LOCAL AND GENERAL

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume L, Issue 175, 25 October 1917, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

The Legislative Council passed . the Nelson Harbour Board Empowering Bill.—Own Correspondent.

The Postmaster-General . announces, in connection with money-order remittance's addressed to British prisoners of war in Turkey, that arrangements have been made to obtain receipts from the recipients of such- orders.

'Commenting on a recently published newspaper article regarding venereal disease among our troop's, the Minister of Defence deprecated New Zealand newspapers creating' unnecessary' alarm. He added that whatever could be done at this end was being done -"to check the evil. The New „Zealand Government hrjii 'been in communication with the British Government on the. subject. At thg present tiine only 17 returned .soldiers were, .under treatment for venereal disease. The troops under treatment in E<jypt for the disease, were only ten per thousand of the entire force.

A modification of the. Anglican form of church service•; is suggested by Bishop Averill. In his address to the synod yesterday he remarked :—' 'I am not prepared to believe that our Liturgical services are at fault, or that we have any need" to dispense with them, but I am-prepared to believe that they need to be supplemented, and. that men need educating up- to an appreciation of them. We are face to face with an appalling mass of ignorance on the simplest religious matters, and we too often attempt to "Build upon a nonexistent foundation." The change supported by. the bishop is a simpler Sunday evening service, based upon evensong } but' loonsideralbly• more prayer, times of silence," and simple, definite teaching. He added that he was no believer in substituting a "pleasant Sunday evening'* for real instruc-. tion and! worship,' but they needed to aim more definitely at real conversion of life and real edification in the principles of the doctrine of Christ. ''At present;" lie said; ''we are taking too much for granted, considering how little religious teaching there is in ,;the homes and the schools, and. we need ,to substitute] teaching on the fundamentals of the Ghristain faith for the constant-; stream of exhortation." -."The press at the present time,'' said Mr J. Payne in the House of Representatives, "is in the unenviable posi T tion of not being, able to publish details of any scandal touching .the . Defence DepaTtmeht-rany complaint..by a soldier, or other person. ItSs a very Dad thing . that we should have. the press so controlled and muzzled by military censorship. Papers . should be allowed to refer, to matters the exposure pi which is in the public.interest." At the same time, Mr Payne added, they allowed the press more liberty than they should in another direction —he referred to the publication of war news from German sources. "There is a matter," said Mr M. J. Kilgour, in presiding over the annual meeting of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals at Wellington, says The Post-,; "which", _ although it does .not, come the" immediate scope of the society's activities, j&. of immense interest, to . all...persons...interested in dumb animals, J. refer to ,the r methods commonly used in the destruction, .of various . species of animals,, including, birds, the skins 'and. leathers of which are used for commercial .purposes. Many, of the .methods are extremely cruel. They consist principally of traps of varied designs, spme. of which inflict unnecessary suffering. . This-, is greatly increased by the animal frequently- being left in the" trap, sometimes for hours ~ '"before the, trapper comes, to collect his catches. The subject is a big one], as trapping, :»_ a -world-wide custom, but the. brutality of it might be very 'much lessened if all societies dealing with the prevention' of cruelty, to animals .throughout the wprld could act in. unison and bring this matter prominently to th e notice of. the public and' pf their respective Governments a s legislation would hie required. But without waiting for the making of laws a movement might be launched here in New: Zealand by persons refusing to buy articles, more particularly. of dress, -which have been procured by the means above referred to."

Some interesting concerning the Primacy were "made\ by the Anglican Bishop of Christchurch .(the. lit. Bev. Dr. Julius) during .his' address ,in opening the 'Ohristchurch Diocesan Synod. His Lordship said : that unless the Primacy was centralised in. WiJlJington, the Church in New Zealand "wouldi suffer a great loss of power and efficiency in the coming years. The General Synod was a conservative body,. but it would have to recognise facts sooner or later. As senior bishop it was his duty to bring the matter forward. New Zealand must have a Primatical See or Archbishopric, and for -want of it they had no central organisation, no Church House, no refuge for the valuable legal and historical documents - scattered about, the Dominion. . The best leadership would be secured leather by direct election; to the. office than by th e appointment of the senior bishop ex officio.

Attention is , directed to the N,elson •Co-operative Fruit Co.'s; litd. advertisement on .page 6 of this issue re spraying 'materials.

A clause in the Washing jUp Bill, telegraphs the Mail's Parliamentary corresponiieht. to-day, validates the . reclamation and leasing of lands, by the ilotiieka Harbour Board. .

Replying to Mr Nosworthy, the Minister of Agriculture stated that the Board of Trade had enquired into the quality of pollard, many samples having been examined. The Board would have to bring down another gazette specifying the grade for pollard and any evasions would be followed by Government action.

