LOCAL AND GENERAL

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 82, 5 April 1924, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL

The Maheno, which left Sydney at 11 a.m. on the 4th instant for Auckland, carries 54 bags of mail from Australia, one from "East, and 18 parcel receptacles for Wellington.

Three more wapiti heads were secured in the west of Southland by a party of North Island sportsmen^ states a Press Association . message from Invercamill. One head is within four inches of "the American record head; and is a magnificent specimen. The t party had' a glorious trip, and although' no moose were secured, plenty of traces of them were found. \ . . '■ ■ ._

A conference is to .take place on Monday evening in the V.M.C.A. between Mr. T. M. Wilford, Leader of the Oppositiqn, and members of the Wellington branch of the New Zealand Educational Institute. Mr. Wilford is to discuss with the teachers questions relating 'to staffing and grading.

"Lucerne is a -wonderfully valuable^ thing for this country, and should be assisted. Fanners must see that themselves," stated Mr. Massey, when a deputation from the Canterbury Lucerne. Campaign Committee waited on him' and asked that public contributions be subsidised by the Government £ for £. Replying, Mr. Massey said: "Well,'you know what I am doing. ,1 am not going to show a bad example to my colleagues. I will bring ifc before Cabinet, which is constitutional. I have seen the lucerne growing for myself. Half of California is in lucerne.: We are arranging for thousands of acres in Central Utago to be grown." ' . •

Is Parliament going to meet earlier than usual this year? This question is prompted by a reply which Mr.j Massey made "to Mr. G. Witty, M.P., during the course of a deputation- regarding the duplication of the Lyttelton Tunnel, on Wednesday. Mr. Massey said that personally, he was in favour of duplication. He thought also the line should be electrified; 'It was only a short piece of line, like Otira, and-there the electric system was working well. "Will you let us know something definite within two months?" asked Mr. Witty '"Yes " said Mr. Massey. • "You will know about it when Parliament meets." Par-' liament meets • usually at the end of June and the date- of Wednesday was 2nd April: "". ■ , '. ■. ■

■An interesting account of the amazing recovery of a small bird after a serious injury is given by a chief petty officer on H S. Philomel,, says the "Auckland Herald. Ihe bird, a white dove was savagely attacked by a'dog; and had'its cliest so torn open that its heart was actually exposed, the beating being plainly visible. rAfter lying.^unattended lor half an hour the.bird was taken to the sick bay, ; where its Wands ■ were Buwn lip with horse- hair, and a. bandage wound round its body. It was then put to bed in its box, while its mate waited neavby for company. On being visited next morning the bird was found to have freed itself fromNits bandages and to be' flying around the room. When the door was opened it Hew outside. The dove appears' to be now as strong' as ever, though the stitches can be plainly seen in its body.,

The need for improving the financial position of the N.Z.FiA. was stressed by more than one speaker' at Thursday's meeting of the council, and the hope was expressed that support would be given at' the annual meeting to certain < proposals, one of which will provide for the appointment *of a paid secretary. The present secretary (Mr. B. L. Salmon) said -that the association's finances were at present in a very low state, and the balance of -£25, shown in the annual' report, had been almost eaten up. Many of them had worked pretty hard in the interests of the game, and they felt that it would not be worth while carrying on if their finances were-not place on a sounder footing-. It was up to the affiliated association to play their part. Mi\ H. I. Graves - said that even a small business could not carry on without capital. Ha .thought the association had lost a lot of' ground on account oi' ■lack of •

The: Prime. Minister, ■ Mr. Massey, spent a very strenuous day in Christchurch on Wednesday, and from morning to evening he was kept busy receiving deputations and callers. Mr. Massey arrived at Warner's Hotel from the ferry steamer at -about 7.30 a.m., and had hardly time to have breakfast''before the stream of deputations commenced. The-first public deputation was received at 9 o'clock,, and others followed till 10.30. during which time Mr. Massey was kept fully occupied. Shortly before 11 he went across to the Ministerial room in-the Government Buildings, in Worcester street, and ab-ll o'clock received a big deputation of returned soldiers. At 11.30 a deputation in: connection with the Hiley scheme was received, and smaller deputations followed. After iunch the Prime Minister received a number of private deputations and callers at his hotel, this business taking up the: whole of the afternoon.' The evening was quieter, but the day altogether must have been a record day for a Pjime Jlfnister in Christcflurch, probably over twenty deputations being dealt with. ..t .■ ' '. .

A most extraordinary case was reported yesterday in Dunedin, states "The Post's" correspondent. It appears that two little girls attending a country school not many miles distant from Dunedin were imbued with a bright idea on Tuesday "morning. Knowing that it was Ist April—a day still cherished by children as one on which to spring jokes on their friends—the girls wrote the following lines on two pieces of paper: "Duck in a pond, fish in a pool; the person who reads this is a big April fool." The -papers, enclosed in an envelope^, came into the hands of "the head teacher, who showed his resentment, by calling "the offenders to the front of the class and telling them that they would receive a certain number of strokes of the strap unless they masticated the offensive -'papers, and swallowed them in a time limit of five minutes. The girls became thoroughly frightened, and so. it is alleged, did what they were told, while the .iteachei* stood over them. One of the girls developed some sickness while on her way home afterwards, and had-to receive attention. A Maori boy' pupil was also implicated. He was ordered to masticate and swallow the envelope, but he could not manage the undertaking. He was, therefore,. sent home. The parents of the girls became so incensed as the result of the proceeding that they immediately placed the matter in the'hands of a solicitor, and legal proceedings will be Uilcen through the Court,

t, Pjopw, a. township about 15 miles from TeKuiti, the first-consolidation •school- m the North Island was opened on Wednesday. To this echool over 100 children will be transported daily by motor-buses, the distance from which the children come averaging about six miles. »ix email one-teacher schools have been closed as a result of the opening of tho central -school. j / .The question of what should constitute Ughting-up and extinguishing time tor the electric street lamps in the Hutt Valley district has been debated at two meetings of the local Power Board. One suggestion;was that' lighting-time should v. between sunset and sunrise, and miother an hour after sunset to an ho"ur before-sunrise. Eventcally the time was nxed at half an hour after sunset to air hoar before sunrise. "

•if cf Tniwal week Ji'eld at Auckland m March-last under the auspices of the Advertising Club, resulted in a loss of ±.500, against which £391 of stock' is in hand, which is understood to be chiefly unsold souvenir programmes. Tilecommittee intends to call on the guarantors for 10s in the £. The treasurer says the prizes were too generous. -The greatest loss was in regard to advertising.

