LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LV, Issue 10867, 4 June 1918, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

, I « 1 i The Main Trunk express, which left for

the South last evening, was a very full train. It comprised 13 carriages, including two " sleepers," and carried approximately 470 passengers. All seats on the train were reserved by noon yesterday, and those who applied for tickets later were compelled to travel by a special train conveying soldiers to camp. The civilian passengers by this train numbered about 200. and filled five carriages. The outward and inward traffic earlier in the day was also heavier than usual. The 9.15 a.m. express to Rot or u a carried 450 passengers, or 150 above the average, and the inward express from Roto ma brought over 400 to the city. The Auckland Racing Club's Winter Meeting was brought to a conclusion at Ellerslie yesterday, and, with fine weather prevailing, a large attendance was again recorded. The leading event on the programmethe Winter Steeplechase—was

; won by the favourite, Messrs. V. and R. j Riddiford's Coalition, while the chief flat , race, the York Welter, also went to the favourite in Mr. C. I). Beat-son's Parisiai Diamond. In the concluding event of the day. the Fitzr'.y Welter Handicap, the placed horses were all among the outsiders of the field, the winner returning a large two figure dividend. Speculation on the totalisator was brisk, the amount ol £66.519 being invested, making a total ol £125,972 for the two days, as pare* with a total of £143.608 for the three days meeting last year. The City Fire Brigade was called oul twice yesterday. The first call was to 21 Hackett Street, at 10.55 a.m., the chimne} ! of a wash house behind a residence occu j pied hv Messrs. Johnson and I>win, bar

I caught fire through a barrel o! tar hoilinj I f\t-r. Small damage iva,< done. There whi | no insurance on the building. At 2 55 p.in ia call 'is received from the corner o I Cross Street ?.nd France Street, Newton some odds and ends in a room in a housi occupied by Mrs. Healy having cangh fire. 'J he fire was extinguished befori much damage had been done. Replying to the toast of the "Army am Navy" nt the dairymen's smoke concer last night, Mr. .J. H. Hayward referre to the part that has been played in th war by the mercantile marine. " The met canti'.e marine, ' he said, " has carried th sinews, it has carried our produce, an many a brave sailor lias gone down to hi death through enemy action. We mus not forget what we owe to these men, an we must not forget their dependants. ] is a matter for the nation and for us a individuals. It is a matter for every mar woman, and child, who is left in thi country in comfort and prosperity. W owe a debt we can never pay to ever soldier, bluejacket, and sailor of the met cantile marine."

The Auckland quota of the thirty ninth reinforcements. numbering about 200 men, who have been on liniil leave dur.ng j the last two weeks, returned to camp by I a special train which left Auckland at : eight o'clock Inst night. About 200 | other men m the same reinforce-] ments will board the train between Am k- ; land and Marton. Lieutenant T. Walker; was in charge. ] Injuries received as the result ot a • shooting accident necessitated the admit- j j tanee to the Auckland Hospital at 11.20 i I last night of Mr. .(esse Ynllrly. a part- |

