LOCAL AND GENERAL

Evening Post, Volume XCIII, Issue 45, 21 February 1917, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL

The annual conference in connection with the newspaper and printing trades of the Dominion will be held in Wellington next week. TJie directors of the United Press Association commence their meetings on Friday morning next, the members of the Country Newspaper Proprietors' Association on Monday, the Newspaper .-Proprietors' Association on Monday and Tuesday, the Empire Press Union, United Press Association and Master Printers' Association during the rest of the week.

To-morrow afternoon, at 2.30 o'clock, members of the New < Zealand Society of Civil Engineers,-**at present sitting in conference in Wellington, \Jill meet at the Wellington-Lyttelton ferry wharf prior to a visit to various harbour works. This will commence with an inspection of the Ferry Wharf, and subsequently the following points will be visited :—U and. J wool stores, pumping station,' workshops, cheese store, King's Wharf sheds No. 1 and 3, Pipitea store No. 1, Pipitea Wharf under construction and workshops, etc., in connection witdi it, and concrete breastwork. ,At 3.15 p.m. the party will leave the concrete breastwork by the s.s. Natone to see the leading lights at the entrance, Rona Bay Wharf, and Day's Bay Wharf, and will return to the city at 6 p.m. '

The privileges of the General Assembly Library have been extended to members of the New Zealand Society of Civil Engineers, at present sitting in conference in Wellington. Mr. Charles Wilson, Chief Librarian, extended a cordial invitation ib members to make use of tha library, and the society this morning expressed its appreciation of the action.

At the committee meeting of the Hataitai Municipal Electors' /Association it was reported that the name-platas on streets are in bad condition, soine^ being misspelt^; whilst others are absolutely illegible.' The City Council was approached on this matter some time ago, but nothing has been done, and needless trouble is said k> be caused to visitors, who are becoming more and more numerous each week. Farther representations are to be made to the council.

The New Zealand Society of Civil Engineers is a body steadily growing in strength—numerically and financiafiy— ■but it has no "home," Tlds fact was dop-lored at the annual meeting of ithe society, and it was decided that it should be an instruction to the incoming council that it should take the necessary steps to_ secure the leasa .of suitable premises in Wellington, where meetings of the council could he held, ■where the library could be housed, and where facilities could be provided for members passing through the city for conducting their correspondence and other business.

After two days' deliberations, the Conciliation Council has come to an. agreement on all matters in dispute between the Wellington carpenters and their employers, with, the exception of wages. Exemptions have been made in regard to the Wellington Harbour Board and Wellington Hospital Board (under the conditions of the old award); Wellington City Council (in respect of the Tramways Department); and the Gear Meat Company and the Wellington Meat Export Company (each in respect of five permanent employees who are subject to the 'conditions of the old award).. A disputes clause and an under-rate workers' clause will be embodied in the agreement. Mr. W. H. Hagger, Conciliation Commissioner, presided at the .proceedings.

In the opinion of the Dunedin branch of the New» Zealand Society for the Promotion of the Health of Women and Children, the time has arrived when » travelling nurse should visit all centres to keep the district nurses in touch with all advances made, and also to help to extend the society's mission. Further, that the Minister of Education should be approached with a view of securing to the fullest extttit-for infants in licensed homes the advantages conferred on other children in New Zealand through the agency of the society and its nurses. Another recommendation of the Dunedin. branch to the Dominion Conference of the society, opened in Wellington yesterday, is tihafc each branch of the society should organise a band of volunteers to assist mothers with small families, either by taking the childrenout, or giving assistance in the house.

