NEWS OF THE DAY.

Colonist, Volume LVIII, Issue 14408, 9 May 1917, Page 4

NEWS OF THE DAY.

Most of the delegates from Nelson to the National Apple Show and Fruitgrowers' (Conference have now mturned from Dunedin.

The body of a single man named James Mowbray, a tailor, who had been away from hi.s ■employment since last Wednesday week, was found in a "back;" at Seatoun, Wellington, on Sunday. Evidence at the inquest showed that Mow bray had been in bad health and greatly distressed. The verdict was that he died from the effects of poison self-administered.

The 1917 edition of Stone's Canterbury, Nelson, /Marlborough. i»nd Westland Directory has just been published. This excellent and reliable.pt-blication. maintains in the present issue the .very high standard of its predecessors. The names and addresses have been again, compiled by means of a., house-to-house canvass, and we can bear personal testimony, frotn frequent references, to the reliability of the directory matter. A •large amount ;of official and r.seful general information is also given, much increasing the value of the publication, which has now reached its sixteenth issue. ■„

The Cathedral Bible School, conducted by Dean 3Veeks, '-will re-as-semble in the Shdbourne Street Hall this evening, when the subject of tte lecture will be "The Earliest' Christian Document."

A short sitting of the .Magistrate's Court was held yesterday, Messrs T. A. T. Turnbull and T. S. Edwards, Justices, presiding. Judgment for plaintiffs by default was given in the case of J. M. Croueher and Sons (Mr E. B. Moore) v. Mrs Katherine Baird, claim for £8 2s 2d, costs £1 3s Gd. y

The new comet which was. recently visible, has now faded and can scarcely be seen with tiie naked eye, although still visible through fa field or opera glass. It is in the constellation of Cetus the whale, and can be seen only between about 4.45 and 5.15 a.'ni. Wolfe's comet, with which this visitor was at first confused, will probably be visible to the naked eye in June and July, being in o rnear the great square of Pegasus. .At present it is approaching 'both the sun and the earth.

The Wairarapa Rugby Union, at its annual meeting, decided that no one over 20 years of age on Ist June should be allowed to play in matches.

As an indication of the shortage of labour on farms in South Canterbury. \ l<istev written by Mr R. J. M'Keown' of "Kmnoull," to the Farmers' Union, may be quoted. Mr McKeown, m apologising for his absence from the meeting, wrote: "I. am obliged to stop at home and do the most necessary work, as I have no ploughmen, no cowboys, and no shepherd on my farm of c.OOO acres, and I have 4000" sheep to look after."

The War Census, taken in December, 1915, shows that there were about 15,000 men of the Second Division in Class A (all men not less than 20 or more than 46 years of age who have no children). It i s estimated that the a/l^ umber m the Second Division is 120,000 Asked at Christchurch, if he could say when the second division would probably be -drawn up, Sir James said he had always held that the first division would last until September. He hoped that it might be made to last until the end of the year. «-lnf Prt d e,V tirely on how the war sent whether the second division would f!J' a}M SP on -,T. Jt was certainly a fact that the allies were going to try to end it tAiis year.

In our report of Chaplain Taylor's remarks at Monday night's lect Je on the failure of letters and parcels to reach soldiers at the front, it should have been made clear, in statinthat tte men were largely to blame in not notifying the New Zealand postal authorities of their change of address, that the notification should be made to the New Zealand postal authorities at the Base Post Office. He related an instance of a man who had been away from tte regiment for three months, and on his return complained that he had not got his letters. When asked if he had notified hi? crange of adress h esaid he had not Chaplain Taylor said he felt sure a gooa many parcels went astray becar-.se of failure to notify the authorities. On one occasion he had 587 letters in his dug-out waiting for men who had gone away, and he did not know wrere they were.

Referring to General Godley in his lecture on Monday evening, ChaplainMajor Taylor said his impression of him was that he was a most wonderful soldier. Reserved, it was true, but he was perfectly certain the New Zealand Army was safe in his hands. General Birdwood, he said, reminded him very much in manner of the late .Mr. 11. j; Seddon. The Australian general, he; said, was extremely popular witn tte men.

Considerable feeling seems to exist at Marton in connection with services held there recently. In the course of en address a few days ago, the Rev. L. J. Hunt^ of St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, made pointed reference to the fact that Germans living around Marton were allowed to hold services in the German tongue. "I do not wish to be misunderstood in this matter," said Mr Hunt. "I would be the last one in the world to advocate the closing of any particular church, for nobody needs a church at the present time more than Germany; 'but I do wish that some pressure could be brought to bear upon some of these people, who seem to nave no idea of the eternal fitness of things. In the light of recent events it is an insult to any patriotic community to have the language of their enemies thrown at them in this manner. It is about time that these people were gently reminded of their indebtedness to the British Empire for their freedom and protection.^'

A very. handsome and 'valuable gift has been made by the Lower Hutt Borough Council to the National Historical Collection (says a Wellington paper). It consists of a large volume of lithographs issued in 1845 as illustrations to Wakefield's well-known "Adventures in New Zealand." For some reason or other the illustrations were never incorporated with tbe book, but were published as a,.volume de luxs at a price of three and four guineas, and examples are very rare. Two views of Nelson, one a four-foot panorama of the town aud part of the harbour in 1842 (about s, year after the first foundation) shows tho dwellings of Mr| luckett chief-surveyor, Rev. Mr. Saxton, -the Anglican minister, the illfated Mr Thompson, and some others.] The other, looking north from Blind Kay, and taking in the mouth of the Moutere river, is a splendid piece of work, in its combination of detailed accuracy and sweeping freedom of treatment. A most animated touch is given in the mob of cattle being rounded up on the little green plain at the mouth of the Moutere river. Beneath it runs an explanatory note doubtless quite needful to the Biitisn public of the time, liDrivinocattle with the stockwhip,"

Chaplain-Major Taylor, in his lecture on Monday evening, "spoke in glowing terms of the \vork being done by the nurses and sisters on the hospital ships. He said that on his way-back to New Zealand he asked one .'of tl.e sisters .what, they would-do if the.-.yes-' sel was..submarined, and her reply was "Stand by the cot cases and ro'down with the men." As with the Marquette it would be a case of "fighting men first." He said ttat for four months the Maheno carried 1000 wooded soldiers every other day from France. These men were in the care of 25 sisters. On each return journey those women had to prepare for the next lot of wounded, so they could get an idea of the work ttese sisters did. "I have notching but admiration for them," added Chaplain Taylor, "and I pray God that you will see thnt the sisters get as good pensions as the soldiers get."