LOCAL AND GENERAL

Evening Post, Volume XCVII, Issue 128, 3 June 1919, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL

In connection with the suggestion at the Soldiers' Conference at Christchurcli that Base Records be asked to publish a complete Dominion roll of honour, the general secretary said the executive had prepared a list with-the next-of-ldn. It was proposed to get into touch with .all depa,rtments, to see whether their cases required assistance. The Mayor has convened a public meeting for Monday evening next in the Concert Chamber to make arrangements far an appeal for funds in connection with the Y.W.O.A. The Hotel and Restaurant Workers' Union, at its half-yearly meeting last night, decided to approach the employers with a view to a, conference to consider an increase in wages. The following officei-3 were elected:—President, Mr. W. Allison; vice-president, Mr. V. Peterson; treasurer, Mr. W. Galloway; trustees, Messrs. Lee and Bailey; committee, Mr. C. Cotterell and Mrs. M. O'Malley, and four female members to watch the interests of the women workers. The Defence Department has decided to double the allowance paid to soldiers who are undergoing treatment in hospital, but who are not provided with board and lodgings. The allowance was two shillings per day, but as it is recognised that, this is inadequate, under the existing conditions, the rate in future will be four shillings per day. In order to protect soldier patients from abuses which would interfere with their successful medical treatment and recovery, power is given to tlie military authorities to mako stoppages of pay for neglect to wear the proper badges indicating that they arc undergoing treatment, and Col' offoHCflß which ai-ij {svojmiinutl to tlio success. a£ traaltnant. and'vacoveni,-

The only cases brought before Sir. F. V. Frazer, S.M., in the Magistrate's Court this morning were tjiosa of four inebriates. Three of them were first offenders, and were cioa.lt, with according: to scale, and Minnie Pcmeroy was fined £1. The Wanganui-Waitotara Patriotic Association has voted £2000 to the Trentliain Scholarship Fund, the amount to be paid in war bonds, fourteen years, bearing '4i per cent, interest. Tlie amount at the ejid of that period will be with interest considerably over £3000. The depredations of the kea roused considerable interest in London papers. The Times published a long article by Mr. Godfrey Turner, N.Z.E.F Dr A. H. G. \Doran, F.R.C.S., who was formerly Pathological Assistant at the R.C.S. Museum, points out that as long ago as 1880 Dr. H. A. de Lautour sent to the museum a preparation showing the special damage which the tea, inflicts on sheep. It was described in the 31st volume of the Transactions of the Pathological Society, and more briefly in the catalogue of 1884. On inspecting it, Sir James Paget exclaimed : "That bird was a bom surgeon !" The eeamer Kapuni, which struck the j Patea breakwater on Friday night when leaving thai port with a cargo of cheese, consisting of 1600 crates, for Wellington, knocked a big hole in her bow, telegraphs The Post's , Wanganui correspondent. She w-jis making water fairly fast, but as the weather was fine the captain decided to come on to Wanganui, and this port was reached safely on Saturday, though pumping had to be resorted to continuously. The 'cargo, which was undamaged, is being transhipped to the Haw era, and repairs are to be effected to the vessel at Wanganui. The Kapuni's damage is very alight. Owing to tha pressure of business caused by the land hunger of returned soldiers, the Canterbury Land Board has resolved to call the attention of the Minister to the serious position that has arisen owing to the enormous increase in the work connected with discharged soldiers necessitating fortnightly meetings of the board, extending over two days each, and owing to the shortage of staff an undue strain was being put on the 'Officers, who were at present endeavouring to carry on the work. The :, board strongly urged that additional ' officers should be appointed without delay. With a view to assisting to appease the land hunger the board has decided to forfeit the leases of a number of sections for non-compliance with the conditions and to offer them for selection by soldiers. The Gilbert Howe Memorial Trophy for 1918-1919 has been awarded by the Wellington Cricket Association to ill1. H. Lambert, captain of the Wellington College Old Boys' Cricket Club, last season's champions. It will be remem.bered that the trophy (which will be awarded annually for at least five years) was presented last year to tho Wellington Cricket Association by Mrs. R. Howe in memory of her son, the late Lieutenant Gilbert Howe (killed in action), who was a prominent Wellington representative and a keen supporter of the game. In , accordance with tho desire expressed by Mrs. Howe, the trophy will be awarded to the player who is adjudged the 'most improved all-round player for the season in senior grade matches. Lord Strathspey commenced a debate in the House of Lords recently by calling the attention of the Government to the "wrongful position of many of the clergy of our National Church, which