LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 16657, 29 September 1917, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS

The thirty-seventh reinforcement draft*, which will be mobilised on or about December 13, will not be granted extended leavo during the Christmas period. Definite information to this effect is contained in a memorandum issued from the offico of the director of recruiting, which states that it will be impossible to errant this draft extended leave to cover Christmas j and New Year holidays and intervening i davs. All other reinforcement drafts in camp at this time, will, however, be granted extended leave to cover the holiday season, provided satisfactory transport and other arrangements can be made; The weather yesterday was showery, with intervals of sunshine. In the afternoon the wind changed more to the north, and a steady downpour set in, which continued until a late hour last night, with no signs of the weather clearing. A severe westerly gale was reported to be blowing on the coast on Wednesday, but, with the exception of heavy rain squalls, it was not felt in the city. The Eotorua express train due at Auckland at 5 p.m. arrived yesterday eight minutes late. A delay of half-an-hour had occurred at Walton, where two trucks attached to a goods train had been badly derailed. The trucks jumped the rails about a mile south of Walton station, but the derailment was not noticed until they folded the points in the station yard. In response to numerous- requests from readers throughout the country, the proprietors of the New Zealand Herald have decided to reprint a selection of the " Tohunga" articles by the late William Lane, in book form. This volume is now in pre!-->, and copies will be avadaule in a few weeks. The present price of silver is 3s 9d per standard ounce, an increase of Is 9d on the pre-war average price of 2s. It is gratifying to know that many of the mining companies in the Auckland district, owing to the high percentage of silver in the oro being won from their mines, are enjoying, through this increase in its value, a set-off against the increaiid cost of all supplies, and also tho heavy taxa'ion. The annual national self-denial appeal of 'die Salvation Array is now being made, and will extend into next month. | During this period, as is customary, the I members of the organisation practice special economy and self-sacrifices, in I order to be in a position to contribute to I the funds. They also invite and obtain a j large measure of financial support from the general public. Tho money collected j in the self-denial campaign is devoted to | the general maintenance work of the < Salvation Army, alio to its social and ■ missionary activities. Commissioner H. C. Hodder and Colonel J. H. tfray, | social secretary, who are at present in Auckland, are engaged upon the annual inspection of the various institutions under | their control. All kinds of fruits are bringing exceptionally high prices in Auckland at present. Choice apples were sold yesterday i by a leading auctioneer up to £1 for a J 101b case, passion fruit realised from 14s to lis a b.-if-case, or about l}d each, and lemc":b hs ought as high as 14s a case for the be Oranges also are in very short j supply, Californian VaJencias bringing | from 27s to 32s 6d a case, and Island i oranges from 18s to £1 a case. The light | rain daring tho last few days has proved i very beneficial to the strawberry crops in | the vicinity of Auckland, and judging . from rppearances there will be a fa : rly I good crop this year. The first of this' season's fruit is expected to be on tho market toward the end of October. The question of the adoption of the Dominion grading list for teachers has been discussed by the Auckland branch of j the New Zealand Educational Institute. After considerable discussion, it was resolved. " That, in view of the general dissatisfaction of Auckland teachers with the bases of the present Dominion grading 1 scheme as a promotion list, application be j made to the Director of Education to permit the Auckland inspectors to regrade! the Auckland teachers upon the basis of] their former grading scheme until the' Dominion scheme bo placed v upon a more satisfactory footing." The 75th anniversary of the arrival at Auckland of the ships The Duchess of j Argyle and Jane Gifford, will be cele- , brated on Wednesday, October 10, when ■ I the annual service and reunion of the New ' Zealand Old Colonists' Association will be held in the Town Hall. Members of tho' Old Colonists' Choral Association are re- ! quested to alt-end practice in St. Mat- \ thew's Parish Hall, Hobson Street, this I afternoon. The discontinuance of territorial parades ' was advocated in Parliament the other day by Mr. G. J. Anderson (Mataura). ' He complained that in certain districts it, was a common practice for drill instructors to ring up at the last moment, and ask the local non-commissioned officers to , take charge of the parade. On one j occasion the local non-commissioned officers had settled the question of seniority with | their lists, and after a series of vigorous i bouts, tho victor took charge of tho i parade.