Owing to the • depreciation" of the franc and the adverse state of the exchange, members of tho crew of the trench sloop, Aldebaran, now at Lyttelton will find their stay in New Zealand rather expensive (says the "Star-) Their wages work out at 60 francs'a month, and on the present rate of .exchange is. 73 francs to the £ sterling, it means' Uiat their .month's wages are equal to less than £1. They have already visited Auckland and . Wellington,, and admit that unless they are granted free passes on the railways many of the ratings will not be able to visit Christchurch

During the hearing of applications' for separation and maintenance which came before Mr. F. K. Hunt, S.M., iv the Magistrate's Court yesterday at Auck-' laud, it was stated by counsel for the husband that his wife had taken all his clothes. When he returned home, he could not even find his trousers. "Well I paid, for every stitch of t his'• clothes out of my own money; they are ■• my property," said complainant ""from the witness-box. The Magistrate- "Yes, but trousers are no good .'to you, you know. L think you had'better give "them back anyway." (Laughter.) ■ .

interior of the police station afe\ Ohnstchurch yesterday bore the appearance of a wholesale house on a small scale, when a collection of .household i articles of every description, from a washhouse copper,Ho bottles of coffee, was displayed. The articles are alleged Jo have been stolen by John Edwin Hart, aged 42 years, and received bySamuel John Hartley, aged 23 years, savsa Tress message ' and were' recovered by detectives and stored at., the police station. The collection, which includes carpets, linoleum, a case of cof-' fee essence, wire netting, boots, electric irons, and rugs, is alleged to Be the product of a series of burglaries from houses and shops extending ovet a- period of twelve months. :■■■■

Lower freights on dairy produce for the United Kingdom will be •pressed by' the Dairy Produce Board delegates o'u their coming visit to London. MrV Thacker - said the delegates have power to arrange a freight contract. This was a difficult matter. 'Before the war the* freight on butter to London was £4 a. toni- Then it.went up to £12, but later, ou..".representations being made to tile shipping companies, it had been reduced to £9 10s. This, however, was still over 100 per cent, above the pre-war rate. The delegation intended to strive' for a considerable reduction on the presentrate. They would, act in conjunction with the Meat Board in this matter.' The_ representatives of the shipping com-' pames in New Zealand seemed, to havn no power to grant concessions, and therefore they wanted to meet the heads of the companies in London.

A Press' Association telegram states that the following resolutions were cartied unanimously at a large and representative meeting of the Dunedin branch of the New Zealand Post and Telegraph Officers' Association : "That this section desires to protest against the proposal to allow the findings of the Railway Wages Board at its present sitting to govern the reclassification of the Post and Telegraph Service, and considers that in View of the wide dissimilarity that must exist in the different branches of the Public Service, the executive committee should use every endeavour to obtain the setting up of a separate wages board similar to that of railways to consider the claims of the Post and Telegraph Service; that this meeting desires to extend its congratulations to the rai!-~ waymen on the splendid fight "they are putting up against the introduction of .1 43-hour week, -and also that we assure ; them of our loyal'support in their- endea- | your to obtain a better standard of liv-iue-v •' .:--..■■."

The secretary of the Christchurch Trainwaymen's Union has forwarded the general manager of the' tramways the union's demands in connection with a , new award to replace the present one,! which embodies the industrial agreement which was arrived at by the parties. Details of the new demands are not -vet available, but the "Press" understands that they have, been framed "with the. view of an agreement, satisfactory 'to both parties, being arrived at without" recourse having to be made to the Court of Arbitration. This,may mean that the men are seeking a settlement undev'tlie" Labour Investigation * Act, - which gives the right to strike or lockout after certain formalities have been complied with. The Wellington^ tramwaymcn at one time had an agreement under this Act, but. subsequently the Corporation was successful in _ securing an award of the Arbitration Court. The tramwaymen of- New Zealand are memjbers of the transport department of the Alliance of Labour, which organisation is hostile to the arbitration system.

That he loitered in Hobson street for the purpose of betting was the charge preferred against Claude Oswald M'Cully, ' a carter, at the Auckland Police Court yesterday. Mr. Biernacki appeared for accused, who pleaded not guilty. Evidence was given by Detective Meildejohn, who saw M'Cully approachanother carter in Hobson street. He did not see any money pass. M'Cully admitted to. the dotectiye that'he had asked the man to take a double. He told the' detective that it was the first double he had ever laid, and he would not have done'it had he not been out of work. During the course of his' address on behalf of accused (states "The Post's" .correspondent), Mr. Biernacki submitted that the man had only approached a friend with the object of making a little bet as between one man and another. "All .carters are: sports, and-^—" "Sport, you call it," interjected Mr. Poynton, S.M. _ "Don't qa.ll it sport; , it's a degradation to the name. It 1' was stated that accused was a man with a wife and two young children. Mr. Poynton, S.M., decided to adjourn the case till next week, so that he could look into the matter. : v.;" .