LOCAL AND GENERAL

The Postal authorities have received advice from Sydney that the Marama left at noon yesterday for Wellington. She carries 141 bags of mails for the Dominion, including 100 from Australia, and 41 parcel receptacles.

The first session of the twenty-third Synod of the Wellington Diocese will open on 3rd July. The Synodsmen will be as follow: Messrs. D. W. Anderson. J L. Barnicoat, R. 'Wilberfoss, R. L. Button, W. J. Gaudin, W. Madeley. D. Keir, H. E. Evans, J. W. Henderson, J. W. Bell, T. 0. Fox, M. C. Smith, and 0. T. Natusch and J. I. Kill's, of Lower Hutt.

"He had enough drink in to want some more," remarked Mr. F. K. Hunt, S.M., when a. waterside worker named Harry Graham appeared at the Magistrate s Court to-day on a charge of assaulting Edward Fisher. The complainant explained that he was a barman in the Midland Hotel, and yesterday the accused came to the bar where witness was working and asked for a drink. He was already slightly under the influence of liquor, so ho was refused, whereupon he went behind the bar and assaulted witness by gripping him by the throat. A formal plea of not guilty was entered by Mr. J. Scott on behalf of TKe accused, who was fined 40s, in default seven days' imprisonment.

American files reveal a crescendo of anxiety about the enormous toll of lifp taken in the country by the motor.. Statistics have been prepared to show that one person in 10,000 is killed each year, or, put differently, that one of every thousand motorists is a homicide every twelve months. In Britain motoring is infinitely safer than in the United States. This is undoubtedly due to the combined effect of simple regulations sanely administered, and oi the consistent propaganda by the Automobile Association. It is not due to any wonderful system of competency examinations for drivers, for no such tests have ever been required. The British driver applies for and sets a licence, which ranks as merely an identification ticket. For the rest he must behave himself or go off the roads. In America, on the other hand,, official examinations are compulsory, and moreover, the roa,ds swarm with special police and other "direct action" instruments of the law.' The police, for all their pugnacity, fail to maintain safety on the highways.

Sir Alfred Piekford, the Boy Scout Oversea Commissioner, has gained golden opinions in Auckland, where lie is at present the guest of His Excellency Lord Jellicoe. The Commissioner, who stands about 6ft 3in, has a. genial way with him that goes straight to the heart of the average boy. Unfortunately, he has contracted so heavy a cold that, to the disappointment of the audience and his own chagrin, he was forbidden to attend the huge meeting called to welcome him in the Auckland Town Hall, which was* attended by over 3000 people. In his absence, Sir Harry Lauder came to the rescue, and in one of his witty but purposeful speeches both delighted and enthused the audience. His Excellency the Governor-General, who presided, left his hearers in no doubt as to his sense of the huge value of the movement, and urged all who desired the welfare of the youth of the Dominions to help Boy Scouting by every means in their power. Sir Alfred Pickford will finish his New Zealand tour in Wellington. An influential committee is arranging for his visit. He will be here on the 18th, 19th, and 20th of this month, and then leaves for the Old Country.

The ways of biishmen were in evidence in the Arbitration Court in Melbourne recently, when a Warbnrtou employer, giving evidence in the timber workers' case, the breakdown in his mjll machinery [reports the "Age"). As the breakage would take a week to repair, he said, he called his men together and suggested to them that they should take a week's holiday. They agreed, provided he would pay them for the week. As the award required him to pay them, unless they took a week's holiday voluntarily, he offered them vome pick and shovel work in the bush tramway some four miles distant. They agreed to take on the work, but stipulated that they should walk to and from the place of employment in the employer's time, and further intimated that they "would not be in a big hurry to get there." So far .so good. The men went to work as agreed upon, walking- to and fro in the boss's time, and starting work at 9.45 a.m. and finishing at 3.45 p.m. That was bad enough, but what rankled in the mill owner's mind, he said, was that, though some of the men lived linlf way^ between the mill and the place of tem-' porary employment, they insisted on walking backwards, as it were, to the mill first, and then starting off with the rest from the mill on the four-mile walk. They preferred walking to working. The upshot of it all was that the employer found, he. Paid, thai it would have piiid him beltcv In h"\e Hven (he men a week's pur lo stay lit 'holm-. Disgusted, jig fcjyked, tk* U>k, gJi g; fi^iS BSJicg*

"Poppy Day" yesterday in Dunedin, reports the Press Association, realised £398, as against £834 last year.

