LOCAL AND GENERAL

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 204, 23 May 1919, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL

A late arrival will be made by tho Maori at Wellington this morning. The vessel is still running with an incomplete stokehold complement, and left Lyttelton at 8 o'clock last night stenming at reduced speed. She will therefore not reach Wellington until about 9 a.m.- or 9.30 a.m. to-day.

During the month ended May 12, 1,03 cases of infectious diseases wore notified in Wellington, compared with 19 for the previous month. The cases were:— Diphtheria, 29; tuberculosis, a; influenza, 29; enteric fever, ,'{G; cerebrospinal meningitis, 4. Nine of tho enses of enteric fever were on hoard tho transport Northumberland. Of these cases six. wore among (he crew and three were soldiers. The infection appears to have beeu taken aboard at Newport News. The aases of enteric occurring in Wellington were, with but ono exception, traceable to ono milk supply. The other c.-.se was ii returned soldier who had been travelliiiK al! over the Dominion,! and it was impossible to truce any source in this'case. The infectious diseases occurred as follow:—Wellington: Diphtheria, 21; enteric fever, 22; tuberculosis, 3: c.fi.ni., 1; and influenza, 19. . Kaiwarra: Enteric fever, 5; influenza; 5. Lower Hutt: Diphtheria, 1; tuberculosis, 1: -c.s.ni.. 3; influenza, ,i. PetoJiP: Diphtheria. 2. Huft County: Diphtheria, 2; tuberculosis, 1. Eastbourne: Diphtheria, 1; influenza, 1. Mitknra: Diphtheria. 1. Upper Hutt: Influenza, 1. Ivarori: Diphtheria, 1. SS. Northumberland: Enteric fever, !).

Tramway officials state that tho reimposition of the anti-crowding regulations on the street cars for the. better control of traffic during the rush hours has had a noticeably good effect already, and that without causing any great inconvenience to the public. The publicity given to the regulations has, so they say, had a marked effect on the person described as.the "car-hog," the man who will not get' inside- the car off the platform when requested to do so, and who, if ho is forced to do so, will not move up in order to allow others to accommodate themselves within. "Move up. inside" is a common appeal niado by a conductor, to which as a rule very little notice was paid in the past. The public were now more alert to the necessitv of getting inside and moving up, which relieved tho strain on platform space, and gave the conscientious conductor a better chance of doing his work thoroughly.

"The architecture of a street or square may bo compared to an orchestra. Yon iii.iv have as many instruments ns you like, to Rive variety, but do have them all playing the same tune nt once," said Mr. J. F. Munnings at the. Town-plan-ning Conference yesterday.

The Hospital Board decided yesterday that, in the event of inllucnwi recurring, masks bo made at the hospital, subject to the approval of tho medical superintendent and matron.

Wreckage, including cargo from the small steamer Queen of tho South, which broke up near Capo Campbell, was washed ashoro at Tory Channel on Wednesday. Cases of benzine were among the wreckage, and they -were picked up by fishermen.

"A peroration is a flash of light that comes at the end of a speech, and it is not intended so much to assist you as to blind you to the defects of the speech," said a delegate to tho Town-planning Conference yesterday.

•'The future of our country will be determined very largely by the comprehensiveness of our national system of education," said Mr. J. A. Frostick in tho course of an address before tho Ciui&tchurch Council of Churches on Monday night. "Compared with other countries' systems, our system is very far beh'nd the times. We have Hv?d too long upon tho traditions of the past; our system is more than defective. itiiny of our schools are horribly out of date, tho teachers are overworked and underpaid. About.29 per cent, of the teaeh<iis eu.qnced in primary schools to-day aro uuecrtiitcn led, and this being so, no wonder that only about half the pupils pass the Sixth Standard. A niuc'h longer uenod of compulsory primary training is necessary. The pupils should not only be instructed eo as to acquire tho highest degree of productive efficiency, but also in the duties and n'-punsibililius of citat-nship. Properly controlled, no money, should be spared in tho carrying out of the national system of education."

