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Auckland Star, Volume XLVIII, Issue 245, 13 October 1917, Page 4

Following is the official weather forecast for 24 hours from 9 a.m. this day: "The indications are for south-easterly winds, moderate to strong, and backing by east to north. There is a prospect of fair to cloudy weather. The night will probably be very cold. Barometer little movement, but will have a falling tendency after about twenty-four hours. Tides good. Sea moderate. - ' Lieut. W. W. Cook, who was cabled as having been decorated with the Military Cross for attacking a Zeppelin, is the second son of Mr. W. Cook, cooper, Palmerston North, lie learned aviation at the Auckland Flying school, and left New Zealand last January. Mr. Walsh, of the New Zealand Flying School, Kohimarama, stated, last evening, that Lieut. Cook qualified at the Flying School on the 20th November 'ast year, and gave evidence of making a brilliant pilot. At the meeting of the Acclimatisation Society last night the question of the shooting of native game out of season Iby Maoris and half-castes was brought I up. A letter was received from the I Under-Secretary of Internal Affairs, '.stating that the Crown Law officers con- ; firmed the statement contained in the ■ Minister's letter that tlie provisions of tne Animals Protection Act are general lin their terms, and apply to all persons I whatsoever. If, therefore, any person ! shoots native pigeons during the close season for native game, he commits an offence against the provisions of the Act. The practice of placing cylinders or mia-mias in the middle of a lake for shooting ducks was discussed at some length, and it was decided to write to tlie Minister for Internal Affairs as to tlie society's power in the matter. The spirit of the petition presented by a deputation headed by Mr. R. Hoe, chairman of the Kaipara River Clearance Association, to the Waitemata | County Council yesterday, in connection ' with the proposed Kaipara River drainage district, is to he given effect to. i The petition asked for the formation of | a special drainage district under the I provisions of the Counties Act, with the Council as the Drainage Board and the county engineer as the engineer. The proposed district extends from the Ohirangi bridge to Waimauku, for the purpose of clearing the Kaipara River so as to reduce the liability to flood. After the deputation had withdrawn from the meeting, Cr. Kerr-Taylor moved that the petition be granted, with, the condition that unless twelve settlers, whose land adjoined the W-aikoukou stream within tlie area mapped out, who had refused to sign it. signed it within fourteen days, their land should be excluded from the area. The motion was carried, and it was also resolved that the Kumeu and Mairetahi ridings should each advance i"SO to allow the work of clearing to be commenced this summer. During thi s week a large and representative meeting of farmers and business men of the Kaikohe district strongly protested against the closing of the Kaikohe railway station as an officered stopping-place." In the opinion of the meeting, this proposed closing "r.uld entail a serious loss and inconvenience to the business and farming community there, as tlie next officered station was 17 miles away. The Kaikohe Chamber of Commerce has put the matter before the Auckland body, with a request that any action must be undertaken immediately, as the proposal comes into operation on Saturday. October 2(1. The local chamber decided to ta.ic n> action, as in the interests of w;ir economy those curtailments in the railway stall were unavoidable. A complaint was made to the Chamber of Commerce some time ago by a leading Auckland freezing company that, on the authority of the Sydney Press, a record shipment of frozen rabbits had been dispatched quite recently from Australia, while there was the greatest difficulty in getting shipping space allocated for Now Zealand ment and other esential exports. The Chamber has taken up this complaint, and advised the Prime Minister of the facts brought before it, pointing out the unfairness of the proceed ; nff. The Premier has replied that he is almost daily in touch with the Imperial authorities, and would leave nothing undone to bring before these authorities the necessity of providing refrigerating space for necessary products such as butter, beef and mutton, lhe letter, which was simply received, was classed as hiehlv unsatisfactory. being of the same indefinite tenor as all communications from the Government on this question. 11 is probable that as a result of the .vn>' Scotland will, after hostilities cease Hid money i* mailable, have a canal con•frt'clo.l as n national work via Loch Lomond. This canal, which is stated to le favoured by the Admiralty, will be •i-tv miles in lentrth. As Loch Lomond s 22ft above sea-level, it will mean the ■oust met ion of locks. Such a canal would rom a nn\al point of view have been of ncalculable value if constructed before ;he war. The Mid-Scotland Shipping "anal National Association advocates a ■anal 2!i miles in length along the direct •ca-level route, but the Admiralty is dated to favour the other scheme. " „ T ! lp fium of i-'37SO was paid at -hristie's for a porcelain ewer, about line inches high, one of the Hope heirooms, and a beautiful specimen of a rare •i-en.-h ware known as Henri Deux, of rhich only fifty-three specimens exist. It vas found in an old cupboard, tucked tway with a jumble of unconsidered riiles. A pair of Lawrence portraits 'rom the Hope collection brought 8000 riiineas. The members of the Victoria League ivill be glad to hoar that Mrs. Suthcrand intends staging " Les Cloches de "'orneville " next year in aid of the funds ■f the Victoria League. Mrs. .Stttherand has been very successful with her .w.i previous productions. The annual conference of Chambers of ommene is due to be hold in Welling;on on Wednesday and Thursday, 28th md '-'9th November. The local Chamber vill probably convene a special mooting ate this month to appoint delegates and ranic remits for the consideration of the ■onicrcncc.

