LOCAL AND GENERAL

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 7, 9 July 1923, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL

The annual meetinoc of the Board of Governors of the T. G. Macarthv Trust, fixed for to-morrow, has teen adjourned by His Excellency the Governor, owing to the illness of the Public Trustee (Mr. J. W. Macdonald).

It is announced that the date of the opening of the Otira tunnel has been fixed for 4th August.

The Postal authorities ha-ye received advice from Sydney that the Ulimaroa left at noon on the 7th instant for Auckland. She carries for Wellington 1-1 bags of mails from Australia and 19 parcel receptacles. The Marama, which left Sydney at 11 a.m. on the 6th inst. for Wellington, carries 296 bags of mail for the Dominion, including 208 from Australia, 46 from beyond (which includes East 13, and Africa 30) and 42 parcel receptacle's.

Tho Wellington Diocesan Synod adopted the following resolution on Saturday: "That this Synod, believing that no system of. education is complete which does not recognise religion as the most important factor in the making of character, calls upon church people to- support church schools; and strongly recommends the clergy to avail themselves of the opportunities of entering State schools, where such permission can he obtained, for the purpose of giving religious instruction to the young."

Reference to recent criticism of the Victoria College Debating Society was inado by Mr. 0. H. Taylor, in the course of his remarks as judge at the debate held at the college on Saturday evening. Speaking as a former member of the Debating Society, he said the contributions of the Welfare LeaSue to the Press had led him to believe that the society had become violently anti-Imperial. He had beem agreeably surprised to find that the arguments were reasonable and well-consid-ered it the word "Empire" be understood m its best senne.

The Rev. A. T. Thompson left on Saturday for Auckland, where he is to meet and arrange with the Revisional Committee for the new edition of the Old Testament in Maori. At present there are no more complete Maori Bibles in print. A conference was held in November between representatives of the Church of England. Methodist, and Presbyterian Maori Mission Committees,' vhen it was agreed that the time had not yet come to dispense with the Maori Scriptures. A committee was then set up to consider ways and means, etc. &inca then a warm supporter oi the .bible Society (under whose auspices the STnnVt out) has guaranteed £1000 for this object.

A recent arrival from England, who nas not done any work since he landed herein April last, appeared before Mr. F. a. Hunt, S.M.. at the Magistrate's Lourt to-day on a charge of stealinir £3, the property of Daniel Tonkins. Actinn-fcHib-liispectoi- Lander said that the accused, George Carnie Shanks, 1 was only ? i\ e''^ °[ a"c-- He h:ld been staying at the 1c Aro Dining Rooms, and when questioner by the proprietor concerning the offence, he admitted the theft of onlr thirty shillings. He was locked up in a room until the police could be summoned, but had escaped, and was only recently apprehended. A conviction was entered and the accused was ordered to «ome to for sentence when called upon, a condition being that he remain with the Salvation Army.

On Saturday last, the Mayor (Mr. R. A. Wright, M.P.) performed the ceremony of turning the first, sod on the section purchased by the committee of the Vogeltown-Mornington Public Hall Society (Inc.) for a public hall for the districts. Mr. Wright, who was introduced by the hon. secretary of the society (Mr. W. A. Jameson), stated that a suitable hall was an absolute necessity for any district, and the society was to be congratulated on having se"cured such an admirable site, which should bo commended to the residents of tho districts concerned. After the coremony those present adjourned to the State school, where a sale of work was held under the anspices' of Mesdames Gressier, Hellaby, Rice, A. Staples, and Leddra, Messrs. J. Staples (president), Bethel!, Keaue, and Rcie.

