LOCAL AND GENERAL

Evening Post, Volume XCIV, Issue 75, 26 September 1917, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL

The First Wellington Military Service Board, of wEich Mr. D. G. A. Cooper, S.M., is chairman, will go tosPahnerston North on Saturday, and will commencea sitting there on Monday. | The Auckland express was. over, one hour and a-half.- late in arriving at Thorndon yesterday, the delay being caused through the: inability of one en--gine it haul the train up the Spiral. After several ineffectual attempts to pull,the whole train up atonce, itwas finally taken back to Raurimu .' and divided into sections, and drawn up in two parts. According to the Arbitration award in connection with the flaxmilling industry, flaxmillers are not allowed to charge enI ployees more than, 17s 6d per, week for ! meals and lodging. A miller, in conJ versat-ion with a representative of the '. Foxton paper on the subject, said in his opinion this gave an advantage to the single employees, as the married employees did not participate in the board allowance. Although the price of living had increased, the board allowance had remained 1 at 17s 6d per week. At .to-day's meeting of the Education Board a letter was received from the Council of Education advising that the council had resolved that as soon as opportunity offered the two district high schools at Pefcone and Lower Hutt should be disestablished, and one Hutt High School established to provide for the scholars at present attending the district and those travelling to Wellington Collego and 'Technical School At the High School provision would be made for vocational courses of a suitable character. In view of the cost of site, buildings, etc., at the present time the council had/ resolved to postpone action in the meantime. ' Mr. E. P. Rißb-Worth said;that in view, of rising prices, of land; in the Hutt Valley the Department should be urged to acquire a site-at once. On the suggestion of the chairman. (Hon> J. G. W. Aitiken) it was decided to bring the matter before the Ministerthis afternoon. ■'•.'■ The Commonwealth Government isstated to have under consideration the early issue of a regulation under the War Precautions Act, making it an offence to contribute' towards'; any fund or funds having for their object the' support of the strike or the maintenance of the strikers. This, a Sydney paper remarks, recalls the famous Strike (Suppression Bill introduced into the Victorian Legislature by Sir William (then Mr.) Irvine, as Premier of the Southern State, when the railwaymen went out in 1903. One of the clauses of the measure which it was never found necessary to pass—the mere threat sufficing—was as follows:—| "Every person shall be guilty of, an offence against this Act if he organises, manages, solicits, collects, or knowingly receives or keeps as a banker, custodian or otherwise, or disburses or. distributes any fund or moneys for the' encouragement, maintenance,, furtherance, extension, or continuance of the strike. "- A case came before -the Magistrate's' Court to-day in' which a particularly mean theft was disclosed. An eighteen-year-old youth named James Glenn was charged with stealing the sum of 255, the property of A. R. Durrant, licensee of the New Commercial Hotel. ChiefDetective Boddam stated that the accused, who was previously employed as; a porter at the hotel, -went to the hotel at about 11 o'clock on the nu'%i.\t- of Bth September, and was admitted by the night "porter. He asked the porter for a bed, stating that he had nowhere to go. Out of the fulness of his heart the porter offered accused his own. bed; While the porter was upstairs the youth was tempted to visit the office, where he extracted I the money. An indictable charge was also preferred against Glenn. It was alleged that while he was in the position of porter at the hotel in August last, he I retained <i postal packet containing ;i silk camisole, valued at 255, which should have been delivered. to K. Corson. On this charge he pleaded guilty, and was committed to the Supreme Court for sentence. The Chief Detective said that the police had been unable to trace the boy's parents—if he had any alive—and his position, was generally distressing. I:i. respect of the minor charge, the accused was convicied and ordered lo come up j Tor sentence when called upon, Jlr. D. G. A. tinijper, 3.M., ordering thai- ha should"! bis kept apart from' the other prisoners, j

