LOCAL AND GENERAL

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 137, 5 March 1919, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

The Postal authorities advise that the next English and Continental mail is to arrive at Auckland, per R.M.S. Makura, imft is expected to reach Wellington on Tuesday, March 11.

Six members of the creiv of an American vessel at present in port woro arrested by Detectivo Carney and Plainclothes Constable Pidgeon yesterday afternoon on charges of cargo pillaging. Tlio articles alleged to have been stolen comprise four pail's of scissors, 27 tins of tobacco, and ten pairs of lndien' «illc stockings. The- accused will bo. brought before the Magistrate's Court thi? morning.

The freezing workfirs who ceased work at tho Gear Meat Company's Pctono works on Monday are still "out." Yesterday the Inspector of Factories (Sir. R. E. Bollard) interviewed tho men and the manager of the works, and ho will report to tho Department. Work in tho freezing chamber is being continued by nino contractors, who were tho direct omployors of tho sixteen men who horo stopped work. The troublo is not regarded as serious.

Tho tramway service in Willis Street and Manners Street was interrupted at lon minutes lo li yesterday evening owing to a ini.slia|"< lo a. IlaUitni-lxmud cur a'c tho Duke of Edinburgh corner. Gno of tlio bniko shoos of Iho car dropped, and mi interval of 22 inimilcg elapsed before ropuiii's could bo effected Iα cnablo tho l.niiu to bo taken to the car sheds "t Newtown. In the meantime the traffic which usually passes :ilon<> Manners and Willis Streets was diverted to the Jervois Quay route.

The Minister' of Defence, answering a question on the subject yesterday, stated that the Defence Department did not consider it advisable to allow the public access to Kau Bay and Scorching Bay even in time of peace ''owing to the defence works in the vicinity." Scatoiin and Karakn Bay residents ilo not think that the public is being treated fairly by the continued closing of tho road round tho defence reserve at Point Halswell, and an effort will be made to secure tho opening'of tho road, which U9ed to bo u, popular motor route. The suggestion that tho public must Iμ denied the iiso of tho road round the coast because there are certain defence works on tho hills above Iho road is. not regarded by the local people as reasonable.

A few minutes after 3 o'clock yesterday afternoon a fire occurred at 233 Bintoul Street, a four-roomed house occupied by Constable C. Qoss, of the Newtown police. Some painters were engaged in burning paint off tho side of tho place, and tho weatherboards caught alight. The liro brigade was summoned and extinguished tho outbreak beforo any serious damage was done. The house is insured for -E4OO in tho Commercial Union Office, and is owned by Mr. James Lackie. No injury was suffered by the contents, which are uninsured.

Levin is shortly to have a now theatre. A syndicate has been formed in Wellington to build a theatre at the district town largo enough to provide seating accommodation for 1000. The coat of the proposed new theatre is not yot known. A defendant in a judgment summons case at tho Magistrate's Court yesterday stated that he was a. baker by trade, and earned £3 10s. per week. "I believe ours is the lowest award in Wellington," he said, lie had a wife and six children, the eldest l>eing 12 years of age and! the youngest 21-. The Court made no order. The Inspector of Awards, Mr. R. T. Bailey, proceeded against Percy Bogus, licensee of To Aro Hotel, at the Magistrate's Court yesterday, claiming a penalty for "an alleged breach of tho Wellington hotel workers' award. It was stated that defendant had engaged three assistants without first making application to the secretary of the union. Judgment was given for the inspector for XI. Mr. E. M. Beechey appeared for defendant. .Action was also taken by the Inspector of Awards against P. and X. Gerondis, proprietors of tho Commonwealth Cafe, for having committed a similar offence in respect to one assistant, and judgment was entered for the inspector for £1.

Tho report of the Ghuznee Street Men's Employment Bureau for the month of February shows that the number of new engagements completed in the space of four weeks was 104. New applications made by workers numbered 152, and new applications by employers U. The officer in charge of the bureau states that there is quite a marked shortage of light work at present, though the Government is offering , n good deal of the heavier kind of work in connection with tho railways.

