New Zealand News.

Taihape Daily Times, 7 June 1918, Page 6

New Zealand News.

• PAPER PROSECUTED. PUBLISHES SOLDIER'S LETTER. '*■ INVERCARGILL, June 5. .; At the Police Court to-day R. J. Gilmour, editor of the "Times," was charged with a breach of the war regulations, in publishing a soldier's letter which referred to the movements of a troopship and other matters. Crown counsel said he was instructed to* treat the case as a serious one, but did not suggest the breach was wilful. Defendant stated, that the letterwas sent in for publication, and he thought it would be interesting to publish it. Apart from the movement of-the transport, 'there was really nothing in it. The magistrate said everyone knew the patriotic opinions of the paper, but lie had to do his duty. Decision was reserved. - FLOUR—A COMPARISON.

i An address on the suTJJect of "Flour" was delivered by Mr. W. Cotton, of Petone, at a meeting of the Wellington Central Chamber of Commerce. Comparisons were made by the speaker between Australian and New Zealand wheat and flour, and the superiority of the former for breadmaking was emphasised. Mr. Cotton arelated some of the trouble which bakers have in making good bread from New Zealand flour. He advocated the removal of the existing restriction on the importation of Australian wheat. In his opinion New Zealand should cease growing wheat for bread making. "Wheat might be grown here for I other purposes than bread-making, or ' the land might be utilised for the growth of other products. Alluding to a recent unsuccessful experiment in the cultivation of wheat in the Waixarapa, he remarked: "You might just as well send a man to Invercargill to grow grapes as send a man to the Waiararapa to grow wbeat." Mr. Cotton produced samples of Australian and Hew Zealand flour and of bread made from the flour to illustrate his contention as to the superiority of the former.

BUTTER-BOX TIMBERS. RESTRICTION OF EXPORT, The diminishing supply of timber suitable for butter boxes and cheese crates was brought under the notice of the Northern Dairy Conference by the chairman, Mr .A. Morton, in his opening address at Auckland on Tuesday. Mr. Morton said it seemed certain that within at most 10 years the whole supply of white pine in New Zealand would disappear if export was allowed to continue at the present rate. A large portion of the white pine exported to Australia was used lot furniture making and building purposes. The restriction upon the export should be such as to prevent the use of the timber in building, at any Tate. ■ The importance of the matter had been urged upon the Government, which had referred it "to the National Efficiency Board. If its recommendations proved to be favourable to the industry, it was important that their early adoption should be urged upon the Government as strongly as possible. But even conservation of the remaining forests would only defer the crisis, and it was necessary to provide for the growing of a substitute timber for butter-box purposes, and the early selection of suitable kinds, and of the areas where they should be grown was a. matter of the utmost importance to the industry. A report on the question was presented by Mr. E. Harding, as convener of the committee set up at last year's conference, recommending that a resolution be sent to the Government, emphasising the difficulty of obtaining supplies of suitable timber. The report was adopted, and on Mr. Harding's motion a resolution was carried urging that the Government, at the earliest possible date, take steps to effectively conserve these timbers by restriction of export, and by regulations providing for adequate supplies of box timber at prices which will not impose burdens on the consumers of this Dominion. A further resolution was passed, on Mr. Hardin's motion, commending to the Government the importance of taking steps at the earliest possible moment for "the re-afforestation of the Dominion, to provide suitable timbers 'to take the place of those now used in its essential industries, and which are rapidly approaching exhaustion."

PETROGRAD STARVING. THIEVES STEAL CRUMBS. CITY FALLIN GINTO RUIN. LONDON, May 20. After a long silence Mr. Dobson, the correspondent of the Times, lifts the veil from Russia, He states that the isolation of Petrograd is almost complete. The use of the telegraph is rarely possible, incoming letters are delayed three and four months, and internal affairs are going from bad to worse. The city is falling into delapidation.

(The Neva is crowded with cruisers, destroyers and gunboats, which escaped from Helsingfors. The ships are filthy, and in a state of disorder. The crews do as they please, and sell cabin furnishings to passers-by on the quay. The worst feature of Petrograd is the famine. There is no flour, sugar, potatoes, cheese or grain and a little meat only. Owing to the universal disorder there is a great amount of thieving. If one leaves a morsel on a plate in a restaurant anywhere it disappears immediately one's back is turned. Food j is far more valuable than paper money ; ' Half the working time is wasted in ) pursuit of hams, which are £4O to £6O each. Butter is 42s per per lb. cheese 36s per lb., white flour 20s per lb. eggs 3s each, carrots 5s per lb. and potatoes 6s per lb. The British colony ' is reduced to 500. They have urgently wired to London for food. i Reuter 's correspondent at Moscow , states that German regiments in Esthonia mutinied. Several officers were killed. The German High Command sent trustworthy troops to the localities. They arrested 200 mutineers, 10 of whom were immediately shot. Another mutiny occurred among the men of the Geran Regiment No. 375, Dvinsk. The regiment was supported in the outbreak by war prisoners who were returned from the interior of Russia.

GERMAN BIRTH-RATE, DECLINE IN WAR PERIOD. GREAT INCREASE IN MORTALITY LONDON, May 17. A report compiled by the Local Government Board on information from German sources shows that the fall in the birthrate in Germany during 1915, 1916, and 1917 is equivalent to the loss of 2,000,000 babies. Forty per j cent, fewer babies were born in 1916 I than in 1913, compared with the decrease of 10 per cent, in England and Wales. The infantile death-rate in Germany

I has been well kept down, but it is 50 I per cent, higher than in England and ' Wales. The high death-rate led to a I large extension of the infant welfare work, in which voluntary societies played an active part, but the movement is becoming more and more muni- I cipal. ' The infant mortality rate in Germany in 1913 was 151 per 1000, compared with 10S in England and Wales. The rates in 1914 for Prussia, Saxony, and Bavaria wore respectively: 164; 173, and 193 per 1000. The abnormal increase in infant mortality in the first months of the war, is shown by the fact that in Prussia, in the third quarter of 1914, the rate rose from 12S tc 143, Saxony from 140 to 242, and in Bavaria from 170 to 239. The records in England and Wales do not show any abnormal mortality of infants in the early months of the ), war.