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Evening Star, Issue 18044, 11 August 1922, Page 4

Tho Water Committee of the City Council adheres to its former resolution regarding tho question of water supply for the wharves, and declines to move further at the request of tho Harbor Board. A ship’s lifeboat was found in the surf near Manawatu Heads on the sth hist. James Cowley, who made tho find, hauled the boat ashore with a team of horses. It is about 15ft Biu in length, and lias a beam of about sft Tin. Figures carved an the woodwork indicate that it has a seating accommodation for thirteen persons. On the outside tho lower portion is painted red and the top white, while on tho inside tho bottom is red and tho upper part grey. It has evidently been in the water for only a Short time, and is in excellent condition except for a slightly damaged seat. There is no other wreckage in'tho vicinity. The facts have been reported to the Masterton police. Tho Prime Minister says he has searched in vain for new sources of revenue (says the ‘Public Service Journal’), and yet New Zealand still contributes thousands of pounds every year to the Tasmanian Treasury. If people will have their little gamble, why not run a. lottery in New Zealand, and secure for our own Treasury the money that at present goes out of the country? It would entail hardship on no class of the community, and would obviate any alleged necessity for further salary outs, which will undoubtedly entail much hardship on one section of the community. Further details of the death of John William Spark Briddock, a single man, forty years of age, who was drowned in the river off Dargavillo on Saturday at midnight, are now available (says the Auckland) ‘ Herald ’). The deceased was employed' as watchman and custodian by Fisher and Sons, of the Wairoa River bridge works. Ho left .the Dargavillo wharf shortly before 12 o’clock in n. pulling boat alone. 'Cries of “ Oh, come on! Come on” were heard from tho centre of the river at midnight, and a number of men ran to his assistance. The location of tho man was hard to determine, as after some minutes his cries ceased. A boat put off for mid-stream, and a motor car spot-light from the shore was used as a searchlight. It picked up the drowned man’s empty boat, containing his hat and a week’s provisions. The drifting boat was secured, and a minute later down the stream tho two oars and then the man himself wore picked up. All efforts to restore animation failed. body has been removed to Auckland. Tho deceased was a returned soldier.

An inquest was held at Auckland on Monday (says the ‘Star’) touching the death of.a newly-bom child at New Lynn on Sunday, the mother being a girl of fifteen years. A young man of twenty gave evidence that so far as he knew he was the first to see the infant. On Sunday he went with his mother and sisters, and some other people, including the girl in question, for a picnic in his launch, starting from New Lynn in the morning, and going down the Whau creek and across the harbor to Onctaunga. The girl complained of being unwell when they were at Onetaunga, and the party started back home. The baby was born on the launch, and when the mother showed it to him it was dead.. Ho told bis mother what had happened and took tho girl home. The inquest was adjourned at this stage to enable tho coroner to have before him the evidence of a post mortem examination, and what other evidence the police might think necessary to call. The Amenitics-Society has been granted permission by tho Works Committee of tho City Council to plant trees along the roadside in the South road from a point above the tram terminus at Caversham to the top of Look-out Point.