A number of returned soldiers are arriving in Auckland by train from Wellington to-morrow morning. The Mayor (Mr. J. H. Gunson) stated this morning that he had arranged with the Mayor of Wellington that a public reception to returned soldiers should be given at the port of arrival, the reason for this being that where the men, as in the case of the men arriving to-morrow, had to undertake a long train journey, many of them dropped off at various stations en route to join their relations, and in that case a reception at this end did not include all of them. Consequently the reception had been arranged at the port of call, as stated. This means that when the boat calls at Wellington first, the public reception will be tendered there; and similarly, of course, when Auckland is the first port of call, the same cordial welcome will be extended to the men as in the past, the reception, being followed by light ref reshmeM s.

Writing to the " Southland Times " on the habits of whitebait, Mr. E. J. Fleming says:—Some time ago at Christchurch the question was debated as to whether whitebait are young smelts. To settle the matter, a resident of Opawa placed a quantity of live whitebait in one of his fishponds, and they eventually grew into smelts, thus deciding the question. Whitebait are hatched in the 6ea, and after a while they commence swimming (fishermen call it running) up the mouths of rivers and estuaries, gradually growing larger and stronger the further up they go. After reaching adult size, approximately four inches, with a well-defined bluish flush down each side and silvered underneath, they gradually work their way down to tli? sea, out into deep water. At Greymouth one can stand on the tiphead at the mouth of the Grey River, and frequently see the shoals coming in. I have noticed the same thing at the mouth of the Buller River in Westport, and also seen shoals at Sumner making for the mouths of the Avon and Heathcote rivers. Whitebait always make up the river, never down. The meeting of Jugo-Slavs which was to have been held on October 20 in the I ( hamber of Commerce, Swanson Street, | Auckland, for the purpose of extending voluntary help to the New Zealand Gov|ernment, is postponed till Monday, 29th I October, at 10 a.m. This is to enable all Jugo-Slavs in Xew Zealand to become thoroughly acquainted by circular with the proposition which is to be placed before the people, so that public meetings will be held at various country districts i for acceptance of the proposition, and the resolution to be sent to Auckland. There will also be published full details of the resolution passed at the meeting held at Corfu on July 17 by the Jugoslav and Serbian Governments. According to our cable from London published on July 30 it is announced that the .Serbian and Jugo-Slav Governments had ' rvted. and a far-reaching agreement has been signed establishing a kingdom of Serbians. Croatians, and Slovenes under the Karageorgevich dynasty. King Peter .■will in future be cailed King of the Serbians, Croatians, and Slovenes. It appears that the Jugo-Slavs here are now i bound under their united Government for service. Interest in the proposal to enforce a noxious weeds by-law in a special area at Henderson, which has occupied the attention of the Waitemata County Council on and off for the last nine months, was again revived at a meeting of the Waitemata County Council .yesterday, when Cr, Oliphant moved that the by-law be enforced in respect to a reduced area, of 650 acres. The area as at first mapped out was 1,600 acres, but as the outcome of complaints it was reduced. Cr. McCathie, in seconding the motion, stated that it was in accord with the desire of practically all the ratepayers concerned. Tlie chairman (Mr M. Laing) opposed the motion on the grounds that the area was still too large. He would be favourable to a reduced area, say, of 100 acres or thereabouts, comprising the township. The motion was lost on the casting vote of the chairman. Nothing daunted, Cr. Oliphant gave notice that he would have the area still further reduced, and would move at the next meeting that the by-law be enforced.

At the meeting of the Auckland Acclimatisation Society, held last evening, a rather lengthy discussion on the qi__tiop lof earth worms a. bait to ik place. A ! protest ag« nst the prohib ; tiun of ea» t'l ■ worms as bait for trout fishing was made by a number of members of the Cambridge Rod and Gun Club, whi.-ii was supported by a petition. It was tatt il ny the chairman (Mr. R. Reynolds) that these people had used the worm for many years, their time for fishing was very limited, and the fly was not niitable for the locality iv which they had to fish. After pointing out that the Tourist Department and the YVairnarino Society, and practically all other societies of the Dominion prohibited worm bait, it was decided that tne regulation should stand. Great interest has been taken by many people of late in the question of the relationship of God to the war. At the request of many friends. Mr. George j Aldridge will deliver the first of a series of addresses to-morrow in the concert chamber at the Town Hall, when this! particular question will be dealt with. ] A remarkable escape was experienced I in France by Sergeant Francis McDavitt, I formerly of Opunake, Taranaki. Sprgt. -McDavitt. who serves as a telegraphist. on the Western front, occupied an advanced hazardous position for a considerable time. One day he was lying on his bunk in his hut. He jumped off j the bed to attend to something on the table. A fraction of a second later a shell dropped through the roof on to the bed. Tt exploded, and the hut positively vanished, and Sergeant McDavitt I wa s left standing unhurt on the spot I where the hut had stood. Crossing the Parihaka run in a tempest, of wind and rain, a Taranaki settler suddenly came upon 43 horses crowding under the shelter of a bit of scrub. Xo starter's flag was required to effect an instantaneous start, and, as no swindle was being worked, none were left at the post, not even the little foals, and the settlor declares it was the finest natural race he had seen for over 30 years, when wild horse hunting was a favourite form of sport. Miss Denz's concert party gave their monthly entertainment to the wounded soldiers at the Hospital Annexe last evening. The items were very much enjoyed by the patients present, who loudly applauded each artist in turn. The following artists kindly assisted: — Misses V. Mclntyro, K. Madigan, Alma Homer. K. Mclntyre, Ishcrwood, Madam Isherwood, and Miss Aileen Beresford's pupils, Messrs. Forte and Harris. During the interval cigarettes and sweets were distributed. In connection with the Kauangaroa tragedy. Frank Edward Bennier charged at YVanganui Police Court with the wilful murder of big wife, was cor__»itted £_=• trial at the Supreme Court.