NEWS OF THE DAY

New Zealand Times, Volume XLIV, Issue 10276, 10 May 1919, Page 6

NEWS OF THE DAY

.The troopship Northumberland arrived in the stream yesterday afternoon, • and,-, having,- been . declared -'“clean,” is to berth at the.,. King's,, wharf at 7 o’clock this morning. The North Island quota of the Kia Ora’s draft is expected to arrive by the Mararoa from Lyttelton to-day. The Mayor (Mr J. P. Luke) and Mayoress will meet the men, and arrangements have been made for the distribution of cigarettes, tobacoo, and fruity The police authorities have received instructions from the Government that the .War aßeguJations as to the closing of hotels is not to bo enforced to-day.

The Rev. It. S. Gray and William John Laukshear were each fined £5 and costs (7s) in the Magistrate’s Court yesterday because of the publication cf the poem “The Vote” minus the printer’s stamp. The offence was said to be an oversight. * '

The drivers of horse vehicles who use the Hutt road at night complain that the bright lights on motor-cars have a tendency to cause accidents. They suggest that the difficulty coula be overcome by a by-law requiring owners of motor-cars to frost the lower portion of their head lamp glasses.

Teh Appeal Court, by a majority decision, yesterday, ordered a-new trial in. the case of Beauchamp Walesly, convicted at Auckland in February ou a charge of having, in October, 1918, committed an indecent assault ou a boy. The case had been referred to the Appeal Court to decide the point as to whether evidence objected to had been improperly admitted, and whether there should be a new trial. At the hearing Dir A. W. Ulair appeared for the accused and Sir John Sahnond, -.0., for tb» Omri.

A meeting of the Early Settlers’ and Historical Association will be held on Thursday, May 15th, No speakers have been arranged fo r , and members are invited to talk to each other, to tell of their own adventures and methods of liio in the “early days,” when Wellington was in the making, and as many of tho members are men of the “ ’forties,” they have reminiscences well worth listening to, and a very interesting meeting is anticipated. All intending’ members are invited to attend. Special note should made of the change of place of meeting, which on this occasion will be at Godber’s Rooms, Cuba street.

The quarterly meeting of the Public Service Superannuation Fund Hoard was held hero yesterday. Nineteen contributors retired under section 85 of the Act by reason of age or length of service were granted allowances totalling £3067 10s per annum, and eight contributors, retired gs medically unfit, were granted allowances ot a total of £330 10s per annum. Tho case of ouo officer, whom it was sought to retire as medically unfit, was referred back to the department, with a request that further sick leave bo granted. Twenty-one widows and fifty children were granted the statutory allowances, amounting to £IO2B per annum. In consequence of retirements under section 35 of the Act, accrued compensation to the amount of £5782 became a liability of tho Superannuation Fund, and a corresponding relief to the Consolidated Fund.

“Men who are invalided back from the front appear to be very easily excited, and sometimes when they get into trouble I honestly believe they have ’ very little recollection or what they do. And it seems to make very little difference in these cases whether a man is rough or a pretty decent sort of man,” observed Mr F. V. Frazer in the Magistrate’s Court yesterday.

A small game of hazards on the wharf was mentioned in the Magistrate s Court yesterday, when Thomas Glengarry was fined £1 for having played the game in a public place- Glcngairy said that there was onlv tenpenco in the “school” and the whole affair was merely a sky-lark. The police agreed that it was a very small matter, and-, in finiiif the defendant, the magistrate advised him in future to play such games where no one would see what was going on. •

Mr George Lauchlan, manager of the City Corporation electric lighting department, has submitted a design to the Peace Celebration Committee tor the illumination of Oriental Hay parade The committee has approved of the design, which, if carried uRo effect, will light the parade brilliantly. Provision is made for the erection ot a number of arc lights along the esplanade with an arch in the centre. The arch is to be brilliantly lighted, and the effect from the harbour, as well as from the western water front, should he extremely picturseque.

