PASSING NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3339, 13 March 1918, Page 3

PASSING NOTES.

(From Saturday's Daily Times.) Finessing about the motives of Japan in proposing to help her allies by something attempted at the far end of Asia doesn't seem worth while. Motives! —it is bad form to impute motives. If Japan can do anything to the detriment of the common enemy, her motives may be left to take care of themselves, and -justify themselves, —they are no concern of ours. And yet, if you ask me, I should say that the far end of Asia,, viewed from Japan, must look a " sphere of action " predestined to the Japanese from the foundation of the world. Moreover, that now the time has come. Geographically, the British Isles are in much the same relation to the continent of Europe. If the continent of Europe at the British end lay empty; if it seemed likely to pass into;the possession of the unspeakable Hun; and if the British were able to' throw into it a million of men with war munitions to match, — would they not do it? They would do it, I fancy, without pausing to explain their motives. And their allies would shout approval. The ulterior motive of Japan is, as we all may guess, room for expansion.. It would ill become Britain and America—who between them own pretty well half this terraqueous globe—to say her nay.

"Whether there, be prophecies, theyshall fail," holds true with emphasis in the -war sphere. The Kaiser, early in this field, promised his troops a victorious home going "before the leaves fall." That was in September, 1914! With the " good old German God" as his accomplice, and with intimacies in the quarter which justify the phrase of Lord Rhondda (after escaping from the torpedoed Lusitania) —" Satan's Chief of fetaff, that blaspheming hypocrite the Kaiser," we should have expected the AllHighest to be supplied with better information. Yet his predictions are a byword. The one forecast that has made good is Lord Kitchener's—the Three Years' War. But for the unforeseen and unforeseeable dropping out of Russia it might have been no more than a Three Years' War. That it should last so long as three yeai\s was contrary to all other expert opinion, English and French. Kitchener

was mad, said the experts, in raising forces which could not possibly come into play till "after the fair," —he was organising " shadow armies for shadow campaigns." .. Events, alas, have more than justified him.

With but scant motive for listening to the o-rophets, I incline nevertheless to put value on an estimate by Mr Frank Simonds of the New York Tribune. It is less a prediction than a reasoned induction, and has been summarised thus: '' The Germans had everything in their favour in the initial invasion ol France, but they failed at the Marne. They had ninety-nine chances out of a hundred at Ypres and on the Yser,, and they failed again. They had at least a three to one chanee at Verdun, and again they failed. In the next offensive the chances will be even, and on past performances the enemy will again fail'. And failure in this attempt "»will spell the ultimate defeat of Germany." That was the outlook a few weeks back; but for changes in Russia that would be the outlook to-day. It is idle to pretend that Russia, a huge ; bulk which Germany may cut and carve at will, makes ho difference; it is idle to affect freedom' from anxiety. Yet at the, worst our prospects are less gloomy' than before the Marne; at the worst they are vastly better than at Ypres. Sursum corda! — then r —Lift up your hearts! Tuesday last, it was a lugubrious procession that passed along Princes street — our latest war-tribute of youthful manhood. Heading tne column, flanking it right and left, rode two mounted constables, men of a sad countenance. They might have been escorting the Tyburn cart. You didn't see behind them the strained white face of the condemned on his way to execution, it is true; but- you did see what mis;ht have been a batch of prisoners marching to jail. A silent crowd, lining: the street, looked on as at a funeral. No flag was carried, no regimental colour proudly pointing. Apparently it is with us as It was with the ruined Othello : Farewell the neighing steed and the shrill trump, . The spirit-stirring drum, the earpiercing fife, Tho royal banner, and all quality, Pride, pomp, and circumstance of glorious war! There was a world of pathos in the sight of our young recruits,, trapesing up the street under these sombre conditions. But the band ?—ah? yes, certainly there was a band; which band might have been the "music provided" of a grocers' picnic. When 'troops are marching there is little good in a band that gives you some blatant commonplace vou never heard before, and might hear for a week to forgot the next minute,—nothing martial about it but the drum-beat. 0 for the skirl o' the pipes ! 0 for the tow-row-row of the "British Grenadiers"! Or I would compound for " Garryowen," "The Girl I I/eft Behind Me," " When Johnny Goes Marching Home," —for anything with an intelligible sentiment attached, anything with a snap, a sting, a history. Given a lead from the band, we might send away our gallant lads singing. Not yet has " Tipperary " quite lost its magic. Colonel Harcourt Turner having been cashiered, and everybody else whitewashed, the Motuhihi incident closes happily.—until Parliament meets and the nagging of the Defence Minister can begin, with Dr Thacker "on the job." As developed so far, tho affair may be labelled — The Escape, the Escapees, and the , Scapegoat. By " escapees" intending not the German prisoners only. As for the Scapegoat, after this manner ran the Levitical direction : Take thee a goat; over his head confess tne sins of the people; then by a sure hand send the goat into the wilderness, and he shall carry, away the sins of the people with him. All of which we