Mr. James Thorn, who has been serving a sentence of 12 months' imprisonment in the Auckland gaol on a charge of sedition, was liberated on Saturday, and came, south yesterday. : "I questioned, a Cabinet Minister the, other day," said the Rev. Howard Elliofft at the Protestant Political Associa-. tion meeting last night. "I said, "But why do you do these things?'. He sat back in his chair' and shrugged his shoulders: 'But the Roman .Catholics are so strong.' I said, 'One-seventh of the population?' 'But they are all one,' replied the Minister. 'What about the Protestants?' I a6ked. 'Oh, you don't count,' was his reply." Among other war conditions the scarcity and) deamess of sugar, glycerine, and- spirit have sent up the prices' of drugs so much that a small assortment which would have cost £8 10s three years ago would be about £80 now, says London Daily Mail. Aspirin is 7^ times dearer, phenacetin 30 times, antipyrine 10 times, carbolic acid 5 times,. cocaine 6£ times, cod liver oil 6 times, and • potassium permanganate 32 times. The upward tendency of prices is likely to continue so long as the war lasts. The General; Medical Council has given assistance to manufacturers of drugs by removing from the- pharmacopoeia (book of directions for use) the preparations containing sugar or glycerine. British firms are producing many drugs formerly "made in Germany" only. A, somewhat unpleasantr incident occurred at the station'to-day (says last night's Man-awatu Standard), on the arrival of the returned men,' when one of the soldiers somewhat under the influence" of Jiquor was ordered on to the train by a military policeman. The returned man, who evidently consideredl himself insulted, 1 attempted to assault the policeman, and was only with great difficulty prevented from doing so by the overwhelming numbers of his mates. He was finally put back on itshe train, but succeeded in getting off again, when he made another attempt to "get at" his "enemy." What looked .like a very ugly incident was prevented iby the arrival of the officer in charge, who threatened the man with instant arrest. Even this did not pacify him^ and he was again borne back to the twain struggling and shouting invective on the-policeman? James Aroess, aged 20, was struck by Hghtning last May, and lost the power of speech. Four months' treatment in hospital proving useless he was discharged. Last week he met. with a cycling accident, and. cried "Oh!'' as he fell. His speech is now quite normal. "In this case," writes a medical correspondent to the London Daily Mail, "the man had probably recovered the power of speech some time • before, but had not the strength of will to put his vocal organs in action. ' The stimulus of the fall produced the necessary effect. A man who had not spoken for six months shouted when • thrown out of a punt on the Thames. It had been noticed in the X-ray examination that he had no 'wind' to drive the vocal organs. Another speechless soldier was told by a ward companion that he had talked in his sleep. He was so surprised that he said, 'I don't believe you.' " ■ ■ At the Italian Red Cross concert in the Auckland Town Hall on Saturday night Mr. J. H. Pagni, Italian Consul, read some interesting extracts from letters written by Italian soldiers. 'One letter said : " We have been fighting for five days continuously on Monte. Santo, conquering positions and making many prisoners," wrote one. soldier to his father. "We have climbed the tops of mountains 8000 ft to 10,000 ft high, which only the nesting eagle has reached before us. 1 And we. have been doing some-target-shooting, very calmly and quietly, the targets being, as you know, the faces of our enemies. 1 Wo are asked to take strongly fortified trenches, made of cement; but I am under the impression thai if they had been made of steel they could, not have resisted the impetus ofi our-men. When we see the cap of the Austrians rise up before us the blood boils in our,, veins. What with our brother the rifle, and ' our sister the bayonet,- we feel ourselves irresistible. We only remember that if w« do not win this war Italy and ncr- allies win die for ever; but we will : win, ■ don't fret!" Mr. Pagni. also read the text of the telegrams exchanged between Sir Douglas Haig and General Cadorna. ait tho time of the success of the recent offensive on the-Carso. The letters were received by the. audience with loud applause. - In-view of the statement appearing in the press last week in reference to the landing in the Cook Islands of a mysterious launch, manned by foreigners, some information gleaned by a representative of tho Auckland Star on Monday in reference; to the possibility of anyone landing in New Zealand without the knowledge of the authorities takes on a move interesting aspect. Some time ago a New ZeaJander went to Australia. When he arrived there the strike was in full progress, and shipping was held up to such an extent that he was unable to get a passage back to'the Dominion again in the time at his disposal. After waiting in Sydney for.some weeks he finally decided to take the matter into his own hands and to work Ms passage across. He engaged himself as a seaman on