Tlie housing problem is becoming desperately acute in Mosterton, and married men are daily leaving the town because they cannot find anywhere to live. The Masterton agent for the workers’ dwellings informed an “Age” reporter- that he was besieged with workmen anxious to secure homes. Only that day a man had come to his office and almost gone on his knees in his pleadings to be provided with a home. Tho man had been in hospital for 13 months, and was anxious to secure a home so that he could get to work again. Ho had scoured tho town, with fruitless results, as dozens of others were doing daily.

A cablegram from New lork was published in the “New Zealand Times some days before the licensing referendum, which had reference to the Chicago Mayoralty election. It gave the result of a vote on prohibition, which, it was said, was defeated by a quarter of a million votes. A private cablegram explanatory of the position has since been received. It states that technically the vote taken was one on local option, but it was made a test question of the people’s sentiment towards national prohibition in the United States of America. The vote against prohibition was 391,261, and the vote in favour of prohibition was 144,033, giving a majority against prohibition of 247,239.

According to Mr T. M. Charters, Canterbury district repatriation officer,- there is ample work awaiting fit men on the West Coast, from which ho recently returned. Generally speaking,! said* Mr 'Charters, there' was little trouble on the Coast in. regard to repatriation, and there was plenty of work, particularly at milling, trucking, mining, and ordinary labouring. Unis mine manager had told him that he could take 300 men for trucking, really unskilled and comparatively easy work, at 13s Sd per day. Westport and Gruymoutff wore, in fact, practically stagnant for, want of men, and the whole Coast ;was, actually-stgorlhg for want of labour. The only difficulty West Coast repatriation committees found was in finding light work for partially disabled men.

Tho Auckland Museum has been, the beneficiary of some notable gifts during the post month (states the “Star”). A valuable collection of 42 greenstone weapons and ornaments has come from Mr R. W; Bell, qf .Waihi., The collection 'includes. meres, adzes, ; tikis, and pendants, which are of undoubted Native workmanship, and of some antiquity, having been obtained along the easli coast of the Coromandel district. These include bronze and other ornaments. Tho jewel of the collection is a pendant believed to bo tho finest thing of the kind in existence. Another very interesting gift is that of 16 Egyptian curios obtained by Dr. C. Purchas during his service with the New Zealand Expeditionary Force. These include bronze and limestone statuettes and articles of pottery, ono of them being tho head of a Canopic jar, Dr. Purchas has also added to the gift a plaster bust of Dr. Hoohstettor, the geologist who has identified his name with New Zealand by his geological research work in this country and his writings thereon. At a meeting of the Hawke's Bay Farmers* Union in Hastings, Mr J. 8McLeod, who was one of tlje deputation to the Minister in Charge of Imperial Supplies in connection with the shipping shortage, stated that ho had mot Dr. Reakcs, but this gentleman did not seem very keen of discussing the question of tho hide embargo. Mr McLeod said that the extraordinary position, was that the freezing companics avcvo allowed to export hides, and a Mr -Foster had been appointed ■to make the various allocations. This meant that they could export that quantity at 16d nor lb f.0.b., while the farmers were allowed only 14d for New Zealand requirements. If the Government was going to allow this kind ot thing now the war was over, the next thing it would do would bo to stop 80,000 bales M in the season after the commandeer loi New Zealand factories. One thing v. a as much justified ns the other. In whole affair looked like an attemut at nationalisation. .At an early date, however,' an election was taking P aee> and it was only a gag that hides had been hold up so that boot leather nould not be too dear.

Speaking at a meeting of the Farmers’ Union at Levin, Mr W. H. Field, M.P., said be saw no reason whatever why the' Farmers’ Union should not lay down a platform before the next election, and, having enunciated that platform, every candidate for I arU ®‘ menb should bo asked if ho would support it By this means they had a chance of forming a good Government and making the Farmers’ Union a real live force. “There is the ~ ce civil war,” said Mr Field, if the Bolsheviks have their way. I canuut too strongly impress upon yon to got together and act in unanimity and enter the political arena against the common enemy."* Mr Field said that as regards the two political parties, nothing would bo done till the two leaders got back, and it was hoped that as tho parties had much in common, one great party would be formed to fight tho extremists. The real danger was that if either of .the. parties was returned to office insufficiently strong to carry on without the assistance of the J/abonr party, tho latter would’ bold the balance ’of power. This is what they had to fight, and the farmers should combine and help with all their power.