is largely due to the starvation salaries which they receive." Incidentally, 'he remarked : "I remejnber about seven or eight yeais ago this country began to consider that religion wanted revival, but it did not consider whether it wanted revival in this country. . Instead of that, it sent missionaries to New Zealand—my little country. Very likely it was not I thought of seriously beforehand, but that action in itself was an insult to New Zealand. W© are not saying that we are so good that we do not want missionaries there, but the fact was that the fault and the remedy lay with this country; and the fault and the remedy lies with this country to-day. It is not the least good sending missionaries to New • Zealand, Australia, or elsewhere, until you have remedied this country first of all." A Post reporter who made inquiries at the request of a correspondent, "A.TW.," as. to the # value of an Irish half-penny bearing the date 1713, was considerably surprised when the person to whom he applied for information, a collector of coins over many years, replied : "Probably about one half-penny. You see there, is about that much worth of copper in it." Other coins were produced bearing dates as far distant as 117 A.D., and the denarius, or Roman penny, and in each case the catalogue price was surprisingly low, the value of tho oldest coin being 6et down at 30s; while the more modern coins, all of which, however, were struck before the Georges sat on the throne of England, were valued, in "mint" conditions, from 3s up to 10s. "No coin struck after the time of the Stuarts, unless it be in perfect condition, is worth much more than its face value," said the collector, "tie exceptions being 'proof coins, that is, the first few coins struck to test now dies. Generally these 'proofs' were struck in a different metal from the standard coin, a copper piece in silver, or a silver coin in gold. Such coins may be worth hundreds of pounds, simply by reason of their rarity. Collecting ' old coins ia rather a delusion; it is very much more profitable to set about making a moderate collection of coins bearing quite modern dates, and, believe me, most people find them almost as difficult to obtain in any quantity in these days." By the last mail from Australia, Mr. H. E. Holland, M.P., received letters written on behalf of a number of New Zealanders stranded in Sydney, and describing the plight in which they find themselves. One of the writers, after describing the meeting held under the chairmanship of Mr. Batt (already reported), cays that in conversing with different people after the meeting he found that the greater number of those stranded belong to the working class and are without funds, having epent their last shilling to live. • One lady, whose husband is out of work in Wellington, has three children with her. She applied to the New Zealand Gvernment Office for assistance, and was loaned £2 to keep herself and her three children for two weeks, and was told to look for work! The writer points out that if this mother went to work, her children would be left uncared for. This lady stated the fact herein related at the rnec'ting, at which the Government Agent was present, and he did- not deny her statement. Among the unfortunates is a working man from Ashburton, who has a wife and eleven children depending on him. The Government Agent found him work at 12s 4d a day during fine weather, "and it has rained every day this week, so you will see his position," the writer concluded. "Nobody blames the agent; . they all recognise that he is merely carrying out his instructions. It is not the flu that is keeping us out of our own country, but the Government's neglect of their own duty. It is doubtful if they can keep us out of New Zealand. Some of the business men hung up here are taking legal advice in the matter. . I am enclosing newspaper cuttings, with the cable sent by Mr. Blow, Government Agent, on our behalf; and you will recognise that what, we ask is a fair thing, seeing t-hs-b thny permit, ships' crcwis from .Australia to co. ashore."

Next year's Returned Soldiers' Conference will meet in Wellington. "Five of my boys went to the front and three were flattened out," said a man who appeared before Mr. F. V. Frazer, S.M., m the Magistrate's Court yesterday. The Customs revenue collected at the port of New Plymouth during- May amounted to £6800, as compared' with. £5180 in May of 1913. A Press Association telegram fr6m Pa-lmerston North, states that a conference of local bodies, set up a, committee yesterday to report on the feasibility of arranging for shipping to Foxton port or in the alternative purchasing a steamer. An unusual visitor to Wellington on Saturday was a 50ft whale of the fin-back variety, which made its leisurely way among the craft moored in the harbour, and broke water near the training ship_Amokura. On Sunday was seen off Ivaiwarra, and a number of people watched it rolling quietly along in the calm sea. The British Press has (states the London correspondent of The Post) fastened with great interest on the remark of Mr. F. M. B. Fisher in his lecture at Bedford College, that "although New Zealand