LOCAL AND GENERAL

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2953, 16 December 1916, Page 8

LOCAL AND GENERAL

The postal authorities advise that tlia s.s. Riverina, which sailed from Sydney at noon on Thursday for Wellington, is carrying Australian and United King: dom mails via Suez, and is here on' Monday.

Sergt.-Major S. 6. M'Wliirter, 451,. Australian Imperial Forces, nominated, as hi? next-ofiin Mrs. AV. Wilson, of Wanganui, but communications so 'addressed have been returned to the Commonwealth Department of Defence, Melbourne, unclaimed. Base Records Offico would be obliged if anyone knowing Mrs. Wilson's whereabouts would communicate with them immediately.

A number of the employees, of . the various business -places in Hastings contemplate taking on harvesting work, during the holidays, says a'Hawko's Bay paper.

Two substantial donations to the Trench Comforts Fund were received yesterday by 51r. E. C. Brownell, National Secretary of the Y.M.C.A. A cheque for £600 catne to hand from, the Wanganui-Waitotara Patriotic Association, and a further cheque for was received from the Wairarapa Patriotic Association. . A donation which is much appreciated by the National Committee is a sum of £12 17s. Id., which has bee.n. forwarded by the pupils of Miss Francis, Clifton Terrace School. The money is to-he- cabled at once, in' order that comforts may be purchased in England and sent to the trenches in time for Christmas.

Surgeon-General Henderson, Director of Medical Serriccs, delivered a lecture to tho officers of the Wellington Garrison in the Garrison Hall last evening oil tho. subject of the treatment .and evacuation of wounded in the lield of battle, and other matters connected .with., the medical- service. : .' xnc"senior officer of the garrison,. Colonel Campbell, was ill tlie chair. Tho General briefly referred to tho early records of the treatment '.of wounded; at the time when the barbers were tho recognised medical authorities, and were entrusted with the task of succouring the wounded on the field. Dealing with'the practice of to-day, tho lecturer gave a very, interesting account of the'treatment, of the wounded, from.tho time when they were moved from the firing line until their arrival at the base hospitals, lie reforrcd to the responsibility of regimental commanders for the collection and examination of the wounded, the selection of positions for collecting stations, and the general,chain of communication between the firing linij and the hospitals. Ho treated also tho case of the soldiers in the field, tho necessity for strict attention to tho rules of sanitation, and the methods to be adopted for tho destruction of vermin. Tho lecture was listened to with close attention, .and at tho closo General Henderson answered several questions arising out of his remarks.

The Wellington Retail Drapers and Clothiers' Association announce that Wednesday'next will be observed as a half-holiday, and that their premises will remain open for business until 9 p.m. on Friday and 11 p.m. if necessary on-Saturday. In New week they will revert to the customary hours, being closed, of course, on Now. Year's Day.

The Canterbury Timber-yards, Sawmills, and Coal-yards' Employees' Union has decided to be represented at the "Wellington Labour Conference to discuss the' repeal of the Military' ServiceAct. Mr. Hiram Hunter was appointed delegate, and was instructed to vote for the repeal of the Act.—Press.Association.

' -The boys of Croydon School . have donated their prize fund, amounting to £50, to the Red Cross, and certificates were given t-hein instead. •'

Councillor - Charles JJowiletv will. move ..at -Monday's - hieeting..'.gf-.the"- Onslow Borough Council: "That' the council he furnished with a statement showing the total amount expended b.y engagement of general carriers in connection with the execution of borough work." Also, "That the council consider the advisability of acquiring' its own. vehicles and horses and material .to undertake tlio work of providing its own means of- cartage." As'a result of a concert organised lty Mr. A. B. Wallace and the sale cf a picture, a sum of nearly £GOO will (says our Masterton correspondent) be raised iji Masterton for the St. Dunstan's Hostel for Blipd .Soldiers and Sailors. ' r The officers aud N.C.O.'s of the Twenty-fifth and Twenty-sixth Reinforcements are. now. in camp at Trenthani. They will be given leave from December 21 till January 4. Wairoa is threatened with an immedi-" ate cessation of its . only milk supply. Owing to flush of feed it is impossible to attain the Government's standard for the morning supply. The Minister refuses to grant temporary relaxation of the standard, and approximately 1000 people will ■ therefore bo • affected, including a large ; number of. young babies. —Press Association. .. • .-}/ A donation; of 2s. Gd. • has - been received oil behalf of the London Fresh Air Fund from Mrs. Smith, Johnston Street, Karori..: 5 The'annual conference in connection with the Wellington. District Oddfellows is to be held in Masterton in February. At this conference presentations will be made to two of the oldest Oddfellows of the district, -in the persons of Bros. D. I'. Loasby- (Greytown) and John Smith (Wellington). ' "One little item in the arrangement of the syllabus'deserves special mention," smarted the principal of Banks's College yesterday. "Latin and French have beett rigorously excludedfrom the curriculum of the Lower School 011 the grounds that a working knowledge of English grammar fe indispensable to an understanding of foreign languages. It is perhaps- possible to teach French to boys in s. primary school, 1 though the groundwork of education must suffer from such-a procedure. Latin, on the other had, is so full of inflexions' and other grammatical difficulties that its incorporation in the syllabus of a primary school means almost certain failure to cope with the largo number of truly primary subjects that have to "bo mastered in the Sixth Standard- 'This is not merely a personal opinion, but is supported bv no less an authority than Professor Findlay, one of" the leading English educationists of to-day."

