LOCAL AND GENERAL

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 76, 22 December 1917, Page 8

LOCAL AND GENERAL

A whale about '22 feet long has been washed ashore at the Run Round, Ohiro Bay.. The whale appears to have been dead'for some little time. A considerable number of people went out from town yesterday to see the unusual sight. The Dental Corps, which attends to the teeth of the "New Zealand soldiers, has now been in existence for two years. Tho work of tho dentists in tho training camps during the year ended November 30, is summarised as follows: —Amalgam restorations, 2152; amalgam fillings, 66,J26: cement fillings, 1392; root fillings, 9759: scalings, 6550; extractions, 25 ; V24; full dentures, 4694; partial dentures, 6188; repairs to dentures, 1266. The Union. Steam Ship Company announced yesterday that passenger accommodation on -the Mararoa, sailing to-nigbt, Monowni to-moriow afternoon, and Maori on Monday night fer Lyttelton hns been fully booked. The position is the same in the case of the Mapourika, sailing at 1.30 n.m. to-day for Picton and Nelson.' On Monday the Pateena will make two trips across Cook 1 Strait from Wellington. At noon she will sail for Picton onlv,' and it 10 p.m. for Nelson only. Berths for either port may still be booked. The regulation of not avowing anybody but passengers on tlio Kerry Whavf at the. time of a .vessel's departure, lias been 'adopted with a most beneficial offect. '.n the past the large number ofpeoplo on the wliarf lias delayed tlio dispatch of steamers, and this trouble lias been overcome by excluding people who aie not passengers. Mr. F. V. Rutherford, of Featberstoii. who has led so many of tile New Zealand reinforcement drafts in tlie march over the Riimitaka Range,- has received the following letter from the Queen's secretary:—"l am commanded by tlie King and Qnecn to acknowledge receipt of and to thank you for the copies of your souvenirs of the soldiers' mascot which vou have been kind enoueh to send for the acceptance of Their Majesties."

There havo been eleven bankruptcies in Wellington during the ' year now closing. The number of petitions filed last year was six. During tho current month, there were two, whereas last December there were no bankruptcies. Tho occupations of the persons and firms whose estates were placed in tho hands of the' Official Assignee during the year were as follow:-—Foreman, storekeeper, pastrycook, builder (two), photographer, baker, settler, engineer, bootmaker, and plasterer. '' In reference to tho cases recently reported from England/ in which dealers were heavily fined for selling potatoes at more than tho fixed : maximum . prices, a lady resident in H-awera lately received a" letter in which the following paragraph • occurred ''Georgewas fined £5300 and £2(0 costs at Spalding, and sat down f and' wrote out 3. cheque for the amount in .'Court-; Dad calculated his dealings, .'and said lie had made £20,000. He-is a good fellow, and is tho pioneer of potato growing in the Marshes. He is 74 years of age-" A- sensational episode, from which a lesson may bo learned,' occurred in Albany Street, Dunedin, last Monday morning (says the ''Star'-). A horse attached to a baker's cart,with the blind unreasoning of his kind, took it into his head to bolt full tilt towards Castle Street and threatened .to collide with a tram at the intersection. A gentleman who saw tl.o danger was nonplussed for a time, then remembered having read that even a distraught horse might be stopped. it faced with an open umbrella..Ho tried the experiment. Stepping into the middle of the road, ho expanded h:s ■nmhrella rapidly in the animal s face, with the result that the -mad career was suddenly checked, the horse apparently having struck something entirely new. The--gentleman concerned is of oninion that'the adventure should 'be published, as the experiment may lie successfully tried on 6ome other occasion. The. provision of the licensing law for the closing of hotel bar?, at 6 0 clock led to an unexnpeted' and far-reaching effect at Pultekohe (sn.ys the ; N«nv Zealand Herald"). In preparation for a smoke coneprt. tendered as a iniewell to a resident, a quantity of alcoholic liquors had been provided.. Intimation, however, was received by i Lho promoters from the local police that at nnv gathering held off licensed premises the old-established -pr« Aim of consuming liquor naid for out of the general fund would be no longer permissible. ' A cifc of a- rare and valuable book has been made, the Canterbury Lolloge Library by Mr. P. L Cowhshaw. The voluino in question is:* firstl <<11-'iSrioJil-ii,'«» "TTi ß toi-io of nf Kmg Homv VII. written down by Vcrulain. Viscount St. A r bn , ns -p w' t n Adams, chairman ol the Canteiimrv' College. Board of ( | o, , prn " l stated that the librarian had moiionnewl the book to he of-great value, not only on account of lts.iautv.U also for the reason that it is 111 an ex ceilcnt state of preservation. 'lL Base Records Office announces that 3/819 Sergt.- Lindsay Stevenson, NZ M C., Fcathcrston, 'died at Jaihapo Hospital on Thursday: Tho certified cause of death has not been reported yet. | ' With reference to an announcement by Mr. C. Y. l r ell, chairman of the Board of Governors of Nelson College, at the annual prize-giving, that the oldstandinc difference between Nelson ana Wellington Colleges in connection with the gvmnastic competition had been removed, the Nelson College Old Boys Association at its last meeting passed a resolution expressing its great satisfaction that the dispute had beeli amicably settled and congratulating the principal of each college on the happy termination of the incident, lhene\is that tlie difficulty lias been smoothed over will bo received with great satisfaction by many old ftelson collegians and old Wellington collegians.

