LOCAL AND GENERAL

Evening Post, Volume XCVI, Issue 139, 9 December 1918, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL

On Saturday the House of Representatives reversed its vote on the amend : meijt by which it had agreed to permit ■women to be candidates for Parliament. Another surprise was the retention of the Ministerial Board in the Repatriation Bill after the House on Thursday night j)ad unmistakably shown a preference for control by One Minister. . The Repatriation Bill, the Liquor Bill, and the Distillation Bill (industrial alcohol) went through all stages. The '' Native Land Amendment and the Native Land Claims Adjustment flßill (Native "wash-ing-up" Bill), was passed. The Reserves and other Lands Disposal and. Public Bodies Empowering Bill (a "wash-up" of 75 sections), was, read 3. first time. The following local Bills were passed : —Naipier Harbour Board and Napier High School Empowering Bill; Thames Borough Boundaries Alteration Bill; New Plymouth Harbour Board Empowering Bill; Whangarei Borough Empowering Bill; Dunedin Oity Fish Markets and Empowering Bill; Wairoa Harbour Board Empowering and Loan Bill. The House rose at 10.47 p.m. The Legislative Council passed the Expeditionary Forces Bill and the Repatriation Bill. The Council rose at 11.20 p.m. 1 Statutory authority for manufacture of industrial alcohol was granted by the House of Representatives on Saturday in the Distillation Amendment Bill, in charge of the Minister of Customs (Hon. Arthur M. Myers). Mr. T. W. Rhodes (Thames) welcomed the Bill, but he hoped the Government would make the new industry a State monopoly, or at I least grant a subsidy for the first quantities of industrial alcohol manufactured. Fishermen state that therS was aft eruption of some sort on White Islana on Sunday afternoon or night, says Poverty Bay Herald of Friday last. A slight earthquake -was felt' about 3 p.m. on Sunday. On Monday ihe eea between White - Island find Whale Island was black on the surface, showing signs of an upheaval somewhere in the Vicinity. No particulars are available, but the fishermen tUta that tW» were unmi»Ukfcbl« siflM of w explosion o& Wtilta hkod.

Th§ annual conference of the New Zealand Waterside Workers' Federation has been postponed until 7th January.

In a retiring collection made at the Cam-bridge-terrace Congregational Church last night in aid of sufferers through the epidemic, the sum of £11 was donated.

"Somebody is pulling somebody's leg"—the phrase used by the Minister of Defence (Sir James Allen) in regard to the Endletaberger case—wag accidentally credited to the Minister of Justice in Saturday's Post. -

On the subject of town-planning, the Hataitai Epidemic Committee passed,the following motion on Saturday evening : "That this committee instruct* its delegate to support other group officers in presenting to the Minister of Public. Health a joint report upon the housing and living conditions discovered daring the epidemic, and urging that a Townplanning Bill on the lines suggested by the Federated Town-planning Associations of New Zealand, which will provide and ensure wholesome housing' for all people and make it impossible to perpetuate or prolong such conditions, be put upon the Ststuts Book without delay."

A denialis made of the statement by the Hon. G. W. Russell to the effect that measles is prevalent in the Mount Albert district, Auckland (states a Press Association telegjun). The Mayor, of Mount Albert states that a fortnight ago there were several mild cases among the pupils at a school, but the trouble had now passed. He could confidently say that there was not now a dozen cases in the whole of the borough. The Health authorities • state that since measles was made a notifiable disease at the end of last week only seven cases were reported, two in the city, one at Mount Albert, three at Otahuhu, and one at Birkenhead.

Doctors, chemists, voluntary workers, ambulance drivers, telephone exchange operators have all put up "records" in quick work during the past few weeks, and now the librarian and his assistants at the Wellington Public library have established a record. When the library was opened for the first time on Saturday' morning after having been closed as a- safeguard against the spreading of influenza, the subscriber's were so numerous that they formed a lengthy queue. Between 9.30 and 1 o'clock, when the library was closed for the day, some 600 books were taken out, and. all day the reference rooms were well patronised, the average number of readers throughout the day till the closing of these rooms in the evening being about 40. A very busy morning was also experienced at the Newtown branch of the library, where subscribers took out 327 books between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m.

Referring to the announcement that the natives of Tonga are suffering from influenza, Mr. J. D. Whitcombe writes to the Auckland Star : "I was in Tonga in 1893, when the measles epidemic broke out. Tonga never having been visited by it before, it struck root in virgin soil, and the consequence was very serious. To show the severity of the epidemic, one Sunday there was an attendance of only 35 at the morning service of the Free Church, where the usual attendance is nearly iOOO, if not over. There were 400 deaths at Nukualofa alone, and many in the other islands, y so what a dreadful time they must be' having now. The population of Tonga is 21,712 natives and about 380 whites. There are three medical men in the group, one situated at Nukualofa, one a* Haabai, and one at Vavau. These three ■ men have to attend to the whole of the group. Could we not send help from Auckland?"

