LOCAL AND GENERAL

Evening Post, Volume CIII, Issue 48, 27 February 1922, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Objection is being taken by the New Zealand Association of British Manufacturers and Agents to the proposal to abolish the British Department of Overseas Trade. Catling to the British Board' of Tirade the association states: "This association considers continuance of the department an absolute necessity for the expansion of British trade, and essential to the support of overseas organisations which are endeavouring to maintain British prestige and further promote trade between Britain and New Zealand, particularly in view of American competition." '

The exclusion of Jlutt Valley pupils from Wellington College.' has led to an interesting inquiry from a. parent regarding the position of boys who after being admi.(i»d this year subsequently change their place of residence to the Hutt. The CollegeUoard of Governors is obtaining an opinion on the matter.

A married man named John Esson Bates, 38 years of age, -vvho lives in Wakefield-gtreet, Lower Hutt, received an injury to his right hand on Friday afternoon while engaged in pile-driving in the Hutt Eiver. He was admitted to the Hospital, and is repotted to be making satisfactory progress. \

Because of the slump in the value of the Dominion's" primary produce, the Government recently decided to give relief to soldier-settlers in difficulties by postponing the due date for the payment of rent and interest. Up to 31st Janu,ary last, the payments postponed had reached a total of £190,267. Of the amount £20,552 has been repaid. "Smoking is e^rerywhere rife among the women of England," said Mrs. J. Clulow in the course of an interview with a Pahiatua Herald representative. ' 'It appears to have got hold of the nation, and in the cafes, loose cigarettes at 6deach, and free matches are retailed for women customers. The habit has become so bad and dangerous that insurance companies had to issue a warning to drapers, consequent on the ladies' cigarettes setting fire to delicate fabrics.

The induction of the Rev. -Frank De Lisle into the pastorate of the Constablestreet Congregational Church in succession to the late Rev. W. A. Evans took place before a representative gathering of the local and city churchei. The Rev. J. R. Glaßson presided. He was assisted by the Rev. W. S. Fernie, who delivered the charge_ to the'pastor and congregation respectively. Representatives of other branches of the Christian Church in the district were present, including the Revs. R. H. Catherwood and W. Shirer, of the Presbyterian Church, the Rev. D. Catchpole, Baptist, md Captain. A. Montgomery, of the Salvation Army.

"It is of national importance that every encouragement should be given the public to extend the formation of forest plantations," said Mr. W. T. Morrison, officer in charge of the State forest at Ranfurly, while addressing nurserymen at their recent conference at Christ church, "and nurserymen wiR bt serving their own ends in assisting to foster this spirit.' It is entirely with thi.' object that the State has entered the T!ists as suppliers of this class of stock, and the time has tome when come co-ordination between the State and private nurserymen should be arranged with a view to standardising the price and class of stock being supplied to the public."

Unemployment amongst disabled soldiers was discussed at a. conference of representatives of the Wellington District Repatriation Board, Wai* Relief Association, and Returned Soldiers' Association. Major^General Sir Andrew Russell, president of the R.S.A., was in the chair. It was. slated, that *any disabled men, trained by the Repatriation Department, had befti unable to find work. After a long discussion, it was resolved to wait on the Prime Minister to place before him the views of the members of the conference. As Sir Andrew Russell had to proceed South last night, the deputation will not wait upon the Prime Minister for several days.

A letter from the secretary of the Otago Hospital Board was received at last week's meeting of the Eastbourne Borough Council, asking for support of a protest against the increased fees charged for ■ audit. The fees now amounted to £3 3s per day, or 9s per hour, which was considered exorbitant. The Mayor said it might well be supported, as local bedies want all their funds for local use. Last year's audit "had not yet been done, and in a few weeks another year would be completed and waiting for audit. The Town Clerk explained that thfe increases wefe the first since 1886. It was~ decided to support the protest.

Ministers of the* Gospel as a rule are not overpaid, except a few who happen to land upon plum jobs, and it is, therefore, very rarely that a professional burglar pays a visit to the house of a clergyman. However, in Wanganui on Wednesday afternoon (says the Herald), a local minister received a complimentary call from some light-fingered person, who got into the dwelling though the window. Evidently his conscience hit him very hard, or the inner man ■was. very empty, for, after having a look round, the cupboard was the only place where anything was missing.

