LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXXVII, Issue 4054, 10 May 1917, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

A case of scarlet fever in the Ashburton Borough was notified to the Hospital Board to-day. This is the first case of the kind that has been notified in the Borough for several weeks.

The express train from Christchurch was 15 minutes late in reaching Ashburton this afternoon, owing to a hot axle-box on the dining-car. The car had to be side-tracked at Ashburton.

The Comptroller of Customs has circularised newspaper proprietors asking them to supply a return of the quantity of newsprint paper now held in stock, the quantity in transit, and how long it should last at the present rate of consumption.

A feature of the recent electrical exposition at New York was the Navy Department's wireless apparatus on the roof, which has a radius of 3400 miles, and was "listening in" on the wireless messages being sent up and down the battle lines of France, and on the messages being received from and sent -to Germany by the wireless station at Sayville, Long Island.

An ingenious objector rased a new ground of appeal before the Military Board at Palmerston North. He had been disfranchised for failing to attend drill, and now pleaded that as he had no political rights he had no military buty. When the board had recovered sufficiently from surprise at the effrontery of the appellant in making lapse of duty the ground for further avoiding duty they ordered the appeal to be dismissed.

At the Addington stock market yesterday, the following sales were made on behulf of owners in the Ashburton County:—Fat cattle: W. S. Strange (Tinwald), 16 steers at £14 to £18 7s 6d. Fat sheep: Ewes: J. C. Lochhead (Rakaia), 70 at 32s 4d to 38s 3d; J. Gardiner (Rakaia), 69 at 30s Id to 34s 3d; C. S. Osborn (Rakaia), 50 at.26s 4d to 28s lid. Lambs: P. Gallaghan (Mitcham), 69 at 26s to 29s lOd; H, J. Harrison (Rakaia), 40 at 24s Id to 27s Id.

A leather curious position was revealed at the annual meeting of parishioners of St. George's Church on Monday evening (the Patea "Press" relates). On a vote being taken on the question of allowing the womenfolk the franchise in church matters, the motion was carried by iwa votes, the men, of course, only voting. Out of curiosity the chairman asked for a vote of the women present on the question, and this resulted in the proposal being negatived by three votes. There were about three women to each man present.

It is now clear' that Germany almost induced the Russian Government to make peace in 1916. In Stead's " Review " for April 14, we find the following : __" The - report of, M. Miliukoff's famous speech, attacking M. Stunner, has at least reached Australia. It makes most interesting reading, despite the excisions of the Russian censor. From it one can gather that only the intervention of the Duma prevented the conclusion of a separate peace with Germany last year, and it also suggests that, even now, there are powerful influences at work to bring about a deal with the enemy should opportunity offer." t

There are considerably less motor cars, commercial motors, and motor cycles in use in England to-day than there were in 1914. In the year named the registrations were as follow:—281,----175 motor cars, 233,381 motor cycles, and 22,191 commercial vehicles, making a'total of 536,747. The census figures for 1916 show a very great falling off, the registration being—cars, 150,249, motor cycles 160,290, commercial vehicles 21,358; total, 321,897, or a difference of 204,850 less motors on the., roads. The effect of war conditions has therefore left its mark in no uncertain manner on motoring in England. . ' . .

Mr J. A. Frostick, National Efficiency Commissioner, had a long day's work in Christchurch yesterday. A great deal of his time was occupied with taking evidence from women's organisations as to the women labour available to release men in different vocations. He stated that this evidence was very satisfactory., Several hundred women were available in the city at present. Those interested in the work were classifying them on lines he had suggested. Later on, the Advisory Committees in country districts would be informed as to the exact- numbers available, the character of the duties they were willing to'undertake, an das to whether they would work singly or in pairs.

A remarkable case of poisoning arising;" from a bee sting occurred locally recently (says the Gisborne "Herald")THe unfortunate victim was a little girl, the daughter of a local resident. The child had been a frequent visitor to an adjacent apiary, and ■as far as is known had never previously been attacked. On this occasion, singularly enough, there were very few bees about, but one of the few stung the child on the head. The little girl's cries immediately attracted attention, and the sting was removed within a minute of the attack. That the effects of the sting were of a, serious nature was soon apparent, as the child quickly col- ! lapsed. No time was lost in summoning medical assistance, the child being reduced to a semi-conscious state. An hour or two later it was noticed that the child's condition was not improving, and on the doctor arriving 'for the second time he promptly decided to remove the patient to a private hospital, where fully a week elapsed before the little girl was able to be moved home. From what can be gathered, the sting was evidently implanted in a vital artery, which rapidly transmitted poison through the system.

The express from the: south disregarded the official time-table to-day again, as it was 35 minutes late on arriving at Ashburton.

The Auckland "and district special effort to raise funds for tne V.M.C.A. war work and trench comforts has reached tlie magnificent sum of £35,42-5, with £40,000 in sight.

