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Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 20, 24 January 1916, Page 4

The B.M.S. Ifakura arrived at Auck-. land this morning from Sydney with a large number of passengers for Auck' land.- Her trip from Sydney was made with heavy east and south-east gales.

1 She berthed at about 10.30 a.m. at the Queen's wharf. It was a considerable time before the boat was " cleared," trouble being experienced in mustering some of the passengers. The Makura brought 80 bags of Australian mail for Auckland. She sails at noon to-morrow for Vancouver. A lady in Hawera this week receive.! a letter from a friend in Florence which contains an interesting paragraph throwing light on the conditions now prevailing in Italian life. The writer 6ays: "In Italy we are reduced to the simple life indeed. The horses are taken, petrol is too-dear for one to be able to use a 1 motor much, and there is no coal to be had. The men are already all called lup or waiting to be. So we just shut ' up half the house and camp, hoping it ' will not be a severe winter. Everyone < ',? busy rolling up newspapers, which are i cut into cylinders and boiled in fat; two little bite of this are enough to boil ■ a soldier's ration at the front. It is a 1 very clever Japanese invention. The newspapers meanwhile are very ugly ' reading, and one is glad they carry a 1 little comfort at the last." The writer 'further says: "Several of the Australian ''and English officers wounded at the Dar- '■ canelles are in Florence for their con- '• valescence, and there is to be a big ' convalescent camp in Sicily. There are ' so many sick at Malta that they are ' almost falling over the coast of the ! , island."' .; Here are some interesting particulars j concerning Japanese steamship names, , which are being met with more often since the war. When the name of a Japanese steamer ends with "San" it may be felt certain that she belongs to the few vessels owned by Mitsui and 1 Company. The affix is a mark of disr tinction between their vessels and those of other lines, under the Japanese flag. "San" means mount or mountain, and r an illustration is in the steamer .' Hikosan. The Toyo Kisun Kaisea line 5 steamers end with "yo," as in the case 'of Shinyo. The much debated "Maru," always -attached to the name of a Japan--1 ese trader, means merchant of commercial steamer, hence to the Japanese a ' news item -written this wise: "The r Japanese steamer Maru arrived at ' "is regarded as both awjeward and ' -ludicrous, although to the English-speak-ing race it is quite acceptable. Translated into correct English it reads, "The ' Japanese steamer commercial ; steamer has arrived at ." i An incident which appears worthy of • record happened at camp (says a cori respondent of the "Hawke's Bay Tri- . bune"). The officers, naturally, knew . he man's location, but were burpised at a member of the firing lie. Private Mil- • burn, of Waipawa, locating the object from the jump. When asked how he did '■ it, Private Milburn said the sun's rays j on the dial of a wristlet watch the man '. was wearing gave him the cue. The dia'te-of wristlet watches-have, tiow: to •■ , be covered. ■ ! Since the prorogation of Parliament ; suggestions have been made from time f to time that it may be necessary to • Hold an early session in order to deal • with urgent. legislation. When the i matter was referred to the Prime Mini ister this morning, Mr. Massey replied - that the position wa3 exactly the same f as in other years, and so far no special » matter had cropped, up which called for i . a departure from custom. i At the Auckland Sailors' Home coun- " cil meeting on Saturday evening, an an- ' swer was received from the Auckland - Harbour Board to a letter written by • the Council in reference to the old dock > site. The Council, in its letter ex- • pressed its hope that the Harbour Board I would reconsider the preserving of the, C old dock site as a public reserve. The | t following answer was received from the I eecretary of the Board:—" I am directed 1 By the chairman to say that the matter ■ was fully considered at the last meeting of the Board, when it was decided that it could not see its way to set the area apart as a public reserve. I have to point out that the sole reason for clos-1 ing the dock-was to make leasable the area occupied by it.. The value of the fc dock written off was over £48,000, and t the scheme would probably riot have been 1 approved by the Board had it not been shown that the proposition was a payable one." Mr. H. Symons (chairman of ' the council)' expressed his opinion that 2 the letter from the council had'not been •. read by the Board, but he hoped that the . matter would come before the Board at a its next meeting, when the letter should be read. Mr. J. Magee pointed out that s the Harbour Board evidently filled in the c dock to allow the formation of a front-. ,- age road, this being necessary for c access from both sides of Queen Street. r The case of the man classed as temj porarily unfit on account of defective teeth and other minor physical disabilia ties is to receive the attention of the a authorities. In Canterbury areas' nearly 6 300 men have- been classed temporarily (< unfit during the" last four months. In c many cases these men go - away and do not 'Tefcinni to "the recruiting office. Aγq rangements have now been made for g these men to receive dental attention, a but it is proposed also to devise some .. system by which the Defence authorities :> can keep in touch wifch-all men who offer „ to enlist. In orders 'by Colonel J. E. f_ Hume, Officer Commanding the Auckland t Military District, it is stated that men d who were discharged for minor reasons |. which have since, been removed may t apply for re-enlistment and be accepted. t This will not apply in the case of men j who were discharged ■ for misconduct. Mr. W. Cable intends to move at the 0 next meeting of the Wellington Harbour s Board: "That the engineer be instructed t" to arrange with Messrs, . Clark and. c Standfield, consulting engineers, London, c for the preparation of the necessary c working drawings for a floating dock of '" about 1000 tons lifting power, as out- § lined in the general design submitted by c them." c A meeting will be held on Friday next c to make arrangements for the celebral_ tion of the sSrd anniversary of the c arrival at Auckland Of the ships Devon--4 shire and Gertrude, i, The following resolution was passed is at a meeting of the Auckland District ?- Boilermakers, Iron Ship Workers and ar Bridge Builders' Industrial Union of ,t Workers -.—" That this union is in favour >f of prosecuting the war to a successful r- finish. We feel that before conscription h of men be enforced, the conscription of r- wealth.' should be attained first, whereby h the "dependents of soldiers will be in a it position'to be provided for if necessity o should arise."

