NEWS OF THE DAY

New Zealand Times, Volume XLVII, Issue 10950, 12 July 1921, Page 4

NEWS OF THE DAY

It is understood that the increase in coal freights to the port of Wanganui is likely to range from 2s to 2s 6d per.ton. The reason for the increase given by the that the cost of working ships is continually increasing.

Mr Justice F. Y. Frazer will deliver a lecture at the Leys Institute, Ponsonby, Auckland, this evening, on “Some Efconomio Questions.” Among other maters, the lecturer will discuss the causes Effecting the inflation and deflation of pricey, and the results that may be derived from scientific management and .. vocational selection.

A salesman pleaded guilty, in the Magistrate’s Court (says tbe “Manawatu Times”) to stealing £l7 15s' from the firm he represented, and to stealing 20s from a letter belonging to a convent. He was admitted to probation for three years. At the same sitting of the court, a man who stole a pair of boots while under the influence of liquor, was sentenced to three months’ hard labour.

One of those amusing incidents which sometimes relieve the tedium of court proceedings occurred at the Lyttelton Magistrate’s Court one day last week. A Frenoh seaman appeared on a charge, of drunkenness. Afi the man apparently knew no English, and there ,was no interpreter available, the court officials were in a quandary. They could not proceed with tho case until the man had had the nature of the charge explained to him, and been given an opportunity of pleading. After some -delay a court official ventured a little JTrencJh. “Vous avez buvais yesterday?” he inquired tentatively# The prisoner was plainly puzzled. The official tried again: “Ils dit vous avez buvais yesterday!" he said. The Frenchman was still puzziled. Therefore a police constable, with a suspicion of a Hibernian accent, interjected with “Hey! Henri, was you drunk yesterday?” “Oui, yes,” he exclaimed, smiling amiably. “Ver droonk.” Amid the laughter which followed he was convicted and discharged.—“Lyttelton Times.”

Out of 1600 members of the Auckland Watersiders’ Union, only 181 received employment last week. The wages of road employees in tho Woodville county are being r.dueed by two shillings per day. The sales of meat by auction in Wanganui will probably be abandoned after this week. During well-boring operations in the Manawatu district recently, Alessrs Brown and Rasmussen struck a piece of wood nine inches long at a depth of 400 feet, y Evidence of exceptionally mild weather up to the on-d of June is afforded by the fact that the large native clematis which usually blooms in August, is already bursting into bloom in the Manawatu district. “People will not learn the simplest possitjjo sanitary or hygienic laws. You get surprised as a doctor when you go round to find how little is known about the methods: of trying to keep well,” said the Hon. Dr. W. E. Collins at New Plymouth recently. 'ftie secretary of the Alanawatu Patriotic Society (Air J. Permain) mentioned to a meeting that the first payment (totalling about £6OO to date) had been made to the dependents of fallen soldiers. These payments bed been received with great gratitude by the recipients. Coal as a possible “carrier” of diphtheria is quite a new discovery. An advocate of pure milk has written to the Christchurch health authorities stating that he saw two men lifting a sack of co-al into a milk cart, and “in view of diphtheria being so prevalent,” he added, “I think this practice should be stopped, as wo want pure milk!” The coming conference of the New Zealand Farmer's’ Union is to consider .a remit from Southland, protesting agadrist military defaulters being released from'’ prison, and urging that the union strongly support the R.S.A. in any action that may be necessary to prevent defaulters obtaining civil rights. It 1 --was mentioned at yesterday’s' meeting of the Wellington Chamber of Commerce that a suggestion had been thrown out that the chief postmasters should he members of chambers of commerce. Their advice would he invaluable where postal matters were under discussion. The. idea was considered to be a good one. An amending award was filed yesterday in the Court of Arbitration for the wool, grain and hides stores employees in the 'Wellington, Danner irke, Hastings, Alastqrton, Napier and Waipukurau districts. Casual workers are to he paid not less than. Is lid per hour; workers in oil stores, 2s per hour; plus a bonus of 2id per hour. The first of the new series of students’ compositions being field by the Wellington branch of the New .Zealand Institute of Architects. resulted as follows -'First, Mr ! A. D. Connell (with Mr Stanley W. Feam); second, Mx- B. W. Johns (with Mr William M. Page). The subject set was a. measured drawing and sketch of the Masonic Hall, Bouleott street. 1 Complaints have lately been received by the Mayor and the town clerk of Christchurch as to the danger in volved to cyclists and others by the presence of lorries and drays in. the streets loaded with long overhanging pipes or lengths of timber. The danger is said to he particularly acute at street corners, when a vehicle so loaded swings round and the extended tail comes Into contact with other road users.

