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Otago Daily Times, Issue 16782, 25 August 1916, Page 4

" British, Belgian, and Portuguese troops ar 0 fighting side by side on the shores ot Lake Nyassa," stated Mi J. E. Stych, of Brooklyn, who has just returned to tho dominion after a lengthy visit to Central Africa, in conversation with a Wellington Post repotter. "Since the war, a largo army of black labourers has lieen engaged m making roads for the transport of munitions and supplies, and military motor oars and motor cycles can bo seen spinning along fine loads, where a few months ago thick jungle blocked' all trafjic. Progress is, of coutse, very slow, 011 account of the extremely difficult nature of tho country, but it will only bo a question of time before tho Allies win through." Oiu' Wellington correspondent informs us that an inspection is being made by officers of tho Public Health Department into affairs at Trentham comp, with the object of discovering reasons, if special reasons exist, for the recent epidemic of sickness among the troops there. It will 'interest the people of Otago and Southland to know that ttie entoitamments given to the men of tho (Sixteenth Reinforcements by tho Otago and Southland Women's Association wero the most successful and tho largest attended of any ■similar' gatherings. Consequent on tho abandonment of tho billeting sehemo, tho Mayor (Mr Clatk) considered it only light that somo public entertainment should bo arranged for tho departing soldiers. At lunch timo on Wednesday week Mr Clark asked tho association if it could carry out tho entertainment Tho members of tho association gladly agreed, and within an hour or two the arrangements were practically completed. Sixty waitresses gavo their services for tho afternoon tea in the Art Gallery on Saturday afternoon; thcro weto two kitchen _ staffs, and two cake-room staffs, and about 160 assistants altogether. At the dance in the evening tlieie was arothcr largo attendance of tho soldiers and their friends, and refreshments were again supplied by tho members of tho association. Mis F. E. Baume, who has been elected to tho Auckland Bouxl of Education, moved .it a meeting yesterday that the board uigo the Education Department to appoint a woman to tho inspectorial staif 111 the Auckland distnct. As it was suggested that two additional inspectors weio required, slio urged that the board should ask that ono of theso should be a woman, who was needed particularly for woik in tho intant dcpaitmcnt of the schools. Slio said there was ample scope for tho work of a woman 111 tho inspectorate, especially in the country distucts, and splendid women for tho position weie available amongst the Auckland teachers. Tho senior inspector (Ml E. K. Mulgaii) agreed that certain I p#its of school work could, with advantdga, bo inspected by women lather than by men, but ho did not think that women would bo able to undergo tho fatigue that was unavoidable in getting from school to school 111 bad weather and over bad roads. Tho nfotion was carried, by six votes to four.

At a meeting of the Education Committee of the London County Council on July 12 tho chairman bade good-bye to Mi'-s Holland, a teat her from New Zealand, who, lie stated, li.id rendered useful service in a London school for the past 15 months, lie assuied her that her work would bo convincing that the colonics were united to tho Mother Country, not only m time of war, but 111 peace. Tho King gnen Mr J. J. Virgo, field sccretaiy of the Y.M C.A., a message of congratulation and good wishes to the over seas ST.M C. Associations which he (Mr Vngo) i- to visit. Loul Stamtoidham (private cecrotarv to Ins Majestv) wrote to Mr Virgo as follows : —"The Xing, heaimg that jou aae about to leave on a special mission to the overseas dominions, India, and the Crown colonies, ;t_sks you to con- \ cy to the various oigamsations of tho Y.M.C.A. in those countries his congratulations on their successful work during tho war, ami especially in tho cases whore thej have sent secretaries to accompany tho troops to the front His Majesty trusts that jou may be successful m your cfToits iovvnids bringing about the unification of the forces of the association throughout the Empire." ' , A ituki'ig illustrition of the harmfnl 10sulto of allowing children to face the win Ur uiathu uruiiic icntlj doihrd was given by Dr Elizabeth McUDonald in the eoiuse ol a lectuio to luiniui at Auckland on Satuidaj evening (sjjs the Xeu Zealand Ileiald) In the induction of 1100 school childien, she had found 22 sufleiing fiom perm mently affected heails. While the> had not ac tuallj had an attack of iheumatism, the constant exposure (o cold, and chilling of the body, had c onn the c eed of serious tiouble, from which the} would suffer perni mently. Many of the children sho had examined wore nothing but cott-on gaiments. even in the coldest weather, a custom which could not bo too strongly condemned. I

