Untitled

Evening Star, Issue 16777, 4 July 1918, Page 4

The managers of the Bed Cross kitchen are quite, pleased with the patronage bestowed on the venture, and the relationship between the kitchen and the public is altogether satisfactory except in one small particular, this being the forgetfulness about returning the piedishes. If the forgetful customers will take the hint it will save letter-writing.

The Port Chalmers Court returns for ths past quarter show that on the criminal eido there were 23 orrests and four summonses issued. On the civil side three ■plaints were issued, the total amount sued for be.injt £2B 9s Bd. One case was heard, •f. 1--S1 u.; £-_ n/i in-

Mr Paulin telephoned at, 2 p.m. : S.E. to N.E. winds; fine for about 24 hours; barometer falling. , Last night at the Technical Collego the Hon. G. M. Thomson kept quite a large audience interested for nearly two hours while he talked about native plants. The lecturer made it clear that in New Zealand we have a number of beautiful flowers, though the species were fewer than, say, in Australia. In the latter country, "as in South Africa, the native flowers were highly, oven brilliantly,, colored, while with us they were mostly yellow or white—the rata; is must bo remembered, is not confined to New Zealand. Another peculiarity was the large percentage of succulent fruits amongst the plants of this Dominion. In Britain the proportion was only 5 per cant., in Australia 9 per cent., but m Now Zealand it was 16 per cent., which was perhaps the largest in any country. This was duo to the introduction of fruit-eating birds, who distributed the seed. Mr Thomson related a number of other interesting facts regarding native flora, and illustrated his lecture with a long series of lantern slides, which had been prepared by Mr Crosby Smith, of Invercargill. Those showing the plants growing in their native surroundings were particularly striking; others, by reason of imperfect coloring, were not so good, but all served their purpose. Mr IJ. Tannock prosidod, and at the conclusion of the lecture added a few remarks, during which he impressed upon his hearers that most of the plants peculiar to the North Island and many of the

