Untitled

Auckland Star, Volume XLVI, Issue 64, 16 March 1915, Page 4

The following it Mr. D. c. Bates' weather forecast for 24 toonrs from ft a.m. this day: "The indleatkma wm for moderate to strong south-easterly wind*. There is a prospect of fine weather; days bright and'nights cold. The barometer has a rising tendency. Tidee good; Sea, moderate." : The noise esaauat pipe 1 at.^he• station has been, a source of discomfort to the. residents in'the vicinity for a long time. It waa bad enough when the works were operating-eight.-haute, a dajr, wjhen I tjhpy itartcd to' run night and iiay with- 1 oft; ceaslflg- (he neighbours -felt it was ti«i«.to take aot.ioij, and awordlngiy rer, I presentations.;.were made -to. the One' hung* BorftHgk^ m ih» subject. i-. remedy, and entrUßtei- the work: -to Mttari. A, CWa»ir* wad Son to do.

Further fFiience-wa* taken by tho Harbour Board Oornmiarßion yesterday a.fternpon, and at the conclusion of the sitting the Commission was adjourned until Wednesday morning'in order :to Jiear witnesses from Hamilton. Campbell Johnson, chairman of the Raglan County Council, that the people of hij» district" thought that the Board should mot give concessions or exclusive rights to any private undertaking. If tHie raising of the charges was to Jiave the effect of doubling the fares to the people of the North Shore tho remedy would be lor tlhe Board tp take over the l ferries. Robert Fisher, the chairman "6f the Waipa County Council, also objected to the "bolstering up" of the interests |of private companies at tlic expense of the community.,.

The Greymouth magistrate, Hewitt, reiiwed to deal with the information laid against the territorial Gibbons, who was charged with assaulting Neil l'earce while in tlie training camp at Totara Flat, in the Grey Valley. He said that whilst he had jurisdiction the case was purely one of a military offence, aud not in the category oi those that should be referred to,a civil Cpurt. Counsel: stated that Pearee's jaw was not broken, as was at first alleged, but. that he bad since been operated lipori lor an abscess. The' case will be'referred back to the military authorities.

Mr. David Teed (Mayor of Newmarket) has decided not to seek re-election at the forthcoming municipal elections. Mr. Teed has occupied the mayoralty of the borough for the past four years, and during his term of office has carried out a progressive policy, as a result of which nearly all the streets of the district have been greatly improved, while the main road has been permanently paved. Mr. Teed explains that private and business reasons are responsible for his not peeking re-etection as Mayor. Mr. W. J. Jaffrey is mentioned as a likely candidate for the mayoralty in the place of Mr.Teed.

The steamer Rotorua brought about 80 third-class paesengels from' London. Most of these are females, and ni'any have come out to join relatives who'preceded them to New Zealand. Orae effect of thn war has been to reduce rather than to increase the number of people leaving England to make homes in newer countries. Some of those who arrived this morning state that conditions in the.Old Country were very unsettled when they left, ow-ng to the great' enthusiasm which prevails in regard to recruiting among the workers, as well as other classes of the community.

"Why did you leave their employ?" was a question asked by counsel of a witness at the.. Wellington,, Supreme Court, after he had stated that he nolonger worked for-a certain firm. Meeting question with question, the witness, after remarking "That's ray business," unexpectedly asked: "Why aren*t you Attorney-General?" "If there's-as good a reason for your leaving their eniploy as there is for .mc not • hefng AttorneyGeneral, then you can give it to üb," was the retort of counsel, much ifco the amusement 6f the jury. Under pressure;

from the judge, the witness said, the reason why ho had left the firm was because of a certain transaction -which he refused to be mixed >up in. ''Is that the true reason?" asked counsel. "I s it not because they thought you' were inefficient?" The' soft 'impeachment was denied by the witness. An idea of the response given to Kitchener's appeal for men may Bai fa ined from information given by Mr. A. 'uirley, Of Whangarei. .In tho last issue of hit! old school'.s magazine .'appears a list containing no fewer than 100 names of "Old Boys" who had joined the active service forces, and more names were still coniing in. Of these 18 were in 'the London Scottish, and no doubt took part; in ihat giprions charge at Vpros. -Besides this those Old Boys w!>P could'not leave England formed theiu? selves into a corps for home defence, and at one meeting of the Old Boys, held at the school, 150 joined this latter corps en bloc. The suliool referred' to is Alleyn's College of God's Gift, Duiwich, London.

