Untitled

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLIX, Issue XLIX, 31 December 1915, Page 5

The parishioners of Christ _ Church intend holding a social gathering _ on Friday next at the* School of 'Music to bid farewell to the Rev. Mr Kempthorne and Mrs Kempthorne, to which all adult members of the congregation- and also friends of Mr and-Mrs Kempthorne are invited. This opportunity will be' taken to welcome the new Vicar, the Rev. Dr Weeks, and Mrs -Weeks. A musical programme is 'being arranged byMrNormanWillia ms," organist at the Cathedral, and a strong la-dies' -committee has been, formed to attend to the matter -of the refreshments. ' ' - ' ' ■ '

So great hag been the .demand on boardinghouse ' accommodation during ■the holidays that a woman with two children called a.t the' Auckland 'Police station for, assistance in finding 'lodgings. She said she had visited every boardinghouse irn Symonds 'street 'and Hobson street, and 1 others besides, but ,all had been full-of visitors. In one case a' boardinghouse which had '3O before Christinas, now' contained 170. Hast week orehardists at Yass ■ (New , South Wales) were alarmed by the ap- - pearance of a number of flying-foxes, which have played ' havoc, "with tho fruit. A brisk campaign has been initiated, and some, hundreds killed, but even with' all this ther6 is' no notice ' of a- diminution, and i nthe -large' orchards an army of volunteers with shotgunsand pea-rifles is holding nightly vigil. The cause of the visitation is not known, as none of the animals have" been • seen in the locality for over : 40 years. -At' that time there was an "unexpected visit like the present, and the- flying-foxes were so plentiful that they could be destroyed wit hsticks. They -disappear- ' ed as suddenly as they-came. On this occasion, the smaller gardens have-'been absolutely denuded fruit. "••

'Germany's troubles in, regard to her food supplies are constantly being" ventilated. '■ -Her newspapers to "risk suspension and suppression by discussingthe subject in. very frank 'terms'. Tile ' 'Frankfurter -' Zeitung''"" --Writes'.—" At" i'a. time when our • armies from week'' to week are compelling l 'from an'astonished world the tribute "'of'"unwilling adtiiiration, when our-industries and'our financed are celebrating victory "after victory** the insufficiency of Government measures against the rise in,-the prices of food ds regarded by most classes' of' the - people as a direct defeat.'" "'The paper sharply olames the" Agrarian Minister' r of Argrfc culture for the'delay In'tackling a.-sel'i-ous situation. And now, says the "Frankfurter," J they are*'terribly busy in Berlin. • The Imperial Chancellor is conferring, the Commission' for" the Settlement of Prices is conferring, the Ministry of" the' Interior is conferring, and the Minister 'for- Agriculture * -'is 'conferring. The sting is in the tail of the article, and takes the' form 'of a very significant warning: "We only hope'"that at all these conferences the\Governmeht recognise their serious responsibility; and that they will 'at last' perceive that in all these questions there is much -more at stake than" the amount by which "prices are to be reduced:'*' • "'~ " "

An exposition of"' Italy's war policy l is thus given by Signor Bomolo Murri in the "Contemporary'Review"':—"We are against 'Austria; "against Turkey; — ' but above 'allagainst Getarfan imperialism. We are - making "ours'the aims'of England in the present conflict. And we know that it is not merely a, ques'tion- of , our conquering the' enemy'opposed to lis', but that we may- give England time to win. Our war could" not go off, nor the war of France, nor that of Russia, without England's war. Our victory could never be secure or complete without her victory. *We cannot conceive ' our place in the world unless we first make'a world in which there is really space for 'the Italian race united within her seas and her natural ■ boundaries, autonomous and peaceful, and this is the world of liberty and . justice which- 'shall come from the sea '—that sea which the "powerful fleets of England are guarding while the Continent is in a terrible convulsion of war."

A 'lady, whose .son has been rejected under the medical. test, says that he would liave gone to the'war. were it not that ho-is suffering .from ,"vwy close' veins." We remember an~Eltham resident whose son was injured iri.a horse race and' his relatives announced that'he was suffering from' "conclusion of the brain"; but this was not merely such 'a sad sace as .that of a man who was brought in from, the back-blocks to the local private hospital. His .: friends an-, nounced that the doctor said the 'patient was suffering from "information"'of, ihp st'ummiclf." We remember the late Dr Harris laughingly'denying that tlti's. had 'been his diagnosis:—Elfchani "Ar- l\ «»■ ' '* •"" l " :* ft