LOCAL & GENERAL NEWS.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLVI, Issue 116, 14 May 1912, Page 4

LOCAL & GENERAL NEWS.

The thermometer last night did not go below. 45 degrees.

At, Lytt-elton ' yesterday a seaman oil the Turakina was sentenced to 14 days' imprisonment for desertion.

The New Zealand Land Values League, with branches in the four centres, has decided to join the United Labor party.

The Land and Income Tax Department notifies in this issue that returns of income must be furnished not later than June 1.

Messrs McLauchlan and Co. -report the sale of, five acres of Mr J. W. l{t>se:s farm, Springlands. to Mr Allan Hale, who is enlarging his Springlands nursery.

The weekly euchre tournaments, held in St. Patrick's Hall continue, to be patronised. Last night's play .was very interesting,' resulting in Mr H. Beirne winning tha> gentlemen's.prize and Mrs Ryan the ladies' prize.

Our Canvastown correspondent writes' that a rather sharp shock ;of earthquake was feit about 8.40 on Sunday evening. Two sharp shocks were felt in Picton at 8.38 on Sunday evening, and another early yesterday morning. There.- was also a slight shock at Blenheim on Sunday. ' ;

The Education Bfeard ■ medals, the annual trophies awarded to the boy raid girl with the best Sixth; Standard records fox- the year throughout the district, were -presented to the Winners by the Cliairman-at yesterday's, meeting. Tlie. successful pupils were Thomas Murphy, of the Convent •School, with 655 marks, and Muriel Innes, of the Borough School,, with 665. .....'■• i.. ■ '.'.-■■ \

Sailors have queer pets on boats to keep them amused in mid-ocean, but the crew of the Kairaki, iii port on Saturday, must have been hard pressed when they propose?! to-shower their affections upon a cumbersome animal of the Captain Cook persuasion (reports the: Picton Press). ■ The porker has grown, into a very large and lazy pig, and yet the sailors will not hear of it being transferred into prime bacon. -

When anything out of the ordinary takes place it is curious how ye'ry few people can fix time (remarks the Auckland Herald). For instance,, at an inquest on Thursday several witnesses stated- that an accident occurred at 2.30 p.m., while another was equally positive it was' 1.40 p.m. A female witness, however; (settled the. matter, to the' amusement, of the Court, by remarking, "It must have been half-past two, because I was on my way .to. make a call and I should not dream of calling upon anybody any earlier." ;

1 he. question of sudividing the 12 r 00C acres or leasehold at the buck of the Leefield Station, into two- small grazing runs was discussed at considerable length by the Land Board to-day. Mr Reader had given notice of a motion to ihis effect, and Mr. F. Dillon wrote offering £100 per annum for the leasehold on a seven years' lease. It was agreed that.tho subdivision of the^ 17,000 acres of freehold in conjunction with. the Crown Innd would bo the ihest method of doah'ng with the whole ' position, A proposition to urge again that the Land Purchase Board take action was favored. The matter was deferred till the afternoon for further discussion. .

A burning desire to thwart the Machiavellian artifices of some ethereal villain, or to have their names writ large on the scrolls oi Immortal farne.^ inspired two boys to deplete tho Newtown Museum of a couple of "six-shooters" recently (says the Times). Thus "armed to the "teeth," the embryo heroes advanced in furtive manner on to the heights surrounding Newtown. Whilst busily employed scouting for the enemy, the lads suddenly came upon two "other youths and at the threat of sudden extinction of life per medium of a. lead messenger, the delinquents compelled their prey to perform acts of weird description. Not for many days, however, were thoy valorous, for, tlie cruel arm of the law encompassed them and they each received a birching on Saturday by order of Mr W. G. Riddell, S.M.

The Palmerston North Chamber of Commerce lias received 41 replies so far regarding its resolution congratulating the Hon. Mr Myers on his determination' to enforce the Defence Act. Thirty-eight express approval. The Masterton Borough Council and the Auckland Harbor Board were non-committal, and only the Sumncr Borough Council was adverse.

