NEWS OF THE DAY

New Zealand Times, Volume XLVII, Issue 10957, 20 July 1921, Page 4

NEWS OF THE DAY

A gentleman who has recently arrived in New -Zealand from Honolulu stated the other day that quite recently 35,000 United States troops were sent to Hawaii, where a strong army base has been established. “

Senior-Sergeant Fitzpatrick stated at the Magistrate’s Court iu Palmerston North that for some time past, especially during sale periods, business people of Palmerston North had had. pounds’ worth of articles Btolen from their premises.

It is reported that Messrs Ogilvy and Sons had the misfortune to Jose about fiftjr sheep by drowning in . the Ruamahunga river near Homebush on Sunday. The. river, rising suddenly, swept the animals away before assistance could he obtained. A considerable portion of land in the neighbourhood was under water.

“When I took charge of the Northern S.S. Company in 1888,” said Mr C. Rapson, when speaking at'the annual dinner of the Commercial Travellers’ Club in Auckland, “it had eight steamers; now we possess 40. In 1888 we carried 38,000 passengers during the year, now we carry 200,000, and the cargo has increased in the same period from 50,000 tons to 240,000 tens annually.”

A strong plea for the physieallydefeotive school child was made by Mr J. R. Whitaker, headmaster of the Mount Albert (Auckland) public school, at a meeting held to consider the question of improvements ■to the school grounds. “Special outdoor instruction is devoted to these children,” said Mr Whitaker, “and it is only reasonably fair to expect suitable playgrounds in which to give that inspection.”

, Gn behalf of a young man named Albert Leary, who appeared in the Court last week on charges of drunkenness and wilfullybreaking a pane of glass in his married sister’s house, and who was subjected to scathing comment from counsel and a. witness, a protest has been made by Mr C. A. L. Treadwell thus an injustice had been done to his client, who was bv no means so black a. character as ho had been described It has been explained that Leary deserted from one of tiro later reinforcements, for which offence lie was duly punished. After that he worked at his calling and received certificates of good character from his employers

The number of private schools registered in the. Wanganui education district is lit present 25.

A Chinese storekeeper at Raetihi has been declared bankrupt. His unsecured debts amount to £2113.

It is anticipated that there will bo a further increase in the price of gas in Masterton at an early date.

More than 26 tons of coal per week are consumed at the Waikato Hospital. The water consumption runs into 15,500 gallons per day.

A fair quantity of whitebait has been netted at the mouth of the Manawatu river during the past fortnight, and has been retailed at 4s per pound.

It is stated that a moving staircase will he one of the appointments of Auckland’s new theatre. This will he the first innovation of the kind in this country.

A man with a family of six, who pleaded that he had been tempted to sell liquor in order to get out of debt, was fined £25 at Ashburton last week on a charge of keeping liquor for sale in a no-license district.

A meeting of the Soft Goods Employees’ Association was held in the Wellington Chamber of Commerce last evening to consider a proposal to alter certain rules governing the association’s procedure.

A man named Williams, who had Walked a long distance m a vain search for work, jumped into the Wanganui river from the Matapima bridge. He was rescued by a man who was in the neighbourhood, and is now in the Tam►uarumii hospital.

At Thames, Walter Kenneth Caineron, aged 41, a miner, committed suicide by shooting himself with a pea rifle. The deceased was a victim of miner’s complaint, and had been ill a long time. At the inquest a verdict was returned that death was caused by a gunshot wound self-inflicted.

One of those kindly acts which are so much appreciated was performed by the children of, liarori public school yesterday. A number of the senior pupils attended the funeral of the late Lieutenant Wade, and at the conclusion of the service a wreath mado by the scholars was placed on’ the coffin of the deceased.

The Victoria College Library now contains approximately 15,000 volumes, and has been very largely made use of by students during the past year. The work of the library has been hampered by lack of space, there not being enough room either to house the volumes or to accommodate the readers. These hindrances will be removed when Ijhe library ia moved to the new north wing. !

The residents of Ngongotahi Valley, near Rotorua, who have been agitating fox- a school for three years, ‘have agreed to provide a small building, 16ft bjr 12ft, at their own expense, and the Education Board has agreed to pay 5s a, week rent, and- to appoint a permanent teacher. The school is expected to open with nine children, some of whom will travel six miles to and fro in the day.

An auctioneer was charged at the Palmerston Nferth Magistrate’s Court with having committed breaches of the Arms Act. by failing to register’ three guns within one month of their coming into his possession. “The guns are not worth twopence,” he said, and immediately offered to put them to the test. Addressing the magistrate he said: “Look here, Your Worship, I’ll give you .an hour in which to try and shoot me, and I’ll stand only five yards away.”