The Marine Department has already received more than a sufficient number of applicants for engagement as permanent seamen and firemen for the Government steamer Tutanekai. The men.will be Government employees, and come tinder the .Superannuation Act. The usual award Kites, with overtime, will be paid, sailors to receive an additional £1 per month on aclount of special duties. The Wellington City Council decided last night to take the necessary steps to raise' a loan of £IO,OOO under the Local Bodies’ Amendment Act, 1922 (when passed), for the purpose of carrying out public works undertaken, or proposed to be undertaken, for the relief of unemployed, principally for the reading of corporation lands which are to be cut up and sold. . Tit© South Otago Harbor Board discussed in committee yesterday the question of hospital provision. It was decided to complete the purchase and transfer of Air Twaddle’s site for the Balclutha Hospital, and to instruct the architect to prepare plans for a thirty-bed hospital. Regarding the road to the site, it was decided to accept the counter-offer of the trustees of £525, and to call for’ tenders for the work. The secretary was instructed to forward the plans for the hospitals at Owaka and Milton to the Health Department for approval. The chairman (Air Rutherford) and the secretary were appointed to interview the architect regarding the coat of providing further accommodation at the Kaitangata Hospital. The board then dealt in committee with an offer from Alessrs Kean and Waddell for the supply of a motor ambulance. It was decided that the other local firms should be given an opportunity of quoting a price. The Drivers Union looks upon the practice of one man driving two vehicles us dangerous and as a deliberate cruelty to the hinder horse. The union has written to the City Council to this effect, and suggested an alteration in the by-law which permits the practice, The General Committee of the council, however, replies that the by-law was framed with the specific object of preventing cruelty, and that this view is supported by many people qualified to judge, including the inspector for the. S.P.C.A. The committee therefore expresses the opinion that there is no need for any alteration. The Wellington City Council has for some time been faced with the question of what voltage shall be used when the Government electric supply is available. At present the voltage: is 100, but Christchurch and other places used 230. The difficulty is that a change will scrap all existing installations and involve a cost of £750,000. To get over this the council’s electrical engineer proposed 116 volts, so designed as to be ultimately convertible to the 230 standard. Outside experts were called in, and were unanimous for 230, and tbia the council _ has adopted, leaving the financial question to be . adjusted later. The council has also, with a view to preventing defalcations, appointed an internal auditor pt a .salary of £SOQ, lisiDg &, Association.'

Mr J. D. Paulin’s forecast: —Squally to a gale N.E. to N.W. .winds, and rain showers; barometer fa,tiling. Four meetings of the Claims Committee of the Otago Soldiers—and Dependents’ Welfare Committee were held during the month of July. Sixty-six applications were received from returned soldiers, and pvere considered and dealt with as 'underTwenty-five grants were made totalling £B4 11s 1 2d, and fourteen allow-, ancea were authorised aggregating at the weekly rate of £24 17s'6d; two loans were granted totalling £39 11s, adequate security being taken in each case. The discharge of a mortgage was executed, the amount loaned by the committee having been repaid in full; and in three cases rearrangements were made regarding repayments on loans already granted. Eleven applications w'ere declined, consideration of seven was deferred pending further information, two were referred to other societies, and one to the Repatriation Department. Four .applications were received from dependents, being dealt with las follow':—Two grants were made totqlI insr £lO 12s 6d, and two cases were [ placed in the handSs of the committee’s honorary lady visitor (Mrs Park) to deal I with. Applications wore, as usual, con--1 sideretl where the soldier’s disability was I not certified to as being due tb war sc.rvice, and -assistance was granted where the circumstances justified this action being taken. Cigarettes, tobacco, and matches were issued during the month to the discharged soldier in-patients of the 'Dunedin Puiblio Hospital, Seacliff Mental Hospital, and Wakari Sanatorium, the following being a statement of the quantities issued:—Three hundred and fifty packets of cigarettes, SJlb of cigarette tobacco (with tissues), 2jlb of pipe- tobacco, and two dozen boxes of matches. There arc at .-present 110 in-patients and 100 outpatients under treatment for war disabilities at the various hospitals in Otago. A Hamilton Association message states that Peter YaMiUy, aged forty-seven years, was found drowned in a waiter trough alongside the road this) morning. It is said that ho had been worried about house property lately. 9 At a sitting of the Juvenile Court this morning an infant two years of age, whose parents are in indigent circumstances, was committed! to the Oaversham Industrial School, to be brought up in the Anglican

form of religion. A very successful concert was held in Mosgiel on Wednesday night in-aid of the local brass band. The attendance was good, and the programme was much appreciated. Tho performer's were all from Dunedin, with the exception of the band. Tho playing of some selections by the band showed the marked progress imade under Mr Haigh’s tuition. An enjoyable dance followed.