A Dunedin telegram says that the steamer Wairqa, when about to start on a voyage to the Auckland Islands in search of the treasure in. the wreck of the ship General Grant, -was detained on a writ of attachment issued by the Vice-Admiralty Court, at the instance of Stevenson and Cook, of Port Chalmersj claiming £400. The matter has not yet been settled.

The combined tennis, cricket, and football ciubs of Carluke recently presented Mr H. Foley with a silver tea service to mark their appreciation: oi' the encoiiragement he had always given to their, games. . Mr Field nvas selected to make the presentation. An agreeable supper in the Carlnke Hall, followed by an enjoyable dance, brought the social evening to a close.

The Government has decided to appoint a Commission to inquire into the Civil Service. Speaking to a Wellington Post representative to-day day the Prime Minister said that the personnel of the Commissioiii had not yet been decided upon, but it would be announced iat an. early date T and would commence investigations without delay.

A grant has been made by the Education -Department, for the purchase of land and the erection of a school rit^Redwopdtowri. In connection with this, jnfornatiun, Mr Hylton presented pious for the* proposed building at the meeting of the Education Board yesterday. On the motion of Mr Penny, it was resolved that specifications be prepared and tenders called for the work.

A vigorous protest agaiiisf the drastic nature of the School Attendance Act in requiring children to attend every day was made by Mr E. H. Penny at the meeting of the Education Board yesterday. It w:ts-ab-solutely irt'. possible, he said, for many parents to comply with the letter of the law, and it was mosti.unfair - that Ihey should be subjected to the continual liability of being ignominiously haled into Court. Other members agreed; but it was pointed out that the Board and Committees had followed a discretionary policy in the matter. The discussion took place in connection with a coiintry-school episode brought up by Mr Storey, in which a difference between a teacher and a parent had caxised much unpteasantness, and which was considered, by the Board in Committee. .In this instance the Truant' Officer summoned the pa rent j-;-but the. case was withdraAyn at. the instance of;, the Board's Secretary, whose action was approved. It was resolved to draw the-attention of the Truant Officer to a resolution passed by the Board some time ago instructing him not to t»ke proceedings ii>, country cases without the sanction of the •.Secretary of the Board. . .

The failure of the householders in various parts of the district, to elect School Committees was strongly condemned' by Mr Reader at the meeting of the Education Board yesterday. It -would seem to show, he said, that many parents did not care whether their children were properly edticated or not. Mr White .said that the» default could be considered a compliment to the old Committee—except, of course, where the Commit-, tee-men failed to 'turn-; up to the householders' meetings. The Board resolved that in all cases in which Committees had not been elected^ meetings of householders be convened for June 17th. At the instance of the Committee partially elected, Mr R. Lammas was appointed to fill th© vacancy at Grovetown. Messrs F. N'.>swoi'thy and H.: .Kirby were appointed toy the --Springlands Coramit'teo'j and Air J. 11. Timms to the Wairau Valley Committee.. . At Mar-' ama only three householder's attended the nieetirfg, and theso formed a Committee'ai id recommended the appointent of four, members in addition, the Board accepting the nominations.

Employers and employees appear to be combining, vigorously to prevent Chinese from gripping the furnituvf: trade (rep»prts the Wellington Lost). Mr 1). Moriarty, secretary, of the Furniture Workers' Federation, states that it. is intended to arrange for ti. strong joint deputation from the Employers' and Employees' Federations to wait on the Minister for Labor, aiid a^k that in all trades in which* Chinese are competing the West Australian law be enacted here. This* law provides that no Asiastic snail be employed, in a factory for longer hours than women, that is, ,8 a.m. to 5 p.m.; that no Asiastic shall be registered as owner or occupier of ?. factory unless he satisfies the Ministeu that he had carried on the business: prior, to the passing of the Act; and' that Chinese or Asiatic furmtxire shall be stamped, so as to trulicate the fact: "'..

