stated that the drawer of the cheque will have to honour it, whatever further action ho may take- in tho matter. A number of young sharks from nine inches to a foot long were, caught off tho Stanley Bny Jetty. Auckland, recently. The warm weather had evidently attracted quite.a shoal of thn baby manpaters to come into the harbour, and, judging by the size of their months, they could at even this ea-rly sta.ie of their development, give a nasty bite- to a bather's Ip?. Wmny yeav: ago at the rowlstead in New Plymouth/a, number of bulhers wero bitten liy young sharks, and had pieces of flesh tern out; of their lejrs, which took a long time'to heal, and proved very painful. On Sunday, also, some very large kingfish were snort-' ing themselves amongst'the piles of the Stanley Bay Jetty, but worn too wary and too cunning to snnp tho baits which were carefully set to try and catch them A Nanier wldier writing from Mons by the last mail /rives ll'« prices of some of the necessaries of life there, ns follow:—Butler, ft». per lb.; meat, 3s. lid. per lb.; eggs, K each; apples, 2s. per lb.; grapes. 4s. fid. per lb.; little caramel squares, 2Jd. each. Considerable inconvenience is being caused in Auckland owing to the fact that prospective passengers to Sydney are now obliged to go to Wellington In order to get a boat over to the Australian port. Tho only direct communication between Auckland and Sydney is maintained I>y tho Niagara and Mnkura. but Hip' interval between these ve.-'els' arrivnl here is so loi<» Mint pnspeti"ers are olviised to so lo Welli'i'ton. being relnphnt to wait so lony. Knenkinsr. to the Up'in ftnmpaiiy weardins this matter, a "Star" representative was informed that the company has arrnnei>d for « vessel to leave Sydney shortly for Auckland, when she will carry iiassP'iaws back to Hie Australian port/ This vessel will bo the ib'iukn. arriving at the northern port within tV next week or so.

The AVan?amii Harbour Bonnl is con(cniplatinp ninliinß a fresh start with its harbour improvement work. At a recent meetim; of the bnnrd it wns decided t> write to Mr. J. Blair Mason, M.1.C.E., asking An , what terms he would submit a report. Mr. Blair Mason is at present visiting Whangarei in connection with haibour matters there,-

A five-roomed house in Hantapu Street, Taihape, and the whole of its contents ; wore destroyed by fire at 2 o'clock yea- , terday morning (states n Press Association message). When discovered the ftre ' had too big a hold to render the Fire Brigade of any value. The house was owned by the E. T. Hatlcy Estate, and ■ was insured at Wanganui in (ho South British Office. Tho amount is not ascertainable here. Tho house was occupied -by J. Kirkpatrick. The furniture was insured in tho British Dominions Office for .£3OO, and the piano for ,£IOO. The origin of the fire is a mystery.. Mr. and Mrs. Kirkpatrick and eon were away from home. A New Zealand artillery ofiicer, writ--1 ing to his parents from Belgium, says that they wero surprised on entering Belgian towns to find them decorated with tho flags of the Allies. They wondered where the inhabitants could have got them, and on inquiry found that the German? hud sold the flags to them before evacuating the towns! He further described the way in which the residents voluntarily vacated their homes so that our soldiers might have the comfort of them. In some instances they kept only one or two rooms into which they crowded, and in other cases they went away altogether. "I think there is too much of the idea J in tho country that the mineral wealth of New Zealand lies in rare minerals, and not in'the common things, like clay, limestone, coal, and oils; and it is only by researches, in pure science that you can find out the. distribution of these things, the depth at which you will get them, and so.on."—Dr. J. A. Thompson, before the Industries Committee of Parliament yesterday. A'meeting of Seatoun, Worser Bay, and Karaka Bay residents is to be held in tho Masonic Hall, Seatoun, to-mor-row evening for the purpose.of forming a ratepayers' association, and discussing matters.of concern to the borough, and in particular the waterfront. Yesterday morning was announced the resignation of Dr. W. J. Barclay, the medical superintendent of the Wellington Hospital (who .. is abont to take up private practice in Invei-cargill),. Another member of the staff who has tendered his resignation is Dr. Robertson, who some four or five months ago was' appointed radiologist to the Wellington Hospital. Dr. Robertson (who is a son of .Mr. Donald Robertson, Public Service Commissioned , ) has really. not been vei-y closejy concerned with the work as the X-ray apparatus has only recently been, set up. At the last meeting of the 'board it was decided to advertise for a developer to attend to the X-ray photographs, and some fourteen applications have been received, but in view of Dr. Robertson's resignation the committee has decided to stay their hand until a new radiologist can be secured. The vacancy is being advertised. Applications, are to close oir March 20. On tho same date applications for the post of medical superintendent will clop?. Eight hundred pounds (rising to .