LOCAL AND GENERAL

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 224, 16 June 1920, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Some time ago a report was circulated to the effect that. tho Privy Council Office would toko over the dcpnrtment.il work in connection with tho Overseas Dominions. Tlio Secretary of State has iust telegraphed a denial of this report. Sir. Llovd George was asked in tho House of Commons on Juno 2 whether the report was correct, and his reply was in tho negative.

The Conciliation Committee which has been, hoaring the dispute of the locomotivo men of tho railway service with the management will not h? in a position to present its report until' to-day. Tho tribunal to deal with the case of tho First Division men will meet ns eoon ns possiblo. Mr. Georgo Elliott, of Auckland, will preside, and thtre will be three representatives of the Department and three representatives of tho Eailway Ofiicers' Institute. Efforts are to bo made to make a beginning almost immediately.

Bequests havn been made to the Wellington Town-Planning Association from n number of_provincial towns for lectures on this subject, anil arrangements harti already been made for Mr A. Leigh Hunt to lecture at Marton and Feilding next week. Calls wiii bo mado at Lovin and Palmerstan North; io confer with' interested citizens fn those towns who have asked for lecture visits Tho Masterton Progress Leaguo is arranging for a lecture on town-planning in Masterton oft June 29.

Gertrude Armstrong yesterday (tpplicJ to tho Supreme Court for' an order that Howard Harold Armstrong, who some timo ago divorced her on tl\e ground of desertion, should pay her alimony. Tho matter camo before the Chief Justice (Sir Robert Stout), in Chambers. His Honour observed flint the Court' could not make an order for alimony in such a case unless it w'ero shown that tho divorced wife's maintenance wns likely to becorno a ctarge upon the State. Mr. H. 1 ? . O'Leary (counsel for petitioner) wid that his cliont was in ill-health and unable to work continuously for her living. Opposing counsel (Air. .T. C. Morison) urged that Armstrong atso wis in poor health, and that his means wero not great. His Honour made an order for •:he payment of 7s. Gd. a week. The order may be reviewed upon tho expiration of a year.

Reserved judgment was delivered yesterday morning by Mr. W. Q. Hiddell, S.M., in tho case of Stcllin v. Abernethy, a claim for lost ront .£9l, damage to fonee -E25, and general damages ,£2O. Tho plaintiff is the owner of 19 acres in the Oranjri Knnpapn Block, and defendant owned 2 acres adjoining. It was alleged that during plaintiff's absence with tlic Expeditionary Forco the defendant pulled up and appropriated certain fences belonging to plaintiff, let the grazing on plaintiff's lnnd, and ' received money therefor; also that defendant's action caused plaintiff's tenant to give up possession of tho land mid refuse a renewal of tho tenancy. The Magistrate said that owing to the somewhat indefinite naturo of the evidencu it was impossible to fix with, exactness the amount of defendant's liability in connection with his exercise of grazing rights, but lie thought the sum of £52 should lie paid for this unwnrrnnted use of plaintiff's properly after the beginning of 1910, with ',£2O for damages to fencing. Judgment wns accordingly given for plaintiff, witlt costs .£lO 4s. At the hearing Mr. T. Young appeared for plaintiff and Mr. A. W. Blair for defendant.

Clifford Morris, Tcsiding at No. 12 Poro Street, ICilbirnie, was yesterday working in the factory of the -Empire Printing Company, in Adelaide Eoad, wlion he got his right hand oaught in a machine aid crunhed. Ho wits admitted to the Hospital at It.lfl A.m.

At a conference of local bodies called at the request of tho Lyttclton Harbour Board to discuss communication between Christchurch nnd tho sea, a motion was carried that Port Lyttelton fchould remain the port of Christchurch.—Press Assn. The fact that tho "flow of attendance" at district high schools in the country Has been disappointing was commented -tv! ® r -. 7 ' J- Anderson (tho Directorof Education)' at yesterday's meeting of tho Council of Education. The Director staled that an examination of tho problem would probably disclose the fact that ■n c 9! nse instruction did not meet with the general support of tliir people teauso of the dominating influence of tho examination syllabus. He was not a disbehovor in examinations, but nevort.ieless 110 considered that fho examination syllabus must liavo had a bad effect on tho course of instruction in-tbie district high schools. Tho teachers should tako an important part in examinations; the. wliole tendency of education (luring the _ last few years had been in that direction, and personally he seo nothing hotter than this. Our present system of examinations was very far from perfect. He would like children to be sorted out for the secondary schools, »ot br external examination, but by consulfation between inspector and teacher. <

A mooting of tho Wellington School Committees' Association was held on Monday evening (Mr. A. G. Wallace presiding), at which was discussed the nomination of candidates to Jul the \aeaucies on the Education Board caused Lv the retirement of Messrs. It. A. Wright and J. P. Shand. A letter was received from tho Women's National Council asking for support in its campaign for tho rcpresentatipnof women on tho benrd; and a lady member of the association, supporting the claim, snid that tho Women's National Council was compcsed of aJKiatad women's societies, who thought they should be represented in education mntiers. Tho chairman expressed the opinion that tho association should not encourage the election to tho board of women outside their own body. A series of suggestions put to tho meeting by Mr. .E. B. Iliil, in regard to the conducting of the election, were discussed, and the following motions wore carried"(l) That this associnticn is of opinion that when possible nctivo delegates to the association should receive nomination for vacancies ansing on the Education Board; that- should liioro than two nominatibns bo received a ballot be taken, and by such method as will assure a majority vote for the two selected candidates; that it bo a recommendation from this association that all delegates urge their respective committees to support tho candidates selected by the School Committees' Association." The fcf.lowing nominations were received Messrs. A. J. White, L. Hennessy, G. Startup, J. 0. Shorland, A. W. Groskory, and Mrs. Snow. Messrs'. "White and Shorland were the nominees selected. It was decided to reply to the Women's National Council that the (•.ssocintion could not agree to the nomination of the council's representatives, as it stood for the principle that nominees Bhould bo members of the association.