Veiy littlo interest wan takon in tlio election at Jialclntii.i oil Tuesday of two member* of the Botough Council, rendered necessary by tho resignations of Cis> J. ISegg and IS. Wright, only 175 ratepayers out of a total of 6L2 o-xercising their right to vote The poll refilled as follows: — Al<x. Mill 98, Ali \ M'Neil 88, John Begg 87, Georgo .J. Dowms 78. No sitting of tho City Police Court was necessary yesterday. Many people who have relatives at the front complain about letters going astray. Few know tho difficulties tho authorities experience in tracing soldiers to whom 1< ttera aro addretsed, and who may bo almost constantly on the niovo from ono part of tho world to another. An example of thus is provided by tho caso of Seigeant Hamilton, a returned soldier (says tho Melbourne Age). In February a cable message was sent to him from iSydm v. 110 was then in England. The messago followed him from Alexandria, to tlio Fulham Military Hospital an<] other places in England. Then it was sent to France, and from there to Ejj-ypt. It followed him to Australia eventually, and reached the Melbourno headquarters, from where it was sent on to the Victoria Barracks in Sydney. Thcro an officer who knew Sergeant Hamilton saw it a foitriight ago, and the message, after its fivo months' round-the-world journey, found an owner at last. Feminity lias many tiaits, and ono of them, fortunately is vindictiveness. This was exemplified in a peculiar manner at tho parado of tlio Sixteenths in Wellington on Saturday (says tho Manawatu Dady Times). To prevent the crowd pushing in upon the bandsmen heading tho piocession and jostling them, so as to causo injury to their mouths when playing, some 40 members of tho 6th Manawatu Mounted Rifles rode at tho fcido and pressed the throng back. Tho girls who had coino to soo their soldier friends on tho march did not tako at all kindly to tho idea, with the result that they got "ono of their own back" by the very simplo and efl'cctivo method of jabbing with their hatpins the calves of tho passing mounted men! One of tho latter told a reporter that he was still feeling tho effects of this, and probably would for a couplo of days to come. An interesting and apparently not very widely known point in connection with tho war pensions' sehemo cropped up on Tuesday during the sitting of the Pensions Board at Invercargill (says the Southland Times). A soldier, in evidence, cited tho fact that ho was tho sole support of his aged parents. In reply, the returned warrior was informed that all dependents have a claim to a pension on their own account, irrespective of any granted to tho bread-winners. A striking examplo was furnished later in tho day, when a returned man with a wife and three children was allotted a pension of £1 per week, his wife 10s per week, and each child 7s 6d, or a total of £2 12s 6d for tho family, whereas tho maximum pension payable to a disabled man is 35s per week. A sensational incident is related by a resident of Wellington who has just returned after a two-yeais' &tay in Nya6saland, Central Africa (says the Post). About nine months ago, lie says, a fanatical nativo chief, probably aided and abetted by tls Germans, gathered together a largo 1111mbei of natives for the purposo of driving the whites out of Nyassalaiid. The intention was to maffiacie tho handful of Europeans m Blantyro, tho chief town, and then to march on tho smaller towns and complete the work. Tho time chosen by the natives for Iheir raid was, as it happened, very opportune. All tlio white men in Blantyro wero at a farewell social, and, had tho raiders gone about their work thoroughly, they could have massacred tho wholo population. Instead, they killed a settler on tho outskuts of the "town and took his wifa and family prisoner. The townsmen heard tho tiring, and had time to aim themsolves. Consequently, when tho natives appeared they wero received with such a volley that they were glad to retire. The King's African Rifles, ono of tho finest body of native troops in Africa, were quickly on tho scene, and the rebels were soon captured. The ring-leaders wero tried and executed, and the rebellion was so entirely crushed that there is no fear of another rising taking place in the future. At tho Conciliation Council at Christchurch on Tuesday, when the bootmakers' repairers' disputo was under consideration, one of tho assessors for the employees said (reports the Lyttelton Times) that tho boot repaiiing trade was a most unhealthy one. Statistics in connection with tho Bootmakers' Federation of Now Zealand showed that, over a period of fivo years, 50 per cent, of tho deaths of those employed in the trade were due to consumption. The public hardly realised tho lot of a boot repairer. Ho had to mend boots worn by persons affected by all manner of diseases, and 110 had to deal with boots of all clashes of the community. Boots which came fron; farmers, dairymen, slaughtermen, and stablemen, in particular, had frequently to be dipped and washed in turpentine before tho repairers could commence work 011 them. It had been found necessary behind tho firing lino in France to disinfect soldicis' toot', before putting them m tho hands of tho repairers. It was just as necessity that disinfecting should bo dono in these parts. There was a torrential lain, accompanied by lightning and thunder, at New Plymouth shortly before 7 o'clock on Monday moining (says tho Taranaki Herald). In a number of the subuibs 011 the higher levels, notably Weston, Frankleigh Park, and Vogeltown, there was a very severe hailstorm. Hailstones almost an inch square fell, tho noise as these stones fell on tho coirugated iron roots staitlmg quite a number ol tho womenfolk. Ac several houses windows wero broken, whilst flower gardens suffered heavily, spring bulbs, etc., being cut off at the ground. Great damage was done at Messrs fhinoan and Davies's nurseries, where fivo greenhouses were badly shattered, and the daffodil and hyacinth beds, which weie just coming into bloom, were mined. Trees with lender foliage wero denuded of leaves, whiht cabbage plants, etc., were totally destroyed. At Fiankleigh Park Mr Frethev's greenhouses suffered severely, whilst quite a number of windows m the district wero broken. Some of tho hailstones weie almost as largo as pigeons' eggs, and wero of a jagged shape. Tho Po'tmaster-general announce that, in order to protect tho public, he is obliged to forbid tho sending forwaul of letters, oidmary or registeiul, containing coin to soldiers oveisea. The mails rccoive such tough handling- that tho coins w r ear holes in the envelopes and the contained letters, and so escape, and are too frequently lost to the addressees. he proper way to send money direct to a soldier is by British postal order. Theso ordets are negotiable at all field post offices. The stiange wanderings of a young girl who has been missing from her parents' homo in Manly for about a month wero recently biought to a close b\ the Sydney police, who found her sitting in come reading a novelette, and apparently quite happy. Although tlie girl heisclt vohmteeied no infoimation regarding her movements duimg the last fen weeks (states the fcjydnev Herald), if seems that t-.be hus been sleeping bv night in a on the Spit Heights, wheie she hid installed a few toilet necossatics. She had been seen journey ing to and from tho city 111 tho daytime Howcvei, tho child, who is only 12 years of age. was apparently quite unharmed by her cscapade. Her parents, who are in a position to afford her an excellent home, have been exceedingly worried bv their daughter's unconventional wanderings. She has a fondness for exciting literature, it seems, and does not like living in houses.

