LOCAL AND GENERAL

... There are more mental defectives in this country than there should be. Our people will have to do something about it, remarked Sir Robert Stout at the bupreme Court yesterday. His Honour also remarked that the reformative institutions were full of mental cases. The people in them were not mad, but they had done things that had they shown the commonest of sense they would not have done.

It may not be claimed that the observance of the "Keep to the Left" footpath rule in Wellington is perfect, but it can rightly enough be said that Wellington pedestrians have in the main a better respect for an altogether sensible bylaw than have those who use' the footpaths of several other centres, even though the footpath patrol here is practically a one-man job, Vwhile- elsewhere i> stuff of inspectors endeavours to keep folk on their left sides of the pavement Elsewhere again, as in Christclr.irch, "Keep toN the Left" standards are placed in the centre lines of midcity footpaths, and certainly catch the eye, niftreso than the chalk line for they have to be dodged. In one or two centres local bodies have readily agreed thiit their footpath tangles should be straightened out, but have apparently also agreed that it is a terrible nuisance-, anyhow, and things may, just as well go along .is they are in the meantime, Ontf south Island centre which rather prides itself on its popularity as a seaside holiday. rtsort, apparently rather likes tho conflict between righters and letters • it serves to show roughly just how many visitors there.are in town, homo folk to the right, visitors to the left.

When asked if he thought that the Government should borrow gold in America and ship it to Australia, the chairman of the Commercial Bank Board, Mr. J. J. Garvan, said he did not wish to offer any criticism as to the wisdom of further Government borrowing but pointed out that it was axiomatic that, if we did borrow, we should always borrow in the cheapest market. Gold was a commodity in the same sense as wool and wheat. AH would agree that wool and wheat should be bought in the cheapest market. Mf : Garvan expressed the ppinibn that it should be quite unnecessary to bring more gold to Australia. The banks already held more gold than was required for currency purposes and, therefore, could ijiake an exchange' with profit to themselves, without bringing more gold here. If a tee market were established here the' public need not be concerned about gold movements. VrtJla, like all other commodities, would go to the markets where most could be got in exchange for it, and Australian bankers, no doubt, would closely watch and counteract any tendency to a. gold inflation—in fact, they niust d6go to protect their capital. "Australian priced," said Mr. Cni-van, "ate at the gold level, and we have everything to (rain by withdrawing the prohibition against gold export. Bankers would again be able to use their gold reserves and settle their exchanges in gold." In conclusion, Mr. Gaivui pointed out that it was worth while remembering that it was impossible to foYc<i mofe capital on a market than there was labour available to employ it economically.

See the special wiriddw display 6f emart fashionable millinery, the "usual prices of which Were 1 up td 59s 6d, the sale pric« all-21s each. White they last. Kirkcaidie and Stains, Ltd., Great Summer ciilc. Busy, busy uittftyj busy.— Advt. ■'. .. '

Cabinet yesterday made a grant of £5000 towards the erection of a twostoned hostel at the Jubilee Institute for the Blind, Auckland, sufficient to accommodate 40 people.

The late Mr. Fred Cooper, who was a prominent member of the Wellington Rotary Club, bequeathed a sum of £100 to the club for expenditure upon boys' work. .. i j

Tile Government has invited a delegation of four or five leading commercial men from Canada to visit New Zealand next year to attend the Exhibition at IJunedin^ The Government will arrange a Dominion tour and pay transportation, expenses xn New Zealand. . A ripple of laughter passed along the Mosgiel Borough Council table while a councillor was expressing his views Wnether there should be six ; O r nine councillors to look after ths interests of the borough. He said that he thought "six gentlemen and a Mayor were sufficient to carry on the- work of the borough " Laughter 1 was caused by the Mayor drily inquiring why tile holder of that office did not come under the temi "gentlemen. °

Lower Hutt Borough have been reticulated for eectnc lighting, and it i« expected that the current will be turned on to the last circuit, which includes the business area, to-morrow evening when the Belmont area, upon which the linesmen are at present busily engaged, the whole of the first district of the Hutt Valley Power Board will be completed and attention will then be concentrated on the JohnsonvilleMakara district, provided, of course, that the poll to be taken in that afea is favourable to the project.

In the course of a short article in an overseas publication, the Hon R. F Bollard writes strongly in fa-Tour of fostering greater development of British trade with the Dominions. "Theie is no room now," he says, "for the trading methods we used before August 1914 The Great War showed Britain the change needed, and that change is being quickly made. We warmly perpetuate the memory of the brave sons we lost; thecafises which led to their loss taught the Empire a lesson, which for-J-Jjnately, has been understood by' all. 'The Britisher sees now the importance of expanding his trade relations -with his own km. He has the goods-the finest eoods produced in the world—and he is not going to overlook any medium to aid their going on the' markets."