Property-owners in Waihi * were, doubtless pleased to hear that the differences between , members of the fire brigade, which led to the recent suspensions and resignations had been, adjusted. This was accomplished at a meeting of 'the men who remained in the brigade and the ex-firemen at a meeting convened by the newly-ap-pointed superintendent, when among those enrolled jwere tho seven men who left tfie brigade.

When the Anglican Synod yesterday was discussing a proposal to sell a piece of land in Riddiford street, a Pahiatua delegate remarked on the prospective of Wellington values. The tendency was to rise, and sales should be made onlv for' grave considerations. He did not think the Synpd could get much just now from sales or building leases. Wellington had a fine future and the city of Wellington would double itself.

The medical examination of children attending the schools was referred to by Dr. W. E. Collins in his address to the Bed Cross Society and Order of st. John at New Plymouth. Thirteen medical officers with three nurses to each officer, were now engaged in the work. He asked whether is was possible for thirteen medical practitioners to examine all the children in the New Zealand schools and do justice to the examination. The officers appointed were doing excellent work, hut still there did not seem to be sufficient of them.

The deat rate from tuberculosis had been reduced considerably in the past 20 years, Dr. Collin ssaia at New Plymouth a few days ago; but there was still room for a further reduction. He quoted the figures for 1918. With regard to children, between 5 and 10 years, he thought ' a solution of the tubercular -trouble, to a large extent, lay in proper care during -and after measles ana whooping-cough, which pulled them down and made them very receptive to. the .microbes of tuberculosis if they came in contact with them. •

'lt is the opinion of Air S. E. McCarthy, S.M., of Christchurch, that, although barmaids wore 'required by law some years ago to be registered, and that although no new barmaids were since granted licenses, their numbers have not decreased to the extent anticipated. During the hearing of a case against a licensee of having employed an unlicensed barmaid, he stated that probably they were on the increase. They were like the pensioners, he said, who had fought in the United States in the war between the North and the South. As the years rolled by, and certain pensioners died, more came to life. , (laughter.)

If the newly-arrived immigrant, W H. Sharpe, succeeds in getting back to England, what kind of a yarn is fie likely to spin when he finds Himself once more in tfie Old Country (says a correspondent of tfie 'Thames “Star”). He will say: “I was led to believe that if I came out to New Zealand I could §et- a job, at good pay, right away. o I went to New Zealand, and couldn’t get a job at all, but when I wanted to return Home the New Zealand Government declined to let me go because it paid £l9 towards my passage money out and required me to refund the money!” Not a very good advertisement for New Zealand 1 But possibly the publicity this case has excited may result in somebody or other finding suitable work for Air Sharpe, and in that case he may live to he jolly glad he, didn’t leave Maoriland. There are worse courrtries, after all, whatever the home-sick new chum may think about it.

It is again reported .that the Chinese are securing a big hold of the furniture trade in Auckland. There are at present fifty patients in the Mqsterton hospital, including ' one in isolation. The finance committee of the Dunedin City Council has made arrangements with the council’s bankers for an overdraft limit of £250,000. Out of 50 circular letters sent out to leading business concerns in Christchurch, urging them to endeavour to find work for returned soldiers, not one favourable reply has been received. The approximate deficit on the Lon don County Council tramways for the year to March 31st, 1921, is £669,682. which, it is anticipated, will he reduced to about £540,484. Berlin has seen a record marriage year. Not even during the war were there as many marriages as last year During the war Berlin registers showed 37,i89 marriages, while 53,691 took place in 1920.--Duff McKay, master of the Auckland City Council steam trawler, was fined £lO for trawling in a prohibited area by Mr J. W. Poynton, S.M., who recommended that the vessel be released to the owners on payment of £SO. It is now reported that the whale stranded on the I'Ox ton beach is of the “bottle-nose” species. It /is thought that the monster was har-. pooned by the Per ano whaling party, and drifted, as the carcase shows a big wound in the side. “How frequently would you say i'our husband was drunk?” queried counsel in - a maintenance cake yesterday. “Usually about once a. week,” replied the witness 1 . “Oh, surely,” interposed Mr F. K. Hunt, S.M., “that’s not out of the way, is it®?’ “Too often for me,” replied the witness decisively. “We usually sell our old, worm-eaten buildings to Chinamen,” said Councillor F. C. Cooke at a meeting of the Christchurch Council. “That is the reason why we have diphtheria in congested areas. There are rotten buildings all over the city. They have been painted over, but they are still insanitary.” A strong criticism of the action of the Australian Postal authorities in patting a mail of seventeen hags for New Zealand on board the steamer Canastota is being made by business men. It is claimed that it w«s veryreprehensible to put mails on a steamer carrying benzine. In the United States of America there was a strict regulation that neither mails nor passengers should ~be carried by such vessels.