have faithfully followed. Colonel Turner is the scapegoat; over his head, and down on to his head, have been confessed the sins of Brass-Hat This and Brass-Hat That, —half a dozen of them. Which point reached, all the rest was simple. It remained only that the scapegoat, burdened with sins not his own, should be sent into, the wilderness. Verdict accordingly, confirmed by General Robin. Do I exaggerate, or aught set down in malice? Not a bit! It has been an exaggerated business all through. Germans have escaped from prison camps in England; British prisoners, much to their credit, have escaped from Germany; in the confusions of a great war such things may be of daily happening. But this was our first affair of the kind, and we made the most of' it. To round off the story consistently, we have placed Count von What's-his-name (if a Count he is) once more on an island, once more in a harbour fairway. Looking around him, Count von What's-his-name feels, probably, that not yet is he at the end of his resources. The Dunedin Hymn-of-Hate man again. My sufficient excuse for letting him in is that he amuses. Dear Civis, —Many thanks for publishing my letter in defence of Lloyd George. Thanks, also, for "the spirit of mercy" manifested in withholding my name. "Blessed are the merciful." Shall not forget it. I want to shout for you. You call, my letter /"Hymn of Hate." I hate no man, not even the Hun. Nevertheless, I would instantly fight any Hun to the death Thanks, also, for. the "handsome word" "aposiopesis." I must assure you, however, that I have no contempt, but great respect for you personally. .1 always read your column before reading , any other, and am indebted to you for much - information, many happy thoughts, and many a hearty laugh. Land monopoly in Britain alone has destroyed more of our brothers and sisters than have perished in this terrible war; therefore I do not regret any words' I have used in denouncing it. Those words shall go forward to the Day of Judgment without alteration, for I am comforted in the belief that they give me a ; chance of getting to heaven. But I withdraw all harsh words directed against landlords and their supporters, for, perhaps, they are no worse and may easily be better than myself. Like tho editors of landlords' newspapers, you are not free to express pub- • licly your own political convictions, which are probably very much the same as mine. That so? You think with the negro, "Csesar and Pompey kberry much alike, specially Pompey "? On the land question I think them-not in the least alike. To be a landless man is not necessarily to hate a landlord. The Methodists this week in session are perhaps still able to sing with their founder— No foot of land do I possess, No cottage in this wilderness, A poor wayfaring man. '..-.,« and perhaps of most of them, individually taken, it would be true. Yet they report a stiffish land transaction at Pareata, 25 miles from Auckland, the purchase of 680 acres at £2O per acre, hence collectively are one big landlord. I see no harm in it. More power to them! An allotment six feet by two and a-half is, for many a man, his one hope of " freehold " in this or any other country; yet he doesn't fret about "it. Nor heed anybody fret that land, may be held in private possession. The more freeholders, the fewer Bolsheviks. . . -*•

It is an old truth, for ever new, that not everybody knows how to boil a potato. A number-one cook on number-one pay will serve up potatoes disguised beyond recognition; but simply to boil a.potato—that is quite another thing. Irish Biddy had the secret; but where is your Irish Biddy to-day? Clicking at a typewriter, possibly, or totting up figures in'a bank ledger. Cooking accounts is nearer to her line of things than cooking potatoes. In similar case—"not understood," as Mr Bracken would say,—are other kitchen simplicities. Not everybody can infuse a pot of tea, not everybody can grill a chop, not everybody can boil a leg of mutton. Is there not a saying, " A leg of mutton boiled is a leg of mutton spoiled "? A fallacy, surely. Apropos, the redeeming of a spoiled leg of mutton makes a delightful scene in Dickens. A "devil" is proposed —the happy thought was Mr Micawber's; — a gridiron is procured; Traddles cuts the mutton into slices ; Micawber covers them with pepper, mustard, salt, and cayenne; Copperfield, over the fire, officiates with a fork; Mrs Micawber heats mushroom ketchup in a saucepan ; everybody's appetite returns, and they olean up the leg of mutton to the bone. Alas ! that only in fiction do we achieve these culinary triumphs. But it was the potato that we had in view, and the surprising fact that not everybody knows how to cook it; more surprising, however, is the recent English discovery that very few people know how to eat it. The missing truth is that you must eat the peel. By J 'happv coincidence it is a Mrs Peel who is the authority for this doctrine. At a Food Economy

meeting, 'speaking after Sir Arthur Yapp, Director of Food Economy, Mrs Peel, Director of Women's Service, said: "Not only was it uh- • patriotic now to peol potatoes, but tho g peel should be eaten. There was considerable nourishment in the peel of a potato. The Ministry of Food dis- . covered these things by experiments." Potato peel is nourishing, it seems. Mrs Peel says so. We shall next be told that it is nice, a delicacy in fact. Well, we can only try. It may have been at this meeting that Sir Arthur Yapp was catechised : "Does Lady Yapp line up for food?" "My wife has not had to stand in queues."—(Cries of "Why not?") "Because she prefers to go without. I have had no butter or margarine for breakfast this week."

In worse case, but setting a good example, Lord Rhondda, heacT of the Ministry of Food, 13 said be existing on salt herring and turnip-tops. " With regard to Christmas puddings," said Sir Arthur Yapp (with Christmas week just ahead), "they all felt at the Ministry of Food, that the old style of Christmas "pudding ought to be prohibited. When tho food • campaign was started, however, -it was found that the big firms had already prepared their stocks' for making pudand had the" Ministry prohibited Christmas puddings these would have been wasted." Peace .and the Christmas pud : ding will. return' together; though maybe not this year, alas I Meanwhile there is another sign of the times to note : '' Concerning the keeping of pet dogs, Sir Arthur . said that they could not in any circumstances be fedon x food fit for human consumption." But our enemies have long passed this point. ■ Two English soldiers who recently escaped from «a German prison camp, and by good luck made their perilous way into Holland, say that they knew when they were approaching the Dutch frontier,—they heard the distant barking of dogs. l There are no dogs in Germany. The Germans have eaten Chem, Back Blocks humour is in eruption this week. I give three specimens. The first, perhaps a sub-editorial jeu d'esprit:— - Wanted. —A returned soldier wants employment. Willing to accept job as mayor, or chief parson in this town; or as potato-digger, Journalist, harvester, or photographer. No salary considered too' high. For further dist of acceptable spheres of activity apply this office. Next, the ghoulish jocosity of an'under-: taker : To-morrow (Sunday), • at 2.30 p.m., for the Cemetery. Blank Blank, Undertaker. He effects his own repairs, and sees * r that his personal guarantee is behind al! work turned out. Reasonable charges. What the "repairs" he "effects," and "work turned out" ("turned in " would be better) are conundrums he * leaves to the shuddering reader.-- Again,, from the report of a presentation in a Telephone Exchange: The presentation was made by Mr Kelly, Acting Chief Postmaster, a silver spirit kettle, and Mr Forrest, x Superintendent of Telegraphs, replied. ' When is an Acting Chief Postmaster not an Acting Chief Postmaster? When he is a silver spirit kettle. ( Crvi3.

