LOCAL AND GENERAL

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LII, Issue 167, 12 July 1918, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

The mail® for the United Kingdom which left New Zealand on the 19th May last arri/ved at destination safety-

They draw the colour line in Feilding (says a North Island paper}. The Fisk Jubilee Singers, after having arranged for accommodation at a certain house, were rejected when they presented themselves, the landlady telling them, "You hud better try to' find accommodation elsewhere; I do not accommodate coloured people."

The following weather forecast was issued by Mr. Clement L. Wragge at Auckland on Wednesday :—The weather will be still unsettled, squally, and showery, from between west and northwest and south-south-west, but the tendency is to improve in the North over the Auckland Province general!v. All over the South, however, conditions look bad under the influence of the disturbance, which is now south-south-east of Cape Campbell, and gales from westward with rain, snow, and rough seas are sure to be experienced, particularly south from Wellington.

An important lesson of the war said the Acting-Prime Minister to a deputation at Auckland, is that the means of communication in the country should be kept m as good conditions as possible that fences and drainage should be maintained, and that the land should be kept clear of noxious growths. The evidence from France was that it was essential that the settled land should be kept in a s high a state of production as possible. After the war. added Sir James Allen, there would be tremendous competition between the rival nations, and the country which had the best start would be the first on the road to success.

Mr -C. Cussen, Government Poultry Instructor, is making a stay in Nelson, and further advantage is being taken of his visit by arranging demonstrations at local poultry runs. To-morrow afternoon, Mr Cussen will give a demonstration on poultry culture at Mr J. Hay's, Totara street, and on Wednesday afternoon at Mr E. B. Martin's, Grove street. Those interested in the industry and poultry-keepers generally are fortunate in having such valuable opportunities afforded them, and no doubt the demonstrations will be well attended.

A burglar has been at work in Dunedin during the past few weeks, quite a number of householders having been awakened at night by a man going through the rooms and disappearing quickly, when challenged, by ,;•- ~--..■ window. On -Sunday morning a .Servian named George 'Slavitch M:];m callpd at the police station for a permit to leave the Dominion. He was under suspicion, and on being questioned by Detective Cameron, who knew him in "Wellington, he admitted entering a house at night and leaving his boots, hat, and torch oouind when chased by the occupant, who was suddenly awakened bv a man in the house.

hill *r j .improvement which s been effected in the health of the troops m New Zealand military tv.4 " - camps was referred to by Sir James Allen m addressing a, public meeting at Kelensville on Tuesday ni«-ht Sir Prober'?! th i at #? Camps ™' e now 7eaHnd w , he '? ] t hiesfc in New of thl ™ G J"?*-received a return & (^^ DU f ed to the camp hosIndtht Fe ? therst ?" during last:'week. nndd£ «f U - Vl l' alth ? u 5 h *t was in the middle of winter, when serious illness migh be expected among the men, comprised under cases. Similar conditions prevailed at Trentham.

J?- w T lh & a " d "Poetical manner in which the Maoris of Te Hapua and Tae Maro helped the survivors of the Wimmera is the subject of a letter from Arch-deacon H. A. Hawkins, who himself did a great deal to make the lot of those who landed at Mangonui less unpleasant. Archdeacon Hawkins states that, _ perhaps, the poorest of all the Maori tribes in New Zealand is that which the people of Te- Hapua. form part, while those further south, at Tae Maro, are not abundantly blessed with j this world's goods. ; To*the labour of bringing £he-survivors to their settlements, no light task, the Maoris glndlv i added their gifts of food and clothing, j I and this meant real sacrifice. Arch- I deacon Hawkins says he feels sure the I public of Auckland need only to be j made aware of the fact to make practi- i cal their gratitude to the Maoris. W 7 hen S the matter was mentioned' to the Mayor- j recently, Mr Gunson said that he was ! absent from the city when the Wim- 1 mera was sunk, but"he favoured some- ! thing being done to recognise the self- j sacrifice of the natives in the north. / He hoped the citizens would liberally j donate pai-cels of food and clothing. ' which would be forwarded by Mr Ro- j bert Rew, of lower Queen Street, on j behalf of the Wimmera Relief Commit- i tee. These gifts will be sent on to the | people at Te Hapua and Tae Maro at | the earliest possible moment. . ••

Reference to the report'of the Defence Expenditure Commission was made by Sir James Allen in an addres4' at Helensville on Tuesday night, telegraphs Ifhe Post's correspondent. "I am not at liberty to disclose the contents of the report just yet," said Sir James, "but when it is published I think you will be satisfied that New Zealand has done its duty well. You will have no reason to be ashamed of the work performed hy the Defence Department without any previous experience or precedent to guide it since the outbreak of the war."