Sugar is once more acutely 6hort in Wellington. Anticipated supplies from Auckland during the past week have lot materialised. Large consignments were expected here by tho Mokcia and 'Riverina, but the Biverina brought little and the Mokoin none at all.' Yesterday, in answer to the "S.O.S. signals" projected from every store in the city, the Board of Trade announced that the Tutanekai had left Auckland on Monday night with between 300 and 4(10 tons of sugar for, Wellington. She should berth to-morrow morning.

Influenza is not now n notifiablo infectious disease, exccpt when the form it lakes is of a serious character. Conditions are said to be fairly normal at present. There is still', according to local chemists, a goo<l deal of influenza about, but it is the light form common to the community for a dozen rears past or more, the ty*a that brings about the "animoniated quinine period" each winter.

Owing to the shortage of cement construction has had to be. stopped of a number of new dairy factories in course of erection in t!ie Waikato. The position is very serious (says the Auckland "Star's" correspondent), and Mr. E. F. Bollard, M.P., on Saturday got into communication with the Board of Trade on the matter. On Monday morning he received the following. telegwm from the chairman of ths Board of Trade, Mr. W. G. M'Donald:—"Please make known requirements to cement companies, Auckland, who have had instructions to give dairymen's claims precedence, as. the cement is for work that will increase production."

At last night's meeting of the historical 6ection of tho Philosophical Society, Miss Hcatherington mentioned that in tho '60's of last century four Auckland men left for Thames in a small boat, having -£200 between them. They struck gold, and by the time they had had enough of mining they each had made .£40,000. They sold their claims to a company, but the company did not meet with success. Miss Heatherington added that oue of the men bought the. Duke of Edinburgh's coach, nnd spent a large sum of monoy on buiiding a road through an almost impossible piece of country. Another of Hie men spent or gambled away all his share, and returned to his eld life.

A London correspondent, writing on April 15, states tho latc-st strength return of the remnant pi tho I N.Z.E.F. 'left in tho United Kingdom shows a total cf 10 officers and 55 other ranks for repatriation to New Zealand. Thero aro now five officers and 14 other ranks taking their discharges _ in England. Twenty absentees aro included in tho total given, and it is not anticipated that any .of these will return. Thero aro still 10 cases in hospital, and four are completing sentences of detention. Married men, with wives and other dependants number two officers and nino other ranks. Evacuation to Now Zealand since the armistice now stand at: Officers 2453, other ranks 44,203, nurses 392, "Parliament looks to be very well from tho outside, but when you get insido it. is an entirely different thing," remarked Mr. B. A. Wright, M.P., at the P. and T. Association's smoke concert last evening. "It is," he added, "liko marriage. It has a great glamour, but it wears off. A man may go there with great ideas and great ideals, but he will find his own level, and that ho can'it get it all his own way."

A Press Association telegram from Christchurch appearing in yesterday's issue made it appear that the Typographical Federation's industrial dispute was set down for hearing in that city on June 21. The position is that tho dispute was to have been heard thero subject to the consont of the master printers and the newspaper proprietors being obtained This consent has not been given, hence the caso will not be taken until tlip Wellington sitting of the Court.

A suggestion that the development of co-operativo trading in New Zealand was handicapped by the attitude of merchants was made at last night's conference in the Trades Hall. A delegate stated that tho prices of many of tho articles handled by tho Wellington Cooperative- Society, which had been established in tho interests of the workers, were controlled by tlin merchants. If tho society did not sell tho goods at (lie fixed prices, in line with tho other retailers, ft would be refused supplies when noxt it went to the merchant. Tho chairman (Mr. .T, Head) admitted that some prices were controlled by the merchants in this way, and to that extent a co-operative society was in tho samo position as an ordinary retailer.

Four aeroplanes presented to New Zealand by the British Government aro housed at present in the 'Canterbury Aviation Company's hangars at Sockbum, where they are under the care of Captain L. Isitt. The use that is to bo made of these machines lias still to be decided. Some other gift aeroplanes are expected to arrive in the Dominion before the end of tho jear. Tho Government may decide to uso somo of them in the* postal services.

Tho uso of lantern slides to illustrate various phases of school work wa9 urged in a motion adopted at yesterday's sitting of tho Council of Education. Hesolutions were Watfrnned d'xawing. attention to the very harmful etTect of moving picture exhibitions, as at present conducted, 011 tho children of the Dominion, and urging that censors, one of whom should lw a woman, bo apiwintcd by tho Education Department and that 110 person under tho age of 17 years bo admitted to a picture show unless all the pictures to bo shown are paosod by the canton.