The Dunedin Winter Show takings, according to a Press Association report, amounted to £1265 for four days, as against £1262 for five days last year.

Much as has been done to make comfortable the animals kept in captivity at the Auckland Zoo. there is a feeling that some of the inmates have been overlooked, and an effort is now on foot to have the matter remedied, states the

"Auckland Star." Exception is taken to the inadequate accommodation given to the lonely Eskimo dog that came from the Shackleton pack. Several humane people are now endeavouring to have a larger space set apart for the dog. For an ordinary dog the space allotted would perhaps be enough, but for an animal of the hab'ts of the Eskimo variety it is urged s.-»'Pthing allowing more freedom should be. provided.

The Wellington Waterside Workers' Union decided by ballot yesterday _to accept the executive's recommendation to effect a settlement of the judgment siven by the Supreme Court in the case taken against the union by .. Messrs. Gould, M'Gee, Tilley. and Kavanagh. The judgment was for £208 and costs to each of the plaintiffs, but it was reported to Tuesday's stop-work meeting of the union that the plaintiffs were willing to accept a compromise. The result of the ballot, which was earned' by 530 votes to 398, means that the union will meet the judgment on the terms which have been agreed to by the parties.

A small but excellent plantation of trees of the pinus pinarter variety has been found to exist by the local officers of the State Forest Service at Rakauhauka, some 12 miles from Invercar-, gill, states the Southland "Times." The plantation, which is some two acres in extent, is roughly 45 years old. and contains some good examples of this particular species of tree. It is anticipated that it contains 80,000 super feet of timber to the acre and that its value on the stump afc the present time would be approximately £80 per acre. The chief value of the "find" lies in the fact that a comparison with similar plantations in France, where such trees are grown solely for their commercial value, is very much in favour of the Southland grown trees. In this connection, the chief features are as follow, the figures in parentheses being those for France:—Growth 43 (50), trees per acre 250 (210); average height 6Gft (38 to il) ; average diameter 13' inches (11).

Strong disapproval of the pi'actice of certain hotels 'encouraging drinking by women was expressed by the Auckland City Licensing Committee at its annual meeting this week. Reference to the subject was made in the report submitted by Sub-Inspector Till. "There has been a considerable amount of drinking in hotels by women," stated the report. "This is confined chiefly to a few hotels. The law does not prohibit this and nothing of an unusual nature in this connection has come under notice," reports the "New Zealand Herald." The chairman, Mr. E. C. Cutten, S.M., in referring to the report that some hotels laid themselves out for trade with women, said that on previous occasions the committee had expressed strong disapproval of the encouragement of this class of trade, andi it took great exception to certain hotels encouraging women to drink on. the premises. The .committee had no power to atop th,e practice, but would act on the first opportunity.

"Aye, boys wull be boys. I mind the time my lad came home, and I could see there was something wrong. 'Weel, what's agley?' says I. 'A had a dufference wi'. teacher.' 'An' hoo di that happen ?' 'Weel, it was this ■ way. A' couldna' answer a question he spiered me, and then he asked me what ma heid ■was for. 1 'And what did ye answer?' 'A juist said for keeping my collar on.' Another time I mm' the hoy cam' hame one day a' black and dusty. I could see that he had something in his pocket, and I spiered him what he had. 'A gowf ball,' says he. 'An where did you get it?' says I. 'On the gowf course.' 'And hoo cam ye to tak it?' says I. ' 'Weel, I kenned fine it was lost,' says the boy. 'How did ye ken it was lost?' I asked him. 'Because,' says he, I saw the man looking for it.' " These two stories were told at the Boy Scout meeting at Auckland on Wednesday night, the speakers being His Excellency the Governor, Sir Harry Lauder, and Mr. L. M. Isitt, There is no prize offered for gueesing which of the three told the stories, says the "Auckland Star." 4

