LOCAL AND GENERAL

Nelson Evening Mail, 25 May 1916, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

The question •of the German fleet's intentions as to coming out has been with us periodically since the beginning of the war, and others besides M. Marcel Hutin,, a French naval authority of high standing, ' believe that the 'question will remain open until jiist before th_e end. Then, as another expert put it recently, the High Seas fleet may prefer to come out rather than !be towed out. Von Tirpitz, who is again .'in his usual health,was sa.id to have gone , into •rei i i'rem|3nt—to state one explanafcii&ni out of many—because 'he wanted to risk the fleet on onet gambler's throw,. his Imperial master holding the yiew of M. Marcel - Hutin, though he might not express it quite so frankly, that to send the fleet out at this juncture would be an act of despah?. One thing at least is clear—that the time lias

I gone by for the German fleet coming ; out in the "hope of clearing the, way' -for the invasion of Britain, for we have become a military power during, 18 months of war, while-.simultaneously increasing our naval preponderance.' v

"The nations -at war are busy thinking out new ideas for making 1 war. Are any of them thinking out new ideas for makirirr peace?" ask Mr James Douglas in the Sun-day Pictoria. f'l see no signof it. But we cannot trust this war to come to an end like the old' wars. Itis a new sort of war, and it w.ill have to ;be ended by . new ideas: -We must put it, out as we put out a. fire. The Allies are going to dictate terms. That is fundamental. Let us assume that they are agreed as to those terms: Whv do they not set a tiime limit for the grafting o{ then-terms ? The advanage of a- time limit is tliat each nation would know that'the longer it fights the more it would lose. It is easier to begin a wiar than to eneP.it. • A war is usually by an -ultimatum. Why not ibeorin peace by an It is wonderful- what can be done when everybody and every thins • are timelimited everywhere;' Why, the war inight : be won before we knew where we were;! lam all for finishing it this year. And can' finish it this year' if we kill no more time." !

The ;oia. Belgian towmsof Ypres hag had a direct association' < with. London, As long ago as the fourteenth, century, William of Ypres, a renowned warrior of that time, offei'ed his sword to the English King, and received as a reward a plot of land in what is now known as Cannon ; street. There he built a stately mansion, behind which a fine orchard stretches to. the river. This estht© was known as Ypres, but the maiiy intervening-* mutations have obliterated the name. William of Ypres, however, left his name in Eng- . land,. and it still survives in the: small •Sussex town of Hye, one of the old cinque .ports. He became" -warden- of Rye, and built a fortified home there, the gateway of which still stands, and is known as Yjrres Tower, .but there they call it Wipers. . " r \ < The of Woolwich tells of a touching incident which happened; to him recently. H& "was walking along the approach to London Bridge station when a young soldier stepped tip to him and asked for his Wessing. There were numbers of people about, and his lordship asked, "Would you like to come with me into the Chapter House?" but the soldier said, "Oh! do it here. ■ Whatis the harm?" "And so," the Bishop'' relates, "I blessed him, there and then in front of all the people, and lids words •in parting were-: '.I am going back to .that inferno, but now I shall never forget the Christian faith.' " \ As the result of the sale held in the Shelbourne street Sunday School vested day afternoon;the- New 'Zealand Church' Missionary Society will benefit to the ; extent of £533. | \ :■ Says The. Gazette, of the -3rd London General .Hospital One of our Anzac patients tells us that in Australia there is a fence 2,000 miles long? What & lot of neutrals could sit on it J

By this morning's steamer Mr W. L. Palmer, of Waimea West, landed twy 19-months old Holstein heifers, purchased iby him at Mr C. A. Hop ping's sale at North last week. One. Princess de Kol of Ashlynn, is bred by Dominion de Kol Domino r rom from Princess of Ashlynn. The other, Countess Ann of Ashlynn, is by Dominion Dutchland ( , r mi Countess of Maplehurst, champion four-year-old. (milk) in 1914. Both the dams are in th eadvanced register, and the heifers are entered in the N.Z. H.F.H.B. They are bpth in calf to King of tlie Black and Whites. Mr Palmer is to be congratulated' on Qiis enterprise.