The Magistrate's Court sat until 6.30 p.m- on Saturday, Mr. E. Page'jSv ''■"■ § being occupied in hearing evidence \ case in which a married womansonght I? separation, maintenance, and guardian- 1 ship of her two children. Mr. Hill & Skelton appeared for the complainant 1 and Mr- G. W. D. Mulgan for the hS I band, Alexander Riddell, who opposed'the application. The wife admitted she had pot suffered physical cruelty, but '■ allegdd conduct calculated to' come"* within the definition of constructive cruelty. At the conclusion of a lengthy hearine* his Worship expressed the opinion taatthe differences had been brought about by the intervention of third parties, who were probably well meaning friends. ' The stories they brought to the wife acted upon her materially, and had prejudiced her health. As persistent cruelty had not been proved, and complainant had been maintained in a reasonable way, the information would be dismissed. | In the Mediterranean theatre of the I war transport is often carried out by mule corps, and, in consequence, jt has become necessary to make up stores in sizes suitable for mule-pack in ease it ''■' is necessary to dispatch them from .the base in this way. Colonel J. E. H*ume, : " ; ' O.C. Auckland Military District, states .-"".-'"■ that goods consigned for distribution to troops at the front must he packed in cases not exceeding 801b gross weight. The Ohinemuri Mines and Batteries* I Union has received a letter from the lnangahua Miners' Union, suggesting tha •federation of all quartz miners' unions under the title pf the Gold Minos Employees Association, and asking if tha , ■local union supports the proposal. A•' special general meeting is to be convened to consider the question. The fears of certain launch-owners and ■' others that the. removal of a portion of the sand-bar at the Lake Rotorua end of the Ohau Channel would lead to a reduction in the level of the lake appear to have been ill-founded. The authorities had intended to loosen the compacted sand on the top of the bar, as they have done annually for several years, so that the launches might scour out a way for themselves in making the passage. The work of clearing the sand was carried out to a greater depth than had been intended, and had this f been continued a lowering of the lake might have resulted, but the operations i were stopped in time to avert what was feared. Indignation- was freely expressed at a meeting of residents of Manurewa on Saturday night at the scheme which the railway authorities are pursuing in connection with the easing of the grade and curves in the line in the neighbourhood of Manurewa. It is felt that if the plans of tlie authorities are carried out traffic along the Great South Road will becomes exposed to a new and-needless ' source of danger. Just south of the Manurewa township the railway line is being moved about a-quarter of a 'mile to the eastward, and the Department is having the road carried across the tracks by means of an overhead bridge, which, unfortunately, is being placed almost at right angles to the course of the road. The danger to traffic, it is contended, will arise through the fact that a motorist or horseman travelling from the -.-• north.will suddenly have to negotiate an - alarmingly sudden bend in the.road in ' order to pass over the bridge. "Beaching ' the other side of the railway,- he will again be confronted with a sharp cornet before "he can resume his southerlycourse. ■* Furthermore, the. need for the sharp, turn will not be -apparent until !the bend is reached. Feeling run? high on the matter among the residents of Manurewa, and at Saturday night's meeting resolutions were passed protest- '.' ing against the alteration of the' route. A number of judgment debtor cases . were called at' the Magistrate's' Court this morning before M r - E. Page, S.M. Orders were made in the following-cases: Gordon Hodder to pay£4 8/6, John McLclland, £4 3/2; and J. B. Mcpherson, £10 15/7; H. Edwards, £7 10/; W. Gray, £1 9/6. For the first time, in the history of ; ; Conciliation Councils in Wellington.two - ladies on Friday acted as assessors. The dispute was the laundry workers, and the lady assessors were Mhs Elsie M. Trinder and • Miss Kate Walder. The former is also president of the Laundry Workers' Union. The Dairy Produce Committee • has fixed the wholesale price for butter and eggs for the week ending January 29th as follows: Farmers' separator and dairy, butter, lOd per lb; eggs, 1/3 *per dozen. The retail prices are as follow: Factory ibutter, 1/6 per lb; farmers', "up to 1/% j according to quality; and eggs, 1/9 per dozen. - .