A returned soldier named Nicholson fell o a tramcar in Manners street about 8 o’clock last evening, and received slight concussion. Ha was admitted to the Jhospital at 9.15 p.m.

A remit to bo discussed at the Wellington provincial conference of the farmers’ Union is as follows:—“That the New Zealand farmers’ Union as represented by this provincial conference cordially approves of the Labour Party's suggestion of a' round table conference to consider labour conditions, and is prepared to send delegates to such a conference.”

“Tile worst feature of this great home-service army is that it hardly knows the returned soldier. It hasn’t fought with him (remarks “John BeaInnd” in an open letter to General Kichardson in “Quick March”). It knows only the man who stayed at home. It neither Knows or trusts the poor old Digger, and so when a job or promotion is going begging, the faithful mim who stayed at home is remembered and the man-with the serves chevrons is forgotten.”

Writing to the London “Daily Mail,” Mr William Weston, of Kaiapoi, supplies details of his family, which, he suggests, must constitute a record for longevity. Of four daughters and three sons born at Hailsham, Sussex, to Mr and Mrs Thomas Avery Weston, Mr William Weston is now aged 84; Mrs Hessal lives in the Dominion, aged 80; Emma Wreen died in this country in 1914, and George. Weston m 191 T, aged 91 and 00 respectively; Mrs Collingwood had renened the age of 92 when she died in London; Alfred Weston was Sis when ho passed away at Ninfield in 1914; and Mrs R. Johnson, who is 88 years old, still resides in Canonhury. That gives a family, average of 87 years, with three of the members still alive.

Perhaps a record of growth for a , publication in Australasia has been achieved by '‘Quick March,” the off!-, cial paper of tho New Zealand Returned Soldiers* Association. The first issue published on April ,25th last year had 24 pages. The current number has 72 pages, Tho wide range oj articles and illustrations (16 in the current issue) shows that the management’s ideal is a national paper, interesting and helpful to all classes of the community. “Quick March” works up to its name. The paper has rigour anti enterprise. Among the features in the May number are; — “Things Political” (a renew of the Ins and the Outs). “Soldiers’ Thoughts” (Officialdom Puzzled) ; “The Picnic” (Memories of the South African , War, by Claude Jewell); “Open Letter to General Richardson”: “Mush and Tush" (a Caustic Criticism of Education Theories); “The Wnssa Riot”; “N.Z. Stationary Hospital” (with four illustrations); The “0.Q.” Page (Things Odd and Queer); “A M'l Comedy” (based on deferred pay); “New Zealand —Infinite Echoes of War” (a remarkable poem by a brilliant young New Zealander. Miss F. A. Stevens, introduced to ...the.-public by “Quick March”); “Two. Men,, and a Maid” (Story by L; S. Fanning); News and Views of Returned Soldiers.

On the matter of cheap money the following remit will he considered bv the Wellington provincial conference of the Farmers’ Union —“That the attention of the Minister for Finance be called to the present unsatisfactory matters in connection with State and private ' - moneydendulg Pi That where security.-is good the State should provide money at reasonable rates for farmers’ needs, and should restore the table system of mortgage and provide in every mortgage covenant for payment of sums before duo date without forfeiture of interest.”

“The lack of insight, the lack of men of ideas.'.has, it seems to the. writer, been brooding over the administration of the Dominion:for quite a number of years (writes 1 “Bhghii” in “Quick March”). TV* have drifted into a sort of political valley of dry bones, so that every question raised has had to ho whittled down to the narrow gauge of party politics; apd the returned soldier has arrived just in time to receive the full effect of the movement of drift. It is not necessarily a personal reproach to the Ministers or members. They nre simply men who are not so strong as the system which has put them where ■they -are. Of course the objection rises that with a National Government we have no party government. No more we have in the accepted sense of the term. We merely have the evils of the party system without any of its compensating advantage?. A Minister who spoke his mind in Christchurch the other week said ns much. And the discontent which permeate? the country, and i?" particularly accentuated in the case of the returned soldier is essentially the product of this state of affairs.”