A very enjoyable social was given by tho Irish Society in the Overseas Club room last evening, a number of the Hawke’s Bay footballers being present. Tho Finance Committee iof the City Council has accepted the design submitted by Mr E. S. Wardrop for a war memorial to the corporation employees who served in the Great War. The memorial is to bo erected in the vestibule at the entrance to the Town Hall. Tho Venereal Diseases Committee set up by the Government having asked tho Otago Hospital Board if it is prepared to give evidence on the subject, the Hospital Committee has referred the matter to Dr Falconer, the medical superintendent, who will probably furnish his statement in writing. Tho honorary medical staff of the Dunedin Hospital has intimated to the Hospital Board that it is prepared, in conjunction with the Faculty of Medicine, to report on and make recommendations to the board and the University Council with respect to any new applications received for appointment to tho honorary medical staff.

There are 548 awards and industrial agreements in force in Now Zealand. During the year ended March 31 last the number of new awards and agreements was smaller than usual. “ This.” says, the annual report of the Labor Department, “is accounted for by the fact that on the workers’ side there was little to expect in the way of increased wages, and on the employers’ side the court’s stabilisation scheme rendered it useless for employers to apply for a reduction.” The Conciliation Commissioners dealt with 147 disputes, and 112 cases (76.2 per cent.) were settled or substantially settled without .recourse to the Arbitration Court. Owing to the existing circumstances one side or the other lias preferred to a greater extent than in normal times to refer the matters in dispute to the Arbitration Court. The City Council lias acceded to the request of the Hospital Board for support in its action in asking the Government to reconsider its decision to discontinue pay ment of land agents’ license fees to hospital boards. Some pointed remarks about wealth in the city were made by the chairman of the Wellington Rugby Union (Mr J. Prenderville) at a meeting of tho Management Committee, when a request for assistance for tho unemployed was being discussed. “ There are wealthy citizens in this town,” ho said, “who have made fortunes during the war, and \«ho could easily give sufficient without hurting themselves to carryon tho employment fund for a couple of months.” He had in/mind half a dozen such men. He emphasised tho fact that the financial assistance derived' through sport came out of the pockets of tho ordinary* citizens, the regular sports who patronised the football grounds. “Those who benefit from labor most,” be added, “sit aloft and keep on piling up their wealth.” It is well known that cows arc rather fond of chewing bones, and often get one stuck in their throat (says the Elthain ‘Argus’), Mr, John Campbell, of Rawhitiron road, found one of his cows suffering the other day, and correctly diagnosed the cause. After some difficulty he extracted the bone, which was tightly wedged. It was a large piece of one jof the vertebras of a cow which ho extracted, and it was rather remarkable that the animal hud made an attempt at so largo a swallow. Some writers says that it is the salty flavor that induces cows to chew bones, and where lumps of irock salt arc lying about the fields they are not so prone to the practice.

The futility iof making'one’s house servo the purpose of a hank was exemplified recently in Christchurch. A man who had got together the sum of about £2O for general expenses kept the money in his house. Ho ,was taken ill, went to hospital, and eventually died. His widow, on going to the place where the money had been put, found that it had disappeared; evidently burglars had discovered the hiding-place. The pathetic part of the story is that the widow is left penniless with three children, two of them not being wage-earners.

The poverty and distress that are being experienced in Sydney just now was referred to by Mr J. H. Shemmings, who was there some four weeks ago, when chatting to an Ashburton ‘Guardian-’ representative. Hundreds of nien wore sleeping out in the parks and in rock caves on. the foreshore of Sydney Harbor. It was one phase of the existing need that had come into the limelight. Homeless, in the wintry rain, they were to bo found wrapped in newspapers and rags, within sight of abundance. Amid the beauty and* wealth of the city there were those who were suffering extreme want. The,Salvation Army had started a campaign to assist these poor unfortunates, and the morning Mr Shemmings left Sydney ho saw 180 such men being fed at an Army depot with soup and bread. “ And I have seen almost as bad as that in Auckland," ho said. “There the Army had a marquee erected, and. every night they housed, some 150 men, feeding them well in" the morning.” Practically all over the dominion at the present time there is a small army of clerks at work compiling electoral rolls (states the Kltham ‘Argus’). The expense to the taxpayer is enormous and unnecessary. Why succeeding Governments persist in perpetuating the present cumbrous, costly system is a puzzle to many people.

