LOCAL AND GENERAL

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 9, 6 October 1919, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Owing to the Wellington General Hospital being overcrowded, only urgent cases can be. admitted. Al t'bc present time no fewer than .till persons anv un dor treatment in the institution. There is no epidemic or anything special to account for the large number'of in patiente.

A peculiar plague of flies is occurring at Little Ttivw and round Lake Filesnifre fflays a Christehurcli paper). These are lata illcs timt art always in evidence in the spring. But .'this season they hare attained the proportions of a pla»ue. Residents are simply uesterod ■with tlieni, and in the evening have to keep windows tightly stint. On n motorear which pnt«ed the Like they lay two inches thick under the radiator.

A Press Association message state" that when H.M.S. New Zealand sailed from Auckland, sixteen of the crew were missing.

It has been pointed out that the fact that there, were no tenders for the erection of the houses proposed to be erected, by the City Council .may not be caused by shortage of labour so much as the extraordinary fluctuations in the cost of building materin). At the meeting of the City Council, Councillor George Frost, himself an ex-builder nnd contractor, stated that the price of material was such that no reasonable man would contemplate building: at the pnsent time. Another contractor in a large wnv. said the fact that no tenders wero received was not surprising, for his firm would not lender fit all at the present time, being content to accept work at percentage rates on the cost of the lob, which eliminated nil risk as far as thev were concerned, and allowed them a fair margin of profit. As a rule such arrangements wero made on a ten per cent, basis, and on such terms they wero getting nil the work thej could conveniently manage. Perhaps if the council were to place-the work on such lines thov would be able to get the houses up. Otherwise he was afraid it would be as the Mayor said—a cast- of barracks or tents for the ever-swelling population of Wellington.

Superintendent Dwyer, of the Christchurch police, states (sjjs the "Pross") that an Individual is ;it present about Christcliuroli endeavouring to persuade young women to proceed to America, allegedly to take up cran?elistie work. Recently six or seven applications have been received from these would-bo evangelists for permits to leave the country, but they have not beer, granted.

IMnil fruiterers in .Auckland recently petitioned the City Council to abolish street stands, claiming; that they were put to unfair competition with" Hindus in this connection. At the lust mooting 'of the council the Finance and Legal Committee, to which the matter lintl been referred, reported that it aU'ect■:d immigr.-.tion and the employment of coloured labour. Conso-iuent'iy it was of Dominion import! nee and could only be legislated on by Parliament. It therefore recommended that no action !)•> liken by the council in reaped (if the issue of licenses for hr.vbors and slrret slni ib. The recommendation was, reports an ex. change, adopted.

Tn parts of A'orlli Canterbury (says it Christchurch paper) runners have already last from 1!5 to 40 per cent, of their, lambs as a result of the cold weather.

In clo.;iii;; the debate on Ihe Financial Statement. Mr. Massey gave a summary of the purchases ni' land for soldiers. One of the items was the area of land puichased by soldiers through ilie Government. It was stated in Tin, Dominion that, the area was 27-t at'M. The area stated by Jtr, Massey was 271,000 acres.

Two good shipments of basic slag, the first arrivals of any magnitude for several yean, have (says the "Herald") arrived in Auckland during the last few days. Jiiu-ge quantities were imported from England and Germany before the war, but. the British Government has lately been regulating export, according to tho production of eaeli manufacturer, in order to conserve ample quantities for domestic, use, and it is expected (hat no further supplier will arrive for somo time. All fertilisers show n firm tendencv. Stocks of superphosphates are very low, but some useful supplies of bonemeal from Calcutta and Australia havo been distributed, and these have relieved the former acuto shortage.

Christchurch papers report that owing to the scarcity of material, the Canterbury Jockey Club's stand will not bo restored in tinio for the Cup meeting in November. Replying to a question last week, Mr. A. Boyle, chairman of the club, said that the stand would have to remain as it was for the present, and even the new seats would not all be nvailahle. for it was impossible to get seasoned timber. Plans were beinsr prewired for the new stand at present. It had not been decided whether to make it a double-decker or not, but it might be erected as a single-decker, with provision for adding a second deck in the future.

Speaking to a "Lyttolton Times" representative last week, Sir James Allen Baid that tho Cushmero Sanatorium for Consumptive Soldiers was going on satisfactorily. Replying to a question as to whether there was any intention of 'pbciiiK soldier-patients under the control of civil institutions, •he said that this no doubt would bo done in time, but at present there were too many patients to permit of it.

A lady has written to the Mayor of Christchurch suggesting thnt in. cases where tho sisters of dead soldiers are not receiving pons'ons they should be cfisiblo for the gratuity in flic absence of their' next-of-kin: She states that her two brothers were killed within three months of one another, and she and her sister are the only survivors. The Mayor has (states an exchange) written to Sir Jnnies Allen asking for au opinion on the claim.

Northern files report that the prospects for the- strawberry season in tho Auckland district are stated by those concerned in the industry to be very satisfactory, and a heavy crop is anticipated. The plants aro looking much better than is usual at thi3 time, and everything now depends on the weather. The mild winter has been very beneficial to the plants, and there is not the customary number of failures. In some cases the plants nro fully a fortnight ahead, and a <imall quantity of fruit has already appeared on the Auckland markets. A much larger quantity is expected in tho next week or two.