The next shipment of Australian wheat to arrive for" South Island ports will consist of 50,000 sacks, or,, roughly, 150,000 bushels. Of this quantity 17,000 sacks will be allotted to Dunedin, and the remainder will be distributed between the mills at Oamaru, Timaru, and Christchurch. Tho number of students who propose to take the medical course enrolled at the Otago University on tho' sth was approximately 45 males and 10 females. It is estimated, however, that later enrolments will bring the • total number of medical students up to about 70. As there are, roughly, about 190 medical students at the University who have completed part of their medical course, it will be seen that this year the classes will be attended by about 260 male and female students. Eighteen students who desire ta take the course at thp Dental School wera also enrolled. Two chiplains—the Rev..H. L. Blamircs and W. Walker —who have seen long service at the front, addressed tho Methodist Conference on the sth, and stressed the point that tho stay-at-home New Zealander did not know that a war was going on. It was impossible of realisation. Mr Blamires said that tho chaplain's work was most strenuous. He had a long front to look after, for the men under his care were spread over great distances. Let a chaplain go amongst the men and there wer* great possibilities open to him. He had had to act as letter censor. The men did not know that he saw their letters, and in.

Ihern he found the finest testimonies to the work of the chaplains. Of course it was often In language that was not usually he*ard in church, but in the expressive parlance of trench life. Maybe this made it all the moro valuable. Often he had had a dozen generals in his congregation; and he testified to the splendid example of many of the generals who in cleanness of life and nobleness of bearing were a continual inspiration to the men.

Two more pupils passed for their tickets at the Canterbury School of Aviation on Saturday, 2nd inst., these being O. J. Tapper (South Dunedin) and G. A. Smith (Southland). Colonel R. A. Chaffey and Major Vf. C. Morrison expressed themseves as thoroughly satisfied with the pupils' performances. Tapper and iSmith are the forty-fourth and forty-fifth pupils respeoiively to take their tickets since the openng of the school.

The lower end of the Taieri Plain, in the vicinity of Henley and Otokia, is still the cynosure of all eyes, especially of train passengers. This country, it will be remeni' bered, was covered with, water from the end of May last year up to within some four or five months ago, with the result that large areas of it were temporarily abandoned by the occupiers. The waters subsided too late to permit of the ' land being utilised for cropping, and the affected area has consequently remained untouched as far as tillage operations are concerned. One effect of the floods was to destroy absolutely all the finer pasture grasses, and their plaoo has been taken by innumerable weeds, principally docks, to such an extent that tho surface of the land is now literally cohered with vegetation of an unprofitable kind. Tho .work of repairing tho breach in the protective banks near Otokia is progressing, but it will probably be some six ■weeks yot before the operations, which are of a substantial nature, are completed.

Interesting references to missionaries and giissionary . work were made, at the meetig of the Methodist Conference on the sth. Tho Rev. W. A. Watson, of New South "Wales, was described as a missionary hero. He had left his family in Sydnoy, and had gone away alone into the Northern Territory. Recently other missionaries had been murdered, but Mr Watson was not deterred. According to a statement by tho Rev. W. A. Sinclair tho indentured Indian labour in the sugar mills and brakes in Fiji will come

to an end in two years. No more labourers will be sent. The Indian Government has in, and is making other demands as regards the future well-being of the Indian population of Fiji. He said enough to show how unsatisfactory are the social "conditions. Later, the Rev. A. O. Lawry said that what was revealed to the Mission Board was like looking into hell. It was through the board that the Indian, Government had made its demands. There were 60,000 Indians in Fiji, and there was some probability of their repatriation.

A letter which was read at the Methodist Conference last week from Chaplain J. A. Duxford stated that as soon as an armistice was arrived at the sick and wounded would immediately be hurried home. He wondered whether New Zealand! understood that in a few weeks after such an armistice 10,000 siok and wounded would be landed in New Zealand. Referring to the men and their cheerfulness, ho mentioned that a Hamilton church member had lost both legs, but was the most cheerful man in the Walton-on-Thames Hospital. The City Council on the 6th inst. granted permission to the Returned Soldiers' Association to hold a garden fete In the Botanic Gardens on April 13. Our Oamaru correspondent, writing on the 6th, . says: There has just been completed hero an undertaking that is unique so far aa New Zealand is concerned. This is the construction of a large wood pipe for the conveyance of water in connection with the borough electricity scheme. Wood pipes for water supply purposes have for many years been in use in America and Australia, and have ranged from a few inches up to several feet in diameter, and to a limited extent they have been employed in the dominion, but the pipes so used have been small, and supplied in lengths in the same way as iron pipes. In the case under notice the pipe is 36in internal diameter, and Is one continuous pipo throughout its wholo length of 1636 ft, and has been built in the trench prepared) for its reception. It is the first of its typo in New Zealand, and its adoption was practically forced upon the Borough Council owing to the impossibility of procuring iron pipes of the dimensions required in connection with the- hydroelectric undertaking. The contractors for tho supply of the pipe were Messrs John Chambers and Son, and tho suppliers the Australian Wood Pipo Company. All the

component parts of the pipe were prepared by the supplying company and shipped to Oamaru, and the actual • construction has been carried out in the trench, under the superintendence of Mr A. G. Ouncalfe, the. company's engineer, who was sent over from Australia for the purpose. The work, being on innovation in the dominion, a few details may be of interest to readers of the Otago Witness, and I therefore give them. The pipe is intended to supply water to two Pelton wheels at a pressure of 1051 b to the square inch, and developing 650 h.p. continuously. It ifl what is termed a continuous stave wood pipe, with steel clamping bands. In its construction 2628 staves of Oregon timber, dressed to a thickness of 1 5-Bin, or a total of 35,941 superficial feet, have been employed, together with 11.280 steel bands, weighing 81b each, and 12,000 iron shoes. The pipe is not laid in a direct line, for there are several bends, the sharpest of these having a radius of 185 ft, where the pipe enters the power-house. There is also a compound bend —that is, round and down—with a radius of 200 ft one way and 300 ft the other. As can be readily conceived, the work,of construction has been attended with a good deal of interest. A test to determine the efficiency of the pipe has yet to be made.

