Local and General.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume VIII, Issue 214, 12 August 1918, Page 4

Local and General.

A number of N.C.O’s. of the Hastings and Napier cadets left this morning by the mail train to attend the annual refresher camp at Palmerston North.

Another of the Clive popular dances will be held in the Public Hall there to-night for the purpose of raising funds in aid of parcels for the Clive boys on active service. An energetic committee is now hard at work and everyone is assured of a first-class time. Dalton’s drag will leave Kirk’s corner, for the conveniance of Napier patrons, and Nimon’s motor bus, the Hastings Post Office. A number of musical items will also be contributed.

At the Napier Police Court on Saturday morning, before Mr. A. L. Beattie, J.P., Thomas George Spalding, was charged with on the Sth August at Napier he did steal one trunk, valued at £B, the property of Alexander D. Smith. Mr. L. A. Rogers appeared for the defendant. Senior-Sergeant Eales said as that was a case that must be dealt with by a Magistrate, he roust apply for a remand which was granted until Wednesday next, bail being allowed in accused’s own recognisance of £5O and two sureties of £25 each. The first shot in the campaign in support of the recommendation of the National Efficiency Board to prohibit the liquor traffic, will be fired in the Oddfellows’ trail, Hastings, on Wednesday- night by Mr. N. D. Bayley, a noted Canadian, who wifi lecture on "Efficiency and Prohibition.” Mr. Bayley comes fresh from the triumphs of the prohibition campaign in Canada and has a story to tell that should prove of absorbng interest to all sect ions of the community. The National Efficiency- Board’s report in favour of the immediate abolition of the liquor traffic was no hasty or ill-considered document. It is an impartial weighing up of the evidence of more than sixty witnesses. Representatives of the liquor trade, as well as those of temperance organisations stated their case. The non-party evidence of general merchants, manufacturers, farmers, employees, and of judicial, magisterial, medical and military authorities was also taken. Surely’the whole question was never more impartially considered and every elector should weigh well the fact that the Board, after hearing all sides, reported that prohibition was essential in the interests of permanent national efficiency. Sign the Alliance monster petition asking for a poll on this important question. At the monthly meeting of the Hawke’s Bay Fruitgrowers’ Association, held in the Oddfellows Hall, Hastings, on Saturday, a very interesting and instructive lecture was given by- Mr. O. R. Bostock on "The Value of the Honey Bee to the Fruitgrowing Industry-.” The chair was occupied by Mr. R- Wilson, jnr. The lecturer stated that until recent years the value of the bee to orehardists har not been fully acknowledged, because fruitgrowers blamed the bee for bringing blight. This had been proved to be incorrect. In Colorado fruitgrowers now found it profitable to pay five dollars for a colony of bees, for use during the blossoming period, the bees being afterwards returned to their owners. Beekeepers did not make fortunes, but it was possible in the Hawke’s Bay district for aparies to be established and colonies of bees to be let out to orehardists during' the blossoming period. This would eradicate the blight pest to a considerable extent and with spraying the results would be found to be of great value to the fruitgrowing industry. Mr. Bostock was accorded a hearty- vote of thanks for his instinctive address. A decision, affecting the validity of the execution of Maori wills, was given by the Native Land Court now sitting at Hastings. The principal act requires that there shall be two witnesses to a Maori will, one of whom shall be a solicitor, or other official witness, and an amendment provides that where the willis written in the English language, one of the attesting witnesses shall have a sufficient knowledge of the Maori and English languages to enable him to be satisfied that the testator understands the effect of the will. In the particular case, the will was witnessed by a solicitor and his clerk, neither of whom undlerstood Maori/ but claimed that the native testator understood sufficient English. In this case the judge said that he must hold that the statutory provisions had not been complied with, and, that therefore the will was invalid, but he pointed out that, the clause . was evidently drawn without knowledge that- manv Maoris (which includes half-casts), had no knowledge what ever of the Maori language, while other Maoris, such as Sir James Carroll and the Hon. Mr. Ngata. were actually- licensed interpreters and assumed' to have a full knowledge of English. How such, cases are affected by the Act must be left -o the future to decide.