£IOOO a year), with free furnished house, lighting,, and fuel is being offered by the board. ■■•■•' The following clause appears, in' the last ireport of the Lower Hutt Borough Engineer to his council:—"My attention has been drawn to a condition which exists in one block of buildings (includ-' ing some , dwellings) situated in' the main street. On examining the drains I found that several of them are not provided with gully-traps of any shape or form, so that sewerage passee directly into the sewer, and'likewise, sewer gas passes directly from the sewer to the vicinity of the dwelling, owing to the fact that no intercepting traps are installed under your prssent system. This is so serious a fault that I find that it is incumbent on me to apprise you of the fact at once, and at the same time make public so gross an example of criminal laxity.on the part of the then inspector iind the ; da-ain-layer. One cannot help assuming that similar faults must occur in other properties in the borough. As. j far as I am able to determine, (he abovementioned drains were laid eleven years, ago under building permit No. 755, granted on October 15, 1906. The owner of the property was.written to at once requiring -him to make good .the defects." Prior to the' commencement of the meeting . of the Wellington Central Chamber of Commerce last night the chairman (Mr. A. Leigh Hunt) read the following letter, dated January 28, which hod been received from Dr. Siegfried, general; secretary of the French Mission:—"At the moment, when the French Mission is about to leave your fino, city of Wellington, I desire to thank you very much, ,and to ask you to' convey to your •_ colleagues the best thanks of the mission, for the'very kind reception we found from the Central Chamber of Commerce. The" information supplied by you so obligingly—thanks to you personally and for the remarks made by your members—enabled m, I think, to I obtain a fair idea of the best ways by which wo could foster the commercial relations between our two countries. We have been impressed by tho general sympathy we have found in this country,and especially among your members,.and on behalf of the French Mission I want 'to express to your our very sincere gratitude." Some weeks ago Mr. F. Paltridge, of Waihi, was injured in the neck by a fragment of flying sted, which: passed through the windpipe and lodged in tho throat. When he wa-s in hospital much interest was aroused in the case on tho part of the medical staff.' Efforts to remove tho steel from the throat failed, and. tho injured man left the institution apparently recovered from the effects of the accident. The other day Mr. Pnltridge was seized with an attack of coughing, during which, to his great 'relief,, the fragment of metal was dislodged from the throat, and coughed up without further difficulty. Tho question of repatrialion came in for a good deal of attention at last nights meeting of the Wellington Central Chamber of Commerce during discussion of the subject, "How Best to Increase Production." Several speakers, took the view that men who had gone to tho front should be replaced in their former employment when they returned to,the Dominion. Mr. T. Foreyth said that in the drapery business that principle had been decided upon. "But," he said, "I am sorry to say that in some other businesses that is not done. Thero are cases already where firms have benefited to the extent (if scores of thousands of pounds profit through this war who have refused to-reinstate their men, and have filled their places with girl labour. This has happened in Wellington. The Repatriation Board must tackle this question. Employers who are inclined to dodge their resnonsibilii.ies in this matter should be macle (o toe the line." 'At the Town Hall, Lower Hutt, last .evening a meeting was held under the auspices of the Wellington Labour Representation Committee for the purpose of forming a branch of the New Zoa-1 land Labour Party.