LOCAL AND GENERAL

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 29, 29 October 1919, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL

For I lie week ending October 27. 73 cases of infectious disease were reported within the Wellington public health district. Jjciny nil increase of 13 compared with the previous week. Diphtheria continues to be fairly prevalent, 29 cases being notified for the week, as compared with 17 last week. Influenza shows a marked tendency to drop, 12 eases coming under the notice of the Department, as against 1!) for the week ending October 20. All of tho influenza cases were of a mild nature. The details of the various infections diseases reported are as follow, the figures for the previous week being given in parentheses Scarlet fever, C (3): diphtheria, 29 (17); enteric fever, 5 (6); tuberculosis, 6 (fi); influenza, 12 (19); measles, 7 (1); pneumonia. 6 (6); hydatids, 1 (0), acid septicaemia, 1 (0). The localities in which influenza occurred were as follow:—Wellington City, 5; Hawera. 3; Manaia, 2; New Plymouth, 1; Ivaponga, 1. It is not generally known that punishment for petty crime by exposure in the public stocks was in vogue in New Zealand in tho 'forties. There is said to have existed a. pair of stocks near the old Thormlon Barracks in the middle 'forties, and some of the old residents con recall them being put to use. The clearest evidence, however, that stocks were used as a punishment is the discovery in an Auckland_ paper of 1846 of a letter protesting against "this degrading form of punishment." Tt seems that the practice was to conduct the prisoner from the lock-up to the stocks for exposure every few hours, and whilst so exhibited tfie public were not prohibited from showing what they thought of tho prisoner. The Telegraph office advises that the Co-lombo-Penang cable has been restored and traffic for the East is proceedimr as usual. Full-rate traffic for the United Kingdom has still to transit via Pacific. Deferred traffic on both routes is subject to heavy delay. The shabby appearance of the old Parliamentary Buildings was remarked upon in flic IToiise of Renicseutntives yesterday iiv Sir Joseph Ward. Ho said to liie Minister of Public Works that the buildings in their present unpaintcd condition, were an eyesore, and lie asked the Minister to have them painted. Sir William Frasor said that the buildings were undoubtedly shabby and in need of tiaiiii. and also that the big Government Buildings were in like condition. He promised to crive attention to the matter. and Knve the- assurain-f thai the limber in the buildings would mr lie allowed lo deteriorate for lack of protective paint. Th'! Wellington Patriotic .Society's Hand will provide a musical programme at the Newtown Park to-night, cominenciiig at 8 o'clock. .

Possibly only those who havo endeavoured to arrange for berths 'between tho Dominion and Australia aro fully acquainted with tho difficulties and delay that arc involved. A. reporter was informed bv a Christchurch man recently that -for the past four months ho had been attempting to arrange for a visit to Australia, and was only successful in doing so a day or two ago. In addition to writing to the ollicials of tho shipping company, he got friends in Wellington and Duneilin to be on Ihe watch in the event of passengers who had been able lo hook passages being at tho last moment unable lo go. One friend wroto him that on inquiry lie found that there were no fewer than 09 persons on tho company's "wailing list" ahead of him. At a meeting of the Canterbury College Board of Governors yesterday Professor Gabbatt, speaking in regard to the appointment of the lihodes scholar, said the. amount allowed hv the trustees of Ihe scholarships was .Sllf.tl per year, the pre-war figure. He said it was considered that the amount was not now sufficient to educate and provide for a scholar at Oxford. The subject was referred lo the college committee.—Press Assn. Major-General Sir E. W. C. Chavtor, X.Z.S.C., who commanded the New Zealand Mounted Uiflrs Brigade after tho Gallipoli campaign, and subsequently the famous Anzac Mounted Division during the Palestine campaign, is on the Arawa, which is due to reach Auckland on or about November 19. A promise has been made by the Prime Minister lo Mr. A. Harris, M.P., that during the coming season strawberries and other soft fruits will be carried in the guard's van of the Main Trunk express between AVellington and Auckland. An official of the Union. Company stated to a Dominion reporter yesterday that tlie Kokiri, which left Wellington at 1.20 p.m. last Wednesday, and arrived at Wcslnort. at 2 p.m. on Friday, had been held up at the Coast port ever since through shortage of coal. As a consequence the collier is not expected to get awav for Auckland until midnight tonight. Speaking at last night's meeting of the Wellington lielumed Soldiers' Association, Sir. C. W. Batten urged disabled men to take advantage of the provisions of tho Itepatrintion Act with regard lo receiving training in useful trades. In this connection he pointed out. thatithe wimos ef trainees were supplemented by the Kepalriaiion Board until the men were in a position to earn tho minimum wage of the particular trade concerned. Instances bad occurred where the board had been "done in the eye" by some employers who had failed to give disabled men proper I raining. A voice: "They have obtained some cheap labour." Mr, Batten replied that thai was the case, but the instances were very few and the position was being closely watched. . The