Further proof of the interest felt by Brigadier-General li-ichardson in the welfare of soldiers and their dependants ie shown by the following letter received I>V the lion, secretary (if the Auckland Soldiore' Mothers' League-:—"I feel that I must write and thank you and tho mothers of our soldiers who extended to me their wolcome at Auckland on my arrival. I wish that I were able to ;ide((oately express my thoughts to you, but lam not able to. I cuy however, appreciate your kindness, and 1 slinll' always try to do my best for ;ur men. I have, however, been given far too much credit fur what 1 have done, for I can nfloure von that all of'faers have realised then responsibility and felt themselves to be the reproscntalives of the parents of those boys under their command. My fih.iro was a small one. T have received vuiif nddiwti, and I -liall livasiirp it most highly, and it will liu'ip me to think of the parents in my ''tiliuv dealing willi the youiis , iJeiiorations in this country.— With my lip.it tliiinlcs to I tin of your Iporui , , 1 remain t.S;:d.) Gen. S. Riuliiii'lpon."

Lioiitennnl-Coloiiel Guy Ponies. C'.M.G... who was associated with tho New Zealand Mounted Forces in .Egypt and Palestine, pave an interfiling accoisv.i. nf the nchievemenls of our troops in Hint, theatre of war In the etudenlfl of .Hithiglier form? of tho Wellington , Girls' Co'llcgp- ypslcrday aftcruonn. T-ipiileiinnl-Cojonel Powles treated his subject in n brinlit mid intcreslinif lnanner, and Jiis little talk was much appreciated by tho collegians.

No time was lost in giving effect to tho resolution of the Wellington Education Board that an opportunity should 1)6 given of allowing tho school children to visit (he Town-planning Exhibition at tho Town Hall. About six or eight schools sent their fifth and sixth standard children, in charge of their teachers, to tho exhibition yesterday morning, and as it was arranged on a time schedule—or seemed to be-there was never any overcrowding, and yet each detachment of children was ablo to spend an edifying hour absorbing the germ of town-plan-ning ns it should be. "Do you think this will lie of any benefit to the children?" n headmaster was a6ked. Surely" he replied, "the mi ml of (he State school scholar is .-extremely receptive to iinythiii!; of the kind, and the mmiiring mind'of tho child will'soon help to "din an understanding of what is meant (by the exhibition. Then tho snoiect of town-planning and city beautiiyin" will be taken up in some schools. Xho children will probably be asked to write their impressions of it, and so they will have the subject impressed on their brains for all time. Oh. yes, the idea is oiuito a good one, and tho board is to be commended for acting on it so promptly." >

Swaldng at the Town-planning Conference yesterday, Mr. W. 11. Alontgomory condemned the utilitarian spirit in tiie erwtion of public monuments. In siinoort of his contention ho used a hSy illustration. When a faniilv lost oiie of its members, he said it did nol commemorate the departed by the acQiiirement of something useful: it generally erected a- monument of no utility; and because the State was only a bigger fimiiv it also should exclude the utih-t.-iian idea from its plans for memorials.

The Norwegian Hydro-Elcctrio Nitrogen Company's shares of a.par yahio of "hO francs were quoted in Paris met August at SOO francs. In all, some six millions sterling of .French capital is invested in the extraction of nitrogen from tho air in Norway. Tho Norwegian exDorts of aerial nitrogen products duriii" 1017 amounted to 127,306,970 kilograms" (approximately 125,092 tons). With tho new works now under way, no tewer than five hundred thousand horse-power will shortly ba devoted to the extraction of nitrogen from the air in Norway.

At a special meeting of the Board of College Governors held at noon yesterday it was deoided to nominate Mr. I. lorsvtli as the representative of the secondary schools on the Victoria Collego Council.

The Wellington Labour Representation Committee has decided to call for nominations for all the Wellington city and suburban seats, in view of this years general election. Tho nominations will close before the end of next month, and ballots will then be taken to determine tho official Labour candidates.

At a meeting of tho Federated Townulanning Association of New Zealand held last evening when delegates from the vnriuus town-planning associations ihibuKhout New Zealand mot in conferonce the following resolution was unanimously carried: "That this-meeting of tho federated Town-planning Association deplores the erection by the Antional Government in Whitmore Street of a wooden building in a brick area, nnd requests now that the war is over that this outrage on the amenities of tho capital city of the Dominion be promptly removed." One delegate from Auckland expressed the opinion that in .Auckland a gang of men with crowbars would ' have demolished the building long ago.