A private conference of tho City Council's employees in the trawling industry and the employees of Messrs. Sanford, Ltd., was held yesterday with i, view to carrying out a suggestion by the Arbitration Court in recommitting tho industrial dispute to a Conciliation Council for consideration. The conciliation commissioner, Mr. T. Harle Giles, presided, The object of the conference was to obtain an expression from tho workers as to the conditions desired by them in relation to the trawling industry. No details of the result of the conference have been disclosed. "The Waikato River is exceptional among the rivers of tho world, in that in no other river is such a large quantity of fine sand brought down," said Mr. Ashley Hunter at the sitting of the Waikato River Commission last evening. Mr. Hunter stated that he had come to tho conclusion that at least 2,000,000 cubic yards of sand came down the Waikato eery year. The quantity might be even double that amount. He looked upon dredging the Waikato as an utterly futile operation for the purposes of improving it for navigation purposes. An appellant whoso case was heard yesterday by the Military Service Board told an unusual story of ill-luck. He enlisted for camp two days after disposing of his farm to a returned soldier, and had only been in camp about six weeks when the latter sold the stock and implements and abandoned the property. Directly appellant came home on leave he got on the track of the faithless one, and found he had taken a position in the North Auckland district for two years. Appe-1-'aiil had spent the remainder of his leave in repairing the damage caused by the neglect of his property, there still'being many matters which required attention. He was granted extension of leave in order to complete negotiations for the sale of the properly. The high prices paid for fat stock at West field last week were exceeded at this week's sales, choice ox beef selling up to £3 per lOOib, an advance of 4s per 1001b, while other grades advanced in proportion. Sheep and pigs maintained the previous week's values, the exceptionally high figure of £3 2s 9d being paid for a small lot of extra prime wethers. The arrangement between the retailers and the Board of Trade whereby the price of fresh meat was increased Id a pound, and frozen meat id a pound came into force on Monday. Thirty-six applications for further assistance were considered yesterday by the Claims Board of the Auckland Patriotic Association, and grants were made in most cases, There were present Mr. V. J. Lamer, chairman, and Messrs. H. D. Heather, E. Phelan, and C. J. Tunks. About sixty members of the Returned Soldiers' Association left last evening for Te Kuiti, where they will hold a carnival, the proceeds of which will form the nucleus of a fund for the purpose of erecting a Soldiers' Club in the King Country town, ' • ' i

A budget of interesting reading matter is contained in the supplement issued with to-day's Herald. Lieutenant-Colonel Graco contributes an article on "The British Victory," Elsie K. Morton writes of tho "Call to Camp," "The Union of Nations" is the subject of an article by Wm. Satchel], while other features aro " Early Days at the Thames," by J. McCombie; "Enemy Military Writers'," by H. Douglas Newton, and "Nature Notes" by J. Drummond, F.L.S., F.Z.S. Tho illustrations comprise topical war cari toons and a striking battlefield scene in tho British offensive of last July. Tho establishment of a war memorial museum at Auckland is suggested by Mr. T. F. Cheeseman, F.L.S., F.Z.S., in his jubilee sketch of the Auckland Institute and Museum and its future aims. He urges that, in addition to a collection of trophies or relics illustrating the share which this country has taken in the war, an attempt should be made to form a collection rf military weapons and instrument of war from the earliest times, shewing their gradual development to the present time. He suggests, that the interest, of the Horns Government and the allies might readily be, enlisted to further such an object, and. that, no doubt, private individuals, if approached by _ influential representatives of the Dominion, would be willing to donate niediievai or ancient armour, weapons, and other articles, An interesting relic has been found by a Reniuera resident, Mr. W. H. Fox. Whilst digging in the garden of his house at the foot of Glen Road, off Victoria Avenue, he came across a 9!b cannon ball about 2ft beneath the surface. It was slightly corroded, and had evidently lain under the ground for many years. Mr. Fox intends to offer the cannon ball 'o the Museum. He believes it to be a relic of the Maori war, though, of course, how it came to be where it was found is not clear.

There are practically no crops of early potatoes locally this year, the continuous wet weather having prevented growers from preparing the ground until Ion•' after the usual time for planting. Inquiries from farmers yesterday elicited the information thait several growers in the Pukekoho district and oilier potato-growing localities, who had planted small crops at the usual period, had lost them as a result of blight. The recent dry spell, it was stated, had afforded an opportunity to get crops planted, but these will he mu<-h later than usual, and very few newpotatoes will bo on the market before Christmas. Fortunately Southern potatoes of excellent quality are plentiful, and there should be no scarcity locally, notwithstanding the shortage of local crops. The annual terms examinations at the Auckland University College commence on October 12, and continue until October 26. This year's entries for these examinations, which are in the subjects that students have to pass before going in for degrees, number 125. This constitutes a record, the next highest having been 122 in a recent year.

