For Passing Notes see page 40.

Otago Witness, Issue 3590, 2 January 1923, Page 3

For Passing Notes see page 40.

The proclamation declaring bank notes legal tender has been further extended to January 10, 1925 (says a Wellington Press Association message). . Some interesting figures are published (says a Wellington Press Association message) as to the effect of the new waterside award. During the past week in Wellington the average wage for all employed was £4 2s 7d (eight hours’ work a day). Under the old award the amount would have been £4 4s lOd, so that the reduction complained about is only 2s 3d per week per man. About 100 members of the State Miners’ Union have been proceeded against by the Labour Department for allegedly taking part in a stop-work meeting on November 23, contrary to the industrial agreement (says a Greymouth Press Association message). The hearing has been fixed for January 9 at Greymouth. The stop-work meeting at issue was connected with the seamen’s dispute. It is not often that anything in the nature of a romance is associated with politics, but a wedding that was celebrated in this city on the Ist had its origin in the North Dun edin by-election which was held in June last. On that occasion an official who is prominently connected with the Reform Party in Wellington visited Dynedin, and during his stay here he met his fate. Returning to Dunedin a day or two ago he made arrangements to be married, and after the wedding had taken place at an early hour that morning, a well known Dunedin citizen acting as best man, the couple left for the north by the second express. A Wellington Press Association mesitge says that according to the vital statistics figure in last week’s Gazette the total number of births registered for the 15 New Zealand urban areas amounted to 1102 during November, as against 1074 in the previous month, an increase of 28. The deaths in November were 447, a decrease.,of compared with the October figures. Of the total number of deaths males contributed 248 and females 199. Fifty-eight of the deaths were those of children under five years of age, being 12.96 per cent, of the whole number. Fifty of these were under one-"year of age. It was unfortunate that the Wanaka Hotel (Pembroke) should have been destroyed by fire so near to the holiday season, but the accommodation for visitors will not be so badly affected as was at first expected. The licensee of this hotel has gone to considerable trouble to make matters as satisfactory as possible, and the doctor’s house, adjacent to the hotel pre-

mises, has been secured, and this jvill provide accommodation. In addition to this the cottage which formed an annexe to the hotel, and which was regularly occupied by guests, is still available, as it was left standing after the fire. These two buildings are already engaged. A temporary bar has been established in a building on the other side of the road. It is understood that the owner of the property (Mr Glass) purposes rebuilding, and that the plans for an up-to-date building are about to be prepared. The first train carrying passengers for Auckland left Whangarei on Thursday morning (says a Press Association message), a small gap between two railways in the neighbourhood of Mareretu being served by motor cars. The journey occupies about eight and a-half hours, which will be materially reduced when' the line is complete. A large gathering assembled at the railway station. The member for Marsderi, the Mayor, and county chairman gave addresses. A resolution was carried expressing great rejoicing and heartily congratulating the Minister of Public Works on the rapid progress of the line. There was a good attendance at the monthly meeting of the Taieri branch of the Otago Expansion League. The order paper contained business of a routine nature. A vote of thanks was to Mr J. M’C. Dickson, M.P., for the attention he had given to any matters brought under his notice by the league. A similar motion was carried regarding the press. Mr F. Smeaton was elected secretary. The publicity scheme to advertise the Taieri, particularly Mosgiel, as a resident il! area, was advanced another stage. Much ■ good is expected from this and other activities ot tho league during the coming year. In addition to the lucerne growing competition that was inaugurated last year, the committee of the Otago A. and P. Society has added a competition for field . turnips. There are two classes for lucerne, irrigated and non-irrigated, one class for swede turnips and one class for yellow or white-fleshed turnips. The committee recognised the great difference of soil throughout Otago, and to ensure more even competition and to encourage farmers to enter has divided the province into four districts. There can be no question that the growing of lucerne is exercising the minds of many fanners who recognise that both for hay and green feed lucerne crops in many localities cannot be equalled, and that it pays the farmer to give this crop some care and- attention. The committee has secured the services of Mr R. B. Tennent, Agricultural Department Instructor, as judge, and he will inspect the lucerne crops during the last 10 days of January, and the turnip crops during the first two weeks of May. Our Christchurch correspondent wires that Lyttelton will soon be gaining a reputation as a luck-bringing township.. The other day there was a story unearthed there of a claimant to an earldom. Yesterday there came another story of an inheritance. Inquiries recently reached Lyttelton from a firm of solicitors at Oklahoma, as to the whereabouts of Charles Moir, who it was stated had been left a large estate, and that the legatee had been in the permanent artillery at Lyttelton 25 years ago. Moir, who lives at Lyttelton, was a menfber of the artillery until it disbanded recently. The estate has been left him by a brother who owned a large tobacco plantation at Ohlahoma. Moir bad not seen him since a visit made to Scotland some 40 years ago. Moir is now 62 years of age. He arrived in New Zealand from Plymouth in 1879. Wellington maintains its reputation as the healthiest city in the dominion (wires our •correspondent). The statistics for November show that the death rate here is the lowest in the four large centres of population. The figure was only .59 per thousand. The average deatharate for New Zealand for November was .71 per thousand. The Grey Valley Borough had the highest rate—viz., 1.31 per thousand. Eighteen bankruptcies were notified in tho latest issue of the New Zealand Gazette. Fifteen of them, involving 18 persons, were in the North Island.