"The practice of sticking pigs and the larger animals without first stunning them is a most barbarous and inhumane one," said Jh: J. H. Parker, at a meeting of the Christchurch Society for tho Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Ihe Germans, he added, with all that was credited to them, were at least humane enough to stun their animals beforo slaughtering them. Members spoke in eulogistic terms of the use of the hammer beforo slaughtering, as against tho "pithing" method, and it was stated that the compulsory use of the hammer would form part of the Bill which it was hoped to put through Parliament. Mr. Parker also remarked that measures for the prevention of unnecessary cruelty in killing were badly needed on tho Statute Book. In connection with the cost of burials during the epidemic, the Hospital and Charitable Aid Board yesterday had before it the following recommendation of Hie Charitable Aid Committee-.-"That, with regard to tho claims of various undertakers for the costs of interment of certain.persons who died from influenza in the November epidemic, the settlement of which Ims been referred to this board by the Public Health, Department by a letter dated February 25, 1919, the Department be advised that, as the board 'had no hand in the ordering of those funerals, and finds it to be practically impossible to obtain proof of circumstances, it regrets its inability to deal with the matter" Mr. G. J. Pethcrick moved that the recoiurnendaCion be referred, back to the committee.. He said it might Ije advisable to een if the Charitable Aid Committee ond the undertakers could not arrive at a- solution which would be satisfactory to tho Public Health Department and tho undertakers. Up to tho present, the general trend of the replies from tho undertakers was that they were opposed to tho Government's oft'or for meeting .the cost of the burials. The motion was carried.

Mn Aubrey Smith, son of Mr. C. Smith, of Oriental Bay, , has returned to Wellington after over 'four years' active service «'i'h the British Ked Cross as a motorist. Mr. Smith became attached to the Ued Cross soon after war broke out, and after working for a few months behind the lines in France his sphere of activity was diverted to Italy, which nation had c. very sanguinary struggle with tho Austrian forces-for a couple of years after she came'into the war. The Italian Anny was not so well equipped with lied Cross workers as the British Army,- and tho detachment Mr. Smith was with was attached to tho Julian Army in the mountainous districts of Northern Italy. Mr. Smith sneaks in high terms of tho fighting qualities of the Italian troops he ctune in contact with. Mr. Smith made the rofurn journey by the Arawa.

The proposal that an Imperial Guards Regiment should be formed at Home, from men who .have served in tho Dominions' forces' during the great war, does not appeal to Brigadier-General G. S. Richardson,' so far as it applies to Now ZcaJandeM. General Richardson remarked in Christclmrch that he did not think a New Zealand unit could bo formoil from this country's Expeditionary Force. "If I know the opinions of the rank and file, as I beliovo I do," he paid, "I do not_ think 'we would get a dozen men to join."

Nominations for the Victoria College Council close with tho Colleso itcgiHtmr (Mr. liobieson) at S o'clock this evening- These will be the -nominations mode by the secondary schools, the education 'l:--;i:mls. and tho Professorial Board. Nominations by the Government and the City Council are not necessarily made to-day,-

The lowest tender received by (lie Harbour Board for the' erection of a largo brick al'od on tho vacant block adjoininc C. and A. Odlin's warehouse at the entrance to tho Taranaki Street Wharf, was that of Mr. P. C. Watt. Tho prico is .£15.000.

' Two men who wore recently arrested fov desertion from a ahip at Port Chalmers, and who were said to ixi aliens, approached tho secretary of tho Dunedin Returned Soldiers' Association with a complaint. They informed him that they were, respectively, an American and a Canadian, and that they had both served in their national armies in France. The substance of their grievance was, hotvI'ver, thiit a Wellington newspaper, in reporting their case, had stated that "they seemed more square-headed than ordinary Yanks."' and they deeply re*ente.l 'tho. suggestion that they wero of Teutonic origin.. They asked that tho Uuiipilin Returned Solditfi's , Association should take the matter uji, and demand iin (HKilopv from thn newspaper concerned. In report iiij; the matter to the nicclini; of the executive of ilio association, tli'p secretary stilted that the men were still in Racil'ns suspected aliens, but that Ihi'ir sole iinsiely seemed to bo to have the cast on their nationality reiiinvpil. The executive '.lecidcd lo take m action ii. the matter.

