LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16214, 27 April 1916, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

» » According to a statement mad© last evening by the Minister for Defence, the Hon. J. Allen, the hospital ship Maheno is due to leave New Zealand waters to-day for an unnamed destination. The Marino Department has instructed Captain Fleming, superintendent of mercantile marine in Auckland, to re-survey Port Waikato and have tho necessary beacons erected. A regular shipping service is about to be established between the Manukau Harbour and tho Waikato River. The City Fire Brigade recieved three calls yesterday. About 8 a.m. a chimney of tho Langham boardinghouse, in Wyndham Street West, caught fire. The brigade was on the scone before any damage was done, and quickly extinguished the outbreak. Shortly afterwards a false alarm to the effect that a hotel in Queen Street was on fire was receivod. At 2.22 p.m. the brigade attended an oubreak in a house in St. Stephen's Avenue, Parnell, where the roof become ignited from sparks from burning rubbish in the yard. The posting of circulars in connection with a recruiting campaign in Mount Albert having produced practically no results, the Mayor, Mr. Murdoch McLean, on behalf of the Recruiting Committee, last night asked the Borough Council for permission to employ, if necessary, two canvassers to make a personal canvass of the •borough. The council granted the application, stipulating that if possible a returned soldier should be one of the canvassers employed Twelve hundred circulars were posted ind about 200 only were returned. Most of those who replied to the questions on the circulars were either married men or unfit for active service. The class to whom the questions were really addressed, for the most part, did not reply. An unexpected resolution was proposed at the meeting of the Mount Albeit Borough Council last night, when Mr. A. M. Wilson moved that the council cease selling scoria obtained from the Mount Albert pit. He referred to the recent meeting— was attended by members of the council—calling upon the Government to cease operations; and he asked the council to be consistent. Mr. T. B. Clay said that if the council refused to purchase scoria the Government would sell it to someone else. At present, he said, tho council had some control. It was not a matter to be discussed at the end of a meeting. The Mayor, Mr. Murdoch McLean, said he was unaware that the council used scoria. In answer to an inquiry, the clerk said that last year the profit to the council on the sale of 6coria was £7. No one seconded Mr, Wilson's motion, members stating that it had been sprung on the council as a surprise. Mr. Wilson was advised to give notice of motion at the next meeting, and the matter was allowed to drop. The most popular feature of the new Grammar School at the opening ceremony yesterday proved to be the roof terraces at the north and south sides of the building. From the former an unrivalled view is obtained, and yesterday the prospect was enjoyed by hundreds of visitors. The harbour may bo seen practically for its entire length. Beyond, plainly visible, are Tiri Tin and the neighbouring islands, and still further, but not so clearly, can bo. seen the Little Barrier. The representatives of tho Auckland diocese at the coming triennial session of th-5 Anglican General Synod will be Dr. A. W. Averill, Bishop of Auckland, Archdeacons Mac Murray and E. Cowio, Canon Tisdall, and Messrs. C. J. Tunks, A. B. • Hoberton, A. S. Holmes, and W. J. Speight. The synod will open in Christ- . church on Wednesday next. The duty of naming an abandoned child was carried out by Mr. F. V. Frazer, S.M., in his room at the Police Court yesterday morning. The child was found when apparently a day old on a doorstep at Otorohanga, in the King Country, on February 11. It was brought to Auckland in charge of the police, and was placed in the care of Mrs. Hutchinson, matron of the Door of Hope. Mr. Jones, relieving officer for tho Auckland Charitable Aid Board, suggested the name i Albert King, and the fixing of the dale lof birth as February 10. He mentioned that he had received a verbal undertaking from the secretary of the Waikato Charitable Aid Board that that body acknowledged responsibility for the maintenance of tho child. The magistrate adopted the relieving officer's suggestions as to the name and date of birth, and committed the child to tho Auckland Industrial School, on condition that the Waikato Charitable Aid Board paid for its maintenance. The question of giving the child a fixed religion was held over until it had been satisfactorily adopted. At the formal opening ceremony in connection with the new Auckland Grammar School yesterday afternoon there were on the platform, besides the present Minister for Education, the Hon. Jt A. Hanan, three ex-Ministers for Education— Hon. James Allen, now Minister for Defence, Sir Robert Stout, ex-Premier, and at present Chief Justice, and the Hon. G. Fowlds. An expression of appreciation of the publicspiritedness of the Hun- A- M. Myers in establishing a kindergarten school and a school for backward children in Myers Park was voiced by the Minister for Education, the Hon. J. A. Hanan, last evening. So far as the backward children were concerned, he remarked, it was better for them and better for their more fortunate companions, and better, also, for the teachers of the normal pupils, that they should bo separately taught by special methods under specially-trained teachers, and given more individual attention than could be given to pupils under usual conditions. Mr. Myers's institution, said the Minister, would give backward children a more helpful training than they would otherwise obtain at present, and in that way give them a better chance to succeed in life. Admiration for- the dignified appearance of the main hall in the new Grammar School was expressed on all hands a', the opening ceremony yesterday. The room is so spacious and the roof so high that although yesterday over 2000 people were accommodated in the hall, the air was as fresh as that outside. • Situated high, the school receives tho advantages of breezes from the harbour, and the ventilation is so excellently arranged that even inside the building evidence of the sea air is noticed and enjoyed. Another feature of the main hall is that it possesses splendid acoustic properties. Large as the room is, the speaker addressing an audience is not obliged to raise his voice unduly in order to make himself heard even in the farthest corners of the hall. The balance-sheet of the Cornwall Park Trust for the year ended March 3:. shows that the total income during the 12 months was £1957. More than half of this, however, was absorbed bv rates and taxes amounting in all to £1091. The excess of income over expenditure is shown as £232. .4 »*. <; *•

