NEWS OF THE DAY.

Colonist, Volume LVII, Issue 13892, 25 September 1915, Page 4

NEWS OF THE DAY.

— «» • — ~~ — The Defence Office'j-eceived an nrgont wire yesterday afternoon asking Nelson to supply one baker and one storeman for the Army ■■Service Corps. Applicants are asked to communicate with ih& local office before 10 o'clock this morning. ■ . .

Mr Alex Wilkie, of the Port, has received a consignment from Sydney of the beautiful Australian waratah blooms. A number of. blooms have been placed in the windows of Messrs M. P. Webster and Co., for the boner fit of those interest*xl.

The Chief Justice (Sir Robert Stout), in opening the Supreme Court sittings at Masterton, heartily congratulated the Grand Jury on the diminution of crime, especially in Masterton. . He went on to quotv statistics- on the point from 1908. when "you resolved to make an experiment by a.bolishing tho- open saloon." Saloon is American for hotel.

Wanted Known.—A useful gift. A soldier will appreciate a military wrist watch,..and you can see the time tho darkest night. Cull and see Louis Kerr's selection.

The holding -of Fiji Day at Suva, on October 9, will be 4 a memorable occasion, as the Government has decided to allow tho holding of a Fijian war dance, a ceremony which has boon forbidden for many years. Thousands of Fijians will flock to Sura -i-o witness it, and to t.ike part in the felo, the financial result of which is expocted to bo in the neighbourhood of £7000.

1 Tho caso against Leslie George Whiting, charged under tho Defo:ic© Act with failing to attend a parade, which was'adjournod for a fortnight to enable dc-fendant to bring evidence to show that ho was present on the occasion referred to, was called on at the MagisIraie's Court yesterday. Senior-Ser-geant Barrett said tbe Defence Departlrent desired the information withdrawn, as the officer who called the roll at the parade, was now at Trentham. The conduct of defendant since the parade had been most exemplary. The Magistrate acceded to the request.

"The Kumara.. is expected to reach Nelson from Dunedfti.to-morrow.

-The Nelson Acclimatisation Society publishes an announcement regarding trout-fishing licenses for 1R1516.

• The _ Commissioner of ■Crown Lands advertises the opening for selection of sections in the Baker's Cieek Block.

Members ofttoh o Nelson Bowling Club are invited to take part in the opening of the Maitai green for the seaso-.i this aftcrroon.

An attractive programme has been arranged tor the concert in aid of tho Bed Cross Fund, which is to be held m the Waimea West Schoolroom 'on Monday, tho 27th inst

A first offender for drunkenness, who har t been remanded for' medical treatment, war brought before Mr J. S. l'-vans, ,S.M. at the Magistrate's Court yesterday, and was convicted and fined 10s.

A concert m aid of the Red Cross JUuid will be held in tho Spring Grove Cimrch of Christ. ; Sunday School on luesday, the 28th'inst. ?")urim>- -the evening the- Wakefield Band will' play selections.

Iho time foi- receiving parcels to b'3 included with the Lady .Liverpool ComiMttee Christmas gifts for Nelson men at tho front has beer, extended to Thursday, the, 30th inst. They should reiHi Mrs V?." Lock b y iliat date. Articles such as cakes (should be spnt in tins,.preferably square ones. The com-n-ittee will h* glad to'receive handkerchiefs for the Christmas gift parcels

A jouth named .Frederick Kitchiii"pleaded ...guilty, at the 'Magistrate s Court yesterday to a charge of having stolen, on August 6th, a copper boiler valued at £1, the property of Nelson College. Sergeant Barrett stated that defendant had lived"in an old-house owned by the. College Governors, and hearing that it was to be pulled down, he asked for the job. Permission was re fused, but defendant removed the boiler and sold it to a lhar. for ss. Defendant was convicted and ned 10s and was ordered to repay the 5s received for the copper.

Particulars of the pedigree of the stai.d-ard-bred American trotting stallion Elk"ton Hall, which has been bieight to. this district by Mr R. T. Watson, show that he was .sired by that great racehorse Walnut Hall, who sired The Harvester (2.1), the champion Plotting stallion of the world,, and a large number .of others in the standard list. Walnut Hall's sire was Conductor (2.143:), a son of the famous Electioneer. On tho other side. Elkton Hall also boasts of a solid peaigreo. His dam, Ella- Belmont (2.12£), is dam of Ella Hughes (2.ls£).and Peter Belmont, 2 years (2.19|). Ella Belmont is by the great'Belmont, one of the foundation sires of America, among the great horses owing allegiance to him being Nutwood,. sire of 174 in the list, and of the dams of 397. Tlie.jatitention of breeders is directed to the advertisement in another column.

