LOCAL AND GENERAL

Evening Post, Volume XCIII, Issue 27, 31 January 1917, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL

During the week ended'22nd January 276 returned soldiers were receiving treatment in hospitals in the Dominion, 231 as in-patients and 45 as out-patients. Twenty-two of the men were ixi consumptive sanatoria. In quoting these rigures the Minister of Public Health (Hon. G. W. Bussell) said that in addition to the soldiers there were no fewer than 134 discharged men who were receiving hos,pital treatment, and 30 who were being treated as out-patients. He regretted to say that 23 of the discharged men were inmates of the consumption sanatoria. The discharge of a soldier does not mean that the Government accepts no further responsibility. The Defence Department may give a man his discharge 1 as a member of the Forces, and at the same time refer his case to the Public Health Department, and assist him in placing iris claim before the Pensions Department. The discharged soldier continues to' receive treatment at the. cost of the State as long as he is suffering from the effects of active service.

It is a truism that a man who evades the arm of the law does so only temporarily. Sixteen years ago a man named Howard Patton Gandy, who was wanted by the police on a charge of forging a cheque for £20, migrated to-South Africa, but from there he was deported back to New Zealand. Here he was apprehended by the police just recenfly and appeared in the Magistrate's Court this morning to answer the long-standing charge. Ac cused was remanded till sth February, bail being allowed. As the^result of the additions made to the ILarDour Board's cheese store in the vicinity of King's Wharf, the accommodation has now been doubled and there will be storage capacity for 40,000 crates I of cheese. The contract for the building has been finished, but the dislocation caused by the war has caused considerable delay in the shipment of the machinery for cooling purposes, and until this arrives the work cannot 'be com pleted. In the meantime the shed is being used for the storage of as lrmch cheese as can be put into it witiiout any danger of sweating. Complaints have been made by a number of subscribers to the Wellington Telephone Exchange that their premises have been cut off without notice because bureau charges have not been paid. The Post and Telegraph Superintendent wishes it to be known that drastic steps are never taken until the subscribers, whose accounts are still unpaid have. been fully notified in writing and verbally that the connections will be severed unless the amounts owing are promptly forwarded. In some cases an account has been rendered as many as four and five times. It waschiefly thr^gh the efforts of the fire brigade that the Meteorological Observatory on Thorndon-esplanade was saved from destruction yesterday. Shortly, after noon a fire broke oufc m the vegetation outside the Government reserve, and spread under the fence to a quantity of dry grass that had been recently cut in the observatory enclosure. The flames advanced right up to the observatory, destroying en route a thermometer which was always kept on the grass plot, and were considerably checked when they reached the concrete foundation of the wooden building. The brigade completed the work of suppression. Evidence was concluded in-the Magistrate's Court to-day in the case in! which Harold Gladstone Olliver was charged with being found in the dwellinghouse of Camellia Leslie in Hill-street, with intent to commit a crime. Trie accused, who waa represented by Mr. H. JT. o'Lea.ry, pleaded not guilty, and was committed to the Supreme Cocrt for trial. Bail was*reduced to £75. The destruction of fur sea-Is was a matter submitted to the New Zealand Institute meeting by Drs. Cockayne and^ Thomson. The meeting passed it-he following resolution :—'' That. this Institute learns with regret that the declaration of an area as a National Park doe^ not prohibit sealing thereon,, and urges that-a special Act be passed defining the limits of an area .for a National Park, including the southern fiord lands and waters, with protection under severe penalties of seals and other a-idmals therein,"-

The Wellington harbour ferry service, is criticised by a correspondent of The Post. _ The writer alleges that the boats are dirty and grimy,, because they carry coal and other cargo, and in this connection he points' out that in Auckland a steamer is wholly set apart foF the carriage of goods. He is also concerned, because no seats are provided for waiting passengers on any of the wharves to which the local ferry boats moor. Farther complaint ib made that on. a recent afternoon "the crowd returning home to Day's Bay were not kept back to allow people to disembark, with the result that a general struggle and beautiful disorder occurred,"' The matters complained of were brought -under the notice of Mr. J. S. Day, town . clerk of Eastbourne. Regarding the carrying of freight, Mr. Day states that, there is a big difference between conditions in Auckland and in. Wellington. In the former city the ferry boats are numerous and carry thousands of passengers, where the Wellington boats carry hundreds. A special cargo service was > run for some time by the Eastbourne Borough, but was cancelled at the request of a large number of residents. The Eastbourne Council has urged the Harbour Board, which owns the wharves, to erect shelters and has been informed that the wharves are too narrow to enable that to be done. Moreover, if shelters were built vehicles could not go on to the wharvesv It is, Mr. Day points.out, difficult to regulate traffic at rush times, and if passengers will persist in crowding on the boats before the others have disembarked all the officials icannot stop them. A civil' action concerning repairs -'to a, marine engine was heard m itlie Magistrate's Court .before-Mr. W. G. Riddell,, S.M., yesterday, when Robert Collins clahned from .T. Greoco the sum of £8 in respect of work alleged to have been dona. The defendant counter-claimed £20 as damages for alleged delay in t&e delivery of the engine. " The Magistrate nonsuited the parties and ordered each to .pay his own \ costs- '■■Sic. H. E. Anderson appeared for plaintiff and Mr. P. H. Putnam to- defendant. "Any fool cau astc questions," remarked Mr. T. M. Wilford in the Magistrate's. Court this morning, " brit the art of cross-examination is knowing what not to sas. Xhere is so doubt about that 1'

