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Auckland Star, Volume XLVI, Issue 71, 24 March 1915, Page 4

The following i s Mr. D. C. Bates' weather forecast for 24 hours from 9 a.m. this day:—"The indications are for moderate to strong eouth-eaeterly winds prevailing. Probably cold and changeable weather. with passing showers. Barometer rising. Tides moderate. Sea moderate."

The chairman of the Epsom Road Board (Mr. F. H. Wood) last night drew

the attention of members to the enlarged framed photograph of the late Lieut.-Col. \V. R. Bloomfield, which had: been hung on the wall of the Board's' office. Mr. Wood explained that the ; picture had been presented to the Board by those who had worked for years' with Mr. Bloomfield, and was intended as an appreciation of the services he had. rendered to the district. The gift was accepted by the Board. " The Auckland City Council want to dominate the Hospital and Charitable Aid Board to our. detriment.", said theMayor of Mount Albert (Mr. M. McLean), at last night's meeting of the Borough Council. The remark was provoked by a letter. intimating that Mr. Hall Skelton had been appomJ*d to the Hospital Board as representative- for Auckland City and Mount Albert. "Instead of the Minister appointing Mr. Scott, whom we recommended, they referred the matter tp M the City Council, •»sth-th' c result' thai t&? member of the Council was appointed." continued Mr. • •McLean. He moved that a letter of protest' be forwarded to the Minister. Th* motion was carried unanimously. Smokers w3l be Interested to 'earn that at the last meeting of the Picton Chamber of Commerree a motion, reading as follows; "waii"passed:—"That in the I opinion of this chamber, some steps should be takttn respecting the weight of tobacco, both in plugs ami tins, which ' are now being placed on- the market, containing fractional partis of an ounce. As a protection to the buyer, this chamber would suggest that legislation be enacted, making it illegal for any dealer to sell ot ■ offer for sale a tin or plug of •tobacco con- ! taining a i ractiomvl part of an ounce, and that the motion be forwarded to the member for the district", asking him bo bring it before "Parliament." Another 15 points of.rain were" registered this morning by the meteorological observer at Albert Park! making, a total for the past week of 4.49 inches, and 5.56 inches for the month to date. Exceptionally heavy downpours 'appear to have been experienced in the .country districts in the south of the Auckland province and fn the : Ring Country. - At NTgaruawahia t'h«> fall is described as having been extraordinarily heavy, over three inches being registered for .Monday night alone. The Wa*pa River is reported to be rising very rapidly, the

level having risen three -or- four feet already. • In several localities serious damage has been done, roads' being blocked by irunks-of-trees, and washouts occurring on the railway lines. T.T. Under the War Regulations Act, 1914, a regulation was gazetted making it an offence to supply a member of the Expeditionary Forces- with'" -intoxicating liquor far consumption elsewhere than on .the premises where it ie sold. In the Wellington Magistrate's Court a man was charged with a breach of that' regulation. Defendant did not appear, inspector Hendrey said that a constable saw the accused and a member of the Expeditionary Farce in uniform standing outside an hotel. He saw accused hand the trooper a parcel, and they both walked down the street. Accused went into a tobacconist's shop, and the consta,hte asked 'him. where he got the parcel. The man said he had picked it up on the footpath. When he came out of the shop ithe constable taxed 'Mm with having given the parcel to the trooper, but he denied all knowledge of it. The constable then took possession of the parcel, which was found to be a bottle of beer. His Worship said the maximum penalty under the regulation was £100 or three months' imprisonment. As this was the first case to come before him he would only fine accused £10, or one month's impriEomment. Accused appeared at this stage and pleaded not guilty, Ha called the trooper in question, who denied that accused gave him ihe bottle of beer. He picked the bottle up on the side of the footpath. lit was wrapped up in newspaper and had the-name -Smith ion it. He did not know it contained' a bottle of beer. He waß carrying it to see if he could find anyone who owned it. He did not tell accused be had found it. (His Worship: "Do you expect nse to believe "that?" Witnesß: **I am telling you TRhat happened.'" Accused said he did not know anything about the regulation. His Worship imposed a fine of £5, and allowed a month for payment, accused pleading that he only earns £2 12/6 a week, and has to pay 12/6 a week rent. A meeting of the members of the Auckland HoT'tkrulttrral Society and their friends is advertised to be held in the Horticultural -HaHy Auckland Domain, tomorrow evening, wheal addresses will be given by Mr. Norman Thomas on daffod'Hs, Mr. E. Oarrde&-on carnations, and ilr. F.KHA, on plant djastaes.

IThis morning a man named William Alexander Johnston (40), who is. a labourer well known on the water-front, ■ was arrested by Detective Gourley on a j charge that he was an idle and disI orderly person with insufficient lawful | visible means of support. It was found, after the arrest, that the man was wearing a, cholera belt, in some pockets of which he had £8. He came later before Mr. F. V. Frazer, S.M, and was remanded till to-morrow, being allowed his liberty meantime on the deposit of the £8. " .

