LOCAL AND GENERAL

Dominion, Volume 15, Issue 12, 8 October 1921, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL

The Postal authorities have been advised that a mail was dispatched from London for New Zealand on October 4, per Westmeath, via Panama. Advice from Sydney states that the- s.e. Mahono sailed at 4 p.m. on October 5 for Auckland. .She carries a small mail for Wellington and tho south. Late on Monday afternoon we received a telephonic communication purporting to come from the Defence, Department stating that Captain R. Miles was severing his connection with the Department to°go farming ,at Temuka. The source of the information was sought and given as the Defence Department, the. speaker stating that he would like a personal paragraph to the above effect inserted. It now seems that tho message, was a silly hoax, as the statement which «I>peared was the first thing of the kind Captain Miles lad heard. We apologise for the. mistake made, and trust that it will have caused no groat inconvenience to the officer referred to. Cases of pirrse-snatching on the trams, particularly at busy junctions, continues to be reported. Only recently ft young lady (who is in receipt of an allowance of money) boarded a tramcar with two months’■allowance in a purse, which she bad slipped into her 'bag. When at length she secured a seat on the crow de car she felt for her purse, to find, to her dismay, that it was gone.. Signor Antonio Notariello, the Italian tenor returned from Christchurch on Thursday, after .a, most successful season there under the auspices of the Christchurch Roval Musical Society. Signor Notariello, who was engaged to sing concert items after the three performances of "The Golden Legend,” was on the programme for three items each night but lie was so insistently encored that he was obliged to give as many as (waive items In the one evening before the audience would permit him to retire. The concerts were very largely attended and aroused great enthusiasm, the season being one of the most the societv has ever held. Miss G. Wat kins, of AVellington. acted as accompanist: to Signor Notariello.

Tho citv engineer (Mr. W. H. Morton) has started a gang on the widening of the Evans Bay Road Immediately to tho north of tho PaFeil’t flp. The sudden swerve in the road from that point, to the slip rails is awkward and dangerous to traffic, and the TemovrtfTif part or the bluff at the corner sTiouTd give a clearer view ahead from both sides. A heavy fall of snow is reported from Hanmcr. The sodden state of tho grounds after recent heavy rain has necessitated a postponement of the opening of (ho Canterbury cricket, season.—Press Assn. Tho Ist Battalion Band will play at Island Bay at 3 p.m. to-morrow.

'This week’s Gazette gives the Wellington City Council authority to raise £10.000.' being part ot tho loan of £501,913 authorised by the ratepayers tn connection with the improvement of the water supply- The Mayor (Mr. R. A. Wright, ALP.) explained that the money has been secured from the Government Advances Department. It will ho expended in connection with the work now proceeding at Orongorongo. Under the auspices of (lie Self-deter-mination for Ireland League, -Mr. Hall Skelton, of Auckland, will deliver a lecture at the Paramount Theatre on Sunday evening on the Irish question from a Protestant point of view. Particulars are advertised.

Mr. F. K. Hunt, SAI., held an inquest yesterday touching tho death of John Casey, an old man, who was found hanging on his farm nt Ngaio on Thursday afternoon. Evidence was given that C’nsey had been unwell for some time, and the Coroner found that he committed suicide by hanging. During the term of the "Made in New Zealand Exhibition,” n question will be raised as to the possibility of having similar exhibitions, perhaps on a smaller scale, in other parts of the Dominion. The opinion is said to be gaining ground among manufacturers that it is necessary to continue vigorously to impress New Zealanders with the quality of their own country’s goods. This subject of the "focal make” is receiving much attention in Australia at present. A correspondent of a Sydney paper has advocated •he establishment of a permanent industrial exhibition in Sydney. “Of course,” the writer remarks. “I quite appreciate the fact that we could not 1 attempt anything on a big scale, but I do maintain that much good would result, to the whole of the country’s industries if we had sav. in Sydnor, a building which we ’could call ‘ 'Australian Industries House.’ wherein we could fittingly dis--I'lav a representative collection of tho goods made here.”

The Court of Appeal yesterday granted ». rule nisi relative to the hearing of ii.i application by tho Auckland Law Society to have struck from the roll of legal (practitioners Arthur Cracknell, of Auckland. The hearing 1 will probably take place next week. Cracknell was a member' of the firm of Hammond and Cracknell (Auckland). Hammond died recently, leaving the financial affairs of the firm in an involved state. Some little time ago the City Council decided to set up a Works Committee. 1 The idea behind this movement was not to increase, but. rather to reduce, the number of committees, and at the same time to have a committee which would become directly responsible to the council for the carrying out of authorised works, and keep more closely in touch with works in progress. In the opinion of more than one member of the council, there is work for such a body. On many occasions, it is said, resolutions have been passed and reports adopted in- all good faith by the council, but thereafter pigeon-holed and forgotten until an interested councillor happened to remember the transaction. In this respect alone, it is believed, the_ Works Committee—the personnel of which has not yet been decided upon—will do good service to the city.

