LOCAL AND GENERAL

Evening Post, Volume XCIV, Issue 112, 8 November 1917, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL

A correspondent, "Four Gone," writes to The Post, asking if a Reservist having four brothers in the fighting line scan obtain exemption from military service. The position is that the reservist has the right to appeal on the ground that, by reason of his domestic circumstances or for any other reason, his calling up for military service will be a cause of undue hardship to himself or others. Subsection 3, Section 18, of the Military Service Act, 1916, further provides that exemption shall be granted an appellant who is the sole surviving son of military age of his parents and that at least one ot his brothers has lost his life through active service in the present war. The amendment to the Expeditionary Forces Act which was before Parliament last month extended the last provision to cover the case of an appellant who is the last remaining son of military age a at least three of his brothers have served or are serving in His Majesty's Forces abroad. This was approved by both branches of the Legislature. Owing to other circumstances, however, the Bill was dropped and this provision did not become law; but it is understood that the Military Service Boards have been recommended to deal with appeals coming within this category in conformity with the principle confirmed by both the House of Representatives and the Legislative Council. Our correspondent, therefore, if he is the last remaining son, is entitled to appeal on the ground of undue hardship. It will be for the Military Service Board to say whether his case comes within the terms of the provisions outlined.

An impressive ceremony -will take place at Boseneath on Saturday next, when His Excellency the GoverW-General will unveil, at 3 p.m., the recently-erected memorial to those ex-pupils of the school who have fallen at the front during the present war. The Mayor (Mr. J. P. Luke, 0.M.G.) -will also be present, and a guard of honour will be supplied by the Returned Soldiers' Association It has been arranged for a band to be in attendance. The memorial has been 'erected outside the entrance to the school grounds, on a triangular piece of land dona-ted by the.City Council, and consists of a stepped base on which stands a square pedestal about six feet high, with marble .panels to receive the names of those who have fa-lien in the great war. Standing on this is a Grecian Doric column, of sturdy proportions, itypifyinostrength, surmounted with the globe re° presenting the Empire. The total height of the memorial is about 18 feet. ' The ■work was carried out by Mr. Walter Tonks, successor to Mr. 'W. J. Helyer, and was designed ,by William M. Page', L.R.1.8.A., architect. The drawing was hung in the recent exhibition of the NewZealand Academy of Fine Arts.

Members of Wellington First Military Service Board—Messrs. D. G. A. Cooper (chairman), W. Perry, and D. M'Laren —who have been holding sittings in Taranaki, Palmerston, etc, during the past few weeks, returned to Wellington yesterday. On Monday next they will leave'for Taihape.

The National Provident Fund Department has vacated the Bank of New Zealand premises in Manners-street, and has been accommodated with offices in the new Central Police Buildings in John-ston-street.

The general administration of the Gisborno Hospital is to tern the subject of investigation by Mr. H. W. Bishop, S.M., who has been appointed a Royal Com : mission for the purpose. Amongst other things, there is stated to have been unrest and disaffection among members of the nursing staff.

The long arm again! , This morning, in the Magistrate's Court, a seaman appeared before Mr. S. E. M'Carthy, S.M., to answer a charge of desert-in"-from an oversea vessel on 31st Decem° ber, 1907. Inspector Marsack stated that tho defendant bad since been engaged in respectable employim .it, and the owners of the vessel did not desire to press the charge, which was withdrawn.

The complete agreements recently arrived at by the Conciliation Council in the Wellington Iron and Brass Moulders' and Wellington Boilermakers' disputes, were made into an award by the Arbitration Court to-day. The details of the terms have already been published. The provisions are retrospective as from ISth October. There were several applications for the striking ovi of parties. W. E. Campbell and Company, Wang-anni, were struck out of the Iron and Brass Moulders' Award, and A. Hatrick and Company, Wangiamui, were eliminated from the Boilermakers' Award. Applications by the Wellington Gas Company, Gear Meat Company, and Wellington Meat Export Company, «D of whom were cited in the boilermakers" dispute, -were considered and decision reserved.

