LOCAL AND GENERAL

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 272, 11 August 1921, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

The Postal authorities advise that the R.M.S. Marama, whic.i left Wellington on June 30, arrived in London on August 7.

About a thousand commissions and 800 wills belonging to members of the. New Zealand Expeditionary Force remain in the ixxssession of tho War Records Branch of th® Defence Department. No doubt many of the commissions bear tho names of officers who never returned from the front, but in such cases the parchment would bo forwardeel to the next-of-kin of the deceased if toe address were available. The wills are supposed to have been executed by men who were not killed in tho war. Tho Records Branch would have sent them on to tho Public Trustee if there were any record of the testators’ deaths. Ea<Sbmail brings back to tho branch a quantity of matter that tho postal authorities have been unable to deliver because changes of address have not been reported. The Wellington. Girls’ and Boys’ Colleges and the State schools of Wellington are to close for tho second term holida vs on August 19.

Mention was made at last nighris meeting of the Victoria College Council of a sum of money that is coming to the college from the Mnoarthy trustees. The money is in the h<nds of tho 1 ul> lie Trustee, and amounts at present over £BOOO. It is to lie handed to th® council when principal and. uitorest Teach a total of £lO,OOO. Recently the Public Trustee has agreed to pay 5 per cent, interest instead of 3 per cp nV> and at this rate of growth the full sum will become available about two years hence.*

It is the intention of the Trades and Ixibour Council .to celebrate Labour Day by holding a sports meeting at Newtown Park, and in the evening to hold a concert and dance at the Town Hall. At a well-attended meeting of delegates from various unions, hold ?ast evening at rue Trades Hall, over which Mr. A. Murray presided, it was resolved, to set up a sports committee, of which Mr. 1. Cornwall is convener. The following donations towards prizes were acknowledg«d:—Messrs. Findlay and Muir, £1 is. ; Messrs. Oppenheimer. £3 35.; the Seamen’s Union, £lO. A ladies’ committee (of which Mrs. F. Forde is the convener) was set up for making arrangements for .tho dance and the conducting of the tea kiosk nt Newtown Park on tho day of the sports. It is also proposed to hold a baby show. Mr. J. J. Hynes is the secretary of the Labour Day Committee.

'A striking example of rapid transformation of power furnaces from coal to oil consumption has been furnished at Messrs. Cadbury’s cocoa and chocolate works at Bournville. At Whitsuntide the exhaustion of' coal stocks made it necessary for the firm, ns a precautionary measure, to give notice to some of their 8090 employees that they might be unable to resume full-time employment after the bank holiday, while an emergency' scheme of unemployment grants was drawn up. Meanwhile the firm’s engineering department worked night and day at the substitution of oil and other alternative fuels in the place of coal. So successful were their efforts, both, at Bournville and at tho subsidiary factories, that the amount of time it was feared would be lost was fortunately loss than was anticipated. Within one week, productior in tho factories was again in full swing, and the threat of unemployment of thousands of employees was dispelled.

A brief stetoment of accounts was made at a meeting of tho Victoria. College Council last night by the chairman (Mr. P. Lovi). The expenditure of the council during the current year, said Mr. Lovi, would probably' exceed the ordinary' revenue, but the expenditure included some items that could fairly bo charged to capital. It would he quite reasonable that some part of this expenditure should come out of the council’s accumulated funds, representing (ho surpluses of other years. He thought that the council would finish the year with its finances in a fairly satisfactory condition, though it could pot expect to have any surplus. It might have to find a considerable sum of money' for furniture and equipment in the now building. A statement of accounts placed before the council showed that the council's funds lit call, after paying the purrent month’s accounts, would amount to .£5884.

During a lively discussion at a meeting of the School Committees’ Association on the new scheme, whereby it is proposed that tho boards, through the Education Department, . shall provide school books, some of the headmasters present objected Io the work of distributing all school books and stationery io tho scholars, on the ground that it would add Io their work and increase their responsibilities, which were already quite as much as they could boar. Thereupon Mr. Whyte (chairman and also a member of I he boa rd) made an attack upon headmasters generally, referring to’ the short hours and easy times they enjoyed. As a result of his remarks, the headmasters present rose in a body and left the room.

At the last meeting of tho iSeatoun and Bays Association a strong protest was carried against the Government's action in vetoing the City Council’s request for tho abolition of the Order-in-Council granting special privileges to workers using the tramcars before 7.30 a.m. at the expense of those using tho cars frcin that time onwards. It was pointed out that: the loss had to be passed on, and unless the Government would nsike up the deficit, other action should bo taken. By all kindred associations entering an emphatic protest no doubt the injustice could lie attended to. It was also decided to request the Eastern Suburbs League to again take the matter up, and arrange whatever action was necessary. Tho burden of tram fares applied to all outlying suburbs, and often camo a heavier expense to those receiving a smaller income than travellers on what are known as workers’ cars. The Outlying Districts Committee of the City Council is to be invited out to the district when convenient to them.

