LOCAL AND GENERAL

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3066, 30 April 1917, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Tho following reply has been received by the Acting-Prime Minister (Sir Jas. v Allen) from Brigadier-General Richardson in reply to his Anzau Day message: —"We reciprocate the kind thoughts of our comrades in New Zealand on the anniversary of that . memorable day which will ever remind us of the gallant deeds and tho graves of those who have sacrificed their lives for and whose examplo has inspired New Zealand soldiers in irubsenup.nt opair.tions, and, we hope, will always inspire future generations to maintain the reputation made by New Zoalanders in Gallipoli."

Every member of tho Expeditionary Force Reserve, that is, every man of military ago who is not a discharged soldier (with service abroad) ought to possess his certificate of enrolment by the present time. If he has not received his' certificate the fault is his, and he may find himself in trouble presently. It is his business to get into communication with i tho Government Statistician, make sure that his name is properly on the roll of the reserve, and secure his certificate of enrolment. If ho is already enrolled and in possession of the preliminary acknowledgment sent out by the Gpvornment Statistician, then his certificate prob■ably is waiting for him at the post office. The Military Service Act makes provision for the summary arrest of men who' cannot produce their certificates when requested to_ do so by a military officer or tho police, and this portion of tho. Act will be put into active operation shortly.

Pte'. Thomas Henry Hogg, employed at the Trent-ham camp bakery, fell between two carriages when boarding the la-te. troop train at Lambtbn Station on Saturday night, and broke one of his legs. He was taken to'the Wellington Hospital. ( •. . .

An epidemio of diphtheria is reported at Christchurch, and; the Hospital' Board there has asked that parents and guardians should be warned to con6ult doctors as" soon as Bigns of sore throat are discovered in children. Mr. Wharton (secretary to the board) stated on Saturday that in a large jnoportion of the cases eont .td the hospital the disease hail iesa allowed to go so far that there was no hope ■whatever of saving the children. Death sometimes took placu Wenty-four hours after they were admitted to the institution. A doctor should be consulted without delay vs-hen there wore sip.ns of trouble and sore throats attended to before the ailment had developed. If parents really cannot pay a dootor's feo* iilse hospital authorities would make arrangements to have the children's throats examined.

Addressing the twenty-seventh Grand Counoi! of the Australasian Holy Catholic Guild at Sydney, Archbishop Kelly said: "The duty of all sections of the community in the great crisis is to stand behind the men at the froilt—(applause)—and make them certain that they are not forgotten. These are the men the country wants. Let us all be glad that Australia rose to such a height in the fulfilment of her duty in defence of the Empire. (Cheers.) There should be harmony and goodwill, amongst men. Our Catholic guilds should drop the word 'sectarianism.' Sectarianism is like a wasp. It sucks the sweet and honey of life."

Considerable anxiety prevails on the South Island snow country this year, owing to the- shortage of musterers. The first dustings of snow have fallen on the highest country, and there will be experienced the .greatest difficulty, owing to the shortage of men, in clearing the dangerous country of sheep before the heavy drifts arrive. The general shortage of men, says a North Otago paper, prevents the pressing of all hands into this service, and it is not unlikely that severe losses face many of the owners of hinterland runs, •where it was difficult at any time to secure men who would- remain long enough to learn tho conditions of work sufficiently to bo useful, and who now, in view of the demand for labour in more closely-settled districts, will find' it extremely hard to secure musterers. Referring to the last season's crop of cocksfoot on Banks Peninsula, a Canterbury paper says:—As evidence of the money there is-in grass seedingfor the man who is not afraid of long hours and hard work, mention may be made of a few actual cases. For six weeks' work a young fellow, not yet twenty years of age, drew a cheque of £63 10s., while Ms mate, a sturdy lad three years .younger, earned a similar sum. Another \boy, working with them, had nearly £40 placed to his credit for tho same time. Lastly, a man, accustomed from his youth to the work, pocketed £110, the result of not quite seven weeks' toil.

The annual report of the Education Board shows that the total amount collected by the children of the schools in the Wellington district for the Belgian- Relief Fund- so far amounts tft £5006 17s. 2d. ■*'-.-

Dr. Newman, M.P,, has recently lectured several times , on what he learnt about the war during his visit to England and the Western front. At Dvuiedin he met a large audience, and_ the result of the lecture was a considerable sum for the patriotic funds. At "Wanganui on Anzac Day Dr. Newman lectured to a large audience, and he also spoke at Johnsonville. Tho lecturer's main idea is to draw in as much money as possible for the patriotic fnuds, as his visit had impressed him with the noble deeds of New Zealand's sons, and that after they had "done their bit" they were worthy of all that non-combatants could do for them;

The Navy League is offering a prize donated by the Hon. A'. M. Myers, Minister of Munitions, for an essay on "The British Navy during tho Great War. ,, The competition is open to boys and girls of the Wellington City and suburban schools. The conditions have appeared in our advertising columns. Those who wish to compete are reminded that the essays should be in the hands of the honorary of the league not later than to-day.