A goo 3 deal of the best land belonging to the hospital reserve at Northcote is used for strawberry growing, and on Wednesday, when the members of the board visited the place they were struck by the amount of work some of the growers a-re putting into the cultivation of their plots, states the "Auckland Star." Lime is being freely used, and planting is going on at a great rate. Quite a number of Maori women and children were seen engaged at the work and showed themselves to be very expert at ifc. "There is nothing very easy about strawberry growing," said one veteran grower, who said he was now nearly three score years and ten, and had been engaged at. the work for a few decades. He and his son had planted about 2000 plants in a day, and that meant some back-bending. He had about 50,000 plants in for this coming season, and he will soon have 70,000 in. One young grower, who had a lot of hands employ^ ed, when asked how strawberry-growing paid, said that if the board would only give him a reasonable lease of, say, four acres of laud for twenty years, he thought in that time he would have made enough to retire on. Some of the leases of the land held by the growers will soon be up, but the chairman of the board aE6ured the lessees that they would get a "square deal" when the land was again put into the market. Some of the longer leases for years were at a very small rental. This, of course, would not continue, because the land was increasing in value every day.

The first appearance of the Auckland City Council's gift elephant Jamuna before the Auckland public on Wednesday proved very disappointing, as aha ignored the welcome awaiting her and refused to come ashore from the steamer, states the "New Zealand Herald." The "official landing" was feed for 3 o'clock, at which hour a large number of people had gathered on the King's Wharf to welcome their new pet. At the appointed timo Jamuna was unchained from th« ringbolts and led to the heavy- vrooden gangway rigged specially to hold her weight. The journey to the wharf, however, proved too fearsomo for the beast, for, after testing the gangway thoroughly with her trunk, she refused to go any further. The Indian attendant, as well as the ship's officials and the company's stevedores, all tried to coax the animal to step on to the gangway. AH their endeavours proved without avail, the only result being that the elephant knelt on the deck as if praying to be left alone. The situation was most humorous. An inclined approach of hatches was then made to the gangway but this was not considered to'be any improvement by the elephant, as she then sat on * her haunches and moaned feebly. About half an hour was spent in trying to induce Jamuna to take the risk, but she could not be persuaded. Each time she was induced to move she either knelt on the deck or. sprawled out and refused to put her lore feet on the gangway. The ■attempt was then abandoned and Jammia was led back to her ipmrters on deck and aijuin chained up. Jammia was lauded safely on Thursday morning^

Chamber of Commerce Committees and conveners for 1923-24 are as follow :—Membership and Social, Mr. D. A. Ewen; Export and Produce, Mr. J. T. Martin; Importers and Customs, Mr. C. 11. Young; Industrial, Mr. Fletcher; Retail Trade, Mr. H. C. South; Inland Transport, Mr. A. F. Roberts; Sea Transport, Mr. D. J. M'Gowan; Post a-nd Telegraph, Mr. A. Mackenzie; Public Finance, Mr. H. D. Bennett; District Development, Mr. S. A. Longuet; Empire Trade and Development, Mr. A. L. Hunt; Statistical, Mr. C. M. Bowden; Publicity, Mr. F. W. Vickerman; Legislation, Mr. W. F. Cuthbertson; Commercial Defence and Arbitration, Mr. A. Mackenzie.

On the return to Kohuratahi by the Public Works train, the Minister was introduced to a little instance of "redtape," Which visibly and audibly affected him, states the Taranaki "News," in dealing with the visit of the Minister of Public Works to the backblocks. The section of the railway between Tahora and Kohuratahi is still under the control of the Public Works Department, which may not run a special train on the Railway Department's section below Kohuratahi without special permission from the Wanganui district office. Although a clear line lay ahead of the weary party the train could not. proceed to Whangamomona because no permission had been obtained. Only one car was available to convey. the party of a dozen to Whangamomona and part of the journey had to be made on foot.

