LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15747, 23 October 1914, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS

An* impudent theft is reported from Hobson Street, where an empty house was broken into and a copper forced out of its brickwork foundation and removed. An attempt had been made to remove a stovo from the kitchen, but this was unsuccessful, although much damage was done. A plumber was at work in the house the day before, and left the doors locked and everything secure. flic petition sent to Parliament by 238 resident* of Otahuhu asking for an inquiry with a view to an amendment in the present system of rating in force in that borough, was reported upon yesterday by the Lands Committee, says our Parliamentary correspondent. Tho petition was referred to the Government for favourable consideration. The Now Zealand Shipping Company's liner Rolorua arrived at Auckland early yesterday morning from London, viaHobart and Wellington. The Rotorua reached Wellington on Monday afternoon last, and, instead of remaining there to discharge her cargo, she only stayed for a few hours to land passengers for' all Southern ports. This is the first occasion on which one of the steamers engaged in tho passenger and cargo servico between London and New Zealand has deviated from tho customary programme. It has been the ride in the past for tho vessels of the New Zealand Shipping Company, and the Shaw, Savill, and Albion Company, to go first to Wel-

lington and then to Lyttelton. The usual amount of cargo brought by this route for Auckland is about 200 tons, which is discharged at Wellington, and then forwarded by the coastal steamers. On this

occasion the Rotorua has 2000 tons of general merchandise for Auckland. She will sail on Monday next for Wellington, Lyttelton, and Dunedin to put out the balance of her cargo, amounting to 3760 tons for the three ports. The Rotorua sailed from London at midnight on September 4 for Hobart direct. Whilst passing through the Downs the liner was stopped and boarded by naval officers for examination, which caused a couple of hours' delay. The Isle of Wight was passed the same day, and the pilot was landed. Fine weather and moderate south-

easterly winds were experienced during the run down the Channel, and until September 10, when Teneriffe was sighted and passed. The north-easterly trades were picked up two days later, and proved to bo moderate. The line was crossed on September 17, and, after a couple of days of light variable winds, the south-easterly trades were met with, and a fresh breeze was experienced till passing St. Helena on September 20. The vessel signalled " all well." The Rotorua had fine weather and variable winds till crossing the meridian of the Capo of Good Hope, when south-westerly and northwesterly winds prevailed. The wind freshened at times until arrival at Hobart. At the Magistrate's Court at Marten yesterday before Mr. W. Kerr, S.M., Sergard A. Olson was committed for trial at the Supremo Court at Palmerston North, on a charge of assault, with intent to commit rape, at Bonny Glen on August 31. Bail, in accused's own recognisance of £200, and a surety of £150. was allowed, says a Press Association message. The provisions in the Auckland Grocers' Assistants and Drivers' award for weekly employment and payment of full, weekly wages have been suspended by. an prder-in-Council made on October 10. The suspension has been made in accordance with the powers conferred by the Regulation of Trade and Commerce Act, Conditions are set forth in the order that payment is to bo made for time actually "worked according to the rates sot out in the award, but computed at per hour, with a minimum of not less than 30 hours in any week, and those married men or single men with dependents who arc members of the Grocers' Union are to have preference of employment so far as is practicable in the discretion of the employer. No overtime is to be. worked by any assistant' or driver unless under unforeseen or unavoidable circumstances, when such assistant or driver has been employed for less than a full week immediately preceding such overtime. No deduction shall be made for the holidays provided by the award. A sharp frost in Christchureh on Sunday night caused much damage to early fruit and vegetables. Many crops of potatoes were totally destroyed. One orehardist adopted artificial means to minimise the effects of the frost. He lighted fires in a large number of kerosene tins, and these, distributed through the orchard, raised the temperature appreciably.

Two milk vendors were proceeded against by Mr. J. Hollows, inspector of awards, at the- Magistrate's Court yesterday for delivering milk before four o'clock in the morning. Edward Darling's excuse was that he had only done it to oblige his customers. Mr. C. C. Kettle, S.M., imposed a penalty of Ss. Philip H. Wilson admitted the offence, but stated that he was obliged to servo his customers early in order to get to the. camp in time for breakfast. In view of these circumstances, tho defendant was only fined Is. Noticing smoke and flames coming from a Chinese garden, close to a stable in Stanley Street, at 6.20 p.m. yesterday, a. bystander broke the nearest fire alarm. Within a few minutes tho City Brigade was on the spot, but upon arrival found nothing moro serious than a heap of burning rubbish. The proposal of Mr. A. M. Myers, M.P., that a two-storey house in the Myers Park area should be utilised as a kindergarten school has been receiving tho consideration of the. Works Committee' of tho City Council. Yesterday, the Mayor and members of tho committee, in company with Mi'. E. Brooke-Smith, secretary of the Auckland Kindergarten Association, visited the properly. After the inspection Mr. BrookeSmith stated that the building was unsuitable for a kindergarten. The Works Committee, therefore, decided to abandon tho proposal as far.as this building was concerned, but another scheme is to bo placed before Mr. Myers. Correspondence for the members of the contingent at Trentham, Wellington, should bo addressed to the Post Office, Trentham, Military Camp. Wellington, and the envelopes should bo clearly marked in the top left-hand corner, "Reinforcement Contingent." Correspondence for the force now in Samoa should be addressed to Samoa. Correspondence for the main expeditionary force should bear the words "Main Body," and be forwarded to Wellington. In each case as full an address as possible should be given. In addition to tho special superscription, the addiessee's military number, rank and the company, as well as the regiment to which he is attached, should be indicated on the envelope. Unless these instructions are carefully followed, there is no guarantee that, articles posted will roach the soldier for whom they are intended.