A Greymouth Press Association message reports that the following is tho result of the ballot at the State mine in connection with the secretaryship cf the Miners' Federation: O’Rourke, 194; Balderston, 41 ; Grant, 20; O’Brien, 13; Smith, 9; Franks, 1. Professor Kirk, of the Victoria University, is to carry out certain scientific investigations concerning opossums, with a view of studying the state of gestat ion, or the, actual development of >the young, in order, if possible, that the period of the open season should be such as to obviate the destruction of young animals, while at the same time securing skins at their best, or nearly their best. Tho investigations will be made over a fairly lengthy period, and arrangements are being made to obtain not more than six opossums from each of the Kapiti Island and Catlins and Oraria. Gorge districts. At last night’s meeting of the Acclimatisation Society one member said that a period that would obviate tho destruction of young animals could not bo found. The number of students who paid fees at Victoria College last year was 1764, as against 13G6 in 1919 and 882 in 1918. The degrees, honours, and scholarships gained by students last year amounted to 393, as against 344 in 1919 and 258 in 1918.

It appears that tho British Army authorities have been impressed with ttj value of sawdust as fuel for cooking and heating purposes. An Army Council Instruction issued in the Old Country states that for a considerable time nothing but sawdust has been used in one of the remount depots, and that it has given excellent results. Civilians may be interested in tho simple type of furnace described by tho Army authorities as suitable for- sawdust consumption. Four holes should be bored in a vessel—say, an oil drum or snue similar receptacle—at the base, and two sticks passed through so as to cross at the centre. A third stick should then be inserted vertically in the centre of the furnace so that it rests on top of the intersection made by the other two. A draught from tho sides of the vessel up through a central flue is thus provided for. The sawdust is put into the utensil and packed tight. When it has been packed, the sticks are withdrawn, care being taken to prevent sawdust or other material from blocking the passages. A piece of paper is then placed in the holes, and this, when lit, causes tho fire to burn up at once. "The process - of making the fire,” states the Army Instruction, "is simple, and takes only a few minutes. Always allow the fire to die down before remaking with fresh sawdust. Tho procedure for remaking the fire is in every respect similar to that followed in the first instance.” Seventeen thousand memorial plaques for issue to next-of-kin of deceased. members of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force arrived in this country by the S.S. Papuroa about a week ago. Their distribution will be commenced when that of the scrolls, which is nearly at an end, bus been completed. The 17,090 plaques weigh four and a half tons.

As an outcome of the Springboks’ victorv ovo— Wellington three Dannevirkc residents found themselves at loggerheads with the police this week, when they were charged before Mr. J, Logan Stout. S.M.. with having, on July 23. nt Dannevirke. been found on the licensed premises of the Masonic Hotel at a time when such premises were required to .be closed. Mr. T. H. G. Lloyd appeared for the defendants and entered a plea of guilty. He explained that the defendants were .respectable citizens, and on The night in question were being entertained by the licensee and his wife, who were celebrating the Springboks’ victory over Wellington, they being natives of South Africa. Be was instructed that no drink was served. Tho Magistrate: They ought to have celebrated before six o’clock.. . SeniorSergeant Harvev said he visited the hotel about 9 o'clock, when eyeryttog appeared to be quiet downstairs. His attention, however, was drawn to voices overhead, and upon investigation h« found in a room upstairs tho defendants and two others, who had taken the precautions to "book up.” It was. stated by Mr. Lloyd, the occasion of the Springboks’ match with Wellington In the adjoining room was liquor. Hie Magistrate imposed a fine of 10s., with costs 75., upon each of the defendants. Something novel in the way of State finance is descr’bc.i in Australian iiles just to hand, which relate that the Queensland Prime Minister, having failed to float a loan on the London market, arranged for temporary accommodation ?rom ihe Bank of England bo the extent <lt a million sterling. This, it appears, is io be paid back in instalments. £200.090 in September. £50,000 in October .£299,009 in November, and £550-,090 in July’ of next year. The rate of interest Unciuaf.es with the bank rate prevailing Ten: time to time.

When a man charged in the Supreme Court at Palmerston North with having stolen some cigarettes and chocolates from a shop in that town was acquitted, he asked that the property should be returned to him. The Judge said that as the accused was the last one known to be in possession of the goods they' were undoubtedly his in law, but he found some difficulty in deciding what to do with them. After some consideration he said that the best thing to do was io hand them over to the police until the claimant, who- is at present undergoing a sentence of fifteen years’ imprisonment, came out of gaol, and it was quite likely that by that time they would have perished.