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Otago Daily Times, Issue 18445, 5 January 1922, Page 4

Nominations of candidates for -the Southern Maori *eat in the House of Representatives, rendered vacant death of Mr Urn, close on January 10, and tne election is to take place on January 25. The Hon. W. Downie Stewart, who- is at present visiting Dunedin, and staying at the Fernhill Club, stated to a reporter yesterday that representations have been made to him about the inadequacy of the newlyinstituted rural mail eervice in the PalmerBton, Waihemo, Shag Valley district, and he has communicated with the Postmastergeneral with a view to seeing what oan be done to meet the difficulty. So far he has not had time to have a reply. The Minister expecte to return to Wellington on Saturday, and this morning he will receive a deputation from the Hospital Board, whioh desires to plafie 'before him, its views' on new legislation affecting the board. The Defence Department has notified the eight cadets who graduated at Duntroon Military. College that commissions cannot be given to them, but that applications are invited. for six commissions in the British and Indian armies. Need for retrenchment is the reason given (says a Wellington Press Association message). It vm intended to train 10 cadets each year, but there is only one .candidate at present, probably owing j to the uncertainty for some time, which has now crystallised into the foregoing notice. The Defence Department is understood to bo contemplating a further reduction in the number of officers employed, in addition to those already retrenched. During the past year $47 permits ; wero issued in Dunedin for the erection of buildings valued at £203,193. Owing no doubt to the higher costs of labour and material a larger proportion than usualNof the residences built were valued at over £IOOO each, while in the case of business premises the value in one instance was as high as £27,000. At the Magistrate's Court at Wellington yesterday Thomas Phillips and Thomas Arthur Roberts were each fined £loo—the former for using a building in Tory street as a common gaming house, and the latter for permitting the same to be kept by Phillips (says a Press Association message). Nino men found on. the premises' were each fined 405.., The Tourist Office reports that there is still a big exodus of travellers to the North Island, and on the, ferry boats last night and to-night all the available accommodation for ladies was booked u> s yesterday. Tho bookings for tho Milford Sjound track continues steady. A meeting of the Unemployment Executive will be held this morning for the purpose of giving further consideration to the position of the Relief Fund. • Some now methods of organising relief work may also be discussed. At a short sittings of the City Police Court ysaterday, before Mr H. Y. Widdowson, S.M., a first offender, for drunkenness, was fined 10s, in default 46 "hours' imprisonment. Walter Pulford Warren was remanded until Friday on a charge, of deserting his wife at Hastings 'in December, 1918.

The Mayor (Mr J. S. Douglas) has been devoting a good deal of time to the preparation of a tentative programme for nival Week, which will be held from February 4to February, 11. He has already drawn up a lengthy list of attractions, which he is submitting to the various sporting and other organisations concerned, and their replies will be placed before ai meeting of the Citizens’' Executive next week. A decidedly generous round of festivities is being suggested, and country people should find Carnival Week this year specially attractive.