Smiling in spite of adversity—-if it be adversity to him—Daniel Keane stepped' into the dock at /'the Magistrate's Court to-day and readily admitted that he had once more, allowed discretion to remain subsidiary to what he considered to be urgent personal needs. On this occasion it was alleged that Keane had visited the shop of W. Black and flo., and impudently removed a pair of boots which were hanging up outside the shop. Committing petty thefts appears to be his chief occupation, and to say that h& is proud of his achievements would bo but putting it mildly. Occasionally he has a brief spell of liberty, but for the roost part he spends his days in, prison. "You are sentenced to one month's imprisonment," remarked the Magistrate (Mi-. L. G. Reid, S.M.). this morning. Keane smiled benevolently, looked proudly round the Court, and stepped gaily from the dock.

A Gisborne resident who has recently visited the East Coast reports that, owing to the late heavy floods, the damage done to the roads along the coast would cost thousands of pounds to repair. Considerable difficulty was being experienced by settlers in carting their wool and bringing in their stores, while the mails had to be conveyed on pack-horses. As an,instance of the damage, it was stated that afc one place where the roads crossed two streams close together, one which, before the floods, was a shallow brook had now had its bed gouged out to such an extent that there was at present a drop of about six feet from the road to the creek. Motor-cars, and even horse vehicles, find the greatest difficulty in working the roads, and accidents are not infrequent. \

"Slow and* sure" should be our motto, for history teaqhes that lasting good can only be obtained by degrees. Each step must be proven before the next is attempted, for nothing is better calculated to cause retrogression than haste and crudely-planned reforms — Mr. R. W. Holmes, C.E., in his retiring presidential address to members of the N,ew Zealand Society of Civil Engineers.

Prior to the ordinary meeting of the City Council to-morrow night, a special meeting will be held to pass special orders declaring Selwyn-terrace to be a public street, and altering the names of Princes-street and Regent-street, Wadestown, to Margaret-street. -

In fulfilment of a -promise made to the late Hon. Dr. R. M'Nab, Sir Ernest Shackleton will shortly deliver a lecture at Hastings. '

.This afternoon members of the Nj '■-, Zealand Society of Civil Engineers!, Wsiting Trentharii Gamp. Special cj riages were provided for them, on i| 1.20 p.m. train from- town, arid; ii■' passes were provided for members I the Railway Department. At the sitfcif of. the society this morning complimeij ary reference was made to the courts of the Department, and a vote of than!, was passed. ' ' j The committee of (the Hataitai Mv| ■■■ cipal Electors' Association feels that tf Postal authorities "are not aware ■the great inconvenience residents haj to put up with in regard to postal facrt V ties." To remedy this state of affai an energetic sub-committee has been i.' up to go into the whole.question, and | bring recommendations before^ the D ( partment with a view to obtaining ii p-rovements. ! Good work by the Fire Brigade ye terday afternoon prevented a .probabj serious fire at Lanibton. Railway Statio! s By some unknown means, the kerosej store adjacent to the shed, where gas } ! manufactured' for the carriages, caugi fire. The brigade, by strenuous wort succeeded in preventing the flames fro! igniting the oil. The roof of tfie ehJsuffered. considerably from the fire, arf some of the cases containing kerosen were chaifred. j.

All important meeting of the Advi ory Board of the Federation of Ne Zealand Patriotic War Relief Associi tions will be held at 10 o'clocK-to-morroj morning, at the Accountants' Chamberi Johnston-street. Amongst the mattei to be discussed are the question, of so! diers' life insurance, the payment of tli cost of erecting a. suitable recreatioj hut at HorncliuTch, the "loading" <j soldiers' insurance risks, and an applies tion by the V.M.C.A. for a regula grant of £3000 per month for the put pose of furthering the work of that bod; among onr soldiers abroad. I

Mr. X B. Laurenson, president of th' Canterbury Industrial. Association wbJ: passed through Wellington to-day on hi way to attend the annual conference o the New Zealand Industrial Co-operatioi in.| Auckland, stated, to a reporter thai" some important remits had Keen forward ed by the Christchureh and Wellington Associations, several of them dealing with problems that would arise after th< war. These questions, said Mr. Lauren; son, must be faced while the war was in progress—not left till it was over—] and the forthcoming conference wonlo doubtless do something to assist in solv| ing them. ' I