On the night of the 24th, commencing at 8.30, about 65 of,the Dunedin Hospital nurses led by Miss Nosworthy (acting matron) and the sisters, marched in procession through the different wards, singing carols and Christmas hymns. Each carried a lighted candle, and the sisters wore blue with red military capes, and as they stood in two lines along the wards, the spectacular effect. was strikingly fine. The singing (unaccompanied) was really very good, and was greatly appreciated by the patients. After singing two pieces in each ward the nurses concluded by singing in the big entrance hall to the patients in isolation. Truly these ladies have thought for tho patients away from their homes at this festive season. A Wanganui Press Association message states that at a stop-work meeting of the local branch of the Workers’ Union it was decided not to' work on Sundays at the reduced rate of pay fixeu recently by the Arbitration Court. A Press Association message from Auckland says:—A fire occurred late on Saturday night, resulting in the destruction o-i a 10-roomed residence, the property of Mr T. Hollywood, of Onehlingo- The occupants were out at the time. In addition, an imported Belgian motor car, valued at £IOOO, was burned. The house and contents were valued at £3OOO. “Those who are choked with mortgages cannot expect to make money. That is the biggest drawback in .this province,” said his Honor Mr Justice Chapman, at the Supreme Court at New Plymouth, last wee4c, apropos of the profits made by dairy farmers in the district during the past 12 months. Later on a witness remarked that he was in close touch with farmers in all parts of the district (says the Taranaki News), and he was sure that practically all of them had found it difficult to make ends meet during the 18 months just gone by. Our Wanganui correspondent wires that a young man, 19 years of age, was brought before the court on Saturday, and remanded on a charge of stealing £4O of his employer’s money. The young man knew where the key of the safe was hidden. This ho possessed himself of, and after opening the safe he replaced the key. He then left, a small heap of brass shavings on the floor under the door of the safe to convey tho impression that burglars had been operating. His clumsy methods satisfied the police that the burglary had been perpetrated by a novice, and it was not long before an arrest was effected. Suspicion was fixed upon the accused because he was going south for the Christmas holidays. He made his entry to the shop by leaving the back door practically unlocked, the key being turned just sufficiently to permit the lock to have the faintest catch, and be easily forced open. There are few keener followers of the game of cricket and few better judges of it Ilian Mrs MaeLaren, wife of the captain of the English team now in New Zealand, said Mr J. S. Barrett, chairman of the New Zealand Cricket Council, in conversation with a reporter on his return to Wellington from Wanganui on Thursday night. During the match at Wanganui the Minor Associations looked like making a stand, and Mrs MaeLaren, taking advantage of a chance to communicate with her husband, suggested a change in the howling. The sham indignation of the veteran was most amusing. ‘For twenty-five years,’ he said, ‘my wife has bossed me in the house, but, I’ll he dashed if she will do it on the cricket field.’ Strangely enough the suggested change in the bowling was made and duly came off.” An experienced whale-fisher now on a visit to Palmerston North is of opinion that the industry should cease because of the danger of the whale becoming extinct. A hundred years ago, he said, with crude appliances, New Zealand produced an immense quantity of valuable oil. Now, with the most modern equipment and increased value of the products, 149 whales secured in a year yielded less than £20.000. A fleet of well-equipped vessels was sent to New Zealand from Norway a few years ago, but they failed to pay their way. Seals are protected, but there is greater need to save the whale from extinction. Compared with the stamp sales for the Christmas period last year, those for the same period this year show a decrease of £209 15s 4d. The following are the details: December 20, £635 16s 8d; December 21. £729 10s; December 22, £574; December 23. £543 10s: total, £2482 16s Bd. The total receipts for the corresponding period last year amounted to £2962 12s. About 8 p.m. on the 26th two young men gave themselves up at the police station. Both were in a very badly burned condition. They stated that they had broken into an office in tho town and picked up a jar which was standing inside. They let the jar fall, and it exploded, covering their face and hands with some powerful acid. The sufferers were taken to the Hospital in a state bordering on collapse, and they will in all likelihood remain there for some time. A Wellington Press Association message says that the Hector Observatory reports that a large active sunspot group is now visible on the sun’s ee.stern hemisphere. The position of the largest spot is approximately in latitude 4deg 42min north and longitude 98deg 24min.

