NEWS SUMMARY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 15834, 3 February 1915, Page 6

NEWS SUMMARY.

Auckland: The Auckland Belgian Relief Fund now amounts to £43,129 12s sd. Business for the month has opened well in Auckland. The retail trade is satisfactory. A visit was paid to the ranges yesterday by the City Council, for the purpose of inspecting the watershed. Fifty-seven men left Auckland for Trentham yesterday to join the reinforcements of the expeditionary force. About £5000 has been subscribed to the Salvation Army's war emergency fund for the relief of Belgian refugees in England. An interesting test ca*« with reference to the employment of deputies in small ct-..l mines was heard in Whangarei yesterday. Record prices were realised at the second Auckland wool sale of the season's series yesterday, the values showing a marked advance on those recorded at the November sale. A further adjournment was made yesterday in connection with the inquest into the circumstances of the death of James Porter, who fell from a signal-post whigh was in course of erection at Henderson. A case in which it was argued, pro and ■'on, that roadways to be used in connection with a mine not yet opened were a coalmine subject to the provisions of the Act was heard at Whangarei yesterday. The surplus on the transactions of the Now Zealand Insurance Company during the year ended November 30. 1914, is shown bv the annual report of the company to be £109.462 3s Bd. The directors propose to pay a dividend for the year of 6s per share, of which an interim dividend of 3s per share was paid last August. New Zealand: A westerly storm is predicted by the Government meteorologist. The cost of meals has been raised by Wellington cestaurant-keepers. The grass fire at Awatere, Marlborough. is not so serious as at first supposed. The hotel at Takaka. Nelson, and some adjoining buildings, was destroyed by fire. Christchnrch City Council proposes to in'-oduce municipal markets and a cool store. Colonel Logan has reported that the hes'th of the troops in Samoa generally is good. An old lady who went for a walk on Foxton beach, on Saturday, has not since been seen. it is reported that the produce markets on the west coast of America are greatly depressed. Particulars are available of an act of heroism at Boulogne by a son of Mr. Justice Chapman. A Wellington butcher has closed tip his &hop for two months on account of the high price of meat. The Prime Minister says that money has been lent at the same rate to workers since the war as before. The ferry steamer Maori is still tied up at the wharf in Lyttelton. She has not > d been able to obtain a stokehold crew. The maintenance of the Hntt Road is to be undertaken by the Wellington City f'ou'ncil, the Government guaranteeing the "t>Bt. w .. A charge of manslaughter against the i"ate of the New Plymouth Harbour Board's dredge was quashed by the grand jury. The War : The New South Wales War and Patriotic Funds have reached a total of £550,000. The return of the Eaiser to Berlin is due to throat trouble. Sometimes when speaking he is hardly audible. The Italian newspaper Oceania, published in Sydney, declares that Italy will certainly take the held against Austria in April. The new Australian regulations governing wool sales have imposed effective restriction upon any possible purchases for enemy nations. The Pope, in a letter to the Bishop of Bordeaux, says that nothing seems more desirable than a cessation of "this long, cruel war." The President of the Swiss Confederation. Dr. Arthur Hoffmann, in an interview, said that Switzerland would defend her neutrality. Tt is stated that the captain of the Monmouth, which is supposed to have been sunk by the Hermans off Valparaiso, i- alive, and a prisoner. Harrowing stories are told of the appalling destitution in Servia, where there are a million homeless and foodless peopldf worse off than the Belgians, because they I have no neighbours to succour them. I 'I lie second Canadian contingent is ifady to sail to replace the Canadians on Salisbury Plain?. Ihe new contingent is much better trained than the first contingent, and contains a larger percentage of < anadutm. Mr. Martin Donohoe, special nines p".ident fur the Daily Chronicle, states that Roumania ha.-; set her hand to the plough, and will not turn back. She is steadily preparing for an effective entrance. into the war. A neutral who has returned from Berlin pays that a stranger does not see or hear much to remind him of war. When international relations are discussed, however, the universal hatred against England flames up. Captain Halse.y, of the battleship New i'.ealand. \va> telegraphed to the Hon. T. Ma-kei./ie. New Zealand High Commissioner, that all aboard arc proud at having represented the Dominion and at receiving its appreciation. 'I he Germans are employing an extremely powerful explosive bomb which is supposed to be filled with liquid air or liquid carbonic acid. It can bo thrown 300 yds by mortals and makes a hole in the ground 40in in diameter and oOin deep. Mr. W. J. Bryan. United States S<-re tary of State, replying to the German protest about the sale of aeroplanes to the allies, asserts that hydro-aeroplanes are not war vessels, therefore the shipment thereof to the allies is not a breach of neutrality. The Rome section of Socialists oppose ffly participating in the war. A small minority wished to bring about a general strike in the event of mobilisation, but Signer Turati delivered an anti-German .'ne'<h. declaring that if intervention were Her.-, ivy the Socialists would fight.