Tho Now Z&alaiid Wood Pulp and Paper Manufacturing Company, incorporated in July, with huidquarteis at Christchurch, has secured largo aieas of bush lands suitablo for tho manufacture of paper in tho Rotoliuiiiu (Otirn) district (says tho Greymouth Star). 'J'hoy hold on lease and reservations 50,000 acres, and it is proposed to ercct a pl.uit, which, together with the cost of harnessing streams for power, will run into six figures. It is estimated that from 20 to 25 tons of paper will be manufactured daily in tho near future, the clafis of paper pnmarily aimed at being tho newspaper reel Recent statistics show that close on 40 tons of paper was the amount consumed daily by the press, tho annual cost b~::ig £378,535. 'l'he Now Plymouth express train to Wellington on Saturday afternoon met with an accident a little to tho north, of tho Ohau railway station (says tho Welbngton Post). Tho bogey wheels of tho engino left tho rails. Fortunately, tho driver applied tho biakes promptly, and quickly brought tho train to a standstill, thus preventing any damago being done. Considerable delay was caused in getting the engino back to the rails, and tho train reached Otaki about an hour and a half late. Tho passengers on tho train numbered 120, including 40 soldiers belonging to B Company, Seventeenth Reinforcements. They presented a testimonial to Driver Sleman and Guard M'Burney for their prompt action in pulling up the train, and thus averting a very serious accident. The testimonial also mado special reference to tho help rendered by Mr Andeison, the local schoolmaster, in replacing tho engine on tho line.

Great sale of second-hand motor cycles— Triumph, Douglas, B.S A.. Calthorpe, Clvno, etc. All in perfect order and condition. Any trial /riven. Terms arranged if required. Must be sold to make room for shipments arriving—W. Stuart Wilson and Co.. "tho 100-point firm," 290 292 Princes street South, Dunedin.—Advt. After the sale, clean-up week of oddments and sale bargains at sensational rates, See tho windows at Molhsons.—Advt. Watson's No. Jj is a little dearer than most whiskies, but is worth tho money.— Advt. A. E. J. Blakeley, dentist, Bank of Australasia, corner of Bond and Rattray street) (next Telegraph Office). Telephone 1859. — Advt. Who is Peter Dick. —The most reliable Watchmaker, Jeweller, and Certificated Consulting Optician, 490 Moray place (off Princes street), Dunedin. Charges moderate.—Advt