LOCAL AND GENERAL

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LII, Issue 117, 22 May 1918, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

The extraordinary price of ' £236 per to n has been paid for flax in Dundee. The flax was part •of a consignment damaged bv f - water, and this is perhaps Bin- highest figure ever paid for fne fibre. A social and dance will be held in the Public Hall. Tahuna, on Friday. May 24th, at 8 o'clock. A collection will be 'taken up for the School Library fund. The Mayor requests shopkeepers to close their premises from 12 noon to 5 p.m. on Saturday next, Surprise Packet Day.

Mr Henry .H. Travers writes to The Post:—"The discovery of the Straits which separate the North and Middle Islands of New Zealand, and namea from the discoverer., Captain James Ooofc, is recorded as follows : —Oru Monday, 22nd January. 1770, Cook w,ent some twelve or fifteen miles up the Sound (Queen Charlotte Sound), and, not finding the end of it, landed, and climbed the hills on the eastern side. He was disappointed in his hoped-for view of the Sound itself, but was rewarded, on looking over to the east, with a sight of <e?ie long suggested strait, which Tasman had in vain attempted to locate. Cook had climbed the hill with only one companion, and as might have bee;i expected returned, in high spirits. He had seen the strait, the land stretching away to the eastward on the other side, and Hie open sea to the so lit 2i-was?". "ts7i' <i later date, accompanied by Banks and Solander, Cook again ascended 1 the hill, and carefully examined the west •sru entrance of the strait, which was■'■o be named after him, Cook Strait On this occasion, the party, before re nirning, erected a pyramid of stone.*, m which wer e placed musket balls, shot, tteuds. and anytliing available likely to stand the test of time. On , Monday. the ,29th, or three days after this, a visit was made to Jackson Head, and •ui» th 6 top of the hill, from vvnich a vt.'w was taken seaward and the different spots located, accainr n was built, mementos placed therein, and an old ■pennant left flying from a poie upon it."

Rivers that toss about fretfully in their beds when roused by storms or thaws of snow have given much anxiety to many settlers in various districts of New Zealand. During hi* recent visi«to Canterbury the Minister of Publk Works had his attention drawn to tho damage done by the It-wtyrtnta "an<* Waimakariri Rivers. Sir William Fraser indicated that this question t>' i-ivpr erosion would have to he c(h *=idered from a national view-poini-<lne difficulty at present is that on* river may be under several board* One board safeguards a certain distric* (stream, and the diverted current take* vengeanr-.P o n an are* lower dowr Thus various boards may toss a tnrbw lent river to and: fro, but alway* between this divided control the wile* water takes toil of rich land

Free passes are a standing grievance to the people who do not have them. Mr. .Robertson, at the iManawatu A. r.nd P. .Show meeting; at Palmerston North, pointed this ovt. He wanted to know tfie number of complimentary tickets issued. "I hear dairy factory managers are given free tickets. Whv does the man who milk 6 the cows have to pay and the man who makes the butter get in Tree?" he asked. It was pointed out by the president, Mr. J. IM. Jolinston. that these courtesies must be extended to certain people, such as presidents of other associations. Mayors of neighbouring towns, press representatives, judges. Agricultural Department officials, and factory managers who are exhibiting, etc. It was done by other shows, and they reaped a large indirect benefit in the way of advei'tisement. The total complimentary tickets issued for the National Dairy Show was 293, and the Spring Show 308.

A practical Ashburton farmer, when discussing the question of wheat-grow-ing as an excuse to offer before the Appeal Board to gain exemption irom military service, pointed out a new aspect of the question. He stated that it was a well-known fact that some appellants went before the board and intimated that they intended to sow certain areas in wheat., knowing at the time that their land was unsuitable for this class of crop. The farmer maintained that this was deception in another form, and t=uch statements not only tended to mislead the Appeal Boards, but are also misleading for statistical purposes to the Government in arriving at an estimate of the yield. The Appeal Board should in future enquire into the nature of the land to be sown in wheat, and also the methods of cultivation to be employed, and have this backed by a report from the Efficiency Board. It was an easy matter for a farmer to sow 100 acres of wheat in an unsuitable paddock that had not been properly forked, and then in August, when lie knew the crop was going" to be a failure, to turn sheep on it. This had been done in the. Aslißurton County last season, and served as an excuse to keep certain men .at home. The"-farmer added, the Guardian states, that he recognised it was impossible for the Appeal Boards to know all these tricks of the trade.

