LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Thq 36th Reinforcements, who were in camp at Feathexston, wer© transferred to Trentham to-day.

No i (ice is given that there will •be a special parade of "A" Company at the drill hall, Thames, on Thursday next at 7 p.m sharp.

The next Gazette Extraordinary, calling up accretions to the First Division and to Class A, Second Division, of the Expeditionary Force Reserve, is to be published on the 26th inst.

It was mentioned at the Saturday sitting of the Hamilton Supreme Court that a Maori defendant and his wife.had itino or" ten children, and tKey all lived in a 2-roonied whare.

""Billy" Sunday, the Tdvivalist, of the United States, has /become an ardent recruiting agent. He has said of the Kaiser: "As for lying, the Kaisear has Ananias owt-distjaaiced so far you can't see his dust."

The Hon. Thos. Wilford, Minister of Justice, is expected to visit Thames at tho end of the week. Sir Jas. Allen, Minister for Defence, is also coming here on Thursday to' bestow medals upon several Thames soldiers who have won that honour.

Many people have visited the Waihi Beach since the recent heavy sea. Some of th© ebtfages which suffered as resu/h of the big seas hav<> been attended to, but several' are still in the same condition as the sweeping rollers left them.

With the object of saving expense, it" has been suggested that the' Medical Service Corps', be trained in Feathexston camp instead of Awapuni. The whole ■question has been thoroughly gone into, and it has been found that the change isyhot advisable in the interests of efficiency or as a means of saving thei expenditure.

A correspondent of thoi Christchurch' Press, -writes: Seeing by the paper that iio aeroplane flights by night have been practised by the Soekbuxn Aviation School, I am writing to ask if your readers have seen the occasional visit of , a well-lighted aeroplane late at night H>uth-west of OhristohuToh? Repeat^y, during „tEe moonlight cloudless nights lately, tEe members of out household have watched tMs -visitor, and towards morning apparently as -far south as the Ninety-mile bead* it was.. seen distinctly. If not a Sockburn aeroplane, what was it? . , The. .republic of Panama, wbicri has declared war, on Austria^Hurigary, has a 'population of only 400,000, but tjhere is no small community of greater importance in the war, for within the borders of Panama lurk enemies i whose business would be to damage the 1 "vital Panama Canal. These; will now"'be arrested. The litUe Republic is,' therofore,' of singular '.significance '.in.', the aahem® of, things! . Until 14 years ; ago Panama \ was •part of ' Colombia, She declared!; herselfc tinder., pendent, was recognised in a fortnight by tihe United St(ate?,- and 15 days after' Ear secession sold the State the route ior the Canal. ."''■'■.'.'

The Commission of enquiry into flood damage and prevention resumed its sitting at 2 o'clock this afternoon. There" Were present Mr Short (chairman}, Messrs Mansfield and Vickerman. Mr -.Oitendon,^represented the Borough Council; and" Mr McVeagh and Mr Hogben the County Council, Mr Blow, Secretary for Mines, appearing on behalf of his department.-. .There, .was a considerable gathering of Borough and' County eounr cillors and officials. Representatives of various mining companies were also in attendance.

There is a special depaxtogwt tof the telephone exchange in some towns wliich is at -the disposal of subscribers who want knowledge of a certain kind. Byasking for "Information,'; one may find what time of day it is, or be directed to the way of finding out the*hour that the nejjft boat leaves. Lately, however, even this department was abused by some person "from Palmerston North, who asked the time, and the reply received was. "Five past twelve." A miniita lateir the person rang, and again wished to know the time. "Six minutes past twelve." At eight minutes past the telephone girl, on .hearing the same voice ask the same question, grew a trifle exasperated, and told tHe person atj the other end that it was the third 'time within three minutes he had asked the same question. "Well, **" 'came the sauve: and unexpected ' reply, "I am boiling

eggs."