LOCAL AND GENERAL

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLVIII, Issue XLVIII, 22 June 1915, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

The Mayor of Napier, Mr J. Vigor Brown, M.P.. has given, two prizes, one ox £1 Is, and the other of £4 4s io be awarded " for the best pair of knitted socks to be the work, of sjvls attending the public schools in Hawke's Bay ■ All socks entered will go towards the equipment of tflie volunteers. The Mayor of Wellington is eomienino- a conference of Mayors of all towns in"New Zealand and chairman of patriotic committees for Friday, Jury 2nd, to determine whether there shall be one national waY relief \fund. or several pro-' vincial funds. Get .Wednesday's "Mail" !; It will, contain our big half-page "ad", telling you all about-a Big One Price 'Sale Starting Thursday Clothing and Drapery Co.* Owing to increased business, and want of more room, the C.D.C , Ltd., find themselves compelled to enlarge their, premises in Bridge-street, and also %o considerably enlarge •their . Biiantch ,ih, .Takaka. The Company are now making arrangements for the alterations.* So manv people are assisting in the of socks, Balaclavas, and other woollen garments for soldiers that great difficulty is being experienced in supplying the demand for wool of tie required kinds and colours. Hundreds of ladies have purchased wool in larger quantities than they ever required beforehand in the aggregate a very, large stock of wool is now distributed throughout the Dominion in process of manufacture into comforts for the men of the Epeciitionary Forces- An Auckland draper stated tbeother day that a shipment delivered recently was absorbed within a coiiple bf hours. An inquiry has been received from one of the country districts whether materials could ,be supplied . to patriotic committees at wholesale prices. A member of the Patriotic League stated that the Ladies' Committee had not undertaken any such arrangement, and it was not likely that it would ask the drapery firms, "which had already contributed to the funds, to make such . a concession. : 5s 111!! On Thursday we start a big One Price Sale —Stacks of dandy goods to be chucked out at 5s lid. Wednesday's "Mail" tells all about it.-—Auck-land Clothing and Drapery Co.* A London correspondent writes: "It is an everyday occurrence to meet armless and. legless men, and, worse perhaps than them, men who have been blinded in battle. If nothing else would bring a deepening note" of seriousness into the life of our people, tho spectacle, of these once stalwart, vigorous men, incapacitatled for life would, impart it. The blind soldiers are particularly pathetic. The [■majority of them are abominably scarred by shrapnel wounds, but many of them have not the faintest outward sign of their awful physical defect. The explosions of a shell somewhere near them in the field inflicted concussion which destroyed the optic nerve, and although their eyes look just like .yours or mine, they are sightless. Mr 'O. Arthur Pearson, one of the. best known newspaper men of Great Britain, -who' himself went blind, a few years, ago, has taken them under his wing, and has established a school in which they are being taught suitable handicrafts. Mr Ptearson Humself has risen superior to his misfortune, and is hardly incommoded by the loss of his eyesight. He showed a friend oyer the workrooms where soldiers are being taught carpenterv and. bootm.aking, and walked at such a* pace from spot to spot amidst benches Avith which, it was easy to collide, that the friend expostulated. "Looik. Hi ere, Pearson, it is all very well for vou to go. so fast; you can't see the dangersy hut I can." ; *'

The New Zealand liner Ruahine reached Plymouth with sixty recruits from, tho Argentine. They tire all Britishborn, and went Home for active service. ~ "Indian reports state that a. daeoity was committed at Datunia. a village about 12 miles off Danton, on the Bcngal-Nagpur Railway. The dacoits broke_ into the. house of one Babu Gaurhari Nunda. a wealthy landholder, tied him down with a. rope, branded his wife with burning torches, broke open the safe, and de- ■ camped with cash and ornaments to the amount of about 30C0 rupees. Warfare (says a "Daily Chronicle" writer) is still making new speech. The. news from India of the defeat and dispersal of a Mohmand loshkar recalls the origin of one of the most cosmopolitan ef words. A lashkar in its first meaning was simlpy an army, and a lashkari was a camp follower, and thoJieo a soldier oi inferior rank. From the military to the naval was. not a far step, and m duo course a lashkar was a native Indian sailor. And now you will find lascars, ' who are not Europeans but need not. necessarily be Indians, in every port in the world. It is high time that the Government decided what course it intends to pursue with regard to those two prime necessities of life—corn and coal," says the London "Star." "The. price of both has been scandalously forced up by the action of those concerned in- their sale. The control of the railways will enable it to organise the coal supply, and the mastery of the seas will settle tho corn question. One of the most singular views on drinking ever recorded occurs in a lette* from Sir Henry Ingleby on 21st August, 1661, printed "in "Pryings Among Private Papers." "Sir William is so ill," wrote the baronet; "one of his doctors told