GENERAL ITEMS.

Bruce Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 72, 13 September 1917, Page 4

GENERAL ITEMS.

A Liverpool resident 'has ' insured £IO,OOO at 5s per cent, that Lord Kitchener was alive on August 31. Illustrating the spirit of sacrifice which 'obtained in Great Britain, Sir Joseph Ward, speaking at a Post and Telegraph gathering in Wellington, said that at one of the great hospitals at Chelsea they met a V.A.D. nurse who told them that in three- weeks her father, her husband and live of her brothers had been killed. She was the widow of a man of great wealth, but she was devoting all her time to the service of the wounded without pay. or reward other than the appreciation of the men she tended. An interesting story of hopes for the future was unfolded* before the Land Board at Auckland last week. Two men appeared in support of their application for a rather large farm. After hearing all particulars the commissioner summed up the position: "The practical farmer is a brass-founder by trade," he said. "He has been* on his grandfather's farm in the North, and on a pig farm at the Waikato. He is a practical farmer who will assist the clerk. It is pleasing to hear such a decision. Well, I wish you luck." The clerk had been a clerk all his life, but confessed to a hankering after farm life. He had spent several holidays on farms, and had a fair idea of its working. He was relying on being rejected for military service, and by the time his partner, a man with three children, wa3 called up he would be able to run the farm himself. A Gisborue household had a startling experience during a heavy thunderstorm recently. Following a vivid flash of lightning came a heavy thunderclap that seemed to be right overhead. The concussion caused a portion of the chimney to collapse, the scattered brickwork falling on the roof in all directions. The occupants of the house were in bed at the time. The bedroom was enveloped in a cloud of mortar dust, which belched -out of the fireplace, and the whole of the ornaments of the mantelpiece were thrown down and broken. The Palmerston police are in- possession of a gentleman's- hat. It happened that one evening a cyclist was speeding homeward in the dark without a light, as required by the by-laws, regulations and other enactments, and was detected by a sharp-eyed police officer, who gave chase. The cyclist, however, cracked on pace and got clear, but lost 'his hat irr the effort. The police say that the owner may obtain his property on application to the statiom After an evening's discussion it was decided that tea should carry a tax of 3d a pound (writes our Parliamentary correspondent). This is anticipated to yield £90,000, which will be used for paying the old age pensioners an additional sum of os a week. The House made no mistake about the imposition of this tea tax, it being carried by a majority of 15. This was probably an ! indication of the power of the National Government in the present Parliament. I am satisfied that whatever the Government asks rarliameut to do in the way of providing money will be done. No' member will object to the Government having ample funds to carry on the war. There may be objections on minor points, but the Government will | never run against a stonewall to its proposals. . Sir Joseph Ward had justification for congratulating members of the House on the way in which they had handled his Finance Bill (writes our Wellington correspondent). They had treated it with a due appreciation of the magnitude of the issues involved, and with a true understanding of the fact that, whatever their individual opinions might be regarding the methods adopted by the Treasurer to obtain the money, money ''had to be obtained. Sir Joseph said on the third reading of the Bill that it was to meet unprecedented conditions. If the war continued for another year no one in the House or -the country could say what would have to be done. The Finance Minister has had a difficult task, and has performed it most satisfactorily. His colleagues had given him every assistance, and the country has cause to be satisfied that there is a National Government in existence. Mr Hornsby did not add to his reputation as a statesman by repudiating the National Government over the tea tax. The Minister for Education (Hon. J. A. Hanan), in referring to the patriotism shown by school 'teachers in enlisting for active service, strongly stresses the difficulties in regard to carrying on school work satisfactorily in consequence of the serious depletion of the teaching ranks. In his annual report the Minister makes the following coiib ments on the subject:—"Because the schools all appear- to be going on as usual, few people realise the great drain made by the war on our teaching staffs, Up to the present fully 650 .primary school 'teachers have gone on active service. This is over one-third of th-o number of men teachers employed when war broke out. The remainder consists almost entirely of men of the Second Division, youths under 20 years of age, and men who have enlisted but have been rejected- as medically unfit. In fact, it would be difficult to find a score of physically fit men teachers of the First Division -who did not enlist. Secondary school and technical school - teachers nave an equally proud record, while four school inspectors, a training college principal, and two professore have also enlisted. It is little to be wondered at that the boys who have been taught and influenced in our schools by teachers with such evident devotion to their country should follow the example of their teachers and con- [ duct themselves both on and .off the field in a way that wins for them our love and admiration. To show in a definite way how the depletion of our staffs through enlistment has affected the schools, it may be stated that in most of our largest schools where thero are to be found from 200 to 400 boys, there is only to be found one male class teacher, and very few have more than two. In one purely boys' school, six assistants out of seven are women. The thanks of the parents of the Dominion are due to the large number of exteachers, some of them superannuated, who have come back to the schools to keep the work going." It is reported that America intends seizing 270,000 tons of Norwegian shipping now building at American shipyards.