LOCAL AND GENERAL

Evening Post, Volume XCV, Issue 140, 13 June 1918, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Reference is made by correspondents of Tho Post to the question of rent allowances to soldiers' wives who sub-let portions of their homes. "Boot on the Other Foot" in a letter to The Post recently stated that the Financial Assistance Board was penalising/wives to tho extent of the rent secured for the rooms. A Post reporter made enquiries on the point, and was informed that there was no hard and fast rule—in {act, very few cases could be recalled. Whenever a case- is presented it is dealt with on its merits. Where a wife sub-lets one room, mainly for company, the board would not suggest a deduction, but if a woman went into a house much bigger than she required herself, with the intention of making a business of letting rooms, they could hardly expect the board' to overlook the circumstances. To do so would at once make the way clear for abuse. One correspondent states: "Tho man who is unfit remains to wave the flag and live with his wife in comfort; sub-let-ting part of their home, and so supplementing their income, which liberty is denied to a soldier's wife." Where rooms had been sub-let while the husband was at home, it is pointed out in reply, there would be no call for a change on the husband's departure. It would depend upon, the particular circumstances whether a grant for rent was warranted, and the test in.-'each case is largely tho pre-service standard of liv--ing, as to maintain this is tho principal purpose for which, the financial assistance system was instituted.

It is believed that the minefield recently located neaf Cape Maria van Diemen was laid about the same time as the one discovered previously off Cape Campbell. There is no proof that a second' raider has been at work on New Zealand's coast.

An Auckland passenger by the last trip of the steamer Niagara sends the Auckland Star an account of an exciting contest of deck quoits, arranged by the Sports Committee, between the Eight Hon. Mr. Hughes and the Right Hon. Mr. Cook, representing Australia, and the Right Hon. W. F. Massey and 1 the Right Hon. Sir Joseph Ward, championing New Zealand. The match was played on the third day out from Honolulu, and was posted up as a match for "The Championship of the Pacific." Speculation ran high on the chances of the rival reps., but as Australia was in strong force, the Continental barrackers were largely in the ascendant during the practice preliminaries, which were carried on with great vigour and determination for several days prior to the great meet. The match was divided into *hree.rubbers of three games each, and when the contestants stripped for the fray seats were at a big premium. Amid intense excitement the two New Zealand representatives won the first two rubbers and were proclaimed the champions of the Pacific, as the title, as some of the Maoriland enthusiasts waggishly declared, carried with' it "tho islands of Fiji and Samoa." The winners were accordded a ("eat demonstration by the New Zealanders on board. The scores were a's follow:—Massey and Ward: 21, 4, 21, 21, 23—90. Hughes and Cook: 18, 21, 4, 10, 18—71.

"It is just as weE that the public should know that persons making use of used stamps on postal packets are liable to a fine of £50," said Mr. B. E. M'Carthy, S.M., when delivering judgment in a case where W. G. Gar 3 was so charged' yesterday at the Upper Hutt Court. Thf> Magistrate said the stamp had clearly been used, and he entirely disbelieved the statement of .defendant vrhen be said he had purchased the stamo from the assistant postmistress. A nne of £5, with 9s costs, was inflicted. On a second charge of fraudulently removing such stamp with intent to use it ajrajn, defendant was convicted and discharged.

"We hear many complaints from Karori people regarding the over-crowded, condition of their trams," writes "Watchman" to the Editor. "Well, lam going to suggest that, to a large extent at any rate, 'they have tho remedy in their own hands. Each evening, shortly after 5 o'clock, when the over-crowding is most notable, four cars leave Government Buildings at intervals of. about two minutes. The first of these is invariably crowded to an uncomfortable, and, I think, dangerous extent. The second is almost as Sad. The third (I am basing these remarks on my own observations twice this week)' is about two-thirds full, and the fourth barely half full. There may be more than four cars. If so, I think the fifEn would be empty. If the Karori people would only exercise a little patience, and perhaps a little commonsense, too, they would get home in complete comfort. Certainly there is no excuse for the indecent over-crowding which now takes place."

A paragraph in the Taranaki Daily News states that reference was made by Cr. W. A. Collis at this week's meeting of the New Plymouth Borough Council to the brave action of the fate Mr. A. H. Ambury, in his attempt to save the lifo of Mr. W. E. Gourlay, in connection with the accident which occurred at Mount Egmont on 3rd June. Or. Collis said that those who saw Mr. Ambury's action understood fully that, in attempting to save the life of Mr. Gourlay, he had taken a risk in which he, as an experienced mountaineer, must have known he had but a small chance of succeeding. Nevertheless, he had deliberately taken that risk, and the fact that he had failed did not in any sense lessen the merit of his action. He moved that steps .be taken by tho Major to bring the matter under the notice of the Royal Humane Society (New Zealand branch), with a view to having the action fittingly recognised. The motion was' carried unanimously.