The Hon. T. :M. Wilford will deliver a lecture in Wellington this week, on the latest phases of* the war. Since his appointment to the Ministry 'Mr Wilford has refrained from lecturing on the war, but at the earnest solicitation of the pressmen of Wellington he has consented to lecture in aid of the funds of the "Press Baby" campaign. The evening promises to bo a. notable one, for Mr Wilford will have the support of 500 or so young patriots from the State schools of the city,' who will sing inspiring choruses.

An extraordinary case of family neg- ! lect of education was brought before i the Otago Education Board in. a report i from : the truant officer. There are no i fewer than 14 children in the family j concerned, which belongs to the Sutton district, and only one of the 14 has ( reached as far as the fourth standard. i The individual records show that the i oldest, a lad 21 years of age, now at the front, has passed .only the second stanjdard: the second,' aged 19,/ passed the second standard, the third passed the 1 fourth, the fourth and fifth passed the third, and the sixth, aged 15, passed the : second. These five latter are all working jat home. <of the seven of school age, ! the oldest a girl aged 12 years and ' : nine : months, has passed the second standard, and none of the remaining six I ha<? passed anv standard at all. The ! youngest of tfie family is three years i old. The father was recently brought . before two Justices of the Peace, who j commented in strong terms on his amaz- • ing indifference to his children's welfare,' and expressed regret that they could impose no penalty as defendant hived beyond the orescribed distance of | three miles from the school. The case ! was adjourned, however, pending the I next'sitting of a Magistrate in the ! district. In the meantime the father | has promised to make application for a i capitation m-ant for driving his children j to school, and to senST them regularly m I future.

I The death occurred in Wellington' on Monday of Mr William Kerr, for ovor j 3U years in the service, of the Bank of New Zealand. The deceased, who was 59 years of age, was the son of the I lae Mr John Kerr, of Chn'stchurch. jHo was in charge of the Takaka l branch for some time, and was then i transferred to the headquarters staff I in Wellington, eventually retiring on ' superannuation.

A few days ago, writes a Taupircorrespondent of the Waikato Times, a land agent took a client out to ir spect a farm in that district. Next day a n individual claiming to be the client's brother arrived, and asked to have a loolc over the farm, after whicl' he said he would buy it.< He then ask ed about a trap and horses, and a buggy and pair being brought out be bought them for i>6s, giving a chequp for the amount. Subsequently he visited a neighbouring farm, aad after inspecting it, decided to buy it also, and securing a blank cheque from the owner, filled it in for £SO as a deposit Returning to the ifirst farm he took over the buggy and pair and drovo away. On the cheques being p.re/ented they were marked "No 'account.'' Neediess to .say, the owner of the r«iggy and horses has soen nothing of them, and be would bo glad to learn of their whereabouts.

The wheel tax proposal for motor vehicles is never allowed to sleep for I long. It was awakened at Monday's meeting of the couucil of the Wellington Chamber of 'Commerce by Mr W. Cotton, of Petone, who urged that at some future date the council should take into consideration the imposition of a wheel tax for all motor vehicles. Anyone who lived in the outlying district* knew that the upkeep of the roads was becoming a burden too great for the people to bear, and the only means of getting some return was by means of a wheel tax. A toll-gate would not do—it was put of date, and took up too much time. His idea was that the wheel tax should be devoted to the upkeep of arterial roads; _ the joroceeds of the tax to be divided amongst the various bodies concerned in each district according to the mileage of main roads in the district. Mr A L«igh Hunt said it was a wonder the Government had not adopted such an eciuitable form of taxation long ago The chairman (Mr C. M. Luke], asked Mr Cotton to give notice of his iiil'en-tio-n to introduce the ; subiJ£<sft, at * future meeting of he council, and thif Mr Cotton consented to uo.

"00, dere's a bogie man!" aaid the fear-stricken voice of a toddler as sue I ran and buried her face in her moth er's skirts in Willis Street on Monday afternoon, reports the i_)ominion._ Thv child had every reason to shrink. fo"r a soldier in a modern gas-mask is ■& fearsome sight. One so equipped stooc! outside the war relics exhibition as a striking advertisement for what was to he seen within. The mask (i\o. 3) is "quite a business," and after seeing ii one can imagine how men may bo overtaken by the poisonous gas before they can adjust the mask properly.-in the early stages of the war, the men found the "pig snout" masks Jairly effective, but the later German" gases could not be stopped by the chemicalsoaked mask, and in the latter ones the air has first to pass through a canister loaded with chemicals, the weights of which (som,e 61b) is such that it lias to be carried in. a small bag that hangs i n front. A stout rubber tube runs from the canister to the mouth. The exhaust ah- is expelled by means of a thin flexible rubber mouth," which can only be opened slightly by exhalation, and closes tight with inhalation,, ensuring that all the air breathed shall pass through the purifier. The exhibition, is attracting good attendances.

