LOCAL AND GENERAL

Evening Post, Volume XCVII, Issue 127, 31 May 1919, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

It is learned from an authoritative source that Sir Joseph Ward and Mr. Massey will leave London on 14th Juno, and leave Vancouver on 3rd July (states an Invercavgill Press Association message).

At the request of the Islands Administration four Rarotongan boys have art rived in New Zealand, one to learn the' carpentry and the others the motormechanic's trade in the G.P.O. workshops. They will, after having gained a working knowledge of their trades, return to the Islands. , . ■,

Among the successful applicants for land under the Returned Soldiers' Settle* merit Scheme is Mr. W P. Casey, of Taihape, who has secured 940 acres, in the Whirinaki survey district. Mr. Casey, prior to leaving: New Zealand with the Sth Reinforcements, lived'at Taihape, where he has been engaged in farming pursuits since his childhood.

A meeting of the Wellington Branch of the New Zealand Educational Institne was held last evening. Mr. C. N. Ilaslam prosided Motions regarding tho training of junior teachers will be forwarded to other branches of the Institute in New Zealand. In future tha meeting night of the Wellington branch will bo Monday instead of Friday, as is the case now. '

On Monday evening the Church of England in Wellington will give in St. Peter's Hall, Ghuznee-street, an_ account of its work amongst the Maoris. The Right Reverend Bishop Sprott will-be in the chair. Two of the speakers will be the superintendent (the Rev. A. 0. Williams); and the Rev. Wilfrid Williams, the Rev. V. A. Kitcat, secretary of the Mission, and the Rev> 0. M. Stent will also speak. A collection wilt bo taken for the funds of the mission.

A desire for tho harmonious working of the railway service was echoed by Mr. R. Hampton, president of the A.S.R.S., at the railway smoke concert last night. But that harmony for the good of the whole could only be brought about by the recognition of the new era. that had been referred to. It had to be recognised' that every man was entitled to the be3t in life, to have bis hours of leisure, and a decent wage. If the Government of the future would recognise that, and the lioads of Departments would liberally administer that policy, there would be no grounds for serious complaint. The preservation of industrial peace was de-. sired by them, and if their requests were dealt with sympathetically by the Government of the day and the General Manager and his snbordinates, there was no reason why it should not be so.

In the Magistrate's Court yesterday afternoon, before Mr. F. V. Frazor, S.M., William Wilson, contractor, was charged with cruelty to his four horses. Mr. R. H. Webb appeared for the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and Mr. H. F. Yon Haast for the defendant, who pleaded , not guilty. Inspector Henry, of the S.P. C.A., said the horses were kept in a small area' in. Old Customhouse-street. The section was covered with broken packing cases, from which nails protruded, and there was not sufficient space for the horses to lie down in comfort, if they did lie down they ran the risk of being hurt by tho nails. The inspector added that one of the horses was reduced to such' a low condition that it had had to be shot. There was no water in the section. Sergeant Lopdell said that if the horses moved about they were in danger of having their feet pierced by nails. Defendant stated that it 'was incorrect to 'say that there was . timber lying all over the ground. There was plenty of room for 20 horses to move about. During the time the horses were in the section no instance occurred of injury being done to any of them by nails. In respect to the horse, which was shot, the witness said that the animal was being taken to Malcara, but when it reached the Post Office it broke down, and was immedi- i otely returned to the section. ■ It was an old horse, iand it was to have been given away. Defendant was going to destroy the horse, and was away making, the necessary arrangements when ; the polico arrived to shoot it. He had no idea that the animal was in a poor condition, because it had not been worked for. W months. His Worship considered that it was cruel to leave the horses in the section, as it was too small. He did not think there was anything serious about tire feeding and watering arrangements. DefeHLdwj* ww* fined .■*>■», »«* ■■<*»*» amounting to £3 12a,

The New Zealand Heraid states that tho Minister for Education (Hon. J. A, Hana.n) proposes to visit Auckland within the next few weeks to investigate the overcrowding of schools. ,

A. special correspondent of The Post telegrap'.-ji from Wanganui: "Advice has ■been received from Foxton that the re-' sumption of all the local fkij mills is expected about the beginning of n«t month. Preparations are a-lso being in.-.de by other mills in the district, and it is confidently expected that the majority of M-tinawatu flax mills will be in full svvinq by the end of Juno. It seems quite possible that the fisxmillirig industry will be in very active condition again before long."

