LOCAL AND GENERAL

Evening Post, Volume XCVIII, Issue 47, 25 August 1919, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL

The School Headmasters' Association on Saturday afternoh passed the following motion: "That the headmasters desire to congratulate Mr. William- Foster on tie excellent arrangements made by him in connection with the recent Peace celebrations at Parliamentary Buildings/ The motion.' was carried with acclamation.

The Post's Wanganui correspondient telegrapjis : At the -annual meeting of the West Coast Refrigerating Company, the manager suggested that the company should consider a. superannuation scheme for its employees.' He understood thst an amendment to • the .existing Act was being prepared permitting private companies and private employers to adopt a superannua.uon scheme, and, if this became law, it would be a good thing for the company to consider.

A largely-signed petition praying for the removal p? the war restrictions applied to them will be presented to Parliament by Jugo-Slaye during the coming session. Mr. ;A. Ferri, who has brought the petition to. Wellington, claims that the men will' be very much better and useful citizens if their wishes are grant cd. He adds that the Jugo-Slays do not claim that they should be set free to go back to the gum-fields,, but ;think they ought to be allowed to go farming, or to take up employment on public works.

The Westport Borough Council is calling the attention of the Government Locomotive Engineer to the' fact that American locomotives are so constructed as profitably to burn waste coal, such as slack; and suggests that the time has arrived, when, in view of the coal crisis, attention might be given to the construction of fire _boxes on New Zealand locomotives which would consume inferior coal.

An enlarged' photograph of members of the Imperial War Cabinet of 1917 has been received by the Prime Minister (Mr. Massey) a-nd will be presented by him to Parliament. The signatures of all members of the Cabinet are written on the margin. The photogra-ph'is one which will in years to come be of very great interest, since it is the first. Imperial Cabinet in which statesmen from the overseas Dominiond .an,d India sat side by sjde, and had full powers with the Ministers of Great Britain. .

The cpal shortage was dealt with in the following motion passedl bythe Thorndon branch of the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants on Sunday :—" This meeting regrets that,"* in view of the oincial figures given by the Hon, Mr. Myers and the improved prospect of the coal supply, the Railway Department is not contemplating immediate resumption of train services. It is .considered there is no reason why the present drastic reductions should be further continued, thereby causing unnecessary unemployment in the railway service, and denying the staff their usual privileges." It was stated that a considerable number of married men with families have been notified that their services are no longer required.

"Farmers don't knew so much about their cows as they think they do," said Mr. Singleton, of the Dairy Division, in an address on herd testing to dairymen ait Levin. He stated that in several oases after tests had been carried .out" by his Department the owners had been asked to pick put what they considered their best eight cows. Very few had been able to do that. One farmer when invited to select his best butter-fat cow picked out an animal that was not even among the first four, and when told that hi $ highest fat-producer was a cow with three teats which he had passedover, he exclaimed in surprise: "What, who ■would have thought it, and her with only three teats!" It was by testing, said Mr. Singleton, that these were discovered.

Mr. Perston, Seatoun Heights, the pioneer of water divining at Seatoun, is still drawing from his well, some 23(1 feet above sea level. Another well has been sunk .on the same line In adjoining pro. perty, as indicated by the water diviner, Mr. Clarke, in whose skill Mr. Perston had such confidence that he undertook the sinking of a well on a hilltop. Now the Miramar Borough Council is taking the matters up seriously, and it will make a test bore in the school. grounds at a spot indicated by the above diviner. Here Mr. Clark said was to be found a great subterranean fountain head. The council will sink a 12-inch pipe if the prospecting bore warrants the expenditure. At present Miramar borough buys its water from the City Council. Mr. G. M'Gregor, the famous wicketkeeper and batsman—newg of whose death was received in New Zealand yesterday—was born in Edinburgh on Slst August, 1869, and was educated at TJppingham and Cambridge. He secured his "blue" as a freshman at Cambridge in 1889. The two Mowing years were his most successful • seasons at Cambridge.' Ag&ist Sussex, at Brighton, he made 131, and against the Australians, at Cambridge, he scored 73 not out and 31. Subsequently he appeared for Gentlemen y. Players. In 1891 he captained Cambridge, and yras one of the most consistent run-getters in a great eleven. M'Gregor visited Australia in 1891-2 as wicket-keeper with an English team. From that time onward he was identified with Middlesex, which he captained until 1908, when gave up the reins to P. ■F. Warner. As a wicketkeeper, without being showy, he accomplished some notable performances. In a Gentlemen v. Players match at Lord's not a single bye went past him in two innings. In his last season of regular , cricket he not only gave no byes or leg-byes in two innings in a Middlesex v. Kent match, but he ■ also caught six men and stumped six in that game.