For the future we have only to persevere consistently in the policy which the conference has throughout pursued, saidi Sir George Clifford, Bart.; president of the *Tew Zealand Racing Conference, in his annual address, says the Post. ■Comparison of the present with the past well justifies it. None can quote any country in the world' which has done so much as our own to promote clean racing for the benefit of its supporters. Where else do we find the 'bookmakers barred? Where else are proprietary clubs non-exist-ent? Where else is every penny earned by racing instituitions devoted to the maintenance of the sport? Our policv has been to gain the confidence of the people by removing all grounds of suspicion'. Let us -pursue that policy without fear or favour, and, if we are but true to ourselves, no fictitious opposition from adversaries , without knowledge of our methods or understanding of our principles will avail to injure us. '

The Waimea branch of the Farmers' Union will meet in the Waimea West Schoolroom to-morrow evening.

An extraordinary accident occurred on the Wools-ton tramway line on Monday afternoon, says the iChristchurch rresf. All the elements of a double fatality were present, but, fortunately neither of the participants was injured. Tt appears that a woman was sitting in the open portion of the car when in some unaccountable manner the child (between three and four years old) she was carrying fell out, the car at the time .going at a fairly high speed. The woman, almost immediately and while the car was still travelling at the same speed, got off the car to %e,t- the child. Both escaped unhurt

Four more Maoris, residing at the pa at Mercer, who have been called for irfa,lika.ry service, were arrested on Saturday afternoon for failing to parade for medical examination. The pa is" at present under water, owing to recent heavv rains, and the policemen made their" approach in a wagon through two feet of water. The Maoris adopted ,an attitude of passive resistance, aid refusing to walk, .were carried out and placed in the wagon, in which they were conveyed to the railway station.

With every other cla.<s of stock' at abnormally high level of values, the condition of the horse markets is an anomaly (says the Otautau Standard). The horse, is one of the greatest factors in increased agricultural production ; in fact, is indispensable if production is to be maintained, and yet horses are a .drag on the market.. A good four-horse team can be. purchased at less money than the pre-war value of one decent gelding. Is it the shortage, of suitable trained farm labourer." that accounts for this position ?

The Auckland correspondent of T'hf Post states : —Land aggregation was stated by Mr R- E. Horn'blow, at Tuesday's deputation to the Acting Prime Minister, to have been brought about in the district beyond the terminus of the Kaihu railway through want of communication with the outer world. Small settlers, he 6aid, had i\jeen obliged to sell their holdings, which had been bought up by their wealthy neighbours. Sir James Allen asked that specific instances should be supplied to the Minister for Lands, who, Tie said, )\vas 'most anxious to stop aggregation if it were going on. He added that the Government would not put up with it. Mr . Horiiblow undertook to furnish particulars.

i __ "Undei-'rate "VYorkers" i& the heading of one passage in a special report j puibOished (by March, the t/s----1 turned soldiers' .paper. Though Minii stcrial assurances have been given that- ! a pension will not be allowed to act j as a factor in reducing the wages of j a discnarged' soldier, the executive of the N.Z.R.S.A. sounds a note of .doubt iin the following statement:—"The i problem of the under-rate 'worker who ( is an ex-soldier is one of the most important and difficult which the association is called' upon to face. In future . years there will undoubtedly ibe a tendency for the incapacitated to gravitate towards the lowest paid and most casual classes of employment in every occupation. His pension will undoubtedly tend to minimise 'the wage paid, and "it will 'be the duty of the association to devise and ensure the operation of such a system, as will I effectively prevent this."" i

An arrival at IDunedin on Tuesday was the auxiliary ketch Water Lily, which reached the lower harbour shortly after midnight the previous night from Stewart Island, and was berthed on Tuesday afternpon to dis-, charge a full cargo of timber (says the x l>unedin Star). The Water Liiv was formerly a unit of the Bluff oyster fleet, and is under the command of Captain Cross. She is of 42 tons gross- register, and was built at Auckland in iB6O. Her motive power is supplied by a 20 h.p. oil engine, and her principal dimensions are:— Lencrth, 66ft 2in; "breadth, 16ft; and depth. 6ft 2in. The Water Lily/ which visited Dunedin several years- ago, will 1 load general cargo this week for Wellington. She will subsequently load j at the northern port for Dunedin.

