LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XL, Issue 9229, 13 February 1920, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

A rabbit trapper who has been operating in the -County tor some months past informed a Guardian reporter that his average returns per week amounted to £11-

Deposits amounting to £10,13^,003 were made in the Post Office Savings Bank during the quarter ended December 31, while the withdrawals amounted to £7,811,789, leaving an x■coss of deposits over withdrawals or £2,322,214 : For the corresponding period of 1918 the deposits were £4,390,232, and the withdrawals £3,420,809, an excess of deposits over withdrawals of £909,423.

The Minister of Defence has been advised that hfty-two New Zealand Expeditionary b'orce scholarships have been granted, ranging in value from £j.50 to £250 per annum, with a duration ot from six mouths to three years, which is open to extension in special cases if recommended by the governing body -of the University where the scholarship is held. The expenditure amounts.,do £22,926".

Inquiries for , joy-rides at _the aviation display next week continue to be numerous, among the number being a fair proportion of the fair sex. Three, ladies have'already booked passages, and many more have obtained particulars and declare their intention of " following the ileader " next Tuesday. Altogether, with the "stunts" promised by the flying officers, the display should be most thrilling and unique in Ashburtbn annals.

During the 11 months 2668 loans for the purpose of establishing discharged soldiers in business (involving an expenditure of £606,642) have been approved by the Ministerial Board and during the past two months £177,574 has been paid out on behalf of soldiers for furniture, tools, business, sustenance, training fees, subsidised wages, assistance to apprentices, etc. The total amount expended to date under these headings is £785,135 17s 6d.

There is a movement in Nelson to form a company for the purpose of establishing an aerial service between Wellington and Nelson. Captain It. Russell, D.F.C., Croix de Guerre, of Invercargill, has visited Nelson in connection with the project. He considers the distance of about 100 miles between the two cities.would be covered in less than two.ihours, and has no fears of the regularity of the proposed service being interrupted by adverse weather conditions.' .

The Hawera- Borough Council has devoted a great,deal of time and consideration to the housing problem,, says the local paper, only to rind itself practically helpless .iuider existing . laws and conditions. .It has. now decided that an endeavour be made to ascertain if the position is so acute that a number of families would be desirous of availing themselves of small, rough temporary premises if such. could be provided. Should the demand be proved to exist, the suggestion is thai the Government be immediately approached relative to financing the project.

A remarkable statement was made by 'Mr M. P. Luckie at the last meeting of the Wellington City Council when lie asserted' that during the last two or three months luggage, value! at between £300 and £400 had been stolen by dishonest carriers. The mar. nhad, he said, become very serious indeed. The Police? Department had informed the By-laws Committee that it could not provide the necessary stafi to deal with the matter. The council gave authority for the appointment of a special officer to take the numbers of all licensed vehicles in attendance on trains and steamers. It was hoped this would assist''to check the thefts.

Investigations into the history of certain famous guns" used. in the war are being made by the War Office. One of the guns in question is the old 13----pounder of "E" Battery, R.H.A., the piece which fired the first shell in the war (says the Globe). This gun came into action near Bray, on the afternoon of August 22, 1914, engaging a German battery at 4000 yards. The centre section, to which the weapon belonged—it was No 4—acted as ranging section, and very shortly afterwards a direct hit was registered by it on a German gun. How many thousands of rounds it has fired is not known, but it is practically certain that it holds the record for field guns.

The Repatriation Department reports that it is finding no great difficulty in securing suitable employment for discharged soldiers,- the figures as at January 20 showing that up to that date 14,093 men had been suitably placed in employment whilst the number on the "unemployed" register of "he Department did not exceed 251— about four days placement. During 1919 no less than 50,000 men were returned to the Dominion, and the fact that it was only found necessary to pay unemployment sustenance allowances in 831 cases during the whole of that period speaks well for the success of this important phase of the Department's operations. At the date of this report 13 men were receiving unemployment allowance.

"If the price of living doesn't go down, some of us mothers will be "in Sunnyside soon,"' was the closing plaint in a letter received* by tha Mayor of Christchurch yesterday concerning sugar supplies.

The Parliamentary party will not sail for Samoa on Saturday as originally intended. Those making the trip were notified . to-day that owing to delay caused in Dunedin by influenza and the carnival week, the Mokoia cannot reach Wellington before Sunclay. The vessel will leave on Monday afternoon.

Inquiries go to show that the wheat crops this year are remarkably free from disease. . Last season an Ashburton farmer grew a crop of wheat which was largely infested with "Take All." He .was advised by Mr C. Branigan, Stock Inspector, to follow on with a crop of oats in the same fields, with the result that during the present harvest his yield was 90 bushels nev acre.