Shipbuilding on the East Coast of Scotland seems- to be on the upgrade, and no mistake (says FairpLiy). The Dundee yards have been undergoing extensive extensions and improvements; at Aberdeen one new establishment is being- laid oub for the repair and ultimately the. construction of small craft; at Leith, we were officially informed' come time'a^o, Messrs. Hawthorne and Co.'s yard was being greatly extended and improved. Besides somebody was to revive shipbuilding at Kinghorn. Now; we are told that Messrs. John Cram and Co., of Ijeift, have acquired from the Leith Dock Commissioners a piece of ground on which they hope to be able to build vessels up to 300 ft in length. The ground, which was occupied formerly by the East Coast Salvage Company, has a good frontage to the open sea, and at present it is being cleared of buildings and levelled for the erection of the necessary buildings and plant. A beginning will be made, it is understood, by the construction of a steamer for Messrs. Gibson and Co., of Leifih. Then from Aberdeen it is reported that a local Shipbuilders' Association has been formed, representing- all .the smaller areas on the Aberdeensbire and Moray Firth coasts, with Mr. George Forbes, sen., of Sandhaven, as chairman. The_ new organisation will probably join tip in time with the Shipbuilding Employers' Federation, and thus get in touch with the industry all over tho United Kingdom.

mlir Wa;' "fl^ hI a mating of the Wellington Labour Representation Committee last night thai, in the event of a vacancy occurring in the Woilinjrtoa Nort-h Electorate, the adviisablenesf ot contesting the seat m the interests of Labour should be immediately considered.

At 11.20 lost night, the Fire Brigade received a call to No. 44, Murphy-sSeßt, where somo linen, airing before thtj kitchen fire, had ignited *nd damaged -the kitchen and hall. The house was owned and occupied by Mr T J Townehend. The insurances aTe; Building %%°. > *c T*°P* Office; contort? £320, in the same office.

At a meeting cf the Wellington .Labour Representation Committee last night the following motion vras carried unanimously:—"That this meeting of the Wellington L.R C ! whose activities are in close proximity to Parliament, having closely watched the work performed by Mr p U. Webb, M.P., considers that his work has been admirable in the interests of the workers, and heartily congratulates the electors of the Grey in again selecting him to contest tfee Parliamentary seat, and hopes that his constituents will return him at the top of the poll." A young man, who was stated by his father to be a mental defective on probation from the Auckland Mental Hospital appeared before the Auckland Police Court on Tuesday on three charges of breaking the glass of fire alarm boxes and unnecessarily calling out the Fire .Brigade. rhe Magistrate (Mr F V Frazer) convicted the accused and orl dered him to come up for sentence, when called upon, on the understanding that a? Tf £? be- at cnce tekeil back to the Mental Hospital. Hi? Worship endorsed the remarks made by,.the Inspector relative to tie stupidity and danger of 'tie practice of giving fake alarms. He stated that he would like it to go out as a warning to the public that if any sane person were convicted of the offence a heavy penalty would be imposed. "America is in the war to a finish," said Mr. A. A. Winslow, American Con-sul-General, m replying to the toast of the Allies at a dinner tendered to j\lr A. A. Ross, provincial president of the larmers Union, in Auckland on Monday. There was a period during which British, people looked coldly on America, and his own reception in New Zealand was not of the most cordial nature. He quite understood it, however, and the atmosphere around him had warmed wonderfully during the last few months. Mr. Wilson was a Ohristiap gentleman of high character, who strove earnestly" to secure peace in the interests of humanity. That proved impossible, and without hesitation America entered the war to see it out to a finish.