Australian plants could without much trouble be grown here. They merely required a little sheltering during the first j two or three years of their growth. He i advocated tho growing of these plants, if I only to show tho North Island people that our climate was as good as theirs. A hearty vote of thanks was accorded MiThomson for his lecturo, which was -criven under tho auspices of the Dunodin Horticultural Society. Tho Minister of Defence /the Hon. Sir James Allen) received official advice on Monday that the 33th Reinforcements had j reached a port of call, all well. The. City Council spent two and a-lialf hours last evening discussing the financial position and the denartmontil reports for the year. Cr Black (chairman of the Water Committee) said his committee re- j cognised that the supply should be in-' | creased, but money was required. The i course that had been deemed best by the I committee was to increase the capacity of ' the southern reservoir to something like 70.000.000ga1, and the cost of this, if_ it were triven effect to. would be something like £50.000. Tho amount that this de- ; partment was called upon to provide to j the municipal fund was being steadily increased, and it stood at £11,584 for the present year. If matters of finance had been properly arranged tho committee could have- devised methods for giving an : increased supply of water without entrenching upon the general funds of the City. Cr Scott (chairman of the Tram-v.-avs Committee! mentioned that the de- : partment had had £32.000 of a turnover, and showed a profit of nearly £6,C00 on the year. Tho renewal, depreciation, , sinking fund, and insurance accounts ' showed a credit of something like £144X00. The Tramways Committee of the City j Council have decided as an experiment to ; run the north-bound cars past the present stopping place at Pitt street, and stop a little north of tho street intersection, the object being to obviate the congestion of traffic at this point. The south-bound cars will be stopped aft at present. Cr Black, i at last night's meeting of the council, ! pointed out that they had never run trams on Sundays except at a loss. They should either cut out those trams altogether,, or . raise the price of as was done in ; other centres. Cr Wilson said they might ! charge cash fares on Sundays. The Mayor explained that according to the powers conferred on the department tliey could refuse to run the trams on Sundays, but there might be a difficulty in having different faros on Sunday. Our Christ-church correspondent wires: At a meeting of the Red Cross Executive yesterday with regard to the proposed Christchureh-Dunedin copper trail in aid of "Our Day" fund, Mr Beswick said that Otago had expressed its inability to raise as much as Canterbury, and in turn had proposed that tho sum per yard should be Is 2d instead of 2s 6d, as proposed by Christchurch. The Christchurch centre, * therefore, had drawn up a new proposal, in which it indicated its willingness to handicap itself by raising 2s per yard, while. Dunedin would be asked to raise only Is 2d per yawl. This would mean that Canterbury would have to raise £-10,000 as against £25,000 from Otago. The monthly meeting of the Dunedin City Mission Executive, Held this week, was attended by Messrs W. T. Talbo-ya (in the chair), E. Rose-year, Hugh. Mitchell, P. L. Clark, Wm. J. Love, Henry Renfree, and D. Wright. Tho hon. treasurer reported a credit balance and tbe following subscriptions : —Mr E. £5, J.C.R. £2 2s, Lady ss, J.B. £5, Friends £5, Business firm £2 2s, attendance cards 15s 6d, E.A. 10s, interest, etc., £ll 12s 6d. Tho usual accounts were, passed, and also some formal items of business. The break in the telegraph wires which isolated the southern portion of New Zealand from Saturday night or Sunday morning occurred in the We lea Pass, for a, stretch of 12 miles between Amberley and Culverden. Under ordinary circumstances the breaking of that line would not altogether sever Christchurch and Dunedin, since some messages could be carried on the West Coast wire: but on this occasion the storm that bore down the wires at Weka Pass also broke the wire between Darfield and Sheffield, and so wo were telegraphically put quite out of touch with the world at large. The present interruption has lasted five days. Tho position was unchanged at 3 o'clock this afternoon. There was a break of a week about 10 years ago, between Waiau and Kaikoura. Fire at Hawera on Tuesday gutted the shops of Tait (chemist), Taylor (draper), and Cataran (confectioner). Crystal] s tobacconist shop was badly damaged, and the top story over Cataran's and Crystall's, used as a Red Cross depot, was completely burnt. The buildings all belonged to the Sutton estate, and were insured for £I,OOO in the Standard Office, Tait's stock and fittings for £SOO in the Norwich Union, Taylor a for £1,700 in the Phoenix, Cataran's for £345 in the Standard, and Red Cross depot for* £6O in the Phoenix. CrystalFs insurance is not known. The fire was under control in three-quarters of an hour, but much damage was done, and Messrs Tait and Cat-iran and the Red Cross are heavy losers. The third annual meeting of the Girls' High School branch of tho Young Helpers' League was held in the school hall. The report of the secretary (Miss Downes) stated that the membership and contributions had been well maintained during the year, and that the sum of £22 had been collected. This will be augmented by half tho proceeds of the concert recently given by the ex-High School Girls' Association. Several members of tho habitation are now entitled to receive silver badges. The president gave an ad- ! dress to tno members on some features of Dr Barnardo's life and work. Afternoon tea was provided, and a good programme I of recitations and musical items carried I out successfully. The monthly meeting of the Anderson Bay School Committee was held last evening, the following members being present: j —Messrs F. J. Campbell (chairman), M'Lean, Bone, Bishop, Downing, Riddell, and Kirk-wood. Tho Head Master reported that the average roll for the month of June was 293, and the average attendance ' 257. Owing to the recent spell of wet j weather the attendance was badly affected. The Visiting Committee reported having i visited the sohool, and found everything | satisfactory. A parcel containing 10* handkerchiefs, 13 cinnamon bags, 5 pairs sox, ] and 2 balaclavas was sent to the Women V, ! Patriotic Association, and another parcel is j almost ready. Messrs Campbell and Rid- , dell were appointed a Visiting Committee I for the month. j

" I can easily understand vvhv the Chinamen here- will pay 21s or more for a sovereign," said Mi' John Myers to a 'Post' reporter, speaking about his recent trip to the East-. ''During my stay at Hong Kong several passengers from the ship changed sovereigns and received 27s 4d in English money. I, believe the Chinamen nee the sovereigns for making jewel-