The election of officers for the Dunedin branch of the New Zealand Railway Officers' Institute for the year ending March 31, 1919, was held recently, and resulted as follows:—Chairman, Mr W. E. Smith (goods foreman, Dunedin); vice-chairmen— Messrs J. Brown- and B. P. Moh\ (traffio office);. delegates to conference—Messrs H. L. Gibson' (station master, Middlomarch), and W. A. Marshall (station master, Sawyers Bay); committee —Messrs H. Green, S. Pringle, G. Greig, P. L, Brown, T. A. Harwood, R. W. Maokay, F. K. Mackay, L. W. Hawkins, 33. J. Walsh, A. Goodley, and J. W. Humphreys; branch secretary, Mr W. Bishop; branch treasurer, Mr.J. W. Hendei"Son. . .

The Methodist Conference on the 6th inst. was greatly impressed by a proposal for helping supernumerary ministers as it was brought forward by Mr J. Stevenson, of Wauganui. This gentleman served as an illustration of the fact that there are in the churches many able men whose business capacity is not always utilised. Mr Stevenson's personality and able speech made the members of the Conference ask themselves, "Why was this gentleman never before a member of the Conference ?" The Conference generally felt that the Church in its local courts and higher courts was greatly in need of the land of leadership which such men could give. Evidence has been forthcoming in the Conference's sessions that, especially in the cause of missions, the able laymen of the Church are malting suggestions and giving leadership on quite a new scale. What appeared to bo an aeroplane with lights was seen by several people in Christchurch on the sth inst. between 7 and 7.15 p.m (says the Press). It seemed to be travelling in a south-westerly direction, at a rate estimated at something like 20 miles an hour, and was at a considerable height. To some, at first eight, it looked like a planet, but its fairly rapid! movement dispelled that idea. Others surmised that it was a fire balloon, but to other observers it looked like an aircraft under control. It seemed to pass along the edge of a dark bank of cloud in the southern sky, and was finally lost to sight. A telephone inquiry elicited from, the Aviation School at Sockburn the information that it was not one of the machines from the school. A lady who was bathing at Tahuna shortly after 7 o'clock last Friday morning saw two unusual visitors over Tasman Bay (says.; the Nelson Colonist). She states that on looking out to sea she saw two seaplanes quite distinctly. They were flying together near tho surface of the water, and- then separated —one going in the direction of the eastern hills. She watched this one until it was lost in the clouds. She then endeavoured to locate the other, but it had disappeared. The lady was rather diffident about telling the story, but she was so positive as to what she had; seen that she spoke to a Colonist representative about it, in order to ascertain if tho planes had been seen by anyone else. Unfortunately, at the time she was in the sea, tho only other person about was In the dressing shed, and by the time he came out tho visitors had gone. It was stated a few days ago that a seaplane had been seen in the Sounds, but the story was scouted.

When the full story of tho lost steamers of the Pacific comes to be ■written some romance will (says the Argus, with reference to the capture of the Australian steamer Matunga by the German raider Wolf) be centred; round a bottle picked up

on the high seas. Just when relations and friends of those on the Matunga had reconciled themselves to the belief that there could be no hope, and even the naval authorities took the gloomiest view, a mysterious message came from the deep. At first it was regarded as a hoax, but when dates and names came to be examined by experts it was realised that most important information had! been miraculously mode available. In the bottle, it h understood, was briefly set out the" story that the Matunga's company had been made prisoners of war, and that survivors from other destroyed 1 steamers were with them. Beyond the most meagre facts all was mystery. It puzzled navigators that the bottle should have been found so far from the probable scene of any raider's activities, but the sea has strange ways, and even the doubters came to believe in the end that there was still hope for passengers and orew. What additional informa. tion the Admiralty possessed will probably be disclosed later, but about a month age the Australian Navy Department informed those concerned that news which was considered reliable suggested) that the Matunga had been captured, and that there was no reason to suppose the deaths of passengers and crew.

It is understood (says our Wellington correspondent) that the war loan will be issued on March 21, and that the amount will be £10,000,000.

Our Wellington correspondent informs us that the Cabinet considered on the 7th what steps' are to be taken regarding the wheat crop for next season, but no final decision was reached. It is probable that the next step will be that some responsible Minister will have to get into touch with representatives of the wheat growers. At a general meeting of members of the Dunedin Returned Soldiers' Association on the 7th inst. it was decided to accede to a request to ask the returned soldiers to parade on Saturday, 23rd inst., which is a gala* day in connection with the Y.M.C.A. appeal for funds. The meeting recognised the need for giving every assistance in this effort to help their comrades at the front, and it is expected that there will be a big muster of the returned men.

' The Prime Minister stated on the 4th that the New Zealand Government had decided to grant £IO,OOO to the fund for tho relief of sufferers by the Halifax disaster.

. The report of the Methodist Connexional Fire Insurance Fund suggests the possibilities of profits in connection with fire insurance business. Though there had been three fires during the year, the fund suffered to the extent of only £2 10s, bocause the officers had wisely re-insured, and the net profits for the year amounted to £955 Os 9d, which was added to the capital aocount. The capital now amounts to £9625 2s 3d, which represents the profits of tho fund since its inception."

Of late years it has been the custom for a large amount of general church work to be piled on to representative ministers until it has become an almost intolerable burden. At the Methodist Conference on the 7th a number of ministers asked that they should not be voted for as chairmen of synods. Included in the number was the Rev. A. C. Lawry, of St. Albans, Christchureh, who desired to be left free for circuit work. The Revs. 0. H. Garland and 0. H. Laws made similar requests.

An endeavour is being mado by the Wellington Hotel Workers' Union to obtain an interview with the Hon. T. M. Wilford relative to tho union's request that the maximum fine for Sunday trading should be increased from £1 to £IOO. Mr Wilford (says the Evening Post) has promised consideration of the suggested amendment of the law, but he thinks it probable that only urgent matters arising out of the war will bo dealt with at the coming short session of Parliament. Tho Public Questions Committee of the Wellington Presbyterian Church has agreed to act with the union in the matter, on the ground of the religious contention, and also on the labour contention put forward by the union. Developments are likely to take place at the-Mount* Wallace coal mine, near Stirling, in ithe near future (says the Clutha Free Press). Mr W. Stevenson, proprietor of Stevenson's Pictures, has acquired a'large interest in the mine, and intends to push ahead development work, for which a lot of material is already on the ground. The coal has been thoroughly tested, and is semi-anthractic in character, its steaming quality being much superior to that of the other brown coal mined 1 in the district, and although not so quick in action as Kaitangata, its lasting qualities are said to bo superior. The coal is present in practically inexhaustible quantity, and its nearness to the railway will bo a great factor in the successful development of the mine.

