NEWS OF THE DAY

New Zealand Times, Volume XLII, Issue 9695, 25 June 1917, Page 4

NEWS OF THE DAY

Yesterday’s weather in Wellington was particularly uninviting for outdoor exercise so that once again conditions were unfavourable for judging the effect of tho minimum threepenny faro on the trams. There was a close, misty rain throughout the day with a south-easterly gale which at times reached a velocity of 50 miles an hour. In the evening, however, the boisterous and rainv weather abated. The rainfall officially registered up to S) o’clock yesterday morning was nearly one and a half inches. Mr Groville, editor of the “Dairyman,” stated at a Palmerston meeting that he had been informed that butter was being sold in Auckland at thirteen ponce per pound. There were over two hundred thousand boxes of •butter in store that could not bo shipped. This fact accounted evidently lor the price he had quoted. Tho examination by Mr i August Hans (diver for tho Wellington Harbour Board) of tho barque that went; ashore at Peucarrow last Monday and was subsequently refloated, was completed on Saturday evening. Tbe result of his examination is to be reported to Mr H. A. Rothwell, local agent for Lloyd's Corporation.

A man named Michael Joseph McCann admitted charges of drunkenness and stealing a portmanteau, together -with its contents, valued at £6 X9s 6d, the property of Alfred Benjamin Lucas, when ho came before Mr W, G. Hiddell, S.M., on Saturday. Defendant was in an inebriated state when he committed the theft. He was remanded for sentence.

The few tram conductors on duty yesterday had a very easy time in £pnsequenco of the bad weather. Two cars travelling over most of tbo town lines had solitary patrons on two particular journeys. Even then, tlio conductors did not collect fares, for the passengers wore police officials. Ono _of the “deadheads” related this with great gusto to a “Times”, reporter last evening.

A pathetic incident was witnessed at tho Lambton Police Station last evening, when the-widow of a Pacific Islander who has lost his life at the front was brought in. She was in an obviously (demented condition, and her Sow of language in her own -quasi-Maori . tongue was unceasing. She was handed over to tho care of tho female watchhouse attendant to await, medical examination, which will no doubt result in her being sent to the Porirna Mental Hospital.

Regulations for the making and branding of fruit cases were .submitted by tbo Director of Horticulture at a recent meeting of the board of directors of the Fruitgrowers’ Federation in Wellington. The regulations will ho gazetted and brought into operation before next season. They will provide for the standardisation of the bushel and half-bushel cases. It was decided by the. meeting that trial shipments of apples should bo sent to the Netherland Indies (Java and Borneo). The requirements for this trade were said to bo a smaller apple than that required for tlio British and American markets, and it was estimated that big business would bo done when the trade developed.

The wash-out in Wilton road, Wadestown, which carried away a portion of the roadway, occurred in the same place where a similar accident took place a few months ago. In the opinion of the executive of tho • Wadestown Municipal Electors’ Association, in effecting repairs, insufficient allowance was made for carrying off storm-water from tho adjacent hills. It was resolved to call the attention of the corporation to the danger of a recurrence of disaster unless proper culvert outlet was provided, and the hope was expressed that the amount allocated in the estimates for special works in the district . would not be • trenched upon for restoring tho road.

Many a person who has accidentally blundered at night over tho edge of the wharf, .to find himself struggling for life in the harbour, has to thank tho Harbour Board officials for their observation and promptness. Again this was exemplified in the small hours of Saturday morning. Air Jeromson, a Harbour Board official, was sitting in the tolls office, when he heard a faint cry, as if flora someone in distress. Ho rushed outside and shouted in reply, • but heard no further cry. He raised the alarm, and within » few moments harbour men and police were searching about the vicinity where the cry originated. A dark form was perceived, and a boat rushed out to the rescue- A man was pulled aboard just at the last gasp. Another five minutes and it would have been too late.

The method adopted by gome people to render happy the lives of wives and dependents of soldiers may be illustrated (remarks the “Auckland Star”). The wife of a returned soldier was in search of respectable and homely board within t'ho city the other day. She advertised her requirements, and received a number of replies,- which she considered, and eventually chose one .at being most likely to, suit. She called at the house, _ and the proprietress, evidently an unusually scrupulous person, went to the door. After the business explanation the following exchange of remarks occurred. Proprietress: “Of course, I must have three references as to your character from three citizens of repute before I can admit you.” The. soldier’s wife mentioned that she had no written credentials, but she had been associated with the households of three of Auckland’s worthiest citizens, named, with whom communications could be obtained by telephone. Proprietress (with an emphasis that suggested suspicion): “Oh, they must be written references.” The woman in search of a kindly hearth in her solitary situation replied: “Before I would reside here I also should require a reference as to the way yotr conduct your house, for already you have given me insult. Good afternoon 1”

A scheme is under way for providing a Presbyterian Homo for the Aged in Dunedin. A site of ten acres wiahin the city limits has been given by a

member of tbe Church, ami £llOO has already been collected for the- building.