possibility' of establishing the margarine iridu=lry in New Zealand was touched on bv Dr. Thncker. M.P.. while sneaking at the Christeluirch Industrial Fair. He said that Belgians had been bromrhl into the Dominion lo select and clarify the fat which was shipped away to be made into margarine, and it would be rinile possible to bring in experts to make Ihe margarine in New Zealand and I lien export, it: to Holland or elsewhere. The Oaniaru correspondent of a Dunedin paper writes that Ihe sowing of cereals in North Otago has now been completed. Though no definite information is available a< lo the areas under crop, it can 'be safely said that the total sown .with wheat is a long way below t'uit of last year. There was a diminished winter sowing, and spring sowing was very seriously affected by continued wet weather at'the lime when the work should have been performed. The consequence has been that in Ihe end land prepared for wheat has lieen nli'is.?d for oats, nf which tho area is a fairly full one. The aggi'oeiilc area limler cereal* is a gocd deal below the avoni'-e of Ihe lust few year 2, and the whole decline ha c occurred in wheat. A rood amount of land is being sown with grass end clovers, an active business having done in seeds. Good- sowings arc also being made of vane and turnips. Vrenehhur at tho lingl"- Street Church .C'hrislrhnrrh on Sunday, T!ev. A. C. Lawnreferred to the Mgh cost of living which increased the difficulties of we"e-earii"rs to-day. He. quoted. Admiral TvrwhittV cnmmc'it unon the profiteer: "Our bes charged over the lon. and uo one could stop'them," said th» Admiral; "our trader.-, rharge tremendously n ver the counter, and no ono seems able to slop them, either!" Writing from New York lo Mends in Auckland. Mr. ,T. S. Flcleher. nf Messrs. Fletcher Bros.. Lid., builders, of Auckland. stales that in visiting the large steel mills in Canada and the United States, the principals of the firms told him when smiplies that: materials were not likely to come _ down in price. Tl is the opinion of United. States manufacturers tl'»t in twelve or eighteen months there will only he ono country able to- su.iuilv the world's markets, namely. Emrland. The ; American promo stale riuilc frankly that they are making liav while the sun shinei. Thov do not expect lo hold the exnort market when Eiv'land • »cts her shoulders into the collar" again. This also is I rue in regard to hardware, baths, etc, Mviee has been received from the Expeditionary Force Par Office. London, that the BemiHance Denartment is elns-in-r down on October .I'. The facilities wovided for nnrents and relatives of sn - diers to remit moi;ey bv cable through the Defence Department will therefore cease, and no remittances can now be accepted. K statement of the officers, non-eom-missioued officers, and men of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force who have returned to New Zealand up to September 30 gives the total as 75,803. The'director of Gilbv'.s College hns just received advice from tho secretary of the .Incorporated Phonographic Society (typists' section), England, that out ot ihirtv-cighl candidates presented by Gilbv's College at Wellington and Christchurch in July last, thirty-six were successful. including twenty passes with distinction." The names of the. successful students at Wellington arc as fol-low--Senior typists' examination—Miss Eileen Griffiths. Junior typists' examination (passed with i,h'?tinctinn)-Misses Blsio Adams. Phyllis Ifart, Owen M Concliie Fieda Murdoch, Doris Pavitt, Theirna Petersen. E. Pringle, Zelcla Ttankine; pass: Misses G. Thyra Clark. Olive Coutti Lottie Harris; Annie Lithgow, Carmen Boss, W. G. Shanlcy. Fur'lier reference to the conditions at Waipukurau Sanatorium was made at bet moptins: of tho W.K.S.A. >> Afr T\° J. H. lMrani. " patient of tin* institution. He said that the whole trouble at, Waipvlnirnu was that patients had Wr. "pitclifovlcon wto tho iiwuihitimi in) soon, .is ii W not. roiuly lor their reception. He criticised stalements made en the mutter bv Di. b. Boxer, president of the N.Z.Ti.S.A., and said the officials of the association had failed to support the men m having their grievances- rectified promptly. Ho said the association had also been guilty of delav in dealing with the cases of the men at Featheroton Hosp.tn particulars of which have been published in the Press. On the motion of Mi. \ TV Siovwriglit a commiUoe was sot to investigate the complaints, with instructions to report on the matter• th fioon ns possible. Hi.-J. D- H.upei paid lha* action was at present bom.? taken with regard to Waipukurau. and headquarters .wore in cionimumcalion with the Director-General of Medical Services on the subject. The Christchurch City Council last ni"ht. on the easting vote of the Mayor, decided to co-operate m resisting an> attempt- to reinstate Professor von Zedlib as Professor of Modern Languages at Victoria College, Wellington.-Press Assn. ,\ private telegram train Invercargill states that, a meeting held yesterdaj guaranteed XSOO for one concert by tie New South Wales Stale orchestra, and made arrangements for-a hall five thousand. Nothing smaller will hold the anticipated crowd. ,\n interesting race between two transports was completed on Sunday, when ihe Kemuera dropped anchor in Auckland llnrlicii!r. The lonic left Newport Npw-i 18 hours ahead of the Jicmuera, and re 'cited Wcllineton I'oui.-' bctoro TJemucrn Auckland, l.ic Remtiera was handieopped during par. of lhe vuyiigL' by liaviiifj boiler out of commission, owing to a dcfcct 1 ing.