j Our Wellington correspondent telegraphs: The Board of Health Committee investigating venereal diseases will visit I Auckland on Wednesday, and will take evidence on the subject for two days. On returning south the committee proposes to meet at Christchurch on .August 28, afterwards giving a similar opportunity to witness in Dunedin, before reUfrning to Wellington to prepare its report. , The Auckland Yacht Association meets next week, as announced yesterday, to decide what is-to bo'done about the Saqiders Cup. In well-informed circles it is ■ believed that there is a possibility of I Auckland agreeing to a general conference lin Wellington to finally deal with the whole matter. At a sitting of the Supreme Court this morning before His Honor Mr Justice Hosking motions to make decrees nisi absolute were granted in the divorce petitions of William Alexander Bathgate v. Ethel Florence Bathgate .(alimony was fixed at £1 per week and costs at £4 4s) and Neil Macdonald v. Margaret C. Macdonald. Motions were also granted for 1 j leave to set down the cases - of Jesse Bev--1 tram Wilson v. Frances Cassia Wilson, and Sarah Ann Anderson v. William Anderson forbearing at the present sittings. As .between the Otago Hospital Board and the South Otago Hospital Board there still exists a difference of opinion in regard to the claim of £1.500 per annum as a charge for the use of the Otago Board s building and equipment in the treatment of patients sent in from South Otago. The South Otago Board replied to the claim that it had asked the Department of 1 Health to mediate. The suggestion made ’ by tbe Department of Health is_ to the | effect that an accountant be appointed to ascertain the actual cost of treating the South Otago cases, and make his estimate the basis of a settlement. This proposition lias been considered by the Finance Committee of the Otago Hospital Board, ■ and its .recommendation is that the Otago Board should say “No” and stick to its \ claim. I The Telegraph Department advises that, owing to the interruption of the Atlantic cables, week-end and deferred traffic to countries accepting such will be subject to heavy delay. His Honor Mr Justice. Hosking fixed dates this morning for the hearing of civil cases. Undefended divorce petitions will

be taken to-morrow morning, and also on September 20 next. The hearing of civil actions will commence next Wednesday,

and tho sittings will run into the middle of September. His Honor will leave for Invercargill ,on Monday week next to lake tho sittings there, and is likely to bo absent for about a week. The Brighton Advancement Society has approached the City Council with a view to obtaining a supply of electrical energy for lighting and power purposes for Brighton Township. The city electrical engineer has supplied an estimate and other data, and these will be considered by tho society. Tho meeting of the Port Chalmers School Committee was held on Tuesday evening, tho Rev. W. M. Grant (chairman) presiding. Tho inspectors’ report was received, and although it was considered highly satisfactory, the committee unanimously protested against tho deletion of the reports on tho work of individual teachers. The Visiting Committee’s report on its call at tho school was very favorable. The rector reported that for the past four weeks the average roll in tho primary department was 458 and the average attendance 424. In tho secondary department the average roll was 52 and tho average attendance 29. The attendance shield was won three times by Standard I. and once by Standard 111. The number of children participating in tho tea provided at lunch time was not! so largo a 9 tho committee could wish, and tho number was gradually falling away. The jubilee celebrations were reported ns progressing very favorably, quite a. lot of interesting information in connection with the early days of tho school coming to hand. The school flag having suffered very severely with tho high winds lately, it was decided to have it repaired, and also to procure a new flag. Mr W. Thompson and Mr R. D. Jack wore appointed a visiting committee for the month.

The nip for nippy winter weather—Watson’s No. 10, fine old Scotch whisky.— fAdvt.l Pina pong Balls (English) now arrived; also Winter Games. —White House, George street.—[Advt.l Wo advise all marriageable girl? to sing plenty, especially while “No Rubbing ” Laundry Help is doing tho weekly washing. H. Knowles.—[Advt,]

The Pacific Starr-Bowkett Building Society invites membership in the No. 4 group now in operation. Loans by ballot and sale. Office: 86 King Edward street.—[Advt.]

Watson's No. 10 is a little dearer than most whiskies, but is worth tho money.— [Advt.]