Complaint was. recently made to the Hon. J.'Allen, Minister' for. Defence, by the Mayor of : Christchurch that New Zealand soldiers in Egypt were not being supplied with proper clothing, especially head protection. The Minister communicated with the commanding officer fa Egypt in regard to the matter, and he has now re- < ceived the latter 1 * reply. It is to the effect that there is no foundation for the report. The New Zealand men are 'being supplied with all necessary clothing, and the ordnance department is meeting all requirements in the latter respect. The establishment of fresh-air schools in certain parts of New Zealand is a , matter which has recently been engaging the attention of the Hon. J. A. Hanan, I Minister for Education. He lias been obtaining information -from various places i on the subject, and the evidence obtained ; so far points to the wonderful improve- . ments that have been made in the . health and general fitness of the children in such schools. "Apart from health," ■ said the Minister last evening, "one of ' the advantages of this type of school is that the outdoor life makes it necessary for the children to have more freedom In moving about, and so the work done is becoming more rational, and is meeting the requirements of the growing child better than the orthodox sitting-still school. Mother point is that these schools considerably reduce the cost of building." The whaling season at Whangamumu, which opens next month, is expected to be a good one. According to Captain Cook, of the whaler Hananui XL, now in port for overhaul, last season was a poor one, and the following season is generally good. While the whales are moving to a warmer climate during the winter, the whaling station has its harvest, and when the whales return to the south later a further catch is made. There are about 20 workers on the station and one whaler. Owing to the war there has been some difficulty in securing suitable men. The members of the thirteenth reinforcements who are spending their final leave in Auckland will return to camp by special train, leaving Auckland at 8.50 p.m. on Saturday next. When invited to speak at the conference of the New Zealand Educational Institute in Wellington, a few days ago, Corporal H. A. E. Milnes, ex-principal of the Auckland Training College, said that he had learned certain lessons which he ■ hoped to put to use if he should ever return to his civil employment*, again. He remarked especially on the benefit which he had received from being in excellent physical condition as the result of the training in camp. Not only was he stronger, physically, but he found himself ablo to do much more concentrated mental work than formerly. This had taught him that more attention should be given to the encouragement and fostering of organised games for children, and to instruction and practice in physical exercises. If ever he returned to his school he would certainly advocate the adoption of, this course. The question, of providing land for discharged soldiers was discussed at a meeting of the Marlborough Land Board held last week. Taking into consideration the fact that the only land available is rough bush country, the board was of opinion that it would be desirable to acquire some suitable pastoral and ■agricultural land within a reasonable distance of Blenheim. A fire broke out on the Wiinganui River steamer Waireka on Tuesday night. When off Hikimutu, eight miles from Taumarunui, the engineroom caught fire through an escape of petrol gas. The engineer promptly cut off the petrol supply, and the flames were confined to the engineroom, no- serious damage being done. Some of the passengers' luggage was searched, but the mails were saved. The system in force in Marlborough under which threshing-mill hands are paid by the farmers and not by the machine-owners was unfavourably remarked upon by His Honor Mr. Justice Stringer a few days ago. He said that if the farmers had to deal with the machineowners only, the processes of dealing under the Conciliation and Arbitration Act with questions of wages, accommodation, and other conditions would be much simplified. It would not be necessary to have a large number of farmers cited, and bound to an award if one was made. Later, His Honor discussed the point with Mr. W. D. Pike, a leading local mill-owner, who expressed his preference for the present system, which, he said, had been in vogue for the last 50 years and had given every satisfaction. According to a statement made by the inspector of awards at Wanganui recently, some employers are "in the habit of lending their apprentices out. and forgetting that they have done so. In a case before the Arbitration Court, it was shown that an apprentice bad passed through the hands of several employers. The president of the Court did not, on the evidence, hold the employer summoned to have been guilty of failure to fulfil his obligations to his apprentice; but His Honor expressed the opinion that some action would be necessary to prevent apprentices being passed from hand to hand. A Palmerston North resident has received a letter from his wounded son in England which serves to throw a little more light on the treatment which is being meted cut to British prisoners of war. The soldier referred to was in the Gallipoli fighting, where he lost 'a leg, and is now in England receiving medical treatment. He states that numbers of British soldiers who were wounded in Flanders and fell into the hands of the Germans have been subjected to the most callous and inhuman treatment- Where amputation of a limb was necessary, the German surgeons are said to have operated with a view to making the fitting of an artificial limb an impossibility, or as difficult as possible. A woman and a child who went on board the Manuka at Lyttelton a few days ago to speak to a passenger narrowly missed being carried on to Wellington. They stood conversing on deck, and failed to notice the gangway being drawn up, and it was not until the steamer was moving away from the wharf that they realised their position. Fortunately for them Captain Clift, on learning the particulars, stopped the Manuka outside the moles, and enabled them to tranship to the launch Ruahine, which was returning to Lyttelton from Diamond Harbour, and thua get ashore again. In the course of a short address in, Wanganui last week, following upon the Prime Minister's recruiting speech, Mr. W. A. Veitch, Labour M.P. for Wanganui, expressed the opinion that the voluntary system had broken down, and the sooner it was abandoned the better. Thero was every argument for compulsory sirvue, and it should be in operation now. Many men did not know whether it was "up to them " to go, and it was the di.ty c.f the country to tell them. There were people urging others to send tlieif sons away to the front, but who were sending their own sons into the bush for shelter. « Compulsory military service was the only i proper and equitable system. i " ,_. . ' ' "..'._'_,