LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Northern Advocate, 29 December 1917, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

A further contribution from the pen of Captain Malcolm Eoss relative to the New Zealanders' fijrhtinsqualities and an official report on tho Motuihi incident appear on the first page of to-day's "Advocate." Suggestions for the prevention of venereal diseases form an article which is published on page 4.

Sir Jas. Allen announces that he has received advice that the first part of the Thirty-first Reinforcements have arrived at a port of call all well.

The eclipse of the moon was watched with considerable interest in Whangarei last night, but heavy clouds to a great extent obscured the view.

The New Zealand Dairy Association distributed to suppliers on December 21 the sum of £120,224. The payment covered 1,753,2724 lbs. of butter_fat supplied during November.

The matron (Adjutant Chapman), her assistants, Lieut. Stevens and Sergt. Dudley, with 17 boys from the Salvation Army boys' home at Russell, are at present in Whangarei. They have rented a heuse iv Bank street and purpose staying for a few weeks. The matron will much appreciate any kindness shown to tho boys, whose fathers, in nearly every case, are fighting for King and country.

Good times are reported to be prevailing in Dunedin. Commercial men are very .optimistic and the people do not appear to be either anxious or cautious. Money is flowing from their well-filled pockets as it never flowed before. While the city people are buying freely, orders from the country, wholesale and retail, arc on a scale that is most gratifying to merchants, and everywhere it is reported that payments are prompt and that bad debts are few.

The erratic behaviour of a Birkenhead male resident created much consternation yesterday morning. With only a blanket as his attire he left his home in Pupukc road at about -8.80 a.m. His disappearance was reported to Constable Bcddek, of Birkenhead, Constable Flavell, of Northcote. and Constable Anderson, of Takapuna. A diligent search j was made of th* districts in which ' the constables resided, and they were assisted by residents. Eventually ! the man, who was in a nude condi- I tion, was discovered at Takapuna j about to board a tram car. He was i conveyed to the Takapuna lock-up. j j The gazetted rainfall returns from I North Auckland meteorological staI tions for last month are as follow, j the number of days on which rain i fell appearing in parentheses:—-Man- ! gonui 1.42 in. (1 days), Puhipuhi 2.25 (I)), Aponga 1 .86 (7), Wairua Falls 1.20 (7), Mauncca'turoto 4.42 (4). Rangitihi 2.0!) (12), Kaitaia ' 2.25 (5), Herokino .!M (6), Umvi- j wera J>h (5), Tahckc 2.50 (|oi, j Wekaweka 3.03 (12). Rangiahua ] 1.08 (11), Kohukohu 1.08 (S), Wai- I matenui 1.56 (6), Keretoki 1.28 (3), Pakotai 3.81 (10), Helensville 3.50 (4.) While northern conditions were thus comparatively dry. the circumstances were vastly different : along the south-east aspect of the j North Island from the East Cape to j about 120 miles north of Napier. j Here are a few samples:—Waimata Valley B.'J!t. Morere 11.22, Waihau ' (Tolaga Bay) 12.71, Glenroy Sta- < tion (Gisborne) 13.80, Mangaonc ! Valley 18.87. The last-named re- ' presented the month's record for Do- ' minion dampness, and the other ex- '' treme came the inappropriately ' named Brightwater (near Nelson) ' with a mere quarter of an inch, ' ' which took four days to accumu- £ late. t "OZO" TOOTH POWDER wbilens I the teeth,' hlvigbralep tho gums and -, gives a sweet fragrarj&s to- tho breatli. j , ea net as. evi&Twi&tf. . j .

Thanks to the fine weather prevailing the Hikurangi mines are no* f'bMji'eiely' free from water and a largely increased output is expected after the holidays. The scarcity of labour, however, continues to be the drawback.

The Whangarei Acclimatisation Society is making good progress with its birds this year! Fif'fcv healthy voting birds WerT- Üb.ratcd SBhlt Weeks ago, another 25 were set free to-day and 100 are ready to come in from the hatching pens.

The privileges of the Whangarei Racing Club were put up at auction to-day at noon. The offerings were secured at* follows:—Publican's booth; ii. ki-k ; fruit and cordis ll: &. MtiWMin, .413,; race cards, "Nbrthern Advoca.c," *'-*0: The luncheon booth was passed in.

