LOCAL AND GENERAL

Evening Post, Volume XC, Issue 80, 2 October 1915, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

A profitless afternoon's debate on. Select Committee reports and a solid night's work were yesterday's experience in the .House of Representatives. The Public Works Statement was laid on the table of the House in the afternoon, and in the evening the Railway Statement was also presented. The debate on the Public Works Statement -was taken in the evening, and was concluded a little after midnight. Going into Committee, tJie House then rapidly dealt with the Estimates, finally passing 'them at 2.20 a.m. Ten minutes later the House rose, the being until 2.30 p.m. cm Monday. Those gentlemen who have concerned themselves in cutting up the Basin Reserve are greatly surprised at the fact that the Lands Committee of the House should only have heard evidence from one side before reporting in farVour of the Basin Reserve Bill, and are taking steps to hold a meeting of protest. Numerous complaints have been made from time to time against the action of shopkeepers in sweeping the footpaths after half-past eight o-'clock in the morning, and thus creating a dust nuisance. There is a bylaw which says this must not be* done, but it is seldom heeded. Before Mr. D. G. A. Cooper, S.M., yesterday, Alice Tetzlaff and Robert Gordon were both charged with offending in the direction mentioned. They were each fined ss, with Court costs 7s. The Westinghouse petrol electric car, imported by the Railway Department at the close of the preceding year, has been placed in commission and utilised in running an experimental motor '#srvice between Wellington and Johnsonville, where it has provided a public convenience. The car is not sufficiently powerful to haul a trailer on the heavy gradient of 1 in 40, and for that reason steam traction has v to be resorted to whenever the passenger traffic exceeds one-car capacity. A new car of a more powerful type already on order will shortly arrive, and be placed on the Wellington-John-sonville ran, liberating the Westinghouse car for service in a locality where easier grades predominate. " I think w« should pay more attention tfco speed and' less to obtaining perfection in form," said Mr. J. S. Tennant, M.A., in the course of a paper on the teaching of handwriting read at a meeting of the Wellington District Institute, N.Z.E.1., held last night. Speed, was by far the most important — first, because when a child left school he found it almost essential to write quickly, particularly if^he entered some commercial pursuit; secondly, a fast writer had a better chance of keeping pace with his thoughts, and his writings were usually richer in ideas and more fluent in expression. Fountain pen makers, in their advertisemente, had often stressed the latter point, and psychologically the point was quite sound. There was a long procession of inebriates before Mr. W. G. Riddell, S.M., at the Magistrate's Court to-day. Men of all sorts and sizes passed in and out of the dock, and the majority looked as though they were making a bad recovery from their revelry of the night before. There were twelve statutory first offenders, though none of them looked as if they had become drunk for the first time last night. Some were still badly "muddled." Various light penalties were imposed on this motley dozen. William WEteside, who boasted two previous convictions, was fined 20s, in default three days in gaol, and John M" Vicar, Thomas Nicholson, Wm. M'Kay, and John Wickstone, for a second offence, were each fined 10s. Annie Brady was convicted and ordered to come up for sentence when called upon on a charge of being an idle and disorderly person. Yesterday, before Mr. D. G. A. Cooper, S.M., George Keenan was fined £5 for using obscene language in Taranakistreet. The prosecution was a private one, taken at the instance of James Donnelly. Ordinarily, the House of Representatives is about the least appreciative and the least encouraging audience that an average politician can address. The members are not intentionally rude, but commonly the manner" and pose of some do not inspire a legislator to flights oi oratory. This may be painful to the ambitious one, although it may not be disadvantageous to the country. The impression which a stranger may have of the Assembly may be one of rndftness. The reading of newspapers and books and the writing of letters aTe inevitable, but some members are not content with this method of passing the time while a law-maker is speaking. They whisper and talk, and occasionally this noise makes the authorised voice almost inaudible to Hansard and to the Press Gallery. Yesterday afternoon, Dr. Newman happened to be speaking, when numbers of members were in a mood for conversation. "There is too much talking," protested Wellington East's member, and he added a moment later: — "I think that Ministers at least might have the conrfcesy not to talk so loudly." The manners of the audience improved', but the whispering did not wholly cease. "The whole trend of modern education is absolutely against the use of copybooks," said Mr. J. S. Tennant, M.A., last night, during the course of an address on the modern views of teaching handwriting. "Copy-books set an ideal which is unobtainable by the child. Of course, some of you teachers will say: 'But I have a child who writes quite as well as the head lines in the copy-books.' Well, if you have a child who writes as well as that you have been wasting his time." Mr. T. "Young, barrister, Wellington, has forwarded to the Hon. A. L. Herdman a cheque for £20 for the relief of wounded soldiers. Absence of firemen caused considerable delay 'to two large passenger steamers at Wellington last evening. The Manuka was ready to sail for Sydney at 8 o'clock, but it was an hour later before the absentees returned to •their post, and enabled the steamer to sail. The Riverina was also very late in getting away for Lyttelton 'and Dunedin. For your summer costume, madam, you cannot do better 'than select Tootal's uncrushable pique, 44 inches wide in all shades at 2s 9d. For best variety and best value choose at Kirkcaldie and Stains, Ltd. Choose early ! — Advt. For a winter in Gallipoli or Constantinople your soldier friend will appreciate a "Balaclava." Call and inspect our range at 2s lid. Geo. Fowlds, Ltd., Manners-street.! — Advt.

