General News.

Levin Daily Chronicle, 19 March 1918, Page 1

General News.

When the question of the employment of female labour in grocers' shops was before the Arbitration Court at Wellington on Wednesday, Mr \N. A. Grenfell made a statement which seemed to startle the .Court. "An employer at Palmerston North," he said, nas stated that one woman is better than three men." This was met with ejaculations as follows-from the three members, of the Court: Mr Justice Stringer: "It is not likely that wo arc going to swallow that." Mr W. Scott: I don't think that. I don t think that. Mr J. A. McCullough,: N , e , ver ' It; s nonsense to talk like that. All combined in expressing the opinion that the statement was worth nothing to the -Court, and Mr Grenfell quickly assured the Court that the statement was not his own. . A curious fact concerning recent executions (says a Christchurch correspondent) is that in three cases there has been a mis-spelling or a doubt as to the condemned man's name. Biddle was tried convicted and hanged as Arthur Mortrani Biddle, where his second Christian name was really Motram. Rothmann was tried and hanged as Rottman, a misconception that arose owing to the pronunciation of his nanuT. He was a German. There is no proof as to the real name of Eggers, or Kggars, who went for a time under the alias of McMahon. There was a curious fact also connected with the Rothmann case. While Biddle was awaiting execution, a young German named Rothmann, then working on a schooner at Lyttelton, applied for the position of hangman, but the appointment was made in Wellington. In a little more than a year Rothmann had committed a murder in the North Island and was himself hanged by the man who had secured the appointment he sought. With reference to the recent announcement that 10,000 Australian soldiers had been returned to the Commonwealth without seeing the firing line, a correspondent of the Wanganui Herald, forwards the following sentences extracted from a letter written by a NewZealand medical officer stationed on Salisbury Plain with reference to the .New Zealand drafts: "A great percentage of unfits among the older members Men over 35 years of age- are, as a general rule, unable to stand the training and campaigning unless previously engaged in open air occupations and "f athletic tendency. As the age reaches the 40's the percentage of final passes drops considerably-—so much so that the latter are certainly not worth the expense of training, equipping, etc. The great detracting feature is that these men occupy the attention of doctors, hospital space, etc., and, instead of beinc an asset in the balance of power arc a decided liability." "Is this," asks the correspondent "what Some of our men are breaking up their homes for J'' "Despite the fact tlmt labour is expensivve in New- Zealand, it has alwAjs seemed to me that we ought to grow far more of our seeds here,'' says a writer in the "Farmers' Union Advocate." "Ryegrass and -cocksfoot we do grow, and crested dogstail wo can manage easily, although in the case_ of some of the grasses the merchants import a little to be able to tell farmers how cheap theirs ought to be when they are showing the sample. Of oats, wheat, barley, wo do grow the seed. We go the length of growing peas at per bushel for English merchants, who put a few of our peas in packets and sell them to us at about 100 per cent, more than we wore paid to grow. Certain firms in New Zealand do turn out "•ood peas, however, and some other of the vegetable seeds. We import great quantities of clover seed, whereas w-c can grow possibly the best clover seed in the world. Yet we pay great prices for imported seed. It is true that red clover is a tricky crop, and I notice the Board of Agriculture, in discussing the seed-growing question, said that there were not the right kind of bees in the Dominion to /fertilise the clover. We should certainly. get them, for the cost would be small. White clover is a crop which should be greatly encouraged. News has been received in Napier that Mr M. W. P. Lascelles, Y.M.C.A. commissioner, was on board the steamer which was torpedoed while proceeding to Egypt. Nine hundred lives were lost, but Mr Lascelles, fortunately, was able to keep afloat until rescued. He ■is now in .Cairo. Mr Lascelles at one time was stationed at Petoiic as Baptist minister.

The Prime Minister states that 48 applications have been received from rotail butchers in connection with the supply of meat from the freezing works for sale to the public. Applications came from Auckland, Hawke's Bay, Otago, Taranaki and Gisborne. Fortytwo permits have been granted and inquiries are being made regarding other applications. The Rev. Canon Gould, of Onchunga, has just celebrated the 91st anniversary of his birth. Canon Gould wont to Auckland in the days of Bishop G. A. Sclwyn. 011 one occasion, with a w T hitc comrade and two Maori guides, ho walked to Tauranga, Rotorua, and back, being a month on the tour.

The death is announced of Mr M. C. Corliss, of Wanganui, who passed away at the hospital on Sunday morning at the age of 06 years. He was a very old colonist, having arrived in New Zealand with his parents in 1557, when he was five years of age.

The rise of the house of Geddcs is one of the most curious episodes of the war. While Sir Eric Geddes is head of the Navy, liis "brother, Sir Auckland, who is an anatomist by profession, is head of the National Service, their sistei', ilrs Chalmers Watson, acknow rledges the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps, and their cousin, Sir Kenneth Anderson, is Minister of Shipping.

Cable advice was received 011 Saturday from the Indian Army Headquarters of the death of I>icut. Alfred A. B. Tegner, aged 29 years, on 6th March. He was the youngest son of Mrs C. Tegner, of Rona Bay, and a nephew of Inspector Marsack, formerly of the Palmerston district police olficc. He enlisted as a private in the Main Body in .191-1, and was invalided home in 1915, and w r as then employed in Base Records. Later ho held the rank of sergeant-major in the Defence Department, and in October, .1910, received an appointment in the Indian Army. Lieut. Tegner left New Zealand the same month, and was stationed for a time at Quetta, later being moved to Kut-el-Amara.

A compliance with, the injunction of a former Prime Minister of New Zealand to '' keep the cradles full" is at times attended with serious disadvantage, says the Wairarapa "Age," and adds: The man with a family of young children fmds it almost impossible to secure rooms or the tenancy of a house. Travelling in a train with, children is. a "crime." But the latest embargo imposed upon the olive branch, is in respect to hotel lodging. A soldier who is at present in the Featherston Camp complains that his wife and two young children, were practically refused accommodation in Wellington hotels. They went to throe different hotels, but in each case they were informed that the children could not be admitted to 'the (fciing-room. Their food had to bo supplied to them in the bedrooms. In desperation they left for Fcatherston, and it was only after considerable difficulty that they found accommodation. The soldier wants to know if it is a crime in New Zealand to be possessed of children, and if he is going to the front to fight for liberties and privileges such as those possessed by family men in this Dominion.

"In future, all these profiteering cases are going to prison. There will be r.) fLoa. -Everybody—butchers, grocers, and butter-sellers—will go to prison after this week. " 'This was the warning given by Mr Chester oJnes, magistrate at the Lambeth (London) Police Court, in fining grocers £35 for selling margarine above the maximum price.

The Assistant Wheat Controller has advised the Secretary of the Wairarapa Wheat Committee that the wholesale price of fowl wheat in the Wairarapa has been fixed at a price equal to 6s per bushel, free on board the nearest port. The retail price of fowl wheat has not been fixed.

There has been a chapter of accidents in and about Wanganui during the past few days. Mr James Bull, of Hunterville, proceeding up the Maran,gai Hill, round a dangerous bend met a car containing the manager of the Wangaehu Dairy Factory. The cars collided, and an occvipant of the manager's ear had a log broken and the car was smashed. Mr Hean, with two passengers, was coming down from Hawera, when t 1 ; 0 wheels of his car got into a rut new Virginia Lake and jolted the two passengers out. Mr Hean had proceeded some distance before he noticd the fact that they were missing. Returning to the spot, he found that one of his passengers had sprained both ankles. At Putiki, a lad was riding a pony, when it bolted and dragged its rider, who sustained a broken leg.—Feilding '' Star.' >