NEWS OF THE DAY

New Zealand Times, Volume XLII, Issue 9789, 12 October 1917, Page 4

NEWS OF THE DAY

At the examination held this month for a surveyor’s l.cense under Surveyors’ Institute and Board of Examiners’ Act, there were sis candidates, all of whom failed to pass.

On Sunday reference will be made to the. Church schools’ movement in all the Anglican churches of the V ©l- - diocese, and in many parishes the offertory is to he devoted to the enterprise.

During the month of September -8 persons in the Dominion died, of consumption, 37 of cancer, and eight ot diphtheria. Apoplexy was the cause of 25 deaths, heart diseases 60, ana chronic bronchitis 17. There were seven suicides.

In Featherston Camp orders it is announced that No. 39563 Private Henry Harsant Thompson, Featherston Details, has been found guiltj by district court-martial of making a complaint where ho thought himself wronged, knowingly making a false statement affecting the character of an officer, and has been sentenced to undergo detention for 112 days.

The Commissioner of Taxes draws attention by an advertisement in this issue to the necessity of lodging claims for the additional exemption and deduction for income tax purposes provided for by the Finance Act, 1917. Claim-forms may he obtained at any postal money-order office, or will he posted to taxpayers on receipt of a request accompanied by a stamped addressed envelope..

A great deal of work has been put into the decorations at tbe Town Hall for this evening’s ball by naval officers and men, members of the R.S. Association, and, the deco-ration committee set up. The result will come fully up to the public’s expectations. There will be original limelight effects, and all arrangements for a successful evening have been made by a joint meeting of the ball committee.

Yesterday’s issue of the New Zealand Gazette shows that during the month of September 48 persons arrived in tlie Dominion from the United Kingdom, all women and children. There were no departures. Three hundred and sixty-six persons arrived from Australia, of whom 225 were men; 220 left for that country. One hundred and thirty-four passengers left for Canada, and 85 arrived from that Dominion. The number of immigrants exceeded the emigrants by 199.

Yesterday morning a deputation rroro the Wellington Harbour Board consisting of Mr C. E. Daniell (chairman) and Messrs Cobbe, McEwan, Fletcher, Hindmarsh, and Wright, waited upon the Prime Minister with a view to obtaining the necessary legislative authority to enable harbour boards to secure land and build workers’ homes. Mr R. Fletcher. M.P., introduced the deputation, and tbe speakers were Messrs Daniell and Cobbe. The Prime Minister, in reply, said that he was quite in sympathy witn the project, and promised to do all that was possible to forward the movement.

Nominations as follow have been received by the Wellington Freezing Workers and Allied Union lor the election of officers: —District president, T. Downing, Hawke’s Bay; H. M'Fotrich, Wanganui; J Smith. ±'etone; district treasurer, J. Coulston, Wanganui; Thos. H. Wyeth, Petone; national executive (two members), R. Darnill, Hawke’s Bay; J. Kyle, letone; A. C. Norris, Hawke’s Bay; G. Packwood, Petone; J- Sheeny, Wanganui; W. Wilson; Wanganui. Mr M J. Reardon has been returned uuopposed as district secretary. The election is being conducted on the preferential voting system.

On Saturday afternoon the Hon. W. F. Massey, Prime Minister, Sir Joseph Ward, Minister for Finance, the Minister for Agriculture, and other members of nhe Ministry, as well as experts from the Agricultural Department, will witness a demonstration of the “Once-over tiller,” to be given at 3 pm. on a vacant piece of land at Muamar, close to the cutting, wharf and tramline. The demonstration will ho a public one, and all interested in farming are invited to be present. A film showing the “Once-over tiller at 'work in America will he Screened with the ordinary programme at the King’s Theatre to-night.,

Mr R. Fletcher, M.P., gave notice in Pai liament of ins intention to ass the Minister for Internal Affairs; “Whether he will, in the interests 01 economy at the present stressful time, consider the advisability of recommending the transfer of Mr Andrew Thomson (Assistant Public Service Commissioner) back to the Justice Department in his former, capacity of a magistrate?” “Mr Thomson (slated the hen. member) has been carrying out other duties besides that of Assistant Commissioner, as has Mr Tnggs, the other Assistant Commissioner, woo has been appointed Public Trustee. A saving of some £4OO was effected m the latter gentleman’s case, and the £IOOO per annum paid to Mr Thomson is an extravagance which cannot be afforded.”

It may not b© generally known that the discipline ©ntorced, upon New Zealand soldiers after proceeding overseas is considerably more severe t-han tiiat in the- New Zealand camps. At the Detention Barracks at Abbaseich, Cairo, where defaulters were sent ju the Gallipoli days, the men were locked in large stone rooms, wher© they slept upon asphalt, and the rations for two meals consisted of bread, unsweetened porridge, and water. xor msubordination, the punishment was “three days’ cooler,” which consisted of close confinement for that period in a small cell with only one shirt and one blanket. The rations were bread and water. Extremely tough cases were taken to an empty celL where a “darned good biding” was administered by the “warders.” Field punishment No. 1, which included the tying of tho culprit to a gun-wheel or other “stationary object,” was m at least one case resorted to, but in this case the defaulter was released By Australians, and no more was heard of the matter. Threats of pegging a man down in the tropical sun were made on several occasions, hut were not carried out. The discipline enforced in the Australian Divisions was even more severe, one instance ot which was that of an Australian soldier, who received eighteen months' hard labour for washing in the camp lines, contrary to ciders.