The headmasters of\ State schools in the Wellington Education District have been advised by circular that Mr. J. L. Heckler has donated a sum of money for the establishment of a scholarship in memonr of his son, Lance-Corporal WiU liam Heckler, of Mangamahoe, .-who died of wounds at the front. The scholarship will be open to the. sons of fallen soldiers, and will be competed for each year for fourteen yeare, the winner to be adjudged on- the results attained in the Junior National Scholarships examination^ The parentage of candidates may be either Maori* or European, A fallen soldier, in this instance,/must have been a member of the New Zealand Expeditionary. Force who came by his death in action, ac the result of wounds, or accident, or through contracting a non-culpab!e disease when in the field, in camp, or in transit. The' scholarship (£6l 10s a" year) is tenable fortwo^years *t the Wellington Boys' College.

The theory that night air is injurious, according to Dr. H. Chesson, District Health Officer in Canterbury, should be thrown overboard. Ho finds that the theory is a well-established bogey, and he advises people to get rid of it without delay. "I never have, and never shall, understand the difference between night air and any other kind of air," he said yesterday, when discussing influenza with reported. "Fresh air is as necessary at night as in the day time. It is an accepted principle that people who sleep with their windows open Bleep better than those who have their windows closed. Better still, if they steep out on the verandah." "Why are people so afraid of fresh air?" Dr. ' Chesson asked. "Will the epidemic teach them a lesson? Will they partake of fresh air more freely than in the past? I sincerely hope that they will, for on this largely depends the health of the community."

Here is a tribute, published in the Watersider, to the work of the Health Committee on the Wellington wharves while the influenza epidemic was at it* height:—"The , Wellington Harbour Board seems to have been the Only public body that took action to prevent the disease spreading (to Wellington), and it is very probable but for the timely action of the Wellington Harbour Board in installing an up-to-date inhalation chamber the disease wonld hay« spread to a greater extent. Bat the great work of stamping out the disease on the ships and wharves was carried out by the Health Committee, representing shipowners and waterside workers, with Captain Munro as chairman. When this committee got to work, it did not take long to clear all ships and wharves of the disease. ' Had the Health Department-organised such a committee when the diseaso first made its appearance, it is safe to sqy that the epidemic would not have obtained such a hold. and the appalling death-rate would not have occurred."

The Native Land Amendment and Native I/and Claims Adjustment Bill is generally as dull and uninteresting, except to those immediately concerned, as the title is cumbersome. But the 1918 edition of the Bill, passed by the House of Representatives On Saturday, had just a little interest, in that it recalled vnith many . "whereases" a notable disaster. Clause 7 read in part: "Whereas the lands of certain Natives of the NgatiTuhourangi tribe were rendered uninhabitable by the Tarawera eruption in 1886: And whereas it appears .from documentary evidence that a promise was made by or on behalf of His Majesty to set apart certain lands in the Aroha srfrvey district for the use arid occupation of the said Natives, but the said lands have not been legally reserved for the said purpose: And whereas if is desirable that provision should be made for granting the said lands to those Natives of the Ngati-Tuhourangi tribe or their descendant* whose tends were rendered uninhabitable as aforesaid : Be it therefore enacted as follows. . . ." and the Native Land Court is authorised to inquire^ into Hit Majesty's promiea tnd tn« claim* truing from v* , dieittttt of 32_jar» h»sk.

It is estimated (»»y» the Sun) that 464 persons died from influenza in Christchurch last month.

An earthquake shock was felt in Wellington hst night sX twenfcy-one minutes to twelve.

In order to get through the criminal cases before the holidays begin, the Supreme Court Judges will sit in Auckland this week. There are 37 indictments against 22 persons.

The North Otago Sectfnd Division League has sent the following telegram to district members of Parliament:— "We urge you to demand the enactment ot a comprehensive and generous repatriation scheme administered) by a board of specially-selected civilians of known ability and sympathy, the board, to be free from military control."

The proposed amalgamation of thw Onslow Borough with Wellington City will be considered at a special meeting of the Onslow Borough Council which has been called for Wednesday evening next. The city's terms, as already published, will be considered, ■ and, if approved, the council will be asked to pass a special order authorising ; a poll of ratepayers.