i ner in the firm of Langguth and Co.. mini , i merchant?. Mr. Yallely was game shoot- . ing with the two Langguth brothers- the' younger of whom was unloading his gun, ' when he tripped, causing the cartridge to ; explode. The shot badly fractured Mr. | j Yallelv's right leg, just above the knee. i Mr. Vallelv, who is 28 years of age, is a : single man. : A return presented to the North Auckland Dairy Conference yesterday showed that since the inauguration of the system of providing gift butter for the soldiers at the front 69 boxes of butter have been provided by the factories of the district I and shipped, and that another 34 boxes are expected to he despatched to Egypt about the end of the present month. The contributing factories numbered 15. A letter was received from the Mayor of Auckland, acknowledging the assistance given by the factories of the district m the matter, and bespeaking the contnnianco of contributions of the same kind. A statement made by a Waihi resident in London, and published some months ago in a New Zealand paper, to the effect that parcels sent to the front arrived in a more or less useless condition, has been, contradicted by a New Zealander on active i service. In denying the statement that cakes and chocolates and chewing-gum were received at the front in a mouldy condition, the soldier says: —"I cannot grumble myself. The only parcel T received in bad order was one sent on a torpedoed boat ! I have, however, seen one or two bad parcels, ard I admit that chewing-gum is not much jjood when it arrives here. I have persona.lv never seen or heard of any of our boys complaniing about parrels arriving in bad condition. One of my mates, who has just seen the paragraph, says that the writer is -trying I to stop the New Zealand people from send--1 ing parcels to troops." , 1 A short sitting of the Police Court was I held yesterday before Messrs. W. H. Cooper I and E. A. Craig, J.P.'s. Herbert Candy, | a second offender, was fined 10s for drunk- ; enne«s. Samuel A. Johnston, also a second ' offender, was fined 10s, and ordered to pay i 21s medical expenses. Joseph Ntitt, for i committing a nuisance on the street, wis ; fined 40s. Several other cases were re I rnanded till to-day. j A press cable message from Australia I recently stated that the Australian pro--1 ducers of butter were offering their output : , to the Imperial authorities at 151s per • ' cwt. The chairman of the Northern Dairy i Conference, Mr. A. Morton, stated yester- ; day that the price given did not agree ' with information within his knowledge as ' to the intentions of the Australians, and ■ on making an inquiry by cable, he had re- ,' ceived a reply stating that the price they ) are asking for is 180s per cwt. I The Society of Arts' annual exhibition , in its gallery. Kitchener Street, is attracting large numbers of visitors. Yesterday, the third day of the exhibition, many art : lovers took the opportunity of inspecting ' ! the work of New Zealand artists, and some 1 seven or eight pictures were purchased. 1 Satisfactory business was done in the : ■ freshment room and at the flower stab. p both of which were conducted by lady | members of the society. I The question of standardising butterI boxes and cheese crates was raised at * i yesterday's conference of the North Auck- ' , land dairy companies by a letter from tr.e 1 ' Northern Wairoa Dairy Factory Company. - Mr. D. Ouddie, dairy commissioner, 111f formed the meeting that the Government 5 ! had already decided to standardise butter I boxes, and that before he left Wellington 1 > he was instructed to prepare the necessary " j particulars for putting the idea into opera--1 j tion. It appeared to him that the Pe--5 ' partment might well accept either the i standard butter crate In use in Auckland, ' or that of Taranaki, without inconvenience !; to the sawmilling companies. There was 1, no present intention, he added, of standii ardising cheese crates, for reasons obvious _| to those in the trade. The conference resolved that :he executive of the National " | Dairy Association be asked to introduce 1, the subject of compulsory standardisation 3 ' art its Hamilton and Palmerston North 3 ! conferences. y j 'A seaman, Frederick Emms, was ade • mitted to the hospital at 7.30 p m. vester- _ i day, suffenng from a fractured leg. Emms, I who is a member of the crew of the Awa- ' nui, slipped -while boarding his vessel at P ! the wharf. Speaking at the dairymen's smoke conk i cert last night, Mr. D. Long stated that "I the Farmers' Freezing Company had de--0 j cided to allow a rebate of 20 per cent, on 1 ; freezing and chilling charges on butter and g ! cheese handled during the year ending i Jane 30. The rebate would be calculated , i on the first month's charge of 6d per box ** > for butter and 16d for cheese. The amount I of the discount would be deducted from j the charges on next season's produce. The proposal that the Auckland district ' should provide one of the char-a-bancs required for the use of sick and wounded soldiers in England, has been approved by the Joint Committee of the British Red ! Cross Society and Order of St. John, sub '■ i jer.t to the approval of the Hon. R. Heaton i- , Rhodes, the Red Cross commissioner in 0 ; London. This is to avoid overlapping. • j ' The Northern Wairoa branch, which has r ' funds in hand, is desirous of contributing il ; the Auckland district's char-a-banc, and ils 0 1 offer to do so has been accepted by the d i Joint Committee if Mr. Rhodes approves. 0 | The Mayor and Mr. H. (J. Robertson a ' secretary of the Joint Committee, have a j cabled Mr. Rhodes, advising him of the d | position. 5 > As a warning of tfin subtlety which a Germans might exercise after the war in ! schemes to win back some of their lost ' r j trade, the Hon. T. .NT. \\ ilford referred "k in a lecture at Wellington to a ruse that !r ! was exposed after the Franco German n | war. Great numbers of mustard-pots, in ■>- j the design of a swine's head, with a '•3 | spiked helmet, were sold in France. GerI man high authorities affected to be indigj riant, but inquiry proved that the pot? 10 I had all been made in Frankfort. Thus the II j Germans did not hesitate to resort in ie tricks i\hich might seem to bo expressing 10 j contempt of their country if thev believed rs i they could gain anv advantage from such ' R tactics. Ie ~ ... ! Some discussion occurred at the Welling. -,f i ton Hospital and Charitable Aid Hoard's (1 1 meeting when the Hospital Committee re--8 rorted that advice had been received from the Minister for Public Health that the 't Public Health Department would pay foi L j the hospital treatment of the wives ani

i March 8. 1918. It. was complained that this I restriction of the concession to the dependI ants of men on active service was not j fair. Apparently the Defence Department ; excluded from this scheme the dependants of men in training at the cani|>s. Several members urged that, this limitation should be removed. The board decided to request the Defence Department to give a definition of "active duty." The general feeling of the board was that the depend ants of men in training should have the same consideration as the dependants of ; men who were on active service overseas.

The Department of Internal Affairs has decided to withdraw the telegraphic fin iii ties granted to many patriotic societies at the beginning of the war. The privilege was originally granted as a matter of extreme urgency to prevent blocking of work in the stress of patriotic arrangements at that time. No patriotic society established at a later date has Wen granted the privilege, and it is considered by the authorities that ae the older societies are now well established and have considerable funds at their disposal it is not necessary to continue the concession beyond May 3L