It Is understood that when the plans of the new proprietary mature fully a hundred men will bo employed at the mine. It was announced in Washington on December 21 (a cable published in Australia says) that the British Government had informally complained to the United States against the laxity of the American censorship. The instance cited specifically was said to be the publication in the American press of the presence of a German raider in the Pacific. The New Zealand Government, it was asserted, had requested that the presence of the raider be kept secret, as it was undesirable that warning should reach it that it was being sought by the Allied naval forces.

An interesting legal point cropped up in a case which came before the Military Service Board at Lawrence on the 7th. In the case of a reservist who was appealing to bo placed in Class B of the Second Division, it was stated that he was separated from his wife under a private agreement between the parties, and.that the wife had the custody of the child, and had- agreed to provide for its maintenance out of her salary. The reservist had contributed nothing to its support for two years, and the question was whether! there was just cause for urging failure to support the child, and whether the circumstance of a separation agreement could be urged to bo a just cause. The chairman (Mr H. Y. Widdowson, S.M) said that without giving a considered opinion, he was inclined to think that the child was technically "deserted." The case was adjourned. The action of Eva May Stack in making use of a sister's certificate and name to obtain a position as barmaid in the Central Hotel, resulted in two charges being considered at the Wellington Magistrate's Court on the Ist by Mr S. E. M'Carthy, S.M. Mrs Ella M'Donald, licensee of the hotel, was charged with employing an unregistered barmaid, and Eva Stack with the procuring /the commission of the offence. Mr R. St. J. Beere, who appeared for the licensee, said that not only was the licensee deceived, but a constable who paid a special visit to the hotel for the purpose of inspecting the certificates of the employees was satisfied that Miss Stack's certificate was genuine, and she continued in the employ of Mrs M'Donald for about 12 months, till a second police visit was made by Sergeant Wade. Mr H. F. O'Leary, who appeared for the employee, admited that any offence committed by Mrs M'Donald was solely due to the action of his client, and argued that under the wording of the information no offence had been committed by Miss Stack. The magistrate, after reviewing various authorities, decided otherwise, and imposed a fine of £2, and costs, on Miss Stack, and convicted and. discharged the licensee. ~

Several exciting experiences befel Dr Cleary in a' recent motor tour of the northern districts (says the New Zealand Herald). The trip was for the most part made in heavy rain, which caused the roada 'soon to be in a very bad state. Bishop. deary's most trying experiences were on the. steep and narrow gorge road leading from Hikurangi to Whananaki, also along the Weka Valley track to Dargaville,; and,.,., finally, in negotiating the 10 miles, or less, of piled-up clay from MaungaturotO;. oto Kaiwaka. The last-mentioned road had. had been just graded all the way; the.mass of ©arth thrown across the narrow track had been rendered sodden by days and nights of heavy rain; it took the greater part of three hours to cover the distance) and, in. the strenuous process, the car had to be dug out six times. Coming southwards from Kawakawa, in blinding rain, Dr Cleary and his companion, the Rev. B. Kreymborg, had three punctures in the deep yellow mud. At nightfall they encountered, a mile north of Hukerenui, a flood about one-third, of a mile wide. This was tested by wading through it, and the car was then slowly driven more, than halfway through when the front wheels and engine suddenly went down in a deep hole. The electric gear and engine refusing to work, and no horses being available at that late hour, Dr Cleary and Father Kreymborg proceeded to the local hotel,, well soaked through and covered from heao" to foot with yellow mud. Soon after dawn' the following. morning the car was towed by a horse team from the now diminished flood, taken, to -the t hotel, and there overhauled and set to rights. The following morning the flood south of Hukerenui had sufficiently abated to allow the journey to Whangarei to be continued. Near Kawakawa, in a rainstorm, the car floated bodily over the yellow, sloping mud, stopping only about 18 inches from the edge of a- sheer bank over the swollen river. That was the only very "near thing" on the trip, although the car skidded dangerously in a number of places where greasy tracks sloped down to precipitous banks or deep washouts. .. -

A worthy old son of the soil, Mr W. liiddicoat, of Mangaweka, called in at the New Zealand Times office the other day and displayed, with pardonable pride, the portrait of himself, wife, and six soldier eons in khaki. All the sons have been at the front, and two. returned with honourable wounds. In addition to the six fighting sons, who look stalwart and intelligent, Mr and Mrs Liddicoat have three other sons at home and four giz-ls. This example should inspire others to keep the cradle full and provide plenty of defenders for these fortunate isles.

At Thursday's meeting of the Southland Hospital and Charitable Aid Board a?member asked if there .was anything under the Extradition 'Act whereby the board could get a man back from Australia. They had a debtor in Australia who was reputed to be worth thousands of pounds, while they had his children in Lome Farm Home. The secretary said they could get a man back from Australia all right if they guaranteed the extradition expenses. The man, however, was not in Australia. Mr Pryde (the secretary) told of having seen a photo of that man and his wife walking down the Strand in London, in which city ho was reported to have achieved fame with a war invention. The photo showed them coming from a visit to one of the Londoi) Hospitals, at a time when they were owing

