LOCAL AND GENERAL

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 128, 24 February 1919, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

The City Fire Brigade received a false alarm call at 2.15 p.m. yesterday to the Public Works shop in Sydney Street, behind the Museum. At the Christchurch Supreme Court on Saturday, a decree nisi was granted in the case Clark v. Clark and Dixon, with £M damages against co-respondent. Tho case was undefended, and t'ne amount oj damage was agreed upon between the parties.—Press Association. At a meeting of the Tauranga Citizens' Railway Labour Committee on Friday night it was reported that fifty-four men would be available for railways works immediately, and.that arrangements are. being made to start them. The committee 'fully anticipates that Tauranga's attractive climatic conditions for outdoor labour will secure a large response from all parts of the Dominion.—Press. As6n. The Royal College of Physicians is considering the exclusion of German and Austrian universities from the schools whose certificates of study are accepted by the Conjoint Examination Board. The Academies Of Science and of Medicine in Paris recommend that relations with the savants of the Germanic Powers should not be resumed until reparation has been made. But, says the "Lancet," the medical boycott will be found impracticable.

Among the returned soldiers who arrived in Wellington on Friday was Private J. R. E. Bennett, formerly of the staff of Messrs. Young and Tripe, and son of Mr. F. Bennett, headmaster of the Britomart Street School. Private Bennett'was in the fighting line in France from Boxing Day, 1917, till August 7 last year, when he received his "Blighty" in a rather' curious way. The troops were operating in the vicinity of Amiens, and were following ut> an advantage gained over the Germans. Some nf the boys were engaged in burning up some of the rubbish left by the retreating foe, when suddenly a violent explosion took place in the fire. One poor lad was killed outright, and several others were wounded, including Private Bennett, whose right arm was severely lacerated by the flying fragments of metal. In scraping the debris together the party had overlooked a German hand grenade, which burst as soon as the explosives became sufficiently heated. Private Bennett has made a good recovery. A Press Association telegram from Hokitika states :-The county chairman, visiting South Westland, received many complaints from settlers at the curtailment of the Postal services by one-half, and he is urging the renewal of the original services. It was emphasised that the urgent need of South Westland was the bridging of rivers and streams intercepting the well-kept roads. A remarkable academic record has been established by Master J. F. Landreth, who was dux of tho Otago Boys' High School for 1918 (states tjie "Otago Daily Times"). Master Landreth entered from tho Sandymount School with an Education Board Scholarship, and later won a Senior Board Scholarship. He attained the unusual distinction of winning a high place in the Junior University Scholarship examination before he was of age. to accept such a scholarship, and also of gaining first place in mathematics in this examination. His mother was his teacher at the Sandymount School before he joined the Otago Boys' High School. In addition to his academic interests,' Master Landreth took his full share in the outdoor life of the Boys' High School while a pupil there.

Before the Germans dismantled and destroyed them, there were in the invaded departments of France alone nearly 26,000 factories and industrial establishments, representing more than BO per cent .of the industrial output of all of France. From these districts was furnished. 90 per cent, of the iron ore produced in France; 83 per cent, of the pig iron, 75 per cent, of the steel, 70 per cent, of the coal, 91 per cent, of the combed wool, 90 per cent, of the linen thread, and 64 per cent, of the sugar. At a meeting of the Canterbury Acclimatisation Society on Wednesday night (says the "Press"), a story of a dastardly assault on the curator (Mr. Hope) was told. It is apparently the practice of friends of patients in the isolation hospital 'to, go into the acclimatisation grounds, clamber up the Bft. fence near, the isolation ward, and talk to inmates. One man some days ago, after breaking through the Acclimatisation Society's fence, began a conversation with a female patient, who met him on top of the hospital fence, and on the curator' remonstrating with him he retaliated by using very bad language, and defied Mr. Hope to make him come off the fence. While Mr. Hops was talking to the man, the woman, after picking up a log of wood, leaned over the fence and dealt Mr. Hope a severe blow on the head, knocking him senseless. When he came to, his assailants had disappeared, and not being able to identify them it .was found impossible to prosecute. The estate of Mr. R, J. Collier, the publisher of "Collier's Weekly," New York, has been returned at .£1,000,000. By his will Mr. Collier left his entire estate to three .friends-Mr. Harry Payne Whitney. Mr. F. J. Garvin, and Mr. F. P. Dunne, who achieved fame as the creator of Mr. Dooley. The omission of his widow from the provisions of the will was explained by Mr. Collier on the ground that her father, Mr. James P. Yanalon, had amply provided for her. The legatees have, however, renounced their rights in favour of Mrs. Collier, and have also intimated that they decline to servo as executors.

An act of benevolence which is worth placing upon record was performed in Masterton at the end of last week (says the Wairarapa "Age") A family of U had been evicted from their house, and were applying to the Charitable Aid Board for a tent in which to reside on the bank of the river, as no other shelter was available. The chairman of the board mentioned the case to a Wellington business man, who immediately wrote out a cheque for .£SO as a deposit upon a house. A local solicitor drew out an agreement for purchase free of charge, and the family are now provided with what is hoped will be a permanent residence. The father of the family has expressed his deep sense of gratitude to the benevolent stranger, and will probably show by his conduct that the generosity has not been misplaced. At the meeting of the Otago Hospital and Charitable Aid Board on Thursday night the following resolution was unanimously adopted: "Owing to the difficulty of discriminating lietween those who have suffered through the influenza epidemio and other cases requiring assistance this board protests against the ac(ioii of the Minister of Public Health in forcing upon hospital and charitable aid boards the duty of administering the Government's influenza relief scheme, being of the opinion that the Pensions Department is the proper authority to carry out the Ministers proposals."

