NEWS OF THE DAY.

Colonist, Volume LVIII, Issue 14298, 28 December 1916, Page 4

NEWS OF THE DAY.

. A patriotic flannel dance will bo held, m the Tahuna Hall to-jnorrow evening^ The New Year arrangements for the .Nelson section of railways are advertised in this issue, ,and cover to-morrow, baturday, and New Year's Day.

The following Nelson estates have been certified lor stamp N duty:—Harold Leslie Hollyman, £214; ' Charles Wilr^M^rel^ £558 >* Mai^ Ann Oliver, £427: Frederick Henry Scldon, £1387: Joseph Stanton, £748r

The -second summer school for Sunday school teachers arid others will open here to-day.

The Hon. James Allen has received private information showing that tha statement that, the majority or Australian soldiers at the front -voted against conscription i s incorrect.—Pres3 Association.

A Feilding draper, in opening up a case of goods received from Home, discovered that 26 expensive garbardine shower-proof raincoats had been stolen

At a..-.meeting.-of the committee of the proposed River Board fo; Riwaka and JMotueka, it was decided to raise a guarantee fund; to cover initial expenses, .and.-to empower the district representatives in each instance to meet and de^limit the boundaries with a, view to their consideration at a future meeting.

■'"'*»..'■■' ■ ■ ■-.-.■• An urgent meeting of the Bud of Promise Tent will be held in the R-echa-bite Hall- this (Thursday), night at 8 o clock, to discuss i the question of joining the Central Sick Fund, under the new Government Act. Bro. Thomas' Fathers, District Secretary, will be present to explain the position, answer questions;. :;and advise members generally. It is hoped every "membei*"^will make an effort attend, as the question may affect the financial position of every member of the Bud of Promise Tent.

"I stood one afternoon in Westminster Abbey reverently studying the statues of England's greatest mcii. There passed a party of Anzacs, fresh, it appeared, from Madame jussaud's and the nameless figures there. 'Gee,' said one, with an admiring and sweeping gaze. 'I like this place. You can tell who all these blokes are.' True son of Australia, admiring and yet unabashed !"—Lieutenant C. G. Prescott, in "Auckland Star."

At a well-attended meeting'of the Wellington Industrial Association it was reported that the sum of £60 had been raised' by the'•: association as a first instalment to be handed to Victoria College towards the cost of purchasing scientific apparatus.

The anti-shouting, regulations which came into! force in August are having a marked effect on the bar-takings of the Auckland hotels1 (says the "New Zealand Herald")/ A number of licensees stated that business had fallen off a great dealf There was, they^^tated Kr npt--Mearly . the same amount of liquor consumed in the bars as formerly, consequently the weekly takings were much lower than at the ofelast summer. One licensee stated.: that he .did not ascribe the whole of the decrease in his takings to the anti-shouting regulations. The large number of young men who had enlisted, he said, had been an importaut factor.

"In thie light of what I saw in Great Britain, -I think; there, is a tremendous amount of energy in New Zealand that ccmld be devoted to war work," said Mr* J. C. Cooper, general manager of the Taranaki Farmers' Freezing who; has returned from-a visit to Britain, in the course of 'an interview; "In :, England- and Scotland .1 saw thousands of women engaged in all classes of occupations usually followed by men; I saw as ma^y as 5000 women proceed to Francs in connection with war requirements. New Zealand has done well in connection with the war, but she could do a great deal more, particularly with regard to female labour.". V

During the prosecution at Invercarfill of, a fortune-teller,^ it was stated y the police that fortune-telling had become quite a craze in the Southland capital. The woman before the Court was liberally patronised. She- divined the future by means of cards and teacups, and had told some people that some of the troopship^:, would be sunk, or that a relative.would be dead by a certain date, stories which had causedpeople to faint. She might be made liable under the War Regulations A« for spreading false news, but was charged with fortune-telling, as a warning to others. The magistrate remarked defendant might have been burned tor witchcraft in olden days, and fined her £3 . ; "

We have 'to acknowiedge receipt of 4Blue and; White,"; the magazine of Sfc.' Patrick's -, ; College,, 5 /Wellington, for 19116...-, •An annual publication, v•: "Blue' and W iiite"; is perhaps tKe'niost t>yetentious of the Dominion's school journals, and the issue under notice is in every ; respect equal to the^extremely high standard Set in previous ; yeairs, and both: as to matter,. arrangement and production, reflects muclv credit 'upon the editor, contributors, and printers. Itsrpiagejs,. and especially Jhtvsectioti deyot^^'ta^he/; tloings of oldTiboys, are naturally" largely occupied in recording thepart St. Patrick's College lias played in the war, and the biographical notiCes of 'old boy's-whp'vliiivefallen in action fill several pages Eighteen have been repdrteavkilledor missing, and 42 v/bunded, out of some hundreds'" who volunteered for; service. ~ Among the special > articles^ are appfeciations :of the ■ late. Very Rev. I>r. -Waiters,' the first rector of the school, and the late .Dean Smyth, whose deaths occurred' during the year. The number is admirably: illustrated. ~ -