Sir. L. G. Eeid, S.M., delivered his reserved judgment.on Saturday in respect to a case heard at the Upper Hutt on April 18, when Eileen May Alexander and Laura Esther Huggins, for whom Mr. J. S. Barton appeared, asked that Flora May M'Ourdy be bound over to keep the peace. The actions arose out of certain paragraphs published in defendant's newspaper the Upper Hutt "Independent," and which, it was alleged, referred to the plaintiffs, and were of such a provoking nature as to be likely to result in a breach of ■ the peace. Mr.. H. F. O'L'cary, who appeared for defendant, urged that the word "language" in the clause of the Justices of the Peace Act meant epoken language.and uot written language. Mr. Reid dismissed the informations, but did not award de- , fendant costs.

All farmers who have more at stake than they can look after themselves will be interested to hear of the latest demand by a gentleman in search of a country home (says the Oamaru "Mail"). The man owning the farm, who is well known as one who treats his hands fairly well, even going the length of morning tea to all, offered £3 a week to a general man, with a house, the milk of one cow, and the use of a. section of ground large enough to return a good profit on labour if planted in potatoes. The gentleman demanded £3 a week, a house with hot and cold water, a garage' for his car, and tho milk of two cows. Ho has not got it, but it is strange that, as far as is known, neither has the farmer yet secured a suitable man at his figure. .

Few people have any conception of the volume of postal business transacted at the military training camps. At the Featherston" Camp Post Office, for instance, for the eleven months of 1916, during which it was open 1,012,380 letters were posted, and newspapers, parcels, etc., bring iip the total number of articles posted to. 1,134,140. Most people would think the men receive more letters than 'they write, but as a matter of fact they sont away during last year 55,330 more letters than th.ey received. In the case of'parcels, however, the bal?.r.ce is heavily on the other side. While the- men sent nwav the goodly totnl of 12,700 parcels they had the •joy of receiving r.o fewer than 74,820, an average of over 200 per day. With these figures it .is not surprising to be told that the Foatherston Camp Post Office ranks fifth in the Dominion in point of business done. This information is gleaned from "Tho Camp Record," a 112-page illustrated booklet just issued, describing every department of work in the Featherston Camp.

One gratifying fact connected with Wednesday's mayoral and municipal elections is that the emphatic rejection ■of Mr. M'Combs has had the effect of enabling. Christchurch to recover some of its lost reputation for sanity and good sense (says the "Lyttelton Tim.es"). It was getting a very unenviable oharacter throughout ;the Dominion for being tlie home of "cranks" and freakish politicians, and when, in the very crisis of the war, a party was actually found mad enough to attempt to "go hack upon" conscription, some of pur friends in other centres began to think we must be hopeless. . Tho result of the elections should now convince : everybody that the cranks and the disloyalists are reallj a very small section of the community, who made up in clamour what they, laoked in numbers arid influence, and so deceived even some of those who, living on the spot, ought to have known better,

Robert Male, who was admitted to the Wellington Hospital on April 21, suffering from a fractured skull, sustained through a fall from some stairs in Sydney Street, died in the institution yesterday. An inquest- will- b& held. Male had relatives in.Great Britain.

There has been considerable trouble among sheep lately in Cheviot and neighbouring districts due to what- is commonly described as "staggers." The trouble seems to be confined to sheep on grass lands, and as.consMfi* able numbers are affected at onoe ; it would appear to be diatet'c. Sufficient deaths occur to ma-ko the losses considerable. With a view to remedying the trouble, Mri G. W. Forbes, M.P., has telegraphed to the Secretary of Agriculture asking that an officer should be sent down to investigate.

A peculiar indication of trading conditions in Britain k afforded by advices that English sari, will be obtainable in larger quantities. before long. Owing to the demand for munitions, export trade in. nianuf aotared merchandise is being greatly restricted, and, with less ordinary merchandise available for a return cargo, Bhips are more ready to fill up with conimbdltws like salt, whioh are obtainable in quantity. "There have been several discussions between' representatives of the Racing Conference (says the Wellington correspondent of the Auckland "Star ) and a committee of the Cabinet in regard to the proposal for the reduction of race meetings. Twthmg has been allowed to transpire- concerning the proceedings, but it is understood the committee is now preparing a scheme for submission to the representatives of the conference at a meeting to be held here in a fortnight's time. As far as can be gathered the delegates have agreed that it is .desirable to effect some reduction during the course of the war. One of the roam problems before them is whether the metropolitan or the country programmes shall be cut down, and on this point they are reported to.be about equally, divided In the meantime the Minister of Railways is simplifying;the position by Sing travelling faci ites to meetings that interfere with his own reduction scheme. . ._ The new motor 'bus which has been built to the order of the MiramarBorough Council tq act as the connectine link between Seatoun and Worser and Karaka Bays haa been completed, and will commence running.' a regular service between-the tram terminus at Seatoun and a point northward of the Karaka Bay Wharf .to-morrow. Ihe roadway between the two points is an a very good state at present, and it is anticipated that the new service will be the best that has ever been- provided to date.