herself possessed the best schedule of Labour legislation in any Statute Book, yet strikes were more frequent there than in any other country." According to The Post's London correspondent, the Port of London Authority created something like a record at the West India Dock in the discharge of 6600 tons of sugar (81,400 bags) and" 100 tons Government stores from the steamer Carventum. The working time was only 41^ hours, the discharge being at the rate of 162 tons per hour, or 1782 tons per day. One of the machines belonging to the New Zealand Flying School made a trip1 from Auckland to Russell on Saturday morning. Mr. A. B. Williams, of I Waipiro Bay, who arrived in Auckland, ! being anxious to visit Russell, decided i to take the trip by air. He accordingly j arranged with, the New Zealand Flying School at Kohimarama, and left at 11 a.m. for Russell in a 125 h.p. seaplane, George Ball being pilot. The distance, 145 miles, was covered in a little under two hours. According to the Feilding Star, Mr. Ernest Short recently sold 430 acres at Kopane at £90 per acre, and refused £125 per acre for the balance of 151 acres, which he is reserving for one of his sons. Mr. Short is cutting up the block at Parorangi, comprising nine or ten farms, with the exception of 250 acres with the homestead, which he will : retain. The recent land sales by Mr. j Short have aggregated £88,000, includ-.i ing the value of 956 acres, near Oroua, sold to a neighbour. A very pleasant social gathering took place on Saturday evening, when Mr. T. A. Wells entertained his employees at a smoke concert. During the evening tKe members of the staff took the opportunity of presenting to Mr. Wells a travel- j ling rug and gold emblem, and to Mrs. j Wells a gold wristlet watch, suitably in- ■ scribed. Mr. Wells and Mrs. Wells are I to leave by the Moana this week on an extended tour of the United States and Canada. . Mr. and Mrs. Wells expect to be absent from New Zealand for at least six months. On the first pages of the Gazette Extraordinary containing the new Post and Telegraph classification list are published the Department's, Roll of Honour and Honours List. The roll contains the names of 203 who have fallen : 123 killed in action, 51 died of "wounds, 1 accidentally killed, and 28 died of sickness. The Honours List is proudly headed by the V.C. won by Private J. Crichton. There are 51 other names in the list, and the honours won are of all kinds, British and Foreign, for the men from the Post Office have fought in many fields and with much distinction. The statement was made by the chairman of the Timaru Harbour Board last week that the trade of the port had revived in a very gratifying degree since the return to peace conditions, and hequoted the wharfage returns as proof of this, the figures showing that whereas the board was receiving hundreds during the war period, it was now receiving thousands. He also stated that during the month a record shipment of frozen meat had been sent away from the port. The board raised the wages of seven of its employees and established a sick benefit fund for'the whole staff. The Canterbury traction and stationary engine-drivers, firemen, and greasers' dispute was before the Conciliation Council yesterday. Wages were agreed to as follow : First-class certificated engine-driv. ers, Is 6-i-d per hour; second-class certificated engine-drivers, Is 5d ; traction drivers, Is 6-£ d; firemen and greasers, Is 3£d ; plus 2i-d bonus all round. Youths' wages were fixed as follow: 18 to 19 years, lOd per hour; 19 to 20, Is. Overtime rates and statutory holidays were agreed to, but the question of the annual holiday was held over for further consideration. A shortage of apprentices and consequent present and prospective injury to industry in New Zealand was discussed at the quarterly meeting of the Wanganui Chamber of Commerce last evening. It was resolved to send the following resolution as a remit to the Chambers of Commerce Conference-: —"That the Government be asked, to confer with the trades unions affected with a view to securing such altered conditions in awards as will tend to make good the shortage of apprentices." It was contended that if something were not d'ono, the time would/ soon come when tradesmen would1 be unprocurable. "Already a crisis has been reached over one- of the requests from the A.S.E.S. which was turned down—that relating to the Ministerial veto in appeal cases," says the Railway Review regarding the Longton appeal case. "The argument for the Ministerial veto is th.it, unless it exists, the Appeal Board would create anomalies in the classification, and cause enormous expense to the Department by recommendations affecting pay. This has been eaid but never demonstrated. Now we have a case where promotion is held up because the officer is admittedly efficient, but alleged to be lacking in a sense tff discipline. Three judges Bitting on the Appeal Board came to the conclusion that the departmental officers were not justified in taking ,this' view. One Minister, who has not heard both sides, takes a departmental officer's dictum, and the verdict of a judicial inquiry goes over-board." '.

