LOCAL AND GENERAL

Evening Post, Volume XC, Issue 55, 2 September 1915, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Replying to a question by Dr. A. K. Newman as to whether he would introduce legislation this session to prevent aliens from acquiring land for ( military purposes as has been done in, Belgium and Great Britain, the Prime Minister states that he has referred the question to the Crown Law Office for advice; and, if necessary, legislation would be introduced to prevent alien enemies from acquiring land in this Dominion. To help to make our wounded soldiers more comfortable under their trying circumstances, the Scottish. Society, at a meeting held last evening, decided that some of its lady members and others are to meet each, troopship on its return to Wellington, and distribute comfort* to those who are temporal-fly detained on board. It was also decided to give a euchre party next week to further this object. "I want to talk about our Chief, who has gone over to the other side of th© House," said Dr. Thacker, in the course of a eulogy of Sir Joseph Ward, in fchft House of Representatives last evening. "He has already shown he is going to be of great assistance to the other side of the House. Some day we expect that our Leader 1 will come back, and when he does come back he will not talk Toryism, Conservatism, or Reform. . . . And I hope at no far distant day he will be Leader of the House right out." ' ' Does the Government propose to establish a permanent Board of Trade and Commerce, as recommended by -the Select Committee set up to deal with shipping matters in 1914? is a question that Mr. C. A. Wilkinson (Egmont) has asked the Prime Minister. Mr. Maesey has replied that business arising out of the war has interfered somewhat with the consideration of this matter, but the Government intends to introduce legislation on the subject as soon, aa practicable.

Just at present a spirit of forbearance hovers over the Government benches of the House of Representatives. Its presence was observed yesterday. Select Committee reports were presented to the House, and Labour members proposed that they be referred back for further consideration. They showed a disposition to go to, a division, and under ordinary conditions a division of this sort would be accepted with equanimity. Th» proposal, however* was not challenged by the Government, and the petitions were referred again to the Committee. A belated echo of the strike resounded in Parliament yesterday afternoon. It originated from a petition made by a Hamilton resident, who had lost a saddle and bridle during the industrial trouble 'which necessitated the calling out of special constables. The Committee which dealt with the petition recommended that .it should receive the favourable consideration of the Government. Mr. P. C. Webb objected to the recommendation, and moved that the petition be referred back to the Committee. Mr. Sbung (Waikato) said that these petitions showed the fallacy of the Govern-, ment handing over control to irresponsible committees at the time of the strike. Mr. Forbes and Mr. L. M. Isitt supported the recommendation to refer the petition back to the Committee. Mr. Veitch said he had read in the press that considerable loss was experienced by the Citizens' Defence,, Committee in connection with the special constables, and by grafting the application the Government would be establishing a precedent for making iteelf responsible for all the losses. Mr. J. M 'Combs said that if the Government had not authorised the expenditure it could not be held responsible; if it had, then it should say co and pay up. The report was referred back to the Committee for further consideration. Four other similar petitions were also referred back to the Committee for further consideration. When punishing two young men in Auckland for breaches of their probation orders, Mr. Justice Cooper remarked that it was important that it should be fully understood that a breach of a probation order by the commission of a serious offence rendered a person liable to imprisonment in respect of the offence upon which he had been admitted to probation (reports the Herald). The effective administration of the First Offenders' Probation Act depended upon the fact that the Court had that power, because, otherwise, the admission of aa offender to probation would mean an escape from all punishment il he committed any offence during the period of his probation. He could not allow that, and the principle and spirit of the Act must be preserved. In the case of Charles Henry Martin, who admitted committing forgery during the term of his probation on a similar offence, his Honour passed a sentence of six months' imprisonment, to run concurrently with a sentence of six months already being served. Fred Spencer, who had been admitted 'to two years' probation after an offence of breaking and_ entering, committed an assault causing actual bodily harm. For that breach of his probation order his Honour inflicted a sentence of six months' imprisonment, to run concurrently with a term of eighteen months' imprisonment in connection with the assault. ' Some