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Otago Daily Times, Issue 18324, 15 August 1921, Page 4

Oliver Holmes Dillon was arrested by Detectives Palmer and Lean on Saturday evening, and will be charged at the Police Court this morning with driving a motor car in an intoxicated condition. The motor car was being driven to Gore, and had a head-on collision with a stationary tramcar opposite the Oval. The driver escaped with a few bruises, and his two passengers escaped without injury. The motor car was badly damaged, and the step on the tramcar was broken. In the City Police Court on Saturday morning John Healey and Allan Seaman were charged with the theft of two cases of kerosene, valued at £2, the property of Wright, Stephenson, and Co. Mr W. L. Moore, who appeared for Seaman, applied for a remand, as he had only beea instructed. This was strongly opposed by Sub-inspector Willis, as the police, he said, were ready to go on with the case. The magistrate (Mr Bartholomew) granted a remand till Friday, allowing bail to each of the accused in the sum of £lO,. with a surety of a similar amount. The only other case was a charge of drunkenness, William Dow being convicted and fined 20s, with the alternative of three days' imprisonment. A return presented by the secretary to the Otago District Committee of the New Zealand Returned Soldiers' Association on Friday night showed that the district membership numbers 3506, as compared with 4154 last year. The decrease is partly accounted for by the fact that some 300 unfinancial members wore included in • last year's return from the Gore Association. The Maoriland Worker some week* ago stated that "it knew of a case in Palmerston North where a school child had been several times flogged for refusing to sing more than 'Three cheers for the Red . ." The statement received much prominence, and the Education Department requested the editor of the paper to give the name of the child and the school at which the alleged floggings had taken place. The Worker has now issued a belated apology, excusing itself on the ground that the original statement was conveyed to the paper by a reader "whose reliability we saw no reason to doubt." The allegations are unreservedly withdrawn, and sincere apologies are tendered to the Education Department and to the teachers whom the Worker "thus placed in a false position." The St. Andrew's Literary and Debating Club held an interesting debate on Saturday evening on the subject, "That the Influence of the Press is Beneficial." The affirmative was maintained by Messrs G. F. Inglis and D. M. Malloch, who argued that the press plays a vital part in all modern progress and development. Broadly speaking, the press was found supporting all worthy causes that tend to the uplift of humanity, and without it good government and the organisation of society would bo impossible. Messrs L. Rogers and H. Burrell, for the negative, vigorously attacked the press, charging it with being swayed by the power of money and lending itself to the support of many evils. The press also oame in for some trenchant criticism when the matter was thrown open for general discussion. The vote taken after the leaders had replied was declared by the chairman to be a tie. It may bo remembered that in the month of February last the Government steamer Tutanekai visited the Campbell Islands with a party representing a syndicate who have the pastoral rights over the islands, taking with them also four men under engagement for three months to work the resources of the islands. Two of these men, when they saw the conditions to be faced, refused to stay, and returned with the party, the others remaining upon the, terms that they would be relieved in three months time. Six months have now passed, and the islands have not been revisited, so naturally the relatives of the men are concerned about their position. We understand that the employing syndicate states that there are three other men there, and that there are ample provisions, but this is not very satisfying to the men's friends, who ask why an essential term of the contract is not being fulfilled. The Government has been appealed to, but it takes the view that the removal of men is a matter to be undertaken by the syndicate. It appears that the British Army authorities have been impressed with the value of sawdust as fuel lor cooking and heating purposes. An Army Council Instruction issued in the Old Country states that for a considerable time nothing but sawdust has been used in one of the remount depots, and that it has given excellent results. Civilians may be interested in the simple type of furnace described by the Army authorities as suitable, for sawdust consumption. Four holes should be bored in a vessel —say, an oil drum or some similar receptacle—at the base, and two sticks passed through so as to cross at the centre. A third stick should then be inserted vertically in the centre of the furnace, so that it rests on top of the intersection made by the other two. A draught from the sides of the vessel up through a central flue is thus provided for. The sawdust is put into the utensil and packed tight. When it has beea packed the sticks are withdrawn, care being taken to prevent sawdust or other material from blocking the passages. A piece of paper is then placed in the holes, and this, when lit, causes the fire to burn up at once. "The process of making the fire," states the Army Instruction, "is simple, and takes anly a few minutes. Always allow the fire to die down bofore remaking with fresh sawdust. The procedure for remaking the fire is in every respect similar to that followed in the first instance." A few weeks ago, while a man was clearing out a chimney at a house in North:ote, Melbourne, he dislodged the nests ■>[ several birds. As the debris fell down h<} chimney he noticed a pickle bottle imong the rubbish. He picked it up and 'ound it contained a quantity of split peas, ["he weight of the bottle, howover, puzzled lim. He took out the cork, and, pouring >ut the contents, was amazed to find 110 overeigns. The money was handed orer to he police.

