LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LV, Issue 16980, 14 October 1918, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

An Australian mail which left Sydney 1 on Thursday is due- at Wellington to-day. ' The Auckland portion, consisting of over . 40 bags, will probably reach here on Wedncsday morning. Injuries to his face and head, caused through being knockod down by a motorcar in Remucra Road, occasioned the admission to tho Hospital on Saturday afternoon, of a boy named Ralph Bennett, aged 11, whose parents resido at 249,- Remuera Road. Tho lad's injuries ar« not considered serious. Several properties in tho North Auckland district, in tho neighbourhood of Kaitaia, Kaihohe, and Obaewai, which have been offered to tho Government for the settlement of returned soldiers, have been inspected by the chairman of the Land Purchase Board, Mr. J. D. Ritchie, and the Commissioner of Crown Lands, Mr. H. M. Skeet. Valuations of the properties are to be made. The Remuera Fire Brigade received a call at 10 o'clock yesterday morning to a 'house, 4, Landscape Road, Epsom, owned and occupifd by Mr. F. Rendell. Some tar being boiled in a kerosene tin boiled ove», but the flames' were extinguished before the brigade arrived. The damage consisted merely of the scorching of tho wall. Tho houso was insured for £6QO. the contents for £300, both in tho Northern office. | Advice has boon received in Auckland I that tho mails which left New Zealand for j the United, Kingdom on August 16 reached I their destination safely. , 1 I A verdict of not guilty was returned by I the court-martial which tried Gunner W. i Murdoch, attached to the Homo Service branch of the R.N.Z.A., on a chargo of disobeying « lawful command. The court i consisted of Major A. Plugge, C.M.G., I Oaptain C, K. Bel!, and Captain Vv\ L. 11'itchener. Three of the seaplanes from the New Zealand Flying School, Kohimarama, weft out to meet tlw Niagara as the vessel arrived in port on Saturday morning. Tho machines were flown oy New Zealanders acting as instructors at the school, Messrs. M. Matthews, v. R. Going, and 0. B. Boit, Having saluted the steamer, 'ho airmen performed a teries of evolutions, and flew back and forth over the <-ity. The altitude attained was greater than vsual I in flights made from the Kohimarama I School, one of the machines reaching a height of over 3200 ft. Considerable puolic interest was created by the flights, the spectacle of the three seaplanes high up in the sky attracting tho notice of numerous people over a very wide area. An application in connection with a deceased soldier's will was heard by Mr. Justice Hoiking at the Supreme Court on Saturday morning. Prior to leaving for the front Private Archie R. Prunton, Ist, Auckland, Infantry, who was killed in action on February 6, made a will. Subsequently ho filled up the form of_ soldier's will in his pay-book. Both wills were identical in terms. As the second one contained a printed clause revoking all previous wills, it was necessary to apply to the Supreme Court for an order for the recall of pTobato of the first—which had already been granted in ignorance of the existence of the secondbefore probate of tho latter could bo obtained. The application was granted on Saturday by consent. Mr. S. E. Greenslade, on behalf of Mr. B. A. Singer, appeared for the parties concerned. His Honor intimated thai, if it were possible, he would remit the fees payable in connection with the granting of the second probata. • The courage of tho British soldier was I referred to by the Prime Minister at tho Orphans' Club gathering, on Saturday ; evening. " The British soldier is as [ valiant and courageous as any troops in tho field," said Mr. Massey, "raid he has shown no deterioration from the spirit shown by his fighting ancestors. While in 'Britain, I heard of an incident not reported in tho cabled news. Nine hundred British troops with 70 officers were put in to hold a precarious position for four days, during the retreat in March. They did their work, but only one officer and 70 men came back. That illustrates the mettle of the British soldier better than anything I can say." The bankruptcy returns for the quarter ended September 30, show that 20 new bankruptcies wore filed, as compared with 24 during tho corresponding • period of last year. The amount of assets realised was £883? 2s, and tho amount |fcid in dividends, including preferential claims, was £2358 5s ' lid, as compared with £8275 2a 8d and £6234 15s 4J re-

spectively, for the corresponding quartor of the previous year. The returned soldiers' hostel in Queen Street was visited yesterday afternoon by the Prime Minister, and also by Sir Josoph and Lady Ward. .Scon afterwards the Minister for Finance said tho institution

was one of those useful provisions which it was interesting to seo were still being made for the purpose of assisting New Zealand men, returned from the war, to recover their full health. Everything about the hostel, ho said, was in perfect order, and its general aptitude for the work it had set out to do was noticeable. Tho locality was a very good one, and it seemed to him to be quite evident that, before long, further additions to the building would be required. There was no more worthy object for the support of those who were anxious to help Now Zealand soldiers than institutions of this sort.

The amount collected by means of\tho Patriotic Paddy's Market, held at Takapuna on Friday last, was over £400. This amount includes £40 or £50 recoived by tho local children from the sale of bottles and tins. The Mayoress of Auckland, Mrs. J. H. Gunson, who attended tho fete, delivered an address on Red Cross activities.

I ■A delivery of letters that arrived by tho Vancouver mail on Saturday, was made from the letter-carriers' branch, on Saturday evening. As usual, thero was a _ large congregation of relatives and .friends of soldiers awaiting receipt of letters from the front. The officials, who worked with customary energy, wero kept busv for an hour and a-half' in delivering tho letters. As thero had been no partial house delivery, tho number of letters handled in a comparatively short 'period was unusually large. The question of a general election was being freely discussed in Britain for Borne time boforo Bir Joseph Ward loft on his

return to New Zealand. The Minister stated on Saturday that there was no certainty as to whether an election would take place. There were great differences of opinion on the subject, the remarkable feature being that, apparently, all the great parties, including the Liberals, the Unionists, and tho Labour Party, were not in favour of a general election. It was impossible for him to say what the out. come would be.

An increased war bonus was recently applied for by the Carpenters' Union before the Arbitration Court, which en Saturday filed its decision. This was to increase the bonus paid to the workers in the trade from 2d to 3d an hour as from Monday next. This /increase will bring tho wages of carpenters and joiners to Is 9d an hour., In a covering memorandum the Court' stated that it did not feel justified in making the increase greater. It had to be remembered that in this industry there were two classes of workers—highly-skilled carpenters and joinors, and semiskilled men capable of doing only rougher classes of work. Minimum wages had to be fixed by the Court with relation to the less skilled workers. In the painters' trade the Court increased the wages from If <Ud an hour to Is 5Jd an hour, with an Edi- ! tion of a war bonus of 3d an hour.

I A new ten-shilling note has just been issued by the Bank of New South Wales for circulation in Now Zealand. It it printed in scarlet lake ink on a very pale rose-tinted paper, in which tho watermark "Bank of New South Wales" is worked with a zig-zag border. Tho design of the new note follows that of the bank's issue in higher denominations, but the lettering is different,

CONFERENCE WITH MINISTER.

Several chiefs of the Waikato an*] Maniapoto tribes met the Minister for Defence, Sir James Allen, at the- residence of Kai Hau, at Epsom, yesterday to discuss the enlistment of Maoris and the operation of the military service ballot. The object of the gathering was to endeavour to removo, if possible, the friction lately existing between certain Maori tribes and the Defence authorities. The Minister said he had no wish to embarrass the natives in regard to military service If the tribes found the required number of men under tho voluntary system the ballot would not be put into operation against them. The matter rested entirely with tho natives themselves. The men in camp who had refused duty would be court-martiallec! and if court-martialled would not escape from the obligation of rendering military service. Tho Minister and his party were subsequently entertained nt afternoon tea by Mrs. Kai Hau.