At the Upper Hutt court yesterday, before Mr. 8. E. M'Carthy, S.M., George Fabian proceeded against Reid and Sommerville for the sum of £6 13s l£d, being the balance of wages due to him when he left defendants' employ. The defence alleged that the plaintiff had got an advance of £5 5s against his wages some six months previously, and that the sum of only £1 7s 2d was due. Mr. M'Carthy held that, if the sum of £5 os had been owing by plaintiff (which plaintiff denied), such debt had been forgiven by defendants; in any case, the amount could not be set against the amount of wages due. Judgment was for plaintiff for the amount claimed. Mr. Hindmarsh appeared for plaintiff and Mr. J. S. Barton for defendants.

There was a time when Taranaki was known throughout New Zealand as the leading dairying province of the Dominion, but in the opinion of a writer in the Daily News it looks as if that position will not be maintained much longer, if it has not < already been usurped. At the Waikato' Winter Show* last week thero were record entries in the dairy produce section, totalling in all 475. Taranaki was represented by two factories—viz., Moa. in the butter section and Kaupokonui in cheese. In each of three classes averaging 28 entries, Moa Dairy Company obtained fifth position, with tho uniform grade of 93 points. Kaupokonui Dairy Company was successful in obtaining a second and a third prize.

A considerable amount of bush work is being carried out in the Maitahi and Taita forest areas, where some 50 men are engaged in felling, cross-cutting, and hauling. The monthly output, which is consigned by rail to Dargaville, is averaging 600,000 ft. A new contract is being entered on for the delivery of 6,000,----.oooft of Ioe; timber, to th» railway.

At the Appeal Board at Napier yesterday the Hon. G. W. Russell appealed for the sine die exemption of his fifth son, who is the manager of a farm. Threo sons are at tho front, and the other has returned. The appeal was granted, and the Minister stated that his son would enlist when the necessary arrangements could be made.

During the absence of Superintendent Kiely, who has gone to "Wellington to relieve Commissioner O'Donovan, while the latter is absent on sick leave, the Auckland police officials have been promoted a step, pro tern, (stafes the Herald). Inspector J. Johnston is acting-superintend-ent. Sub-Inspector W. G. Wohlman is acting-inspector, Senior-Sergeant J. M'JNTamara'is acting-sub-^nspector, and Sergeant J. Mathew is acting-senior sergeant.

On the same day, 6th October, 1887, Sir James Carroll, Sir Joseph Ward, and Sir James Allen, were first sworn-m as members of the House of Representatives. They have been elected for ten Parliaments (comprising 37 sessions). Other interesting lines in a return which shows the Parliamentary terms of the present House of Representatives are :— The Eight Hon. W. F. Massey, sworn-in on 21st October, 1894 (29 sessions); Sir William Fraser, 26th October, 1894 (29); the Hon. W. H. Herries, 6th April, 1897 (26); the Hon. J. A. Hanan, 21st June, 1900 (22) ; the Hon. T. M. Wilford, 21st June, 1900 (21); the Hon. G. W. Russell, 21st June, 1894 (18); the Hon. D. H. Guthrie, 10th June, 1909 (12); the Hon. W. D. S. Mac Donald, 10th June, 1909 (12); the Hon. Arthur Myers, 16th June, 1910 (10); the Hon. Dr.- Pomare, lßth February, 1912 (8). Sir Francis Bell was a member of the House of Representatives from 1894 to 1896. He was appointed Leader of the Legislative Council in July, 1912.

"Concerning conscription," says The Post's London correspondent, "Lieutenant C. I. Denham, R.N.V.R. (Christchurch), writes indignantly to the Freeman's Journal to correct a statennsfit by a correspondent that 'the Empire's colonies, who have always boasted ofthefr loyalty to Britain—Australia. New Zealand, and South Africa—will not have conscription.' Mr. Denham says that not only has New Zealand conscription, but her one regret is that she has not ten times the number of men to send."

The dead body of Mr. Harold Sterling Thomson, a sheop farmer near Motu, Poverty -Bay (son of Mr. A. W. Thomson, of Auckland), has been found floating in Auckland Harbour. Deceased had some teeth extracted recently, and since then had suffered from insomnia. He was perfectly normal in his manner when his father saw him a. week ago, and there is'every reason to believe thai he was overcome while taking his morning dip in the sea.