A Press Association message from Wellington states that Thomas William Steel, who was found guilty yesterday of indecent assault on a little girl, was sentenced in the Supreme Court to 12 months' imprisonment.

The victim of a bush-felling accident on a farm at Waitakere, Mr Frederick Jordan, had an unenviable experience before he was finally admitted to the Auckland Hospital. Mr Jordan was rolling a log when a piece of timber flew up and struck him a severe blow in the face, knocking out several teeth and inflicting other injuries. The farm is about three miles from the Waitakere railway station, and owing to the wet and stormy weather it was impossible to convey him to the station, and he remained on the farm from Wednesday afternoon, August 3, till the following Saturday, when he was taken on horseback to the station, but did not reach it in time to catch the last train. An ambulance was despatched from the hospital in tho evening, but it got stuck on the way out on tho road near Swanson, and remained there all night. A lighter car was despatched from the hospital, and the patient was brought in shortly after 9 o'clock on Sunday morning.

Speaking at the Concert Chamber in Wellington on “The Making of a Man,” Bishop J. I. Wedgwood, of the Liberal Catholic Church, stated that not only men, but animals, and even vegetables and minerals, had tho Divine life ensouled in them. Wo all, at least the men who wore blessed, if that was the word, with strong beards, were familiar with the fact that minerals could become “tired.” Hence the necessity for having a number of razor blades, so as to be able to give those which became tired a rest. But, in addition, a noted Indian scientist had discovered that minerals could be “poisoned*’ that when poisoned they responded less ready to electrical stimulus; and that, by administering an antidote, they could ho restored to their normal condition. It had also been shown that vegetables could ho “poisoned.” The far greater development of the soul in tho animal world was, ho claimed, demonstrated by the wonderful intelligence and devotion often shown by the more domesticated animals, such as horses, dogs, cats, and so on. One of the most intelligent animals was, strangely enough, also one of the hugest and most unwieldy of animals. namely, the elephant. A popular defence officer, who runs the Territorial show not far from Wanganui, is the possessor of a pretty wit (says an exchange). He was “giving a hand” recently in a big local effort to “raise the wind,” and was, incidentally, supervising the lay-out of the stalls down either side of the large hall. For convenience sake ho had labelled the stalls alphabetically, and was at the moment directing the lady stallholders to their respective stalls- “ Where is my stall, Mr ?” queried an elderly dame, at tho same time indicating the nature of the wares she had undertaken to sell. “There you are, madam,” politely replied the officer, “A to M” on that side, and N to Z on this.” “But where is L, sir?” asked the still puzzled matron? “Same old place, madam, same old place,” came tho quick response, as the officer turned to attend to the next inquirer.

Tho figures relating to the profits over and above interest on capital invested and working expenses at Nauru and adjoining islands for the year ended June 30 last are not yet available, according to Senator Millen, Leader of the Federal Government. Tho past financial year, he informed the Senate recently, was the first year of control by the British Phosphate Commission. But satisfactory results were expected. Such profits could not, as had been suggested, be earmarked and set apart to find work for unemployed returned soldiers. The Commonwealth Government had paid the sum of £1,485,230 for its interest in tho phosphate deposits of Nauru and Ocean Island. Particulars of the cost of working tho phosphate deposits in those islands were not yet available. The quantity of phosphates carried last year was 365,000 tons. It was considered prejudicial to the interests of the Phosphate Commission to disclose information as to the value of the deposits. Fifty thousand Allied Victory Medals were shipped from Great Britain for New Zealand on June 13 last, and it is expected that they will very shortly be in the hands of the New Zealand Defence authorities. These medals will be issued to members of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force who entered a theatre cf operations during the war period. The medals are of yellow metal. On one side they bear the inscription, “The Great War for Civilisation, 19141919,” and on the other the figure of Peace. The issue of the British War Medal to members of the New Zealand Expeditionary lore© and to tho next-of-kin of those who fell will probably be completed about November. The Defence Department is at present putting these medals at tho rate of 500 a day through the machines used to inscribe tho soldiers’ names on them. When the work on tho British War Medals is finished the machines will be used for engraving the Allied Victory Medals.

A striking example of rapid transformation of power furnaces from coal to oil consumption has been furnished at Messrs Cadbury’s cocoa and chocolate works at Bournville. At Whitsuntide tho exhaustion of coal stocks made it necessary for tho firm, as a precautionary measure, to give notice to some of their 8000 employees that they might be unable to resume full-time employment after the bank holiday, while an emergency scheme of unemployment grants was drawn up. Meanwhile the firm’s engineering department worked night and day at the substitution of oil and other alternative fuels in the place of coal. So successful were their efforts, both at Bournville and at the subsidiary factories, that the amount of time it was feared would be lost was fortunately less than was anticipated. Within one week production in the factories wc* again in full swing, and tho threat of nnempioyment of thousands of employees was dispelled.