a. cargo'boat,- and was told ■when, to report. Na-turally, when the nation is, at war it would be supposed that a man leaving the country and departing to another would be asked to show his papers as a guarantee of his bona fides. The. New Zealander in question, however, was not asked to show any papers before leaving .Australia. In view of the shortage of men available for. seagoing boats over there this did not strike him as bo very peculiar, as he fully expected to be asked to produce his papers, as he was prepared to do, when.he landed in New Zealand. To his surprise, however, he.. was allowed to land without a ' single question being: asked him. .The port of call of the boat on which he was working was a small place in the province of Auckland, and here he simply packed up his (belongings and walked ashore. The.point that occurs 'to hfm now is that if he could walk ashore bo easily, might not the same thing be done by anyone else, whose, purpose might be of a very much more sinister character than that of getting back to his family. ' A wedding of some local interest was< celebrated, in St. Peter's Church, Palmerston North, yesterday, when Mr. Douglas Park, third son of Mr. W. Park, of that town, was married to Miss j Hilda (Dill) Wood, youngest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. E. Wood, of Milson's-line. The ceremony was performed by Canon Coates, and the bride waa given away by her father. Trooper Cecil Wood act-' ed as best man, •■ and Miss D. Park as bridesmaid. s .The newly-married, couple left for Wellington by the Auckland express, en route for Christ-church, where it is their intention to reside. Very appropriate are die displays of .raincoats and umbrellas for ladies and men now being made in KirkcaJdie and , I Stains, Ltd. 's, windows. To-day's boisterous weather has sent many in search of the above, and Kirkcaldie's values have been taken advantage of. AH leading makes of raincoats are featured —also strongest umbrellas. Choose. — j Advt. . ... | Just, tho time to see'silk shirts, 13s 6d. 15s 6cl, 16s 6d. Imitation 4s lid. With or without collars, at Geo.. Fowlds, Ltd., Maruiers-atrcet,—Advt, j

The Manawata Standard state* that-art ingenious method of overcoming a. difficulty was adopted on the troop train from Auckland with the 34th, ' Reinforcements. Before leaving "the men were supplied with bags of pies, and when the time came to dispose of them they lit the ga& in the carriages and "put the pies inside the globes to : warn* them up. ■ • .' An elderly man named James Rhodes shuffled into .the dock, in the Magistrate* Court to-day to answer a charge of being ortidle and dißordedy person with. insuffl- . eieht lawful means of support. Inspecton Marsaek stated that the defendant, who .was close on 80 years of age, was arrest>ed purely" for* hie own • sake. He was in •■■a filthy condition and had been wanderling about town, Jiving the life of a; ■vagrant. He had a long list of previous convictions. The old man expressed the desire to go to 4he "Ohiro Home, and was remanded for a week in order that the police may ascertain if the authorities will take him. The circumstances connected with the death of Robert Smith, a. railway; shunter, at the Pajmer&ton North railway yards on Monday, ars reported by, the Manawatu Standard. Smith was ■ oiling a set of points on the" line of track, shunting work going on in several parts of the yard at the time. A truck was; kicked off towards the points where the deceased was working, and which he evidently failed- to hear approaching, owing probably to the wind, and it was on him before he conld get clear, striking him on the head. Assistance was quickly at hand, and medical aid called in, but when the doctor arrived shortly: 4 after the accident death . had taken, place.' Deceased was an officer of the local Railway Engineers, and a keen ■worker;of the., Amalgamated Railway Society, also a valued member of the Railway Vaudeville Company and the Railway Social Club. . He was married and! leaves a wife and two children. , . There was an exciting chase at BonW bay, Auckland, on Saturday last after a man charged with horse-stealing. The New Zealand Herald reports that driving from Pukekohe towards Bombay, Sergt. Cowan came across his quarry on a horse. The man refused to halt, and galloped off along the road, out-distancing; his pursuer. A motor-car was then requisitioned by the sergeant, and ultimate-, ly the horseman was again picked up between Bombay and Paparata. Sergeant Cowan stopped the cai and called upon the man to stop, but he refused, and galloped off at a break-neck pace. The; motor-car followed, and a desperate race! ensued for about a mile. As the horseman declined to pull up, the car was so manoeuvred that it struck the horse on the side, bringing it to, the ground. The