Preparations for sending a consignment of Auckland apples to the Ar.iW.ntine are already Avell forward (says the Herald), and the prospect of a profitable market in that-country, is 'ixtfitine: a Rood deal of iritercVsfe The trial "shinmetii. of 1000 cases will bt> timt by the Rimntaka next, week, nnd packing i^ now proceeding at Albany, Silverdale, Wark worth, and Port Albert, bub'is'still subject to the approval of the Government inspector. The /WlKingarei rrnitcrowers' Association has intimated i+n willingness to join m organising future shipments.

The total number of bales of hemp graded during April was 91G9, as compared with 6478 bales for the corresponding month of last year, an increase of 2691 bales. For the twelve months ending 30th April, 1912; the .•lumber of bales graded was 88,375, as compared with. 105,478 for the previous twelve months, the decrease bein^ 17,103 bales. During the month 2474. baios of tow were dealt with, as compared with 1590 for the corresponding mouth of last year, an increase of BS4 bales.

.The Hawke's Bay Trades and Labor Council passed a . resolution, protesting against the Government .placing orders for locomotives with .private firms, considering it high time (that the Government undertook this iwork themselves. The Council also passed a resolution approving of the action of the Napier Borough Council in insisting on British-made rails being used in the tram system, although the cost would be somewhat higher.

The Bruce County Council adversely criticised the Local Government Bill. The general opinion 'was that Country Councils desired no such drastic changes as were .proposed. It was unanimously resolved that the Council condemned the main principles of the Bill, and objected strenuously to the proposed v Local Government Board, which would override the rulings of elective bodies. The Council also objected to the reestablishment of Provincial Councils. The proposal to provide, elections every second year was objected to as a needless addition to the expense.

The Hamilton School Committee last night passed the following resolution— that the committee, while appreciating very highly the excellent work of some "of the maoiy teachers and schools throughout the Dominion, regrets that the results generally attained are not such as adequately to equip boys and girls for the battle of life. ; The syllabus is so overcrowded that some of the essential branches of education are not given attention, with the result that arithmetic, writing, and reading are far from satisfactory. Reference, was also made to the relations of education boards to committees. The boards, disregard of the committees was. resented.

A slight epidemic of mumps has been' somewhat affecting the Marlborough school attendance. One of the members of the Education Board i yesterday .ridiculed : the extent to which the coihplaint: was made, the reasoii for keeping ."'• children away from school, r- He said "that the great majority of so-called sufferers would be better ,at school than playing about the roads. Another/tnember thought that excessive, caution was displayed in regard to nxumps.' If a child was to catch the disease he or she might as well get it over jas soon as possible, and he had ijever heard of -anyone dying from ity It was pointed out that printed instructions supplied to educational authorities by the Health. Department , directed that a child! suffering from ; mumps should be excluded from a :public school for one month, and a clear: week must elapse from the subsidence of the swelling. They also:provided that a child livI ing in a. house in', which mumps exist should not be excluded from school if he or; she • has . had the disease; if. (the. child has not had the disease the ! advice of the medicai'>ttendaint should be followed; and where thereis no i /medical t advice the child should be 'excluded* for three weeks. The /Board agreed that .the teachers of country schools v. should use discretionary powers. ■/:..; --

A. new provision regarding che erec r tin n and use of private telephone .wires between' places of business, which appears in the last. Gazette, will be of interest to commercial men and. others. It provides that private wires- between i)laees. of business or other premises in towns where there are telephone-poles which, in the opinion of. the Secretary of the Post and Telegraph Department, may , be conveniently used for carrying such private, wires , without detriment to the.'department's business, may be erected on such telephone-poles at the cost of the applicant, in addition to a charge of 5s per pole for the privilege of using them. Such private wires shall be maintained t-y the department at "the following rates, payable yearly in advance:—For the -first mile or fraction thereof,- £2 per annum, and 10s por annum for every additional quarter of a mile or fraction thereof.