LOCAL AND GENERAL

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLVIII, Issue XLVIII, 13 July 1915, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

A London' Pir.ess cable reports the arrival of the Tuir.akma-. :

A, Press cable from Sydney states thatAustin James Denny, New Zealand' born, committed, suicide'by cutting' his throat.

At the Magistrate's Court this morninor, before Mr J. S. Evans, .S.M., judgment for the -plaintiffs by default-was given in the following cases:—Page and •:=ons-(Mr A. T. Maginnity) ;v. H. G. Houldsworth, claim £lll 17s lOd, costs £5 18s 6d; S. Winn (Mr J. Pi Hayes) ; v. W. J. Gavnorj claim 19s, costs Ss; Alf. Robinson .* (Mr W. V. Rout) v J. C. Hall,, claom £2 5s lid, cost's 10s."

The work 'of erecting hutments and other bnildinjrs at the 'camp of the second Maori .Contingent at Nari'pw Neck is proceeding in a satisfactory manner .'soys--the" Auckland "Herald"). The Mayor of Devonport, Mr A. M. Pickford, and the Devonport Borough Council have rendered a great deal of assistance to the military authorities in the way of granting facilities for connecting" the "camp ■with the Devonport water supply and, the" drainage system of the borough. The council has placed the services of Mr Lockie Gannon, the borough engineer, at the disposal of the authorities. Mr Gannon will supervise • the work of laying scoria on the parade ground and on* the various paths of the camp. ;

Except, for -witnessing the British naval activity in the English Channel, -oasseugers by the R.M.S. Corinthic, which ai-riveVl at, Welli:'ngton from London on Saturday afternoon, says the "Post," had an'uneventful voyage. The liner brought a much larger number of passengers than has been the case -with vessels from Home for some' time past there being 226 in all classes. Of these 169 came out under the 'Government "assisted" scheme, the greater', part of this number being separated relatives. The Government Immigration officials last no time in despatching the Jie\v arrivals to (heir various destinations in both islands.

Letters received by Mrs Maclean, of CJlenalvon. Auckland', show that hereon, Lieutenant Cuthbert Maclean,, of the 4th Fusiliers, who recently won the Military Cross in France, is now with ; ]<t ; he Royal Flying Corps- and engaged oh observation" work. Lieutenant Maclean's wife, who is in London, stated .in: a letter thai the machine-gun officer's work nrovedi too great astraon for her ~,hns Uand's knee, which had' been injured by shrapnel. He did not walk at all! lame, but he was transferred to the - Flying Corps. Writing on'23rd May, Lieutenant Maclean refers to is growing enthusiasm for flying, and adds that he was thinking of bringinrr a machine hack to New Zealand with him.

The Dunedin police have boon notified that Richard Bennetts, aged 59 years, was admitted to 'the Clyde Hospital yesterday suffering from a- gunshot- wound. i}i- the abdomen, and died from his injuries.—Press Association.

In a letter to a friend, LientcMaut Rainsl'ord Brown, barrister, of London, forherly of Wellington), who is with the R-uyal Flyrng Corps, mentions that ho was on an early (reconnaissance the morning after the 'Germans had used ;isp.hyxiatinjr gases, and he saw their old and' new -trench'e.s. "The old trenches," he said, "had turned red as a .result o.f the poisonous gases. We were shelled very heavily the. other morning. One shell went clean through our left wing, and broke tbe Tear mainstay near the tip. The 'machine . was rather slinky after it, but we got back all light. There was also a hole through .the' plane, a feu- inches to the left of my seat/'

live building in, Trafalgar-street, formerly -the Masonic Hall, but for some year-' pa-st a- portion! of the Commercial Hotel, is being demolished, and will be •replaced' by a brick addition to tho .hotel. .Messrs Lemper Bros., tho contractors, are now pushing on. with the work.

Work was commenced; to-day in conweicvtiiont with the mrec-tioii of a. private hotel for Mr W. Wilkens ini Bridgcstreat. adjoining Mr Fo-irey's shop. Tne hotel ' will be built of brick, and will con-tain 40 rooms, ain.d the contractors' (Messirs Johnston and Mansson) hope to h-;vve it ready for occupation by November.

News has 'been Teceived that the old New Zealand trader Brunner, which was •wrecked on Absrrnama Island (GilbertGroup) in May last, is a total loss. The Brunner, a steel steamer of 585 tons, was buclt at Paisley, Scotland in 1838, to the order of tho Brunner Coal Company, of which Mr Martin Kennedy -was man-ao-ino- director. She was engaged m running from tho West Coast to Wellington and Lvttelton, and was later taken over bv 'the Union Company, together with* the othsir ' vessels of the Brunner Company s fleet. Subsequently she was sold to an Australian firm, the owner at the time oi tho wreck being Messrs. On Chong and Co., Sydney.