Donnelly’s Hair Restorer, —A real Hair lonic. Cures dandruff, stops hair falling. Chemists, stores, hairdressers: 2/6. Donnelly’s, 65, Vivian street. *

Between. October Ist and 10th the sum of £25 2s (id was taken at the gates of the Zoo, as compared with £l3 5s 3d for the same period in 1916.

“The way the Pensions Board has treated a number of returned soldiers is a positive disgrace.”—Mr P. C. Webb in the House of Representatives last night.

Mrs Mina W. Poraarc has been au> thoriscd by tho Minister for Internal Affairs to issue permits to solicit contributions on behalf of “The Lady Liverpool and Mrs Pomare Soldiers' Fund.”

Tho financial statement of the six leading hanks of New Zealand show that their total assets amount to £44,834,309 11s. Total liabilities: £49,014,887 8s 6d. Notes in circulation total £5,650,880 Ss Sd. Gold, silver, and copper coin in hand amounts to £7,565,658 12s Bd. Gold and silver in bullion or bars, £752,8-12 2s Id.

It is notified by the Lands and Income Tax Department that the Finance Act of 1917 extends the special exemption of £25 in respect of each of a taxpayer’s children. Previously this exemption was allowed in respect of not more than five children, when the combined income ot father and mother did not exceed £425. Both these limitations are now removed.

Mr R. MoCallum, M.P. for Wairau, gave notice in the House of Representatives yesterday of his intention tc ask the Minister-in-Charge of the Valuation Department, “Whether he will, in the interests of hygiene, consider the urgent need existing in the Valuation Department for tho provision of more convenient and sanitary readingrooms for members of the staff during office hours?”

Hollow-oyed, with hair that needed the vigorous application of a brush and comb, a first-offending inebriate staggered from the back of the court to the dock when his name was called in the Magistrate’s Court yesterday morning. “This man has boon evidently imbibing again this morning,” said Inspector Marsack to Mr S. E. McCarthy, S.M. “He will be remanded for a week and perhaps he will he sober by that time,” replied His Worship.

Reserved judgment was given by M: W. G. Riddell, S.M.. yesterday in the jase, Young’s Chemical Company against Mr and Mrs W. Lissant Clayton, of Gisborne, a claim for £lB Os Od, goods supplied. After reviewingthe evidence the Bench gave judgment for £l7 Os 9d'with costs £2 IPs Id against Mrs Clayton, and nonsuited the plaintiffs in their claim against Mr Clayton with 15s 6d costs. Mr E. M. Beechey appeared for the plaintiff company at the hearing, and Mr G. G. G. Watson for the defendants.

Mr J. Vigor Brown, M.P. for Napier, gave notice in Parliament yesterday of the following question to the Prime Minister: “(1) If wool-brokers do the valuing, how is it that some twenty-five men, most of whom are of military age, are retained and drawing from £IOOO to £3OOO a year in expenses? (2) Is it a fact that certain wool-isoourers are employed valuing wool and hides and drawing £BOO a year and expenses, and at _ the same time conduct large scouring works, while others equally competent are unable to obtain employment?”

During the months of August and September of this year 159 interments took place at the Karori cemetery, and six at the Wellington cemetery. Two bodies were cremated during the same period. The: figures for tho past nine months show that the total interments at Karori cemetery were 685, as compared with 673 for the corresponding period of 1916; the cremations numbered 21, and 17 respectively. At the Wellington cemetery there were 22 interments for the mse months ending September, 1917, compared with 19 for tbe corresponding nine mouth* in 1916.

The Germans are determined at all costs to encourage family life and the increase of the population. “Voss’s gazette” says that a National Matrimonial Agency has been set up by the State in Saxony. The very practical purpose of this bureau is to provide war-widows, especially tbose who have been left in possession of small businesses, with what the paper calls “war-damaged husbands.” With true German thoroughness, lists are being compiled in all the hospitals of eligible male candidates, and descriptions, without mention of names, of suitable widows, are to be published m the military newspapers for distribution among the wounded.

The strange case of a child of about seven years of age who could give no account of herself cropped up the other day. She joined in the play of the Clyde quay school children. As she did not belong to the school she was taken to Constable Lo Fevre, who, after half an hour’s examination, could make nothing of her. She was accordingly handed over to the matron of the Taranaki police station and duly claimed by a lamenting parent. Thera have been several oases cf stray children lately who have not been able to give any assistance towards their own identity. Such incidents suggest the wisdom of those parents who make a point of teaching their little ones to repeat frequently their names and addresses.

A study of pathetic human interest is supplied by an elderly woman who is to be seen at all hours pacing up and down the pavement along Courtenay place in front of His Majesty's Theatre. She is there in the early morning, in the afternoon, and when the habitues of the home of vaudeville throng forth in the evening to attend their favourite place of amusement. They wonder what the fate of that waif may be. When the orchestral players who provide such delightful Sunday evening concerts go m the morning to attend their rehearsals this weary, wondering one is still tc he seen. Who is she? What is she! For the present she is a psychologies conundrum.

“Will, he at onco inaugurate a mo-tor-cycle service dally from the L ppor Hutt to Whiteman’s Valley, via Wallacevillo and Mungaroa?” was a question to the Postmaster-Oeneral given notice of in Parliament by Mr T. Wilford, M.P., yesterday. “A new post office (added the lion, member) is being erected at Herotaunga, there is a post office at Trentkam, and one at the Upper Hutt. There is a daily delivery to those who live in the vicinity of these post offices, hut no daily delivery from any of these post offices to Whiteman’s -Valley. A cheese factory has been established in Whiteman’s Valley recently. Letters sent to the Silverstream post office remain there often until called fot, while n Stake’s Valley two _ electors and their families have, it is stated, a daily motor-cycle service from either to© Taita or the Lower Hutt.”-