Mr Philip Gibbs ,the war correspondent, remarked recently on the coolness of the Australians, who could read newspapers and smoke under the barrage on the Western front. Then, all in a minute, they can throw off their carelessness and act "like lions. They possess the temperament which allows them to live every minute of the time ,they throw themselves wholeheartedly into the business of the moment whatever that ousiness may be. Very characteristic is the following extract from a letter written to his mother by a young Australian on leave in Paris. "This is the place for a leave,' he wrote. "I am having the time of my life. I've kissed, more girls than there are fishes in the sea. They say there's a war going on somewhere in Europe, but I'm forgetting it. I'm never let to pay for anything. •Everybody wants to give us things. ' Refering to the death of Captain Easther, R.N., in Dunedin a few days ago, the Dunedin* Star says : —Captain Easther did not lay himself out as a story-teller, but he had seen. things done in the days when steam was superseding sail in the Navy, and one of his recollections is worth retailing. It relates to the cruise of the Rattlesnake. She once called at a South American port, and was promptly boarded by a British subject who demanded justice. A trader ashore had swindled him and laughed at him, and he, being a foreigner, could get no redress. The commander of the cruiser sent an officer ashoTe to inquire. The swindler laughed in his face. Thereupon the commander dispatched a boats crew to enforce restitution, and they did it by seizing an outward-bound vessel belonging to the defaulter, unbending her foretopsail, taking it ashore, selling it by auction, and. handing the British subject the amount of his account. , The suggestion that Germany shall withdraw her troops beyond the Rhine does not, curiously enough, commend itself to those German newspapers which are loudest : in their demand for peace. The Heidelberg Tageblatt says: "Our faces grow red with wrath and exasperation on reading the contemptuous speeches of Lloyd George, Carson, and the rest of the wretched clique of English war houndfe. The. red; of our wrath is made redder by the flush of shame that the' Reichstag majority should have invited" this humiliation by a. peace message which, it might have been known beforehand, was certain to be rejected. . Imagine it,. Germans, we are actually ordered to withdraw across the Rhine! After this can there be one man in the Fatherland who will dare talk of peace There is now nothing more for us to do but to keep our mouths shut and to wait patiently until* Hindenburg and the Üboats have done their work."

In-their annual review of the imported dairy produce trade, Messrs W. Weddel and Go., London, state that the high prices of butter during the past three years.have driven lai&e numbers of consumers to look for substitutes. They have had" practically no choice but margenne, which .js always ready to hand ,and makes -the nearest approach to good butter; both in, colour and flavour. The total imports into Britain for the nine months from July Ist, 1916, to March 31st, 1917, were about 110,000 tons, an increase of 20,000 tons, as compared with the corresponding months a year earlier, But the margarine consumed is hot. all imported; a--'large quantity is made in. the United Kingdom. Unfortunately, there are no reliable , .statistics as to toe exact quantity manufactured there, but it is estimated, on good authority, that for the 12 months ended June 30th, 1917, this amounted- to approximately 130,000 or 150,000 tons, which, with the 110,000 imported in. the nine months, plus 36,000 tons (the. propqr.tion as the imports.,.for April .May, and J.une in 1917),. bring the total yearly consumption of margarine in Great Britain to about 280,000 tons.

"The •Church of England has never cut Herself away from Rome," declared the' Rev. C. G. Mutter at a recent meeting %i the Canteroury •Diocesan Synod. What has happened, he explained, was that the Church had r c cut away from Papal dominion ,but she was. a true part of the Catholic Church, of which she also recognised the Roman Catholic as part. The Church of stood for everything that was really Catholic, and. she was a true and loving branch of "'Western Catholic Christendom, Mr Mutter went on to declare that the Church of England .was not a Protestant Church. "Protestantism," he said, 'was made in Germany, We hate anything made in Germany, and as a matter of fact, there is no Protestantism in the Church "of England."

Suggestion is made by Mr Stead in the latest issue of his Melbourne magazine regarding the frequent losses of masses of mails througiT disasters at sea. He refers particularly to the losses of mail matter from the Mangolia (lost in the Indian Ocean) and the Port Kembla (lost in Cook Strait). Here is the suggestion: Instead of stowing the mail bags below, why are they not enclosed in waterproof bags and left on deck?' When the Mongolia went down one or two mail bags actually drifted ashore. K tjhe waterproof-bags had floats attached to them they would remain on the surface when the ship sank, and would almost certainly be picked up.

! In the course of a case against- a for-tune-teller at the Police Court at Auckland (says the Star), Mr JR. A. Singer mentioned that defendant had been asked by the Patriotic Association to give an exhibition at a patriotic entertainment ,and had done so, tn e fees going to the funds of the Pontic Association. She had been isked, and had consented, to act similarly, witlirul fee or reward, for another patriotic entertainment next week. Cnief-Detocfcive McMahon expressed the opinion that patriotic institutions acted wrongly in encouraging fortune-tellers by invoking their assistance. Mr F. V. Frascr, S.M., agreed, emphatically that it was not good in the interests of society that fortune-tellers of ajiy kind should be asked to give entertainments at patriotic or charitable functions. It tended to give the fortune-tolling humbug a standing, and to spread the mental infection among women whose homes' might easily be made unhappy by unwise belief in the foolish things told them by so-called palmists, astrologers, and .crystal-seers. Many unfortunate women were gulled by this form of deceit and caused intense nnhappiness-. It was really encouraging criminals, and if the. patriotic institutions engaged a high-class burglar from Mount VZat-'i to give exhibitions of house ;ml shopbreaking, the result would no doubt be quite as entertaining, and would be really less harmful to the community provided the latter were warned beforehandjbo conceal their valuables.

