LOCAL AND GENERAL

Evening Post, Volume XC, Issue 70, 20 September 1915, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL

According to the Minister for Marine (Hon. Dr. R. M'Nab) complaints have been made that vessels cannot obtain crews. Speaking at the shipping companies' patriotic smoke concert on Saturday night, Dr. M'Nab said that this was due to the fact that numbers of men had enlisted. Although, as Minister of Marine, it was his duty to see that the public travelled in safety, he did not believe in keeping boats tied up idle at the wharves because there were not sufficient men available to fill all the vacant positions. It was war time, and the industries of the country must be carried on. If a vessel was hung up by inability to secure the full crew he would send her to sea with what crew she could get, provided it was safe to do so. It was recently suggested to the Post-master-General (Sir Joseph Ward) by Mr. R. Fletcher, M.P., that bundles of six newspapers should be remitted to soldiers at the front for the same charge as one paper. Sir Joseph Ward has sent the following reply to Mr. Fletcher :—: — "I have the honour to express regret that the suggestion cannot be agreed to. The present postage rate is unremunerative, the Department paying out for the i conveyance of the newspapers considerably more than it receives. The Department would have to pay just as much for the transit of the newspapers if they were in bundles, as the payments are by weight. Arrangements are in existence under which the Defence Department carries bundles of books and newspapers free by transports oonveying reinforcements to the front, and 'extensive use is made of this facility." Representations were recently made by the Auckland Chamber of Commerce to i the Post and Telegraph Department regarding the withdrawal of the privilege of leaving a cash deposit with the Department to cover telegraphic charges. The Herald states that a reply has been received from the Department stating that the privilege was withdrawn hecause the cash deposits had become so numerous as to seriously hamper the legitimate work of the Department. Tha system was introduced for the benefit of outlying settlers— that was to say, people to whom a post office was not easily accessible, and it had grown by degrees to its late unwieldly dimensions. The privilege, which had never been a right, would not have been. withdrawn had the Department not realised that ii J .| involved labour and account-keeping which was really the work of the depositors. No exception to the rule of cash deposits ac it now stood could be promised. During the early part of the Rimutaka's voyage from England the usual precautions were taken against attack from submarines. A zig-zag course was taken down the Channel, and for some distance a British airship acted as a convoy. The steamer's boats were swung out, provisioned, and ready for immediate launching, but the Rimutaka cleared the danger zone without incident. Until this was done Captain Hemming was continuously on the bridge. No domestic servants or farm labourers were included in the thirty-eight "assisted" immigrants who arrived from London by the R.M.S. Rimutaka on Saturday afternoon. All had come out to rejoin relatives. John Dowdall, better known as " Comrade " Dowdall, appeared before Mr. D. G. A. Cooper, S.M., at the Magistrate's Court to-day on two charges, one of drunkenness and the other of assaulting Percy Rodgers, licensee of the Te Aro Hotel. Defendant said he had better plead guilty to the major charge. He was so drunk that he could not control himself, nor could he remember just what happened. " You can bring what evidence you like," he said to Inspector Hendrey ,• " I can't refute it, can I? Some time ago I was unfortunate enough to meet with an accident on the Poherua, and as a result if I take a little beer it goes to my head. It was ten months since I had had anything to drink, so you can understand how it affected me." Dowdall, who was prohibited, became offensive I when he was denied a drink, and endeavoured to punish the licensee. For insobriety he was fined ss, in - default twenty-four hours in gaol, and for the assault 20s, with the alternative of three days' imprisonment. Time was allowed in which to find the money. You should pay a special visit to Messrs. Kirkcaldie and Stains, Ltd. The newest spring and summer dress materials have just beei\ opened up and present a very desirable and attractive showing. Call to-day— prices aro right.— -A<M. Summer suiting just opened up. Highgrade ready-to-wear suits at as low a. figure as £3 10s. Geo. Fowlds, Ltd., k Manner* -street .—Adyt.