Herbert Cai-lton Gray, who recently bad. a brief spell of liberty, was committed] to the Supremo Court for sentence bvi Mr. L.. G. Beid, S.M., to-day, on a! charge of escaping from legal enstodyj On the 15th ins t. Gray was remanded] at Woodvills to appeal- at Wellington! on charges of tiheft, and was escorted! to the city by Constable Thompson! When just outside the gates of the Ter-| race Gaol the prisoner broke awa-y, and'! was rearrested at Upper Htitt on the!? following day. Asked if. he had any-| thing, to -say, Gray remarked that he; would not have escaped had he beenf properly treated during the journey. Hb| was hungry and wanted a feed. On af rfurther charge of tiheft from a, hotel afel Wanganui the accused was remanded foj| one week. .. ... ..'.•. . | "To-day I and another comrade visited! the French abattoirs while killing was inf progress," writes Private Angus Mac-1 Donald, of Hedgehope, Southland, from! somewhere in France. "Mules, horses!,! cattle, sheep, and pigs are slaughtered^! and after an inspection the carcases are'J stamped and despatched to the butchers s'! shops. Their method of dressing pigs is I ■ quite different to that we adopt in New} Zealand. After the pigs have been bledi!' a row of them a.re laid out and covered;' with straw, to which a match is applied.--£: This causes the skin to peel off freely}^! ami when finished the meat presents d.fl whiter and cleaner appearance than ours,^! and it is much quicker. During our visits! six pigs were killed and singed in fivef | minutes and a-half. Mule and horse flesh/1 do not appeal to us, and when dining in, I French restaurants we are strictly vege-:| tarian." 1

An allegation of living "a double Effr** is involved in a charge of bigamy pre^ ferred against a yonng man named John Hugh Hall, 24, who was arrested ati Ponsonby, Auckland, on Saturday afternoon. The circumstances are somewhat unusual (says the Star). Accused was married in Auckland three or four years back, and lived with his wife under normal conditions until about a month ago. Then, according to her ,story, he left the home in the.Eden Terrace district without explanation, and in the course of enquiries she ascertained that he was stilt in. the- city, apparently boarding in. the Ponsonby district. She made complaint about his being unduly frequently in the company ■' of another young woman. The latter was approached on the subject, and. indignantly declared thafc the gentleman with whom she had been seen was not Mr.'. Hall, but her husband, John Robert Smith, and. that they had been married by a minister within, the past month, and were living with her parents. The sequel was the arrest oa Saturday of a man charged John H. Hall, alias John R. Smith, that on Monday last he committed bigamy in that, being then married, he went through the form of marriage with Rita Thorp. The accused was remanded for a week.

The allusion to soldiers' settlement in the cables from London a day or two ago has revived the waning interest in . this subject. A member of the House of Representatives who made the North Auckland, tour last month. has (says the Auckland Star) just put for--ward the suggestion that the Government jshould take advantage of the scheme outlined in the message and purchase a million acres of good land on the peninsula beyond Auckland for occupation by men returning from the war. The district,-, 1 he points out, is particu- > larly suited for settlement of this icharacter. Very few of the ■•present ■ settlers have made costly improvements, ; having satisfied themselves with clear- j ing and grassing the land while waiting I; for the Government to provide roads and , bridges and railways, and 'the price j might be very fairly based on the pre- I, sent productive value without taking the unearned increment, for which most of the owners are waiting, into account at all.- He estimates that £5,000,000' : or £6,000,000 ought to purchase the area he has . suggested, and that . £2,000,000 or £3,000,000 expended on means of communication would provide! homes for 10,000 soldiers at a cost of not more than £800 -apiece. "The cheapest. land settlement scheme ever put forward in New Zealand," is,the comment with - which he clinches the matter.