GENERAL.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXVIV, Issue 27, 7 January 1916, Page 7

GENERAL.

. Tlie Chief Postmaster advises that the Pacific Cable Board announces that owing to the Atlantic cable sys- I tern being deranged there will be de- | lay on ordinary, and heavy delay on deferred, traffic 'via Pacific" For the United Kingdom. An officer ,at tlie Liverpool camp sends the following concerning one of the men, to a Sydney paper:—"l belong to the loth Battalion, and was one of the men selected to form the 13th reinforcement of the 13th Battalion. When tiie 13th Reinforcements of the 13th Battalion arrived at the wharf it was discovered that ' the 13th Reinforcements of the 13th Battalion was -!•'< men over strength, these 13 surplus men of the 13th Reinforcements of tiie 13th Battalion were Kent back to their 13th Regiment at depot, but on the way back the 13tli man of tile 13 men who formed part of .the ,13th Reinforcements of the 13th Battalion, fell out, and returned alone: to bis 13th Regimental Depot, in a train of 13 ears, and when'the train left Sydney lie found that there were 18 persons in his ear. The man bad been 13 weeks in camp." A Dunedin firm, having made enquiries in Japv.ii with respect to a supply of machine-guns, has (says the G'tago Daily Times.) received from n Japanese exporter a letter, from which the following is an extract: "Regarding machine-guns, I regret to inform you that they are only ' manufactured by the Government arsenals, where orders are placed by I the Allied countries in such big quan-|-titles that they cannot meet the dcI in and by working d:\y and night. One | large private "enterprise has just been | started, but it is not yet in working I order. Under these conditions, it , will be impossible to meet other demands, unless offered through the respective Governments. The .Japanese Government mobilised arsenals a long time ago to meet Russian and British orders, and war materials are I shipped direct to the battlefields."

"This is a spieler's outfit," declared Detective Hammond to Mi E. C. Cutteu, S.M., at Auckland on Tuesday morning t as lie displayed a" number oi' articles which he had obtained from luggage which had been "put on the train by two men, George Wallace (2l\ and . Percy Barnato Richardson >43) who were arrested

as were about to " bbtiikX* *'ttfe train, the charge being that they were idle and disorderly persons, who habitually consortedi with I imputed thieves. The assortment lint-hided s.o'.en pennies, some •double-headed and .some double-tailed.; two doubleheadqd , threepenrivt pjecea. a .hollow kip for playing two-up, and two sets of "crook" dice, on which the spots were doubled. The detective gave a demonstration of how the "crook" coins could be secreted in the hollow kip, to be slipped out at the will o! the operator; v.nd of. bow the "crook' 1 dice might be rung in profitably in a game of hazards. lAl'ter evidence the accused were convicted and remanded for a week pending the arrival of police information'.. -. ■

A masked man,- armed with a' J revolver (reports the Sydney Daily Telegraph) attempted to hail up Blackburn''s waggon at Bund Luke, about a mile from IJHadull-i, on : tlfe afternoon of the 24th of Decembey. The woggan driver (H. Webber) stales that when on the Ulladulla s'de of Buvril bridge a masked man sprang from behind a log, where lie had been hidden, and called on him to hail up, at the same time covering him with a revolver. Webber whipped up bis horses, and the man fired, at him; and. as Webber continued to drive on ran after him, calling out : 'Bail \i|)," ami firing two more shots. All the shots missed, and , Webber escaped. Blackburn's waggon is practically a travelling store, and was returning after doing business at Kaoloa, BawJey Point, Termell, and wayside farms, and tin- driver had a large amount of monev on him at the time.

Criticism has recently been directed it tlic provisions iu the War Pen-

sions Act, which authorise inquiries by the Pensions Hoard regarding the circumstances of claimants for pensions. Some remarks on the question 1 were made in Auckland by the 'Prime | Minister, the lit. Hon. W. F. MasI sey. The Herald reports Mr Massey as saying:—"The pensions scheme is working much more smoothly than it I did ai first. The people are beginning tn understand the Act better than they did. I am quite sure that the more they understand the Act the better they will like it. In many respects it is particularly liberal. ' A point on which criticism is now dir- ' ectcd is that there is, no fixed penj sion for the widow of a man who has i been killed. Only Lbo maximum is ! fixed by the Act, That, i think, is j a matter that will be dealt with by i Parliament when opportunity offers, along with any other defects that | may be discovered in the working of the Act. It lias to be remembered ; thai the average of the pensions I granted by the Board to widows is i higher than the maximum fixed in j some el' the other Dominions. Good as the Act undoubtedly is,. I recogI i,; S( , that it is capable of inrprovei incut, and 1 have not the slightest 1 doubt that the necessary improve- ' ment will be made. It must always Ibe remembered that the pern-ion for the incapacitated man is fixed, though j the degree, of incapacity and coiiseI quently the degree of • eavning-power is taken into consideration by the | Board. For instance, a man who has lost some of the lingers of one hand cannot possibly be given fcl» e same pension as r. man who lias lost the use of both arms,"