Some strong remarks against patriotic raffles were made at last night's meeting of the Wellington District Institute, N. Z.E.1., and it was decided unanimously to endorse the action taken by the parent body. The directors of the United Farmers' Co-operative Association, Ltd., state that "shareholders will again note with satisfaction that the loss in realisation is being steadily reduced, thereby increasing the value of the shares. Wellington business is being carried on in the meantime and continues to show a profit." A young man named Herbert Carter appeared before his Honour Mr. Justice Chapman this morning for sentence on a charge of having committed an indecent act at Hastings. He had pleaded guilty. Mr. T. M. Wilford appeared for the prisoner, and called evidence of good character. His Honour granted I probation for twelve months, and ordered him to pay £6 towards the cost of the prosecution. Canterbury, on the present indications, may have a light harvest. The men will not be wanted till January, and the taking of a census now of the available men would not be of much value, for inside of four months the list might become valueless (states the Farmers' Union Advocate), as the men moved about from place to place. Some judges are inclined to think that there will not be a shortage of harvest labour for a light harvest. A sum of £2195 9s 2d has been raised by members of the Bible-in-Schools League to provide ambulances for the Expeditionary Force, and £2000, sufficient to provide four ambulances, has been handed 'to the Minister for Defence. It has been resolved that the balance of £195 9s 2d be handed over to the Government to go to the fund for providing hospital accommodation «t Rotoraa for wounded soldiers returning from the front. Scholarships were again mentioned at last night's meeting of the Wellington District Institute, N.Z.E.1., but members were not inclined for another long discussion on the subject. The fourth clause of the committee's report on scholarship regulations and papers, which was in favour of the abolition of scholarships, came up for consideration, and it was adopted unanimously. The representatives on the N.Z.E.I. were in structed to vote in the direction desired. The teachers in the Wellington educational district have set out to obtain £100 for the support of a nurse under the auspices of the New Zealand Volunteer Sisterhood, which, has now been placed on a sound footing. The suggestion was originally made to the Wellington District Institute, N.Z.E.1., by Miss Dowdeswell, and the scheme was approved at a meeting of the institute held last evening. An idea for raising the money was put forward, and a subcommittee was set up to carry it- into effect. Character in handwriting was one of the points stressed by Mr. J. S. Tennant, M.A., in a paper read by him to members of the Wellington District Institute, N.Z.E.1., last night. He stated that at the Training College they had collected about 2000 separate samples of school writing, and quite 90 per cent, were identical in style. That meant that nine out of ten schools had adopted the same style of writing — the, same method of teaching. Of course, in some respects uniformity was ail right, because it led in, a way to perfection. However, Mr. Tennant thought that children should be .encouraged to develop character in hand-: writing — within reasonable limits. There are many ideas regarding a mere man's usefulness, particularly among members of the fairer sex. Recently Miss P. Myers, a member of the Wellington. District Institute, N.Z.E.1., circularised bodies in the various school districts as to the national work done by the schools in the matter of equipping soldiers and other like service. A series of questions was asked, including the ' following : "Are the men assisting ?" One reply read : " They are contributing money, and that seems to be about all they -can. do." Another reply, rather indignant, was, "Of course." It is suggested that the .latter reply was probably written by a " mere man." , A valuable and interesting article on " Beef Production " appears in the current number of the Journal of Agriculture. It was written by Mr. J. L. Bruce, Assistant Director of the Live Stock- and Meat Division of the Department, who, in his concluding remarks, says :—": — " It may reasonably be assumed that beefcattle will increase in value for years to come. There is therefore strong ground for stimulating a development of beef raising proper in the Dominion. New) Zealand holds first place as a producer of mutton and lamb amongst all the countries catering for the world's meat markets. With as fine a soil and climate as any under the sun, we who can produce the best of mutton and lamb can, if we apply the same thought and care, produce also as a staple the best of beef. Now is our opportunity." Owing to the highly technical character of the work undertaken in the Railway Signalling Department, and the necessity for obtaining in the first instance an officer who has had a wide and varied experience, the appointment of Assistant Signal and Interlocking Engineer has not yet been made, says the General Manager of Railways in his annual report. Enquiries have been made throughout Australasia, and the replies indicate the improbability of obtaining a suitable man in any of the States. Applications have been invited in the United Kingdom, and the result is pow awaited. Information already received points to the fact that the prospects ahead of qualified men in their present spheres are so good that they are disinclined to accept offers abroad, while the attention that is being devoted to signalling improvements on many important railway systems has created a demand which is in excess of the supply of qualified men available at the moment. At the Magistrate's Court yesterday afternoon, before Mr. D. G. A. Cooper, S.M., Henry Wadley, a sturdily-built young man, was fined 20s, with 16s expenses, for assaulting a Corporation employee named Edward Scott. Wadley had objected to the "arrest" of his dog, and he forcibly released the animal. At the same time he was rather severe on Mr. Scott, hence the charge. Two wants of the khaki man, stocked at Geo. Fowlds, Ltd., Manners-street, Khaki Handkerchiefs at 6d and 9d ; good range suitable socks Is to 2s 6d.— Advt. Work good, charges reasonable, promptitude! That's our service. We pass entries, forward parcels, move furniture. The y.Z. Express Co., Ltd., 87-91, Customhouse-quay. — Advt. Many stories are coining to hand regarding the value some of our quickwitted Britishers are proving themselves. Perhaps one of the most important of recent date is that of Sir Ernest SwoetEscott, the Governor of Fiji, in which he narrates his ruse that saved Suva from bombardment by the German cruisers early in the war. Likewise the departmental buyers of C. Smith's, Ltd./ ■who quick-wittedly instructed thoir English buyers to forward their new season a goods early, and have now the finest selection on record. Those dainty summer blouses at 5s lid, 6s lid. 7« lid, 8s 6d, 9s lid are good exajnples ot their season's special values. C. Smith, Ltd.. Oubastrot, Wellington. — Advt.