LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Northern Advocate, 4 December 1916, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

It is expected that fully 100 men of No. 3 Group, drawn in the first ballot, will parade in Whangarei on Tuesday, 12th inst., for medical inpp<?ct.i<}n. The proprtibii of appeals is said to be very largo, totalling quite 75 per ceiit. Mr George Sutherland, of Ririkiricia, has been appointed out of H. largo nhiitber oi" applicants, as engineer to the Rodney County Council, in place of Mr Shannon, who has resigned. Mr Sutherland was originally in the Lands Department and then in that of Publid Works. Subsequently he acted in turn as engineer to the Taihape Borough Council and the Kirikiriroa Road Board. The rains during the past several months have (says the "North Auckland Times , ') proved of considerable benefit to bush contractors, inasmuch as they have enabled to iiiake conBtant deliveries of logs to creek booms In the Kiiiiiu creek iast week Messrs j Fisher Bros delivered 2O(5O logs to the point of their contract, thus completing the working of 4,000,000 feet of white pine in tlie locality of Eotu. The continuous electric power and lighting system as applicable to Wha ngarei and its allied services is now in vogue, and is available to consumers at i all times. No variation of the streetlighting; periods is being made. The cost per hour of the 11 units required for this purpose is ouly oV&d, but the Borough Council obviously takes the view that it is unnecessary to subject the lamps and plant to further wear for the sake of the comparatively few people who tire about after 11 30 p.m. A further extension of the Whangarei mail-delivery service will come into operation with the new year. The carrying of mail matter to residents ■ ilong the Maunu road as far as the hospital has given rise to the question of the desirability of similarly serving residents along the Otaika road to the Rauinanga area. Applications "to that effect, made by the Whangarei postal authorities, have on several occasions been turned down, but the department has now, of its own volition, directed that delivery be made pet' vehicle, three times weekly, in the district mentioned, as from January 1 next. Use of the telephonic line which eoii' nects Whangarei, Onerahi, and the Heads has been so heavy for some time past that the section has been working under heavy disabilities. In order tc relieve the pressure a new Metallic route line is being established to mccl the requirements of Whangarei-Onerah: users. The line has now been con Btructed from Whangarei to the Wai mahunga Flat, arid a camp of five lines men is being established to-day on tht tableland above Waimahuuga for the purpose of facilitating the work. A party line of six subscribers, which wil connect with the new service, has beer organised in the Waimahunga vicinity Unusual features are contained ir the police reports to be presented ai the sitting of the Auckland Licensing Committee, to be held on Wednesday at noon. In regard to one hotel, it is alleged that the licensee has deserted the premises; and in another case, renewed application will be made for an agent to represent the official assignee as licensee in a hotel, where the licensee is in bankruptcy. Reference is also made in the report to a hotel which is alleged again to have been the resort of book-makers. Mention is also made of convictions for breaches of the War Regulations Act. At Parnell a police report concerning a licensee will be considered. The committee will meet in Newmarket at noon on Thursday. The Waitemata licensing meeting will be held at noon on Friday in Devonport. A recent conference of the Bay of Islands Dairy Company directors and the provisional directors of the proposed Kaikohe Dairy Company dealt with the subject of a central factory for the whole of the Bay of Islands district, and it was decided to seek the assistance of an officer from the dairy division of the Agricultural Department in selecting the most suitable site. In commenting on the situation the "Luminary" says the opinion is held by a number of farmers that Otiria joffers the best facilities for a large central factory. It is a junction from which the rail runs in three directions —to the Ramarama-Motatau blocks, to Kaikohe and Okaihau, and down the Kawakawa valley, and when the road is run from Ohaeawai to Kawiti it will bring all that fine district within easy reach. Ample pure water is available nnd Otiria is near the port of shipment. It is maintained by the supporters of the Otiria site that if the Bay of Islands Dairy factory shifted its plant to that place and the Kaikohe people came in, it would become one of the largest dairy factories in the Auckland province. Following on the declaration of the first ballot is the revelation of all sorts of anomalies, the men selected by lot including a number of New 'Zealandcrs who are now on the battlefield and have been there for some time, to say nothing of the civilian halt and blind who are called on to serve the Em,piro. One of the choicest, idiosyucracies of the ballot is reported from Oroua county where a farmer by the name of Pearce, has been notified of his selection. Everything is in regular order, except, for the slight discrepancies that Mr Pearce is 47 years old, that he has been twice married and has two sons, the elder of whom is about to leave for the. front, and that Mr Pearce has only one arm. None of these things disconcert him, however. He told the Feilding "Star representative: ''I am the only conscript in the family. I have been drawn in Jimmy Allen's art, union and am getting ready to go. I have cleaned up my old muzzle-loader, and will shoot the Germans on the wing or sitting, whichever they like. All that I ask in that they give mo an orderly to put on my tie, Avind-up my puttees, and lace my boots."

A further rise in the price of flour is reported by some of the South Island mills, the price now being £lii, which represents a rise of 20s per ton silica Monday* ThO cslUee of the advance is reported to be the shortage of stocks of wheat and floltr. How splendidly t.hp Australasian soldiers have acquitted themselves in Egypt is explained oil page 1 of this issue, where general news of considerable interest will also be found. Page 4 news is chiefly devoted to the New Zealand miners' trouble, which has several complicated aspects. Official confirmation was received this afternoon by the Whangnrei l>e- ! , fence Office of the Pre.ss Association message (published ols«nvhprr>) that the 24th Reinforcements would not go Inio .canip until after Christmas. I , hi* ilat** fixpd is Thursday, .HiinUiry i, for the liieii to be due in camp. Unemployment has reached a very low point in the Dominion, judging by reports from the Labour Department. In Wellington out of 46 applicants far work 45 were provided for. Chris tchurch had 24 applicants, of whom J 1 were placed. Men are required for the ballast pit at Culverden, also foi , tunnelling at Otiria. In Danedin there were 1"> applicants. The pro. vincial centres' reports practicaliv show a clean shoot. There are inquiries 10.-ally t'dr t'nrm hands, labourere, and mi Ikons. The latest progress statement issued jy the Discharged Soldiers' Information Department shows that the number of men on the register on November 28 was •"■'J.'.'). Of these case?. •"iloG hnd been disposed of, these being 2156 men who had work to return to or had re-enlisted or returned to military duty: 120S had been placed in employment; while 11GS had signed "assistance not. required"; 1.10 had left New Zealand, or their addresses could not be ascertained; and 444 had not responded to repeated communications, or had accepted work the department had found for them, but har! failed to start work. Of the balance 332 are men convalescing, not ready for employment, and not yet discharged by the military authorities; anil 138, six of whom desire work in Wei lington, are on the "employment want, ed" register.