Advice has been received that the' English mail dispatched from New Zea-j land on February 9th arrived at London j on March 20th. It was taken from Syd-' ney to San Francisco by one of the j Spreckel's line steamers, which arrived j on the schedule date. The mail was due at London on March 15, so that it must have been delayed on the latter part of the journey. .Seventeen bags of Australian mails, brougiit to Wellington by the M.anuka last evening, are due here by the Main Trunk express this afternoon. The steamer Hawke's Bay, which arrived here from Sydney last evening, also brought a small Australian mail.

Travellers who Have .returned from Hawke's Bay istate that the drought in that district, wihioh had lasted for ten months, bar? bsen completely broken. There has been a good deal of rain over the whole of the provincial district. A great deal of heat still remains in the ground, and consequently the growth of grass has been very rapid. Already the whole of the country is covered with beairitiful green, atttibough it is scarcely more than a fortnight since the first rain

In opening the annual exhibition of the Canterbury Society of Arts, Mr. McGregor Wright, one of the vice-presi-dents, formerly of Wellington, stated that since the war began the artists had had a hard time in disposing of their work, and, although Canterbury had subscribed well to the various funds tor relief, the society's council felt assured that those who had the means would come forward this year and purchase even on a much larger scale than formerly, and it was hoped to have record sales. By doing so people not only helped th c artists, but also the society, as all profits and donations were spent in the purchase of works of art for the permanent collection, which was open free to the public, excepting during exhibitions.

I The Postmaster-General announces j. that in the present exceptional circum- ■ stances, correspondence dispatched via ,; Suez is subject to heavy delay. Letters j posted for later mails dispatched by San , Francisco or Vancouver generally reach ■ their destinations before those dispatched i via Suez. In order, however, to provide r for the requirements of banks and other business institutions, where the dispatch of.duplicate documents by differ- ' ent mhils is desired, the Department ad--1 jvcrtises dispatches via Suez for specially- : ". addressed correspondence only. Large I quantities of letters, evidently not du--1 plieate3, are being posted by Suez. In • order to remove" misapprehension, it is • announced that at the present time the ! best routes for transmission to the United Kingdom are via San Francisco " j and via Vancouver. '! Mr. Sidney Kidman, the Australian ' r "e*tttle"--King,"* who | I Xew Zealand about this time. <has Srrii:-- ---' j ten stating that he now expects to make '' his trip to the Dominion at the'end'of this year, afterwards proceeding to America. Mr. Kidman, in his letter, stated that he was having a bad time on several of his stations. They were experiencing- the "worst season he had ever known in many parts of Australia. Many people were quite out of water, ; and their stock were dying. Mr. Kidman has lost over 20.000 cattle during the last twelve •months. Laet year he sold 11,000 bullocks to the Australian Meat Company, these being delivered in three months, 50(1 averaging 8931b and ■ another mob weighing STolb, which will give some idea of what cattle are like in Queensland and other parts of Australia. A Wellington paper ihae the following: A visit to the Wellington fruit market went to confirm the talegraahed report regarding the condition of the fruit ' landed ex tie Tavhrni at Auckland, -Hie • local portion of which arrived by tbe Vie- • ferria. -The Auckland consigner's report • of having to seil bamanas at 2d per case met a parallel when a line ot severity oases in very bad order indeed were • offered for sale, and brought only 2d. A 1 fair idea of the actual landing condition 1 may be drawn from the following comparison. Present anticipated value of gwd green fruit 12/6 to 14/ per case — ' Tavruni shipment, highest vaJtre 4/6 per ! case.

Parcels for members of the Xew Zealand Expeditionary Force can now be forwarded from the Dominion via London at the same rates as those obtaining for parcels to England. These rates, which constitute a reduction on those hitherto charged, are as follows: —Not exceeding 31b, 1/; 71b, 2/; 111b, 3/. No lesser rates than 1/ will be charged, but the regulation prohibiting the inclusion in one package of others diferently addressed .has been suspended in this instance.' Gift clubs, relatives, and friends, may therefore dispatch any number of small parcels to different members of the force under the one cover. In this way 12 parcels weighing 31b each may be packed together and be sent for 1/, whereas to post them | separately would cost 1/ each. The only proviso is that the address on the butside- wrapper must be that of the officer commanding the regiment. The postal officials state that parcels dispatched via London are more likely to be .promptly delivered than if sent to Egypt via Colombo, at the higher rate fori that route. Letters for members of the | Expeditionary Force from New Zealand are all liable to censorship, the Defence i Department reserving that right. | In reply to a question the Mayor of Christchurch, Mr. H. Holland, who has returned from a visit to Huntly, undertaken to ascertain the position of the fund for the relief of the sufferers by the mine disaster, said that he did not propose to make a statement as to the result of his inquiries until he had reported to a meeting of the Christchurch Huntly Relief Fund Committee, which is to be held on Friday afternoon. It would be for the committee, after hearing ids statement, to say. whether or not it should be published. In the meantime those interested could rest assured that the widows and children are being well cared for " The usual monthly advertisement of the Auckland Co-operative Terminating Building Society, in another column of t*iis issue, informs those interested that there will be a meeting for appropriations at St. James' Hall on 'Wednesday March 31st, at which £1,200 will be dealt with by ballot and sale, 'Monday, 29th inst, being the last day on which shares can be made financial for the meeting. Special attention is drawn to the appropriations in tKe early groups, and rSlerence is made to shares- available tor re-bane in the later groups.