The residents of Bedcliffa (near Sumner) have been greatly concerned lately with a plague of ferrets (says the Lyttelton Times). One resident lost fifteen pullets on one night, and exactly the same number the following evening. A neighbour lost a further nine, and still another seven valuable hens. On ons occasion the culprit was found asleep after its misdeeds, and was quickly despatched. A second offender was trapped and killed, and a resident of Honck's Bay. is now on the look-out for some of the others. There is nothing much in a atray dog sale—for the dogs. The man who at length finds his way in and out of piles of lumber and tons of iron pipes and truck in the city destructor yards to the kentiels, where the waifs and strays and pitiful castaways are housed, goes there with an expressed intention of picking the best dog of the bunch, but the dog, unfortunately, ha* no bucli choice j he must put up with what he gets. A Post reporter went along to the dog sale on Saturday afternoon, not to buy, but to see how others did so. The kennels are just kennels, very old, doggy enough, but clean, 'and, if a dog is lucky to catch a kindly eye before he stay^s too long, ' probably healthy enough. Those kennels, however,' hold no promise of happy old age to waifs who bear the marks of disease, or to those who have been marked down by inspects in the days' of their freedom as confirmed horse:chasers, cycle-hunters, pests—the Bolsheviki who wear no collar artd have forfeited their rights to kennel-room. For those two types a lethal chamber awaits. The same end will come to dogs of parentage so doubtful and so very mixed that purchasers pass them by, and perhaps to other dogs, healthy, pleasing enough to look upon, with that capacity for friendship which every dog will shower upon the right master, yet lacßiiig but one thing—tho mnstei\ On Saturday afternoon there were1 twenty or so penned up-^tun'iers, collies,, and others more doubt ful—large size, small size, middle weights—but bidding was not brisk, mid but a round half-dozen left, willingly or whining, with new masters for new homes. For sotne reason the clog-fatthers have been busy lately, and the weekly catches havo grown. Perhaps it is that the cost of living h;:s sti'uck* us far1 as the keucnl in Hie plain man's back yard. -

The Westport Coal Company's Millerton mine last a-week established a, new record for a day's shift—l44l tons. A nineteen-year-old girl has been arrested at iChri&tchurch on a charge of breaking and entering a dwelling:house on Wednesday evening. The spirit of self-sacrifice among children was exemplified recently by the pupils attending the Birkenhead Presbyterian Sunday School, says the Auckland Herald. A reference to the claims of the Russian Famine Fund had been made from the church.pulpit by the Rev. J. Mackie, and he subsequently was informed that the Sunday school children., by a unanimous vote, had decid#l to forego their annual picnic and to devote the sum of £6 3a so saved to the fund in aid of the Russian children.

" I should be pleased if you could give warning to the parents of children who go down to the beach in the vicinity of the bandstand at Oriental Bay for a bathe " (writes F. A. Clarke to The Post)! Yesterday morning my two little girls, together with their girl cousin and friend, went down at 9.30 a.m. for a dip. Upon arriving at the beach they undressed in the shadow of the stone wall (being innocents of five and eight years old, they naturally have no idea of Prying Paul), and nearby sat a male. As the girls were putting . their bathing costumes on the person behaved indecently, The children picked up their clothes and ran, and came home aghast. Now, Sir, considering the popularity of this spot, and such a delightful spot as it ia, is it not time some sort of provision was made, or, failing -that, could not a member of the force be detailed for that area during 4he early hours?" "a! plea of guilty wae entered toy a young man named Weslie Kobert Pratl, who appeared before Mr. Fl. K. Hunt, S.M., at the Magistrate's Court to-diay to answer a. charge of having stolen the £urn of £3, the property of Kirkcaldie and Stains, Ltd. Chief-Detective Kemp said that the accused had been employed by the firm for some two years, arid was in receipt of a. salary of £4 13a per week. Op the 25tli of' the present month a. man went into the shop, and purchased a Stetson hat for £3. This money Pratt had appropriated. The accused was a single man, and had no one but himself to keep. Mr. A. B. Sievwrighfc, <who appeared for Pratt, described the act as a very foolish one, as there had been no reason for the man to steal. Counsel asked for probation. The Magistrate fined Pratt £10, in default one month in gaol. ,

Returned ' soldiers awaiting employment throughout the Dominion at 31st January, 1922, numbered 277. The return prepared by the Repatriation Department for the period to 3lst January showed , that unemployment sustenance (soldier' £2 2s, wife 15s, each child ,2s 6d per'iweek) had been paid in 113 cases of hardship; Men who had been receiving /training had made excellent progress. The number who had completed their course and had been absorbed in various industries was 5417. The work of the training branch was f»st drawing to a close. Soldiers had been established in 150 different classes of business, and the repatriation scheme had been the means of starting some them-* sands of men on the road to a successful business career. Out of £1,777,464 advanced in loans to soldiers, the amount collected at Jlst December, 1921, by way of repayments totalled £848,646. The monthly collections had amounted by 31st' January to almost double the monthly expenditure, the figures for the last ttiree months being: Inpayments, £106,781; expenditure, £66,920. Of the 19,849 loans; granted, 2727. ,had already been entirely repaid.