interesting comments on the Welsh miners' strike (now happily ended) were made by Mr. T. E. James at a meeting of the Welsh Society last night. The real issue, he contended, had been over, looked — probably on account of the brief nature of the cables published in New Zealand. In his speech of February last Mr. Asquith referred to the increase in the cost of living, but did not suggest a remedy. Until that time, some six months after the war started, there had been no industrial disputes in Great Britain. From the start of the war miners and .other industrial workers worked with splendid patriotic enthusiasm and' increased the average output very considerably. Then they began to discover that the owners and employers were making very mnch larger profits than ever before as a direct result of their enthusiastic efforts. The miners, among others, consequently " kicked " and asked for an increase of 20 per cent, on their wages, on the ground of the increased cost of living and that it was not right that the employers should be permitted to make undue profits on account of the war." There had, said Mr. James, be.en some talk about, the miners' lack of patriotism. That was . unjust. There were 225,000 miners serving at the front, and the result of their enlistment was that the output of coal had decreased by three millions tons a month. Mr. James was accorded a hearty vote of thanks for his interesting paper. Happily, •^writes the Ashburton correspondent of the Lyttelton Times, pes-' simists among agriculturists are few, and' the great majority of the farmers are by no means apprehensive at the present time in respect of the comparatively long spell of dry weather which has been experienced in this part of the province. Rain is certainly much needed, but' with a good downpour within the next three weeks Nature will speedily right herself, and, as the bulk of the cereals have been sown under exceptionally favourable conditions, moisture should soon bring about a vigorous and healthy growth of the young wheat and oat plants. Recognising the need there will be for a large exportable quantity of grain to assist in meeting the demands of the Imperial Government, farmers have been strenuous in their efforts to bring under cultivation as large an area as possible, and the fine weather that has prevailed during the past three months has materially assisted them in successfully carrying out their_ patriotic otiject. Wages have been increased, and many farmers themselves, who in ordinary circumstances had no' occasion to return to active agricultural life, are exerting themselves like Trojans, so that, in spite of the scarcity of labour, as much land as possible may be sown in cereals. As a result of the special effort put forth, many farmers propose sowing double the acreage they have had under white crop in any ordinary year, and it is safe to estimate that when the spring varieties of grain have been sown the total area under cereal crop will be the largest that has ever been recorded in the history of the .country. The winter crops have made satisfactory progress, and look "promising notwithstanding the dry weather. At Auckland yesterday, flowers were sold in the streets by> ladies of the Patriotic League, with the result that £780 was collected for the provision of winter waistcoats for the troops. The question of staff holidays will ! be discussed at the meeting of the City j Council to-night. The Prime Minister has informed the Wanganui River Trust that the sum of j £500 which he promised for the clearing away of the obstructions in the river will Be available at an early date. The Afihbnrton Borough Council is obtaining £1750 from Mr. Andrew Carnegie for the establishment of a public library.

Various sports bodies interested in the subject had intended waiting on the City Council to-night in reference to proposed alterations to the Basin Reserve. It has, however, been found necessary to defer the matter until the next meeting of the council. , A young woman, twenty-two years of age, was charged to-day with stealing on 29th August a petticoat, value 7s 6d, the property of another young woman who had occupied the same bedroom with her. Inspector Hendrey stated that accused was a first-offender, and her mistress spoke highly of her character. Mr. Cooper, S.M., said that he was sorry to see a young girl like the accused in such a position. She would be convicted and ordered to come up for sentence when called on, and to pay 4s costs, the petticoat to be returned to the owner. " Nothing venture, nothing win " was the motto which prompted thirty-one members of the Veterans' Home at Auckland to petition Parliament for the old age pension in addition to their military pensions of £30. The Petitions Committee reported the petition to the House of Representatives, and recommended favourable consideration for it. One or two. of the member* urged that i the thing was impracticable^ because of the added expense to the country, and i proposed that it be 'returned to the ComI mittee for reconsideration. Other mem- 1 ! bers pleaded for the veterans,, and an j amendment hostile to the petitioners was lost and the report