On flight last a memorial service was held : iii, tfie .wlfflripavoi Salvation Army Hall as a tribute is the memory of the late Private Cliff Nightingale, who prior to his--depar-ture from New Zealand was/enrolled as a soldier of the Salvation Army and requested to be attached to the Whangarei Corps till his return. Sorrow was expressed at the passing away of so bright a lad and sympathy given and prayers offered On behalf of the bereaved relatives. Appropriate" byiiins, were..sung arid the band played "Sandon" as a tribute to the. memory of a fallen Herb arid comrade;

Unlike some other, Ministers, Lord Rhondda is ready to. acknowledge the great debt which the nation owes. to the newspapers in these days of war, and, being aware of the measure of its assistance, he felt constrained recently to pay it a notable tribute: "I fully realise and acknowledge the value of the help the press has given the department of which I am the head." he said recently. "I know only too well from many years' experience of political life 'that unless one secures the co-opejv-f.hm Of the press one s t efforts can be Of rib avail; , 1 consider \ve Ivive been handsomely treated; as have the other War Departments, whose heads, I. am sure, will agree with me in saying that without .the press the nation. could, npt be effectively organised for war."

! "By pressing cigarettes upon ! wounded and convalescent soldiers ! in such quantities, a generous public j is unconsciously making it more diffil cult for us to get them well," said an | officer sitting on a medical board of the overseas contingent to> a repreI sentative of the "Daily Mail." ! "When you get the lads just out of ' hospital suffering from shock, heart I trouble, and all manner of nervous i disorders, smoking, and particularly cigarette smoking, is as bad. for them ' as drink; in fact, we should like to I see it controlled in the same way as ! liquor, if it were possible. In a ! normal case the smoking of a cigar ! will send up the "pulse 18 to 20 beats I a minute, so the effect of 20 to 30 I cigarettes a day on a man in a weak i condition may be easily gauged. We j do not Want to stop smoking, but. we J ask for something, in moderation. i A pipe is the healthiest smoke." I An Auckland message states that anxiety regarding the safety of a girl, aged 14 years, who had been missing since the morning of Boxing Day, was relieved late on Thursday night when the child was found in Queen street. The girl had been boarding at tho Roman Catholic convent in Hobson street, and left there on Wednesday morning, apparently with the intention of going to her home if! Morningside. The missing rm:l was seen in Queen street com- ' ing from the direction of the waterfront shortly before eleven o'clock on Thursday night by a constable. Thinking that she answered the description circulated among the police , he questioned her and satisfied himself of her identity with the missing ! child. The girl stated that she bad ! lost a brooch which had been given to her to take home. a."d that in consequence she was af-aid to go back to her parents. She added that she had been sleeping out of- , doors at night. The constable re- ; stored the girl to her relation.-!. ! It is still a little early to pronounce what are the actual results of the 6 o'clock closing so far as tin 1 hotelkeepers are concerned (says the ; "New Zealand Times"). Thai, they ; are being hard hit financially in many cases'is beyond question. When approached to state the extent of their losses through the. new regime, sevenl licensees have shoWn some reticence. Others have declared tlv.it they will not know exactly how they stand until they make up their accounts at the end of the month. They seem to think that there will be little diminution in the consumption of alcoholic drinks in the long run. but. ::o far their bottle trade has not increased. At present a gener-d dislocation and inconvenience are be- ; ng experienced. Many people through Jack of foresight are gointr without what they want, but ultimvilely, in the opinion of the trade. a much greater business will be done by wholesale vendors who give deliveries. This will be at the expense of the hotclkeepevs. who have to supoly hoard and lodgincr to the "•enei-'<l public as well as liquid refreshmen'. ♦ Writing .'to bis parents from France Lieut. Alex. Jack says that "at present we ari billeted in a small p rench vilairo and we are very ct-m----foi*table. We deserve !.o be after the rough spin the battalion has just had. When I joined up they bad just come out of a stunt with heavy casualties and they were sent in again to hold the line. There is no doubt they work the New Zealand Division for all it is worth; it is supposed to be one of the best divisions in France. I have, had some experience now of sitting down under shell-fire, and I can assure you it is a much over-rated pastime. For two hours one morning we had a continual stream of whiz-baiurs chinping through the para net. Fortunately only one burst in the trench. Wit that did a terrible amount of damage, and poor Dave Woodall was one of the victims. Ife was a snlendid l>ov; very plucky and cool. It was rotten luck losimr him. . .

Whenevr the New Zealanders have 'gone over the top' they have met with little opposition from the German infantry: the casualties have caused by his artillery, which is good. Our boys are that way now that they do not look for prisoners."