The unlawful conversion of a motorcar to their own use resulted in the appearance before Mr. F. K. Hunt, S.M., at the Magistrate's Court to-day of two young men, George Wilfred Ryan, alias Jack Turner, and James Robert De Lyall. Accused admitted their . guilt. ChiefDetective Kemp explained that the car was the property of Mr. J. G. M'Kenzie, and was the second which had been lost in this way. The car, which was valued at £90, was hired out from the A.B.C. garage by Mr. M'Kenzie when his own motor disappeared. The second car had been taken by the accused from Mercer street and driven to New Plymouth, where it had been recovered ;n a very much damaged condition. Ryan was at present serving a sentence of three months' imprisonment for theft, and De Lyall was' serving one month for a similar offence. A third man, who was involved, was still at large. The Magistrate sentenced each defendant to two months' imprisonment, to follow upon the expiry of the present terms.

In the course of a lecture afc Dunedin, M. Laszlo Schwartz referred to music in Fiji, and incidentally made a remark that was the reverse of complimentary to the missionaries who are carrying on their work in that part of the world. This led the Rev. Professor Hewitson to interject that the .lecturer should not make remarks that were; offensive to those who held convictions on this particular subject (reports the "Ota"o Daily Times"). At the close of his lecture, jf. bcuwartz again referred to the subject, the .substance of his remarks bein"- that while he. did not wish to hurt anyone's feelings ho could not refrain from speaking the truth. Professor Hewitson ■ hen rose to his feet Rl ,d stated that he Kid attended the gathering at the invitation of the chairman to listen to a lecture on music. He had boon in Fiji, and probably knew more about (lie -~iibicet of mission work Hum a man "who had jusMiude n short, slny in tho island. Ho added I hat he forlcd (o BCe wlv imli . (iwtion for X!, Schwartz remarks even i P S/C& ua «*•"«'- *»

At a meeting of the shareholders and directors of tlie Wellington Co-operative Lmlding Society on Friday night, a ballot took place for a loan, free- of interest, o £1000. This wa s drawn by Mr. vv feteer At the- same meeting, the souety also sold a loan of £ioof at a premium of £35 per centum

At the first-aid men's class examination by the St. John Ambulance It sociation, held in V.M.C.A., the followp g o pa.sfd V-Messrs. G; Thompson, S. C. Snnth R, J. Smith, J. Pi e r C ey F. Blvmes, F. H. Brierley, G. Bell W T &uinan, 11. Poynter, H. R. Furby,' V. H. Prentice, A. R. Davies, and A A Axaisey.

A very fine shield in silver and Ausmt% Ir d.r°, d has been d°nated i>y ii i ,A' Alco! ';of Cow'tcnay place, to the public schools of the Manawatu district, under the control of the Wellington Education Board. The shield is to he given each year to the school showing the best garden plot, which will he judged from both an aesthetic and an educational standpoint. The shield is now on Vl ew at Mr. Nicol's premises.

A large waterspout was sighted by the n IT^n °r-, Mac 9u™e ™ Monday, about 450 miles east of Cuvier Island! T-he steamer which arrived at Auckland from New York on Thursday, reported that she passed within a quarter of a mile of the waterspout. To avoid the. huge column of water the vessel was compelled to make a slight deviation in her course. The weather was particularly boisterous in the neighbourhood of the phenomenon, but moderated soon after it had been passed.

Apple-juice, as a medium for preventing the obscuring of motor-car windcreens by rain, was mentioned in the Auckland Supreme Court, during the hearing of claims for damages for injuries- sustained in a motor accident. One of the defendants was referring to the visibility through his wind-screen on a certain wet day, and he offered to tell Mr. Justice Herdman the secret process he adopted to keep the glass free from rain drops. The method was quite an easy one—just the application of applejuice.

Several instances are reported to have occurred in Auckland recently of a person representing himself as an inspector for Radio, Limited, and demanding that receiving sets shall be thrown open for his inspection (states the New Zealand Herald"). After examining the set, it is alleged, he collects an "inspection fee of one shilling, and states that he will call again in a month for another inspection. The representations are not true, as the regulations do not authorise anyone to collect fees of any kind, the only payment authorised being the fee charged by the wireless branch of the Telegraph Department on the issue of a license to install -sets. It i s understood that Radio, Limited, has placed the matter in the hands of the police.