In concluding his address at the R.S.A. smoke concert at Wanganui last: week, Sir Andrew Russell remarked that there was in existence at the_ present time, no doubt due to postwar conditions, a certain distate for work. This was no good. All have got to work, and they have got to like their work. The man who is always looking at the clock and thinking what rhe in getting out of the job is no use to this country. It was not what one got out, but what one put into it whidh counted. They should work hard and keep down tho growls and grievances, It did good to have a growl occasionally, but it should not go to an extreme, aiid growling and worrying never did any good. He went oh to say that there were persons who were going up and down the country preaching class hatred aiid class distinction. The returned men had had enough of war, but he thought he could say they were prepared to fight to end war. He would like to see returned men take on public life; but in whatever sphere their activities were directed, or whatever party they belonged to, he hoped that they would realise the lessons they had learnt at the front and work with those who had similar aims and objects, for the country looked to its returned soldiers to help it after the war just as much as during the war. . ,

• So far the milk production of the Mariawatu is keeping up very well, and the decline has, not been as marked of as rapid as is the case in certain other dairying districts in the Dominion (states the Standard) 4 In this connection the records kept by the New Zealand Farmers' Dairy Union are1 well worth quoting, as they embrace the supplies of cream received from a very wide area, covering the whole of the Manawatu as far south as Te Horo, in the Wairarapa (from Kopuaranga right up through the Forty-Mile Bush), and over the range to as far east as Dannevirke. Shown to a Standard representative, these figures disclosed a drop of 24 per cent, in the butter-fat production over the whole area since the beginning of February. As January was Very nearly on a par with December—the peak of production for the aeason-^this means that the total drop foe the season is in the neighbourhood of 25 per cent, from peak. That this season is by no means unfavourable to dairymen is borne out by the fact that the drop at this time last year was—according to the same company's record—3l per cent, fo? February and 41 per cent, for the season. In January of last year, for instance, a fall of 10 per cent, was recorded, whereas in the corresponding month of this year the loss in production was about only 1 per cent.

"At the present time it is not possible to state what the sand fixation work will cost; the experiments now under way are designed to solve this question," state* Mr. H. A. Goudie, in an article in the monthly news-letter of the State Forest Service. "The cost of fixing the sand on a drift may pos* sibly be as much as £26 per acre, but it should be borne in mind that the fixation of the main drifts will afford protection to large adjacent areas, and allow the plant covering to become reestablished by natural mentis. The cost, therefore, when spread over the whole area influenced by the work done will bring the average expenditure per acre very much below this figure. The cost of reclamation should be regarded as * charge upon the valuable agricultural land which the reclamation work is designed to protect, and not against any three-planting which subsequently, may be done to give permanence to such re* clnmation. If the expenditure is regarded in this light, there can be no doubt that the forest crop which the safid dunes are capable of growing will be a payable one. This is especially true of ■the dttnes on the West Const of Wellington, adjacent tc which ' are largo areas of lrtng-eflttled farm lands and convenient railway facilities for marketing tha crop of timber."

Owing to the breaking of a piston rod, the New Zealand Aero Transport Company's aeroplane wag compelled to descend on the beach at Lyall Bay, shortly after 4 o'clock yesterday afternoon. The machine had reached an altitude of about three or four hundred feet when the mishap occurred, but the pilot, Air: Mallard, who was accompanied by two male passengers, made a skilful landing on the beach, and, with the assistance of a number of people who hastened to the scene, the aeroplane was pushed to the aerodrome, via Onepu-road. Another of the New Zealand Aero Transport Company 's machines, which was flying from Timaru to Auckland, was compelled to abandon the journey at Manakau on Thursday. The mishap is described by the Levin Chronicle as follows f— "The aeroplane had been four hours in the air from Timaru, and was to pick up benzine at Levin. The supply aboard gave out, however, just before reaching the objective, and the pilot was forced to make a descent at the most suitable place he could. This proved to be a paddock near Mr. W. Bevan's, and a sood landing was made. Unfortunately the aeroplane collided with a stamp while running along the Rround, with" the result that it was badly damaged— so badly, in fact, that the flight could not be resumed. The pilot and passenger escaped injury. The aeroplane was subsequently taken to the Manakau station for consignment by rail V> Auckland for repairs." Th« ■ machine was flown by Mr. Park, and with him were Mr. R. AViglev. director, of the New Zealand Aero Transport Company, and Mr. B. C. Ryder,. k

