NEWS OF THE DAY.

Colonist, Volume LVIII, Issue 14394, 23 April 1917, Page 4

NEWS OF THE DAY.

Mr W. Lock, as a, candidate for the Mayoralty, publishes in this isst-e an. address to the municipal electors.

A controversy is proceeding, at Auckland over ihe iclease from internment on health grounds of Mr Carl Seegner, for many years German consul there.

A conference' of the Taranaki trustees of the National Efficiency Board' unanimously passed a resolution expressing their sympathy and willingness to heartily co-operate with the National Government in their endeavcur to carry out the Military Service Act and to assist them'in securing the men needed for reinforcements till the end of the i war.

The atmospheric conditions on Sunday morning- did not permit the comet to be observed.

There were over two thousand-entries and exhibits for the Canterbury Patriotic Fruit and Allied Prducts Show which - opened at Christchurch on Friday. •

The staff of the Nelson Post Office now includes three female telegraph operators, and there has been a,n increase in the number of women employed in other branches of the office.

The American flag and the New Zealand ensign were hung from a transverse pole on the flagstaff at. the Post Office on Saturday in honour- of the entry of the United States into the war against Germany.

The Territorial camp at • Tapawera, which concluded last week, was inspected by Colonel C'haffey, officer commanding the Canterbury military 'district, and Colonel the Hon. 11. iL Rhodes, M.P., commander of the Canterbury Mounted Brigade.

The name of John Leslie* Prussing, "which appeared in a ballot list last week, should have been starred. Mr Trussing first enlisted within seven days of the declaration of war, and altogether has offered his services at least ten times.

The cabled news of the death of Dr. Zamenhof, the inventor of Esperanto, has elicited the statement that on the eve of the war there were about two thousand 'official* Esperanto societies. There is now a rival universal language in tlie'-fieid, namely, Idiom Neutral, which many persons can read in a few minutes. ' , ■ ■ ; :'•;..... ; .- • ;

Mr J. A. Fiostick, Canterbury Commissioner for the National1 Efficiency Board, will sit in Nelson this morning for the purpose of taking evidence in regard to the advisableness of the restriction, continuance, or abolition of agricultural shows, racing, amusements (including picture shows), etc., during the war.

The new comet that, the astronomers have become so absorbingly interested in since it first floated into their line of vision, is regarded as a total stranger. Its periodicity is not established, since it lias not so far been identified, and nobody can say when it last visited the sun. it is. ■supposed to have a period of anything up to thousands of years. Mr, D. B. M'Leod, of Canterbury College, Christchurch, : states that, the .new comet, which is now known as the Wolf Comet, w?;s discovered on April 3, 1916. At the beginning" of April, in this year, it was 33 times brighter than when first discovered, and had.' increased in brightness three times from the -beginning of February to the end of March

In the course of an address the other night, Mr H. Holland, who is i seeking re-election as Mayor of Christchurch, said that''he agreed' that the election was the most important in the history of the city, for it was the first t.me an attempt had been made to have a/ fling at the National Governmentthrough local politics. There were three parties in, ihe Contest, and between the Citizens' and Labour tickets there was a gulf as wide as the Pacific Ocean. The principal plank of the Labour candidates was the repeal of the Conscription Act. The announcement was received with rowdy applause, to which the Mayor replied that there ■were only about four disturbers. There was not the ghost ot a chance that, the Act would be repealed. "When the blood of our-boys is being spent so lavishly,"' he continued, "and when victory is go nearly within our grasp, to attempt to repeal the Act should not be considered for a moment. Are you yoing to be so cowardly and contemptible that, after four drafts have gone, yon are goino- to repeal that Act so that you shall not go ? There is not the slightest chance of its being repealed."

i TJe death occured on the 12th inst. of lhomas Hodgson, residing at Arnold btreet, Rocky Nook, Auckland, under circumstances pointing to snicide. Iho-deceased, who was manager of the the Aortheni Boot Factory, had been sujrenng from nervous trouble, necessitating medical attention and absence irom las.-work. He was working about his garden during the morning (says the "Herald"),., 'Eut about noon' his body was discovered hanging from - a rope in;a woodshed. The deceased who was 62.years of age, leaves a widow. At the inquest: .the medical evidence showed that deceased suffered some time ago from paralysis of the brain, and that lately hfs.braiit had again shown signs of failing, Th 3 verdict of the Coroner was to the effect that deceased met his death whDe in a state of unsound mind.

