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Otago Witness, Issue 3348, 15 May 1918, Page 36

About 2.40 p.m. on Saturday a sharp shock of earthquake was experienced in Duneddn.

In addition to the reward of £2OO offered for information leading' to the arrest of Onslow Mayhew for the Gemmell's Crossing murder, a sum of £SO is offered, if he is dead, for the discovery of his body. In the case of more than one claimant for tha rewards they will be divided at the discretion of the Commissioner of Police.

Tho Red Cross Society has received subscriptions of £IOO, for the endowment of cots in the Red Cross Military Convalescent Home, from the Trained Nurses' Association and Miss Lily Mitchell. It is understood that the cargo of about 4000 tons of Newcastle coal which has arrived at Port Chalmers, has come to the order of the Government, for use on the Otago railways. The cargo will prove a welcome addition to the rather small existing stocks.Striking evidence of the reduced purchasing power of money is provided by tho Government Statistician in his monthly abstract. Wellington still holds the unenviable distinction of being the dearest of the New Zealand croies. According to the statistics the purchasing power of the soverreign showed a further decline in tho March quarter of the current year. If the average purchasing power of the sovereign expended on foodstuffs in the period 1909-13 i» taken as representing 20s, the average worth of the sovereign in March, 1918, for the four cities, was 13s 3£d The four cities comparo as follows:—Auckland, 28s 7d; Wellington, 29s 3£d; Christchurch, 27s 6£d; Dunedin, 28s s|d; in the cost of goods which could bo bought in 1909-13 for £l. Diphtheria, of which thers were a few cases in tho Palmerston district about the end of last, year, has again made its appearance. It is confined, however, to only one or two cases, and it is to be sincerely hoped that its further spread will be prevented. Scarlet fever has also broken out, and it i«i more than likely (our correspondent suggests) that the presence of these two epidemics is in no slight measure attributable to the open creek which to some extent acts as a sewer to the town. An Order-in-Council was gazetted on Friday, establishing a Dunedin coal trade district and setting up a Dunedin Coal Committee, consisting of Messrs R. Lee, A. P. Bremner, A. J. Allen, and A. B. Johnston.

•No greater mischief is done at the present time than that which arises from the apparently general feeling that work is a thing to bo avoided," said Dr Marshall, head master of tho Wanganui College ,at a prize-giving ceremony at the Diocesan High School for Girls. "I believe this is the cause of all the industrial unrest we have at the present time. This is a period when tho future of our nation is at stake, when tho energies and industry of everyone in the community are required in a greater and more exacting degree than in tho past. It is for everyone to gird himself for the struggle which will come in the near future in tho race for industrial efficiency. It seems that an individual can do a very small amount to promote great national interests, but the nation is made up of individuals, and unless the individual performs his duty, and does his work honestly, then tho nation must fail in the great struggle which lies before it."

" Beforo tho first ballot was drawn," staled Captain Cossgrovo, Director of Recruiting, in evidence beforo tho Defence Expenditure Commission on Thursday (reports tho Wellington Post), "tho Government decided that section 35 (commonly known as the 'Family .Shirker clause') of the Military -.Service Act ynould be brought into operation. This was a unique clause

and without precedent in British military history. Its working was hedged round with many safeguards that injustice might not be inflicted on the innocent. It was corsidered that if. tho section produced 500 recruits, its Insertion in tho Act would bo justified. It has actually produced 76b who have gone to camp to date." A combined meeting of railwaymrn, held on Sunday afternoon, passed the following resolution: —"That this representative meeting of railwaymcn strongly supports any action dopted by our various executives in thoir endeavours to secure for our fellow workers, returning disabled from activo service, fair and impartial treatment, and that,no member shall suffer any disability through injuries received or impairment to health whilst on activo service; and we- strongly oppose any interference with pensions granted them by tho State." The Board of Trade completed its sittings in Dunedin on Saturday, and tho members left for tho north by the express on Monday morning. During its visit tho board consulted local expert witnesses regarding produce prices, mainly potatoes, chaff, and oats, in continuation of investigations already made in Christchurch, Timor U, and VVaimate. On Saturday tho board, at the request of those interested in tho potato trade, inspected the shipment recently imported from Australia, numbering some 1300 sacks, and! condemned on arrival by the Agricultural Department on account of blight. It is understood that there is a probability of tho potatoes being re-sorted, as fully 80 per cent, can bo classed as good table quality. In conjunction with the Department of Agriculture tho board has recommended to the President of the Board of Trade (the .Hon. W. D. S. Mac-Donald) that this course be followed, as if the potatoes can be saved; for the local market it will tend to steady prices and put in supply a commodity which is needed at the present time. Tho board also took evidence regarding the prico of bread, and will give its decision shortly through the press.