The steamer OpaWa, winch arrived at Auckland on Friday afternoon, from Liverpool, left the Home port on 7th May the dav the dinar d liner Lusi> tania was sunk off thei Irish coast by a German submarine. The vessel was not a great number of miles distant from the. spot at the time, but nothing was seen of the enemy's underwater craft. ■ When the Opawa was steaming from London into Liverpool some, weeks previously. she received the wireless "5.0.5." 'call for assistance from the steamer Highland Brae, which was being chased by a German submarine .off B c achv iiead. The Opawa was unable to" go* to the other vessel's assistan.ee but "lost no time in clearing the vicmity under full steam at a 'speed of over 14 knots It was afterwards learned that the Highland Brae managed to outdistance the submarine, and a-eached London safely.

The Post Office advises that cables •messages mav'iimv. he 'accepted' at LEM (Expeditionary Forde- Massage), rates for soldier's m Egyp'b and tJnitedi Kingdom, with instruction's to a-fiiply at cost ot sender. The words "Reply PTP must a-opea-r as the kit text word, and are to be counted as one word. The,addressee, is entlitled. to send a reply up to 12 'words Mantes of the New Zealand Expeditionarv Forces in the United Kingdom; but net in).' Egypt, arc also nllowed to send collect messages to New Zealand! up to 12 words with the last text: word -"RTF" without receipt of request from New Zealand. Messages from the United. Kingdom will b© posted to 'the Hisrh Commissionier, London, who will providte despatch to destination. Hie charges «v all soldiers P,TP messages venchinrr New Zealand must he paid for bv th3"adcliressee 'bafnre delivery of tho telegram. No exception, is allowed:.

The strict militarv discipline obtaining amongst the r.ecruits now r!n training was illustrated ."by an-intorestino; incident .at Palmerston. North.'yesterday wires .am Parliamentary" correspondent. \\ lien the special train, containing the Prime ■Minister" and the Minister,an charge ot military ■hospitals (the Hon. R. H. Rhodes) and party halted, at the race'■course at Awapuni, the visitors found themselves blocked, at the entrance, to the grounds' by a vigilant sentry. J. He p M tv' were not provided with passes, and "the instructions were that with, tne exception, of officers, nobody could enter, without a pass. Two or three members, of the party; including the Prime Minister, fumbled in their pockets and produced passes signed by the Defence Minister, but as these had been issued for the 'Trentham Camp they were ot no avail as an "open sesame." Ai\ inmurv was then made for the Com.TT.au cliA« Officer, and Colonel Fulton was sent for. On his arrival the party, which in the meantime continued to stand witftout the gates, was admitted to the enclosure. T

The first Australasian soldier present at the actual landing at the. Daadawlles to return to Australia: is Private J, .±l. Darby, who passed through ¥retmtnue oni board the Malwa last week, on his; way to New. Zealand'. Private .Darby, who was attached to the headquarters s'tnff of the first New. Zealand, force, was taken; ill" with lung trouble, which incapacitated him from further service. "I did I 'not take part in the first landing " he said. "The Australians and a mfniber of our fellows lawded before davba-eak, when our transport was .on the wan- from'Lemaios to the Cm It o Saros " As- we steamed up we could dimlv see through our glasses the flashes from 'the AiistraUau s rifles, Tight along the ridge of the hill. Wheiv dav broke we could plainly distinguish our fellows fighting their way over the crest of the -ridge, All day long we remained at anchor, watching the fight,, and £& we saw our fellows make their way oveir the crest of the hill arodv diare*, inland), the cheers' on our ships, a* well as on the warships, were deaicnine That dav I witnessed two bayonet chWs. We I '-landed' from our vessels at midnight, about twenty hours after the- firft/shot. ' Our lauding was not nearlv so difficult, but shells were contiuuallv bursting' overhead. 'We found that the Turks hacli constructed trenches »TL aJosi"' the beach, while, the hillside was riddled with cleverly-concealed gun positions. Wire entanglements wove PvervwhfTo, and the marvel is that the first" landaus party was ever able to make a ivy advance. The slaughter was terrific. T did riot go into the trenches hut, with otheirs, was tokl off to assist in Ambulance work. During -the cay ■we conveved large numbers of wounded to one of the hospital ships. It was a terrible sight; but, however badly wounded, thev never complained. VVe loft shortly afterward® for Alexandria, Wo had o'vor five hundre'd wounded on our ship, and during the trip to Alexandria, 61 died. I made another trip to the Dardanelles. When wo landed a second time our fellows had entrenched some distance inland From a hilt we were able to see the dead, Loth turkisli and British, lying in the valley which separated the opposing trenches.

Jewellery Sale.—Owing- to the great success last Saturday at Ivarstcn s Auction Rfwms. it is advisable for the public of Nelson to be in good time to obtain the trreat bargains..which arc being disposed of daily at 2 p.nv. at Karstcn s Auction Rooms.* . -''