Of the 300,00 who have already joined the colours, over 40,000 are accounted for -by casualties and wastage, 120,000 are oversea, and 140,000 are still m training in Canada (writes the Toronto correspondent of a Melbourne paper on 15th April). Canada's war expenditures to date total about 2GO,CQO,COO dpllars, and Parliament is passing; a fresh war vole of 250,000,000 dollars. Government and Opposition papers continue to agitate for such a national registration of men for home and foreign service as has been carried through in Australia "and New Zealand. Meantime, retired farmers, schoolboys, and Boy Scouts are being mobilised in different- parts of the .D'oniiinion for work on the land in place of agriculturists who hava enlisted or wish to enlist. The Federal Minister for Agriculture is issuing a fresh "patriotism,' production, and thrift" appeal, addressed particularly to the farming population. Last year's unprecedented crops have been chiefly responsible for the ease with which tlie Dominion has thus far met the financial strain of the war, and a duplication of that surprising showing is earnestly desired. The anniversary of the Battle of Ypres, the famous struggle of the 22nd April, 1915, when the Canadians fous'ht a great and gallant and successful fight against the Huns, will he celebrated officially in Canada by the hoisting of flags on all purblic buildings.

In the course of conversation on Fri-' day, Mr J. T. Sullivan, formerly Inspector of Deep ;Sea\ Fisheries for 'Otago and Canterbury, informed aji Otago Daily - Times v . representative , that it was deplorable that such high' prices were, charged'"for -deep-sea He said the men engaged in' the industry had- the. equipment, and everything' neCessarv for the proper exploitation if" the° industry was good, including the fishing 1 grounds, which contained large quantities of excellent fish unequalled in any ipaxt of the Dominion. . With respect to the recent liberation, of turbot,. Mr Sullivan said he had recently traversed the coast from rC-ape- Campbell, a distance of . 500. miles, and lie had ascertained that .none of the fisherman had yet seen any of. the lobsters which ; we had been -promised from time to time, and lie predicted a similar Tesult witK the turIbot. He said that the visit of the Minister of Alarine to Hakataraniea made good reading, and he trusted he would become acquainted with the quantity of trout available, of winch only limited numbers reached the taples the consumers in general.. If the Minister had visited Port Chalmers a few days ago, said ,Mr Sullivan, he would have seen two. trucks, , each' con- ■ taining t about five tons of unsold iish» returned from the. ■ market, and the lit had .to be dumped. .At the present .time at the Otago Heads one could, see shoais of barracouta and' cod.; If the industry were encouraged the. people of Dunedin would be able to obtain the quantity of fish they required a,t. a reasonable; cost, and this could- be done at a small outlay, which would confer a. greater benefit upon the community than lavish expenditure on experiments.

The scarcity of teachers is at present acute, and, .according to Mr F. Pirani, chairman of the Wanganui Education Board, the present is a record -month, for that Board, there being no fewer than 12 relieving teachers -employed a-t the-'present time, ,'.'lt is surprising,' says "Mr Pirani, "how we manage to xtaeartfi temporary *.•; teachers when the need is pressing. ' The Act fctipulates. that a relieving' teacher must receive a, skl&rv equal.to "the salary,, tititichcd to the position' he is filling.. , The result -is that the Bpard has in the majority ot cases' to cut down: leave of absence ■ on to one month. Even so, the relie\r in<r teachers' account at the ciir] of year was £362 10s to the bad he grant for the year was £147.16s 8d less than the expenditure."

The Anchor 'Company announce that owiitf* to annual inspection- the ,s.sr-Kai-toa will not run on Monday and luesdav next:: consequently, they/mil have no steamer leaving here for Wellington pn Tuesday, 30th inst. - >

Kaiapoi : and' Petone Blankcis —pure wool, bought before the Tise and...sc.h»is at last year's prices. Double-becL sizes from 30s s* .

Supreme Court in. _ Chambers at Wellington: on the 17th mst., (J7-o-bate of' the -will of Thomas Shenton Woolf was on the application of Mr E B. Moore "granted 'by Sir Robert Stout, .Chief Justice, to 'Sydney li-d- - McNabb. Woolf and 'William Atkins,\ the exceptors named in the said will. * Petqno Blankets are made—from the very best Nc-w Zealand wool. Nothing is inade to surpass, and- few ,to equal, these famous blankets. Double-bed size still selling at 30s a pair.— I Trathen and Co.'s.* 1 , A meeting of the Nelson Poultry Association will be held at v Opie's ...rooms this evening, when particulars of all .special prizes will be. required^. Petone .Blankets are still selling at last year's prices at Trathien's. _ Bought twelve months ago, before the rise, tncj represent the best possible value.