TOWN EDITION.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 14285, 30 April 1917, Page 6

TOWN EDITION.

Tho hiyh cost of living does not trouble some *ukj|»u\ In the. Government Labor Bureau's rejK.rt. it is stated that- five men m Wellington the other day refused work al- 14s per day.

'Mr J. VV, Bright and Major A. (!. UiH'iv weio the presiding justices at the Police Court this morning. The only business dealt with was the making of a prohibition order against a man who consented to the order being made.

A. singular coincidence m connection with the diaft of reinforcements who left Gisborne on Saturday night, was that three of the four soldiers named Jones included m the draft were all 29 yr-n-.s 8 months of age; belonged to the 29th Reinforcements,' -and were to have left on the 29th of the month. Two of the threo also bore tlie same Christian names.

A witness at tli? Masterton "Magistrate's Court* stated thai it was a. recog--1 ii : .«*ed practice among drovers not to ! clear stock from the road for motor-cars j to pass unless the car-driver shows an inclination lo steady up. The drovers adopted thirf attitude owing to the number of valuable dogs which had' been 1 killed by fa*t-tvav.el\ing cars when m the act of clearing a track.

j In -connection with tbe demand that is ! being made by the Second Division League for improved conditions for mar- . ried soldiers, it has been pointed out tliat many of the -difficulties that confront the Second Division men would bo removed if the Government followed tho example of the Canadian authorities and paid separation allowance at the rate of £1 per week to the wife. New Zealand .at present allows the wife only 7s a jweek. If the wife had a separation alj iowance on the Canadian scale, plus the j present allowance of 5s 3d per week for 1 eacl) child, the husband could ensure her ' against actual want during his absence by making a supplementary allotment fi-om his pay. Assuming that he was i leaving two children, and that he allotj ted 3s 6d a day from his pay. retaining jls 6d a day for himself, the wife's weekly income would amount to £i 5 . 14s 6d.

At, twelve o'clock on Saturday (stated the Otago Daily Times), the railways will accept nothing for carriage but foodstuffs., coal, coke, and a number of other absolutely essential classes of goods * which ar e specified. The result of this decision has been that goods are now being rushed into tho Dunedin yards before the fateful hour strikes. No fewer than 10,000 cases of petrol are being stacked m the yards foi transport to the Invercargill district, a.nd m the outward shed there is anything up to 100 waggon loads of stuff awaiting removal. There are, m,, fact, probably more goods of every description stacked up m the sheds aiid yards than ever before m Dunedin m a similar short space of time. The demand for trucks has been so 'great that the railway officials have been quite unable to cope with it, but it- is anticipated that within the next day or two trucks which have been required for other important work will be available, and that the rush will then be dealt with as speedily as possible.

In conversation with a N.Z. Times reporter, Mr James Robeaits, secretary of the New Zealand Waterside Workers' Federation, explained* ihat it was noticeable that only two-thirds of * the total membership of eighteen unions, comprising the federation, had recorded their votes m the New Zealand ballot conco.rning the new agreement. ' This could be explained by the fact that at the timo of voting a gr>eat number of members off tlie various waterside unions wer-S-Sj-way from the waterfront owing to the slackness of the season, and were working elsewhere. The national vote was an interesting episode m the history of the waterside labor movement m New Zealand, being- the first vote of the kind yet taken. After the usual formalities liave been gone through, the agreement will be put m force. It should be mentioned that the agreement was accepted by the workers' representatives subject to ratification by the members of the eighteen unions comprising the federation. '•' * "

An outbreak of diphtheria has occurred locally, and is reported .to be assuming rather extensive proportions, quite a number of cases having been reported during the past few days. From -what can be ascertained the eases ace not confined to any particular^ locality, but are from scattered parts of both town and country. About a dozen cases have occurred at Waerenga-a-hika, and the Health authorities have deemed it advisable to close the Waerenga-a-hika school. Enquiries show that there have been 47 cases to daAe since the beginning of the year, coming from the following localities : Gisborne ancj suburbs 15/ Waei*eriga-a-hikaß, Makaraka 4, Mangapapa' 4, Patutahi 3, Te Karaka 3, Ngatapa 3, Tolaga Bay 2, Motu 2. A , similar ' epidemic was prevalent m Hawke's Bay recently, the. outbreak being generally attributed .to the damp season. Residents, however, are. .advised to exercise general cleanliness and to affect a clean-up of their premises.! .Fowl runs should be well looked after, and dogs and cats that may be ailing should not be allowed near the house, whilst attention should be given to ithe general health of cliildren, particularly m respect of aore throats or croup. It is understood/ a good many of the patients are small children, under the age of, six years, who have been accustomed to playing about on the ground. Many of the diphtheria cases are of quite a mild nature. The number of typhoid cases this season has also been above normal, and is attributed also to the wet season. Of the 48 cases since the New Year, about lialf came from the Borough.