Something in the nature of a souvenir of the Main Body came to light at the Auckland ofiico'of the Shaw, Savill, and Albion Shipping Co. the other day, when a leather case of surgical instruments was handed over by a -returned medical officer (says tha Star).'1 These particular instruments formed part of the medical appliances on the linerWWari r mana, which took part of the original volunteers for the great struggle in 1914. Before the troops were disembarked at Egypt the case was missed, and no trace could be found of it. Apparently it was taken to one of the base hospitals in Egypt, where it did yeoman surviee. Eventually it was recognised as the long-lost "mystery" of the Waimana, and it was decided that it should be returned to its old surroundings. ' | "The Silent Division"—the nanie.earn ? Ed at the front by the New Zealanders —was mentioned at the railway gathering last night. . Major .W. G.. Wray, M.C., a returned officer, alluded to it further. The New Zealand Division, ho said, was one of the three.best Divisions in France—the other two were the Guards and Highlanders. In digging, the Now Zealandors were' far ahead of all others. They. did not have a good lorig-handled shovel, but a silly little affair that made the back ache. "I never dreamt that the. New Zealand Division as I saw it in France would aver be called the 'Silent Division'—not when thay were _ digging, anyway." (Laughter.) Major Wray said, that the New Zealand Tunnel lers* could beat anything in France, and next to them came the "Engineers. The Engineer was not a gentleman who walked round with a theodolite: he was just a "damn sapper." He never knew the New Zealandors set to do a piece of work estimated to take six hours, but what they finished it in four and a-half.

A number of charges against parents of not seeing that their children attended school regularly were heard by Mr. F. V. Frazar, S.M., in the Juvenile Court this morning. The father of one boy said,his son "played the wag," and the Magistrate gave him a brief lecture on the value of education, not to speak o5 the fact that he had forged a letter, in the name of his father, to Brother Eusebius, stating that he was absent throughl sickness. It was not "playing the game." The Magistrate adjourned that case to see if the boy would "make good." A similar course was taken in regard to another boy who had "played the wag" for five^ weeks. In another case it was reported that a girl of nine years of age had not yet passed a standard, and had only during the past year' attended school 100 times out of a possible 331. "It's not a fair thing," said His Wor- j ship to the mother of the child; "it's not fair to the child or to the school. She might do credit to you or to the. country if you give her a chance." He adjourned the .case for a month, to see if any improvement can be effected. :

A remit, moved by Mr. W. 6. Johnson (of Taneatua) at the Farmers' Union Conference, at Auckland, urged upon the Government the necessity of pushing on with the early construction of tha Bay. of Plenty Railway—the great settlement line of New Zealand. Reporting the discussion, the New Zealand Herald states that the movar said that tha progress being made in railway construction on the East Coast -was far from satisfactory. There was an area, of from 80,000 to 100,000 acres on the Eangitaiki Plain capable of close settlement. In addition a vast tract _of land in the Urewera district was being acquired by the Government, and the completion of tha railway to serve new se("»2inent was not merely a local question, but was of Dominion importance. Strong support was given to the remit by Mr. W. D. Lysnar, who said that between the East Cape and Galatea there were .between 4,000,000 and 5,000,000 acres of virgin bush country capable of carrying from one and a-half to two skeep to the acre. It was essential to complete the railways of the district in the interest of the Dominion He emphasised the necessity of the Government acquiring the large area of nativeowned country that would be served by the railway. The remit, reports the Herald, was carried unanimously.

