NEWS IN BRIEF.

Otago Witness, Issue 3397, 23 April 1919, Page 25

NEWS IN BRIEF.

There are 41 candidates for the 15 seats in the City Council. The number of New Zealand troops in the United Kingdom on April 5 is 20,461, and in. France 593.

The City Council has confirmed the proposal for the purchase of the Auckland tramways, and has authorised a loan of £1,250,000 for that purpose. The Canterbury A. and P. Association has decided to urge the Government to prohibit the importation of North Island cattle, in view of the appearance of Queensland tick. The manager of the Harbour Lights Pictures, Lyttelton, was charged with keeping open between 5 p.m. and 7 -p.m. He was convicted and ordered to come up for sentence if called on. At the Palmerston North camp the Presbyterian Young Men's Bible Class Union resolved to render all the assistance possible to the General Assemby's movement to se<oure union of the churches. At the Lyttelton Court on the 16th five members of the crew of the steamer Hororata pleaded guilty to the theft of six cases of jam, valued at £ls. Each was fined £lO, in default two months' imprisonment. Messrs J. P. Luke (present Mayor), W. H. P. Barber, and J. Read, the last-named a Labour candidate, have been nominated for the Wellington mayoralty. Mr T. Shailer Weston has withdrawn from the contest. It is announced officially that Lieutenantcolonel A. V. Bettington, C.M.G., of the Royal Air Force, has been appointed Air Force Adviser to the Now Zealand Government, and granted the temporary rank of colonel while so employed. Roubton's boarding-house at Pongaroa, containing 25 rooms, was completely destroyed by fire on the 13th. Nothing was saved. The building was owned by Mrs B. E. Brenton. who was insured for £4OO. Mr Roulston's insurances are notv available As the sequel to a raid on a two upschool at Devonport, 26 men appeared in the Police Court to-day. Decision v&as reserved by the magistrate on the question of whether the place where the game was played was a public place within the meaning of the Act. The Rev. D. O. Bates, Government meteorologist, has been temporarily attached to the department of tho Chief General Staff for meteorological research in connection with' the air service, and will hold tho honorary rank of lieutenant-colonel while so employed. A large meeting of Auckland returned soldiers vi'animously passed a stronglyworded resclution expressing surprise at the remarks attributed to the Chief Justice in Wellington regarding the soldiers' ( rum ration. Those present "counted out" the Chief Justice with evident relish. Mr M. J. Mack, secretary of the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants, believes a majority of the branches do not thoroughly understand what is meant by the new proposals of the management. When the proposals are given effect to he believes they will bo appreciated. The Acting Premier (Sir James Allen) on the 17th opened the Y.M.C.A. "hut" at the George V. flospital in the presence of a large gathering. Mr Whakane Hikaiaro, chairman of the Maori Patriotic Association, handed in £SO for beautifying the grounds and making tennis and croquet lawns. A prisoner named Charles Edward Bolton escaped from Mount Eden Gaol on the 21st inst. He was working in a quarry outside the gaol walls, and eluded the vigilance of the warder. Bolton was serving a month's imprisonment for theft and vagrancy, and was to have been dealt with to-morrow on a warrant for maintenance. The Otago University Council has declined a lequest from the Repatriation Board for a reduction of fees to returned soldiers who desired to complete a course of study which was. started at the University before enlistment, each applicant to be dealt with on its merits. Members of the council considered that assistance to returned soldiers should come from the Government's general fund. The general manager of the National Bank of New Zealand asserts that the reason the bank is not paying in the case of tho forged notes stolen while in transit and then unsigned is that if the notes were all paid the thief would not be discovered. Unless the public are embarrassed they will not examine the notes when receiving them. The forged notes are numbered from 550,000 to 600,000. A branch of the New Zealand Labour Party has been formed at Reef ton, and 500 members were enrolled immediately. It was announced that thero would be a party contest for the Motueka seat at the general election, and nominations would be immediately invited from eligible persons to stand for selection. If necessary a plebiscite will be taken to select a candidate.