Mr. M.'M. M'Callum, president of. the Auckland Chamber of Cemmerce, has informed the newspapers that he has ascertained that the information given him to the effect that benzine was quoted at Ss 10£ d f.o.b. Hongkong, was incorrect, as it did not include the cost of containers and packing. The company, interested has been advised- to tnls effect. Tho Board of Trade has also written to the chamber on the matter, and has been advised of the error,' and informed that i& can obtain the necessary information from tho Customs Denartraent-, which will hays seen the Invoices a« well as iron the oempauies Interested.

The butter shortage in Invercargill has. resulted in the .dairy compares reducing their sales to a third of the orders received, says the Farmers' Union Advocate. Grocers'- shops have been put on rationing, and also hotels and boardinghouses. It is stated that the Dominion's supply of butter would be exhausted within two weeks if the normal rate of consumption were continued.

The Mayor of Christchurch (Dr. Thacker, M.P.), says a Press Association telegram, intends promoting a Bill .to so amend the Municipal Corporations Act that municipalities may purchase .and sell firewood on such terms as they think fit. At present they have power to deal in. coal, but not in firewood. Dr. Thacker proposes to endeavour to get the Bill through Parliament this year.

About eighty residents of Eastbourne who have returned from active . service were entertained at the Eastbourne Hall on Saturday night, and accorded an enthusiastic '"' welcome home." Vocal and instrumental items were contributed by Messrs. H. P. Clark and Bidler (violinists), Miss Queenie Mclnerney, Miss Nellie Strickland, Mrs. Willis, Mr. Lionel Inch, Miss Doris Stevens, and Mr. T. M. Wilford, M.P., who presided. Miss Madeline Webb and Mrs. W. McDonald played the accompaniments. \

An application to have William. R. Hill adjudicated a bankrupt was made by Mr. V. B. Meredith, .on behalf of Messrs. Kaye and Carter,' grain merchants, of jChristchur.ch, before Mr. Justice Cooper, at the Auckland Supreme Court last week. Hill, who was found guilty on Tuesday last-runder the name of J. H. Johnson—of obtaining credit by fraud from four Auckland, fruit and produce firms, and sentenced to eighteen months' imprisonment, .had over £600 in his possession when arrested. Mr. Moody, for Hill, consented to the adjudication. The bankrupt has to stand .trial on a. series of charges in the South Island in connection with dealings in produce and grain.

Reporting to the Auckland City .Council last week, Mr. Walls, late general manager of the municipal tramways, stated that he had received a cabled quotation for American steel rails, British, make not being obtainable. These prices per ton, compared with, previous shipments, were : 1101b rails—ln 1919, £26 ; 19J.7, £20 4s 7d; 1914, £7 14s 6d. 1161b rails—ln 1919, £29; 1917, £24 4s 7d; 1914, £8 33 4d. Ho asked if he should place an order for 600 tons of rails, and 20 tons of fishplates, at a total cost of £16,339." Tho Public Service Committee recommended that he be authorised ■to order 300 tons of rails. Thjs was .approved by.the council.

The Westland Mental Hospital is in a. condition that calls for improvement (states the Greymouth correspondent of the Christehurch. Sun). The .institution has been made "to accommodate the overflow .from larger centr.es. Usually, the more serious enses have been thus transferred, with the result- that there is now an undue proportion ot such patients. This naturally makes the ser gregation of milder cases more difficult, and minimises facilities for giving the patients suitable occupation and outdoor recreation. Mr. T. E. Y. ,-Seddop, M.P., recently visited the institution; in which there are 300 patient?, and has since intimated that a new system ia about to be introduced, by which a resident medical officer will be placed in supreme charge of the hospital affairs. When this change is made, Mr. Seddon will confer with the new superintendent and the. Minister-ih-Charge of .Mental Hospitals, with a view to making suitable arrangements for the patients' indoor life, recreation, and work.

The Methodist Social Service Union (though' at present having no official standing, in the Methodist Church of New Zealand) has the sympathy and support of a large and increasing number of Methodist clergy and laity. It is allied with the Methodist Social Service Union of England, and has for its objects the study of social facts and the pursuit of social- service,_ with a view to the fuller application of Christian principles and spirit to the commercial and industrial life of this Dominion. The executive, which is at present centred in Wellington, met last week to transact business. The following motion was carried unanimously:—"That this executive of the, Social Service Union of the. Methodist Church in New Zealand, being of the opinion that £3 10s 4d per week is totally inadequate to provide the bare necessities of life under existing conditions, strongly disapproves of the decision of the (Sty Council in refusing to. increase the wages of the labourers in the corporation service, and commends the action of those councillors who voted for a minimum of le 9d per hour (approximately £4 per week) as suggested by Councillor Fraser.