•A good response has been made by citizens of Dunedin to the, City Council’s request for the early payment of rates. About 1H5,000 has been paid into the coffers of the corporation, which ie about double the amount paid by the same date last year. Money is also coming in freely for the repayment loan which falls due on March Ist, 1922, and about £45,000 has already been received. The amount is coming to hand m sums which vary from a. few hundreds to a few thousands a day.

“I appear for the defendant, Your Worship, and I regret to state that the dog in question is dead,” said counsel in a prosecution for failing to register a dog, yesterday. “I have no information to that effect, but I am prepared to accept the statement of my learned friend as to the decease of the unfortunate animal;” said Mr J. Doyle, who appeared for the > City Council. “That ie remarkable,” said the magistrate, highly amused. “Can you tell me if the dog died on receipt of the summons, or subsequently?”

The main sources of the Victoria. College revenue are grants from the Government and fees. The only endowment of the college is the Nukumaru Reserve, from which the revenue is about £BO per annum. The other reserve to which the college might reasonably have looked for an increasing source of revenue—the Opaku Reserve —was, by the Taranaki Scholarship Act of 1905, diverted to providing scholarships for students of Taranaki. Under the circumstances, states the annual report of the Victoria College Council, it seems reasonable that the Government ehould provide -the college with some endowment that will produce an increasing revenue as the college develops.

A well-known New Zealand visitor to England, who during the war was very much interested in the welfare of the “boys” of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force, lately went down" to the 'Nov.- Forest, _ and, of course, made a point of reviving his memories, of Brockennurst, which was the headquarters of the No. I New Zealand General Hospital. He went to the local military cemetery and was much pleased to find how carefully tended are the graves of New Zealanders who are buried there, fresh flowers being continually placed on them all. He feels it would be a comfort for relatives in New Zealand to know that their sons- and brothers have not been forgotten and that kind English folk are tending their, graves.

Speaking at the Winton A. and P. reunion recently, Mr W. E. Taylor expressed sentiments that deserved to be acted upon in times that call for the quality of courage:.—“At the present time the Empire was passing through a very strenuous time, but with that grit which is natural to the Britisher, wo would emerge eafely. The low values of our produce made the money available much less than in the years of the commandeer. The returns from Southland's 25,000 bales of wool had fallen from £450,000 to £IOO,OOO. And in addition to this, the returns from oats and ryegrass, two staple products of Southland, had also fallen, and the total decrease would be found to be in the vicinity of half a million sterling. However, it was not a time to pull long faces, and by going steadily and working hand in hand we were going to weather the financial stringency. It was a. time when the commercial man, the farmer, and pastoralist must stand solidly together and thus keep tho farmer on -his farm and the business man in -his office.”

Eggs are being sold at Palmerston Xorth at 2s per dozen.

It has been remarked that a “cut” w'ill be made in the Wairarapa railway service next inoutli.

Hares are very plentiful in the Bulls district. Last week a party of three secured a bag of 70.

A plate-glass window in an Auckland shop was broken one day last week by a horse and cart backing into it. The glass, which was valued at about £3O, was insured for its value.

The position in regard to tho trouble at the Auckland municipal abattoirs remains unchanged. A good deal of the slaughtering work is being done by the master butchers. _ t

A deliberate attempt to burn down a hall, used as a picture theatre at Rangiora is alleged to have been made last week. The fire was discovered in its incipient stages.

The Rev. J. A. Lochore, superintendent of the Auckland East Methodist Circuit, has received the promise of £4OOO in order that an date church may be built in Remuera.

The Dannevirke Chamber of Commerce has declined to support the protest of the Levin chamber against the construction of the Palmerston North railway deviation

Tlie New Plymouth Harbour,Board lias made arrangements in regard to finance which will enable loan works to be carried on for a further three months.

The Postal authorities have been advised that the s.s. Waiiiiina, which left San Francisco on the 10th inst. for Wellington, has on board 226 bags of mail for New Zealand. Of this number 210 are parcel receptacles.

In connection with the suspected case of incendiarism at the Mosgiel High School, a Dunedin paper states that it is a singular fact that several of the Taieri schools have received a little attention of recent years in the matter of fire. It is not long since the East Taieri School was destroyed by fire. Shortly afterwards Wylie’s Crossing School disappeared before the flames; North Taieri followed.

Mr E. Page, 'S.M., was engaged yesterday in hearing a case in which W. Robinson, engineer, claimed* from Charles Holmes the sum of £l2 7s 6d for repairs which were made to the defendant’s motor-cycle on April 10th last. After hearing evidence, the magistrate gave judgment for the full amount claimed and costs. Mr J. W. Stevenson appeared for the plaintiff, and .Mr W. E. Leicester for the defendant.