-Municipal Socialism, said Mr. E. J Howard, M.P., in a n address at Christchurch, was almost, perfect in South Africa. And, strange- to say, it had been demanded as limch by the business people as by the working class. AH those' services which wer& social services had been municipalised. In Din-ban, for instance, the teams, telephones, baths, sewerage, electric light, police, water supply, parks, beaches, and swimming baths, fire brigade, museum, art gallery, library, markets, ambulance, and cemeteries were all under the Slunicipal ?1? L They had a loaft d<M of »1 andlhree-Varter millions, but they had assets of- nine and a quarter millions,, and their sinking fund alone was nearly one million pounds. They had a white nf° P£rnn n °*.i?' 640' Population of 33,000 and 14,000 Asiatics. The natives paid very little, in rates, and the Asiatics also were'poor contributors to the-rates. Soy with a' population of half the size of that of Christchurch they had a Towtt Hall that cost- £370,000 ai ™ * 1 supported a municipal orchatt*.:tbat cost £13,4(50 per tMtm in' tt¥S n ?- TJl e^-vacation was £16,-! i '?Z '■ .fompared with the capital value of Christchurch of £19,758,481.

The greatest towing feat ever' attempt7iu J' Onk Austraha *U1 l>e undertaken within the next few weeks, /states the Melbourne "Argus," by two Dutch tugs, the Willem Barendssi and the Vlaanderen, now at Williamstown, which will commence the tremendous task of towing from Port Adelaide to Rotterdam, in Holland, the disabled steamer City of Singapore, a-vessePof 6567 tons, which was burnt at Port Adelaide kst year. Ihe distance which the tugs will have to cover with an empty, engineless, and unwieldy semi-derelict in tow, will beapproximately 13,000 miles—a Hereto lean task. The point that is disturbing to shipbuilding and engineering nrms, and the' employees of both, however, is the fact that such an undertaking should have been considered necessary by the owners of the' City' of Singapore. They state, however, that Australian costs for labour and material are so high that it is cheaper to hate the vessel towed to Holland to'be repaired than to pay the amount asked for ren"!?S the City of Singapore here. The W3llem Barendsz and Vlaanderen will hava completed a round-the-world tow before they reach their home port at Amsterdam. The tugs left Amsterdam towing a floating dry dock to Sabang, Sumatra. They then towed two dredges, a cutter, and a tender from Sourabaya to MelboWne, and have been ordered since their arrival at Melbourne to proceed to Adelaide arid take the steamer City of Singapore in tow to Holland. Gratification has been expressed by the Wellirigton branch of the Forestry League that the Te Aro Advancement Association had this year discontinued the practice of using tree ferns and'nikau palms for decorative purposes. ' Notwithstanding the absence of ferns and palms, the members considered the display was most effective.

From the experience Of Mr. F. G W Dunsford, of Tiniafu, tlie Malay States must be a very happy place' to rggoft to m order to avoid such worldly tribulations as the payment of income tax.' Ihe Posts" Loiidort correspondent, writing under date 31st December, states that Mr. Dunsford was in England on a short business visit from the Federated Malay States, where he is engaged in tin mining pursuits.' Mr. Dunsford was naturally much pleased that his trip coincided with the visit of the New Zealand footballers, and he took every opportunity to see them play. There' are many New Zealanders 'in Malaya, ' said Mr. Dunsford, '/all of whom appreciate what a fine' country it i6 to live in. There is no- irieOme tax and strikes are unknown.- The Govermrierit is \beiiignly autocratic and strictly carries out a policy of fair play for .all. The Administration is carried on by a small band of Britishers of the right stamp, selected by. the Colonial Otnce from the' public schools and universities, who devote' their lives to their jobs and uphold the best traditions of the British Raj. The mixed population refers to a Britisher aa 'Ofang Putdi,' meaning a white man, whereas other Europeans are; referred to as 'Orang Blanda,' a Hollander, 'Ofang Francais,' a Frenchman, 'Orang German,' a Bouhe, and so on. The country how is looking forward to another spell of prosperity owing to the enhanced prices for rubber brought about by ttie restriction of crop regulations. Incidentally, the Dutch, with large rubber plantations in Java and isumatra, have greatly benefited by the restrictions imposed in the Malay States, but have consistently re fused to join in aiiy scheme of ftfsti'ic tion—thus, proving the truth of the- old saying, 'In matters of commerce the fault of the- Dutch is giving too little and asking too much.' " Mr, -Dunsford's father was the late Mr W. G. Dunsford, for some' years maWer' 6i the 1 Uniofl Bank at Invercargill, and, by a strange coincidence, t*6 other Malayai) feaidSilts - Meters. Leslie lnbe and J. Borfowman—ate cons of former managers of the same bauk at luviu'car^ilL v

"Throw open the land -for 'settlement;" was the appeal to the" Minister or Lauds (the Hon. A. D. M'Leod) at the Bay of Plenty. "Yes," he said, "but I like to listen to the men who are going on the land, not thfr men who want/ to put someone else on the land."