"This case shows the necessity for a 'half-way house,' " said Mr. J. W. Poyn. ton, S.M., in the Auckland Police Court when a young man, who was described as a "borderline" case>. again appeared on a vagrancy charge on which he had been remanded several ■ times, while efforts were ma.de by Captain Davies, of the Salvation Army, to find suitable employment for him. This had been obtained. "There is ho institution which would receive him," said Mr. Poynton. "He is not fit to be locked up and not fit to be at liberty." Accused was released in the care of "the Salvation Army, with a warning not to wander away again or he would have'to be sent to prison. The young man promised to behave:

It seems that there has been an unusual clashing of. church services and hotel patronage in licensing cases at the Magistrate's Court at Timaru lately remarks the "Timaru Herald." "In a recent case one defendant stated that he frequently came to a South Canterbury township on a Saturday evening in order to attend early church on Sunday morning. On the night in question, when found in a hotel after hours, he intended to attend early'morning worship next morning. Another defendant, on the same charge, on being arraigned, was asked by the Magistrate if he too was intending to go to early church. "No, no, your Worship," was the ready retort; "I'm a Presbyterian. We don't have early church." "I did not know what you were," smilingly replied Mr. Mosley, S.M., "but I just wondered if you too had good intentions."

That he "could not possibly do 30 miles an hour in his little car," was tha defence of a motorist charged in the Auckland Police Court with speeding on Eemuera road. He called a witness who expressed the opinion that the "little car" could not attain that speed, but the witness had not seen the car when its speed was estimated by the traffic inspectors at 30 miles an hour. This prompted Mr. J. W. Poynton, S.M., to relate the story of a man charged with stealing a horse. He at first pleaded guilty, but changed his plea to not guilty on the advice of his cournel, who made an eloquent speech on his behalf. Addressing the jury the Judge said: "Gentlemen, you have heard two stories Accused, who was there, says he did steal the horse. His counsel, who was not there, says he did not. Whom do you believe?" The motorist's • defence was unsuccessful and he was fined £2.

A Dunedin business man remarked to a "Star" reporter, during a. conversation about Russian postage trouble, that the thousands of roubles required to frank an ordinary letter in these happy Soviet days have produced an extraordinary demand for skilled mathematicians to keep the postal records, as each day's business totals millions and billions, and the ordinary clerks have thrown up their hands in disgust. The many surcharges on. Imperial issues designed to bring down the size of flic bookkeeping figures have only added further complication to what was already chaotic. From 15th January, 1923, the rate of postage has been as follows:— For letters of twenty grams, 350 roubles, and 175 roubles for every additional gram; postal cards, 210 roubles; newspapers, 70 roubles for each fifty grams.' These rates are payable in 1922 issue of roubles only, and as each of these roubles requires 10,000 roubles of all former issues an ordinary letter costs the tidy sum of 3,500,000 roubles, and a registered letter just double that.

On making a tour of inspection of the universal stores during Empire Shop, ping Week, "The Post's" London correspondent was careful to ask managers and assistants in the butchers departments what they thought of the practice of leaving the kidneys in the carcases, of New- Zealand lamb arid mutton. Without exception they expressed a dislike for it. In the first place, customers refused to take the kidneys and the Jarge quantity-of adhesive fat when buying a loin. Though the retailers might remove the kidneys and sell them separately, they preferred handling kidneys made up in boxes, and they still hid the fat to dispose of in some way. Pailing a supply of New Zealand kidneys in boxes, they got them from other countries. No one hud ever noticed any inferiority in,the meat beneath the kidneys and fat. It, will bo remembered, when the Meat Producers' Board first suggested the practice, certain opponents contended that thero was such an inferiority, owing to the protection afforded by the kfdhsy fat from the full effects of refrigeration. -