It is probable that with a view to the promotion of tariff reciprocity 'between Australia and New Zealand,* the need of which is increased by the tariff measures that haye* lately been passed by the Parliaments of both countries, k member of the Federal Ministry will shortly visit, New Zealand or a member of the New Zealand Government will visit Australia. , The yardinga at Burnside yesterday were well up- to the average in all departments. There was a large yarding of fat cattle, 250 head being penned. Prices opened below last week’s rates, and closed 30s per head below the opening rates. Medium and unfinished cattle were practically unsaleable, and a big proportion of the yarding had to be turned put unsold. Prime ox beef barely touched 25s per 1001 b, medium quality ranging from 21s to 245. \ There was a medium yarding of'sheep, best heavy-weights selling At late rates, but medium and light-weight sheep declined from Is fid to 2s per bead. Prime wether mutton sold at a fraction under 3d per lb. Flat lambs were in good supply, and, fortunately for vendors, a freezing buyer was operating, otherwise a very poor sale would have resulted. Prices were down quite 3s per head compared with the Christmas sale, best lamb being worth a little over 5d per- lb, tut many lots found purchasers at about 43d. There was a very poor yarding of store battle, and little business was- done. Prices wore, if any- j thing, below those ruling last week. Pigs ( were not ‘in great supply, and porkers V f firmed in price. Best baconera made u]t to fijdj and porkers to 7£d. , A by-election Jko fill a vacancy \<ya the Port Chalmers Borough Council, due to the resignation of Mr J. Tidt, recently ap-pointed-town clerk of the borough, took place yesterday, and resulted in the return of -Mr D. M. Mawson. The votes pblled by the three candidates were: D. lit .Mawson 184, L. Q. Newton 83, and W. G, Love 81. i ■ The prevalence of brown spot in most 1 stone fruits coming forward to the Auck- < land city markets is affecting sales, as retailers are afraid to purchase in any great ' , quantities, owing to thefact that as the fruit ripens it rapidly decays. This (states | the! New Zealand Herald) raises a very serious problem for growers at this season, when they should bo getting a good return : for their outlay and labour. Some growers - have adopted the practice pi sending to the tnjarkets green and unripe fruit, but unfoa\ (ornately there is no demand for this owing ’ to fact that while_ the holidays are on very ‘ few housewives desire to do ' their __ annual preserving and. jam-making. Defers ‘ " stated yesterday that a disease having much * the same effect as brown spot is apparently attacking the strawberry crop, as the fruit this season has not anything like the keeping _ qualities usually enjoyed by these \ berries. Contracts for the constructions of a railroad from Nakuru, in Kenya colony, NorthEastern Africa, to th© 1 Usangisu plateau.' north of Victoria Nyanza, have been awarded by' the British Government. This line, when completed, will reach the greatest altitude of any railroad in the British'’Empjre, the highest point on the lino'» being y more than BOOOft above the sea leveL . The new line will cost approximately £2,000,000> It is expected that the new railway will be continued westward. into ‘Uganda later, and. will connect the port of Mombasa with the Opo-to-Gairo route. \ / No official statement has been-made regarding the result of the appeal made by members of the staff of the Napier Telegraph Office against the punishment imposed as the result of the leakage of at Springbok cablegram. A decision has, however, been arrived at, and it is freely stated that three of the men concerned have been reinstated. Business was resumed yesterday after the Christmas and New Tear holidays at warehouses and retail establishments, as well: as at banks, insurance offices, and soma other places, while some public and other offices will remain dosed until Monday next. Those tobacconists who usually dose da Wednesday afternoon remained open yesterday,’ the employees having already had one or two full days away for the week. • The amount of business transacted yesterday was not large, as very many families had laid in a‘ sufficient stock to last them well over the holidays, except in such perishable commodities as bread and meat. Peanuts contain the richest of foods; about SO per cent., of oil and 30 per cent of protein. Between meat substitutes, pea-. nut butter and oils, this lowly nut was able throtigh chemistry to increase the wealth of the ' Southern States . of U.S.A- some 56,000,000 dollars in the year 1916 alone. One hundred and fifty million dollars a . year has been added to cotton’s value by the discovery of ways of turning into oil the cotton seeds that were formerly used as fuel. - From tomato * seeds, once the discarded refuse of the canning factories, 22 per cent, of an. edible oil can now* bo extracted. Pumpkin seeds, poppy seeds,, tobacco seeds, raspberry seeds, beech nuts, walnuts, hazel nuts, and even cockleburs and acorns have proved to bo available sources of supply. Hollyhock oil is a\ new food-product" which the chemist has found to bd nutritious and delectable fare for poultry. The African palm vies with the coooanutJ cotton seed and corn kernel in the manufacturing of margarine and other compositions that ore crowding out the animal‘fats. • Italy was the last country visited by the Very Rev. Dean Regnault ’in his European tour last year. At Rome ho was given a semi-public audience with his Holiness the Pope. , When asked by a Press reporter as to the economic condition of Italy, the Dean said he gathered that it was in a bad way. 'He could exchange £1 for 80 lire, and before the war the equivalent value was 25 to bur sovereign. There is a good deal' of unrest on account of insufficient industries and the incapacity of the country to give agricultural oocfipatiqxi. There is an eflux of emigrants, and op the Omar, on which Dean Regnault returned to New Zealand, there was a fairly large number of , Italians, mostly booked, for Brisbane. “ But. they did not impress me os making plucky settlers like the British or the French people,” observed the Dean. / An interesting cricket; point was 'brought before the Management Committee of the New Zealand Cricket Council (says the Press) in a better received from Mr H. P. Arkwright, of* Rangitikei, who, in reference to the annual tour of the “Nomads,” said that he himself was a wicketkeeper, with an injured finger, which was liable to “give out” at any moment. The twelfth man of the team was a wicketkeeper, ‘and Mr Arkwright wished to know whether, if he were injured, the extra man could com© on as wicket-keeper. The letter added that M. A. Noble, the ex-Australian captain, had, in a‘ teat match, allowed A. O. -Jones to come on and keep wickets in place of Lilley, which action was recorded ns a “ sporting ” i|>ut unusual one. Mr D. Reese fomarked that he did not wonder at Noble’s action, as Jones was ;a first-slip, and not a wicket-keeper. A wicket-keeper really classed with a bowler, and not an ordinary fieldsman, While, in any case, the opposing captain said where a substitute should field. It was decided to pbint out> .that the rules provided that when a sub/ stitute came on,‘the opposing captain must agree as to where he should field. / News was; received in Suva recently from the Lau or Windward. Group of the suicide of a recluse, Baron Koster Wrede, connected with some of the leading families of Russia and Finland. Oyer a year ago the baron arrived in Fiji with a party of tourists, and induced them to put him ashore with some provisions and tools on a small island named Yaaaga, in the southern' ' portion fof the group, where he built a house and spent the time in solitude. One day the sound of a shot came from the billiard room, and on the* people going into the room :lliey found the baron dead ' and a discharged revolver.in his hand. He left a note simply saying he could not stand it any longer. He .never gave any hint as to the cause of his craving for solitude. The people - with whom he come to Fiji said he wap excellently connected, but little else is known of his former hktoq; V