At the Wellington fiidustrial Association on Monday evening, states the Dominion, Mr F. G. Dalziell delivered a le.cture on the- subject of the reconstruction of services. Some people, he said, spoke of "reconstruction after the war." The time to reconstruct was now-—not later. He strongly advocated co-ordination, and said that many men were insisting in England to-day that co-ordination was essential. The idea was growing that a good thing was to develop not the output, but the men, and the men .would yield the. better output. Co-ordination was the organisation of human beiiigs and property, and that was what Mr Lloyd George was ; forcing on the British nation. What we needed to do was to ascertain our requirements, produce our. requirements, and deliver the requirements to. the people. We were doing that to-day, but very imperfectly because of want of co-ordination. We had been taught to do the best • we could for ourselves alone. If there 'were coordination there would be power. If there was failure to co-ordinate there was absence of power. The whole of the evidence was in favour of co-ordi-nation.

Some interesting facts relating to t"<* keeping qualities of butter in cold storage were mentioned by Mr James Prouse at a meeting of the Levin Dairy Factory iCompany (states the Levhi 'Chronicle). He said that a parcel oi' bmtter—-12 'boix'es —was overlooked iiv the . cold stores in Wellington for a period of eight years. A dealer bought the butter, and it opened up in firstclass condition. It had been fomid that butter retained its quality even after 1?. years in cold storage, so .that when they heard it said that it took a lonfl, - whilfl for New Zealand butter to £p* to England and that it' could not b«r, therefore, as good as an article thf>* was put straight from the dairy on t<* the market, they could conclude that the statemerftTwas made by an interested party.

At they're here (15 only) Ladies' Belted English Rain Coats. "Excellent value.—Dee and Sons.*

( .An unusual position arose before thf J Military Service Board in Auckland last. week, when the adjourned appeal ! of Harry Lewis, ship's steward, ■■way i considered. The appeal was based o»> the gi-ound. that Lewis was not a re | servist of New Zealand, being a citize;* : of the United States, and adjourn* i ment had been granted in order to ai j iow a copy of his • birth certificate U* be obtained. When the case was cat* I ed. however. Mr Singer, counsel fo» j appellant, said that a somewhat unex Pected reply had been, received from the United States. Ha produced a letter from the Registrar of Jackson ville. Florida, stating that the latter j was unable to furnish such a certify j cato, owing to the fact that no record? i of. births had been kept prior to 1693 ! nnd_were rather incomplete from tha* j year to May, 1901, in which month th<* j majority of the records had bee n d*? , stroyed' by fire. This Tfifply rather nonplussed the board, the chairman ex p'ressin'r- considerable surprise that ir so progressive a country there could be any town where records of 'birth? had not been kept before 1893. -Major j 'Conlan finally suggested that as the United States was now also in the war i the case should be referred to the Amej rican 'Consul-General, Mr A. A, Wnv ' slow, this suggestion being adopted by j the board.

Mr John M'Pherson, a member of the_ "Transport Board, and formerly chief engineer of the Government steamer TutaudMij, is a t present very .seriously ill "in Bowen-street private hospital, "Wellington.

A message received by the GovernorGeneral states that the King has confered the honoe; - of Knight Bachelor on the Honourable C. J. Johnston, Speaker of the Legislative Council of New Zealand. * In view of the Speaker's illness, the King specially commands that the announcement be made now instead of on His Majesty's Birthday. Sir Charles Johnstone, a well-known citizen of Wellington, was born in Wellington in 1845. He began his schooling there, and completed his education in Evigland. On his return to his native city he gave much time and energy to public work. From 1882 to 1886 he was member ior Te Aro in the House of Representatives. In 1890 he was elected. Mayor of Wellington, anti in the following year h.e was appointed a life member of the Legislative Council. In July, 1915, he was elected Speaker in succession to the late .Sir Charles Bowen.

A special meeting of the Nelson 'Poultry Association will be held at Opie's Rooms tomorrow evening at 7.30. Important show business is to be considered.