At the meeting of the Technical Education Board last evening Mr. G. Frcst, llio chainiian, stated that tho plans for tho new college had been approved by the Education Department, and ho hoped to sco the work commenced shortly. A. case of mistaken identity was disclosed in connection with an affiliation case heard in the Christ-church MagisIrale's Court yesterday (slates a Press Association nicssnee). Acting on a description furnished by the complainant, and perhaps misled by a similarity of names, the police had arrested a manat Timarti and brought liini to Christchurch in custody. The Magistrate discharged Ihe man, and cancelled an order for costs previously made against him. An Ashburlon business man interested in stock slated oil Saturday that the shortage of feed in the autumn had induced many fanners in the county to put in oats for green feed, and, with (ho great', improvement in nil soils of feed during the past three weeks, lie finds farmers with more feed than they really want. In consequence they are looking for slock to put 011 it, with the result that thero is an exceptional demand for stock at the present time. The winter of 1918 and the low lambing percentage this year were also factors accounting for the keen demand. The proposed four months training in camp, lor youths was referred to by tho l'cv. AV. Bullock, organising secretary of the Church of England Men's Society, during the course ot an address in the Auckland Town Hall concert chamber, oil Sunday. "I have nothing to say about tho criticism," he said, "or about the advantages or the disadvantages of the scheme of training as judged from the military standpoint. ]3ut what I do protest against is the suggestion that a young man of Christian principles cannot go into camp without being damned for life. Is the language of the cam]) worse than that of any other place where men forgather?" he asked, "I's the Christianity which a boy receives in a Christian home of such a sort that it will shrink up in the fiery breath of the first sergeant-major with a gift for language?" Before Mr. W. G. Ifiildell, S.M., yesterday morning, an. inquest was opened touching the death of Beatrice Gladys Braithwaite, a young woman who died suddenly at Makara on Saturday morning. Evidence went to 'show that the deceased had never properly recovered from an attack of influenza, from which she suffered at the time of the epidemic. The deceased was slaying at the home of her brother-in-law. Mr. Ernest Cook, at Makara, and had bepu attended l)v a doctor for some time. On going to bed on Friday night, she anueared to !>e ill her usual stale of health, but later became (suddenly ill. and died at; 4.-- r ) o'clock on Saturday morning. According to Ihe evidence of Dr. Kinglon T.vfFe. who made e. post-mortem examination of the body, death was due lo the ulceration of an intestine. Enrtlier lienyinsr of evidence was ndjourned till Thursday. During a Lvall Buy deputation's interview with the Finance Committee of the City Council yesterday afternoon a request was made for an additional compulsory stopping place on Onepu Hoe.d. and. to emphasise his point the sneaker mentioned Hint there were three compulsory stons in Pirie Street. The Mayor (Mr. .1. P. Luke) explained that eommilsory slops were necessary on a gradient In ensure I hat ears would not f-i away. That is why there were several comnultiorv slops in Constable Str"ef, and other graded tracks throughout Ihe system. "It augurs well for Ihe future when these men, who have hern through such experiences during four years abroad, are returning home and Inking up their old work without delay, and thereby keeping Ihe wheels of commerce moving in the eounlry," said Mr. W. flarrett, past president of the Auckland Commercial Travellers' and Warehousemen's AsMJUiation, at its welcome social lo soldier members on Saturday evening. The speaker remarked that Hie spirit with which the men were resuming their duties could be compared only lo that with which they joined the colours. "The men of tin* New Zealand Mounted lUillos were second to none on earth." remarked Lieutenant-Colonel C'. E. li. Mackcsy. C.M.G., C.8.E., D.5.0., of Whanearei, who commanded the Auckland Billes throughout the Palestine campaign, and who returned by the troopship Hcmuera to Auckland on Sunday. The distinguished ollicer stated thai, though a groat deal of prominence had not been given to the Palestine campaign and lo Ihe men who were concerned in it, it waf perhaps ihe most important, and certainly the hardest in the war. "Hut never, at any lime, were the men found wanting," said Lieuten-ant-Colonel Mackcsy. "They were always on time, always ready, and what is more, lliey always carricd their objective. They were ever cheerful—that is the reputation the New Zealander? have everywhere—and a fine comradeship always marked Ihe relation between officer and man. T?io base camp in Esypt »;as a pattern to all others, and time and again tho New Zenlanders sent to tho school of instruction headed the examination lists. It is hard for us in New Zcajand lo realise wlint they went through, but the fact that 'llio intense heat laid 49 men up with sunstroke in one afternoon may give an idea of what Ihe mounted men have endured." Colonel Mackesv also paid a high tribute to the work of the eight New Zealand nurses who controlled the Awn tea Convalescent Home at Helionolis. "They did wonderful work there," he said, "and no words of mine could praise them adequately for what they did for our sick men."