GENERAL NEWS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 221, 6 February 1913, Page 7

GENERAL NEWS.

Two officers of the public service having been convicted of embezzlement, a call has been made upon all other officers in the service (says the New Zealand Times) to make good the defalcations. This is done under the Public Service Act. The defalcations total £3004 lis fid, and the levy was made at (he rate of one shilling per cent. It was recently suggested liv a Xew Zealand Territorial officer that a degree of military science should be c-Uiblished in the Dominion, and many people regarded tlie idea favorably. ft has remained, however, for the University College of London to carry the idea into effect. Advice has been received in Wellington that the course includes the elements of tactics, map reading and field engineering for the first term, and applied tactics and field sketching will he taught the next year. The syllabus for the senior course will be in full working order by then.

Politeness occasionally carries its little penalties which, if often inlliited, would no doubt have an unfortunate effect upon whiit. it customarily regarded :',s tin new eiiivalry. lit! \v;i= a perfect gentleman who bad given up his seat in an Auckland tram to a lovely lady, and had graciously taken her phice among the straphangers. ft was just then, however, that the conductor reviewed the situation, decided that his car was overcrowded, and ordered the knighterrant off the car. In the twenty-live minutes which perforce had to lie spent in waiting for another car. not overcrowded, to come along, there was ample time for the enraged citizen to ponder (whether, after all, a lady's careless gratitude may not be bought too dearly.

Mr. Milton Mcßae, an American journalist and an officer of tlie Associated Press of the United States, is a visitor to Xew Zealand. lie is to write a series of articles, for a chain of American papers on liis travels and observations. Tn ail interview ha said: "1 found in South Africa a condition of things which fortunately did not exist, here in Xew Zealand. They have not j only got racial problem, hut also a. native question there. There,are only 1.300.(100 white people in the South African Union, and 0,000,000 blacks. 'l.lie blacks have not given much trouble for a long time, but they have had nine Kadir wars. Tliey may not have another. but they are going to have, con- i stant trouble so l«ng as the lioer in- | sists'oil what he professes is his (!odgiven right to treat the negro as a slave. The matter of loyalty to the Empire will right itself in time, but the racial question and the other troubles will j never be settled until it becomes a white J man's country, and the enormous un- ■ populated areas are settled. It seems j to me now that South Africa is not in ] it as a progressive country." j ■ A diversion was created in the factory , of Mr. C'. E. Daniell, in Masterton, last j wee, hy the sudden appearance upon j the scene of an elephant, drawing a j small waggon. The lop-eared paeliv- ; derm entered the factory through a back door, and made himself quite at I home far a time. After scrutinising ; things with the carefulness of an inspector of machinery, he suddenly took it into liis head to cause a scatter. One machine after another was toppled over, until the factory presented the appearance of having been struck by an earthquake. Having given a demonstration of bis destructive powers, the animal made his exit through a side door, and the alarmed factory hands assembled to gather up the pieces. The owner of the elephant is to be asked a question. The Dunedin correspondent of the Christchureh Press, telegraphs that settlers on the liills about Lake Wanaka sav that the kea is very destructive in their district,' many sheep being killed by that carrion bird every winter. It is seldom that a kea is caught attacking sheep, but several shepherds have seen the bird at its deadly work. ft succeeds best when there is deep snow in the valleys, and alights on the back of a sheep. Which, in fear, flounders help-; lesslv in the snow, and soon succumbs under the strong beak of the. murderous bird. Ewes, it is said, have learned J a trick that frequently succeeds against : the kea. They roll down the hillside in order to get rid of their assailant. Something of a sensation was caused at the destructor on Friday night (says the Dominion), by a series of explosions in the furnaces.' After a number of shots had gone ofV during some two hours, the men on duty serving the fires decided to investigate among the rubbish to learn if possible the cause of the trouble. They found a considerable number of ball and blank Lee-Enticld cartridges. It was too late then to be able to identify the load in which they had been collected, but it would be exceedingly interesting to know how the verv dangerous "rubbish" got to the destructor." The men sav that there must have been upwards of a hundred shots in all.

Enquiries made at the local ollice of the Labor Department go to show that there are quite enough men in the district tn meet the demands of the local ■labor market. There is a sufficiency of unskilled labor ill the district, and where men have been unable to be placed in the town, work has been found for them in the country, corporation works absorbing some. There; seems, a. News representative was informed, to he a general feeling amongst builders throughout Taranaki that they could do with a few more first-class hands. The painters in the Xew Plymouth district are moving in the direction of obtaining a new award, the old one having expired im February 1. They will meet the employers at the end of this week with a new statement of claims. The main points in the men's demands are an increase in wages from Is :ld to Is -t'/od per hour, an increase for apprentices in their second, third and fourth years, and overtime at the rate of time and a-half from p tn. to r! p.m. and thereafter double time fill S a.m. A slight alteration is sought in suburban anil country work, and a new preference clause is asked for. It is desired bv the men that the number of hours constituting a week shall remain as at present (44). but they desire an alteration in the daily roster. They are asking that the day's work shall cease at 4.:1tl p.m. ii'.slead of 5. with only halt-an-hour for dinner, in place of the full hour at present allowed. Their object in seeking this is to allow the paint time to set, iu winter, before the evening fog sets in. The award proposed by the men is very much on the lines of (lie Xew Plymouth plumbers' agreement arrived at last. vear.