LOCAL AND GENERAL

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 117, 4 February 1918, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

The mobilisation of the Thirty-sixth Reinforcements will he begun fo-mor-row, when tho Canterbury men will arrive, and enter camp. The whole of tho mobilising is now carried out at Trentham, and the men for tho special drafts afterwards selected and Font to Featlierston. --

A string of tramcars that stretched from the Duke of Edinburgh Hotel corner to Stewart Dawson's was ( held up for a quarter of an hour on Saturday evening through the rear wheels of an' up-bound Brooklyn car taking the wrong turning at tho corner of t p ilu& and Manners Street. The jen; vr»sione tlby this difference of opinion between til" two snds of the car dnipigoo the rear wheels off the line, but vriih a little coaxing they weiv Suited back, and the service was resnaiea with a minimum of delay.

One of the concessions made to the dependents of soldiers by Parliament last session was that of making provision for the increase of.the limit- that might be granted by the Financial Assistance Boaid to men with obligations which their dependant? would /.o unable to meet while they were on active sen-ice, from £2 to £'S per week. It was intended at the time that this increased allowance should be made available , chiefly for the benefit of married men of the Second Division <i the Expeditionary Force Reserve, and perhaps for this reason the necessary regulations were not at once passed to make the increased allowance payable. Tiie regulations have now been prepared, "however, and they will be gazetted immediately. The new regulations provide also for the payment of allowances to mon whose cases, wink deserving and necessitous; do noi conic within the existing definition of the purposes for which allowances may he made. , 1 . On Saturday and yesterday tne whole of the stretch of hills on the western side of the entrance to the harbour were swept by a huge grass fire. The fire extended from a point opposito AVorser Bay down to the Pencarrow Lighthouse, which area is now black as the result of tho fire. Extensive, grass and bush fires have occurred, too, on tho AVainui hills overlooking tho AVniwetu.

Two girls who were bathing in a htyivy surf atTakapuna each, Auckland, yesterday got into difficulties. The only man in the vicinity at the time was Dr. Carrick Kobertson, and he immediately went to the rescue. Dr. ltobertson first brought one of the girls to safety, and then returned to the water and brought the second girl in. On the recommendation of the Minister of Justice (the Hon. T. M. AVilford) Cabinet has authorised the appointment of two additional Magistrates, who will bo kiiown as Relieving Magistrates. "It is quite impossible," said Mr. AVilford to a Christcluirch reporter, "for the business of the Magistrate s Courts of the country to bo carried on by the present- staff, now 'that five Magistrates are acting as chairmen of Military Service Boards. The appointment of these two Magistrates will necessitate several changes being made in the districts as at present constituted."

A Gazette extraordinary issued on Saturday contains a list of names or Government brokers who will act as agouts Loth of the Government and the sellers in tlio purchase of sheepskins. The list contains 48 names of various firms throughout the country, nnd the receiving depots nro notified, and the new scale of values is also set out._

The Hon. Arthur M. Myers, Minister of Customs, states that tho amount of Customs revenue collected throughout the Dominion for the month of January was £320,240, and tho excise beer duty £23,861. The figures for the month of January, 1917, were £304,326 and £17,523 respectively. / Tho War Tensions Board (Cokmel R. J Collins, Dr. Pollen, and W. G. Fache , secretary) returned to Wellington from tho south on Saturday. The board held sittings at various towns in the South Island, commencing at Invorcargill on January 1, working their Way tip to Christehurch and returning as above. In the Magistrate's Court on Saturday Mr. W. Ci. Riddell, S.M., delivered reserved judgment in the case in which the Inspector of Factories (Mr. G. H. Lightfoot), on bohalf of certain tenants, proceeded against J. J. Boyd to to havo tho capital values of certain properties fixed under tho War Regultions. Mr. Boyd is the owner of twelve four and five-roomed houses situate at Kilbirnio, in Onupu Road, Cruickshank Street, Cook Street, and Cockburn Street. . Tho five-roomed houses were let prior to the war at 145., nnd gradually to 165., and the fourroomed houses were lot at 125., and raised to 15s. Tho Court's duty was to fixe the capital value. In eight oases tho Court fixed tho capital value at amounts slightly above those which entitled the landlord to charge the rents he demanded, and in the remaining four cases tho capital value was slightly Teduccd, involving reduction in rent from Bs. to £4 16s. per annum. Tho capital values which were increased tin the eight properties entitle the landlord to a possiblo increase of rent of Bs. a year. Valuation fees amounting to £4 4s. were allowed the defendant and £2 2s. to tho tenants. At the hearing Mr. A. W. Blair appeared for tho defendant.