A little chap of ten years has sent the following rather pathetic message to Nurse Bussell, whose hospital in Hamilton was recently destroyed by fire, and on whose behalf the relief committee is still raising funds. The message speaks for itself: “I am the little huntsman you nursed and I see about your terrible fire and would like to give you my first money I have won at the Cambridge show. ■ With love from Ned.” Enclosed was a tenshilling note.

The refusal of the Post and Telegraph Department to install direct wireless communication between Wellington and Christchurch was mentioned by the Mayor of Christchurch (Dr. H. T. J. Thacker, M.P.), on receipt of a letter from the Chamber of. Commerce. The Mayor said that the trouble was not with the cables, but with the land route* when storms occurred. Messages now arrived frequently “delayed in transmission.” This would be obviated by direct wireless.

There is no sign of a cheapening in the painting trade ; rather the reverse (says an exchange), for oil has gone up Is per gallon in England, the price of the drums is increased, and lead has advanced £2 per ton. “Well; why not from Australia?” is a natural question. But_ the merchant to whom it was addressed waved the suggestion aside with the remark that the English goods are still the cheaper, the extension of the trade with Australia being quite forbidden by the protective tariff./

One of the Auckland City Corpora, tion’s steam trawlers, the Cowan, suddenly went out of commission (says the “Star”) as a supplier of the Municipal Fish Market. While out on his patrol of the protected fishing waters of the gulf, Inspector Bennett sighted the Cowan trawling in waters that he considered to be nearly three miles within the restricted area. He consequently challenged the steamer,. and declared her seized and under forfeit to the Customs Department for a bleach .of the fisheries regulations. The matter will ■be ventilated before a magistrate, in the hearing of a charge against the master of the trawler.

Ohe of the remarkable things about the Magistrate’s Court is the professed poverty of the people who find their way into it. On a day of maintenance cases it is remarkable how the incomes of the gentlemen summoned shrink' into nothingness. Most of them, according to their own statements are only making a, bare living. Mr F. K. Hunt, S.M., had something to eay on this yesterday, when one defendant stressed his lack of resources. “It is marvellous,” said the magistrate, “how little money people seem able to live upon. Most of the men. I have before me on Mondays seem to earn as little as a Chinaman.”

Morrinsville Borough Council has not sufficient funds to complete its water scheme. The original cost of the proposal was £43,510, and the loan raised was £45,000, blit the scheme is now estimated to cost £11,500 more than the amount of the loan raised. The council applied for £4500, the statutory 10 per cent, additional, but it has not been granted, owing to the financial stringency. The council has decided to send a deputation to Wellington with a view to endeavouring to raise money, and preliminary steps are to be taken for a poll to raise a further £7OOO with which to complete the work.

A good story relating to Mr James Edward Fitzgerald, first editor of the Christchurch “Press,” and afterwards Provincial Superintendent, was told by Mr O. T. J. Alpers in the Canterbury College Hall, Christchurch, last week, a story which Mr Alpers guaranteed had not seen print before. Sir Fitzgerald was contesting an election at Lyttelton in the early days, when the candidates spoke from the hustings. There was present at the meeting a butjgher who enjoyed. a local inasmuch as he was tbe proprietor of the first sausage machine to be imported into the new settlement. This butcher heckled Mr Fitzgerald badly, and > n the course of one , noisy interruption said he wished he had the candidate in his sausage machine; he would soon make mincemeat of him. Mr Fitzgerald replied ecripturally. “Is thy servant a dog,” ho said, “that thou should do this thing?”