A Press Association telegram states that the executive of the Hastings Branch of the Second Division League on Friday night resolved—" That we reaffirm our loyalty and steadfast determination to assist the Government to bring the war to a victorious ending. We aim at procuring, if possible, by constitutional methods the conservation of the welfare of all soldiers, and to secure adequate allowances for their wives and children. Wo repudiate and dissociate ourselves absolutely from any acts or expressions of disloyalty, and whilst endeavouring to secure for those upholding the cause of right and justice in the firing line the same average rate of pay enjoyed by their rejected brothers, we unanimously agree to mako the great sacrifice of our lives if necessary in defending the flag of freedom in preference to living under foreign despotism." The only case before Mr J. R. Bartholomew, S.M., in the City Police Court on Saturday was that of Annie Maria Parker Wilson, who had been remanded earlier in the week on a charge of the theft of a quilt and a bed sheet, valued at £l, the property of Alfred Robert Smith. At the initial hearing, Mr F. G. Cumming was asked to make some inquiries as to the conditions under which this woman lived, and he reported on Saturday that she was in the habit of taking drugs. He did not think this woman was a thief, as these articles had. been taken at a time when she was dazed from the effect of a dtrug. Her friends desired that she should be committed to some institution • but before this could be done it would be necessary for her to bei medically treated. Tho defendant, who was obviously weak and in a shaky condition, was convicted and ordered to come up for sentence when called upon, tho Magistrate remarking that his intention was that she should go into hospital in the meantime, but when her physical condition warranted it she should be committed to Pakatoa for a term.

Dr Florence Keller, speaking at a Civic Lcaguo meeting at Auckland, said tlrat when visiting the soldiers' quarters in tho Annexe she found sick men lying with newspapers over their faces to keep away flies, because the windows were not provided with flyscreens. At the Costley Home it was hardly possible to see some of tho old men for flies. When they know that 10 per cent, of sickness would be cut right out if they could get institutions and homes free of flies, sho thought it was time the public was awakened to this matter. When sho was in Vancouver six months since sho saw a hospital that was absolutely free of flies. Yet in Auckland sho had been told by medical men that it was impossible. The suppression of flies touched a terrible sore in tho community. When in the Panama Canal for 10 days Dr Keller saw two flies and one mosquito, in a place that had been formerly tho white man's grave. This showed what could be done. Tho fact that Feathersfcon Camp was quite free from flies while Palmerston North was swarming with them showed that the faidt lay with the city councils in charge of the health of tho cities and the medical men in charge of tho health of our institutions.

Certain anomalies with respect to the pay of New Zealanders serving in tho British navy have been brought before tho Prime Minister by Mr C. J. Parr, M.P., at Auckland. It appears there are many instances of married New Zealanders who have joined the navy at Home. These men receive only the same pay as single men, and there are no separation allowances for them, because their wives are resident in New Zealand. Wives residing in England receive a separation allowance. Mr Parr asked the Prime Minister to endeavour to get the Homo authorities to allow wives living in New Zealand tho usual separation allowance, or, in the alternative, that tho New Zealand Defence Department should make up this amount. The Prime Minister has promised his favourable consideration of the request.

Under tho chairmanship of Secretary Wilson, of tho United States Department of Labour, tlicxo was recently held in Washington what may well prove to bo "the most important conference of representatives of Capital and Labour that over has taken place in the country (says the; Guaranty

Trust Company of New York). That conference was to determine what tho attitude of each to the other should be during tho war. Labour was represented by five men widely known as leaders in tho American Federation of Labour; Capital had an equal number of men selected by tho National Industrial Conference Board. Tho public was represented by two others, ono of whom was ex-President Taft. These men were to determine upon what basis Capital and Labour should join hands for the period of the war in order that thoso at tho front might bo equipped, fed, and supported. Bearing upon that problem were tho question of wages, hours, unions, distribution of labour and settlement of disputes. There was no question of "democratic peace," "self-determination," "solidarity of tho proletariat," "class consciousness" or sirnilar German profundities which havo lately boon worshipped in Russia. On both sides there was a hope fhat there might bo discovered a principle which would solvo permanently the problem of industrial society. "Possibly it is a fact of good omen for this dominion that to-day the first and foremost scientist of tho world in the field of foundry work is a New Zealander, a chemist educated in our technical schools and university, whose name is worthy of being inscribed beside Rutherford's on our yet scanty roll of fame—Dr Mellor, whoso colossal help towards supplying Britain with an adequate output of munitions will surely be suitably recognised by the nation in the near future," remarks Mr S. H. Jenkinson, concluding an article on " Steel Casting Furnaces under New Zealand Conditions," in the Journal of Science.