NEWS OF THE DAY.

Colonist, Volume LVIII, Issue 14336, 12 February 1917, Page 4

NEWS OF THE DAY.

Mr '• R. P: Hudson, M.P., announces! dates on which he proposes: to address-j his constituents at Qlenhope, Tadmor, < Motupiko, FoxiuH, Tophouse, and Tapawera. -■ ■•;•..•. ■ ' -.- .:.'. ~■ ■ -: The .opinion of the members of the Nelson Sick and Wounded Soldiers their Dependents' Fund Society is now •, being taken on the proposal to ostcnd: the scope of the fund by an amendment! of object 2a, limits relief tojwck,' wounded, or incapacitated soldiers "and their dependents, and the dependents' of deceased soldiers. It is proposed to ■■ alter this clause by omitting the words! "sick, -wounded, and incapacitated,": thus bringing "necessitous soldiers within the scope of the fund. Voting' papers have been posted to members whose names" appear on, the roil, and; are returnable to the secretary by Thurs-j day next. Members who have not re-] ceived voting papers'may'-vote.by letter! or personally, or by proxy at the general meeting'oorn r Monday evening next, the 19th mst. Tho qualification of a member is the subscription" of £1 and up-j wards to the fund. At the Wellington Magistrate's Court on Friday, Walter Roland Giles, proprietor of the Crystal Bar, Willis street, was convicted and fined £1 on a charge of keeping his premises- open on Sunday for the purpose of trading, being contrary to the provisions of section 17 of the Police Offences Act, I 1908. The Magistrate, held that de-j fendant's calling was not expressly; exempted iii the proviso of section 17 'i and it could not be reasonably said: that any of the wares vended by defendant were neces&ary or the subject of charity. ■ .

The Greymouth Patriotic Committee on.Friday-I^ssPd. a motion condemning tho aUitii'lo of.lVfr Webb, 3M.P., in not attending send-offs to troops and with regard to patriotic work. The committee also passed a motion urging the Government to bring to bear a clause in the Military Service Act and round up men who have not answered the ballot call.—Press Association.

At the Magistrates's Courtj Keefton, before Mr. T. Hutchison, S.M., several cases of alleged breaches of the antishouting regulations were heard, and convictions entered.

Tho Taumaruuui Borough Council has set up a committee to make inquiries regarding starting a municipal bakery; also to call on tne Government, to establish refrigerating stores at Te Awamutu, Te Kuiti;. and Taumarunui; to send meat and fish by rail for country consumption, charging the local butchers Government prices; and to inquire about starting a municipal milk supply, with a view to reducing the cost of living.

During the month of January the estates of 332 persons were certified for death duties. The largest was that of James -Wa)ker, Wellington, £62,(>14. The Nelson estates were: Hugh Kenyon, £2014; Edward Webby, £1969; Elizabeth Simpson Boon, £ t 529.

It was stated by the chairman, Mr Jesse Steer, at a meeting of the Grey mouth Harbour Board, that according to the estimates prepared by the seer« tary, the board's expenditure had ex ceeded the revenue. The time-ha< come, uj said, when the board mus make an effort to go slow in the matte of expenditure, - for if it "continue! working on . borrowed money disaste would be. sure to follow. It was absc lutely necessary that the board shoul study rigid economy. An appellant (aged 28), in givin evidence at the Military Appeal Coui at Hawera, said,that he had never trs veiled any further than Hawera on tt one side and Wanganui on the othe: He was doubhtful whether he wouJ like to take a trip to France. A man named Walter Hart, aged i years, was admitted .to the Aucklar Hospital recently, suffering from ii juries to a shoulder and one of h eyes. Hart, who i s a South Africa war veteran,- and has only one leg, sa? he was taken home in a motor car I two women, who threw him out of tl vehicle when they reached his horn He struck the door of the house vi lently, sustaining the injuries me tionod. Mr E. L. Strange, gardener, of Bla< Hill, Ballarat East, Victoria, has giv< a public demonstration, which was a tended by representatives of the ik larat Oity and Town Councils, shown that potatoes and tomatoes can grown on the same plant. He explai ed that two methods (budding ai grafting) could'be adopted to obtain t. same result. Budding, however, hi been found to be far more successf than. grafting. One of the budd plants is ,to be sent.to Melbourne i exhibition. : That even a stranger, has,, the rig to apply to have any person prohibit was shown in the Auckland- .Poll Court (says tho "New Zealand H< aid"), when a female resident of Riv< head applied to Mr E. C. Outten, S.l\ to have, another prohibite After hearing the evidence for a: against the application, His TTorsfc said that any person who could prodn sufficient evidence had a perfect rig to apply ,1 to have another person, cv a stranger, prohibited. The evideß in the case showed.that a prohibit! order was likely to benefit the woma and an order would be made. Fifty years and. more ago, when t late Dr. Boor was, in practice at W hngton, the settlement was in ' i youth, and miany Maoris lived on ' Aro Flat and, in villages, near Wellir lon. Dr. Boor had duties towards t Natives as a health officer, and on o occasion he had fqr patient the we known chief;,Epuni.. A large,.carbun< on the.back of the : neck was. causi .the chief a great, deal of pain, land, : -deed, .sappingiJhiß ivitalijuy; .;V\pt: .was :case for -an; operatib'ii,^ahd the <&oci used to relate how keenly he was wat( ed by a circle of half-savage Maor w;ho were not-at all Batisfied jthat t right thing was being done. HoweVi the long cut that-was made had ago effect, and Epuni was soon at ease well again. An incident of travel tt i s remembered by old residents of \V lington occurred oh the llimutali while Dr. Boor's furniture was bei removed from Wellington to tJie Wai] rapa. By some means the dray we over the side- of the road or track n« tho steep and windy place known as ! beha,' wnere a train was in later yes blown off the rails, leading to the er< turn of a wind-break. Most of the ar cles were recovered from-'the^bush ir wkich they were pi^ecipitated, and piano, which the doctor had packed hi folf. was uninjured. One of the hors of the team was killed by the fall

A great deal of amusement was caused locally one night last week (says the "West Coast Times") when several humorists circulated tha rumour that' a, private detective was in Hokitika for the purpose of catchir.g those who were supposed to indnlge m the habit of "shouting." One hotelkeeper expressed . hfc gratitude to the brother publican who had given him: the ./tip-.per medium of the telephone, and. when the supposed <lotoc^ tive'. arrived, at. the former's place he (the. publican) was - very profuse in acquainting-the stranger that hi s ; identity was known to hinii The stranger submitted ta the jeers iof the hotelke?Rer>. pretended that he was bnwlefl out,. aTid left the pr,ernises- closely foilowed^by, feeveralfrienda who had appeared, on the scene before him. Neetlless;:to/say theyairthoroughly enjoyed the, joke, a8 the supposed detective 7r^9-, ou* *<>' be a well "known merchant from Havelock who was paving bis,finst visit to the West Coast