LOCAL AND GENERAL

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 85, 3 January 1918, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Tho working gangs on the Otira Tunnel aro now within 28 or 30 chains of meeting. Some 30 or 40 weeks will yet elapse, however, before they are through. No bankruptcies were registered in Wairarapa during the month of December. states a Press Association report. For bookmaking while employed in_an Auckland hotel bar Leslie Stebbing was fined £30.—Press Assn. At a mooting of tho Palmerston Worth Chamber of Commerce a resolution was passed that in the opinion of the chamber tho closing; of the flaxmills for tho purpose of providing labour for the harvesting was unwise, unnecessary, and impracticable, and that tho views of tho chamber in detail be forwarded to tho National -Efficiency, Board, with a- request that before any Ration he taken representations from the chamber, the Now Zealand Flaxmillers' Association, and the Flaxmill Workers' Union be invited to give evidence in the matter.—Press Assn.

It is reported by mnil that . tho British Government will shortly introduce a Bill to regularise and legalise tho requisitioning of shipping {or other than, military purposes. An action was recently taken against the Government by two well-known ship-owners to test the power of tho Government to requisition steamers for trading for profit, and the verdict was unfavourable from the Government standpoint-.'

A young Australian holding a commission in an English regiment writes to his parents in Molbourno of the courage of his Royal Highness tho Prince of Wales. He says: "During a show lately I had to spend tho night with the infantry in a very advanced position more than a mile in front of our guns. The Prince of Wales camo up to our pill-box in the morning. Ho is a wonderfully, stout-hearted youth, and . T believe they cannot keep him out of it. Ho" is snro to 'get it in the neck' some day. I believe iie would 'go over the top' if he got half a chance." In connection with the proposed wharfage facilities at Tasman, tiiu Motucka Harbour Board has decided to oreet a jetty, with a half-tide road, at Easton's Point.

A firm at Corning, Now York, is now making pie-dishes and other cooking utensils of glass, so tough that thoy can he handled like ordinary crockery and will stand the heat ol any oven. The "Scientific American" renwrns that "now every housekeeper can see what her puddings and pies look l'ka on tho inside." A whale was washed ashore on South Spit beach, near Hokitika, last Friday afternoon (says the "Guard™ )• When tho steamer Defender was :n tho roadstead tho previous evening the whale cruised about in the vicin t>. Next morning the wha e was washed ashore. It is about G4 feet long. _

" '\fter the war' is an expansive pigeon-hole into which iMumerabl matters arc being thrust (states a paragraph in an interesting review 0 tho present condition and progress of education in New Zealand, presented to tho annual conference of_ school teachers yesterday), and there is gre reason to fear that, in the period 0 reconstruction, educational roforn. will not be among tho first of the natioi a questions to be taken in hand and dealt with. The market valu® of boy and girl labour is daily increasing, and there is real danger that unless_ adequate provision is made the true interests and future prospects of the youth of tbo Dominion will be sacrificed to the opportunity of present gam. Whence arises the conviction that tlio time for summoning public attention to this vital matter is not after tho war,' hut'now." "To Bolo" is a verb that is likely to pass into the English langauge, now that peaceful penetration of a foreign country by means of cash or the giawfication of vanity has proved effective states the "Financial ). Jo Bolo" is to corrupt aii otherwise honest person, and to work towards an end unseen by an innocent helper. In fact, "Boloism" is systematised SuJ® applied to tho less admirable side ct human nature. It is contrary to reason and to the law of all other members of the Allies, m fac all countries, should be subjected neaceful penetration by corrupt influences, and that tho British Empire should he impregnable to subterranean attacks by 8010. What petrol is to an enemy submarine 8010 is to the pacifis, and the cosmopolitan imancial mo - monts against Great Britain, re i' are being made to shake the clm nco of the British public in the Treasury Ms- » nd £1 "I® 8 ?( I to ?he authorities, but the fact that IV timid holder can at onc. oton anirl for them at the Bank of En o lana discredits the statement that ties of bad notes are in circulation. How difficult an attack of this character is to defeat is shown by a correspondent of the "Financial News, who elites that on two occasions he icco)> n warning from friends of undoubted probity that counterfeit Treasury nntps were in circulation, and suppheJ £ with a list of letterings andl partirul'tT numhers. Having referred to Stank of England, lie was formed Slat there was no foundation for tho statement. .•As a citizen I regret it pro mindly, said the Premier of New South ale. (Mr TTolman) when the result of the 0 scr pf'on referendum was annouueod "Australia is now left, .amongst t whole of the flMovermng con, munities which make up the Allied Powers, as the only one which del.b- ---' XIV refuses to contribute to the struggle upon a national basis. New Zealand and Canada. France and Belgium. and all the rest, are fighting nationally. Tn Australia alone we are M tin" with such individuals as choose 0 volunteer. This decision creates a position of very nravo and serious danger for Australia's future; a clangei Sll which, when it materialises, certain l-nthcr irresponsible leaders 011 the nnti side who are rejoicing over their Pyrrhic victory, will be quite unable to help us."

Messrs. .1. M. Clarke, 11. Nicholls, J. Hooper, and W. W. Corbett, of Wellington, are endeavouring to form an Actors' and Actresses' Association in Wellington. One of tho objects of the association will bo to welcome to the city prominent actors and actresses, and so bring before tho public the educative value of the acting profession. It is tho intention also to in some way honour the memory of artists who have in their timo been at the head of their profession. A meeting will shortly ■ '"d by tho conveners.

"In Franco," said Mr. F. H. Bakewell, 11.A., Chief Inspector for tho Wellington district, in an address at the conference of the Educational Institute yesterday, '-'they apply a test to childrou whose intelligence is in question. Troughs, into which water from taps is running, are placed before the children, and tliey are asked to bail tho water out. The length of time that any child takes to see tho need for turning the tap. off is considered to bo some measure of the child's intelligence." Mr. ISakou'fll drew ail amusing illustration from the system described. Ho was speaking of the handicaps under which educators laboured. VI," he said, "have been bailing for years. During tho past year I have been bailing for dear life. It is not that we people cannot seo tho necessity for turning off the tap, but we can't reach it to turn it off. With a iiody, however, like the institute, which could point out _ essential reforms in education, and with those in authority who have the interests of teaching at heart, and are bold enough to do what you say, I believe that yon can 'turn the tap off.' and I hope you will."