i Before the South Canterbury Military Service Board this week a reservist was called who did not answer to his name. Hia solicitor appeared, however, and stated that the reservist was too ill to appear. He was a victim of consumption. and was at his home and in bed. The : chairman of the board expressed surprise ' at this, remarking that the man had been classed fit A. Counsel said that such was ithe case, and produced a medical certifi- .' cate to show that the man was suffering : from consumption. The board adjourned I the' case for a month, with an intimation ; that the reservist should in the meantime ! apply , for a medical re-exarmnation. j The Government of Fiji, writes the Auckland 'Herald's* correspondent, have made arrangements with the New Zealand Government for a half-caste platoon from Fiji to bo embodied in the troops n-om tnDominion. An anonymous .offer has Wen accented to equip and transport to .<w Zealand the platoon of 60 men. Live pay and upkeep of the men will be borne hy the Fiji Government. i Information lias readied the New Zealand University authorities that f\'V es <' k lar<*elr of the new situation created by the war the Cecil Rhodes trustees have decided to suspend for the present all further eke;tions 'to scholarships, but will continue, lof course, the policy of Riving scholars ■ leave of ab-enco for the duration of the 'war, with the right to resume_or eom'mence their scholarships when the war is : over or earlier if circumstances make that, ' possible.

Some interesting nguTes itM.uw >•» work accomplished by tho Port Chalmers Women's Patriotic Committee were submitted to tho annual public meeting, lor : the soldiers 2,873 pairs of socks andl ooU balaclavas had been despatched Since 4pril 1916, 10,605 articles bad been cut from 9,634 vards of material, and made up.. The first Dominion parcel > was sent on Juno 16, 1916, and since then the number sent totalled 3.294. Tho balance-sheets submitted showed that tbe committee s income from all sources since October 61. 1916, amounted to £1.686 9s 5:1. and that of this sum a halanco of £146 8a Id was on hand on March 31 last, Tho committee's big activitv at present is getting ready Christmas pan-els for tho Port Chalmers boys individually, in addition to a quota of' 125 Dominion Christmas parcels. The committee acknowledge the continuance of gratifying local support. The congress of tramwaymen resumed their deliberations in the Trades Hall this morning, and confined themselves to matters placed on tho agenda paper by the affiliated unions. The principal question, decided was that a determined effort bo madrt to establish an eight-hour day for tramwavmer.. and with that object in view Me.r,Ts *P. Eraser, P. Richardson, RSmith, and J. Hutchison were deputed to visit Wellington early next week, and consult with representatives of railwayman, watensiders, seamen, and drivers to ascertain what method should be adopted in obtaining the principle involved. It was further decided to hold a meeting of tho Dunedin tramv.-nymen, and place before thrm views on this question, and have embodied in their new demands a clause covering this provision. The currency of term oi the Dunedin award expires on October 6. Mr J. H. Bartholomew, S.M., presided in' the Police Court this morning. John Gilbert Ross and a first offender were each fined 20s for drunkenness, in default 48 hours' imrjiisonnvMit. Walter Thomson, an old man.'was charged with being a rogue and a vagabond in"that he was found _by ni"ht on oremkes at Caversham. Seniorsergeant Murjay, in asking for a remand for a week, said that accused bad been an inmate of the Benevo'.snt Institution and of tho home kept by the.Little Sisters of the 'Poor, but ho would not stop in either place. Last night he was found in e. filthy condition in on empty house at Caversliam. Accused was remanded acccdinglv. SevJii returned soldiers were taken yesterday by motor car irom the Dunedin Hospital "to the Red' Cross Military Convalescent Home at Monteeillo, and two or tirrec more were to bo shifted to-day. They are going to Monteeillo in relays, so as t'o give the house stxu a chance to get into the work without bustle. Bv the end of next week the full number of 23 will bo installed in their new quarters. A_ start is to bo made at once with tho building of the functional ward and tho recreation room, and when these are ready the management will bo able to turn the big room on the ground floor into another ward, which will accommodate nine or ten moremen. The Mornington School Band turned out yesterday, and went up with the men who were being shifted. Three of these men went to the* war together, and were in the same hospital in England, and met again at the Dunedin Hospital. Forty or fifty years ago the Fourth of July caused more stir in Dunedin than itdid' to-day. Our community at that time had quite an appreciable admixture of Americans, their (lag was often seen, their music was quite popular. On this anniversary of Independence Day there was not much outward show beyond the hoisting of "Old Glory'' at the Town Hall. But everybody knew that it was "the glorious fourth," and our people were everywhere heard saying nice things about the United States and the stand made by that great country in the interests of civilisation. A brief reference to tho historic facts about the. Declaration of- Independence will suffice. The imposition of obnoxious taxes and stamp duties on the American settlements led to resistance, and war followed, the first action being the Battle of Lexington, on tho 19i.h April, 1775. The various States s«joined together. There were 13 of them —.Now Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island. Connecticut, New York, New .Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, I)eirn'--yo, Virginia (the oldest, founded in 7), North Carolina, South Carolina, •■ and Georgia. On the 4th July, 1776, tho Declaration of Independence by these States was reported to the Continental Congress by the cliairman, and it was read and proclaimed by the State House on the Bth July of tho same year, but not signed by the various delegates till August 2, some of them having to wait for instructions from their respective colonies. The Congress of the revolted provinces adopted the style of "the United States of America" on the 9th September, 1776. The war with England dragged on till October of 1781. when Cornwallis and 7.000 men surrendered to Generals Washington and Roehampton. The provisional articles of peace were signed at Paris on the 30th November, 1752, and the Declaration of Independence was recognised by Great Britain in 1783. Tbe following extract from the life of that distinguished German the, lata Professor Max Midler, written during 1884 : and 1835, must greatly interest anyone at ; the present time.: —"When one reads th? : discussions in Parliament one might easily i fear for England ; but they are mere fire- ■ works. The nation is of good old stock, land woe to liim who forgets this. England I will never he conquered, never before the j last Englishman, the last Scotchman, the j last Irishman—aye, . the last Australian, ; the last Canadian, the last Newfoundlander, tho last Sikh—aye, the last Yankee has fallen. Everyman in Europe, is now a sokTer; England is the only land that lias not taken to arming her people. Drive ; Ens.la.nd into a corner, and to-morrow every man is a soldier. There may be jealousies between her colonies, but if it came to extremities the colonies would allow no hair of England to be touched. Even India, which was formerly a danger, has shown that England's enemies are her ; enemies." The nationalisation of tho liquor industry i was one of the many questions discussrd iby the animal conference of the Timber Workers' Federation at Wellington on ! Friday. Mr T. O'Byme, on behalf of j Southland, moved a remit as follows: " That the be urged to take j tho necessary steps to-nationalise the liquor ' trade.." In" croing so he contended that j the elimination of private enterprise would , bo beneficial, and, as Labor was in favor !of State control of other industries, it i must of ncessity be consistent, and support