Constable A. Oleverley arrested a waterside worker named Edward Mitchell on the wharf yesterday on a charge of the theft of four packets of dried; peaches, valued at 4s, the property of the Union Company. Mitchell was brought before Mr. H. E. M'Carthy, S.M., at the Magistrate's Court to-day. Inspector Mareack remarked that though the value of the goods alleged to have been stolen waa not great, the type of offence .was very serious indeed. Mitchell was remanded to Monday naxt, and was admitted to bail in the sum of £20 and two sureties of £10 each.

New Zealand has still some very antiquated "puffing Billies" on branch railway lines. Little, fretful, fussy locomotives, with a burning thirst, fuming much with comparatively light loads, have been the subject of many jests. Altogether the Dominion has about six hundred engines, of which the biggest and best -have less consumption of' coal than the small, wheezy members of the locomotive family. For example. Mr. S. H. Jenkinson stated last - evening that a standard engine of the New Zealand railways in 1501 used 651b of coal per mile, with a load of 12 to 14 vehicles. In 1905 a compound locomotive hauled 16 vehicles at a higher speed on 501b of coal to the mile. In 1917 a new type of engine, hauling 20 or more vehicles, at an increase of speed, used only 421b of coal per mile.

A dispute over the price of the erection of a fence was heard at Upper Hutt yesterday by air. S. E. M'Carfrhy, S.M., the plaintiff being M. M'Nabb, for whom. Mr. J. S. Barton appeared, and the defendant Mrs G. Hagen, defended by Mr. P. Jackson. The claim was for the sum of £33 15s, of which £24 had been paid into court. The question o£ whether there had been a verbal contract entered into the case. The ground of the action was that the price of £30 charged for 240 feet of close boarded fence- was excessive. The bench held that the existence of a- contract had been proved, and gave judgment accordingly for the sum. of £31 5s with £7 7s 6d costs, less the amount paid into court.

Since the publication on Saturday of a cable from America stating- that a deputation of Jugoslavs had asked the American Government to pass legisfetion giving them the status of friendly aliens, and offering that 50,000 would immediately enlist in the American army, the question has been asked' why Jugoslavs at present in this Dominion should not enlist, say 3 the Star." Without committing himself in the matter, the Commissioner for the Registration of Jugoslavs in New Zealand (Mr. J. Cullen), made a statement in respect to the respective habits of the American and New Zealand Jugoslavs to a Star reporter. Dealing first with the American Jugoslavs, the Commissioner said that they had settled down there along with their wives and families, the same as immigrants from other European nations had done. Unlike their American brothers, the New Zealand Slav remained only long enough to make a considerable sum of money and then return to the land of his birth. In this way they had dwindled in numEers to one-third of what they were 15 or 16 years ago. The percentage of Jugoslavs settled down in New Zealand is very small, and it would probably have been smaller had the war not intervened. Jugoslavs had enlisted in the New Zealand Forces, some in the Main Expeditionary Force. Of these a percentage had been listed amongst the killed, others had returned to New Zealand invalided, and the balance are still fighting.

As usual there was a somewhat large list of casss against owners of straying cattle at the Upper Hutt Court yesterday, Mr. S. E. M'Carthy S.M., being on the Bench. The cases were the first heard under the Hutt County Council's new bylaw. H. Gorrie, A. Reed, H. Benge, W. Thorby, and V. Shannon were each fined 10s, with 17s 6d costs; J. liowe 20s, with 17s 6d' costs, and; A. Sonthee, whose appearance was described by the Bench as perennial, had to pay the sum of £3, with 7s costs. The Bench, said that the last-named offender had paid in fines more than enough to have put his fences in first-class order.

A man who had been behaving in rather a queer manner for some time past, was arrested by the Mount Cook police last night on a charge of drunkenness. The man, who had the sum of 5126 in his possession, was brought before Mr. H. G. Smith, J.P., this morning and remanded for a week.

"Mr. H. E. Holland will this week relinquish the position of paid editor of the Worker, but will continue to work for the paper as a voluntary contributor. Mr. Holland will shortly undertake an organising campaign under the auspices of the National Executive of the New Zealand Labour Party," states this week's issue of the Maoriland Worker.

"It is so very seldom that the men who do the work modestly, faithfully, and praiseworthily get any recognition of their services, that oh the rare occasions, when their merit is appreciated wo feel extremely thankful," said Mr. S. H. Jenkinson. chairman of the Technocological Section of tlia Philosophical Society last evening, when congratulating Mr. R.. W. Holmes Engineer-in-Chief of the Public Works Department) on the honour of 1.5.0. recently conferred upon hjm.