The mails which left Wellington on the sth August and connected with _ the Suez despatch per R.M.S. Persia arrived in London on the 17th inst., two days late. The baton used by Bandmaster H. M'Comish at the sth Regimental Band concert in the Town Hall last night was one presented to his late father, Mr. John M'Comish, bandmaster of the 57th Regt. ("Old Diehards") by the Hobson Rifles, Auckland, in 1872. The harbourmaster at WeUington (Captain J. Dawson) states that while the work of extending the Wool Wharf is being carried out the usual light* will be 6hown. For the convenience of masters of vessels, however, a, white light will be shown from each corner at the end of the new wharf as the extension progresses. . A waterside worker named Thomas Quinn, aged about 23 years of age, who was admitted to the Hospital last Monday night as the result of an accident, died on Saturday, and' an inquest will be held at 4 p.m. on Wednesday. Whilst working on the Railway Wharf he was caught between the buffers of two railway trucks, and suffered severe internal injivfer. On Saturday evening two men named William Garner and Thomas Jackson Smith were found wandering about the passage-ways of the Empire Hotel. As they failed to give a satisfactory explanation they were arrested, and at the Magistrate's Court to-day, before HRr. D. G. A. Cooper, S.M., they were charged with attempted theft. As the charge is indictable both were remanded until Wednesday. ' No bail was applied for. "Parliament just now is a very tame affair," Baid Mr. A. H. Hindmarsh, M.P., at the shipping companies' patriotic smoke concert on Saturday evening. In a time of war Parliament was at peace. Mr. Allen was discharging his duties as' Minister for Defence welL "He has to bear all the criticism," said Mr. Hindmarsh, "because, in the opinion of members, no matter who makes the mistake Mr. Allen is responsible. " Patriotic fund? will benefit by over £100 from the smoke concert held by the combined shipping companies, Customs, and Customhouse agents on Saturday. The football with which the annual match was played was sold by auction during the evening and realised £545 17s. It was eventually knocked down to Mr. J. Findlay, New Zealand representative of the Shaw, Savill, and Albion Co., for 23 guineas. Mr. A. Jacobs was the auctioneer. The fortieth anniversary of the landing of the first Stewart special settlement party at Katikati by the Dover Castle and Carisbrook Castle, from Belfast, on on Friday at Katikati by a concert last night at Katikati by a concert, dance, jxnd banquet. Over 200 persons were present, including many members of all three Stewart special settlement and Katikati parties. Mr. Gtorge Vesey Stewartf who organised and brought out the parties, and is now eighty-three years, of age, presided over the gathering. Various aspects of the mining industry were touched upon by Mr. R., Semple, in the course of a lecture on " The Miner : His Services to the Community, and bis Reward,'-' given at the People's Picture Palace last evening. He contended that the miner was insufficiently paid and unfairly treated considering, the risky nature of his calling. At Reefton, in ten years, 118 miners had died from miners' diseases, and this heavy death toll, he asserted, was largely due to the insanitary conditions that prevailed. The Davy lamp_ had had a very bad effect on the eyesight, owing to the poor light it gave out. Surely, he urged, it was only a fair thing that the men who divided the profits without risking their lives, should 6ee that the miner worked under the ■very best conditions possible. The members of the Loyal Orange In stitution in Wellington attended yesterday morning service at the Kent-terrace Presbyterian Church. The preacher was the Rev. Dr. Kennedy Elliott. In the _, evening a number of the members of th< n institution were present at a memorial service in Everybody's Theatre, in connection with the death of Sister Alice, of the Central Mission, who was also a member of the Loyal Orange Ladies' Lodge No. 20. The service was conducted by the Rev. J. Knowles Smith, and an address was given by the Rev. J. Dawson, President of the New Zealand Methodist Conference. Selections were played by the band, under Mr. H. Baker, and by the orchestra, under Col. 0. D. Macintosh. Vocal items were contributed by Mr. T. C. Newton and the Mission Choir, the conductor of which was Mr. Watson Nelson. Colonel Malone, who was killed during the fighting on Gallipoli recently, had a great admiration for the men under his command. In a private letter just received in Stratford he wrote: "A deserter told our headquarters that ' they looked upon the fighting as so hazardous in front of Quinn's Post that they had to call for volunteers and to promote every volunteer to corporal, and that the shooting from the Post was so deadly i that- every loophole in the Turks' trench ! had been closed, and it was forbidden to use them.' It is now absolutely the safest part of our defences and the most comfortable. Generals Birdwood and Godley are both delighted and relieved, and all this is due to my men, the Wei- " lington Infantry Battalion. I can only take a little credit for the training and the inspiring of them and for Insisting on the practice of the ' domestic virtues.' In addition, I laid down one simple rule — viz., that for every shot or bomb fired or thrown by the Turks we fire or throw two. lam proud of my men. To come out of Courtenay's Post after eight days' strenuous trench-fighting, then go into Quinn's, and within eight days more settle the opposing Turks and practically turn Hell into Heaven is an achievement as great as that of any battalion. Our casualties, too, were very small. Of this I am prouder than of anything. I enjoyed the work, though it was strenuous enough, with terribly broken sleep. In four weeks we fired sixteen mines under Turkish mines, threw, say, 5600 bombs and got thrown at us, say, 2000. I leave out the rounds of rifle ammunition. We never fired the machine gun 6 (they are kept as surprise packets in case of a big attack), but got any amount of machine gun fire on to us, front and flanks. This post, you must know, is a pronounced salient, and its front trenches are mostly only about 20yds or 30yds from the Turks' trenches. The greatest distance is 50yds, the nearest syds." The latest in straw boaters, high crowns and narrow bands, also other popular shapes, just opened at Geo. Fowlds, Ltd., Manners-street.— Advt. Work good, charges reasonable, promptitude! That's our service. We pass entries, forward parcels, move furniture. The N.Z. Express Co., Ltd., 87-91, Customhouse-quay. — Adyt. "Your store is very fine, right up to date, and compares very favourably wiih those in our country," remarked a gentleman who arrived by the Maitaa a few days ago from America, while looking over C. Smith's now premises in Cubafitreet. "Those 6how windows and the magnificent lighting throughout the whole store are right up to the standard ill U.S.A." When a gentleman from another country praises the store up like that, it proves that ©. Smith's 16 tho finest shopping centre in the oity, as can also bo seen by the large crowds of eager buyers who visit the store daily, particularly thoee buying 40-inch -voile at la i <«id Is 3d a yard. — Advt