Insist on having N.Z.'s finest groats— Doctors' Cream O'Groals. "Delicious and nutritious. Ask your Grocer for itAdvt,

Regulations are gazetted providing for tho granting of bursaries in engineering and prescribing tho conditions under which such bursaries may be held. They are to be tenable at any engineering school recognised by tho university, and to a pupil who has done a. certain prescribed amount of work in engineering bursary may be awarded on tho recommendation of the controlling authority of any technical school. Tho amount of the bursary will bo the fees payable in respect of tho course taken, with a lodging allowance of ,£SO to the youth who has to livo away from homo to attend, tho engineering school, and of JlO a > ear to tho youth who has to travel daily a distance of more than four miles from his home to attend classes. The term of the bursary is to be threo years. At iU meeting last evening tho Miramar Borough Council decided to give its vsunnorfc to the following: resolution passed by the Gisborno Borough Council: "That a remit bo sent to the conference of the municipal assocjatlons urging that owing to dissatisfaction at elections that'when the municipal rolls are being prepared the names or nil borough residents appearing on the Parliamentary roil then in force should be placed upon the municipal roll without separate application having to bo made for enrolment, and that the necessary alteration in tho statute bo made to embody this prevision."

At lust evening's session of the Townplanning Conference tho chairman (the lion. G. W. Bussell) read two congratulatory messages forwarded to tho conference from abroad. .Mr. W. A. Holinuu, Prime Minister of Now SouHi Wales, had cabled his congratulations aiid good wishes for tho success (if tho conference, with tho comment:—"Now Zealand ever in van democratic progross." The stcretary of the Garden Cities and Townplanning Association. London, W.C., had forwarded the following message:—"My association a,t its last meeting passed unanimously the following resolution:— 'That tho association hears with much interest of the Town-planning Bill introduced in tho New Zealand Parliament, and hopes that it will speedily beoouip law. Tho association sends its good wishes to the conference, and hopes it will prove a great success.'"

While discharging timber from the steamer Kini at the Clyde Quay Wharf a man named John Nolan, living at ISO Aro Street sustained injuries to his loft leg througii a filing of timber falling en it. Hβ was removed to the Hospital for treatment, being admitted at 9.30 p.m.

Notification was received by the Hospital Board yesterday that Mr. H. Baldwin had resigned his 6eat as a representative of the Hutt and Eastbourne district. Mr. F. Cattle (chairman) moved that the resignation be accepted with regret. Mr. J, Hutchison proposed an amendment that the words "with rejjret" be deleted. He considered that Mr. Baldwin had resigned because he was defeated for the chairmanship. Evidently, 'ho said, Mr. Baldwin did not want to eit with the new members of the board. Mrs. Beck seconded the amendment. The ltev. J. Kennedy Elliott said he hoped that tho amendment would not be passed. Mr. Baldwin had been a conscientious and zealous worker, and the board should overlook whatever motives he had for- resigning. Tho chairman said ho trusted the amendment would lie withdrawn, as no good purpose would be achioved by passing it. Mr. Castle said that Mr. Baldwin had proved his zeal on the board, and it would be advisable if the personal element were not introduced. After further discussion, Mr. Hutchison's amendment was put to the meeting and lost. On the suggestion of Mr. C. H. Chapman it was decided to accept the resignation, regretting that Mr ; Baldwin's services would not be available to tho board.

A Press Association telegram states that a deputation of ]?oxton householders waited upon the 'Wanganui Education Board and askwl that the recent election of a school committee be upset. Irregularities were alleged, including the fact that the chairman of the board (Mr. Pirani), who was not a resident householder, presided at the meeting. Mr. Pirani anniitted that !'e bad not a legal right to preside. The board earned a resolution that the evidence submitted of irregularities did not materially attect the election, and it could not see its way to grant another election.