In connection with the slump in dairy produce, our Wellington correspondent wires that butter from the creameries is being sold in Wellington to-day in the shops at Is lid and Is 2d per lb. The price in London ia from from 110 s to 120 s per hundred-weight, which is below; pre-war prices. Dairy factory representatives are to meet in Wellington to-day to consider the situation, in view of the markets probably being further depressed by the liberation of the Imperial Government’s large holding of 870,000 boxes. It is stated that from 90 to 95 per cent, of this butter ia of quite good quality, so that it would compete with this season’s butter now arriving in London. When freight and charges are deducted New Zealand butter is now worth only lljjd per lb. - This time last year it was worth 2s 6d per lb.

“ Some months ago,” writes a correspondent to a northern exchange, “Taihape residents were getting their meat at lower prices than prevailed anywhere else in New Zealand, but prices were raised again until they were probably higher than they were anywhere else. A price-cutting competition is now threatened, as a farmer, rather than accept Id per lb for his stock, decided to. deliver meat at Sd per lb for lamb and 3d per lb for. beef and mutton. The three local butchers threaten to reduce prices to a lower level than the farmer is selling for, and the people of Taihape expect to get their meat at a lower price than that ruling elsewhere in New Zealand. At present the butdiers have been selling lamb at # lid and beef and mutton .at on average of about 8d per lb.” An unusual position has arisen in Adelaide in’" connection with proceedings in divorce. In the Civil Court recently counsel for a petitioner informed his Honor that early in the year steps were taken by his client to .petition for a dissolution of her marriage with her husband, who did not take steps to defend tho suit. The case was ast down for hearing, but when the day of the trial arrived and the ease was called on petitioner was not present,’ and the suit was struck off. Itr'was subsequently ascertained that she was seized with illness in the street while on her way to court, and was in Adelaide Hospital when the' matter was mentioned in court. The case was again set down for ’ the present sittings, and the hearing had been fixed for morning, but petitioner died in a private hospital. Counsel suggested that, in the circumstances, the suit should be dismissed. His Honor did not think ho had power to make the order asked for. Authority for a solicitor to act on behalf of a client ceased on the death of the client. He could not make an. order, but the facts mentioned by counsel would b? endorsed on the-file ; that would meet lie requirements.

“When I eaw what Franco was doing for its reconatruo&jn I felt prouder of my country than I duT even during the war,” declared the Very Key. »Dean Beguault, while telling a Christchurch Press reporter about his experiences in the War regions during hia recent visit to Europe. Ho described how trenches and shell-holes were filled, and fields were cultivated though , they still ✓contained patches holding war’s debris, but it was when telling of how the peasantry, yet unable to rebuild their homes, lived in temporary shelters, and some times felt it a bit less uncomfortable to sleep in a “ dug-out,” as it gave more shelter from the rains, that he manifested ' his pride in the pluck of the French nation. ■.The havoo of war was evident in the villages ’and towns when he visited Northern Franco, but nevertheless nearly all of the factories had been rebuilt, and fully half of them were permanent structures. ' In town and country, people Went to work with a will towards reconstruction, not waiting for indemnities —although the French spirit was determinedly for reparation in time. The first thing which the peasantry did after seeing to the cultivation of their fields was to rebuild the schools, and out of 6700 which had been 'destroyed during the war, 6500 were now rebuilt