It is reported that the advance of the British front in France will entail such a further us© of petrol for the tens of thousands of motor vehicles for transport purposes in use, that motoring in England will have to be considerably further curtailed owing to petrol restrictions.

The. Ashburton Citizens' Defence Corps Committee met last evening^ when it was decided, owing to the lack of enthusiasm shown by members, and a number having left on active service, to disband the corps. It was also decided to take steps to find out the position of the corps in regard to the disposal of its property.

At the sitting of the Appeal Board at Woodville, the "Examiner" says, it came out that one valiant elderly lady of a neighbouring district, whose years nxjmber nearly 60, is still "game" to milk 20 cows, night and morning. This is a pretty good record, and ought to shame men who are inclined to whine to the Appeal Boards that 20 or»therer abouts is the limit ; that can be expected of a man in these times.

In inviting G. Martin, late professional to the Palmerston Golf Club, to visit him at Totteridge golf course, Harry Vardon, the well-known English champion, wrote on February to Martin, who was in London: "I shall be very pleased to see you any day you like to come over, only I am afraid you will see no golf nowadays, as we never play now; we are growing potatoes, etc., on the course I" x

Shark skin is receiving attention as a substitute for leather. It has been in limited demand for some years past as a covering for various articles. Acceptable leather from shark skins has been made in several foreign countries, and there is^&ppaxently no reason why it should not be converted by the tanners into serviceable leather. The skin of sharks is very tough and durable, and some of them have a beautiful surface pattern, which remains after tanning.

A remarkable will, with a strongly pathetic, and even tragic, war interest, is that of an Italian soldier, Guiseppe vEmanuelle, of Pavia. He volunteered to reconnoitre the enemy's tronches at Riva, but was discovered by the Austrians, and a hail of bullets laid him low. . As soon as possible, his .comrades set out to i-escue him, if alive, but found that he had bled to death. Even as he lay dying, however, he had summoned up sufficient strength to remove his tunic, spread it on a rock, and write a short will on the lining with a stick dipped in his own- blood, leaving all he possessed to two orphan nieces/ The 4;uhie was sent to a notary for execution of the will, and has been preserved-in the Italian national archives in memory of a gallant and generous soldier.

The following letter was received by the national secretary of the V.M.C.A. in Wellington yesterday from a J firm which had sent in a cheque for £1000 for trench comforts last-December: — " As we promised when sending you £1000 some time ago, we now enclose the balance of increased price on wool, taking the season 1913-1914 with the last season. We wish the money to go for trench 1 comforts, and please remember we- are still anonymous. " The cheque is for £1497, and we trust that the boys will get as much pleasure out of it as we get in handing it over to you." t ; .-'

Lieutenant-Colonel D. Cbssgrove, Dominion Scout Commissioner, has communicated with the scoutmasters in Ashburton, asking them to. arrange for a Boy Scout Rally and demonstration in the Domain next Thursday afternoon. The request will be complied with, and it is predicted that the demonstration of the Scouts' work will be particularly interesting. As it is against the Scouts' rules to take up a collection in aid of their corps, an opportunity will be given to the Red Cross ladies, if they so desire, to appeal for donations while the rally is in progress.

A moulders' strike in New South Wales provided an interesting instance of financial loss often sustained by workers who resort to this means of settling industrial disputes. The moulders were out for a period of 15 weeks, fighting against a decision of the Wages Board, which reduced their earnings from Is 9d to Is 6d per hour. They went back to work at Is 7§d, which amounted to an increase of 6s per week on the award they repudiated. In the meantime each striker had lost about £54 in wages —a sum which he may make good by remaining steadily at work for 3£ years without a strike or other disturbance.

, *' Deep cultivation is one of the most important points in successful farming," said Mr John McQueen, a wellknown Southland agriculturist, at a meeting of farmers at Makarewa. He instanced a paddock on the Makarewa farm which had been worked to a depth of nine inches. They set out to dig down another three inches and succeeded in. reaching the full foot. Off the knd they took 60 tons of swedes per ,-.ere the following year. He was suro that the beneficial effect of "stirring up" to that depth would be evideut for years to come. Of course a foot was not necessarily the limit to depth, and subsoiling was a very good thing, although a soiler was hard on the horses, seeing that it combined the operations of ploughing and subsoiling. It was easier on horses to go down after the,land had been worked to a certain depth. "Don't buy more land," advised the speaker. "Make better use of what you have. I don't know how much land any of you'have got, but you have got enough—all of you. "Go down." It was a matter for regret that most people were not making the best use of what land they had.

Tyro Vulcanizing by Experts.— G. H. Carson has recently installed a Shaler Electric Tyre Vulcanizing Plant. For sectional repairs to tyres and "bursts and punctures in tubes the electric process is* ahead of all others. An expert tyre repairer takes charges of all tube and tyre repairs. The fact that his work ha,s earned a good reputation keeps him fully employed. "Moderate charges and satisfactory work" is thfi motto at Carson's.