A Christchurch Press Association message says tnat a 10-roomed house owned and . occupied by Air R. T. Watkins, in Bryndwyv road, Fendalton. was destroyed by fire at 9 a.m. on Monday. Mr Watkins and his family were absent from home. The house and contents were valued at £4000; the house was for £2OOO, and the furniture for £looo.' A very thrilling spectacular event wu provided at the . Lyttelton regatta on Boxing Day (saye a Christchurch Prese Association message), when A. E. Asfcwood made a triple parachute descent from an aeroplane piloted by Captain Euan Dickson. The machine came over Lyttelton at a height of 4000 ft, and after it had manoeuvred over the (harbour the parachutist climbed out on to the • wing, from which he dropped. Each parachute opened promptly, and the final drop was made on to an open paddock just behind Lyttelton. “The colossal work of the Simplon tunnel has been completed,” says the Express Geneva correspondent, “ibe last rail was laid and the final electrical connections made in the second parallel tunnel. The new line was opened and international traffic fieuceforvvard "ill be greatlj expedited. The new tunnel was pierced simultaneously with the first runnel, which was opened lor traffio on June 1, ISO 6. It remained a mere gallery cut through the rock until December, 1912, when the work of converting it into a parallel railway tunnel and track was begun. The tunnels are each 12 miles and aquarter in length, and the cost is about £5,000,000.” It pays better to be a promoter of strikes rather than an unpaid striker. An Australian contemporary gives some interesting figures as to the remuneration of the members of the Council of Action, the Communistic administration set up by the AllAustralian Labour Conference a year ago. Their salaries as union secretaries, organisers, and advocates range from £312 to £624 per annum, with pickings in travelling expenses. Eleven members of the council collectively draw* £SOOO a year from the workers, who keep the strike-promoters in comfort while they and their families do the starving during a strike. An agitator with a sure £6OO a year, wet or dry, can well afford to urge a unionist to tighten his belt and light for freedom. It is apparently a great rarity to see a man or woman with a complete natural set of teeth. During the course of an address at the Auckland Rotary Club Mr L. Taylor mentioned that the previous week a man who visited his surgery had a complete set. They were perfect, and there was not an irregularity'. “Was he married?” inquired a member, amidst laughter. Air Taylor replied that he was. He had travelled all around the world, and on inquiry it was found that he was not fond cf having his meals in the conventional style. He liked hard food, and was very fond of bones, which he nicked up in his fingers and cracked with his jaws. When he was in camp, after enlisting, he was ordered to parade sick, and could not make it out, but was informed that it wns his teeth, which surprised him more than ever. When he visited the_ dentist’s he found that the dentist just Wished to let other military dentists see what a perfect set of teeth was. A New Plymouth Press Association message says that a prisoner in gaol named Alorris Scott Johnson oied in hospital on Christmas eve, death being due to natural causes. Johnson, who yas 50 years of age, was undergoing three years’ reformative treatment.