LOCAL AND GENERAL

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 246, 11 July 1919, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Advice has been received that the Port Hacking, with Returning Draft No. 275, left tho United Kingdom on July -1 for. Lyttelton, where she is due on or about August 14. She has 835 troops on board. A wireless message received from the Kiaoma (Returning Draft No. 262) states that she will reach AVellinglon at day-! light on Tuesday next.

A report received by tile Minister of Public Health (the Hon. G. AV. Russell) shows that from July 3 to 7 25 cases of influenza were notified. Four of tho cases wore pneumonic, and one was severe. The eases in the health districts were as follow: Auckland, 6 (1 pneumonic, 1 severe); Wellington 13 (2 pneumonic); Canterbury, 6 (1 pneumonic); Otago, 0.

During the week <ome twenty carriage licenses have been issued to owners of motor lorries in Wellington 1 .to permit them to carry passengers (in. this case to the Trcntham racecourse). Other owners of motor vehicles who are "making hay while the sun shines" without going through the formality of applying for a carriage' license, have been noted by the Citv Council's inspectors, and will in due course be reminded of their remissness. As one quarter of the council's year has expired the licenses were issued for three-quarters of the year, and cost £\\ 10*. each.

In connection with the visit of H.M.S. New Zealand to Wellington next month, special arrangements for the school children's visit to the warship are contemplated. On the last occasion when the warship was in port and children from all parts of the district came to the city, there was next to no organisation, wiih tho result that children were lost for a few hours, many of them had to go hungry for the greater part of the day, and the total lack of conveniences caused some distressing scenes. It is not intended that this sort of thing shall be repeated. An idea put forward is that there shall, be one dnv for the tilv State school children to visit the warship, and another for the children from the country. With respect to the latter it is proposed (hat the children from the voricius schools shall pass through (lie big shed on the King's Wharf, where they will bo fed; then they will pass out by a single exit on the warshin _by nun gangway, pass through the shin, and leave by another gmigivny, and .so to a defined reassembling point. It is j-aid that an organised scheme such as bos been proposed by Captain Munro /chief wharfinger of the Harbour Board! is the onlv way to handle large numbers of children without confusion and discomfort.

Proceedings for perjury are, it is understood, about to betaken against, a defendant in a recent, police nrnsecution, who denied a charge of insobriety.

Radio-telegraphic regulations in the Gazette fix the rales for wireless messages from New Zealand. To overseas ships the rate is lOd. per word, to intercolonial ships and coa=taJ sd. per word, and to ships ou the ferry run between Lvl telton and Wellington Hid. per word, with a minimum charge of Is. 3d. per message.

The Imperial Government has prohibited,, except under .license from the Board of Trade, the importation, into the United Kingdom of chemicals of all descriptions, electrical goods of nil kinds, including insulating materials, scientific, mathematical, and optical instruments, tungsten powder, and ferro tungsten.

A Press Association message from Tmhnpe stales that a boy, six year old. has lieen brought from Oliakuno to Taihane Hnspilal suffering from encephalitis lcthargia.

The fortnightly meetint of the City Council, postponed from last evening on account of the eor|"iration slnff's annual ball, will be held this evening.

.WomrKininrl by Mr. A. Pnlersp'i. A=-sislant-City Engineer, the Mayor (Mr. .T. P. Luke) yesterday eilprmion inspected Ihe new road works which are in progress nt Northland. The new roads arc rnlculatcd to eifcet a. big improvement ill the hill-lop suburb.

An. elderly French man. Frank Morolyanc, residing ul: 1.1 Holland Streel, was found dead yesterday, and the body was taken, to the rnorguo at 5.15 p.m.

New regulations are gazetted fixing charges payable for private mail bags.

The superintendent: of the fire brigade acknowledges receipt of the sum of <£2 2s. from the Consolidated Dental Company, for services rendered at tho fire ,in the Bed Cross Buildings on July's. '.1 ho money is to bo devoted to tho brigade's recreation fund.