It was stated yesterday that Dr. D. Macdonald Wilson, who has been selected from twentv applicants as medical superintendent of the Wellington Hospital, was a single man. This was not correct. Dr Wilson was married in 1915 to Miss \gnes Hamilton Glen, of Cambuslang, hear Glasgow.

"Numbers of mv new friends in this country,” said Mr. T. A. Brough, of Canada, te an Auckland reporter are amused because I resent being called an American. Flease understand that I do not resent being addressed as a ‘lank for any personal reason. It is because folk are too apt nowadays to combine ths United States and Canada as one country, and call it all America. What M the use oil. Canada being a part of the British Empire if there is to be no distinction made between that first British Dominion and the United States of America?” The speaker asked earnestly that a. distinction should be made between thq two. They were separate and apart: they were both. huge countries; they were distinguished from one another upon Ihe map, so why not cistinguis i them in thought? Ho went, on to say that Canada was a sort of intermediary Let ween Britain and America. We are not so conservative as England, ho declared, "and we aro not so aggressive as U.S. A.”

“Is a. wicketkeeper a fieldsman?” A. ■telegram to this effect, sent by a Nelson. official, was read at the last meetin’ of the New Zealand Cricket Council /states the “Press”). The secretary reported that he had replied: “Yes, undoubtedly.” A member of the council said ■ it would' be interesting to know what the point was. It might be something io do with a substitute playing on tho second day.

In a letter to a friend in Hamilton, dated from New York, Mr. W Goodfellow, managing director of tho New Zealand Co-operative Dairy Company, remarks that the railway returns in the States show an improvement, states the Auckland “Star.” The general tone is more optimistic, though so far as unemployment is concerned —and' there .are ti.OOO.OM unemployed in the States—tilings look very blue for the coming winter unless manufacturing increases and some of the surplus labour is thus employed. In a further letter from Montreal, Mr. Goodfellow states that money is tight everywhere and financing difficult in both Canada and tho United States: Bankers informed him, however, that there were already signs of Improved monetary conditions, although they anticipated it would he years before trade and commerce would be anything like normal.

"Southland is from year, to year becoming more intensely cultivated," said Mr. J. E. Winsloe, organiser of the Southland Progress League, states the "Press," "as may bo gauged from the fact that this year no fewer than 40 cheese and butter factories-were in full swing, all producing a high-grade article; Those factories have proved -,u godsend, and it is due to them alone that Southland has felt the financial stringency less than any other province In New Zealand.

The sum of .£3OOO was voted by Parliament in 1920 for distribution as a subsidy to public libraries in country districts, the libraries participating in the vote being those situated in places having not more than fifteen hundred Inhabitants. The vote was distributed in March, 1921. The number of libraries participating was 295, as compared with 273 in 1920, the incomes of the libraries from subscriptions, etc., ranging from £2 to £169. The subsidies paid ranged from £~ is. io .£l3 6s. Bd., being paid at the rate of ss. 4d. in tho pound on the amount upon which subsidy was based.

Exception is taken by the Wellington Waterside Workers’ Union to a statement made by Air. V. H. Potter, M.P., that tho members held a stop-work meeting the other day “to hear a lady talk.” Mr. .1. G. Bruce, th© secretary, said that the unwn held its usual monthly stop-work meeting, and a lady representing a blind institution asked for permission to address the members. This was granted, for the union was always willing to lend a hand to those people engaged in philanthropic work. The address only lasted a few minutes. The mooting was not called for the purpose of hearing the lady, but to transact business connected with the union.

In the Auckland Supreme Court Mr. .lustice Herdman granted an application by a man for a share in his father s estate which had been gifted to the amount of £l6OO to the City Council for the maintenance and upkeep of his father’s library, which had also been gifted to the city. The applicant was T. G. A. Mackenzie. son of the late Itev. Alexunder Mackenzie. The case came before Sir John Salmond pome time ago. but. was adjourned to allow the AttorneyGeneral to bo served as representing Die public. It. was stated that the testator bequeathed the applicant only £•>■ Mackenzie was a married man with six young children, and did not enjoy good health. He had been employed as a cook. His Honour made an order for tho potitionei to receive £80(1 out of the residue of the estate. £350 to lie used to repay a mortgage on a, property at Taumarunui l>ckmging to tho petitioner, and the bala nee to be expend'd at the rate of £2 per week.