me yesterday there was no manner of hope. ". ; . . I "have been taught that Jupiter allows every man who comes- into the.world a different proportion- of drink, which, when he has despatched, there remains nothing for him but to die, and that the 'proportion and expedition makes great difference in men's ages." "Dispatch" or "Despatch"? Sir Harry Poland, writing-in "The Times," declares the former correct' and the latter a corruption due to a misprint in John- ! son's Dictionary. "For ourselves," says J the "Pall Mall?' "we are content to adhero to the convenient practice of "spelling a word which] has acquired two separate meanings according as the one or other is intended. Thus ' we wotild write of Sir John French's despatch, and of the Invincible as being sent to the Falklands Islands 'with tlie utmost | dispatch.' It may be illiterate, but it is handv." The required number of nominations ! only having been'received for the offiI cers of the Nelson Jockey Club there will be no election. Mr H. Baigent and iJ. H. Finney are President and VicePresident respectively and the committee will consist of Messrs J. E. Bartlett. F- G. Edwards, F. W. Fairey, J. Hagen, F. 0. Hamilton, R. Harris, J. A. Stringer, E. E. Trask, J. s Wadsworth, and M. P. Webster. Says a London correspondent/:—Our moralists, have been bemoaning the ungodliness of football matches whilst Flanders is being stained with British blood . The Great Harwood Congregational Football Club won the final tie for the Blackburn Sunday School League on a recent Saturday. then marched to a recruiting depot and enlisted to a man in the Royal Field Artillery ! \, Young Englishmen continue to arrive from abroad to join the army, says a London paper. They come from every part of the'globe, and. scarcely a passenger vessel arrives but has its complement of these patriotic sons of the Old Country. Some leave good positions and. being'comfortably off, travel homo in "stvle," but a great many are not able "to afford an expensive passage. Nothing daunted, they come steerage, but the steamship companies allow them some special facilities, such as the reservation of a portion of the steerage quarters "for their use. They constitute a .striking example for their compatriots at home who still hang back. That 1/nere should, be anv young eligible men out of khaki is what surprises them most when they land. For' Heaven's sake don't miss it!! The' bin- One Price Sale, starting Thursday Piles of Splendid Goods—worth two or three times the money—to be chucked out at 5s lid. Wednesday's "Mail" for- :■ fall' details. —Auckland Clothing and Drapery Co.* .. The C'.D.C, Ltd., Bridge-street, is still growing. Over two hundred more shares were applied for and allotted within the past month. The Company refund a bonus of 10 per cent, on all purchases to shareholders, as well as paying a 5 per cent, dividend on shares. . Any of >cur readers contemplating taking a few shares should apply immediately to the secretary or manager.* An interesting reference to the »iijnnat salmon was" made on Friday by Mr L. F.. Ayson, Government inspector ot '■■ fisheries.; who is on a visit to Auckland. He has'recently been to the feoutn Island, where he has been assisting in 'the netting and collecting of qumnat salmon eggs. These fish he said; were how established in the Wai.taki river, thev run up; from the sea in targe numbers' every year to spawn. lhey come in from about the end vt March or the beginning- of April, until the end of May, and as many eggs as possible are collected. The fish., came in this year in much larger numbers than any previous season. They first commenced to return from the sea in. 1907. lhe obiecfc in collecting eggs is to stock other rivers, and the Government officers are now stocking one of the large, rivers on the west coast of the South Island It is' expected that the salmon will spread into other suitable rivers. It is doubtful if the xivers of the North Island are suitable for salmon, as the fish seem to prefer rivers rising in snowy mountains. In time the officials may experiment with some pf the North Island rivers. Turn straight to our big half-page ndvt. in to-morrow's "Mail"!!. It gives all particulars of a big One Price kale—--5s lid—starting Thursday It will he some money sa-ver.—Auckland Clothing and Drapery Co.* :*V correspondent, writ-- from London ■to. the Sydney "Sun," -ays:— 'Outside the city thereVe just as many evidences of abnormal conditions attributable to the war. On the hillside at Buslley there is a splendid paddock of 2000 acres of land belonging to Pierpont Morgan. Year after year we have watched me progress of ploughing, harrowing, ana. with utmost indifference, because 'it has all been done , 0 n conventional lines. This season there has been an arresting change. Men are there to drive the horses and machines, but women are there also to Rerf°™ *£* tasks that were formerly dischaiged by u,en. Think of it, within sixteen miles of London women are labouring' as^ thev did in the days of Babylon of lyre and Sidon, and of the Pharoahs. Then patient'plodding behind the machines is oroof positive of the dearth of male labour. The men have gone into other occupations or into the army. Recruitincr may be slack in centres .where men are being beged to follow the drum, yet it must be proceeding fruitfully in many unexpected places. Youths' of fighting age just melt away."