the Hospital and Charitable Aid Board £6OO. The secretary added that the board held as security a large number of shares in.'a local company which had been formed to. develop one of the debtor's earlier inventions. Nothing had cqme of that, however, and the shares were worthless. The Minister of Finance stated (says a Press Association telegram from Wellington) that the prospectus of the new War Loan will be published on March 16. The . amount is £9,500,000. The local price of flour has been advanced from £ls to £ls 10s a ton. Millers say that they have to secure most of their wheat in Canterbury, and that as a result of the railage charges, etc., they are not now able to sell flour at less than £ls 10s a ton, unless they are prepared to lose money. Moreover, they have to pay 6s Id a bushel at the. wharf for the Australian shipments of wheat. Local millers are entitled, under the Government regulations, to charge £l6 a ton for their flour, but as a result of keen competition all last year and up to the present the price has been £ls (less 2£ per cent, discount). Now, however, as a result of the increasing cost in laying in supplies of wheat an advance of 10s a ton has been decided «n. The Royal New Zealand Society for the Health of Women and Children has received the following cable from New York . from Dr Truby King—"lntense interest, generous recognition society's work and methods in States and Canada." The total number of men on the • register of the Discharged Soldiers' Information I Department as at February 28, was 14,753. Of these, 11,474 had been disposed of as under: —Men who had work to return to or have reinlisted or returned to military duty, 4888; men placed in employment by the department (not including men when placed more than once), 2438; men v/ho have signed " assistance not required," 2921; left New Zealand, or cannot ascertain address, 148; men who have not responded to repeated communications, and men who have accepted work the department found for them, but failed to start work, 1079. The number of men convalescing, not ready for employment, and not yet discharged by the military authorities, is 1485. There are at present 318 men on the employment wanted register, and of these six desire work in Wellington. The number for whom employment was found during February last was 151. The fine weather that hae prevailed for some time past in the country districts south of Dunec'in has proved extremely favourable to harvesting operations, and wherever agricultural land is seen these are in full swing. On most of the farms throughout South Otago the crops have all been cut, and a great deal of the grain is either standing in etook or has been " led in," while on a number of places thresh-. ing- or chaff-cutting plants are already at work. It is a little too early to estimate what the yields will be, but, judging from appearances, some of the crops will produce a very fine' return. While the weather has been little short of ideal for j harvesting work, it has been rather dry for turnips and grass, and in some places complaints were heard that the former were suffering from blight. In many of the districts, and particularly around Lawrence, where the weather has been abnormally dry of late, a good shower of rain would be heartily welcomed. A scathing condemnation of certain war measures was made by the Hon. G. Fowlds in the course of an address to the Congregational Union at Christchurch on Wednesday evening. "Much of the war taxation in New Zealand and the Homeland," he said, "is a flagrant violation of the principles of justice. In some cases it has increased the already high cost of living, and has facilitated the operations of those who are amassing riches by the exploitation of the masses. Then again, I consider that the greatest financial crime of all ages has been the issuing of war loans free of income-tax, which means that the men who receive the largest incomes have the largest exemptions, and that is' manifestly unjust. To conscript men and exempt wealth is the acme of undemocratic injustice." ,

A rather fine distinction as to whether a reservist belonged to the Firafc or Second Division of the Expeditionary Force Reserve was argued before the Military Service Board at Milton last week. The appellant was married in New South Wales 01: May 6, 1915, and on the 20th of that month ho landed in New Zealand to take over a farm. It was argued on his behalf that as ho was married outride New Zealand he was a member of the Second Division. Captain Free, however, stated

that the Military Service Act applied to everyone in the British Empire so long as they were of British birth. The chairman. (Mr Widdowson) pointed out that the appellant was in no worse a position than residents of New Zealand, as the Act was not passed until the middle of 1916. It seemed to him, therefore, that the reservist was a member of the First Division. The appeal, however, was not decided upon these grounds, but was deferred in the meantime. Under the will of the late Mr W. L. Philp, of St. Clair, several local institutions will benefit. After leaving numerous legacies to relatives and friends, the will goes on .to direct that the amounts named be paid to the following:—Dunedin /Y.M.C.A. ; Dunedin Salvation Army; Little Slisters of the Poor, Anderson Bay; St. Clair Presbyterian Church; South Dunedin Roman Catholic Church; and the Patients' and Prisoners' Aid Society. After a tour which he has just made of the West Coast portion of his electorate, Mr R. P. Hudson, M.P. for Motueka, is more inlpressed than ever with the need . for further opening. of roads to enable backblocks settlers to obtain the fruits of their labours and increase production, states a Nelson paper. Mr Hudson is strongly of opinion that curtailment of expenditure in this direction is not only unjust to the settlers, but suicidal from a national point of view. There are men in the bush districts, says Mr Hudson, who have to carry their cream out on horseback in cans held on the pommel of the saddle. If the cans were placed on either side of the horse they would be knocked "off by the trees. ' The were rough and broken, and frequently the horses have to plunge about in mud and slush up to their girths. Writing from Palestine under date of December 28, 1917, a sergeant in the New Zealand Mounted ' Rifles describes their Christmas Day:—" Christmas morning dawned showing a very cloudy sky, but we

naa to pacK up Drignt ana eariy to ao a 12-mile trek back to our resting area, where we were to have a week's rest after our six weeks' hard fighting. By 8.30 a.m., what previously looked like a camping ground was only an ordinary gully in the landscape. We were off on a journey that will live long in the memories of all those who mad<3 it. The ground for milea and miles, if not under water, was so saturated that the horses sank up over their hocks, and we had only traversed a few miles when the rain descended at a pace practically unknown in New Zealand.. We Lad our rations, blankets,., and everything we possessed on our horses, and needless to remark, everything was wet through. We waded, or rather our horses did, through these bogs and ponds until about 3 p.m., eventually arriving on the muchcursed sand of last summer and the preceding one. It was bitterly cold, still raining, and wo just erected our ' bivvies' as best we could, tossing in our wet blankets, partook of wet bread and cold tea, and spent the most miserable night I have ever experienced." A shooting affair occurred at Lynchford, Tasmania, on February 16, resulting in the death of John Deegan, single, aged 36 years, son of Mr W. Deegan, dairy farmer, Lynchford, and the arrest of another son, Charles, aged about 33, on a charge of attempted murder. It 'appears that shortly before 6 p.m. John Deegan returned home, and a quarrel started! between the two brothers. This, it is stated, led to blows being exchanged in a cowshed, and both men lost control of themselves and indulged in threats of shooting. Charles Deegan, it is alleged, rushed into the house, and, taking a loaded gun, went out on the verandah, while almost simultaneously John Deegan appeared at the door of the shed with a loaded rifle in his hands. The two men were only about 16 yards apart when they fired at each other, but while the rifle shot fired by John Deegan went wide of its mark, the shot from Charles Deegan's gun struck John Deegan on the left side of the face and head, inflicting terrible injuries, and ho fell, exclaiming, "My God, I'm killed." The whole affair occurred within half an hour, and a sad feature connected with it is that both the father and mother of the two men witnessed it all.