"The Empire has good reason to be. grateful to its school teachers," eaid Lord Jellicoe at the Devonport School when presenting the Anzac Day banner, "for the fine principles of loyalty they pass on to their scholars." This was manifest, His Excellency declared, wherever he had gone among the schools o! New Zealand, reports the "Auckland Star." "We have recently had the pleasure of seeing one of our great headmasters honoured," said the GovernorGeneral, referring to Mr. J. W. Tibbs, C.M.G.. "and by this the whole scholastic profession of the Dominion has' beuh complimented." The Governor-General's remarks were based upon the extremely fine performance of Devonnort scholars in attaining the maximum points in the competition against seven other schools, and he declared that this reflected great credit on tha headmaster. Mr. J. Armstrong.

Much hilarity was provoked by a delegate at the Wireless Broadcasting. Conference in Melbourne recently when he suggested that the Government should be urged to provide reasonable protection to gaming pigeons, who were threatened with annihilation by the waves of electricity. Pursuing this theme, the delgate made the suggestion that corks should be affixed to wire-less aerials, 18 inches apart. A loud outburst of laughter followed. "It is no laughing- matter," he declared. "Heavy josses have been sustained by pigeon fanciers in England through birds being killed through coming in. contact with wireless aerials." One delegate facetiously remarked that his aerials had ben in use for some years, and had now developed into a rest home for two jackasses every morning. He was opposed to the principle of decorating the aerials. In characterising the proposal-as absurd, a Sydney delegate asked why the suggestion, if applied to wireless installations, should not equally apply to electric supply wires and telephone wires. It was resolved that as no tragedies in the pigeon world hai been reported, no action was necessary.

Some time ago the Auckland Education Board wrote to the Department asking that a female student of the Training College be released from her bond on the occasion of her contemplated marriage, and at Wednesday's meeting a reply was received stating 1 that the Department had no legal authority to annul the bond on account of a student being married, unless the amount incurred by the oohd was paid. The secretary (Mr. Purdie) stated that at one time the bond was a matter between the board and the student, but now it was a mattor for the Department, and in very few cases had student-teach-ers been released from its terms, reports the "Star." Mr. Boddie : "It is a complete change of front. There have been numerous cases. In this case, if the girl marries it will be the girl's father who will have to pay the amount of the fond —nearly £200 refund for University fees, board, allowances, etc. It was probable that the girl would not marry if her father was to be so penalised." It was a special case—the father had given life service to the cause of education— and the girl was to. have married a teacher, too." Members expressed the opinion that there was nothing to do but to convey the reply of th^ board to the young teacher concerned, and to let all other female student-teachers .krjow of the situation. ' M> Manning: "Abandon all hope, ye who enter here." I (Laughter.)

Becenfc reports of fighting in the neighbourhood of Canton have occasioned some anxiety as to the safstv of the New Zealand Presbyterian missionaries in Canton villages (states the "Otaso Daily Times"). The information obtainable at the Foreign Missions Office is of a, reassuring character. r£he Rev. H. Davies, of Canton, who is at present in Dunedin on furlough, referring to the latest news from Canton, said he did. not think there was any cause to be anxious about the welfare of our Canton Village missionaries. On several occasions during the last 10 years there had been happenings similar to the present one, although the'Chinese'in the vicinity of Kong Chiien had not suffered so much hitherto. But in this kind of civil warfare, two things had been noticeable-. Firstly, no anti-foreign feeling had been manifested; and, secondly, the leaders on both sides of the hostilities had always paid due regard to the rights and safety of foreigners. What Mr. Davies said in this connection was borne out by a letter just recieved from Mr. Mawson, who writes: "One of the fine things has been the cordial way the military and the railway officials have helped us in'cettinj,'. to and fro. No matter how crowded, there wa-s always a place found for us, whether on the engine or in the. general's car. No hindrance has been put upon our coming and going between Kong Chuen and Canton, and none of the Chinese pupils or nurses under our euro have been interfered with. Somo huvo had to walk when there were no trains, but that has been about the onl? hardship." Mr. Davies also stated that the Mission Council in Canton made it n, practice to take the Foreign Missions Committee into its confidence when really serious positions arose, and the fact that no cable has been received since the letters were written was a sufficient guarantee that there was no cause for anxiety.