LOCAL AND GENERAL

Evening Post, Volume XCIX, Issue 33, 9 February 1920, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL

To-day The Evening Post entered upon the 56th year of its existence. The civil and divorce sittings of the present sessions of the Supreme Court will commence to-morrow before Mr Justice Hosking. The Arbitration Court will sit in Wellington on Thursday next. The Anglican Church, authorities are endeavouring to arrange for the Prince of Wales, during his visit tc Wellington, to lay the foundation-stone of the new cathedral to be erected in Dufferinttreet. In the case before the Supreme Court in which a youth, Daniel Stephen Foley, was charged with indecently assaulting a girl aged six, the jury- late on Saturday afternoon after a brief retirement returned a verdict of not guilty, and the accused was discharged. The case was heard before his Honour Sir W. Bassett Edwards, and Mr. H. F. O'Leary appeared for the accused. Charles Grayndler appeared in the dock at the Magistrates. Court this, morning, on a charge of having illtreated his eleven-year-old boy. SubInspector Emerson said the man had, been suffering from influenza, and other charges were pending. Mr. P. J. O'Re-' gan appeared for defendant, and asked for bail. Mr: P. W. Jackson said that Mrs. Grayndler was taking other proceedings, and if bail was granted it must be on the condition that Grayndler did not go near his wife or his home. His Worship granted a remand until Wednesday, on a bond of £100 on condition that defendant does not go near' his wife and family. If he does so he will be re-arrested. A man of 46—"not afraid' of work, very adaptable, can cut coal and do any engineering, and some electricity work; capital £121)"— wrote to' The Bazaar Exchange and. Mart to know whether Vancouver, Australia, or New Zealand would be the best place to go to to carry txc motor-cyclt. and cycle trade. The editor replied (says The Post's correspondent), "of the three colonies you mention we are inclined to favour New Zealand for a man of your accomplishments. Either in Auckland or Wellington you should 2nd an opening, perhaps in. Auckland better thai) in Wellington." Then followed much local information as to conditions and prices.

Bumours were current in Ohristchurch last week that in anticipation of an extensive strike and industrial troubles in New Zealand, many thousands of police baton? were being made iv tht Addingtpn railway workshops. The authorities at the Addingtoi? workshops gave the rumom a. flat denial, and new Mr. P. Pearee, chairman, and Mr. W. H. Jenkins, secretary, of the Addington branch of tile Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants, write as follows to papers :— "There is a nasty rumour to the effect that polict batons are being made at the Addington railway workshops. Will you be sc kind as to say, on behalf of the-A.S-.R.5., that the rumour is entirely without foundation V .

An incident of a sensational nature was reported to the police late on Saturday afternoon. Mrs. Gapper, who lives in the vicinity, and a friend were sitting in the Ellice-street Reserve, when a man, whose face was partially covered by a handkerchief, is alleged to l.ive presented a revolver at them and demanded money. He saw Mrs. "Gapper's bag lying on the grass, hurriedly picked it up, and speedily disappeared. The. bag only contained a small quantity of silver and some small trinkets. This is not_ by- any means the first time that the Ellice-street K-eserve has been the-scene of similar "hold-ups." The police were notified as quickly as possible, and a thorough search of the vicinity was made, but so far no arrest has'resulted. It lias also been reported to the police that on Friday afternoon a man who was making out a deposit slip in the Post Office^Savihgs Bank had his attention distracted fora few moments, during which five 125 notes were taken from his bank book.

The first case arising.out 01" the Secret Commissions Act, passed ill 1 1910, will come before the Magistrate'? Court at Wellington on Friday next. The per sons concerned are two employees of a big. engineering establishment in the city and a person employed in the Public Trust Office,

- The horticultural division of the Department- of Agriculture-states that there is every indication of the honey crop in the Wellington district being a good one this Reason, as the recent rains experienced throughout the district will have a good effect on the growth of plant life generally. It is too early to predict the crop returns, but they should be equal to last year's production. Some beekeepers have already commenced extracting operations. .

. Five first'offending inebriates—one a female—were dealt- with in the usual manner b> Mr. E. Page, S.M., in the Magistrate's Court, this morning. Violet Watson, with three previous convictions, was fined £1, and prohibited for twelve months. William Richards, a-second offender, was fined 10s. Eichar^ Nelson Kenning, who did not appear, was charged^ with having refused to leave the Britannia Theatre when requested to do so on Saturday evening. He had been bailed out in the sum of £3, and was fined* altogether £2 10s, with 6s costs, in default seven days' imprisonment. Discussing Lyttelton harbour improvement schemes, Dr. Thacker, M.P., Mayor of Christchurch, said that ships were getting bigger, and from evidence on the subject he had come tc. the conclusion that there was a grave danger of Wellington becoming the real shipping centre for New Zealand., , At tha meeting of the Harbour Board, Mr. Williams had stated that, fully loaded, the Corinthic, the lonic, the Athenic, and the Megantic would not be able tc vgef out of Lyttelton. As a member of the.Harbour Board, he wished that information made public.

In an address at "th« annual field day of apiarists at the R.ua-kura State Farm last week, Mr. T. W. Kirk, Director of Horticulture, gave somu interesting figures, showing the increase in the socalled small industries, of the Dominion, and their .importance. He said that in 1911 the total output of honey and honey products of the Dominion was worth £31,000, while to-day at present prices i£ was worth something like £250,000. The capital invested in the industiy in hives, colonies, plant, machinery, land etc., represented £1,013,600. Referring to_ the non-registration of apiaries, Mr. Kirk urged the different beekeepers' -associations to insist upon their members register-ing, as it wac. -absolutely necessary for the good management of tha industry and to facilitate inspection.

The Post, s London correspondent understands that the report of the Commit-, tee on Milk, known generally as the Astor Committee,' but recently presided over by Colonel Weigall, will shortly be issued. It is comprehensive in scope, and some of its. findings are expected to lead to controversy.. A point that affects the public directly is the assertion that .40 per, cent, of British cows are tuberculous. There are milk experts who will aver that tuberculosis in the cow will not affect the milk. "Br that as it may," says the Evening Standard, "tuberculous cows would not be tolerated in such a country as New Zealand, where the conditions are said to be as near to perfection as can be. Compulsory measures for ensuring clean, milk are insisted upon in the report."

■ Galvanised corrugated iron as s • roofing hat been largely superseded bj- other materials ' since its price and its scarcity, almost put it out of the -market This may g\. on, for the price of iron is not likely to decline, judging by a report from the British Department of Overseas Trade. This states: "The total exports of galvanised sheets from the United Kingdom foi the first nine months of 1919 amount- 1 ed to 109,089 tons, having a value of £3,569,539, while the figure: foi the corresponding period of 1913 were 561.----637 tons and £7,737,210. The position of this trade to-day_ is that, while prodtictive capacity remains very much what it was before the war, manufacturers have been unable, owing to difficulties mainly connected with labour, to approach their pre-war output. The situation lias been aggravated by the recent railway strike, which necessitated the closing down most of the mills, and it will take some time to clear off the arrears of business. Pi-aotically all. works are fully booked with orders until the end of the year, iand,_ with only one oi two works now quoting, the price ruling is very firm at £32 per ton, minimum for '24-gaugs corrugated sheets in bundles."