The necessity of instilling into tho youth of New Zealand a love of the sea was emphasised by Admiral Jellicoe at flic Navv League luncheon at Auckland last week. He said • that one way of doing this was to institute boating and yachting clubs and to practise all'forms of nautical sports. The community could assist in many ways, including the starting of boating clubs, and the corporations and. harbour boards by constructins small snfo harbours for yachts. Hy such means as he had indicated bays would become so used to the sea that, they would love it, as all people did who lived on it.

Tha people of Christchurch had once again on Friday evening to suffer from the vagaries of the Lake Coleridge electrical supply system (says a Christchiirch paper). A squally' rain storm sprang up shortly after 5 o'clock, and at (i.'tT o'clock the south transmission line from Lake Coleridge lo the city failed. -Vivo minutes later violent fluctuations in the north line manifested themselves, the lights in tha city being'flickered alternately on and off, whilst: the tramway service was interfered with. The fault was crushed for several minutes by bringing I lie voltage up, but finally, at 7.H----o'clock, the north line failed altogether, and the city was plunged into darkness, except in these places where gas lights were available. Exactly one minute later an extraordinary piece of luck was experienced, the south lino being tested "0.K.," the fault having apparently burned itself out. • The result was that at the end of another five minutes the current, was on again, and the city was bathod in light. Owing. However, to tho constant surges interfering with tho tramway service, it was decided by the tramwav engineers to revert tn their steam plant, and whilst tins operation was in' progress) from f.'2o till 8.20 o'clock, every train In the streets was held up. The night was a wet, miserable one, hence very few suburbanites elected to brave the elements and walk into the citr. The great majority either waited in the tram cars, or returned home.

Tho selection of a, Rhodes scholar foi New Zealand will be made this morning. The Selection Board consists nf His Excellency the Governor-General, His Honour the Chief Justice, Oliiwellor of the "Universitv, and Professors Egerlon (Auckland), Sommervillo (Wellington), Gabbartt (Christchiirch), ""d Thompson (Dunedin). The two candidates left in are MessM. N. M .'liichniond, nominated by Canterbury College, and S. A. Wiren, nominated by Victoria College, Wellington. The bibt Rhodes scholar from .New Zealand was nppointed in 1917 —Mr. 11. A, Mackenzie, of Victoria College, who goes mto r.esidonce at' Oxford in January next.. Two previous scholars, Messrs. A. 0. Power (Canterbury) nnd A. F. Meldrum (Victoria College), are going into residence this month. The delay was due to the fact that they have been, with Mr. Uichniond, on active eervice.

A eonfticC has ari-en between two cooperative, companies, with headquarters At Gishorne and Hamilton respective!.*, for possession of certain neutral, territory, including Taneatun and Waiuianc saj"? a, Press Association .telegram. Tfto Hamilton company, which' 'intends to build stores at Whakatnne, began canvassing those districts, believing they had been allotted them by the Nevs Zealand Federation of Co-operative Companies. The Gishorne company immediately called a rival meeting. A temporary understanding has now beet*'reached pending n. settlement.

■ The services of Mr. Alfred Hill, the New Zealand composer now resident in Sydney; have been secured to compose an orchestral snore for the pictured ver-t-lon of -"The Sentimental Bloke" (C. J. Dennis's noems), which is to be exhibited shortly throughout Australasia under the iiusuiees of Mr. M. J. Carroll.

Yesterday a largo congregation assembled in St. Mathias's Church, Mnkara, when ii very handsome brass altar cross was dedicated to Arthur Trotter; of the N.Z.R.8., who was killed in action, November i, 1918, during the liattle of.Le Quesnoy. The moniorial, which was made in England, was the gift of the Trotter family. The vicai preached from the text St. John, 12, 32."

For the first two days of the annual exhibition of the Academy of Fine Arts there lias been a record attendance. A number cf pictures have already found purehas.ers. Tho result of thn drawing of tho art union, which took plaeo on Saturday night, appears in our advertising columus.

instead of erecting sorou war memorial that would benefit the member.} of the club only, or enhance the value of the club's property, the committee of the Victoria'Bowlingi Club has decided to Kiisc the sum of j.'IM m amount.-, of C 1 from each of its hundred members, which amount is to be iir.n(led over to ilio Technical lOdueatiou Hoard for the purpose of establishing (with the interest) a .£5 bursary annually for a secondyear student. The committee hao been r.dvis..-d that such donations carry a X for £.\ Government subsidy, «> that the action of the. club will mean two .l'!> bur.s«ri(»i annually. The reason for making tho'birsnry applicable only to a second •ywr student (boy or girl) i.s based on the idea that a student who goes in for a second year's course "means husincs a ." ami the bursary would be very handv indeed as an assistance in the provision of books and apparatus. Hy (his means the Victoria Bowling Club's "war memorial" becomes of practical value to the rising generation for all time.