LOCAL AND GENERAL

Evening Star, Issue 16335, 30 January 1917, Page 7

LOCAL AND GENERAL

■ ■■■“ " _ Mi- A. Williams, grocer, of Ballarat Baet, purchased’ during Christmaetide a goose _ Ironi Mfi Jones, Ballarat A'orth. Ihe bird was killed for Christmas dinner, and its crop, on being opened, was found to contain what a. miner would describe as " good payable gold.’’ Altogether there were about 30 large specimens of gold: in tho crop of the goose, eulUcient. Mr Williams states, to almost cover a. two-shilling piece. The, royal metal had evidently been picked up by the bird while feeding cl the slimes from old alluvial diggings in the neighborhood. There were 50 geese in tho Hock from which the golden bird

was taken, and it is considered likely that- many, if not all of them, had during their wanderings among tho old diggings feasted on the precious metal. Mrs Jones has not- yet been in formed whether tho 29 other Christmas geese had been “ prospected” by the respective purchasers, who reside in various parts of the district. During the last month 12 Germans were naturalised by tho Home and Territories Department (says a Melbourne paper). An officer of the department explained that I three were Australian women who were widows of Germans, and two were special cases. The remaining seven naturalised were over 60 years of age, and had lived iu Australia, for periods ranging from 64 years to 42 years. One of the special cases was that of a. man 55 years of age. who had lived in Australia for 55 years. He has a. son fighting at the front, who lias made Ids will partly in favor of his father, while his daughter is married to an Australian. He wat? suffering from great hardship owing to his not having been naturalised. The other case was that of a man 46 years of age, a resident in Australia, for 35 years. His parents were born in Germany, hut always lived iu the Commonwealth, with the exception of ouo visit to Germany. The applicant was born there. He fought for the British in the Boer M'ar. Altogether 48 men and nine women were naturalised last month. In addition to the Germans, there were nine Danes,- nine Swedes, eight North Americans, six Norwegians, four French, two Italians, one Russian Finn, one Russian Pole, one Swiss, one Serbian, one Peruvian. one Austrian (a woman of British birth), and one Belgian naturalised. Since January 1, 1916, certificates of naturalisation to the number of 842 have been granted by the department. A fatal case of snake bite occurred at Alir’ono, Victoria, last week. Alaurice and Rita M’anke, aged 15 and 8 respectively, children of Air t.’arl AVanke, farmer, were in their lather's paddock, and. thinking there was ia rabbit iu a hollow log, the boy pul his hand in. He was at once bitten) but was under the impression it was done by a rabbit. His sister then put her hands in, and was also bitten. Soon afterwards a large tiger snake crawled nut. The hoy chopped its tail off, and ran home, where the father treated both children ns soon as possible. Then he brought them into the town for medical treatment. Not until then was it discovered that the girl had been bitten on both thumbs. Although attended Intwo doctors, the girl died in a few hours, but the bnv was soon out of danger.

According to a statement made to the Auckland ‘Star’ by Mr Butler, managing director of the Kauri Timber Co., the additional income tax is hitting the timber industry out of all proportion to other industries. “Naturally,” said Air Butler, “ one would think that a big income tax means a big income. It does generally, but in our case income is a misnomer, and the amount paid for income tax is only part for income, while the other part is really a timber tax, which under present conditions carries with it all the war sur-charges imposed on the income tax. A company pays, say, £5,000 for a quantity of standing timber,- ami it costs £3,000“ to qonvert it to sawn and market it, and it realises . £IO,OOO. One would naturally think tho income tax payable would bo on £2,000, being tho profit shown, but this is not so; Hie tax payable is on £2,000 profit pins £5,000 cost of standing timber. In tlie case of the Auckland branch of the Kauri Company, the amount payable for actual income is £5,483 for the current year, which we do not growl about. The amount paid as income tax on the value of timber converted is £4,130, which wo do growl about. The timber industry is. therelore, travelling a fairly rough road, but wo arc hopeful of bettor tilings when conditions return to normal.” “Mo will have to face difficulties and hardships during the next 12 months, no inalter what happens,” said the Hon.' ML D. S. Mac Donald the oilier dav. “No turn in the tide of the war can niter that, and it is most important that wc should all pull together. Every member of the | Government is keenly anxious to maintain I harmony among all‘sections of Ihe com-! munity.” | ,ln acknowledging the resolution of the! Birkenhead (Auckland) Council, urging 1 the utmost use being made of the manhood ! and wealth of New Zealand, the Acting Prime Minister (tho Hou. J. Allen) wrote “J am entirely in accord with your council in iu desire to see the resources of the Dominion properly organised, and wish to thank yon for your support with respect to the enforcement of the Military Service Act. It will be necessary. if the wav continues for any length of time, t-o make the utmost use of the i man-power and wealth of the community. | this question is now under consideration, j ami I hope before long to announce some ! definite proposals.” ” j The lifeboatmen at. Deal are having! very strenuous and exciting times (-.ays the London ‘Morning Post’“of November 26). Already this week 82 lives have been saved from two vessels which now lie wrecked on the Goodwins, and yesterday the Deal lifeboat was called out again to rescue the crew of the Norwegian steamer Petra, bound from New York for Jvotterdam with a cargo of maize, which had stranded on the Goodwins near the spot where the wrecked liner Mahratla now lies A haze was prevailing at the time, and rain was falling, and owing to tho recent gale a tremendous sea was still running over tho sands. The lifeboat was launched at 3 o’clock in tho afternoon, and in trying lo get alongside the steamer got several times on the hard sands. Fortunately, she managed to get near the steamer without mishap, and took off the entire crew of 22 men and tho ship’s petdog. Owing to the additional weight of the rescued, crow the lifeboat experienced considerable difficulty in getting clear oft tile wreck, as tho water was falling, and j she bumped dangerously on the sands before reaching deep water. By skilful sea- j ninnship, however, the lifeboatmen averted i disaster, and brought the icscued snilom ’ to Deal, reaching port at half-past 7 j o’clock. | Much disappointment has been ex- | pressed that no woman's name figures on the recently-appointed Film Censorship Beard (says a writer in the ‘Sydney Daily 1 olographThere can be no question that this is a woman's work. M’i-ely, the care of children has been left in wmman’s i hands. Her judgment of what is hkeiv ■ to be misunderstood by the little pieturcgoers cannot ho disputed. It will be ; found that eomelime.s the moral of tho ; picture lies not in the actual performance i itself, which mav seem quite .harmless, ! but for the childish interpretation of it, “ Asked her views on tho film censorship, I Airs Boguc Huffman, secretary of the 1 M’omau’s Reform League, said that it was 1 most emphatically woman’s woik. for she f had the bringing np of the human -ice. * hhc also could tell best what pictures dis- ’ tressed the child, both in its physical ami • moral nature.