LOCAL AND GENERAL

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 81, 29 December 1917, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL

The Minister'of Defence lias received advice that the first part of the Thirty-first Reinforcements has arrived-■at-a port of call "all--well." ; Members'of the Thirty-third .Rein--foreoments now' on.Christmas eave are due to return &o camp to-night, vlion a special'troop tram will leave the ■city for Trentham ' Camp. Owing to the fact that many'soldiers are duo back in camp, and in view of the many other attractions, the Mayoress and her committee have decided' that there will be'no dance at tieTown Hall to-night. . As- showing the peculiarity of the weather it might be mentioned-.{says the "Age") that mushrooms are.being gathered in the paddocks in the ■lei'jnbourhood of Masterton. An expensive gold star brooch, set with turquoises,-is now in the hands of the police, who are anxious to discover the owner. .The brooch was found in the city a little while ago. A Press Association telegram from Taumarunui states that,no further particulars are available regarding the burglary reported yesterday. . Detective Goone and the local police are still investigating the matter. During the holidays numbers of citizens and visitors to Wellington, hnv" scaled the heights' of the Tinnkon hills bv the wg-zag paths, from .finnkori Road.' Those who had novel essayed this outing-, before were delichted with the exhilaration, of the heights-and with the glorious views obtained. From the city, the ridges appear to present very steep alow.and if »ny climbers depart from tne paths they soon find ..that the distant appearance of the hills is not deceiving., In places it is literally a case of hanging 1 on. But the tracks rarely, have more-than a moderate grade iu deed hy -Wellington standards.. And jfoey load at last to the broad, strong ridge of the Tinakori chain, from which Krodnnl-descente to AVadestoj™ or Northland can be made. The way n which the thousands of trees, plants a on the slopes by the City Oounc.l, are thriving is a matter of con derable comment. In view of the bleak aspect, their flourishing appearance J striking Among them . are blueeums grev gums, red gums, bamboos, fZ 'sfcamore, and pines- The vane, ties of native veronica or konmnko predominate, however, though there ue many healthy specimens of konini Jαrika mvrtle. and rimu.. Some or tiie rees' S ho unsheltered hillsides are Valley and wide sweeps ot tooK s Strait. , . ■ •' „ ~rr. In the issue ot the ''Times , His-1 tory of the War," of September 18. which is devoted to an account of New Zealand's share in the world conflict, discrepancy occurs Very M details of the training of the New Zealand troops are given, and he writer ascribes to Featherston Cairo the wfiole of the work which for a long time was carried out at Trentham and, more recently, at Trenham and' Featherston >nthain Camp is only mentioned f sually as being the camp from which embarkation is made, as a ma,tter of fact, at the present time, the. whole. of the mobilisation of troops is ««"«*■<»* at Trenfiiam, the men for the special branches of service being selected there and drafted to Featherston.'. During the holiday season the call made upon motor-cars both private and public has been heavy; and not only were these modern . vehicles in great demand, but every typo of horsevehtcle appeared to be used to. carl} .p^nickers P to and ( from the various picnic resorts. The Hutt Boad on Boxing Day presented a study in types, old afd new, and all crowded, with happy people. The landau, once m such demand for' sunny outings, was there also the converted express and spring cart. Even the once favourite four-in-hand drag was there, with landing girls in the high box-seats and well-groomed horses reefing at their reins. .

The Rev. A. Hodgo, of the CongreBationni Church, Napier, received on .Wednesday morning a cheque for IM from Mrs. M. A. W.lhams, of Weir lintrlon, "being a donation to your church funds with my best wishes for the continued success of your ministrations." 6 ' ■. A touching story is related by. a recent visitor to the Wooroloo Sanatorium (West Australia), an institution which has been erected by the State Government. Anions the patients are somo returned soldiers suftering from pulmonary troubles. Becontlv thev became interested in a hut situated about a mile away from the sanatorium. When told that.it, was.the home of a young girl suffering from leprosy, thev immediately began to devise means'to relievo thetedium of her dreadful isolation. _ Finally , a noto was sent to-the girl. explaining tho Morse codo of .semaphore signals. These she quickly learned, and now every (lay she carries on a conversation with the soldiers by the medium of flags. ■ ' ; , .

Tho Mayoress (Mrs. .1. 1 , . I'"'";) has received from tins WiiijKiuiuiWaitotara Patriotic Annotation a cheque for £50 towards tins «x|)<!liho of the soldiers' ChrisLinii« ilinimr in camp. The Mayor (Mr. Luke), ill acknowledging the gift on behalf of tins cil.iwns, wishes publicly to thank Dm Wanganin and Vaitotara people for tlieir K«nerosity, which is highly appreciated. The association, it should be noted, sent a liberal offering _ towards tho expense of last year's dinnor.

A letter of, interest to Freemasons lms been received by Mr. W. 11. Smith, of Palmcrston Nortli, from Wor. Pro. Meldrum, of the HwiterviHc Lodi;e. His letter is dated "Palestine, October 18 J917-" Ho says: "In anticipation of being in Jerusalem before long, the Freemasons in the New Zealand Brigade have arrangements made to hold a meeting on tho site -of' King Solomon's Temple—if possible, tliougn a. 'mosque is said to cover it; at any rate as near tho site of the lemplo as wo' can «et. That in years to come will be of interest Masonically, but of course it does not .obscure the fact tn us that we have first to do some liani fighting."