[ A sample of the, "Active Service Writing Companion" has been forwarded to this office by Messrs Snodgrass and* Sons. The outfit, which just fits the military coat pocket, contains 73 sheets of ruled paper, 15 opaque Court envelopes, a lead pencil, and a 1915-16 calc-rdar, and will be found very useful by our boys at the front. Five liuidred of these "companions" are being senti by the Lady Liverpool Committee, "with, the Christmas girts for our boys at the front. The outfit is.manufactured by Collins Bros., of Auckland, and is being supplied to the Lady Liverpool Committee at the cost of tho material, the labour not being charged; for by the manufacturers.

The Upper Moutere teams competing in the tug-of-war are good sports, as efforts which they make to enable them to take part in the contests testify. Tlie cars for town leave Motueka at 6 o'clock in tiie' evening, and it is 1 o'clock in the morning before the return is' accomplished. On" Thursday night two punctures on the way in and three on the home trip added an hour to each of the journeys. Two of tho men. Hickey and Sixtus, have io !n:ake a six-mile trip from Bronte to Moutero, over a rough road, to join the car. To do this without interfering witli their work .±hey have to be content with half an hour midday spell, and leave Bronte at 4.30 in order Io catch the car. Their trips to town and back take from 4.30 pju. to 3 a.in, and wiUi tho pulling and a day's work thrown in they 'can claim to have a fairly ntrenuous dfily round.

We learn that excellent work has been done at Sandy Bay in opening up tho marble quarry^ which.is to .supply, tho stone for a large portion of the now Parliamentary . Buildings. About 5 n.iles of. formation has been constructed, insluding some big cuttings, and this is ready for the rails, which are expected shortly. A site for a new and laiger wharf has been chosen, and the quarry has been opened up'"some distance inland of the old quarry.' There bus been taken outi about 7000 ft of fust-class stone, which is equal to about 5000 tons. Some of the blocks are fro;n 7 to 10 tons in weight, and arc without flaw. These tvill be brought to t-ho waterside as soon as the tramline is corrpleted, and it is expected that the work of shipping will be in full swing in a couple of months' time. Mr Gco. Dunn, of Port Nelson has taken a cr.-r.tract to transport tho htono to Wei- ] liiigton. About 70 men are ao present, employed in connection with tho work.

Leather ' waistcoats for Nelson soldiers at the front are. being obtained by the local Lady Liverpool Comniittee through ihe Christehureh committee, as previously announcsd,. and the work of making them is in hand.

• V arious sewing guilds in iown are making buttercloth undershirts, which are to be-sent forward by the Lady Liverpool Committee at the same time as the Christmas gifts for our' soldiers on. active. service.

A meeting of delegates from Scottish societies, held at< Palmorston North yesterday, -decided to requesti the Minister of Defence to equip and despatch a kilted regiment, to be known as "the New Zealand' Scottish," for actiyo service forthwith.— I'ross Association.

A pleasant incident at the Boys' Central Scbcol yesterday afternoon was the presentation to the school of tb.3 Italian flag which was sold at the Italian entertainment on Monday It was given .to the school by the purchaser, Mr F. W. Fairoy, who in an accompanying 'letter referred to tlic entry of Italy into the war on the side of Great Britain and her allies. Mr E. E. Boyes, on behalf of the donor, addressed the boys, speaking in appreciative terms of Italy's fiction, and e^presspi.-T thn hope thai, his hearers, if the call should come to them, would follow in the footsteps of tho brave .'non who were going from New Zealand to figho in tho defence- of the Empire and liberty for the world. The flag was accepted for the .school by tho headmaster, Mr F. G. Gibbs, and tho ceremony concluded with cheers and ihe singing of the National Anthem.

In the course of a'discussion at the annual meeiino, of the ■Canterbury Fanners' Co-operative Association, Mill. H. Rhodes (Bliiecliffs) deprecated the •casting, in another man's face what he had given or had failed to give to patriotic funds. Ho thought iti was a horrible,thing to do. If a man would not givo. then God help him and lot him wallow in his own .mire, .but letthere bo no casting it _up at him. Bach man should give straight out what ho could afford and say nothing about his' neighbour. (.Applause.)

In discussing the effect of the war on the great public schools at Home. Mr Lusk (the well known Canterbury cricketer who returned from England last week) said that a great number of th© older boys had enlisted. Very few of the boys who had only one term to take returned to school. In the sixth form at Rugby the average had dropped a year. There had been a remarkable increase in the training corps at the schools. Before the war, the training corps at Rugby—a purely voluntary organisation—had from 150 to .170 members. Now it had close on.COO, practically all the boys old enough to join, except those w"ho were debarred because of physical weakness, being in it. And the boys;were doing a gre:.t deal of work, too. Some of them took a special class which fitted them for the taking up of commissions. One- tiling that struck Mr Lusk was that every boy seemed to tak/< it for granted that he was going into the Army. It was not a case of "Are you going to join?" but "Which regiment are you going to join?" Many of the boys enlisted as privates■ rattier than wait for commissions. The other great public schools were in tho same position.