■ the nationalisation of the liquor trade. State control would be a, step towards com ; plete abolition. Mr Phelan {Auckland) said it was useless to present such an amendment to the present Government. It would bo different if the Labor party were in power. He moved an amendment —"That this conference affirm the principle of. State control of tha liquor imtus-

A former resident of Tapanui (says the 'Courier'), now living in the Transvaal, writes that recruiting has been going ahead a lot better lately," but still there wer-a plenty of British-born slackers about. In Pretoria prices of all goods were advancing rapidly. It has been a bad season for cattle,' and owing to so much rain vegetables simplv rotted in the ground. Floods had been frequent, and a bridge overalls Crocodile River was washed away. When nearly replaced it was washed away a second time, and oven a third time. Owing to the dearth of ministers, the Mataura Presbytery are endeavoring to bring about an amalgamation of certain of the parishes within their bounds. A commission was appointed to negotiate with the Balfour and Riversdale congregations to see if some working arrangements could bo arrived at. The commission met with the Balfour congregation last week, when a resolution was passed in full sympathy with the suggestion of the Presbytery. June 23. 1870—48 years ago—is a date important" in the history of New Zealand (savs the Anekbnd •Herald'), for on that clav Sir Julius (then Mr) Vogel, as Colonial Treasurer of the day, in his Budget speech launched ths public works policy which was the beginning of tho real development of tb? country. Mr Vogcl proposed the expenditure of ten millions sterling within ten years upon railways, roads, immigration,' goldfields, waterworks, and telegraphic" extension, six millions to be raised on tho London market. Tbo boldness of the scheme was described at ths time as '' positively frightening honorable membore.'" find the Treasurer was obliged to revise it by reducing his borrowing scheme to six millions. In" this fount " the great nnblic works policy" was unanimously adopted by Parliament.

Finest I ever tasted. Watson's No, 10 whisky. Oh, it is good!—[Advt.] Dunedin grocers are finding considerable! difficulty at present in obtaining sufficient, supplies of Golden Rula Soap and Candles. —[Advf.] Watson's No. 10 is a littlo dearer than mo-t whiskies, but ia worth tbe money.— [Advt.] ■ laies recommend Martin'i Aptol and Steel Pills. Sold by all chemists and stores. Sea tou get tho genuine.—lAUrt.J