Many remarkable stories of tho "modus operandi ” of members of an expert criminal gang which operated in Melbourne for a long time are told. Not the least interesting (says the Age) is that of one man—tall, well-built, and always immaculately dressed. . Ostensibly he* , worked as a tally clerk, but only sufficient/to keep him dear of the vagrancy laws arid of suspicion on the. part of the detectives. For a- lohg time he was suspected by one detective, but the latter’s suspicions could not bo confirmed owing to the clever manner in which the criminal worked. At length he made a mistake. The clue was promptly followed up, and he was sentenced tq a long term of imprisonment. In conversation later he related the explanation of a mystery which had been puzzling the police officers for some time.' In one establishment in the ' city the proprietor was continually missing Valuable guns from the shop. On the building, windows, hr doors there was no trace of a -shopbreaker having been at work. It was not cleared up Until the convict volunteered his explanation. l lt was a simple one. He said, candidly, that whenever he felt in need of a " fiver ” ho opened the front door of the shop with a key he had made himself, took a gun worth 'probably £3O, and sold it to a “fence.” Tho manner of obtaining the right key was. ingenious. “ I only hod one disappointment,” he added, naively. " One night when I vpaid a visit to the shop I found tho old lock had bc;en removed and a new one substituted. 1 was delayed for over an hour, as I had to moke a now key.” The secretary of the Dunedin Returned Soldiers’ Association (Mr A. O. Laing) has through Mr H, E. Holland, M.P., a circular letter from M. Henri Barbusse, well-known as tho author of “Le Feu.” a book in which the brutal truth is told about the horrors of war as the author himself experienced it. The letter is headed, in Esperanto, “ International Association of Military and ex-Military Combatants,” <and proceeds (in French): “ 24-1 Rue La Fayette, Paris.—My Dear Comrades, —Allow me in the name of all your comrades in France, Europe, and America to inform,you of tho creation in the month of May, 1920, of an International Association of ex-bombatants. This association, which is a union of the veterans of the great Imperialist War (wounded, maimed, incapacitated, . exprisoners of war, widows and orphans) unites in a struggle against all war, and each affiliated association preserves its own selfgovernment, but pursues the following objects:—A struggle against all war, a consequence of capitalists regiK&e; the creation of an anti-war feeling by a propaganda peaceful and anti-militarjst; the protection of the interests of all victims of the late- great war by on international combination. Our association will only be complete when one or several of the New Zealand associations join and take part in it. The presence of your men in our ranks will assist the prestige of the association to an enormous extent. I shall bo very greatly obliged if you’ would kindly inform me if there exists in New Zealand an association. 6r associations of returned soldiers capable and worthy to join us, and in that case let mo know how to find and address them. I am sure if such an association exists in your country it will join with us in attempting to make all future wars impossible.— Fraternally yours, Henri Barbusse, Secre-tary-general of the International Association of Old Soldiers.” The letter will he laid before the Soldiers’ Executive at its next meeting.

Built for side-car work, 7-9 h.p.- HarleyDavidson motor cycle. Call for a demonstration. Otago agents: W., A. Justice and Co., Imperial Garage, 392 Princes street, Dunedin.—Advt. “No-rubbing” Laundry Help always conveys a happy message to the wife: “Less work, better laundering, more leisure!” Is, everywhere.—Advt. Flook beds, covered with strong English hessian, buttoned' and filled with good flook. The right thing for a stretcher; sire 6ft Sin x 2ft 3in. Price 16s 9d.—Mollisona Ltd.—Advt. ' Watson’s No. 10 is a little dearer than most whiskies, but is worth the money.— Advt. A E. J. Blakeley, dentist, Bank of Australasia, comet of Bond and Rattray »trert* (next Telegraph Office). Telephone 3859. Advt. Save* your Eyes.—Consult Peter G. Dick, D.B-O-A., F.1.0.j London, consulting and ocriliste’ optician.—“ Peter Dick,” jewellers and opticians, Moray place, Dunedin.—Advt