Saturday being the Prince of Wales’s birthday, there was an parly sitting of the Magistrate's Court, over which Mr W. G. Riddell, S.M.. presided. First- offending inebriates were dealt with in the usual manner, and George Brailey, who had three previous convictions opposite Ws name in the conn, records, was lined :20s. and given the option of spending three days in gaol. The national headquarters of tho Y.M.C.A. has received from Mr C. Jj. S. Kelly, of Keiburn, a large and very handsomely-framed engraving of Queen Victoria at- St. Paul's on the occasion of her diamond jubilee, for the use of tho Soldiers’ Club at Trentham- Tile association has also to acknowledge a donation of £1 for its war fund from Tc Morchu.

A gentleman who recently paid a visit to a military camp where a new .'draft of recruits were being shown “how to walk and where to place their feet,” came away convinced that then is nothing like soldiering as a means ol levelling up tho social classes of the community. In one of the cookhouses he was surprised to find a well-known university professor and a graduate busily removing the overcoats from a pile of potatoes and onions, while the officer who presently came along was. in civilian life, a person who concerned himself with the cut of one's clothes. The vexed question of, “When is a man drunk?” is to come before tho -Magistrate’s Court this morning, when login argument will be heard on the subject. On Satuudav morning a man named Andrew Semple Waddell was charged before Mr IV. G. Riddell, S.M., with being found in a drunken condition on Lambton quay. He was a first offender and in accordance with tbo court’s custom would probably have been convicted and discharged, hut he pleaded not guilty. Doiemlant applied for a remand in order that- ho might secure the services of Mr T. M. Wilford, who was awav from Wellington, and the application was granted. Passengers from the feontli by the Maori yesterday had an unlooked-for cruise round the wharves provided them. For throe hours the terry steamer made attempts to get alongside, but in the face of heavy wind and rain failed. At length tho master of the vessel found it impossible to bring his charge up to her usual berth, and turned her to tho King s wharf. It was not until a quarter past ten, three hours after arrival in tho harbour, that the Maori was safely berthed, at that wharf. In cominfj alongside, the vessel badly bumped against the wharf, making a huge dent in one of her plates. A long, tarry scrape on her bow, with some minor buddings of her plates, also boar testimony to the force ov the bump. William Mara Connie was made aware of tho fact in the Magistrate s Court on Saturday that to utilise a motor-cycle sidecar for tho purpose of sleeping off the after-effects of overindulgence in strong drink is somewhat expensive. Defendant, being overcome by the fumes of liquor, hit upon—as ho thought—-the happy idea of requisitioning a sidecar that lie discovered in a byway, as a comfortably improvised bed. He duly took possession of the sidecar, which was attached to a motor-cycle, amt during his leaden slumber, evidently finding that lid was in a cramped position, stretched his Jogs,-with tho result that he put his foot through the wind-screen. A fine of os was imposed, defendant- being also ordered to pay 5s to G. F. Pbythian, tbo owner of the car, for the damage done.

Tho Stratford correspondent of the “Taranaki Herald’’ says; —“There is no sign of that salutary settling dowu of the farmer folk for which tho best friends of tho country aro hoping. Indeed, ‘selling out’ seems to bo more than ever the really vital issue with many so-called settlers, the crowning achievement of their three t' ear ® course. One is reminded qf an old nursery game, ‘One (year) to scoop, two to stay, three makes ready, and four—away.’ Well, it is all right for the land "agents and tho lawyers, and brings grist to other mills, but the farming community as a whole is much the poorer for it, the. land is loss productive, and social life lacks much of the charm that attaches to long-continued intimacies. There may be some advantages to set against these drawbacks of tho habit of unrest. The rolling stono loses its unpleasant angularity, keeps bright and unmildewed on the surface, and may by good luck some day roll into quite an enviable position. But a constant change of tenants is not good for tho land nor for tho dairy herds. Napier papers report many unploasant experiences of settlers during the J3ast Coast flood. The “Telegraph says: “Air F. Rhodes, who was out at his Koropiko property, had a- narrow escape from drowning. He, in company with his boh and Mr and Mrs Jackson, was stuck up in tho house amid steadily-rising waters. A boat rescued the lady, but was unable to take the other members of the party, who were reduced to standing on the furniture to keep their heads above water. It had been decided to make an attempt to swim to a near-by barn at 3 o’clock if rescue was not forthcoming by then, but, fortunately for all concerned, tlio boat arrived at the house just about the time the attempt was to he made, and the party was saved. In an attempt to save four valuable cows that wore being swept away bv the waters, Mr It bodes nearly lost his life, but fortunately he was prevailed upon to leave the cattle to their fate. Mr Rhodes is also a heavy loser. From his farm at Pakowhai 1500 sheep have been lost, 1000 of which Mr Rhodes had arranged the salo of at £2 2s a head a short tima ago, and at his small farm at Tara-, dale the complete stock of cattle, pigs, and poultry has been lost.”