■ Flielit-Lieiitenant Bmloloh dc..Lisle, son of Dr. F.' <le Lisle, of Hastings, in the course of a letter to his parents, tells of his experiences on the voyage Home. »"The first work of the doctors," lie says, "was to cure sea-sick-ness amongst a few of the men who could not recover without help.. . J lie sufferers wore dosed with bovnl ami 'brandy. The malady must have been infections, because, at nest parade, some CO men were down with mal-dc-mer. Another doctor, an old bird at the gamo, administered black draught, awl only four men were sick at the following parade—wonderful curing etfect of sonie medicines 1 Private Fitzroy Well, of the New Zealand M.G. Specialists who enlisted at Tauranga, writes to Mr. Lloyd Man ; deno from "somewhere m Prance,, under date November 1. He »nys s "Our pack, which we take with vs overvwhere, contains a complete change of winter underwear set of toiW and catin'R gear, one blanket, one oilsneet.. one greatcoat, one entrenching ten!. tW>as masks, iifl«. bayonet, and 100, oviiids of ammunition. Tftanl — back rive me all/your packuifi jobs, Sμ hi save, you 50 per. cent, -shipping charts. I believe I couMputa grand piano into a.top hat easily. I could do Wider* with a little, water. One day I was issued a pannikm-Impenn pint -full of fresh water, and m it I had a bath, cleaned' my teeth, washed a towel and two pairs of socks, and gave the remainder to my mate. The I??v K. Haddpn does not at all' acree with the notion that the Maori rocp is either declining;. in numbers 'or deteriorating: in .phjsimie. SpcakhK at a Methodist TW Mission meeting at Mannw 'the "Witness , reports), |,o snid nhilsmftropic ladies had come to" him, bewailins the approaching riisSpearanee of the Maoris. But they wore entirely wrong he said. The Maoris had increased from 40.000 to 52 0(10, their present number, and they Voorl well in the health ■ stntwlv* Their toncron* time was tli« transition from Maori to pak<*a mi custo'ms But they had passed that » Up a»H were brin ß inc up numerous, and h'ealtW families "Look at !■)<■• I«p s-iid " T have a family of, nine ch>ldr,.n. '.'Does'that look like dying Feinrich H. Markwald. who was in business in Australia for manv veaw, his heen fined £5 for hnvmir failed to M rkwald was naturalised in n IPOS, but refu-d to roaster himself in-Ktiqland. consWmns himself to he n. British subiect. The Magistrate held thnt an Australian n»ta™'» a *; on r !"x tificnte was not applicable in Great B A deputation consisting/P™ 1 ™ officers and members of -the TnapeU Agricultural .Society, waited, on Sir James Allen of Defence) on tte shawßmtids. at Lawrence he other day to protest■ against position of the amusements tax as far as it affected agricultural.shows. Mi. A 0 Leary, onfenf the. v>ce : wesidents I been present dnnng the forenoon, ' when arrangements were hemg made for LK he would have been eravLed that a,r agricultural show not an amusement, as f«r a» the c,h cials were concerned. W at the so Kwhichtherharjtopayonench shllin" charged for admission.. He ?'d rtinV that it was the intension fthttgiSure tliatsuchata, should be imposed on show so et.-S. ATr T C Browne, secretary of tlie. society, 'said he had been in commun.caol with the Stamps .Department on the subject »nd the taxing of members tickets Sir Jamos, in repiy, S the Finance Act was rot Snder his administration. Taxaton ■wm necessary in order to'carry on the I SKiArSrr« : of the Department, and have the reply conveyed to the society. A touching incident occurred at the funeral of tho late Mr. John Skmner Herald"). The Skmner. family ha. taken a great interest m the Maoris since,the very eary days and a numlore and ancient customs than the Ifiili HI! of its doing damage, and it g ~ wended its way out on the edo and was lost to view about 8 PjDisloyal utterances n^ J J certaiq proceedings at the «• I^ iisning » ~ ( m'], rco cheers for tlie Defendant was fined £ fv in G^fr icd three months , iitiprisonmen . hodti ea io i« tack ".to »»P; prisonment. . . .. ■ , ■ ■ ■ ■

A military deserter named Charles Slurrock Rumsey was arrested .by Constable O'Sliea at Port Chalmers on Monday afternoon. Ho was brought to Duiictlin and handed over to tlio military-authorities to be dealt with, A warrant had been out for llumsey's apprehension for some time past on .1 ch-ir"e it deserting from l< entherston Cam!) iihniit three, months afio (states the fem.edin "Star"). ■Hβ had given tho police a er«»t *«' of , t «« , " e ' although every effort had been mar 0 (a find him, lie had managed to evade arrest until Monday. When Rnnwey. who presented a ragged anpoarancc, at first stoutly denied Ins iitenlily. Ho said his name was Inrn-biill.-riml in support of thia.statenie nt produced a seaman's diseharßO bcaiing that name. When asked to Sign tho property sheet-at- tho. .-police «t«hon liumsey seeme<l to irsitote: and then wrote tho word ■ "TurnhoH. .Tho police, however, wcre.eonfidpnt thnt Us the man wanted, and after a too 1,0 admitted that his name was J"" , { sev The man appears to have uvea I'lonelv I'fe during tho past . three monff He bad. existed bv eamp.ng out and Bloepincin empty-houses on various parts of the Pcm-ißula, vM Port Chalmers occasionally .to .obtain food. After hii nrmrt the. ■• v»\m Found n larce sum of money m -Bun - Dunedin. ■ • ,