At its weekly meeting on Saturday the Napier Branch of the Workers’ Educational Association heartily endorsed the eight planks of the Teachers’ Institute. Mr. F. O. Tattle has received advice from Wellington that the positions in the Auckland v. Wellington copper trail are :Auckland 206 miles, reaching Waimarino ; an i Wellington 69 miles, reaching Shannon,

The Mayoress Send-Off Committee will entertain the Hastings draft of the 45th. Reinforcements at a send off social and dance in the Assembly Hall, to-morrow (Tuesday) evening. All returned men and those on leave are invited to attend.

It was reported at the Wellington City Council, on Thursday evening that advice had been received that the Minister of. Finance had approved of the raising of a loan not exceeding £20,000 for the council’s milk undertaking.

“The waste in the teachers' workshop is . the lives of men,” quoted the Hon. John Barr, M.L.C., in his address at the Education Con ference at Christchurch on Wednesday evening. For that vital reason, it was their duty to prevent all possible waste in that workshops

To-day, at the County Council meeting, general complaints were made about cattle straying on the roads, and the ranger’s lack of activity was adversely commented upon. It was decided to instruct the ranger to interview the chairman, with a view to seeing if the work cannot be more efficiently done.

Winners of the various competitions at the Women’s National Reserve shop on Saturday were: Box of sweets, Miss C. Guthrie ; boudoir cap, Mrs. D. D. Miller; fruit cake, Mrs. Highley ; turkey No. l,Mr. Menzies turkey No. 2, Mrs. A.,Brown; camisole No. 1, Mrs. T. Ringland; camisole No. 2, Mrs. F. Banks.

A sad fatality occurred at “Ealand,” Te Pohue road, yesterday, ' when the fifteen months’ old son of Mr. E. R. Dampney, got in the way , of the latter’s motorcar and was run j over during backing operations, sus|tainir.g such severe injuries as to cause its death when en route to the Napier Hospital. An inquest was held this afternoon. A serious accident occurred at Ahuahu, up the Wanganui river, on Friday. A young man named Gordon Randall, a returned soldier, was using his rifle as a walking stick when it discharged, the bullet entering below the jaw and lodging at the i back of the eye. The accident oci curred in rough country and it took I ten hours to get the wounded man to a riverside launch, which brought him to the hospital. He is in a verylow condition. I Mr E. T. James responding to the , toast of “The Boys Away” at the Father and Son banquet last Saturday evening in connection with the Y.M.C.A. Conference in eulogising ' the work of the Y.M.C.A. at the ; front said that its work was so varied grid met the needs of men at so many ppints that it had "become an information bureau. Offi- ' cers who when asked for informaI tion before the advent of the J Y.M.C.A. usually responded with a savage "go to the devil” now say gently “go to the Y.M.C.A.” I Sir James Allen concdluded his ' visit to the Westland electorate yesterday evening. In the course of, his ' tour he visited Kinnaia, Hokitika, Ross and the country districts and i received a very cordial reception.in ail parts, being presented with several addresses in different centre.-,. He expressed great pleasure !in visiting Captain Seddon’s electorate during his absence on important military duties, stating that : he felt much heartened and encouraged in his work by coming /amongst such a loyal community. Several local requirements were I brought under his notice. The remarkable record of Welling ton College Old Boys in war service is mentioned in a circular issued by the Old Boys’ Association to members in an appeal for contributions for the Memorial Hall. Nearly IQOO Old Boys have joined tho colours, 13S li*ve been killed in action, and 253 others wounded ; 101 have received decorations or have been mentioned in despatches. In other words, one out of every four has been killed or wounded, undone out of every sixteen has been singled out for distinction. The circular concludes: “Again we ask —ls it nothing to us who only stand and wait ”’ With a few thousand men Colonial Semenoff, the Cossack, venture.s into Siberia to attempt the restoration of order in a vast domain. In his optimism he seems to second Garibaldi. But he was something that Garibaldi lacked ;*he was the sympathy, even the co-operation, or. the frontier of the most numerous nation on earth. China has a strange economic interest in Siberia. Her immense industry in the manu facture of ivory articles depends in the main to-day uppn the Siberia of millions of years ago. For seven centuries she has obtained nearly all her ivory- from the fossil remains of the Siberian mammoth. The Auckland Chamber of Commerce discussed the question ot overseas vessels which come from Australia to New Zealand with 'cargo space unutilised.- It. was stated that the Hon. A. M. Myers bad said that overseas vessels could not he used for New Zealand cargo without a conflict with the Admiralty instructions, and that any- delay- to these vessels would not bo justified. The opinion was expressed that if New Zealand shippers ' knew that a vessel was due to leave Sydney by a certain date they would be able to arrange shipments. It was resolved to ask the Government if its representatives in Sydney could inform New Zealand importers through the Government of the date of the departure of overseas vessels . to this country. I A statement was made by the Hon. T. M. Wilford (Minister of Marine) at Auckland on Thursday in regard to the proposed disposal of the Tutanekai. The vessel, he said, was 22 years old, and cost £37,000. She was built as a cable ship, and had been used by the Post. Office Department as a cable repair ship up till quite recently. The Post Office Department was now handing her back to the Marine Department, as she was no longer required by the former department. The substantial rent that was being paid for her by the Post Office han not ceased, and the Marine Department had tiro boat <>ti their hands. Offers for her had been received from Dunedin, Auckland, and V ellington. and it seemed to him the only wav to do was to dispose o! bed by tender. This it had been decided to do. He pointed out t-hat it would cost- thousands of pounds to convert her into a cargo ship, a fact w-hich would, no doubt, be taken into consideration.

