NEWS IN BRIEF.

Otago Witness, Issue 3337, 27 February 1918, Page 24

NEWS IN BRIEF.

Dr Gilmour, of Roxburgh, has been jailed'up for military service. Over a thousand motor cars were at the show on tho Solway Grounds, Masterton, last week. , , Tho total enrolment of pupils at tho Boys' High School this year » *SB, tho number of new pupils enrolled being 18L ' • , u r« Tho Cabinet has appointed Mr Uuy Morris Keeident Commissioner at XSieue. Mr Morris served with tho New Zealand Forces in France, and returned wounded. The Imperial Supplies Department, to May 16 paid out on account of/ wool £2O 591641. The bales dealt with number 861,503,' including 408,000 bales of tho new C Tn the Magistrate's Court, . Wellington, Alfred Agnew, charged, with selling two conies of the Internationalist Socialist Key's tf, a prohibited publication, was nned £2 Peter M'Farlano Dewar, a health specialist, has been committed for trial at Auckland on a charge of counselling or procuring a woman to permit the use of an instrument. . . , Tho Council.of Education has decided to advise the Minister to establish technical high schools at Hawera,' Feildmg, and Pukekohe, and district high schools at iaumarunui and Mata Mata. The number of pupil 3 enrolled at the Dunedin Girls' High School this v year is 357 and more are expected. Of the newlyenrolled girls seven are senior free place pupils and 121 junior free pupils. The store, bakehouse", billiard room, and stables in connection with the Telephone Hotel, on the Napier-Taupo road, were destroyed by fire on the 13th mst. The hotel and post office were not damaged. The insurances amounted to £I2OO. Association's strong room at Gore was entered by a burglar on the night of the 21st, and between £4O and £SO stolen, in notes, postal notes, and silver. The burglar visited the manager's house at East Gore and stole the keys of the office and strong room. The offices of Messrs W. S. Laurie and Co., seed merchants, in Customs street, Auckland, were entered during the weekend, and £2O was stolen from a drawer in the strong-room, which was forced by removing some woodwork to permit of: a bar being pushed baok. At the Marton Court an Aramoho Chinese gardener pleaded guilty to a charge of falsely consigning three oases of spring onions to Ohakune, which contained six bottles of gin. He was fined £ls. Defendant was also fined £5 for consigning liquor to a Native, no-lioense area. i A lad, 15 years of age, recently working at Milton, was on Monday, on a charge of stealing a pair of leggings at Timaru, -convioted and ordered to come up- for sentence when called on. The leggings were hanging up in a hut where the lad and others slept while engaged in harvesting. The dairy factories supplying Wellington market recently decided to discontinue selling butter as from the 28th inst. The situation is to be met by the Government selling butter in lots of 561 b at £3 19s 4d, equivalent to Is 5d per lb. The butter is to be available for all requiring it, wholesale and retail. The Postmaster-general, in response to a request from the Auckland Returned Soldiers' Association, has agreed to allow Braille literature to be sent through tho post free of charge. This is particularly for the benefit of blinded soldiers, but the privilege also applies to others similarly afflicted. At tho annual meeting of the Otago Mutual St'arr-Bowkett Society the chairman mentioned that the present profit and loss account showed a credit of £8255, which that each share was worth £9 ,18s sd. The Mutual Help, the parent society, had been each of its members reoeiving £lO Is. In a report referring to ■ Jhe treatment ' of mental oases among returned soldiers - it is stated that since the war began 45 soldiers have been \ received into mental hospitals from the camps, as against 44 returned soldiers. There are at present remaining 23 soldiers from the camps and 27 returned soldiers. Two men, M'Keo (aged 19), single, and Rowan (32), married, were arrested at Feilding in connection with the assault on the Revs. Stockwell and Miller. A remand was granted. Fivo summonses have been issued against men for disturbing the Rev. Mr Elliott's meeting. A oitizens' meeting here protested against mob law. At a largely attended meeting of Protestants at Oamaru, the Rev. J. M. limes ' (Timaru) and the Rev. J. Lawson Robinson delivered powerful addresses, and a branch of the Protestant Political Association was formed. The meeting was orderly throughout, and the resolution forming the branch was carried un nimously At a sitting of the Conciliation Council in Dunedin on the 19th inst. ah agreement was arrived at on many points in the dis~ pute between the coal miners and the Taratu Coal Mining Company. The clauses referring to shift wages, piecework rates. Wages, and conditions of employment of truckers were referred to the Arbitration Court. At the Dunedin Police Court on the 20th inst. George Chooquee was fined 20s with 7s costs for keeping his shop open for trading on Sunday. Edward Searl was also fined in a similar sum for a similar offence. Searl _ had sent a letter to the polico announcing his intention of selling fountain drinks, ice cream, fruit salad, etc. Charges against the waitresses employed by Searl were adjourned for seven days. . The Rev. Howard Elliott held a" largelyattended meeting in the Napier Theatre on the 18th. A strong force of police was present, and the meeting, admission to which was by ticket, was a quiet one. A branch of tho Protestant Political Association was formed. A big crowd waited outside the theatre, but Mr Elliott left unnoticed by a side entrance. The only disturbance was that a chemical " bomb" was broken in the crowd outside. In reply to a deputation from Palmerston North in respect to tho dental treatment of children at tho Palmerston North Hospital, the Minister of Health said ho had a special vote in the Estimates dealing with dental conditions, and out of that he was prepared to allot £2OO to the Palmerston North hospital district, to be given as a subsidy of £1 for every 10s spent by the board. That would enable the board to treat at least 1(500 children. At a meeting on Saturday at tho Oamaru Town Hall, presided over by Mr W. 11. frith, after addresses by Mr Waters (reftreseuting the directors of the Dunedin Y.M.C.A.), Mr Ritchie, Mr Wilson (Perth),