The long deferred hope of the Auckland University Council respecting their housing problem cropped up again at the Council meeting yesterday afternoon. From what was said the position has, in short, become sifiacute that ihe Council are now in danger of actual eviction from their present quarters while still, having no new home. in immediate pros-J pect. Mr. G 7 . J. G,ary«nd revived thfi subject", in a letter urging steps to in- j duce the Minister of Education to come | to an immediate decision on tne site question. He expressed the opinion i that the Wesleyan 7 Church property in] Grafton Road was in the mind of the Minister, and remarked that as the land they now occupied had already been! vested in tho City Council .as from November 3rd, they were practically | under an eviction order, although the I Mayor had told him that the Council .would not turn out the College for, say, \ two years. He moved: "That as man? of the members as were able should wait upon the Minister of Education while he is in Auckland and impress upon him the urgency of an early deoision." .The motion was agreed to unanimously.

There was a case at tbe Christchurch Magistrate's Court the other day in which the defendant admitted that'he. had sat on the galvanised iron roof of a house that was being, towed by. a traction engine along Victoria Street, and when it came to the overhead tramway wires he coolly took them in his, bare hand and "eased them" just so that they would not get caught on the roof. ' The tramway engineer met the caravan as they we're approaching another lot "<>f tramway wires, and going up to the driver of the engine lie said,: "That house' won't go under those! wires." "Oh, b.ut. we'll lift them up," sajd the, man. The .engineer:: f'Wajlf if ypu do you will get killed." "KiUed!'' 'exclaimed the. astonished driver, "why, the old man on top there (nodding his head, towards the roof of the house behind) lifted them up at Victoria Street and didn't even get his whiskers scorched." The engineer in giving evidence explained that the msn had been singularly fortunate. Under certain circumstances he would have received the full strength of the current in handling the cables as he did, and had he caught one of the suspension wires where the round knob waa which insulated it from the live wire* he most certainly would have been killed.

The following officers, of the Girls' Branch of the "Victoria League have been elected tor the ensuing year i—President,, Miss Butler, vice-president, Mesdames Bloomfield, Luekle, Heap, Henry, Edger, and Dawes, and Misses Wallace, Mpirri-, son, and Henderson; committee, Misses' Brooke-Smith, BojLl, Baird, Roche, Q Fox ' H, Fox, Ellis, Hadfiold, A. Ghnnaway, gt.'i Clair, R. Gannawa'y, SchneiSeman, and Henryi treasurer, Miss E. M. Black:' secreftiry. Mls» E.J. Black, . I"'7A

Already- thjee candidates are in the field for the Birkenhead mayoralty, yiz., Messrs, A, Bartlett, Thos, Church, and Jas. P. MePhail. Mr, H. Frith was alap asked fay a deputation to accept nomination, but *»*fl|4e • W ' ■

.-:.■ The postal-authorities .advise that the 'R.M.s, Marama is expected to arrive at Wellington about seven o'clock this evening-,from, £>an francisco with <&* hags of European and American mails, TJie Auckland portion, consisting of about 250 bags, should come north by the second express to-morrow.

' On and after the 22nd inst. the following three codes may be used in cable messages for the same places, and under the same- conditions as ' already - apply to A.8.C., Lieber's, Scott's and the Western codes, namely: "Meyer's Atlantic Cotton" (30tli edition), . "Bentley's Complete Phi-ase Book" (not including mining and oil supplement), "Brobmhall's Imperial Combination" (not including special rut* ber edition). In no case may spare code words be printed in code books without interpretation he used. Messages must be-capable of heing so decoded -as when decoded tp have a clear meaning to the censors. Messages in plain language must have clear "meaning to the censors. AH messages are accepted at sender's risk, and are liable to be stopped without notification, therefore strict compliance is necessary.