Two new launches, 40ft \n length, are being procured by the Tourist Department for the possenger traffic across Lakes xarawera and Eotomahana: The step has been resolved upon owing to increased business and to the fact that th» launches now iii commission have seen their best days.

A silvery-white wisp of the Duke of Wellington's, hair has been presented to the Canterbury Museum by Mrs. LovellSmith (says the "Lyttel'ton Times"). When the Duke was lying in state at Walraer Castle, it. is explained, wisps of his hair Were cut off by the staff officer in charge of the officers in attendance, and one was given to each officer. The wisp that came into Mrs. LovellSmith's possession was given to Mr Olifieri.

A couple of bullocks which were to be shipped from Wellington to LytteJton by the steamer Gale last evening decided otherwise and left the waterfront for other parts. The chase was lively, ending temporarily near Thorndon Station, where one wae driven into a pen, but the second broke clear,, and made towards town again. It was bailed up in if 1-M cc!' neaf Parliament Buildings, but still looked'particularly willing to make serious troube/ Apparently no one fancied the idea or getting the beast down to the steamer's side, and an end was put to it by a rifle shot.

. I entirely agree with the Prime Minister 8 utterances regarding the importance of securing the observance of industrial awards by both sides," said f;,™™. Attorney-General of New bouth Wales. "Every reasonable trade unionist -.will agree that- the system of industrial arbitration, which has secured such enormous benefits to the workers ot Australia, can survive only on the condition that, both sides aye prepared to observe the decisions of the" Court. Ihe greatest enemies of the trade unionists of Australia to-day are the men who. are seeking to persuade them to flout and insult the Arbitration Court '"

The Auckland Harbour Board decided to rescind a resolution calling for applwation for the position of engineer, and to appoint Mr. Drummond Holderness as acting engineer until the end of May, when the position will be agaiu reviewed (states the Press Association), fir. N. L. Vickerman was appointed acting v assistant engineer. The discussion encouraged a majority of the board members to infer, as they declared, that the temporary appointments were probationary in purpose, and would, if all went well, ultimately be made permanent. Tho chairman stated that technically Mr Hamer who recently resigned, would hold the position: until June;

_On jVioriday- niglJt the Canterbury Bowling Centre gave up serious business for a-few minutes to, ddVe info Matoiimythology. It came about with the presentation to the centre of a lareo tiki, by Mr. SI. Burnett,- for competition between Wellington and Canterbury representative teams. • The presentation- was made on Mr. Barnett's feehalf by Mr. 13. Summers, who stated that Mr. Barnett had also gone to a great deal of trouble to trace the history 6f the tiki in Maori mythology. He presented with it a card upon' which this interesting narrative was- printed. The tiki itself is a very handsome'trophy. It has been carved from a block oi mahogany,, the .eyes,. Wljich are goldluiounted, ..being-, of ruby .coloured material. At the base is a row of miniature tifciJi, . suitable for engraving witii the uatile of the winning team, and suspended from the lower extremity .'.is,, a miriiatui^ bowl. The president of the centre (Mr. A, J. Beuzie) tfmnkcd tho dono. 1 for •his handsome gift and (referred to his great services for tlie ganW .'■ Warm praise for the Limited express between Auckland and Wellington was voiced by the Rev. Lionel B. Fletcher, who recA.tly returned to Auckland front a holiday visit to Dunedin. "The Limd>" K e Said> "^ a hooil to the traveller. I have travelled in what are considered to be the best-equipped trains pretty .well all over the world, including the best trains in America. I was tram travelling' in America on one tour for months, and I have frequently travelled between/Sydney and Melbourne, and in spiU of all the criticism about the' Limited express I have no hesitation in saying that, from a sleap'ers point of view, it compares favourably with any of the other trains I have travelled in. As a matter of • fact, it comparer quite welt with the English trains when ona considers t?« nature of the route it has to journey over. Td make this Limited express perfect for the passenger, however,-. would be' the picking up of a dinjfig car," remarked Mr. Fletcher. "On arrival in Wellington it is impossible at that time, about 10 o clock- by the time- you reach the city, to get much in the way of a break- / fast, while the breakfast station on the' line coming north is too early for the majority of the passengers. A*nd thenagain oil arrival at Auckland you experience similar difficulty to the one at the other end." . ■ ■■■