adopted. . The riectrio lighting scheme for the | Waimeas, Nelson, is proving a success. The current is generated from the Waii roa River, and 1000 lamps are now in use. The Nelson Mail states that some [ 30 miles of electric wires have now been put up, and about 250 poles. The extension for Stoke is proceeding, the poles ! having, been laid, and a, gang of men is engaged in erecting them. The cable for the extension arrives in Wellington on the 7th September. So popular is the light becoming that the extension to Wakefield has now been definitely arranged, and an order for the cable to be sent from England is in band, and iii is hoped to have this going by next winter. Negotiations are also proceeding to arrange for a further extension to Tahuna. The Wanganui Ministers' Association is concerned over the statement of the Minister for " Internal Affair© that the Government would consider opening the door a little wider to patriotic associations in the matter of holding, art unions, and it has passed a motion as follows : — " That this association respectfully prefers ite emphatic protest against such a procedure as being essentially unpatri-otic;-that we are convince* that under the subtle mistake that the end justifies the means, many have already begun the gambling habit by investing in patriotic art unions ; that we urge upon the Legislature the incongruity and .wrong of prostituting the holy cause of patriotism to the encouragement of the vicious principle of gambling that is already proving such a serious menace to the homes and the lives of our people." Not by drilling and shooting alone is the Island Bay unit of the National Reserve demonstrating the value of organisation. The huge quantity of drift wood which was recently stranded on the beach gave one moving spirit an excellent idea, which was put into operation within a very few hours. The unit turned out on the first Saturday .after the idea had got abroad, enlisted teams of horses, carts, and l drivers, loaded the carts .with the drift wood, and carted it up to the Home of Compassion, the Levin Home, and the Presbyterian Orphanage. Since then they have carted up many more loads, and in the case of the Home of Compassion and the Orphanage they have wielded the cross-cut saw and the axe and the wedge to such effect that those institutions have a supply of fuel that will last them for a very, long time. Reserved judgment was delivered today in the Magistrate's Court by Mr. W. G. Riddell, S.M., in a .building claim dispute at Brooklyn, in which the plaintiffs were the C. and A. Odlin Timber and Hardware Company, Ltd., and Stuart Johns, the defendant Arthur Johns, brother of one of the plaintiffs. The plaintiffs claimed the sum of £31 7s 6d, balance alleged to be due for fowlhouse, fencing, and other extras carried out at defendant's request. The contract price was £45r75, and £465 18s had been paid, £14 11s being on account of extras. The building and fencing had been inspected on 2lst July, 1914, and full payment made for the building on 30th July, 1914. On the 7th July defendant wrote to plaintiffs, complaining of the amount charged for extras, but no complaint was made about the roughcast (which, it was alleged, during the hearing, had fallen down). His Worship gave judgment for £11 8s 7d and £3 18s costs. In reference to the case recently reported from Eltham, in which a tunnel was made under the Bank of New South Wales and other business premises, the Eltham Argus remarks:— "ln 1912 a similar case occurred at Muriwillumbah, New South Wales, but in this case the thief, a half-caste aboriginal named Jakes, succeeded in effecting an entrance. The premises concerned were the Commercial Bank of Sydney, and were situ«te in the main street (Tweed-street). A tunnel had been constructed underneath the banking premises and was discovered by the poSce about ten days before an entrance wat made into the bank. The place was guarded every night, and several police were waiting inside the bank premises to give the culprit a fitting welcome. Jakes had laid his plans very carefully, and when he considered he had chipped enough of the floor of the strongroom away he blew the remainder away with dynamite. Crawling up into the strong room he met a different sight from what he had expected to see, for he was immediately confronted by a policeman who arreeted him there and then. Jakes made two or three attempt* to escape while awaiting trial, but all were unsuccessful, and he w«fe- sentenced to a long term of imprisonment at Darlinghurst Supreme Court, Mr. Justice Tooth occupying the judicial bench. * Owing to the increase in the cost of materials the Christchurch City pouncil has increased the price of culverts in front of private properties from 5s to 10s per foot. Legal argument in the case concerning the powers of the Public Trustee as administrator of the T. G. Macarthy estate was concluded before his Honour Mr. Justice Hosking yesterday afternoon. His Honour reserved his decision. For breaking insulators a boy, eleven yeajs of age, was sentenced at the Juvenile Court this morning by Mr. D. G. A. Cooper, S.M., to receive six strokes of the birch.