Very complete arrangements have been made by the local committee for the observation'of St. Patrick's Day, which will be celebrated to-morrow. The sports gathering at the Domain should attract a very large attendance, provided the weather is favourable, and it is expected that there will he an unusually, large number of people present in the aftei> noon. An athletic programme, the principal items of which will be for runners and cyclists, will be gone through, and satisfactory entries have been received. A feature of the sports will be the Public Ejcbools' Invitation Race of 10Q yards, for boys of 15 years of age and under. This event is timed for 3.30 p.m. There will also be running and walking championships for children attending the public schools in the city and suburbs, While children from the Roman Catholic"schools will give displays of various drills, including dumb-bells, Irish and Scotch dancing, wand-drill, scarf-drill, and Indian clubs. A spectacular demonstration of 2,000 children forming the outline of a harp has also been arranged, and this should prove quite as popular as any of the other items. To-morrow evening there will be a national concert in the Town Hall, when children and, a number of well known local performers will give contributions.

Do peop)e live longer nowadays than in tinics past? An affirmative answer js suppplied by the Gpvernment statistician, who proves his point in a highly interesting series of tables published ii) the."Xew Zealand Year .Book," Working J2\.%5.b a 8} s _°f the census returns for the various quinquennial periods, the statisticians publish the results of their inquiry iJlto two periods, that of'l9ol-5' and 1900-10. The complete tables, witji explanations, will he issued "later. Meanwhile enough is published to, show that the nearer the statisticians get to the present day the longer is the expectation of life arid the less the rate of mortality. To take one sample from the tables showing the expectation of life (calculated upon mortality figures). It is shown that a male child aged one has a fair chance, on statistical evidence of ''wlmf has happened before, to ' live another 63.125 years. At 40 his "expectation of life is set down at 31J years, and if he hag survived the hufTetirigs of existence, till the age of 68, the statistician? gay jj c is likely, on the average, to be "good" for another .10.872 years. A woman of 50 has longer expectation of life, : the period being calculated at years.!iTlie niovehient tse use of 9^??.'British goods within the Empire reached a further stage yesterday. At a meeting of the Empire Trade League held yesterday there were present* the Mayor (in the chair). Messrs S. J. Nathan, Murdoch McLean "(Mayor of Mt. Albert), 5..J..-'Harbutt. A. SEosser, i jB. Buttle, T. Long, "F. E. Watling. and F. H. Wood. A draft of the proposed , constitution of the League WS* an-i jproyed, and it was decided to hold a, public meet ing in' eorinection with the League, in 0»e concert clranfber of the [Town Hall, on March 24. Amongst the aims _of the League are that members promise to purchase goods, only of Bri, tish origin ahd manufacture, showing preference always to those made }j> t\ttt Dominion. Members are also required, in regard to goods wanted which cannot ;be got British-made, to give preference Ito>th e Ames. j

1)t -At ■ the . of the Secretary of -State, the estimates for Fiji for 1915 have [been put down by'£lo.ooo. The pruning I 'knife came very heavily, on. the proposed new Defence Department, where 11,175 is /being 'saveil.. .The''services of a Governlment rgyeologist at 4300 are being done I without for another year. " The saving in j public buildings amounts to £1,373 12/4.

The recent long drought now being experienced in Hawke's Bay is not by any means, the worst that has been felt in that district, although the conditions obtaining now mc perhaps more seripus than in former years, when the land was not so densely cultivated' audi less stock had to be cared - The: longest drouglkt experienced in Hawke's Bay (saye a local journal) was about tiiHyye«trs. ago, wh e >« only a couple of showers of rain fell in twenty njonths.