Loss of timo through defective explosives is stated to be a cause of complaint with men working in tho Stato conl mines. The miners are compensated for the non-explosion of blasliug powder, but not for the non-firing of a cap or detonator, and the detonators are said to be giving more trouble than the powder. The men allege that they are not sufficiently compensated for tho time they lose, and they havo made representations to the Minister accordingly. It is anticipated that tho trouble will shortly be settled.

Officers Commanding Districts, and all Defence Officers are advised in Headquarters instructions to work in close cooperation with the Returned Soldiers' Association, the Repatriation Department, and other organisations engaged in the work of' the civil re-establish men t of returned soldiers, and to render them every assistance in their lrower. Individual oases of hardship which come under official notice should be submitted to Iho secretary of the local Returned Soldiers' Association, and a statement of the case forwarded to the Officer Commanding tho District. It is notified that permanent appointments to tho Now Zealand Staff Corps will not be inado until demobilisation is completed. Tho number of vacancies will not be large, and •a'Selection Board will ultimately be set up to consider each 'ipplication.

Tho problems in 'connection with demobilisation are so numerous, and often 6) unexpected that the Pefenco Department is constantly icvisiiu? and extending its regulations. The latest Headquarters Instructions contain tho following paragraph-.—"lf any regulation now in existence with regard to demobilisation or civil re-establishment cf soldiers appears to prevent quick, smooth, and efficient administration, and thereby acts disadvantageous]? to the soldier, it should immediately bo 'brought to tho notice of the Officer Commanding District, and submitted by him to General Headquarters for transmission to the Department conderned for consideration of its revision."

One enterprising individual in tha motor trade is credited with having conceived a brainy way of doing business in connection with the traffic induced by the Trcntha'iu races. Ho furnished a motor van with a stock nf new tires, tubes, and other material for effecting quick repairs, and patrolled a considerable section of tho road, assisting lanio dogs over styles in a highly remunerative fashion. With the roads nlivo with motor vehicles of all descriptions—due to tho lack of any train i ervicc— there were many break-downs t»n Tuesday and yesterday, from the humble puncture to serious cngino trouble, and tho arrival cf -the skilled mechanic with the material and ability to put lliings right was regarded as almost, providential. Referring to this enterprise (.ns motor expert, with an English experience, said that there were itinerant motor repair outfits always on duty on the London-Brighton Road, most of them fitted with a lathe and a vulcanising plant, so that almost any kind of repairs could bo effected at tho roadside.

On Tuesday the Wellington Presbytery considered the resolution re military training forwarded from the Council of Churches, Christchurch. Tho matter was referred to tho Public Questions Committee to consider and submit a report to the next meeting of the Presbytery.

'The pay of medical officers whoso services are bciiur retained for the care of the wounded is to be considered by Cabinet. The Minister of Defence (Sir James Allen) states that though tho war is over, tho services of these medical officers aro still required, and as their retention means that they cannot, as other are doing, re-establish. their private practice, it is felt that something should be done in recognition of their sacrifice.

Speaking to a reporter at Petono yesterday morning, the Mayor (Mr. J. AV. M'Ewan) said with reference to the coal shortage that not only was there n shortage of coal, but advantage had beeir taken of this shortage, to increaso shipping freights. A recent purchase by, tho borough council of 100 tons of coal had cost, in addition to the usual freight of 20s. per ton, an additional freight charge of 255.. per ton, making a total freight charge of £2 ss. per ton. The net cost of this coal landed in the Petono gnsworks yard was .£8 15s. per ton—a 100 nor cent, increase on pre-war prices. Mr. M'Ewan also complained of the .methods of the Coal Committee in distributing Coalbrcokdalo '.coal.. Although the council did at least three-fifths of tho local business in coal it invariably received only about one-fifth of the good coal. This meant that, two-fifths of the lricnl population did not receive a fair share ,of the best coal. ,