A'general meeting of (lie Nelson-'Port Wharf Labourers' Union will bo held m. Taylor's Hall this evening, fit 8 p.m. The total amount .received by the Internal Al'fairs Department for tho • Belgian Relief Fund has now reached £101.217; and the Hospital Ship Fund stands at £3s,2l9.—Press Association. .Mr L. Birks. assistant Government, electrical engineer, reports that tho consumption of current in Christehurc'h from the Govermiient's Lake Coleridge scheme is increasing by "leaps and bounds.'' In connection with the Fete at tho Boys' Colege grounds to-morrow, tho following w' 'II run landaus to and from tho -grounds, iiii takings to go to tho Wounded Soldiers' Fund :—II. Melleit, J. Hading, J. Astle, A. Thomas, A. Cox., and F. Haase. During tlio last five months the Napier Harbour Board's revenue has decreased by £3478, in comparison with the corresponding period of 1914. At Tuesday's meeting of the. Bluff Harbour Board it was decided (says the. •'Southland News") to proceed with tho preparation of a Bill for 'he purpose, of borrowing. £IOO.OOO for''.-urlahi specified works. A suggestion lias been made that ;i monument should be. erected in the Masterton Park to the memory of tho Alas-te-rton soldiers who fall in the present war. The proposal is being warmly supported. Mr Watson, tho local representative, reports that the Mt. Burnett Coal Co., Ltd., operating in the Collingwood. district, has purchased one ot tho local railway locomotives, end is arranging to remove same across the .Bay by the Pearl Kasper next week. A man who deserted from H.M.A.S. Melbourne at, Brisbane two years ago surrendered himself to the Chris tdhurch.' police on Wednesday (says the "Lytt,elton Timse"). He stated that he ha-i always regretted, his act, and seeing that, the newspapers had announced a pardon, lor deserters presenting themselves, ho Had desided to give himself up with tho hope that he might return to his old ship. In the course of a civil cose at the Napier- Magistrate's Court on Tuesday morning, -before Mr S. E. ~ M'Garthv, S. M.. ihis Worship stated (says the Hawke's Bay Herald") that it seemed to him that most , business people allowed ..customers t» get into debt, and then expected, the court to hold the pistol at the. head, of the debtor in order to secure the money. A letter Avas received by the Education ) Board on Wednesday (says the Christchurch "Press"), suggesting that a seed campaign should be started among young people in order to grow agricultural seed as it was expected that the supplies. from Europe -would; be cut. off. The letter was referred to the Technical Com.* mittee. "If a man tells you that he was as cool as a cucumber tne very first time he was under shell .fire, put him down as a liar," said a gallant major who left an arm at Neuve Ohapelle, to the London correspondent of the "Despatch." Tho military chiefs are well awaTO that it takes the average bravo man a. little time to get accustomed to fire. In some • of the territorial regiments which have, recently gone to the front the rank and file have been, left tin the rear'while the officers have been sent right .up to the first line of trenches. officers ; are fully acclimatised, the men go forward, and then thev benefit by the fact that their leaders have already" acquired the coolness of veterans.