The Minister foi Defence lias received: advice that, ithe 19th Reinforcements have safely reached therr destination. Notice was given by Mt- G- M Hionii son, at Ithe meeting of the New Zealand Institute yesterday, to move at ithe n^xfc meeting a recommendation, to the Oov.-. eminent. "That the time lias come for 'She establishment of a Department o*^ .Scientific Affairs, m which all the purely; scientific departments of the Govern--went be placed, and that an Advisory, Council bfc set up to assist the Minißter-in-oharge." ' The representative of & large commejcial firm hi New York, now visiting Chnstchurch, informed a reporter of'thej Evening News that the cotton market is at present greatly disorganised Anticipating a larger increase in the ■ prica of cotton goods, the larger warehouses made extensive purchases, and the consequence is that they , are overstocked. | Cotton, owing to the bad American crop, has risen in price, and so have cotton goods In this connection the Japanese have made great strides in importation. Their cotton goods are of a good quality, and they have gone ahead in the in:.uu-_ facture of flannelette—once almost wholly, an English industry. They have, to a'" great extent, ousted the American production, and are getting a great hold on the.. markets.'' ■ The question whether the ; foyer vi* Everybody's Theatre, Chi-istchurchj should be used lor people waiting for admission to stand in was again discussed in the local Magistrate's Court yesterday. Mr. H. Waters, manager of the theatre, appealed against the refusal of the. Superintendent of the Fire Bri-. gade to issue a permit for 60 persons to stand in the foyer Mr. Waters gave evidence that the plans for the theatre were approved by the Christchurch City Council. _ Later the City Council endorsed the license with a permit to-place 60 people m the foyer, but at the end of 1915 the Superintendent of the Fire Brigade objected to that use of the foyer, and the council then declined to' again endorse the license in that way... After other evidence had been, taken the* Magisteato (Mr. Bailey) reserved his .decision. An interesting account oi a fight be-* tween a British and a German aviator is .given' in a letter from Sapper W. ■Daniel, of the Tunnelling Corps, and formerly a-member of the typographicall staff of The Post. "One of the most; thrilling air fights I have yet seen," he writes, "took place a few days ago. They started at a great height, and looked fine -with shrapnel bursting all round the machines. " Naturally the Britisher iad to win, and so it was not long before the German 'plane came tumbling to eariEh, wiith the Britisher in hot pursuit and pouring in ahail of lead all the -way down. It is an old trick of the Htiiis to tumble near to earth, as though wounded, and then riglut themselves suddenly and go off at lop speed for their own lines. The Britisher was, however, not to be bluffed, and followed! the Hun to earth, stood above him for a moment to make sure he was done for, and then went for his life. The Germani was badly wounded, and was crushed! under his owa machine when the ground was reached', **

"It would appear that very -little eft'ori is made by the Department's officials to' grant men a reasonable time off for rests between shifts," remarks the Loco Re-. cord. Bepeated representations have been' made to the general manager for a hard and fast rule regarding sufficient tima off for the rest between shifts, but up to the present this has not met with much success. A flexible instruction has been issued by the manager saying thafe every .effort must be made to grant men?-; bers_ .10 hours off between shifts at home> station- and eight hours off at foreign stations. This, in some places which; ■ have come under the notice of the asso-: ciation's executive^, has been more ob*~ served in the breach than in the observe ancs. And in some instances the men. have had only as much as six hours off duty between long shifts. We mean by long shifts any shift running into any-< thing over eight horns a day The. granting of such a short period off duty between shifts really means that themember concerned gets 1253 than fous hoars' sleep.

The secretary o£ the Agricultural and Pastoral Union of Workers (Mr. C. Grayndler) has written to the Minister of Defence on the subject of the position: of shearers under the Military Servioa Act, which came before the board yesterday.. He states that in future hg proposed only to act in the cases oE those men for whom he has already applied for exemption. He goes on to say ; "In my opinion yit is essential in the interests of the country that shearers should be exempt*as following an essential, industry. A great majority ofl shearers continue their occupation from season to season. In many cases at. the close of the season shearers taket lip work in other essential industries. I am instructed by the members of my organisation to protest against the personnel of the board in so far as the' great majority of rural workers are!, not. represented and our members are not' getting a fair, deal, according ■■■~ta the i provisions of the Act; and further, that the Labour representatives appointed do not directly represent the workers of. fhTs Dominion." "That ithe attention of the Government be again called to the fact that the Dominion Museum, collection, including, ■many valuable records and objects that could by no possibility be replaced, are still housed in an bid and highly combustible building," was a resolution adopted by it-h-o New" Zealand Institute at its annual meeting. The Petone Technical School has unanimously decided to grant the whole of the staff a 10 per cent, war bonus and to raise the salary of the Director by £25. Eulogistic reference was made at. last evening's meeting to the manner in which the Director (Mr. J- H. Lynskey) carries ouf, liis duties.