Professor R. J. Scott, in the courso of his remarks at the presentation to Mr. George .11. Mason, at Canterbury College on Monday, narrated an incident showing how, by a happy accident, he was prevented from assisting emissaries from Germany in getting information regarding the harbours of the Dominion. While absent on a trip to England Mr. Mason undertook to look after and forward the professor's correspondence, and did so. After Professor Scott's return two letters were found in the otiico safe when the office was being shifted from the college to the new administrative buildings; they had accidentally fallen riehind other papers. Mr. Mason had been, very naturally, much concerned about this apparent carelessness, but one of the letters was from a professor at a German university, whom Professor Scott knew, asking him to give a member of the same university all assistance in obtaining informatian about the harbours of the Dominion—especially those en the West Coast. The loss of tho letter and its delay in reaching Professor Scott had made it impossible for him to give the assistance asked for—a matter that Professor Scott was now glad of.-Christ-church "Press."

Undoubtedly great money Is being earntd bv those engaged in rabbiting just now (says tho "Wyndham Herald ). Even lads in this neighbourhood have earned from M to'JC2 per day. They can hardly help making big cheques where rabbits abound, for the prices being paid for rabbit llesli and skins havo reached an unparallelcd"level. The gotden inducement to effort means that Bunny is being attacked most assiduously. A rabbiter from Iviimahi recently stated that lie had been earning <E5 "to =£7 a day selling the" skins only. He had jist made a disposal of his stock at the priceof .£-1 10s. per hundred skins. Ho worked biird trulv, setting 200 traps, mid in the. afternoons it was his practice to ferret tho warrens. He. had, ho said, caught in his nets as many as 92-rabbits in h hours. He commonly, when ferreting, cau"ht rabbits to tho value of from .CI to .fit 10s. in, say, a couple of hours. Somo old-timers have caught quite as iiinnv rabbits as this individual, but prices then wore not to compare with those of tho present time. Colonial rabbit fur is being put to such a multitude of uses that there is a settled demand for it. And the same applies to tho flesh. A healthy, prime rabbit is a decided delicacy if properly cooked. The Home Country has been n big .customer for New Zealand rabbits, exported frozen or canned. Tho not result of tho activity in tho pursuit, of bunny must bo an appreciable diminution of tho number ot rabbits in tlio country.

"Following ii severe attack of influenza (says the annual report of the superintendent of the. Fire Brigade), two of our auxiliary members-John Churnside and M J. Jl'Leod-dicil. The samo cause was responsible for the dcalh of the hnGlide's lion, surgeon, Dr. Pollen. Dr. Pollen h'.'d been closely connected with the brigade for a great number of years, and hud devoted a considerable amount of time in tending men who had met willi accidents in the course of their work. Their deaths caused very deep rrirc: among /numbers of the brigade.

There was a difference of nearly JMOO between lenders from tho British and \merican houses of one firm (Richardson M'Cabo and Co.), for the supply of thirty miles of aerial civble for the. electricity department of the Chrislehurch City 'Council (stales tho "Sun"). These and other lenders wero placed bciqro the Christchurch City Council at its last meeting. The American tender ot liichnrdson, M'Cabe and Co. was mW 10s.—it was aJccpted by the councilnnd .that of the firm's.British house was .£103:) 2s. lid. Tho highest of eight tenders was .CIGB3-

A contract has been let to Messrs. Campbell and Burke, of Wellington, to add another story to the Midland Hotel on Lambton Quay.

A handsome stone pulpit was consocrated for uso in SI, Matthew's Church nt tho neaco thanksgiving service on Sunday "evening by Dr. A. AV. Avenll, Anglican Bishop of Auckland, assisted by tho Uev. W. K. Gillam (says tho "New Zealand Herald"). Tho pulpit was erected at a cost of £'142 out of the Stone Church Fund, by means ot which tho' church itself was built. It is constructed of Oaniaru stone in Gothic assign. Tho stone work is handsomely carved with correct Gothic ornament, and a revolving brass bookrest adds to the beautv of the structures The pulpit is approached from tho chancel by a stairway, tho steps of which are paved with white marble. Tho design wis executed by Mr. A. Clinton Savage.