The .question of delay in the delivery of inward cable messages has been before the Auckland Chamber of Commerce on more than,- one occasion. It was hoped (says Thursday's Star) that after Easter there would be an improvement in the position, but apparently that has not proved to be the case. It is understood that the delay is due in the first place to the fact that at one point no less than 99 land cables converge for the transit of the messages over a single under-sea cable. With so many Government messages it has become impossible to deal with the work, hence the delay. A prominent city firm has written to the- Chamber of Commerce again calling attention to the matter. The .writer status that he was informed by the' officer in charge that he saw no prospect of relief from the congestion, which has now existed for the last six weeks or two months, as it is now as bad, as ever. The letter continues: "We think that all sections of the business community now feel that the position has become intolerable, as it is impossible to transact business under present cablo transmission conditions, and serious losses, which, in -the aggregate, must have amounted to something considerable, havo been sustained owing to delay in replies coming through. 4s tho heavy Government business adds greatly to the congestion, a combined move by the commercial community might induce this to ba cut down- Action should bs taken by the combined Chambers of Commerce throughout the Dominion."

Several informations have been laid by the police, under section 181 of the Legislature Act, 1908, against residents of Auckland for issuing imitation voting papers outside polling booths, when the •licensirp; poll was taken on 10th April (says the New Zealand Herald).

A rather novel petition was that received at the mopliug of the Auckland Grammar .Schools Board on Wednesday, when pupils of the Epsom branch of the Girls' School forwarded a request, signed by 239 members, asking for improvements" to the recreation grounds. A letter accompaniyng the petition stated that the pupils, in addition "to 'being limited in their own recreation, were at a disadvantage in competition with other schools. The board decided' to visit the school before- deciding on any permanent improvements.

The claims of women to be appointed to the newly-created positions of organising leaohers was made By the Hon. G. J. Garland at the meeting of the Auckland . Education -Board this week (reports the Xew Zealand Herald). Ho considered it would be a mistake to appoint, only male teachers. • Mrs. P. E. liaimie said she was particularly pleased to hear Mr. Garland's remarks, as they, were made by a' convert to the cause of women teachers. Mr. Garland :"I must ileuy the soft impeachment. • There has been' no conversion al all."

The movement for the establishment of ■a Women's Club in Auckland has now readied a definite stage (says tho TS'ew Zealand Herald of Thursday). At a well-attended meeting of -those interested it was decided to issue debentuies to the value of £1000 to aid the finances, and several were taken up. ■ There is already a membership of 200, mid ouitable club rtjoms have been rented. These are to be formally occupied on Monday, and\ will be officially opened later. Political, educational, and social questions are all designed to come within tho sphere of the new organisation, the membership of which will, it is hoped, be considerably increased as time goes on.

"Wo talked in thousands then, and a million seemed a great deal, but it is nothing to us now." Thus spoke tne Minister for Railways, (Hon. W. H. Herries) last night when impressing on a railway gathering how great the 1914 programme of railway improvements— to cost £3,soo,ooo—then appeared. Mr. R. Hampton, president of the A.S.R.S., took Mr. Herries up later in the evening. He saw the dawn of a better day in the light and airy way Mr. Herrie3 referred to a million. , "'A million. is nothing to us now.' • I hope he Ba.ys that the next time our deputation meets him." (Laughter.)

"There has been a good deal said about the two leaderstieing at Home." said the Hon. W. D. S. Mac Donald last night. "They say there was no necessity for them to go. Our progress and development and future are absolutely bound up in the Pacific routes; and if we do not have them open to carry our produce then we cannot make any progress. Our representatives went Home with the representatives of other overseas Dominions to see that those routes were safeguarded,- and that no fortifications were erected to threaten them. But even if we left out commercialism altogether, for the sake of the men who fought arid died, from'tho historic point of view, the country should have had representa-i tives at that great Imperial Conference."

"We want a Chair of Agriculture and a Chair of Domestic Science within tho next year or two," Mr. E. C. Banks, chairman of the Auckland Education Board, said to tha Hon. G J. Garland upon the latter's reappointment to the University College Council afr-the meet, iiig of the.board this week. . Mrs. F. E, Baume said the example of Canterbury in instituting a Ohair ol Education should be followed. The weakness in the secondary schools was- chiefly due to .lack of knowledge by the teachers of the science of teaching. ' Mr. Garland stated that he would do all he could to get the chairs of' domestic science and agriculture, which were urgently needed. Regarding the Chair of; Education, he did not think a chair in each of the four centres would be sanctioned, but if one were established at Canterbury College they would at least be able to hold classes in Auckland.