An attempt is being made at Gisborne to identify the late Dick Travis, V.C., of Southland, who gained the title of King of No Man's Land in France, with Dick Savage, who was in the employ of a Mr Tietjen, of Bushmere, before he camo south. It is alleged that some Gisborne men had spoken to Travis as Savage, the son of parents residing at Opotiki. The case is a weak one.

The steamer Daghill left Lyttelton on the 14th for Liverpool, via Panama., after having been delayed in port since _ Friday owing to a dispute between the ship's engineers and coloured firemen. The trouble was settled to-day when two firemen were discharged and two white firemen were engages in their places. The Baghild took an exceptionally largo cargo of wool, honey, preserved meats, tyres, peas, wool, clippings, and sundries. The Minister of Defence has still under consideration the sale of gratuities to soldiers returning from service. The Minister's proposal was to give to single men one week's pay to every 18 weeks of service, and to married men one week's pay for every 13 weeks of service. He is now making inquiries with a view to bringing the gratuities up to what is paid in other dominions when the wages paid and allowances given are fairly adjusted. Thirteen Maori soldiers, members of the

Main Body, were at Whangarei before the court for the theft' of a 10-gallon barrel of beer from the Kaikoho railway station platform. They were on their way to Whangarei to get their discharge, and took the barrel into a carriage, locked themselves in, and drank out of a bucket, all being more or less intoxicated. One locked himself in the lavatory, and the door had to be taken off to get him out. The benph took a lenient view, and fined them the cost of the beer—ss each —and 5s lOd railway fare. Allegations of inefficiency in connection with the teaching for the commercial side of the secondary schools of the Dominion with special reference to the Otago Boys' High School were made at the annual meeting of the Otago branch of the New Zealand Society of Accountants. The teaching of bookkeeping, it was said, might well bo left alone. The teachers, it was stated, lacked practical experience. The average boy who entered an office knew little of arithmetic, and was so poorly acquainted with English that he could hardly write a line with grammatical accuracy. Mr D. Mann, who was for some time a retail butcher in Dunedin, but is now a meat salesman at ■ Smithficld Market. London, gave an address at Ashburton last week on the meat trade. Mr Mann said New Zealand commandeered meat had been largely used by the army and navy. Ho held that while the oversea growers had played the game, the Home Government had dono the same. Profiteering had not gone on as some of the growers seemed to think. Mr Mann said thero was no doubt that values would have to come down soon. The price of meat was at present too high, and the price of land too high. , . The campaign for the Oamaru municipal election ia taking definite shape Already two candidates are in the field for the mayoralty. Cr James M'Diarmid, whose nomination was endorsed at a recent meeting of the council, is a candidate. A few days later two strong deputations representing citizens, Labour, and returned soldiers urged Mr A. E. Lawrence, editor of the North Otago Times, to consent to nomination for the mayoralty. Mr Lawrence declined, on the ground that the two positions were scarcely compatible. lhree fitrono- deputations subsequently waited on Mr W. ri. Frith, ex-mayor, who has consented to be a candidate. A lively contest is expected. "\ A very large congregation gathered from various narts of the Mount Ida charge assembled in the Ranfurly Church to witness the unveiling of a, memorial tablet, erected bv the congregation to the memory of their first minister, the Rev. J. M'Cosh Smith. " VT .A.. B.D. -The Rev. G. LV Falconer v 'neted the service, and m unveiling the tablet briefly sketched the work of the deceased gentleman, who had laid well the foundation of the Presbyterian Church in the Mount Ida charge. He took with him to the grave many a confidence that never was and never will be betrayed, and there follows him the memory of a_ faithful congregation, pregnant with blessings received from the hands of God's man. Mr H. Wilson (senior elder at Naseby) and Mr W. Smith (elder) also spoke briefly, the latter mentioning that the Naseby tablet had been unveiled on September 22, 1918, by Miss Hazel Ball, granddaughter of the late Mr Smith.