Sir James Allen, interviewed afr Wellington to-day, said : “I assume that the Session will begin some time in October.” In a representative football match at Christchurch on Saturday, Canterbury beat Otago by 11 points to 8. The imports to Britain for the year before the war were roughly 58,000,000 tons, whereas last they were only 38,000,000 tons. Boes have a scheme whercbv they eliminate the useless drones. 11111 is where the bees sot maa n ] ace. But beeg have no way -jf ui'iking a worker out of a droan ; and possibly that is where we seoio one co Brer Bee. It is notified in Treptham Camp orders that until further orders, telegram delivery from the camp telegraph office, by message hoys, will be suspended. All telegram* arriving will, unless called for, be put in with the mails. The quarterly session of the Supreme Court opened at Palmerston North, to-day, Mr. Justice Chapman, presiding. There being no criminal eases His Honour was presented with the usual white gloves. —Press Association. Sir James Allen at Wellington, today, said that the confernce of officers, promised by the Defence Minister in his memorandum to the Defence Expenditure Commission’s report, will be held in Wellington, commencing on Tuesday next.. Th® officers attending will be district commandants and the heads of branches of the Defence Department. The conference will examine thoroughly various suggestions and recommendations mentioned in the report. Referring to the probable durar tion of the war, Colonel Sle.miatt stated, in his address to officers a* - Trentham on Wednesday, that a remark he made in Auckland had! been misinterpreted. He had said! they would beat the Germans next, year or earlier, but he had not meant that that would be the end of the war and the complete defeat of the enemy. In his view at least two years of war could be looked for, though they might achieve a decisive victory before that time. Therefore they must carry on with the war work. The American military authorities have found themselves Up against too big a man even for them to tackle. Gcoige Bell is his name, ebony in colour, and twenty-flyo stone his weight. But it is his height that is the bit too much. There is 7ft. Ilin, of him, which needs a couple of army cots for his adequate lying down ; and he is entered as two men on the roll, in orw.r to ges the necessary two men’s ratioris for his continued standing up. Nrtw the medical officers have rejected ham. on the score, presumably. .of ms being too much of a good thing.