By' an extraordinary mischance i| was found, at the funeral of the vietinis of tije Paruft, Bay d.rowning accident at. Kiorora cemetery on Sunday that the graves had been dug to a depth of only three feet. The service had to be conducted before the coffins , were hiwered, and afterwards, when the people hacl gone; tbe drivers of the coaches and dug the graves to usual depth. ' : '~ II

' Mr. E. Shaw, a blacksmith employed by Mr. M. Sorensen, at Paeroa., was badly knocked .about yesterday as the result of being jumped on by a Mr. Shaw was kicked 'on the he».d, face and groin, abd was for a while unconscious. "Br. Gouzens . attended - Mf. Shaw,' who was aiterw«,rds taken to his home.

Mr. .W. Medhurst was driving hia big 26rgeater charabanc from Paeroa to Karangahake yesterday he collided with Mr. J. Newdick's car. It was very foggy, and both care were going slowly. Both : were. damaged, more particularly Mr. Newdick's, but nobody was hurt.. -

- A "Gasette Extraordinary" contains an Order-in-Council under section 47 of the Customs Act, .1913, and section 24 of the Regulation of Trade and Commerce Act, 1914; prohibiting the export of rata from New Zealand to any hut such countries as the Minister for Customs may permit. . The eight-roomed dwelling ..owned by Mr. Charles Geard, at Moehau, was destroyed by fire on Saturday, together with all the furniture and effects. Mr. Geard is a heavy loser, as there was only a entail > insurance on the lipuae and none on the contents.

_ The pnee of copra in Fiji ia now up to £17, a rato about equal to that ruling before the war broke Immediately after .the war copra foil to £§ a ton locally,-and the outjqpk those engaged tie indya.txylyi.aja. o yeiy dispiriting one. Since then, however, the figure has gradually riatniurSil # "wane to it* present,

The Onehunga- BorouA Council agreed last night to refund h#if tjie, rates paid on a house which bad been vacant for six months at the request of the owner. The iMayor, Mr. J, Rowe,' stated that no more rates on empty buildings would be refunded, since the ratepayers bad adopted the system of rating on unimprpyed vialues. For 13ie future the land would be rated, and not the buildings.

iHis Honor.Mr. Justice Hoskingeat in | p))£mbci« this manning to "arrange with COunVel,/<yr the bearing of any caeca that [Were jn hand. A certain amount of forI mal chamber business was - transacted, and there was afterwards a.short banco | sitting. His Honor arranged to .take undefended divorce cages on Monday next, ai>d ibhe case Spun-ill v, Wallace, motion ifflir ppepific performance relative to an ! alleged agreement, wae eefc . dowa . for hearing on Monday, 29th instant.

, Two Auckland Grammar school boys' met with an accident yesterday in Symonds Street. About 4 o'clock the boys, Albert Manning, aged 15, and Jam&s ilanlon, aged 15, were in company I with a third boy wheal', jt ie stated, the pair grabbed the jhat of the ©jther boy and ran across the road witfc it. They j failed to notice the approach .of a tram car proceeding in the direction of town, and both ran in front of it. The car I caught them beftfre tbe driver bad time 'to pull up, and they were both thrown heavily to the ground. When Manning I was picked up be was found to be sufferI ing from a severe injury to the head. He was removed to tbe eugery of Dr. C. G; I Aickin. The injury proved to be a fracI tare of the skull, and tbe boy was removed to the hospital. This morning he was reported to be comfortable. Hani on w.is alio knocked over,'and was cut about the head, arms, and legs, but he | was able to proceed to bir» borne in Valley Road, Mount Eden. Manning resides in Upper Pitf'Street. , „.: '

An application under the Mortgages Extension Act was beard try Mr. Justice Hosking, sitting in banco at the Supreme Court this morning. Mr. B. Wyman appeared for the plaintiff, Thomas Ashby, of Petone, the defendant mortgagor being Arthur Lawrence Parsons, of Auckland, a farmer. No objection was offered to the application for leave to sel}_ (The fairm property, which, had been mortgaged to tjp? plaintiff, is situated at Razorback, Pokem*, and it - was shown, that it ; was sadly deteriorating for lack of occupation and tillage. Leave to ■ sell was granted by the Court