sergeant from his seat\in the car neatly caught hold of the rider and secured him. The-man, whose name is Robert Bryden, alias Woodward, came from Dargaville. — , There were one or two amusing inn terludes at the .Protestant Political As-., sociation meeting last night. . One occurred when the Rev. Howard Elliott was denouncing the deletion of the antiheresy portion of the Coronation Oath.; "Under the oath which' King George took there is nothing to : prevent" a Catholic sitting upon the Throne of Eng* land." A gentleman sitting near the president who appeared to be rather weary of the speeches remarked drily, "Why not?" "King Charles or King James," said Mr. Elliott, "could occupy the Throne with the oath the King is now required to take." "Well, why; * not?" said the interjector in a weary; voice. "Why not what?" asked Mr., Elliott. "Why not a Catholic on the Throne of England?" "A gentleman asks me why not a Catholic o» th« Throne of EnglandT 1 said Mr. Elliott. "Because every Catholic'that has occupied the Throne has brought trouble upon the whole realm." (Applause.) There were cries of "Put him pat," bnfe the questioner sat calmly smiling, ap* parentiy quite satisfied that his .question; had caused an interesting little diversion,----1 "I am a Spiritualist, Soc*ia&fc,_*nd: Republican," announced a Wash! goKE miner, who appeared, before the Military, Service Board at Te Aroha, last week. He reminded the board/ that at a pneH vious hearing he had advanced religions objections. "Anything else?" asked the chairman. "No, that will do." "You're not an LW.W. aie you?" After a pause, appellant said: "No, I -will not say anything about the LW.W., as different people have different conceptions of the 1.W.W"." "Well, you object to service - outside- the Dominion, I understand?" "Yes. I object to go beyond ' the threejnile limit, but if New Zealand should be invaded I would be fhe first to , turn out." "If.the.enemy was 3£ miles away you would not mind?' 1 "Well, I will not discuss fine points-of that nature. I will not seTV-e abroad. I would do 18 months fox sedition, first. I'm up.against ■ it,- and-I; know-it." When informed that decision would be given later with, all other miners' cases, the appellant said he had not been examined by the 1 Medical Board, and was thereupon assured that if the Medical Board failed' : to pass him he would not need to worry about the enemy outside, the three<nife limit. , In the course of an'interview wttb-ai Masterton Age reporter yesterday, : a gentleman interested in the pig industry 'stated that there was nothing wonderful in the recent statement of a South Island buyer that pigs were hard to get. "Why," he said, "even in Masterton last Saturday I saw porkers sold ,up to, 9d per Ib at a mart sale." This was, the gentleman remarked, customary at this., period of the year, and was no indication that-there'would be a scarcity of bacon s during the coming season. "If you look up the statistics,", he said, "you will discover that there*is no shortage, and inflated prices can only be attributed to the operations of rings, which have mad* themselves evident during the past couple of years." He stated that he knew for » positive fact that one company in th« Wairaxapa,' outside the influence of th« ring, had paid from a halfpenny to S penny per 1b more for its pigs than th* other firm operating, yet had sold its bacon, in sides, at Id per 1b less and hams at 2d per lb less, and had made a bigger profit last season than ever before. In concluding, the opinion was expressed that the exertion of public opinion alone, backed up by questions asked in the House, was likely to keep ihe price of bacon on a reasonable plane.. In the case of John Fi-dier Skipper / against the Crown, an appeal aeaiisst a sentence for making use of words likely to .-interfere with recruiting, before the Full Court yesterday,^ judgment was reserved. "" . "A Wife by Purchase." Set the fccofe and read it. The picture will be shown at Shortt's Theatre on Saturday jxsefc. —Advt. Thinking of adding one or ftiro new pieces of furniture to the home this spring? Then see the attractive modern: styles at Edward Collie, Lhnited's, Jttddl--ford-street, N-ewtown. —Advt. Thousands have singled. ".-< out an tS» best firm to'do Customs, carrying, wvi'l forwarding work. That tells it* own tale. The N.Z. Express Co., 87-91, Cus-tomhouse-quay.—Attv-t. Tab' fabricw for Summer WeaK-.—if you have not yet made a selection for your summer frock oail soon at C. Smith's, Led., Caba-stroet, a.nd see tie womlsrfiil Tariety now showing. Tiio »»• ciesi'gu6 cliis season are daint-iar than ever. Pretty crimp muslins, voiles,. tobraJcos, etc., Uavo just arrived, and if you cannot call writo to "The People's Store" for the new patterns. They wil) > {oTw.ar<ied per TCtaira post.—Advt . . . v .