Mr M'Phcrson, and Mr Williams, a resolution was carried heartily endorsing the appeal of tho Y.M.C.A. for funds to carry on its work among the soldiers at the front. A sub-committee was formed to take preliminary action to submit the appeal to tho people of North Otago. The executive of the Wanganui Protestant Political Association passed a motion of protest against tho assault on two clergymen following their* participation in a meeting to form a branch of the. association in Feilding, and demanded that the Government should bring tho perpetrators to justice and take such action as would effectively end an attempt by those opposed to the association to terrorise any people actively engaged in that association, and to safeguard tho iuiilienablo right of- all to free speech. A Dunedin lad named Fyfp, a student at tho Christchuroh Aviation School, made an ascent last week and lost his way among the clouds and rain mists. Mr Mercer was sent up after him when it became evident something was wrong, and got into touch with Fyfo just ne ho was about to descend near Lake Ellesmere, and guided him back safely. Major Slceman, who was at the aerodrome, wrote a letter to Mr Mercer, in which he complimented him on the able manner in wh.eii ho had carried out the duty entrusted to' him. The chairman of tho National Efficiency Board (Mr W. Ferguson), in replying to a communication from the Wellington Central Chamber of Commerce regarding a report that the board proposed that flaxrmlls should be closed in order to liberate labour for harvesting, says there has been no proposal in that direction, and he assures the chamber that the sentiment contained in its letter urging that before action was taken it would be just to hear all the parties interested would meet with the entire approval of the board. • The case of John Alexander M'Kinnon, of Christchurch, who is applying for an order directing the Registrar-general to register his name under the provisions of the Medical Practitioners Act, has been referred by the Supreme Court, Christchurch, to the Full Court. M'Kinnon was formerly Customs clerk in Christchurch, and was extradited from England for the purpose of answering charges concerning an elaborate Customs fraud. . He was tried and acquitted, but the Registrar-general declined to place his name on the list of qualified medical men. While a girl named Annie Casey was returning from her mother's house to where she was employed she disappeared recently, but she turned up later, making allegations upon which a young district farmer named Samuel Muir was arrested on a serious charge The case was heard at Invercargill, when the girl and eight others gave evidence. Mr Hanlon (Dunedin) addressed the court, after which the magistrate (Mr Cruickshank) dismissed the case, remarking that from the girl's statement it was clear to him that she could have avoided the accused's attentions if she had desired to do so. A largely-attended meeting in the Municipal Theatre, Napier, passed a resolution calling on the Government to remove from our midst all 'those of German or Austrian blood; and to remove officials of the sime nationalities from Government positidns; calling upon the Government to intern all pure-blood Germans and Auetrians, without any exception whatever, during the period of the war, and to utilise the services of such enemy aliens in a manner which will return value to the State; and supporting - the future definition of a natural-born British subject as a person whose father was, at the time of such person's birth, a British subject. In the Supremo Court, Wellington, when the case of Charles John Ward v. the John Bull Newspaper Proprietary, a claim for £250 for alleged libel, was called on, counsel said it was admitted that the statement made by the paper was not justified, and that a certain sum had been paid by the John Bull Proprietary to tho War Relief Association. Counsel therefore asked that the case be withdrawn. This was agreed to. The ground for action was a statement that tho a conteactor for the manufacture of military boots, was using promises owned by a German. Lieutenant J. F. Scoullar, of the 2nd Battalion, Otago Regiment, in writing from France, to Mr Grant, head master of the Ravensbourne School, under date 19th November, 1917, makes the following statement: —"I would like to pay a tribute also to the New Zealand Y.M.C.A. for the really magnificent work they do out here. No matter where our boys are you will find a Y.M.C.A. tent or hut. It would take reams of paper to eulogise their work, so I will conclude by asking that if ever the Y.M.C.A. make an appeal for support for their work in France you will endeavour to convince sceptics that this association is worth every ounce of support that New Zealand people can give." The Chief Justioe on the 23rd gave judgment regarding the will of the late Andrew Caxey,.of Hamilton, who left the residue of his estate of £25,665 to the Catholic Church. His Honor said that under the will the Church stood to benefit to the extent of £15,397. Ho commented on the fact that none of the children wore physioally strong. Even with the legacy left under the will they would be unable to maintain themselves. His Honor was of opinion that certain gifts to the church at Hamilton should stand, and that tho increase to the widow should come out of the residue. He further thought that each of 10 children should receive £BOO, in addition to tho sums allowed under the will, and that £BOO accumulated interest should be divided among the claimants. An order was made that tho total costs should come out of the estate.