I ' ""■" ■ - ■ —: ~ ' — -—" —" f At the>annual '-'meeting'- of the Marlborough, ■ Fruitgrowers' Association lsays } Ile "^press") regret was ex3ffir&££?£S£?Tl£& S^ ger of the Nelson District Fruitpackers, I^-d., and a ■resolution, expressing the association's -sympathy with him in his illness was ordered to bo conveyed to him: ■

'< Mr James Alfred Wallace has been elected unopposed as Mayor of Motueka. For the election of six members of the Borough Council there are seven nominations: —Messrs Robert Atkins. Frederick C. Batehelori Charles Joseph Boyes, Henry Buckeridge, Arthur Grooby, James Archie McGlashen, and Charles Robin Trewaivas.

On Wednesday last, Mr H. Coltman, Health Inspector, "while, motor cycling from Collingwood to Takaka, ran over a small embankment near the Puramahoi bridge, and sustained, among other injuries, a broken collar-bone. The cycle was not much damaged. After the accident Mr Coltman endeavoured to continue his journey, but again capsized, adding to his injuries Ho was eventually taken to Takaka by trap and thence by car to Nelson.

By the last English mail Miss Greig received word that the following pupils had been successful at the shorthand examinations held in December: — Speed: Olive B. Cooksey (100 words a minute), Marcella A. Barrett (60), Jean Simpson (60), F. McGrath (60), Sadie Howes (50), Vera Vining (50), Margaret Christian \SO). Theory: Margaret Christian, Grace Graham, Sadie Howes, Jean Simpson, Daisy Biincoe, Flossie McGrath, lone Turner, Edith Booth, Eric B. Jackson.

An example of self-sacrifice has been shown by the Sugar Company's workers at Chelsea, Auckland, who contributed £70 to the lied Cross Fund in lieu of holding their annual picnic.

Mr W. T. Massey; official press representative in Egypt, writing on March 20, seated that after a. year's incessant fighting in the Sinai desert the troops were delighted with Palestine, and „ they cheered as they viewed the luxuriant, rolling do'wnlands bespangled with gorgeous rainbow-huec flowers. The prettiest picture was provided by the Australian Light Horse resting on the grass tending their grazing_ horses, characteristically deriving their chief pleasures from watching their animals revel in the abundant green-stuffy It was the Promised Land to beast and man.

''The most difficult place in New Zealand to obtain farm labour," was tho way a Shannon farmer described the iabour conditions in the Shannon district at the Appeal Board sitting. The witness stated that when a man could earn £1 per day at the flaxmi'ls it was very difficult to get anyone to <:lo farm work at 10s per day. These were the conditions at Shannon" x at the present time.

Ashburton. residents who w<.«re on a visit to the mouth of the Ashburton River (Hakat-ere), recently, were surprised to notice a stag, which had apparently travelled down the Rakaia "River from the Gorge, and then followed the coast, arriving at the mouth of the_ Ashburton River. The animal, instead of making across "the fiver, took fright at the people viewing it from the huts and made straight out to sea. and Bwam until it was lost to sight.

Rabbits in the Otago Central district are being purchased at present at 7d a pair (says the Otago" Daily Times"). The rabbits are trapped, cleaned, and rung on a convenient fence, "and the buyers' carts come along and take dejlivery. The rabbit-canning factory- at ; Alexandra is in/full swing, and it is said that its output has been purchased for export at £1 per dozen 21b tins equal to lOd alb. There are rabbits everywhere in Otago Central, and the trappers are making very largo money. Une family is said to have trapped ; over 200 rabbits in one day, and to be making anything up to £17 a week.

I To any one who has seen the worting of the Red Cross, its financial administration ranks even above the : splendid record of work in the field of war. It is common knowledge among the people that when they give to this incomparably greatest of all war funds not one farthing of their gift is misspent or wasted.

Apparently the. practice of pampermg German prisoners in New Zealand continues. A correspondent writing to the Auckland "Observer" says: 'Walking down the main street at Dpvonport the other morning, 1 spotted the noble figure of a man emerging from the post office. Smoking a cigarette and walking in a nonchalant manjier, with his hands in his pockets, few voulo. have known that it was an aliea enemy, and a prisoner at that I gazed again. Could it be the man 1 thought it wasp Yes, there was no mistaking the stately figure, of Dr Endletsberger. Then I noticed that a soldier accompanied him, and I knew mv surmise was correcb, ' because the sol-. dier s arms were full of parcels, and no prisoner of war in New Zealand is alj lowed to demean himself by carrying [parcels _ "IVas the doctor 'all right, i and I felt sorry for the soldier because he looked sorry for himself I wonder if. our English prisoners in Ger-i many are allowed to wander down to I the local post office while their guards carry their mails for them? I do not ?m£ul"? COmparison > but I am merely