In view of the largo expansion of the 'business of the Imperial Supplies Branch, which formerly dealt mostly with the meat purchase scheme, carried on by the Government, the office is being moved. from the Post Olßco building to Kemot's Buildings,, in Customhouse Quay. The office has now to handle the wool, requisition scheme and the butter control scheme, and if the wheat scheme-materialises that ■will also probably be worked through Mr. R. Triggs, Mr. Taylor, ami their staff. Up to date this Supplies Branch lias been a very economically conducted and "highly efficient "depart-. meat.

At a meeting' of the Greymouth Patriotic' Society 'yesterday--(says' a Press Association •'telegram)-' the following motion was carried unanimously:—"That this society, appreciates the steps taken about carrying out the Act in connection with the recruiting question." TIIO chairman, Mr. 0. E. Perkins, said that thoso up against l conscription were up against everything. It was decided tha.t tho motion he forwarded to tlin Government.

Suits for Summer in light colour Worsteds, Flannels, etc. Well made and smart looking; 605., 705., 90s. Geo, Fowlds, Ltd.—Advt.

Lyall Bay will .be visited by the Tramways Military Band on Sunday afternoon, when selections will be played.

Owing to absenting themselves without leave, no fewer than fifteen members of the crew of the liner ltuahiue were arrested at Ly,ttelton~ yesterday afternoon. The men-will he brought before the Court to-day—Press Association. .. ■ •

"This war cannot he won if we do not make strong economic efforts," ; said Mr. G. H. Sykes, speaking at the farewell to Mr. W. T. Grundy last evening. "We have to get right down to it. At present we are living up in air. Until -we make more' strenuous efforts this, war ivill not be .won.' Never let us look for peace till all of us; young and old, have done our duty," Mr. Sykes commented on the .large number of people he had seen coming out of the theatres, even though the prices were high and the war was raging. ,

Tlio inquest- qon Gilbert Marshall, one ■of the victims in the Cambridge-Terraco tragedy-, was concluded yesterday. The verdict was that Marshall'-s death was 'caused by chlorodyne, self-administered.

■ - Messrs. . Baldwin and Rayward, patent attorneys and consulting - engineers,- ot' 210 Lambton Quay- report that, recently thoy .acted : as' agents in' filing tlio following for letters patent of New Zealand':—T. Mullibns, Auckland, cooler; S. Kanner, New York, razor blade; A. Holden, Auckland, reversible turbine; MorellSoule Co., Syracuse, butter-milk powder; C. D. Wilson, Napier, grass-cut-ter; G. A. Ball, Wanganui, combustion engine; 11. Emmett, Auckland, envelope; Morrell-Soule Co., Syracuse, milk products; E. C. Taylor, Auckland, advertising device; Hon. Parsons, Newcastle,' ship propulsion; W. Masefiold, Tauranga, strawberry picker ; J. fj. Balsillie, Melbourne, collecting dew.

At a deputation to the .Minister o£ Defeiico 111 JJunedin, Colonel Stoneham raised the question of the classification of the men in the Second Division of tho Keserve. Ho instanced the case of a man with a wife, and four children .who was desirous of arranging his affairs to enable him to go' when called' upon ,and pointed out that in the Second Division there were men with one child and men with seven or . eight children. It would surely be unfair to conscript the man with the large family while the man with one child remainej. The Hon. Mr. Allen replied uiaf'his own feeling 'Was in favour of tlie classification of the Second Division. For one thing there, was tho economic reason that it was better , for the State to take the man with the smaller responsibility before the other man, as it would entail less expense.: There were other reasons why the man .with, one child should be put in the ballot before the man with four, five, or six.children. Mr. Allen added that, as far as he know, there was little probability of the men of the Second Division being called up for 10 mouths yet. That period' was, of course, more or less of an estimate, and though' he could not state it as gospel .it was what he judged to be near the mark. Colonel Stoiiehnm said that bo many men in the First Division were being 1 turned down as medically unfit and "so many exemptions were being granted to fit men that the feeling in Dunedin was that the men in tlie Second Division would be required in less than 10 months. The Hon. Mr". Allen said that in Ill's estimate of .10 months he Had allowed for the medically unfit and for those men required for.essential industries. ' •'