„ Up till recently the local labour agencies were inundated with ablebodied men in quest of harvest work. Unfortunately for the men there wa? very, little work offering at the time, and they were obliged to depart for other localities. At the present time a brisk demand has set in for harvesters in the County owing to thr rapid ripening of the wheat, with the result that sufficient men .cannot be obtained for the work offering.

Regulations in connection with the control of the sale of flour appear in the ".Gazette. '[ It is declared that except by permit it shall not be lawful for any miller to deliver or be concerned ill the delivery of flour under any contract of purchase, whether made before or after the coming into force of the regulations. No permit is required for the delivery of flour in five-ton lots to a baker for the purposes of his business. Bakers are prohibited from receiving from the samr or different sellers more than five ton" in seven days 'without a permit.

Mr C. Branigan, Stock Inspector, reports that a general rabbit-poisoning campaign will start in the Comity on March 8. Notices are being sent out to -all owners of rabbit-infested lands and simultaneous action is requested. The Department of Agriculture intends to enforce the provisions of the Rabbit Act rigorously during the coming winter, and to avoid prosecutions farmers will have to take concerted action and destroy the pest. It is interesting to note that recently two farmers in the Dominion were each fined £100 for failing i to destroy rabbits.

At the Ash burton Magistrate's Court this morning, before. Messrs W. B. Rundle and J. B. Christian, J.'sF.. Harold K. Hawken was charged wit'i failing to attend Territorial parades. Sergeant-Major Willers gave evidence showing that Hawken had a vei-y bad military record, having attended only five parades out of 34* during the year, and only two out of 23 since he was posted to Ashburton. A fine of'los ( with costs, was imposed, the Bench/ .adding a warning that any further offence would be more severely punished.

The retrospective children's allowI ance now payable in respect of the ! children of returned soldiers is now [ payable, but ' applications have not been received as freely as was. antici<pated, and the secretary .of tlie Patriotic Fund has been asked- by the War Expenses Office to give publicity to the matter. The allowance of Is6d a day is payable for the whole period of the soldier's service, and any arrears are now payable. .In addition to this payment every soldier is entitled to have his first month's nay made up to the Expeditionary Force rate, and in the case of men whrv have died the next-of-kin should apply.

The High Commissioner has sent a cable message from London stating that several sections of the third pipeline for the Lake Coleridge hydroelectric scheme have been completed by the manufacturers in the Ol'l Country, and that it is expected that another section will be completed at the end of this month. The progress of the work is being closely watched by Mr E. Parry for the New Zealand Government, and every effort is beine made to push on with the work. No word has been received as to when the roirmloted sections will be shipped for Lyttelton. A new generator that the new pipe-line will .operate has been shipped by the Tainui. One section of the nipe-line, which is being made in Christchurch, is nearly completed. Another section has been taken in ■hand by a Dunedin firm. Good progress has been made with the concrete piers and anchor blocks on the rout? of the pipe-line.

, The election of representatives of employers' and workers' unions on the Arbitration Court was not unanimous, though in all cases the majorities wero lar -c. In tho case of the employers' representative (Mr W. Scott) and deputy.(Mr W. Pryor), there was only one vote given for any other nominee. For the workers' representative the voting was as follows:—J. A. McCullougli (re-elected) 969, C. Renn 8, D. "Mills 1, E. V. Schofield 1; deputy-repre-sentative, M. j. Reardon (re-elected) 367, C. Renn 76, T. Bloodworth 63, J. W. Roberts 40, J. H Adams 34, J. T. Paul 18, M. J. Savage 12, W. T. Young 9, R. Semple 6, L. M. A. Rearden 4, J A. McCullough 2, A. Parlane 2, Hi Rosser 2, D. R. Kennedy 1, A. E Saunders 1. It should bo explained that in many cases votes were given for persons without their wishing to be candidates for tho position.

It was announced that 48 members of Parliament, 14 from,the Legislative Council, and 34 from the House of Representatives, will visit Samoa in accordance with the decision come to last' session. The party originally was somewhat larger, but some members have'now found it impossible to make the trip. The following are those who will join the' Mokoia at "Wellington on Monday: —Legislative Council—Hons. W. F. C. Carncross, W. Earnshaw, G, J. Garland, J. B. Gow, .J. Grimmond, A. F. Hawke, J. Mac Gibbon. H. L. Michel, R. Moore, J. T." Patuki, W. Stewart, G. M. .Thomson, W. R. Triggs, and W. J. Geddis. House of Representatives—Sir James Allen, Messrs G. J Anderson, F. Bartram. J. Bitchener, R. F. Bollard. J. Craigie, J. S. Dickson, ~\Y. H. Field, G. Forbes. W. Glenn, A. Hamilton, ,T. R. Hamilton, A. Harris. H. E. Holland, J. Horn. E J. Howard, L. M. Isitt, E.Kcllett. E. P. Lee. J. P. Luke, J. McCombs, F. Mnnder. V. TJ. Potter, W. D Powdrell. V. H. Reed, Sir R. H, Rhodes, Messrs T. W. Rhodes. T. K. Sidey. S. G. Smith. W D. Stewart. W. A." Veitch.-G. Witty, R. A. Wright, and J. A. Young.

