LOCAL AND GENERAL

Evening Star, Issue 17636, 15 April 1921, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL

The Otago District Repatriation Board yesterday approved seven of the thirteen applicatiohs for business loans, deferred one, and refused five. Twenty-seven furniture loans were approved, eight declined, and two deferred, In regard to subsidisation of workers, seventeen applications were received, and seven applicants who had completed their training were granted withheld subsidy, while ten who had not completed their training were granted assistance for a further period. Fifty-one applications were received in respect of university and technical training, of which thirty-five wore approved and sixteen were declined.

Tire annual meeting' of the Dunddin Field Club was held on Tuesday evening, Mr Shaddock presiding. The election of officers for the ensuing year resulted- as follows President, Hon. G. M, Thomson ; vice-presidents, Messrs Angel and Scarfc; secretariat}, Messrs W. J. Williams and G. Howes; treasurer. Miss H. K. Dalrymple. It was decided to hold excursions tortfughtly, the next excursion to be to Black Head on the 30th inst. Indoor meetings are to be held monthly, on the second Tuesday of each month. The annual subscription was fixed at 2s 6d. A number of new members were elected.

A shortage of railway trucks is seriously delaying many vessels in Wellington. Coal boats are affected most. Some of the bigger vessels from oversea ports have been detained so long that tho patience of the shipping companies is almost exhausted. One boat arrived recently with just over 5,000 tons of coal on board. Under ordinary circumstances tho vessel should have discharged her cargo at the rate of 1,000 to 1,500 tons per day, and it should not have been necessary for her to remain in port longer than five clays. Actually the rate of discharge lias been about 450 tons per day, "and the delay probably involved a sum of £450 per day. Tho delay of other vessels is even more serious. Tho Railway Department's freight service seems to have collapsed completely with tho last few weeks, according to a shipping authority. In most cases the men afe paid while waiting for trucks.

A deputation 'from the Society for the Protection of Women and Children, waited upon the Minister in Charge of the Police Department at Wellington yesterday to urge him to adopt a complete system of women-police. Mrs A. R. Atkinson, the only speaker, drew the Minister’s attention to the success of women police in other countries. The Hon. E. P. Lee pointed out that the police matrons already dir] good work at railway stations and other places, A question of policy was involved in the proposals, and he would place the matter before Cabinet; and would also place before Mr Massey the euggestion that Lady Stout and Mrs Massev should’ make inquiries for a suitable instructor in England shoilld it bo decided to appoint police women in New Zealand. The imports into New Zealand in T'ebruarv totalled £4.329,268, and for January and ‘February £10.993,842. In February, 1920. the ‘imports were valued at £2,933.303 and for Januarv and February, 1920, £5,928,840.

When commenting on the work of the Flunket Society at‘its annual meeting in Wellington, the Hon. Dr Collins, M.L.C., drew attention to the mortality amongst young people between the ages of fifteen and twenty-five, arising largely from tuberculosis. That was a question that deserved special attention and study. Ho thought it would be a wise thing if every person under the ago of twenty-one were examined at least once a year. He believed that would result in lessening mortality amongst the young. In fact, so strongly did he believe in ‘‘"pearly examination of individuals that he advised every person to take stock of his or her health at least once a year. I am now able to announce (writes our London correspondent) that a decision has been reached as to the date on which the Prince will make his postponed visit to the Far East. The Crown Prince of Japan is to pay a state visit la. London during the coming season, and Court etiquette demands that this visit should be returned at the earliest possible opportunity. According to present arrangements. therefore, the Prince of Wales will leave London for India and the East early in the autumn of the present year—the time provisionally fixed being the closing days of the month of September,

During his visit to Hawcra last week the Prime Minister formally handed to the pupils of the Hawcra District High School a French flag sent by a school in Boulogne in return for a New Zealand ensign presented to them about two years ago. The ceremony was brief. The assembled children saluted the Union Jack and recited the declaration of loyalty: “1 love my King, I love my country, I love the Empire and the Empire’s flag.” They, sang the National Anthem with great vigor* and listened to the reading of the message accompanying the flag—“ the same flag that has flown over Verdun—tho flag of liberty, equality, and fraternity—to give a message from the hearts of the boys of Franco to the hearts of the boys of New Zealand.” Then they sang ‘ The Marseillaise,’ and cried in lusty unison “Vive la France.” Several stalkers have returned from the deer forest during tho past week (says tho Hawea correspondent of the Cromwell ‘Argus’), and report fair sport in the Hunter Valley and branches westward. Shooting on block 15, Mr D. M'Cal! secured a capital royal, another good head of equal points being shot by (Mr J. Buckley on block 13. A good rough royal 43in in length, 40in in spread, and Sin beam was shot by Mr It .L. Barclay on the Highborn Creek block. Shooting over the same block Mr C. Harvey .secured an eleven and a fair thriteen. On tho Nock country a good fifteen-pointer was shot by Mr Jameson, and in Cotter’s Creek, two fifteens were secured by Mr Mills, of Christchurch. Deer are reported to bo in largo numbers all over the forest. I hear (writes our London correspondent that Mrs. Asquith is already well forward with another book, and is keeping at least one secretary fully employed on its compilation. As is perhaps natural, it is not proving quite so easy for her to write this second volume, and Mrs Asquith is said to be at a loss sometimes to decide what new themes she can develop. One of Mr Asquith’s friends suggested to me last night that a chapter tor which there would bo more than sufficient material and which would certainly be vastly entertaining for tho general public might be headed: 1 What My Husband’s (Relations Said About My Book.’

The funeral of Patrick Richard Elliott, who failed to return from a shooting excursion at Ongavoto, in the Rotorua district, on March 27, and whoso body was subsequently found in the Waikato River with a shot wound in tho back, tool? place at Waiktimeto Cemetery on Sunday. The Maori, Hakaraia Te Kahn, who stands charged with the murder of Elliott, is lodged in Mount Eden Gaol until his trial at liotorua.

A party of Welsh ironworkers who are to establish a new <ylony at Waratah, near Newcastle, New South Wales, recently sailed for Australia. There are 120 ’experienced millmen, employed by Messrs Lysaght, Ltd., sheet manufacturers, of Newport (Mon.), and tho whole party consists of forty-two families. Sixteen mills are being erected under the superintendence of Mr Sydney Lysaght, who is in charge of this new development, the chief idea of which is to capture the Southern Cross trade from the Americans. The- workmen will live-in a garden city, accommodation tor which has been provided/' They will occupy houses completely furnished by tho firm, and are looking forward to a happy time in a new country. Oth'r batches will follow. Ex-Alderman John Ashley Kiivert, J.P., one of the few surviving members of the Balaclava charge of the “Six Hundred.’’ and who lived at-Wednesbury, Staffs., left £4,199 6s 3d. He was latterly living tired after carrying on business as a pawnbroker. He left his Crimean medal and Turkish fnedal to the Leicester Art Gallery, as well as the sword he used in the charge.