News of the assassination of General von Mir bach, German Ambassa- | dor to Russia, ha* revived in the 1 mind of an old Wellingtonian recol- | lections of a Dr von Mir bach, at one 1 time resident in New Zealand, and who is 'believed to. have been a brother of the German Ambassador, says the Post. Dr von Mirbach was in practice in 'Wellington over thirty years ago, and afterwards moved to Waipawa. Later he left the colony, and when last heard .of was surgeon on an Atlantic liner. He' had a brother in the German diplomatic ser vice, and another brother surgeon on the Russian ship-of-war. Vesnik, which made a sudden appearance in Wellington Harbour some thirty years, ago, at a time when the Rusisaii .scare was'the sensation of the hour. D'r von Mirbach was a powerfully-built man, considerably over 6 feet in height, Wd> was esteemed a clever man in his profession, he was employed on" two or three occasions on Government Commission? enquiring- into medical and health questions.

For the.State to embark on a scheme tor the thorough technical education of children! would be a sound and reproyr £r e I n \ esiT S, en h in the "opinion-..0f Mr W S. LaTrobe, M.A. a meeting of the Philosophical Society, says the Post, he said that the Americans reckon every day of technical school life by pupil to be worth nine dollars tothe State, and he. saw no reason why tho figures did not apply closely to conditions in, New > Zealand. Ihere were 12,000 pupils in New -Zeaiand who coat the country £240 000 a year, and another 41,000 scholars between the ages, of 14 and 17 years who leave school each year, and do not seem to get_any value from technical erfuca-' £°* i, S?*J alone meant-a decided loss to the State, not only in efficiency, but aT v mone . l»i»t of view as well. Actually ■ a would earn more W the State while at school than it would at any other period of its life.

The vital importance of home train f m . as a measure to combat the evil of \m morality was emphasised bv Sir -Tamo-, Allen, Minister for Defence, in addressing a deputation of representatives n f women s leading organisations at Arclcand,>ysj,he Herald. "It is too iato to bring about reforms when vour bo.-* and girls are grown up," ] ie said. "Unless the home influence be good and your young folk trained , from the ■ verv start to understand the perils and dangers of temptation; and to lend moral lives, never do away with social evils. There is urgent work for your women s societies to do.. Get down to the bottom of things; educate the public mind: educate your children in the home and in the school, and create a healthy public opinion on these matters which are of such tremendous importance to the welfare of the community." There was particular need, . said; .Sir James, 'for young girls to receive instruction on the same lines as that given to men in camp, as to. the conseouences of wrong-doing, and it was in this work that organisations such as those represented by the ; deputation could do most valuabi? •ervice.

A very enjovable concert, which v?sf much appreciated, Twaa given at jtfae Mental feospital last evening. It was orcanised by OMCra E. A. Bush, and the ?oKing '• ~ assisted: Musses Harley, Smith, Neale, Gardiner,' Louiason, Mrs Bush, and Messrs Lancaster and Btish.

It is not "the: Now Moon" of the air-raids which Mr Oliver Onions picts in a novel of that name, which MessrsVHodder and Stoughton will .publish shortly, but a fresher and mm»hopeful picture, the character of which ma-v be guessed from the books-sub-title, "A Romance of Air Onions 'hius triad to show how out. of the present darkness and confusion a happier state may come, and his book should prove of no less interest to the men in Franco than nto those at home.

Mr A. Gould will hold a clearing .sale at the Rooms, Hardy-street, to-morrow, at *ll a.m.; at noon, a freehold property in the estate of Thos. Cawthroni, deceased, will be sold.