Nelson ladies delighted with "NO UU&BING" Laundry Help—it lightens their work and whitens .their . clothes. 1b paekets evetj. t:me*«—Local grocers.

The Mail's Parliamentary correspondent telegraphs to-day that a clause in the Washing Up Bill provides that the Nelson Agricultural and Pastoral Association may mortgage - the Richmond Show Ground to enable the money to be raised to erect a Grandstand and other buildings, and also to repay £BOO owing to the Government.

Light steady rain set in during the night and continued throughout the day. It will prove very 'beneficial, as there has been a fairly long spell of dry weather and the surface of the ground had become parched. Indeed, the hose has been in use for some time inin cdty gardens, but the change to-day should obviate watering for some .little time, and bring growing crops away. A building on Mr B. B. Jones' property on Britannia Heights, used as a milking ehed, was burned down yesterday afternoon. It was valued at £3O, and was insured in the. South British Office for a small amount, but the contents were not insured. The fire was evidently started in some dry gorse near the building. On a previous occasion a fire had been started in some scrub, but had burnt out before doing any damage. The two fires, together with the circumstance that an adjacent water tap had been tampered with, lead Mr Jones to believe that the destruction of the building was not accidental, arid the police are making investigations. A story which illustrates what substantial result can be achieved by, children through well-directed energy comes via the Victorian Education Department from Upper Noorongong', m the Beech worth inspectorial district (says the Age). Two Iboya, pou#a» ■Haig, ten years, and Keith Haig,.nme years, obtained from a neighbouring farmer the loan of an acre of Wsjanjij sowed it with maize, !and haryes|ed 80 bushels, which were sold on the. aground ~ for £l2. The Upper Noorongong School, ..which «has- an enrolment of twenty to twenty-five pupils, has.'raißed a sum of £202.3s 4d for, the Educatibp Department's War Relief F.und.; Of this sum £23 5s has been .received from the sale of frogs to the biological school of the University. ; Speaking at the Workers* 'Ed\icatir,n Association at ©hriatohurch ..onvM'tho needs of a city," Mr A. .D. Dobson says the Press, quoted th"e. excellent instructions given to. a -Roman'; general who was set the task'of establishing, a, town in Asia' Minor for the 'Emperor. The general had •first of all : jbo/ Uy6 three years' at the place ;.e as the site of his town, and h©)waß particularly instructed on the .following , points: (1) it must be easily defended,' (2) there must.be a.harbour, natufftl if possible; (3) it must.Juave ii uure .ii'id s plentiful water supply; (4) fuel inusfc , be easily procured; (6) the mevaili.ru winds must not blow Hown the rnnci-. pal long : streets;' The; general further instructed to kill and examine samples of the various animals of .the district to see* that they did, hot suffer from any disease transmittable to ■human •beings, and Ae had also to. examine. vegetation to see if it, was. harmful; Plans of the place were then to., bj sent to Rome; and Roman architects would design the whole city throughout, with due consideration to its present size arid the probability of expansion. "Such instructions, ' said Mr Ddbsoh, "might be quite applicable today." •''■;-'. ■ •- ii(i ,' ; The newly' erected Motueka,.Catholic Church will be opened kby Archbishop Redwood on Sunday next, when he .vpll bless the building and preach 'at: high mass .at 10:30 a.hu .Dean: Hpllfly.vpf • Wellington, will celebrate ;at high.inass. , 'There" •■■ "will be a service at also. The Revs: Father Tymons,vS>'M r «... k and Father McGrath, S.M., wiirasAifit at both services: The Very Rev., Fatjietf O'Connell is coming from • Wanginui for the occasion: To enable Nelson people who have npt;,cars .of. theiij own ,to attend,, it lias ; been .arranged .that £>car will leave'Newman Tiros.;', staples at., 8 o'clock .on Sunday mbming,. returning at the conclusion of : the afternoon >■? service. TKe'church i» built; of. Talcaka marble and roofed with Marseilles tiles.;

The Nelson Harmonic Society, .will render Gade's ''Psyche" at the School of Music on Thursday evening next. The final reheawal for the chorus, will s be held this, evening, when a full attendance of members i» desired.

The monthly meeting .of. the Stoko Fruitgrowers' Association will be held in the Stoke Hall,; To-morrow, Friday evening at 8 o'clock.