Addressing William Alfred Collins, who was convicted of stealing a pair of boots while working cargo on the k.s. Waverley, the Magistrate, Mr. 9. E. M'Carthy, said, on Saturday: "Thero appears to be a settled conviction amongst wharf labourers that they can thieve. The thieving on the wharves alone totalled £20,000 per annum. A fine won't meet this case, and you will be sentenced to a month's imprisonment."

A Press Association telegram from Auckland states that Joseph Thomas Christie, the criminal lunatic, who escaped from custody on the Mam Trunk express on Wednesday, was recaptured at noon on Saturday. Two detectives, acting on information that Christie been seen in one of the suburbs, discovered him walking tin the road. He surrendered without a struggle and was taken to the Mental Hospital. He bad been living, on poultry and vegetables, which ho had obtained from residences, and had cooked them in a Maori oven.

What is imported to have been a successful exhibition of water-divining was made on the Maitai Bowling Club's green, Nelson, on Wednesday, by Mr. Miller, of Hawke's Bay. The "Mail" states that in the course of his exhibition Mr. Miller discovered that there was a stream of running water beneath tho south-western portion of the green. He did this by means of fencing-wire. Taking i> stout piece of wire, he bent it into a lialf-cirelo, and then approached tho spot beneath which the water was running. When he got above the water the wire took charge of the demonstrator, and after a lively few seconds, Mr. Miller got away from tho watery zone, when it was seen that the wire had tout itself tightly round each of his arms, and in a way that would have taken a strong man a considerable time to dp. The presence of water was also, demonstrated by Mr. Miller with the more familiar twig.' "NO RUBBING" Laundry Help, Iβ. "GOLDEN RULE" Soap, Is. 3d. "GOLDEN RULE" Candles, Iβ. Ideal for family uso, Hill Bros., Cuba Street.—Advt.

Speaking of tlio'futnre of the West Coast the Mayor of Christchurch (Mr. H. Holland) said that he thought the possibilities opened up by the completion of railway connection were tremendous. The saving on coal sent into Canterbury alone' would amount to thousands of pounds a year, owing to the fact that the coal would bo less broken up in transit.

At a meeting of the School Committee's Association, held in Chnstclmreh on Thursday night, it was stated that in England and France the age for compulsory attendance at school had been raised to eighteen, whilst m Germany efforts were- being made to raise it to twenty-one. The .opinion of tho meeting wns that the. ago in New Zealand, namely, fourteen, was too low.

The Hon. T. M. Wilford (Minister of Justice and Marine) on Thursday interviewed Mr.' F. Kibblewhite anrl Mr. Leslie MaeArthur, of Christchurch, on the subject of the proposed solnr salt works, and with them visited Sumner and New Brighton, and inspected the locality suggested for the works. After inspectinc the site the Minister stated that on December 21 he had agreed to tlie extension of the suggested area of 100 acres to 200 acres, provided that' such extension was approved by the Lyttelton Harbour Board. The board will hold its meeting on February 6, and in the event of its agreeing to the extension the . Minister will recommend for the approval of Cabinet the setting aside of the larger area.

Mr. C. 11. Howarth, civil engineer, of Wellington (late of Wanganui), is visiting Gisborno to report on the deviation of the Turangamii River, which will, it is believed) overcome the silt trouble.

A Press Association telegnm from Napier states that the Swan Memoria. Children's Paddling Pool lras <pened hv the Mayor (Mr. H. Hill) ci; Saturday afternoon. The pool is a new departure in beach attractions, and_ is built in concrete, with an area of "CO square yards and a depth ur> to eighteen inches. The completed cost will be about £1000.