- Mr. H. Adams presided over a orowded attendance. Mr. M P. Fraser, M. P., was the principal ' (speaker. Several of the audience wero ' ' enrolled as members of the party, but! ' owing to the lateness of the hour when i ! Mr. Fraser had finished his speech the ! ' election of officers was deferred till a ! later meeting, the date of which will be ] announced. ' At a rally of tho Protestant Political ! Association at Petono last evening, the following resolutions were carried unanimously: "(1) Being fully alive to the disastrous effects on national lifo of dis- , integrajmg the national system or-cdu. t cation we heartily congratulate the New • Zealand Teachers' Institute on their! courageous efforts to keep our national eyetein intact and pledge ourselves to support them to tho utmost in their endeavours. Wo also pledge out sunnort in their efforts to rnieo the status of'the teaching profession and the betterment of ' their conditions generally." (2) "That i .' this meeting deplores the existence of! slum areas in such a young and pros- ■ porous country. Wβ recognise the" impossibility of evolving a . healthy, free, intellectual community from a vitiated ( environment. Therefore, we urge that the Government bring forward a better • scheme for housing the people at the , earliest possible date." ' Tho trial of Edward Campbell, a half- ] caste Maori, on a charge of murdering his | wifo by. drowning her in the Wniroa . River, was continued at the Supreme , Court, Auckland, yesterday, when a num. 0 ber of Native witnesses were called by the , prosecution. The case will be continued , to-day.—Press Assn, ' »

:> The commanding officer of'the Earo--3 tougan troops on Somes Island wishes to ~ thank the Salvation Army and the members of tlie band for going oMi , to .the e island last night and playing selections. e These were greatly appreciated by Uβ s men - - 1 The Hon. 6. W. Eussell, speaking at li tho ceremony at the Aramii behoof on ■- Saturday night, made reference to New jt Zealand s war efforts as regards patriotic . funds, and mentioned that there were at r present in the hands of the patriot!;; soil cietie3 of New Zealand aliout o,no and a i, half millions of money, which he hoped a would be expended-in assisting the repatriation of our brave soldiers. So far as he was concerned, he would like to fiee > that if a returned man wanted to get S married, ho was, if necessary, given furft niture; if/he wanted locls for his trade, J he should not be out of work a- day for .- the want of them; if he wanted dogs for e mustering, he should bo assisted in this e direction also. They h'iitl got to provide !- assistance for the returned soldiers in the r form in which it wae most needed. On a recent Sunday morning, as some 0 people were"on their way to church, ' walking along the r arrow footpath which f skirts the proposed Shoal Bay park flat 1 across Auckland harbour, they encounf tered threo boys, whose age might range from four to six years, who were paddling i near one of the pools which had been left i by : tho receding: tide. Tho youngest of :, the three ■ suddenly exclaimed, "A crab , has , got hold of my foot!" "There soeins f dozens of the —!" called' out. another l of the youngsters, and all three exclaimed » one after another, "This is no place t for us to play in." Five different places of worship were within almost a etone'e '. throw of but when the rude little boys were checked for what was undoubtedly very bad language, they seem- > ed unabaslied and unrepoiiient. The reI mark made last week .by the Acting • Prime Minister, when referring to phy- > sical culture, (hat there was far too • much bad uncouth language in New Zra- > land, and that it should be checked in youth before it became too etrong a > habit, shows that some of the culprits > commence'at a very early age.' . Considerable .difficulty is being experi- ' enced by the Auckland Hospital Board in • collecting doctors' fees for visits paid in • Auckland during the epidemic. When in- - fluenza was at its height,-the board ar- ) ranged to send out deftors in response - to calls. These calls came in literally ; by thousands. It soon became apparent i that many people were merely suffering : badly from fright, and in order to save ! .the doctors' precious .time, the hoard • then sent someone out first to investigate • whether the case were urgent on not. . Fully 60 per cent, of them were not, and ! no doctor's visit was necessary. Even bo, i about 6000 visits were paid under this i arrangement. Bills for these visits at the i ordinary charge, "s. 6tl. per visit, have I now been sent in, and in many cases are being repudiated, some people claiming . that the doctor did them no good, or did not stay long enough. Others that he was so long coming that they had, in the meantime, secured another medical man. i , "It has been very gratifying to me as ono of the heads of the Canterbury i Eugby Union," said Mr. F. T. Evnns", president of the Canterbury Eugoy , Union, at the Merivale Football Club's gathering on Saturday night, "to see so many Eugby footballers go to the front. I understand that between 2000 and 3000 - Eugby players from Christchurch and