The decision of tho Full Court of Queensland on a point raised respecting the validity of tho commission appointing Mr Justico M'Cawley as a judge and president of the Court of Industrial Arbitration was given recently. Especial interest was attached to tho proceeding? because of the possibility that any judgment adverse to M\- M'Cawley would affect tho deliberations and any decisions of the Industrial Court in which his Honor had participated. There was no argument on tho question. The

Chief Justice read l a short judgment, in which regret was expressed that their Honors were forced to express their views without the assistance usually afforded to the court by representatives of the Crown in any important question involving the interest of the community. They decided that the fixing of a salary was a condition precedent to the appointment of judges of the Arbitration Court, and they therefore held that the commission of January 12, 1916, purporting to appoint' Mr M'Cawley was ineffectual for that purpose, and it also followed that on October 12, 1917, the date of the commission purporting to appoint Mr Justice M'Cawley to be, a judge of the Supreme Court, he was 'not president or judge of the Arbitration Court, and he wa3 not, therefore, eligible to be appointed a judge of the Supreme Court. Leave to appeal to the High Court was granted. In connection with the liquidation of the Marlborough Brewery Company, an ap- . plication was made to the O'hief Justice in Chambers at Wellington last week, for costs for the official assignee at Wellington, to whose department had been delegated the Avinding-up of the concern. Mr H. F. Von Haast appeared for the assignee. Mr T. Young, acting on behalf of some of the shareholders, opposed the payment of commission on the ground that there had been unnecessary delay in the winding-up. of affairs on the part of the deputy assignee at Blenheim, and funds had been allowed to" accumulate on- which no interest had been obtained. It was represented that the liquidation started in 1911, and the business was carried on at a loss until November 21 last, when it was sold for £4398. The deputy assignee had £1343 in his hands, Vhich had not earned interest. His Honor, Sir Kobert Stout, said that it was ridiculous that the liquidation should have lasted so long, and it was unfair to tlie shareholders that money should have been allowed to lie idle. He therefore refused to allow any commission. This in some measure would compensate the creditors. In connection with the recent fire at Foster's Hotel, Wanganui, an incident attended by remarkable circumstances is recorded. Mr and Mrs Foster's bedroom was on the upper floor, *and its furnishings included a safe, in which Mrs Foster kept her jewellery and money, which, at the time of the fire, included a roll of notes to the value of £l2O. When the floor of the bedroom succumbed to the flames, the iron safe crashed through to the ground floor, and, in falling, broke off a tap which was projecting from a water-pipe immediately in the line of its fall, the result being that it was played upon by a continuous stream of water in the midst of the fiery furnace in which it was embedded. When the recovery of the safe had been rendered possible, it was found that, except for the charring of some cardboard boxes and papers, the contents were uninjured. With | this exception, Mi- and Mrs Foster lost' the i whole of their personal belongings. Nobody can assert that Lord _Rhondda does not practise what he preaches. Alike in food and drink, he is one of the most abstemious of men. Coffee is his only stimulant, he does not drink on an average more than one cup of tea in a week, and both coffee and tea are milkles3. Latterly he has, on three' or four days a week, been consuming no meat, bacon, bread, sugar, ! tea, or milk, and though his doctor warned j him of the risk he ran in his zeal to teach by example as well as precept, he has | never been in better health. The Food i Controller's average daily dietary in De- ! cember was: —Breakfast —Oatmeal porridge, | kippered herring, coffee, no bread. Lunch — Fish, with potatoes, banana, custard pud- j ding, coffee. Dinner—Fish with potato (sometimes an egg), nuts, fruit (applo or pear), just now medlars. During the last few months there have been a greater number of resignations from I the Locomotive Running Department than ! during any similar period of the railways' i existence (states the New Zealand Loco, j Engineers' Journal). The cause of this is the lack of promotion and greater induce- i ments outside of the railway service. Another | factor which is causing the acting men to resign is the latest decree, which is pre- j venting men eligible for superannuation from retiring. For every man who could j retire on superannuation and who is held back by the department there arc at least two men who resign, and who are discontented with such action by the Minister of Railways. This means that there is a policy adopted of a penny wise and pound foolish. The older men who are retained cannot continue working much longer than a year or so, and when they retire and affairs become normal again the service will be full of untrained men,_ and the conse-

quence of this is quite apparent to anyone who understands the responsibility of running trains. It would be far better for the service if the acting men could be promoted to a permanent position, and the men entitled to retire be given the position in the service which would be looked upon as of a temporary nature, and not held on the D 3 lists.

Settlers in the back-blocks who have had the sad experience of seeing their cattle die as the result of eating tutu will no doubt be astonished to learn that the plant has a value, and that attempts have been made for many years to acclimatise it in Europe. Tutu, or to give the botanical name Coriaria usafolia is stated to grow only in New Granada and New Zealand. Some 350 years ago the Spanish Mission >'n the former placo discovered the value of tutu for the purpose of making an everlasting ink. It is asserted that a oaptain's log and mission documents which had been written with ink made out of tutu still exist in Spain, and, although they are over 350 years old, the' colour remains as good as ever. What is even more strange, some documents recently recovered from a ship sunk many years ago could clearly be read, as they were also written with tutu ink, which is jet black. Recently United States Consular reports contain the formulae for making ink from tutu berries. It is also stated that this ink has been used by the Government of Spain for official documents for over 300 years, the ink being supplied from New Granada. This plant, which has been attempted to 'be destroyed on most farms on-"account of the danger to cattle, is stated to have a large percentage of potash, and efforts were made by the Germans-.to acclimatise it in Europe for that reason, but without success.