A Press Association message from Christchnrch states that Major J. B. Hine, M.P., for Stratford, has returned j to New Zealand by the steamer Devon, which arrived at Lyttelton yesterday. Major (lieutenant-colonel temporary) I. T. Standish, C.M.G., D.5.0., R.N.Z.A., lias been appointed Director of Artillery (field) and officer commanding the regiment of Royal Now Zealand Artillery, in succession to Captain (temporary major) F. G. Hume, who retains the temporary rank of major The automatic telephone system came into operation in Masterton on Saturday night, and worked smoothly. Maslerton has the distinction of being the first township in New Zealand to have the cornplote-automatic system. Mr. Shrimpton, engineer of the Post and Telegraph Department, was present to witness the installation. Mr. Charles Tippen, a very old resident of Hamilton, died at ths Waikato Hospital last week at the age of .74 years. Deceased arrived in Hamilton with the 4th Waikato Militia Regiment, on 24th August, 1864. For several years he was a member of the Hamilton Borough Council, Domain Board, and the Hamilton .East School Committee. In his younger days he took a keen interest in all branches of. sport. Two married women, one with five children and one an elderly woman with no children, both residents at Woodville, were yesterday sentenced to one month's imprisonment each on four charges of shop-lifting. Both accused had worked on a systematic plan, visiting several shops. They pleaded guilty, anticipating probation. There was a scene when the accused were sentenced, the women •making a piteous appeal for mercy. One fainted and the other had to be helped from the Court. Sir Douglas Mawson, who has returned to the Adelaide University after doing war work in England, in a letter to Dr. J. Allan Thomson, of the Dominion Museum, has stated that he has been making a special study of ice formations, I and hopes to visit New Zealand for the purpose of investigating the glaciers in the Southern Alps regions before long. Professor David, who was a member of the Shackleton expedition, has also returned to Australia to his position of professor of geology in the Sydney "University after two or three years with the Australian Tunnelling Corps in France. The problem of securing an adequate supply of butter-boxes was discussed by the North Auckland Dairy Conference to-day. It was resolved to express to the Government keen disappointment that notwithstanding endorsement by the Efficiency Board of the conference's con- ' tention for the .taking of strong1 action, | a lapse, of twelve months had not improved the position, and the position of dairy companies was worse. It was also decided to authorise the formation of a company to provide packages suitable for produce, should such a scheme prove ■ practicable Invercargill residents are particularly fortunate when their lot is compared i with 'Wellington residents, said the I Mayor (Mr. J. Stead) last week. House- ■ holders in Wellington have to face shortI ages of coal, milk, and butter, while their house rents are greatly in excess of those in the Southern town. Invercargill is particularly fortunate with regard to coal supplies, and Wellington residents are having a very uncomfortable time at present on account of the coal shortage. Milk and butter had been railed ■to Wellington from Hawkes Bay to try and relieve the shortage, said Mr. Stead. Major Donald Gordon Johnston has been unanimously appointed by the council of the New ..Zealand Society of Accountants to the position of secretary of the society, rendered vacant by the resignation of Mr. Ernest W1 Hunt. Major Johnston, who is an Associate of both the New Zealand Society of _ Accountants and the Incorporated Institute of Accountants of New Zealand, left New Zealand in 1915 with a commission as lieutenant in the New Zealand Field Artillery, and has been continuously on active service with the New Zealand Division since that date. He returned to the Dominion as officer in charge of the troops on the troopship Arawa on the 15th of May last. The funeral of the late Mr. H. A. Eversleigh, who died on Saturday morning after an illness extending over twelve months, took place yesterday afternoon, the interment being made at the Karori Cemetery. Those present, included Mr. John O'Shea. (City Solicitor), Mr. James Ames (City Valuer), and Mr. J. R. Palmer (Town Clerk), who represented the Mayor and City Council. The Yen Archdeacon Johnson 'officiated at the graveside. ""For many years Mr. Eversleigh was employed as a clerk by the City Council, and latterly was a member of tho staff of the City Solicitor. He died in his sixty-second year, and leaves a widow, a daughter {Mrs. Mears), and a eon. A number of charges of breaches of the licensing laws were brought against Tera, a Maori, at the Te Kuiti Court last Thursday The charges were that he kept liquor for sale, that he brought 12 bottle 3of whisky and 9 of schnapps into the proclaimed area- without making the proper notification of the nature of the contents of the packages, that he supplied liquor to a Native, and that at Onehunga he aided and abetted and procured some person unknown to supply him with intoxicating liquor, he being a Native. "All right. He catch. What is the good of talking? Only thing I want to hear What the Court costs mean," declared Tera. This statement was accepted as a plea of guilty. Mr. E. W. Burton. S.M., imposed fines of £-50 for keeping liquor for sale, £10 on each of two other charges, and on the fourth the defendant was convicted and ordered to come up for sentence if called on. His Worship referred to the serious nature of the offences, and said that the sale of liquor in the King Country mast be stopped. The liquor seized was ordered to bo confiscated. At the snmo sitting of the Court, Wm. E. Baster, an elderly man, was fined £50 and costs for keeping liquor for sale. Evidence was given that defendant delivered eight bottles of whisky to a Maori for use at a tangi;