'TJnless a man can speak Dutch it is no use for him to go to Java to compete against the Dutchmen in general trading or professional work/ said a returned Southland traveller just after a visit to the East Indies. "The lowest wage a ejerk starts -witb is £200 per annum, and the average Dutch clerk receives £300 per annum- ' The managers ot financial. and. trading, institutions, make very high money, considerably lligher than, the average in Australasia. 7 A peculiar thing is that after men n?ake an independence there they leave Java to reside in Europe. Nearly all the clerical positions are filled' by Chinamen- Excluding tbe general managers and departmental bead* of trading companies, and the managers and accountants of ,h»«k8, the whole of the staffs are China 7 men. They are moat industrious, honest and shrewd. Tbe half-caste Dutch and Javanese is the class from which all positions in the police force, post )>nd telegraph, railways, and Custom* are filled, In the early history of the Dutch there'they intermarried a great [deal wjitb tlie native population, and the otHi cial classes ultimately became largely half-castes. 'Most of ihe miiior official positions to-day are filled! by them, but ijigher positions, such -as the Government . representatives, secretaries, etc., are, of course, pure Dufch." . *

As tbe result of negotiations between tbe Professorial Board, tbe executive 'of the Canterbury University College Students' Association, and the Defence J)epartment arrangements hay been made to] form a Canterbury University platoon. It ja proposed that od Canterbury College platoon shall be formed if 60 - men are avaflaible. The parades are to be held on Monday evenings, and no lectures are to be'beld an that evening after , eeven o'clock. The platoon -will drill by itself, with occasional company drffl. Students .from the School of Art may alsojoin the platoon. Over 20 students hare already signified their intention of joining the platoon, but ii the number doea not reach 50 it will not be lonwrL

A terrific. gale .was experienced at Skippers last week (writes the correspondent of a Southland paper). .-• The wind arose, suddenly, and Jdew with cyclonic force for about ten minutes. Trees were uprooted in all directions and several .outbuildings were blown'down; A resident of Arrowtown had, a narrow escape from death, i Heleffc his hut when the gale came on, and a few minutes later a, huge tree was blown down and crashed through the roof. The tree-feU on the bed which be bad just vacated: Another tree fell on a residence Some distance away, and flattened out one of tbe rooms, wMla a stable wa* also P?n««8ly damaged. $fy fu# force of the cyclone appears to have been limited to a very small area.

!A residen* of Matatokt, wrote recently aa fallows to tbe "Tbames "Hayinf noticed in your columns some little time ago statistics "relative to tobacco growing n» Ireland, "i" was naturally desirous of trying what $he Home-growrn weed **a. like, so cent Home Jor a 9 mall supply, ■wgcb, has just come to hand. It smokes very much hettf than I anticipaied, and, kn.crwwg what devotees" o,f 7 -*Mj Jjgdy Nicotine* y<B? Jiterary folks generally are,' I am taking tb? liberty of sending you a sample in the bope, that \t -will appeal to your "palate as much as it does to mine. Trusting you find it accept»me.' The tobacco has "been tested by several smokers, who pronounce it equal tft.the : - ' r-'

. The effects of the war are making themselves felt very severely i n tbe photographic business. Nearly all "the chemicals used by New. Zealand photographers have been manufactured in Germany,.and the supply i 8 now completely stopped. The result has been that prices have risen by big percentages Amidol alone has increased QOO per cent, in price, while bromide of potassium, whVsh.used to cost 3/ per H>., is now 83/ per lb., an increase of 1000 per cent. A peculiar fact is that a. number of the are cheaper in New Zealana" than in England,

Word h»e been receded in Suva, cancorning the mysterious disappearance of two Chinese m .'charge at a store thews; Nothing was known o« the matter until the store was found empty, wliilo tin goods were strewn about. The,* were stains of Wood on the floor. The Inspcctorof .Policy (Captain B«h.ettT U «£' jegg to to instigate % ty was stated in « Binuranh in «... used In «o)ww Sfa^^£*^sjr^