A case that presented very unusual circumstances came before Mr W. G. Riddell, S.M., at the Magistrate's Court in Wellington on the sth. It was a civil action in which von Hartitzoch arid Collins, mechanical engineers, of Wellington, claimed from William Beveridge Topp, dairyman, the sum of £25 16s 4d, being balance of account in connection with work done to milking machines belonging to defendant. For some time the plaintiffs have been trying to locate the defendant, and eventually hearing that he was at Whitianga, some 40 miles from Coromandel, a summons, was served on a man bearing the name of William Beveridge Topp. The man appeared in court in answer to the summons, and it was then discovered that a mistake had been \made. Mr G. G. G. Watson, who appeared for Topp, said that there had been gross carelessness in serving the summons. Topp lived about 40 miles from Coromandel, where he had resided for the past 17 years, and had not heard of the plaintiffs previously. He had been travelling since the Ist in order to attend the court, and had incurred expenses amounting to £25. I£ would be nearly a week before he could reach his home again. When the summons was served upon him his child was upon the point of death, and some time ago it was pointed out to the plaintiffs that a mistake had been made, but they preferred to go on with the case Mr Topp had been put to heavy expenses, and the question for the court to consider, he submitted, was the amount of expenses he was entitled to. The Magistrate said that the court expressed sympathy for Mr Topp, but was unable to grant. him s the expenses he had been put to. He should not have been called to Wellington, but should have had his evidence taken by the clerk of the court at Coromandel. The plaintiffs would be non-suited and the defendant allowed £8 5s costs.

A Press Association telegram from Christchurch states that a petition that Mr J: M'Combs, M.P., bo adjudged a bankrupt has been filed in the Supreme Court.. The petitioning creditors are Kincaids (Ltd.) and Bowron Bros. (Ltd.), and tho ground of the petition is that Mr M'Combs has committed an act of bankruptcy, a distress warrant having been executed on him and returned nulla bona.

An instanoe of how fortunes are being made in Japan as tho result of the war was given recently by a visitor to Auckland from that country, Mr T. Herlihy. Referring to Mr Asano, now the largest shipbuilder in the Far East, he said that he was a poor uneducated boy when he first arrived at Yokohama- He managed to get employment as an ordinary labourer, in discharging vessels. About twenty years ago Mr Asano secured the necessary money and built three small steamers, which ho ran to iSan Francisco. From that start he had gone on, until now he owned the largest lines of steamers in Japan, and since the war he had become orio of the

most wealthy men in the country. Mr Herlihy said he knew of another man who, before the war, worked for £6 a month. He retired last year with a fortune of £4,000,000, acquired inside two years. There were several other Japanese almost as rich, all of whom had made their, money out of shipping by buying and selling. Last year, however, the Japanese Government stepped in, and prohibited the sale of ships to any foreign nation, without its authority. For some considerable time (says the Sydney Morning Herald of February 28) a question has stood on the business paper of the State Parliament by Dr Arthur, asking the Government to consider the case of Frederich Wilhelm Hecht,. the State returning officer for Alexandria. Day after day the intimation "answer deferred'' has been . given to the inquiring member of Parliament. Last night, however, ~ the Premier said that the matter had' been discussed at a meeting ,of the . Cabinet that day, and it had been decided to ask, this officer to resigns Mr Holman said that there was no personal objection to tho officer whose position had been under review. There was no doubt, however, that he had been a subject of Germany before the war, and had served in the German army. His name had been removed from the New South Wales commission, of the peace, and the Cabinet could see no alternative but to call iipon him to resign the position he held in connection with the electoral law of this State.

(Sir Joseph Ward announced definitely on Saturday j (says a Press Association telegram from Christchurch) that Parliament would meet on April 9. A Press Association message from Wellington contains the following:—Mr Frederick James Dawson Stated that though his name was mentioned in the original writ as one of the defendants in the libel action by Beath and Co. against Maurice Goldsborough and % the John Bull Newspaper Proprietary, the writ was amended, and his name was withdrawn before the case came to hearing,' so that the Christchurch telegram representing?, him as still one of the defendants was incorrect. ■

The secretary of the Merchant Service Guild (Captain Macindoe) drew the attention of a Wellington Post reporter to a cable message in a Sydney paper bearing on the rate of pay for officers in England. The cable message reads as follows: —"The Press Bureau states that the National Maritime Board has fixed the monthly rate of pay to navigating officers on cargo liners and general trading vessels of from 1000 to 9000 tons as follows: First mate, £2l to £27 (according- to certificates, and length of service); second mate, £l9 10s to £2l 10s; third' mate, £17." The drift of New Zealand dairy factories from butter-making to cheese-making continues (says the Dominion). This season quite a number, attracted by what they reckoned to be the better prospects in tha cheese business, have changed over. In several instances companies which have refused to make the change have lost suppliers—farmers have broken away ' and started another factory. The result of the continuation of the drift to the cheese business is that the cheese production Una year will (so' far as can be gauged) be greater than in the previous season by several thousand tons, and a pleasing feature is that while the cheese production has thus increased the butter production has not decreased.

An important step" has, according to tho Commonwealth Minister for the Navy (Mr Cook) just been - taken towards the establishment of an air service for the Royal Australian Navy. Arrangements have beon made with the Imperial Government for Wing Commander Maguire, D. 5.0., to visit Australia at an early date in order to advise as to the best steps to be taken for the inauguration of the service. "Up to the present,-" said Mr Cook, a few days ago. " flying has by mutual arrangement been left to the army, as there was a definite demand and scope for men for military service. But in view of the importance of aeroplanes and seaplanes for reconnoitring, by which the radius of action of ships of war can be largely increased, tho Government has decided to get the best advice as to the establishment of an air service for the navy. The officer nominated by tho Imperial Government has had distinguished service in the Royal Naval Air Service under modern conditions. Ho should arrive in Melbourne towards tho end of Apr/1. Recognising the need for this service, I iiad £SOOO provided in tho Estimates for 1917-18, to meet preliminary expenses, and I am glad to be able to say thr.S tho matter is now approaching prao» tical treatment."