The fact that nowhere in New Zealand has any attempt been made to form a botanical museum is referred to by Mr. T. F. Cheeseman in his jubilee sketch of the Auckland Institute and Museum as a preface to his offer to present to the museum his herbarium of New Zealand plants, : which he believes to be the largest and J most complete put together by individual ' effort. In addition, he includes a general I collection from all parts of the world. | There is also a nearly complete set of ' plants collected in New Zealand by Banks . and Solander during Cook's first voyage in I 1769-1770, which Mr. Cheeseman lately received from the trustees of the British Museum, and which has considerable scientific and historical value. A condition to the gift is the placing of it in a i ' separate room and maintaining it asapub- . lie barbarism. Professor A. P. W. Thomas, I in referring to the offer, states that it is one which should gladly be accepted in the public interest. J The settlement of native lands in the 1 North Auckland district was discussed by I Mr. W. J. Napier, New Zealand member j of the British Empire Land Settlement j Committee, in the course of a recent re- ! port to the London headauarters of the organisation. He referred to the difficulty ami delay attaching .'to the purchase of native lands, owing to the large number j of individuals having interests in the | i various blocks. Mr. Napier advocated any i , land lying unutilised after a definite num-' 1 ber of years being resumed compulsorily ' bv the Crown at its fair market value. Hitherto the Government had resolutely 1 refused to extend compulsory ex-propria-i tion to native lands. He said he considered the present system to be most i inequitable to the Europeans, who were constantly adding to (the value of native ' land. It seemed to him that what was , wanted was a permanent Land Settle- , ment Committee, co-operating with the 1 Government, exercising its functions in , conjunction with the Lands Department, : and controlling capital outside of the ordinary State funds provided by the existing laws. The report also mentioned ! that Mr. Napier was communicating with I tho .Government, with a view of having I existing legislation regarding the settle- . ment of returned soldiers extended to ] soldiers other than those born in NewZealand or residing here before the war.

Dissatisfaction with the report of the Kauri Gum Commissioner presented to Parliament last week was expressed at a meeting of Auckland gum merchants and brokers held a day or two ago. As an outcome of the meeting the following telegram .was forwarded to the' Prime Minister by Mr. F. L. Gribbin, chairman of the meeting :—" At a fully representative meeting of gum merchants and brokers it was unanimously .resolved : ' That the Gum Superintendent's report presented to Parliament last week is incomplete and misleading in many important respects. Tho meeting unhesitatingly challenges the Prime Minister's statement that the Government's operations have been a success, and respectively calls upon the Government to publish a full and complete balance-sheet showing their entire operations to date, with a true and certified valuation of stock unsold.' .Am communicating the above to. all Auckland members." Mr. Massey replied stating that the representations would have the careful consideration of tho Government. The scheme by which the Mangere Road Board should assume control of the' Mangere water .supply, in place of the Domain Board, was approved at a recent meeting of .Mangere ratepayers. Application has been made to the Government for a loan of £3000 for reticulation purposes, and a rating area is now being defined. Water will be drawn from the Onehunga reservoir at a cost of lOd per h/-- gallons. It is hoped that the system will be in working order before the dry weather sets in. A wholly-unexpected answer by a witness at the sittings of the Waikato River Commission at Waiuku caused much amusement to the auditors. A witness had given evidence as to having taken, at dead low-water, a heavily-laden barge through a passage proved to have no more than a few inches of water. Under crossexamination as to how he had accomplished this feat lie would only reply : " It went through under my direction."' Repetition of this answer at last provoked the question: " Were you there, at all''" Then came the unexpected reply: "No, I was at home, in bed!" A claim for 'the possession of books belonging to the Auckland Hotel and Restaurant Employees' Union formed the subject of an action instituted by the Auckland executive of the union against Arthur 8. Richards, secretary of the local branch, heard at the Gisborne Magistrate's Court yesterday. The real point in dispute was the question of the relative powers of the Gisborne and Auckland executives under the union rules. Evidence given in the action showed that Mr. Richards, acting under his committee's instructions, had refused to hand over the books when the Auckland executive passed a resolution dispensing with his service and demanding the books. The claim of the Auckland executive was that it possessed complete control over the Gisborne branch, Decision was reserved.