On the 29th of last month a transport was torpedoed with the loss of 95 lives. The missing men included 13 military officers, 79 other ranks, the captain of the ship, and two wireless operators. Another wirele£6 operator who was on the transport was Roy Mancer, of Waverley. His mother, who is now in Wanganui, has (says the Wanganui Herald) received a cable message stating that he had been saved. Roy was well known on the boats between Wellington and Lyttelton, and of later years between New Zealand and Australia.

That homely proverb, "necessity is the mother of invention," was practically the text for part of the address by Mr. Evan Parry last evening on "Electrification of Railways." He remarked that in older countries the reason for the change was not in profit—not in the fact that electric power might bo cheaper than any -but in the "pressing necessity as the result of local conditions. Though the speaker did not refer to the feelings of Christchurch people, it is well known that they believe "pressing necessity" should induce the Government to make all possible hasto to use Lake Coleridge power for an electric railway service between the city and the port, thus banishing the. smoke nuisance of the Lyttelton tunnel. Commenting on Mr. Parry's address, Mr. S. H. Jenkinsou said that duplication of the Lyttelton tunnel would solve the smoke' problem, even without the aid of electricity.

That war conditions have not deprived alien residents in New Zealand of their rights to take proceedings in the law courts of the Dominion was emphasised m the Supreme Court at Auckland, when a native of Germany, though now interned at Motuihi, obtained judgment •against a British-born citizen for debt. As a matter of fact, the interests cf aliens are'distinctly protected by one of the earliest proclamations issued by tlia Government in connection with the war states the Herald. Under data 9Ui August, 1914, His Excellency tho Gov-ernor-Crenaral proclaimed that all enemy aliens peaceably resident in the Dominion wore "within the peace and -protection of His Majesty in the same manner as ._ if they were subjects of ' His Majesty," and expressly declared that they wexe entitled to sue and to plead accordingly in the courts of justice.

On the last voyage of the Niagart across the Pacific an Australian lady artiston board made a number of pencil sketches , of passengers, among them being one each of the Right Hone. W. Hughes (Prime! Minister of Australia), W. F. Massey (Prime Minister of New Zealand), and Sir Joseph Ward. Later the sketches were auctioned for tho benefit of the Eed 0r063 Fund, and Sir Joseph Ward was entrusted w;th the hammer, which he wielded with suet expert effect that nearly £100 was realised for the goodl cause. Mr. Hughes wae knocked down for £2 ss, Mr Maasey for £2 10s, Sir Joseph Ward himself fetched £8 Ss, and two soldiers (Lieutenant Lascelles and Captain Haed) brought £5 and £4 4s respectively. The remaining sketches realised from £2 to £4, the total proceeds of the auction sale,; tognther with the sale of programmes for tho evening's entertainment and sweets, producing no less than £137 12s for the fund.

"The real obstacles to success in labour co-partnership have been the managerial incapacity of the ordinary workmen, their disliking to pay a competent manager anything like a decentsalary, and their disinclination to submit to shop discipline in co-partnership establishments," remarked Mr. D. E. Murphy in an address to .accountants and business men last night. "These obstacles wrecked most of the co-opara-tive workshops." A group of coopers in Minneapolis had'formed a. successful 00-partnership organisation, the workers owning and running their own business. But, whe i the venture was,firmly established 1 the original workers .turned themselves inito a joint stock company and took other men into their employment. Mr. A. W. Clinkard said that 'labour co-partnership had succeeded in two instances in France. Mr. Murphy said the co-partnership movement, however, had not grown as it would have done if it had been the solution of the problems of Labour and 1 Capital. :

Two Suva residents, Mr. Alexander Evetts, formerly of New Zealand, and Mr. J. Johansen, had a remarkable experience on Sunday, 2nd June, involving a drift of eighteen hours in a water-logged boat. The Auckland Star Fiji correspondent says:—"They set out for the reef adjoining Suva on Sunday morning, and about 11 o'clock the boat was capsized by a swell. The boat was near the / reef at the time, and both msn had, an exciting struggle to keep a grip on the boat. Evctts, in fact, was nearly drowned at the very beginning when the boat came across his shoulders and held' him pinned down. Fortunately, another swell came and released him. They managed to right the boat, but by this time all their gear had drifted away, and the boai was full of water. They had nothing to do but to climb in and maintain their balance as woll as possible and trust to the rising tide to take them ashore. It eventually did so, but not until 4 o'clock next morning did they reach a cutter off a native village about four miles away. Although drifting across the face of the harbour, «trange to say, no one saw them. They passed within fifty yards of the pile light, but did not caro to leave their insecure refuge for fear of sharks. Both men were more or less affected by their long immersion, even though it was in tropical waters. They were picked up by a search party which had gone out to look for them on the previous evening."