At tlio quarterly meeting of the lini'ton Plumbers' Union, bold ]» }' 16 Trades liall this week, tho following motion was carried unanimously: "That this union desires to enter us most emphatic protest against the action of several of the inaster plumbers in Wellington in compelling their employees to take ten days' holiday atChristmas. This action wo consider is tantamount to a lock-out of all employees for that period, and we are quito unable to understand how the omplovers square their action with their evidence beforo tlic military appeal boards when they staled' 011 oath that it .is impossible to got plumbers sufficient tn moot tho sanitary requirements' of the cHy," ■ ■

At tlio Juvenile Court yesterday Mr. S. E. M'Carthy, S.M., committed to a receiving homo seven children whoso parents were in indigent circumstances and unable to support tlio children. In the Magistrate's Court yesterday, before Mr. S. E. M'Carthy, S.M., Thomas Jones and Mattco Sarciclnvere each lined 10s. and costs for failing to send their children to school regularly. The sports of the Thirty-third Reinforcements, which were to liavo been concluded yesterday, have been postponed until Thursday next. The annual'-Dominion Conference of the Women Teachers' Association will open in Wellington on Monday, December 31, at 10 a.m. The New Zealand Natives' Association lknd will plav selections at Newton Park to-morrow afternoon. The members of the Prisons Board have returned to Wellington after visiting various gaols in the South Island.This board, of which Sir Robert Stout, the Chief Justice, is chairman, is entrusted with the administration of tho probation system that is in operation in- the New Zealand All prisoners are entitled to como before the board when it is making its visits to the gaols, and. the board _ has fairly wido powers for the modification of sentences in cases where the prisoners have given v evidence of good conduct and good intention. It has recently been given power to recommend probation in the cases of prisoners who were sentenced originally-to more than two years' imprisonment, and who have served half their sentences. The board dealt with some cases of this nature. It, had eighty prisoners before it at the Invercargill Gaol, which is used as a reformative prison. A meeting of the committee of the Onslow Horticultural Society to deal with the results of the recent flower show considered in relation to the general operations of the society, was held at'tlio Khandallah Public Hall on Thursday. Before proceeding to business tho committee passed a vote of sympathy with Captain and Mrs. M'Arthur in the. recently reported death, from wounds received in Palestine of their second son, Sergeant, Charlie M'Artliur. Tho net, nrocceds of tho show amounted to £17 os.

At the conclusion o.f the Gladstone School nir.nic, which was held under favourable weather conditions on Tuesday, Miss Ina M'Gregor, on behalf of the scholars, presented the head teacher, Mr. M. H. Dixon - , A.C.P., with a travelling ease, as a. token of their esteem and pood wishes. Mr. J. Strand, of Glen side, on behalf of the parents and friends, presented Mr. and Mrs. Dixon with a travelling rue;; and expressed their appreciation of the_ active nart taken by Mr. and Mrs. Dixon in all patriotic and other public affairs during their two vears' residence in.the district. Mr! Dixon, who was formerly an assistant master at Wellington" College for six years, has received an annointment under the Education Board as senior instructor 111 agriculture and allied sciences. . A generous resoonse is being made to the Y.M.C.A.V appeal for. books and magazines for the soldics. UlO large box outside the. Post Office receives a regular stream of qood. readable literature. The Y.M.C.A. desires to thank all donors for their • puts, and asks that when citizens have read their holiday books and magazines they should drop them in the "Red Triangle" box for the "boys." A series of theft have recently been committed in Sydney banking chambers, the similarity of circumstances in all the cases suggesting that they havo all been committed by the same persons. The thieves have been operating among the customers at the receiving tellers' desks, and from the remark .which one of the confederates r.t- ---' tracts 'the'' attention of the " intended victim the' police hav<S designated Jie thieves the "excuse-nie^-'gang.-A\ hilo a young woman- was waiting' at the counter in the. Bank of Australasia, a. stranger drew her attention to a. 10s. note on the floor, suggesting that she had dropped it. She picked it up, and then discovered that £36, which was at-her elbow, had gone. An officer ot the Sydney Council went to the_head office of the Bank of New South \Aales with about £5000 to deposit. He was at tho counter arranging his slips prioi to paying in the,money, which, for the most part, consisted of bundles of ii-W in rotes, when something attracted Ins attention. Glancing round lie notinqd a £1 note on the floor, close to lus feet. He stooped down and picked it up, and when lie checked his money a few minutes later■ ho discovered that ono of tho bundles of notes was missine This class of theft originated in Melbourne a few months ago, when a mail was robbed of £100, and it is thought likely that tho men responsible for that theft- aro now operating in Sydney. Apparently two men are doing the work. One of them places 'the note on tho floor of the bank, in as soon as ho has attracted the attention of "the depositor to it lus T;^ e r ate commits the robbery - .and -slips away. . ' ' • . "Evidences of the wholly exceptional season that haß been experienced this year in Central Otago continue to be seen in that district (says the Otago Times") Everywhere the appearance of the grass is better than it I.as been for probably upwards of twenty years, ancl tho growth altogether cclipsos that of tho-previous few years, Ihe cereal crops, too, aro mostly good, and aro already giving promise of a- satisfactory Yield;"but some that were sown during tho wot spring are not flourishing particularly, well. Right rhron-hout the season there has been a succession of showers at intervals of a .ew dajs, and this stato of aftairs has produced tho best possible conditions for Central ot;i'jo. Lucerne, in the places uhero it has been tried, is giving most- encouraging results, and this yea. tin r is an especially good crop. Tn 1 « Roxburgh and Alexandra cishi-ts the fruit prospects seem excel eiit. i * trees- look particularly health.., ana have been watered without shel newssity of resorting to a rt,fic ' a - I^ r jS on ' The fruit is also clean and plentitul.