Mr. W. D. Lysnar, who has been visiting Wellington in connection with the report of the Special Committee of the House on the American Meat Trust in New Zealand, has returned to Gisborne, states the Gisbome Times. Mr. Lysnar says he is satisfied that under paragraph g of section 35 of the War (Legislation Act the Government would have the necessary, temporary power to enforce the recommendations of the Meat and Shipping Trust Committee's report. He trusted that the Government would see its way to exercise its powers under this provision so as to immediately protect the several positions suggested by the committee's report. Time in these matters was pressing, for the reason that the new season's operations were now '.-omiiencing. Mi-. Lysnar further stated that he had an assurance from the Premier (Mr. Massey) that permanent legislation on the matter would be enacted next session. In the meantime, he regarded the temporary provision made as most satisfactory. - . -

The toast of "Our Fighting Forces" ■was proposed by the Canadian Trade Commissioner (Mr. W. A. Beddoe) at a banquet given in Auckland on Monday to Air. A. A. Ross, president of the Auckland . Farmers' Union. Mr. Beddoe said New Zealand was not -widely known before the war, but a country that had sent to the front 80,000 fighting men, thereby contributing the largest percentage of men of any of the Dominions of the Empire, was sure to be recognised for its self-sacrifice and patriotism. Kew Zealand's soldiers had performed deeds m .the field which added to the glory of the Empire. Great Britain would emerge from the war the most honoured nation on earth, and New Zealand would be honoured with her. Major D. H Lnsk responded to the toast. He said, as one of the few of New Zealand's old fighting men who were left, he thoroughly appreciated what was being done for the sollfS" i Waf 'PrOTerbial that Britain lost all her battles but the last, and she was going to win the last battle in ithe present war.

Writing to his parents in Normanby, * it. „ sen says that in the portion ot the line where he is situated heavy thunder storms, with forked and chain lightning, are very, frequent. "It is very dangerous," he-adds, "when there is so much artillery and steel about. J-he artillery ■bombardments are mainly responsible for the character of the weather. You can always rely on a storm after a heavy bombardment We have never seen so much mud before. It is knee deep for miles round. The boys who take their turn to hold the front line for 96 hours have to stand in it knee deep all the time, while Fritz flings every imaginable tiling he has at them. So you may imagine what' the poor beggars feel like when they change over, at the same time wading through slush, over smashed wire entanglements and dodging machine-gun bullets and shrapnel. Bnt with all thi-a the boys are well and stout-hearted." Referring to some comrades who had "gone west," he says : "We regret their loss, not only as friends, but as good comrades. They had a fine death. They fought bravely, and gave their lives for the love of what is right."

Before the close of the meeting of the Jit. Eden Borough Council on Monday evening, states the Auckland Star, Councillor Shackleford had something emphatic to say in connection, with an important public works scheme in New Zealand. Councillor Shackleford referred to the three electric- power schemes for the North Island and the report on same as submitted by Mr. Parry (Chief Electrical Engineer). The speaker noticed that Urn Government seemed inclined to support the Mangahou scheme, near Wellington, and they were already going round the suburbs of that city making enquiry as to the different requirements. Mr. Parry's report showed that the scheme the Department proposed to inaugurate was a small one, while a greater scheme, which would be of much greater advantage to the North Island generally, and to Auckland, would be that suggested by utilising the "Waikato Elver. He considered tint local bodies should be called on to ask their members of Parliament to carry out the wishes of the people in the North. Unless this was done Auckland people would wake up after it was too late and find the people of the South reaping the benefits as tho result of early activity. The South was not only getting the advantage in public money, but it would do the same in the securing of electric power if Northerners did not stir themselves. He was glad to notice that Mr. Young, the member for Waikato, had spoken up in the matter. .It was the duty of local bodies to act, and he would propose that the various bodies in the province be written to urging them to request the Northern M.P.'s to object to the Arapuni scheme being' dropped. Councillor" Hudson seconded tho motion. The Mayor (Mr. 0. Nicholson) agreed that Councillor Shackelford's suggestion was a very good one. The motion ■was carried.