A record in laving concrete was established at the Nihotftpu imnoundinij dam Works last week, when 960 yards were completed (reports the Auckland, Herald). Thiß rate of progress can be maintained under the arrangements made by the City Council, and the dam should be practically completed in the council's next financial year.

Up to 31st January last, the total advances made to soldiers through the Lands arid Repatriation Departments totalled £28,539,291. So far as the Lands Department was concerned the loan losses through forfeitures and foreclosures amounted to £6365; postponements of rent and interest (after deduction of £20,552 repaid) to £169,715; remissions of dues to £14,216; arrears to £610,965; and capitalisations of rent and interest to £8883. Monthly repayments of loans made by the Repatriation Department now amount to about double the monthly expenditure of that Department upon soldiers.

Residents of the area south and west of the railway station of the Chrietchurch suburb, Linwood, are making bitter conu plaint of clouds of impalpable coal dust which have been borne on the east wind from the ■ Railway Department's huge dumps in the past few days. The dust is carried nearly half-a-mile by the wind, and, the people declare, is becoming an intolerable nuisance. It sticks to the outer paint of the houses and penetrates everywhere within, settling on furniture, hangings, carpets, bedclothes, and food, and getting into the eyes and throats of the occupants. The trouble, says the Sun, seems to arise from some particularly friable kind of coal which the railway people have been unloading.

The fallen Royalties of Europe 'hare' been engaged in various amusing pastimes, from the humble wood-cutting of Wilhelm to the cavalier escapades of Karl; but a note of originality has been struck by Princess Stephanie^ daughter of the late King Leopold of the Belgians, who has successfully applied to the Budapest authorities to run a kinema in, the town. The Princess's life has not been Very fortunate hitherto.. She lost her first husband, the Archduke Rudolph, in 1889, and nine years later her mother-in-law was assassinated in Geneva. She married, secondly, Prince Elemer Lonyay, of a very old Hungarian noble family, and had serious trouble with her father over the union.

Although Australian slang, judiciously Used, may be unobjectionable, and even may be allowed to possess appreciable characteristics, it requires careful handling, and if used without full understanding may lead to embarrassing situations. This fact was well illus-, trated by Mr. E. H. Welford when speaking before members of the. Vicr torian Institute of Advertising/ Men a few weeks' ago. To avoid creating a wrong impression or giving rise to misÜBdetstattdiiig, he Stated, slang expressions should be avoided as much as possible. When 'writing an advertisement for a certain milk product, he had stated that it was "made by Australian cows." He had just arrived from England at the time, and not being well acquainted with the Australian language could not understand why the manufacturers of the article were bo annoyed with him.. But he soon realised this error he had unconsciously made by, his somewhat ambiguous use of the word "cows," to which a slang meaning*had somehow become attached, arid he lost no time in mastering other sections of the vernacular, so that he might avoid a recurrence of such dangerous verbal misunderstandings.

v Numerous travellers anil writers who, have Studied the workings of American institutions have remarked upon the profound admiration and reverence with which the constitution is regarded throughout the country. Speaking at the Rotary Club luncheon in Melbourne ■recently, Mr.. Mark Sheldon declared that, although he had conversed with people of all classes and nationalities, he had never heard any American cast a; reflection on the Constitution, Which was the great flic Mis" df assimilating newcomers ,of diverse nationalities. About a year ago Mr. G. K. Chesterton came to New York and ■ delivered; a paradoxical lecture on "The Ignorance of the Educated." He electrified his audience by a reference to the Constitution, after making them laugh for an hour. "Your Constitution," said Mr. Chesterton, "is one of the most wonderful documents In the world: it is a beautiful thing: it ranks with the Bible, and is far above anything^ else in literature in its conception of man. In fact, it is so good thfct you have not been able to live up to it. Anyone who went to America and sought to understand its people, said Mr. Sheldon, must realise the pre-eminent character of the Constitution as the mainspring of their rational life., ■