The. presence of the two German cruisers. Schamborst and Gneiscnau in the Pacific made tho voyage of the Talunc, which returned to Auckland yesterday, a somewhat eventful and exciting one. Tho Union Steam Ship Company's Island steamer was due to arrive at Eaiatea on October 3, but on tlie. night of October 2 the wireless operator intercepted a message believed to have been despatched by one cruiser to the other. The clearness of the signals indicated that the cruisers were within a radius of one hundred miles, and the Talune put back to Rarotonga at full speed. At Papeete, where the Talune arrived on October 9, news was received of the bombardment, but nothing was seen of tho German cruisers, and the return voyage to Auckland proved uneventful. A circular received by Mr. A. M. Pickford, secretary of the Auckland branch of the Navy League, from the executive committee in London, details the work of tho Navy League during the present crisis. Briefly this may bo summarised as follows :-l. With the approval of the Admiralty, a scheme of volunteer coast patrol was organised, and hundreds of volunteers took up their duties by night and day on various parts of the coast of the British Isles. 2. A splendid contingent of trained nurses, numbering several hundreds, has been specially organised for sorvice in naval hospitals and convalescent homes- 3. Several hundred houses have been secured as convalescent homes for invalided seamen and light cases. 4. A ladies' committee has provided a large quantity of material for underclothing for wounded men. 5. A ladies' committee has forwarded "comforts" to practically every ship in tho fleet. 6. The whole machinery of the Navy League has been placed at the disposal of the authorities fo; recruiting purposes, and literature has been issued by the league. The French barque Chateau d'lf sailed yesterday afternoon for New Caledonia after -a prolonged stay at Auckland. During the vessel's visit members of tho crew have been much in tho public eye. Shortly after the barque arrived there was a disturbance on board, and one of the crew was stabbed in tho back. A day or two afterwards tho injured man was found drowned in the harbour. On more than ono occasion sailors from the vessel *' 1 - peared in the Police Court in connection with incidents not to their credit. The Manuka". Water Supply Board is asking its consumers to exercise as strict economy as possible hi the quantity of water used. This is due to the fact that the board, like many other local bodies, has only a limited supply of water upon which to draw. Other sources of supply are being sought and there is reason to hope that they will be found. Last 'year, when the board mado a similar appeal, the response was immediate, and the consumers materially assisted, the demand being smaller from the outset. News has been received, in Auckland of the death at Framplon, England, of the Rev. Wyndham Allan Chaplin, vicar of Filfield, and formerly of Ellerslie, Auckland. Tho ~ deceased was accidentally drowned in the canal at Frampton early in September. He was cycling beside the towing path, and shortly afterwards his hat and pipe were found floating in the water. Later the body was recovered. Tho deceased was subject to epilepsy, and at the inquest' a verdict was returned to the effect that he had had a seizure, and death was due to" accidental drowning. The late Mr. Chaplin was in charge of the Ellerslie parish for about 12 months, and left on his return to the Old Country last February. While at Ellerslie he was very popular amongst all sections of tho people. In a statement to a reporter at Wellington, Mr. V W. D. Lysnar, of the Bristol and Dominion Producers' Association, said that it might appear from recent proceedings that there was a difficulty in procuring .space for produce on ships for West of England ports. This, he said, was not the case. There was the difficulty of getting space for London, but no trouble existed with regard to ships for Bristol and other west-coast Home' ports. "Thero are five or six thousand people dependent upon the gum industry in the Auckland Province," remarked Mr. K. P. Greville, Kauri Gum Commissioner, in reply to a question yesterday. As an impression had gained ground that the Government had not yet done anything in ■ tho way of giving advances to gumdiggere , as promised during the present crisis, Mr. , Greville was asked if he would explain , the position. "The position is that the Government recently decided to make , advances to gumdiggers on the security of their gum in necessitous cases," he said, "It decided also to commence working certain of the Government gum land on lines recommended by the late Kauri Gum - Lands Commission, the intention being that ■ a living wage should be paid to tho gum- ' diggers, who would also receive a small • bonus on the gum recovered. The advan--5 tage of this class of work is that it if . self-supporting. In this connection the . Government has already started to work , one area in this way in the North and will 3 shortly bo starting another. With regarc 3 to the position as far as advances arc J concerned it is, of course, obvious that ir s such a largo undertaking preliminary arrangements have to be made ir

the way oi appointing agents and buyers and tho establishment of depots for storage purposes. Shortly after the Government decided to take action in tho way of advances it was noticeable that from some cause or other a decided revival took place in the kauri gum industry, and no advances were required. In fact, in the latter part of September a gumdigger at Waihopo had written a letter stating that buyers in that district were purchasing anything except dirty chips at prices ranging about 20 per cent, lower than those ruling before the war. No doubt, when 1 went round tho gumfields soon after the declaration of war business was absolutely dead, while a week ago the business appeared to be almost normal." Concluding bis statement, Mr. Greville mentioned that in the districts where tho greater portion of the gumdiggers were engaged there was absolutely no other sourco of employment outside gumdigging, and the position was, therefore, being seriously watched by the Government, in order to prevent hardship. slat ion was necessary to bring the advances system into operation, and such legislation was now actually in progress. He was authorised to make advances as soon as any demand set in. A letter received by a well-known Christchurch resident from an engineer officer in Cork throws sime light on the Gorman spy question. The officer, who had been engaged for some weeks on the defences of Cork Harbour, says:—" Wo have caught several German spies. Two men dressed up as nuns cams on to the works collecting for the Prince of Wales's fund. They got back to Queenstown, where someone, suspecting them, had them arrested. Draw. ings of the works were found upon them. Another spy caught was dressed as a priest, and tie was very nearly lynched iby the troops. Two other spies disguised I as friars wore also attested.