The Milk Committee of the City Council havo arranged to have a public lecture delivered by the assistant general malinger of tho milk department (Mr. H. A. Ward) in the Concert Chamber on Thursday, at 3 o'clock, on tho subject of milk, dealing with its food valiie, its proper caro and treatment in tho home, with particular reference to infant feeding. Mr. Ward' will demonstrate as to how milk should bo kept in the house. The public generally are cordially invited to lie present. Councillor C. B. Norwood, chairman of the council's Milk Committee, will preside. Australia's annual war pensions liability is now il,ew,B3i).—Pircss Assn. During last session of Parliament Mr. W. 11. Field, M.P., submitted to the House a notice of motion lo the effect that tho New Zealand delegates to the Peace Conference bo instructed to press for tho payment by Germany of tho whole, cost of tho war to New Zealand. The motion did not come on for discussion in the liurried session, and on February 28 last Mr. Field telegraphed to Mr. Massey. "Dominion expects enemy pay total cost of war.' . The Government has decided at last to go on with the construction of a new post office at Paeknkariki, where for a long time the postal facilities bave not been adequate for thn needs of this grow, in" seaside town. For the work a. sum of ,£BOO has been voted by Parliament, but it is likely that the cost of the building will be somewhat in excess of this amount.

At a men's meeting held : n St. Peter's Sclioolroom last Sunday the question of congestion of population and the better housing of the worker was fully discussed. It was generally agreed—(l) That there is overcrowding in some towns in New Zealand. (2) That in some towns rents are phenomenally high. (3) That some landlords discourage prospective tenants who have children. After a most profitable evening, the following resolution was passed as a possible solution of some of the evils:-"That this mass meeting recommend tho erection of liojaes for workers in suitable suburb, the tenants of such homes to have the facility to purchase tho said homes, to whicli cheap and efficient transit is to 'be provided by the State."

The fortnightly meeting of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals was held at the secretary's office, the president, Mr. F. Meadowcroft, in the chair. The inspector's report dealt with six horses with eores, two lame, three cases of overloading, one horse ill-treated, and one destroyed. Subscriptions amounting to .£4B ss. 6d. wero received, including £2 2s. each from the Wellington Meat Export Company and Mr. W. Callender; Mrs \ Forrest, £1 is.; Mrs. A. Burns, £1 is. j Messrs.. F. G. Gray, R. Pearson, B M Litchfield, D. Tripe, A. E. Mills, V. E. Corkill, A. W. Butt, E. N. Smith, Nicolson, Veitch and Alleu, Cole Cash Drapery Co., S. Rove and Son. J. W. Wallace \ F Roberta, A. S. Paterson and Co., F. L. Kenwick, .£1 Iβ each; H. Headland, E. B. Bigg, C. J. Ward, C. P. Trimmell, .El each.

The inquest into the circumstances of the death of Mrs. Gentles, who died at the Hospital on Monday night from iniuries received in a motor-car accident, in Wilton Eoad on Saturday afternoou, will be held at the Courthouse at i p.m. to-morrow.

The New Zealand Natives' Association Band will play at the Basin Reserve at 8 o'clock to-night.

4t the Auckland Supreme Court yesterday an action was concluded in which Thomas and William Brown, farmers, of Tβ Awamutu, claimed fronr Joseph Thornes, formerly a land' agent, .£SBOO ns damages for alleged misrepresentation in connection with the exchange of a farm at Opotiki for one at Gordonton, near Hamilton. The case for the plaintiffs was that the manager of defendants Hamilton branoh made certain representations regarding the Gordonton property that induced them to exchange, and that such representations were not in accordance with fact. The jury found that all but ono of the representations complained of wore untrue, and in answer to the issue, Were they made fraudulently or ncdiirently? returned the reply "Negligent v " The i«y awarded ami *£100 for labour and material. The J geeaid that although the judgment was against Thornes it was not in respect nf nnvtliinK improper done by him, but because he was raponsible for the «cb of his servant3.-Pres3 Assn.