Cable aWice has ;:fceeh received in New Zealand i/com British firms foreshadowing an increase in the near future in the cost of bar iron. According to the messages received, a meeting was to be. convened at Birmingham for the pur- 1 pose of considering the advisability of increasing the price of iron. Owing to heavy increases in the cost of oie, coal,^ and labour, the opinion prevailed tba+ it was impossible-to carry on on a payable basis while the Government controlled price was in vogue." V

In tb* Board of Trade Journal of 3rd October, It is announced that plans for; developing a large, trade netween 'the Pacific Coast of tne States and New Zealand and the South Sea Islands are reported to have been completed r«scentlj bj New York and San Francisco interests with The ohartering of. seven Seattle-owned nchoouer*. Two of the

«ssels will load general cargo n Ban Francisco for New Zealand, and two for the South Sea islands; two, will load lumber on ; the Puget Sound, one for Levuka and the other lor Suva, both in the Fiji Islands , the seventh vessel will load copra at Apia. Samoa, for the Pacific Coast, and the same cargo will be carried on the homeward voyags by th* six other vessels.

Most of the Auckland fruitgrowerahave agreed not to do business with any auctioneers who will not make a charge for fruit-cases. The proposal is to charge sixpence per case for bushel cases, and threepence for half-bushel ones, the money to be returned by the Case Company if the cases are i>eturned to the depot. These proposals do not meet with the .approval of the buyers. Their complaint seems to be the expense of carting empty cases back again and the difficulty of returning them in good order. A semi-boycott by the buyers was in operation in the Auckland city markets last week. In consequence of this, fruit, was sold at much reduced, prices, as a number of the buyers were holding off.

The need for immediately widening the KiLbirnie tunnel was referred to at thei meeting of the Hataitai Epidemic Committee last night. The Chairman said doctors and ambulances had wasted valuable time—how valuable he was not pre-, pared to say—in. having to reach Hataitai via Newtown and Kilbirnie, or via OAntal Bay • and Roseneath. ;A patieiw living near the tunnel at the Hataitai end had been taken in'the early hours of the morning via Kilbirnie ana Newtown. to the Normal Hospital at Thorndon. The Wellington College Hospital, a matter of a few minutes through the tunnel, had "to' be approached in the same. way.. The population of Hataitai alone was about 2000, and he felt that now the war was over the City Council would lose no time in improving* the existing conditions:

Special reference to the late epidemic was made by the Rev. Dr. Gibb at, St. John's Church last night. _"The recent epidemic," he said, "has taught us again the essential unity of mankind. . The spread of the disease was due to .tbe insanitary housing conditions of a large part of our cities and the intemperate habits of some of our citizens. The victims of alcoholism went down before it, dying like flies. In the filthy tenements and slums the disease swept all before it. During the days when the epidemic was at its height it reminded me of what I had read of the plague in the Middle Ages. When the mirtality bill_ of these few weeks comes to be reckoned up, we shall, probably find that this pestilence in three weeks-time claimed: nearly" as many dead from- New Zealand as the war has claimed in four yearss' We have learned the lesson to our bitter cost. The epidemic swept away temporarily many barriers in Wellington. For a brief period in this city there were no rich and poor, society and non-society, cultured and i.enorant; For that brief period there were only two classes of people^-those who were suffering from the disease and those who had escaped it." "■'■■':■'■

That the New Zealand ers are taking full advantage of the condition* that now prevail at the Front is evident from the letter of a soldier, Sapper Mi J. Paiiry, who entered country evacuated by the Huns along with his company, the 3rd Field Company, N.Z. Engineers, 14th Reinforcements, a few days prior to 12th October. Writing to his parents at gwanson, Sapper Paltry gives a graphic description of the enjoyment tbo boys, are deriving from the new conditions. He writes "that it is a good old war these days." That owing to. their crowd being in country recently evacnaied by Fritz, they are enjoying the luxury of again living in houses,/S-dining on cittckery, sleeping in spring beds, ftnd sitting round great old French states. 1 The houses are almost completely furnished. Everything has been^ left, behind except in cases where Fritz's 'destructive hand has been at work. Even the vegetable gardens are stocked with vegetables ready for use. "To tell # you, the truth," ho continues, "we are living like kings. One almost imagines himself back in 'civvy* life. -Ml the boys are having a high time. You sec them wearing straw hats, bell-toppers, and aT. manner of civvy gear. He had just pa.*?'-; ed a pal driving artillery transport, wearing ft topper. The boys.evetr ewry; their gear in flrams and other novt>< conveyances. On the whole," he A> marks, "the outfit looks like n circus on the tnove."