A Wellington telegram says tliiil on January Ith hi • Kxcellenc\ Un- («oveinor sent ti)'.' following telegraphic message for delivery to the Officer Commanding the N.Z. Rifle Kngade; "Best congratulations to X.Z. Rifle Brigade on their firsi action. Trust wounded are all doiug well.'.' On ■January 6tli the following reply was received ; "Many thanks for your Excellency's congratulations, which have been conveyed . L o all ranks. Wounded are ilolng very .well.'i The first meeting ol the Recruiting Board is likely to !»e held on (lirurday, says a Preps Associatiiin message. Details of the recruiting scheme have been prepared by the Defence Department, but the preparation of .alphabetical lists showing men of military age i:i the various districts will take several weeks. Many hundred* of i ecru its will be wauted in the meantime, ami the Defence Minister stated yesterday that hewanted existing recruiting organisations and the public to realise the urgency of the call to complete tiie Eleventh and [ill the Twelfth. Reinforcements.

The Defence .Minister staled yesterday that the lodging allowance recently granted to returned soldiers undergoing medical treatment had been made retrospctive. Invalided soldiers who had arrived in the Dominion before the allowance was authorised, and who were otherwise qualified to receive it, would be paid the money as from the date of their landing in New Zealand.' and a lodging allowance of 2s per day is paid to all soldiers undergoing ti'eainieni. The Minister mentioned that the allowance would ho paid to men who applied for it. Tie Defence Department could not undertake to ascertain without application what men were entitled to payments. •'■ ' •

The Dunedin Star publishes (ho following extraordinary paragraph: A visitor from the North Island tells .in unusual tale of boiled bullock ami parboiled dog. Up in the hot springs area a leaping waterfall of boiling water was pointed out. Into this bubbling swirl of frothy steam a team of bullocks were inadvertently driven one night. Next day the neighbourhood was wrapped in i\ distincl odour of boiled beef.. Noting -the attractiveness of the odour, the doys obeyed the call of unknown possibilities. Natives arc never short of dogs. As each dog arrive;! at the source of the compelling odour be leapt on to the floating carcases of boiled bullock and started. The dogs'arrived singly, as a rule, but* there seemed to be no' end to the rule. ' Mventrially one dog acted the pari "-'of the straw to the camel's hack. As lie leaped on the floating carcases •swayed, and temporarily ,iank in the boiling fluid. Tin- dogs were involuntarily submerged. Then the odour of scalded beef indicated a change of ingredient. This story was not told at a first-footing excursion.

A gitfntv/hiany, .people have their time wasted.even Police Court officials as witness too .following . report -of a Police Court case in,Xlu'jstcjmrch recently :—Daniel (hum (Mr Salter), charged with' stealing at Sydenham on January '■',. three chickens valued at Is,- the property of 'Leonard Rowse, pleaded not guilty. Prosecutor, giving evidence, said that he resided at Montreal Street, Sydenham. He .saw }*cj|'sed leaving the'yard shared by witness and a man named O'NeiU. Witness said "Good-day" to accused, and then h?ard the squeaking of chickens, which were in ("twin's pockets. Being suspicious, witness followed accused home, and saw him put the chicks in the fowlhouse. Constable Hislop deposed that accused admitted taking the birds, but "only in fun." (iiving evidence for "the defence, O'Neill 'whose Christian name was not announced) said that Rowse's fowls were continually coming into his garden and often into his kitchen. (Laughter). Rowse had said that if his chickens came into witness's place he could kill them, Ciunn called on witness, and, seeing the chicks pecking about, said he Mould like a few. Witness, for a joke, replied "If you can catch them ,you can have them." Accused thought that the birds helonged to witness and . At this stage Mr Bishop stopped the proceedings by dismissing the charge.

I The question of how fur a husband is responsible for his wife's debts was decided in Hie Magistrate's Court at Hastings Inst week. A married mar. nas sued 11v a lociil 1 inf!<•:-in:i 11 for £1 7s Id, balance of debt alleged to be tine for goods sold ami delivered to efendant's wife and children. Defendant, in his evidence, said thai lie had a wife and seven children, and his average earnings as a laborer were t"2 'los. He neither smoked nor drank, •and he gave, his wife the whole of his wages every week. He had injserted a notice in the press warning 'tradespeople against giving his wife 'credit, and he called on about eight business people, including plaintiff's [manager, telling them personally not to give his wife credit; In giving 'judgment for defendant, Mr M'Carthy, S.M., said this was a case in which the wife had no authority jwhatever to act as defendant's agent. This sort "I thing could not go on. He (his Worship) was not alluding 'soldy to cases of men with .slender ! means, because ho knew of a case oi a man with €Hl)() a year, who gave ,his wife an ample allowance, and who received an account from a drapery linn for EWk run tip by his wife, and l o f which he had not been informed cither by his wife or by the tradesmen. Of course, there were cases where the husband drank, but this Was the case, of a frugal, honest man. Such a state of affairs must stop, because the conditions would be enough [to drive :. man into the Bankruptcy Court. I