•V remarkable record of uninterrupted school attendance was given by the chairman Mr. A. Miller) at the Moray Place School distribution of prizes on 1-ridny (iavs the "Otago Daily Times"). The & referred to is that of M,, H. F. Pav on He himself set the example w iln nrtendine the same school -ninny m» ago He B did not miss a day in 84 Yen Hie 1 eldest daughter, Rita, leaves school with Hie same record. His second daiigl ter, Lily, has been at the school •St a break for seven years, and his eon Bonnie has been a constant attendant for five years, and is still on the 6chool roll.

The announcement has already bten made that influenza epidemic caused approximately six thousand deaths in New Zealand. The returns now gazetted show that the total number of deaths j during 1918 was 10,361. The highest num.- ; her previously recorded was 10,596, in 101b. Ro that the figure for the last year was ever 50 per cent, higher than the previous highest. The death rate in 5.916 was 9.64 per MCO of menn population, whereas in 1918 the rate reached 11.84, an increase of 53.91 per cent. Last year e rate was the highest in the history ot New Zealand since 1875, when the rate was 15.9 per thousand of the population. Twice in the 'eixties the death rate exceeded 17 per thousand, but those were the days before the organisation for the protection of the public health had attained any high degree of efficiency. As a matter of fact, since 1894 the death rate has risen above 10 per thousand only on five oceasions-in 1899, in 1902 and 1903, in 1907, and again last year. The year 1907, it may be remarked, brought severe epidemics of measles and whooping cough, and influenza was particularly active. Indeed, in all the years indicated as having a death rate exceeding 10 per thousand, measles, whooping cough, miiuonza, and diarrhaeal diseases were very prevalent. In 1903, also, there was .1 marked epidemic of scarlet fever.

A remarkable incident is related by a soldier who lias just returned to the Dominion. One day during a British offensive a large batch of Gorman prisoners were passing through the colonial lines, and the New Zealanders were watching them curiously. To the surprise of all, one New Zealander stopper a prisoner and indignantly demanded what he was doing there. The German bo challenged replied in perfect English that it was not his fault, and that he had been visiting Germany when the v-ai broko out, and had been conscripted without ceremony and sent to the iront. Hβ added that he did not wish to light, and had been looking for an opportune to surrender. The Sow Zealander explained later that the man was a berWn who had lived iu Hew Zealand for some time before the war and had worked on the questioner's farm in 19W- - The Customs and beer duties collected in Christchurch last month showed an increase of .£22,137 over the receipts for Jnnuaiy.-Press Association.

The Picton Borough Counci has ieceived from Lieutenant-Colonel D Arcy Chaytor, commanding the New Zealand Expeditionary Force in Egypt, a. valuable memento of the Great War, in the reproduction of a Mosaic slob, found at Shellal, South Palestine, on May 3, 101 i. It represents a portion of an allegorical floor of an ancient Christian Ghuicn, founded in the year SGI A.D. It was discovered by the Anzac Mounted Division after it had been damaged by a Turkish trench being driven through it. The reproduction is a gift to the town by Lieutenant-Colonel Chaytor, and wil bo duly framed and hung in the council chambers.

Some interesting remarks concerning the great German bid for Amiens were made by Mr. R. Gilkison at a Y.M.C.A. luncheon at Dunedin on Friday. During the great push in March, he said, the Fifth Army collapsed, and several of the best British divisions were rushed to fill the gap. Two Australian divisions were sent to the neighbourhood of Amiens, and the New Zealand Divi-sion-then with an actual fighting strength of 15,000 men-was Uken from Belgium and pushed in near Bapaume. The New Zealnndors actually met the Germans, let! by a sergeant-major on a bicycle, marching into the town to look for' billets, and immediately turned machine-guns on them, drove them a mile back, and held that front, right on till the advance. French papers were filled with accounts of the New Zealanders, and one newspaper had the heading: "How the New Zealanders Saved the British- Army."