its suburbs went away with tho forces, and I think that, if the numbers were totalled up all over New Zealand, it would ' be found that there were well on to 15,000 Eugby footballers who went away, and r that is out of about 90,000 soldiers who left New Zealand. Such a hi?h percentage is naturally a great feather in our cap," and Mr. Evans went on to say that_ various generals liad expressed the opinion that sport had had a great deal to do with the excellence of the New Zealanders. In fact, said' Mr. Evans, he had spoken to a man who had just returned from the front who had said that in the words of a famous British general, outside one particularly well-known British regiment, the New Zealand Brigade I stood alone as far ns fitness and general appearance and discipline were concerned, and that must be regarded as very high honour. Aβ far as football was concerned, well, the New Zealamlers were "out 00. their own." ■ ....- Foxtou was rattled .with the report of a mine explosion which took place a few miles eouth of tho heads some days ago. The mine was towed ashore by Mr. Albert Mudgway. Ho ttated subsequently that ho wae motor-cycling on the beach when he saw the mine, which wae some distance off shore. Hβ procured a rope, waded out as far as possible, and the mine was within reach, passed the rope round it and hauled it towards the beach. To make sure that the capture would not float off again and go meandering out to sea and perhaps blow up a ship, the enterprising discoverer states that he attached the ropo to his motor and pulled tho heavy cannister of high explosivo further up the beach and made it secure. Ho then informed tho local police of his find. His reward is £i. King-fishing enthusiasts from Auckland and the south art. reported to be excellent sport at the "Bay of Islands. The fishing, which- is done chiefly off Cape .Brett land The Ninepins, is 'stated to be very good this year, and several large catches up to 781b. have been recorded There are plenty of king-fish; but so far no sword-fish have been caught. This is the most spectacular and exciting form of rod-fiehing in the world, and encounters with these fish during the last few sensons have added keen zest and no small element of danger to the snort. Several well-known Aucklanders will lie leaving for the Bay of Wands within n week or two, when it is ejected that the warm weather will have brought the large fish nearer the northern coa.st. ■The London correspondent of the Christchurch "Press,- , writing of a gallant'exrioit of. Lieutenant B. C. Kirk, of the Eifle Brigade, states: "When all the other officers ot his company had become casiin'nes. Lieiiterinnt Bernard C. Kirk, N.Z.E.8., took command and led the men forward with great gallantry and skill. Alter a daring reconnaissance down a forward slope, in full view of the enemy, ha led a second vwy successful attaok, in which he captured 7G prisoners, seven ma-chine-guns, and a light trench mortar. His conspicuous courage and initiative greatly contributed to our success that day." ■It has. been suggested in town that a stone cairn on i the highest point of the Himutaka traffic road- would be a fitting and lasting war memorial. A tall impJe!? lve i well-built oairn of the stones of the locality should form a very fine and at the same time inexpensive memorial of the prowess of our boys, so many of whom passed "over the hill" en route to the front, via Trentham. If, it is suggested, every passing motorist added a stone to tho heap the cairn would soon grow to an impressive sizo, and later working bees from Wellington and the Wnirarnpa could shape tho pile into its formal design and-adorn it with a shaft of marble or granite, which would bear an appropriate inscription. Itegarding- the initiation in Wellington oi tho Chautauqua movement (which is a big uplifting farce in the United States' and Canada) it may be of interest to read what President Wilson has to say of its influence on citizenship: "It has been on my mind for somo timo to thank your organisation for the very leal help it has given America in the struggle that is concerned with every fundamental element of national life. Your speakers, gcing from community to community, meeting people in the friendly spirit engendered by years of intimate and understanding contact, 'have been effective messengers for the delivery and interpretation of democracy's meaning and imperative moods. The work that the Chautauqua is doing has not lost importance because of tho war, but has gained new opportunities' for service. Let me express the hope that you will let no discouragement weaken your activities, and that the people, will 'not fail in the support of a patriotic institution that may be said to be an integral part of the national defence." •