LOCAL AND GENERAL

Nelson Evening Mail, 5 July 1916, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

The Increase of 3s a. ton -in the price of coal will mean an increase in the costof the .production' of gas at the Mastertoil Gasworks of 4d per thousand 1 feet. Tn the year 1914 a rise of 2s 6cl per ton took place in the cost of coal—so that the gasworks is now paying 5s 6d a ton more for coal than' it dad l in 1914. This means that the cost of production of gas is now nearly 8d per thousand let .greater than -it was last year. The increase in the selling price of gas made last month was 5d per thousand' feet. ! A return showing the number of alien prisoners of war interned in the Dominion on. June 22, together with the cost of rationing such prisoners, was presented to t-he House yesterday by the Minister ot' Defence. There were 271 prisoners at Somes Island, 55 at Motuihihi, and 14 at Devonport Detention Barracks. The cost of rationing atSomes Island is given at Is per head per day; at Motuihihi and Devonport it is 2s Oid for first class, and Is 5dJ-d for second-class prisoners.—'Own CorI respondent. j During the discussion on the Estimates last evening, Mr R. P. Hudson, M.P fqr Motueka, drew attention to the unsatisfactory condition of several schools in the Nelson district. Several epidemics at Riwalca had been attributed rightly or wrongly to the want- of proper school accommodation. The Minister said art officer of the Department was about to visit Nelson for the purpose of inquiring into these matters. —Own Correspondent. Mr Hen-rv Townsendi i(borther of Mr I*. Towns-end, Mayoi' of Miramar) met ■with a serious accident in Wanganui on Sunday. He was thrown out of a motor cycle sidecar, as the result of a collision with another motor cycle. H'is skull was fractured, and he sustained other inquiries. He is .now in the Wa-nganui Hospital, where he. is slowly recovering. The Commonwealth and! Dominion liner Star of Australia-, 6175 tons, Captain Hart, arrived fromi Wellington' this morning, and l came into harbour shortly after noon. She loads frozen meat. -etc. The following are her officers: —Chief Officer, Mr A. H. Brown; second, Mr J. L. Levey; third, Mr R- C. Carter ; fourth, Mr *W. R. Pitt; chief engineer, Mr J. E. Bridge; second, £Mt \VM. Jackson ;third, Mr C. Olsen; fourtfi Mr L. A. Windebank,; fifth Mr iR. A. Purdle ; chief refrigerator, Mr L. D. Armitage ; second. Mr G. R-. Barton; chief steward, Mr G. Oomwell; Maxconi operator, Mr P. Clancy. At the Magistrate's Court yesterday Air J. S. Evans, S.M., gave judigment for plaintiff by default in the following cases : —D. H." Whiting (Mr Hayes) v. A. F. Moore, claim' for £1 4s, costs ss; same v. R. Drummond, £1 6s 6d costs ss: Grant Bros. (Mr Hayes) v. G. H. Campbell, £24 Os 4d, costs £2 14s. Some time ago Mr R-. B. Jackson, of Nelson, forwarded a bale of wool' to "London, with instructions that the proceeds of the sale 'be used for the p.ur- ♦ chase of tobacco for soldiers at the front-. Yesterday iMr Jackson received .between 30 and 40 post cards from; grateful" Tommies in France and' Egypt, expressing their appreciation of! -the gifts. One sol-dier-writes: —"We chaps do really appreciate these g : fts which help"'to while ■ away many a tedious moment." Another says:—"l can assure - you that. tobacco is the greatest comfort the soldier can 'get and- maaiy a hardship is; forgotten; while indulging in the fragrant weed, also happy thoughts of home are created in the clouds of smoke." Private T. F. Reynolds, now in training at Trentham, has requested its to publicly thank Mr T. A. Field for kindness shown him on the trip to Wellington recently. He writes: —Wohid you kindly thank ill* T. A. Field, M.P., lor having paid for a razor which was stolen from me when I was going to Trentham with the 18th Reinforcements. I had' them done up in a- parcel with some other things, and I placed the parcel under a larger one that I had' to deliver in Trentham. When we came back from Picton I went tp see if they were all right, and found the above things, were gone. Would you also remind the public that any men proceeding to camp should look after the. gear they are taking with them, as there are two boys 1.1 the Seventeenths that had the same misfortune as I did. Would -you kindly put this -in as a warninsr. I think' that sort of thing is too bad'for anyone that has volunteered to fight for his country. The sudden death of a -soloist occurred; at the Bemdigo Baptist Church on 11th June, during a 'memorial service for Lord' Kitchener. The church was crowded, and the l!ev. E. Herbert- 'Htebday (formerly of New Zealand) hadl preached are impressive sermon ■an "The Passing Oj Earl Kitchener/' Alter the service 'Mr H.' V. Proper. a well-known- citizen, sa.ng, "Nearer,. My God,, to Thee," and almost immediately collapsed, and died in a few seconds. There was much'excitement amongst the congregation when, it was realised that Mr Roper was dead and t'he service terminated abruptly. Mi' Roper was conductor of the choir, and his wife was amongst the congregation. He was 63 years of age, and was a member of the Commercial staff of the Bendigo Advertiser, with which journal' he hadi been connected since 1888. \£he cause of death is ascribed to heart failure.

M. K. Chukovsky, the Russian pubnow in England, visited the Australian Camp, and has printed his impressions in the : Raissian press. The Laftdon Times- publish«s a. translation: (states a recent cable). He pays the Anzacs an eloquent and' admiring tribute, and says that with difficulty lie realised that these .careless, hi?.-ndsom» fellows were the heroes of the tragic Gallipoli campaign. "They -have," lie wrote, "the bodies of gladiators and) the eyes of children." He was amazed at the extreme -wealth of the soldiers; the lowest in rarak received 6s per day. Describing Australia for Raissian readers 1 , •he states that it- is a place where every workman earns more than the highestpaid Russian, chinovnik (Civil servant). .Each owns a bath and a piano. H. r 3 stresses what the Australians have done under the voluntary system, and points out that 300,000 are serving when, they might have, if they had. felt so disposed, remained at home and read of the war. .He likens Mr Fisher to Peter the Great, as being in- part creator of the Australian 'Navy. Aii address on mission' work in Persia was given in the Shelbourne street schoolroom' yesterday afternoon by Miss •Stuart, daughter of the late Bishop of Waia-pu. Miss Stuart- liasi given a number of addresses ins this district-, and will next speak at Wakapnaka. She afterwards visits Blenheim. Aittention is drawn to Mrs Anstice's new advertisement on third page of this issue. The annual meeting of the Nelson Horticultural Society will be held, at the Institute at 7.30 this evening.