The Government Meteorologist's forecast to-day was as follows: —The indications are for southerly winds, moderate to strong prevailing. The weather appears likely to be cloudy and unsettled at times, with cold nights. The barometer has a x'ising tendency.

The London "Gazette" gives January 10, 1920, as the official date of the termination of the ,war with Germany. *

At the Wellington Magistrate's Court yesterday, Charles Grayndler. well-known in Labour circles, charged with ill-treating his fourteen-year-old son, was unable to appear as he was in hospital suffering from influenza, A remand was granted. The police intimated that two similar charges in respect to a thirteen-year-old son and an . eight-year-old daughter had beeli lodged against Grayndler.—Press Association.

A welcome home social was tendered to Private T. Daily at the Victoria Hall last evening. Private Dally was a Main Body man and one of the first to leave Ashburton. and only recently returned, having married in England. The function last evening took tho form of a social and dance, and during the evening Mr W. R. Amos presented Mrs Daily with a silver teapot and Private Daily with a _ wristlet watch, conveying with the sifts the good wishes of Private Daily's many friends in Ashburton

■'• The "Dunedin Star" has been shown a letter from a West Coast coal miner, which the "Star" says "supports "Mr Massey's statement as to why men arc leaving the work .there. "The writer, an expert, states that he is clearing out from the West' Coast because of the tyrannical rule of the men __ that nobody may earn more than 15s 6d per day. lie has a big family, and cannot" afford to live on. such a wage, or less, with broken time for meetings, when better wages are obtainable elsewhere, and he adds that all the steadiest and best men are going.

A Press Association message from, Dunedin states that delegates representing the Otago Motor Club, the South Canterbury Motor Cycle Club, and the Canterbury Automobile Association met there yesterday for the purpose of considering a proposal to; break away from ,the New Zealand Automobile Association and form aSouth Island Automobile Association. After a lengthy discussion, during which the shortcomings of the New Zealand Association were freely ventilated, it was unanimously resolved— "That, in the interests, of motorists, this meeting of delegates resolves to form a South Island Motor Association." It was further resolved that the 'headquarters of the new association for the first 12 months be Christchurch. Mr F. W. Johnson, of Christchurch, was elected president of the new body.

Returns of wool disposed of by appraising houses during 1918-19 show that Dalgety and Co. hold the Australasian record of 464,273 bales. the New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Company being next on the lint with 255;584 bales. The New Zealand Farmers' Co-op, disposed of 18,938 bales, the National, Mortgage 32,436, Pyne and Co. 20,097, N.Z. Farmers' Co-op. Distributing Company 25,220, Matson and Co. 10,227, Canterbury Frozen Meat Company 7583,. Canterbury Farmers'- Co-on. 7068, N.Z. Refrigerating Company 17,230. In the returns for Christchurch, Pyne and Co heads the list with 20,097 bales, the N.Z. Refrigerating Company 'being the runnersup with 17,230 bales. The JST.Z. Farmers' Co-op, disposed of 15,174 bales, Dalgety and Co. 14,462, Matson and Co. 10,227, Canterbury Frozen MeafCompany 4711, David Friedlander 602, National Mortgage 8177, N.Z. Loan Company 3586.

The Lyttelton-Wellington ferry _ service suffered another hitch last nis;ht, when the departure of the Maori was considerably delayed. Everything was apparently in readiness for the .vessel to leave for Wellington at the usual time, but it vyas discovered about 8.45 p.m. that, owing to the inferior steaming qualities of the trial lot of coal which had been put.into her bunkers, she could not proceed to sea. In consequence it was decided to put this coal aside and take in a load of a different class of coal. For this purpose a hulk was taken alongside the Maori about U p.m., and the permanent hands of the Union Company commenced to replenish her bunkers: It was expected that,the steamer would leave about 4 o'clock this morning, reaching Wellington about 4 p.m. today. A message received from Christchurch this' afternoon stated that the Maori was unable to leave last night owing to bad coal. When this was remedied, leakages were discovered in the borers of a character that absolutely precluded the vessel going to sea until repairs were made. It was announced that she will not leave till to-morrow night. The Mararoa leaves to-night.^ The Wahine is expected ,to take "up the Maori's running on Tuesday. The Maori is to be thoroughly overhauled.