Another instance of Government control | of prices was disclosed by Mr. Sincock, of.Donaghy's Rope and Twine AVorics, before the Industries Committee on Friday (states the "Dunedin Star"). He said that as a war industries measure the Home Government authorities controlled the price of flax fibre, but not the price of the green leaf. One consequence was that the price of the green leaf at once jumped bv £Z 10s. per ton, meaning an advance of <£20 per ton in the cost of i production of fibre, since it took about eight to nine tons of green leaf to inaice a ton of fibre.

According to the Rev. H. J. Fletcher, Presbyterian Maori missionary in the Tauno district, who spoke at Friday night's sitting of General Assembly, the Treaty of Waitangi has been, in some matters, 'treated as a mere "scrap of paper" (says the Christehurch "Press ). In support of his contention he stated that the introduction of trout into the lake had resulted in the trout eating the native fish which" provided the Maoris with food. When the Maoris turned round and started to catch and eat trout the Government interposed and told the Maoris that they must not take trout unless they had a license. The lake belonged to the Maoris, and the Government could not show that they had any claim to it, yet the unfortunate Maoris had teen prosecuted. Thev believed, Mr. Fletcher added, that the Government should cease the prosecutions, and the question as to the ownership of the lake should be settled once and for all. Mr. Fletcher also mentioned the case of a native reserve, on whi.-h there is valuable milling

timber, which ijie Government was purchasing from the Natives for 7s. Gd. up to 15s. per acre, while a miller who approached the Government for the right to cut timber off 200 acres of State land had been asked for JC22.000. He urged members of Assembly to assist the work of the Church by endeavouring to get these causes of complaint amongst the Maoris removed..

Speaking at Napier on Friday the Minister of Defence (Sir James Allen) said that there had been great developments m the treatment of soldiers, and flew Zealand was trying to do its best. Medical officers in England and-France had been instructed to make the closest study of treatment of every'kind. Some oi these officers had returned to this country.' The ward at Christchurch was not eo beautiful as the Napier ward, but in regard to equipment for orthopaedic treatment, massage, and vocational and functional training, it was absolute complete. He had visited the Cta mers ward twice, and was satisfied that the men at Christchurch were now getting all that modern science, could give them. Colonial Wyllie would probably go to Auckland and complete arrangements ■ for an, orthopaedic unit there. Colonel Ackland, who had made a special study of treatment of limbless men, had also returned, and would work at Christchurch. Rotorua, had been improved, and had an orthopaedic unit, while Trenthnm Camp was to be used as a hospital with as complete an orthopaedic unit as possible. Up to the time of discharge the soldier was the care of the Defence Department, and the Government was out to do its best lor him The educational classes and curative work after discharge would be carried on under the Repatriation Department. Everything that could be done would be done, no matter what the cost. It would pay the Department to have the work as good as could be made. • "It is a remarkable fact," said. Mr. Justice Chapman while summing up in the motor collision in tie Supreme Court at Palmerston North, "that men who observe many things on the road will tail to observe something else equally evident. Some time ago when a number of young men were being trained as scouts they were sent on a march and instructed to observe everything on then route. The officer who followed them was a proud man when he afterwards discovered that he alone had observed a certain cow with a variegated tail. He was somewhat disconcerted, however, when it transpired that although he remembered the cow and its exact, position lie-had no recollection of a man who was looking for the animal and had actually spoken to him about it!"

The Auckland "Herald" says:- 'What has become of the anti-shouting law? It is notorious that it is openly broken every day throughout the length and breadth of the Dominion. • The public know, tho police know, and the no-license party must know. If circumstances have altered cases, and it is uo longer desired to enforce the law, why .is not an official statement made? Candour is preferable to the present farce." The "Lyttelton Times" states-.-Mr. J. H. Howell, director of the Technical College, has writton to Mr. A. W. Jamieson, president of the Industrial Corporation, replying to' criticisms of technical colleges at the conference this week. In reference to a remark that the colleges produce handymen but not skilled workers, Mr. Howell says that the most striking thing about the evidence given bsfore the Commissioners of Education for Ireland a few years ago was the unanimity of opinion amongst British employers that they did not want young specialised workers provided for them, but boys with all-round training who could become handymen, able to adapt themselves to the changing conditions of industry. A repoVt on the financial needs of the New Zealand University and the University Colleges was submitted to the University by tho special .committee which had been set up earlier in the session to report on the matter. The report dealt at length with the problem of University funds. After discussion the Senate referred the report back to the committee for amplification, to be submitted to the Senate at the April session.—Press Assn. The wholesale and retail chemists of the district took sides in a cricket match at Newtown Park on Saturday, the retailers winning by 95 to 66. Subsequently a most enjoyable dinner function was held at the '"Charley's Aunt" Club-rooms, Mr. W. H. Coy in the chair. Toast speeches and felicitations, with musical and other items, filled in the evening pleasantly. The following vessels will be within range of the Wellington Radio to-day :•- Monowai, Riverina, Paloona, Ruahine, and ferry steamers.