LOCAL AND GENERAL

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2982, 20 January 1917, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL

On Monday, January 22 (Anniversary Day), the letter-carriers will make one delivery only in the City and suburbs, tor which correspondence must be posted at the Chief Post Office by 7 a.m. Ihe street-receivers will be cleared as usual. The Commissioner of Taxes draws the attention of taxpayers to the notification appearing m to-day's issue that the due date of payment of the ordinary Monday, January ■22, 1917, At (ho first sitting of the Military Board 1 a.t !\Yairoa yesterday .eight cases cam© up for appeal. Two were allowed, three wero withdrawn, and three dismissed.—Press Association. ■ A notice in.the Gazette extends until Juno 30, 1917, the period within which bank notes are legal tender in New Zealand-. ■•.' A' statement was made in yesterday's issue that the appeals of seamen and firemen under the Military Service Act were'all to bo 'heard'm-AVellinpfciiu No instruction, -to this effect has been given. The secretaries of the unions at the four centres are authorised to. make appeals oil behalf of the union members,.. ....... ....... The probability of men being drawn from the Second Division of the Expeditionary Force llesorvo before the close of the present- year is being taken into consideration by the Internal Affairs Department. The Minister in charge (Hon. 6. "W. llussell) stated yesterday' that in future tlie mere' fact that a member of the Second Division desired to leave New Zealand for business purposes would not be considered sufficient justification for his departure, and, as in, the case' of the First Division, applications for permits and passports would only be considered where tlie circumstances wero of «m exceptional nature, justifying the applicant being allowed to leave New Zealand. Even in such a case, wliere the applicant was a bona fide resident of New Zealand, a demand would be made for •a. declaration before a Justice of -the Peace that he would return within the : time stated, and a bond of such sum as might bo determined upon to guarantee his return to New. Zealand.'

"Length'of residence 'in ' the .Dominion" is one of the questions on the census paper.. ''lii "going through the papers,' the clerk -in -Wellington found 1 0110 very curious aiiswer'to'tlib""question in a Taranaki paper. The answer was, "24ft.- by 60ft." -The person filling in .the paper had evidently interpreted the question as meaning, the dimension of his house. ' The first meeting of the City Council in 1917 will be held on Thursday next. A cheque for £37 10s.' towards furnishing expenses has been presented by Messrs. Magnus, Sanderson and Co. to the .Returned Soldiers' Club. Constable Sathorley made- a smart' arrest at Waikanae on Monday, when he took into custody a deserter named Henry Carlson, states the' "Otaki Mail." The man escaped from the Trentham Military Gamp in October, went to Palmerston, where it is said ho threw, his uniform into the Manawatu River, visited Otaki, and then found his way to Waikanae, where he sought safety by working in the swamp lknus carrying flax.'. Although the description given was meagre, the constable quickly recognised his man, and brought him to Otaki. .He has been handed over to the military police, and in due course will be dealt with by tho authorities.

In the Magistrate's Court.yesterday, before Mr. S. E. McCarthy, S.M., David Armstrong, a bookseller, was charged with selling two alledgly indecent publications, one by Paul 'do Kock • and the other by Guy de . Maupassant. He was defended by Mr. D. M. Findlay, who drew the Court's attention to tho fact that both of the writers in question had received laudatory mention in the "Encyclopaedia _ Britannica." De Maupassant, in particular, was famous as tlio greatest short-story writer of his century, and as orie of the most faithful observers and reproducers of real life and experience. The defendant stated that both were quite easily obtainable in New Zealand, and also that he had read neither of them. His "Worship reserved his decision.

A valuable block of City land, situated .in. Dixon Street, changed hands yesterday afternoon at a sale conducted 'by Messrs. Thompson Brothers in the Chamber of Commerce. The block was that section of .land, for some years occupied by the Westport Coal Company'as a wood and coal yard, ami formerly by Thompson Bros., who'held the land on lease from the ground landlady, Mrs. Mary Ann.•Williams.- The block, which has a frontage to Dixon Street of 59ft. by a deptli of 80ft., was knockcd down to Messrs. Alex, and James Smith, of the' "New House," through their agent Mr. llcnouf. Tho prico was £5000. Mr. Arthur Jacobs acted as auctioneer..

During the Beat'of last summer, tho City Engineer (Mr. \\'. H. Morton) tried an experiment in City road surfacing in Mcrcer Street, by giving the surface of that fairly busy thoroughfaro a coat ot' bitumen. The idea followed was one which was thought to provide a good wearing surface, on such streets where the traffic was not of tho heaviest or very continuous. Tho experiment lias proved quite a success, as anyone may sco by walking, from the Free Public Library to the Town Hall. The coating remains almost intact after a year's wear.' So satisfied is the Citv Engineer with the tost made that that part of Mercer Street, between Victoria and Willis Street, 'and the wholo of Harbour Street is being similarly treated, and just now a section of the Hutt Road, at the Kaiwarra end, is being coated, on the saino lines to ascertain if tho surfaco will stand the heavy traffic that passes over that road. The work of laying the •bitumen ■ is not an easy one. The road is first swept clean and dry, then it is given a coating ot' tar with the aid of_ a. sprinkler. That is -allowed to cVy in, and then the'molten bitumen is poured on, of a consistency to give the whole surface a fairly thick skin. The'tarring of the road .-in the first place is essential, otherwise the bitumen-\ would roll up like a carpet.