NEWS OF THE DAY.

Colonist, Volume LX, Issue 14619, 25 January 1918, Page 4

NEWS OF THE DAY.

A Nelson resident who purchased a box .of cigars in Ayellington last week was surprised to discover that the resplendent bands on tho content'; bore the legend •.'■•Printed in Germany."

A public meeting of -ratepayers and residents' of Stoke will be held in the Stoke Public Hall on Tuesday, the 29th inst., to consider the formation of a borough.

Ah application for a conditional license at the Nelson Trottino-- Club's meeting, lodged by Charles Knight (Mr AYb C r H^ley) ■ was granted by Mr F. 9. B »\ -Loughnan S.M., and Messrs J. C. Mercer and P. Best, members of the Nelson Licensing Committee, yesterday

A large attendance is anticipated at the Oddfellows' Hall, Wakefield tomorrow evening, to hear addresses by Messrs W. H. George and A. Varney on the work of the V.M.C.A. at the front. Ihe association's proposals for an extension of its work will also, be explained.

The last piece of concrete in the East Coast Railway bridge at Westshore, Napier, has been laid. The' bridge, whichi is 1300 ft long, i s the largest structure of its kind in the Dominion Not one accident has occurred during its construction.

There are quite a number of wellestablished bougamvillias in and about Nelson, and the gorgeous masses of colour which they now present with their profuse purplish florescence show how well they do lere if planted in a projected northerly situation against a ! building or wall. When after a few I years they become acclimatised they do not always require protective covering in the winter. As this becomes better known the Dumber of these plants here is .steadily being increased. They give a distinctive tone or colour to any part of the city in which they succeed.

Pigs are intelligent animals, and when one of the species was being taken out of a cart in Bridge street yesterday it naturally became apprehensive ove'i its proximity to a butcher's shop. it did the Luckner act, but found its Kei madec in a grocery establishment, which it entered m an urgent dash for liberty. .JJetore it was recaptured, however 'it I upset some crockery and glassware causing breakages to tho extent of several shillings.

It is expected that Messrs W H George and A. Varney will address a meeting at Richmond on Monday afternoon m connection with V.M.C.A. work at the front, and that they will speak m the City Council Chambers in the evening. Both visitors will have some interesting information to impart based on their personal experiences in France and elsewhere.

A meeting of the Nelson Poultry Association, was held at Opie's rooms last night, Mr James Hockey in the chair, it was decided to write "to Tno Department; of Agriculture, asking that one ot the instructors might visit Nelson next month, to advise poultry keepers m their culling operations. Mr G H King, who has been secretary of tho association- for two years, tendered his resignation of that office. Mr Kin" agreecl to carry out the secretarial dv" ties till the March meeting, when the .resignation will be dealt with and a j successor appointed.

Speaking of the Government's necessity for importing wheat from Australia (says the "Lyttelton Times"), the tlon. (*. w. Russell expressed tie emphatic opinion that Australia might very well have sold this million bushels of wheat to New Zealand at the same price as it was sold to the Old Country A ll8*™113- had added another 9d a bushel; but tte time might come when New Zealand would be able to return the compliment, and the Australians would find that there was a little human nature on this side of the her-ring-pond, as well.

In a letter received by a Wellington resident, his mother, writing from Edmburgb, says: "Your brother's boy has been badly gassed with 'mustard gas,' and is now in Bangor Hospital, near Edinburgh. Wton we went to see him the nurse was dressing his feet and legs, which were badly burned. His arms, too, were all discoloured—a brownish yellow—and he r.ada nasty cough. At.first he was blind for four days, but has now recovered his sight." In the course of the same letter tho writer refers incidentally to the acute shortage of food. For a few weeks previous to writing butter had been practically mobtainable in Edinburgh, while cheese, ham, milk, and other foodstuffs were very scarce. Prices had more than doubled since the beginning of the war.

While cycling along the road at the Taueru,, near Masterton, the other day, a man named Charlie Loader met with a serious accident.* He was carrying a scythe, and by some moans fell off his bicycle on to tho scythe, cutting himself severely in the face and mouth. The unfortunate man was taken to Masterton and admitted to the hospital.

The regulations gazetted in Decembei prohibiting private dealings in wheat come into operation to-day, and growers should have sent in the returns re- [ quired by the Wheat. Controller, giving estimates of their crops, and other information. So far the local office of the | Department of Agriculture has received |no instructions concerning the regulations, nor advice-of the appointment of a purchasing officer on behalf of the Government for the Nelson district.

The "Cologne Gazette's" Frankfort correspondent sends the following telegram:—"Four daughters of distinguished parents have offered their ixaii on the altar of the Fatherland. A' hairdresser's high ofFor to Durchase their hair was refused, as it is to bb devoted to purely patriotic purposes— | namely, for driving straps for submarines." This confirms the statement that women's hair was being used to make straps for driving machinery.

In a letter received in Manaia from Lieutenant A. E: Byrne he remarks on the subject of "wrong addresses:" ' lhere is no occasion whatever for the people on your side to worry about wrong addresses. You must remember there is a huge concern in London known as the N.Z. Army Post Officeone all for ourselves, and untainted by civilian correspondence. So it is pretty hard if they don't run you down, no matter where you are. They know all changes of addresses. That's their business, and they quickly get the track of a fellow if he's anywhere on the top of the earth. And if he's not, why, it can't matter much."

-■The. names of Ashley Reed, the Irenthain li^ht-weight jocl-ey, and J. Decry, the well-known cross-country rider, were drawn in" the last ballot.

A farmer at Mosgiel, near Dunedin named William J. J. Charters, died in the Dunedin Hospital the- other day from septicaemia, resulting frW a prick from the thorn of a "monkey puzzle" tree. ■:

Sir James Allen stated in Clirist-chui-ch that the men of the Second Division who are classified as C 2, that is, medically unfit, will not be re-exam-ined, as has been the case with First ;Division reservists.

A bankrupt country lotelkeeper in Invereargill (says the "Southland Times") at a meeting of creditors stated that the introduction of six o'clock, closing had had no noticeable effect on his receipts. He sold more liquor during the day now.

Joseph Hall, a market gardener, who was summoned in London on 37 counts for selling potatoes above the maximum price, was fined £100 in each case— £3700 in all—ordered to pay £200 costs, and sentenced to two months' imprisonment in the second division in each case, the sentences to run concurrently. Notice of appeal was given, but the Bench refused bail, and Hall was allowed .seven clays in which to pay the fines.

Although the last ballot was supposed to exhaust Class A of the Second Division, it has been found that a number of men of that class have not yet been called up. So another ''Gazette" calling i.p the balance, together with accretions to the First Division, will be issued about February 19th. In the meantime, voluntary recruiting has been closed to Glass A of the Second Division, and opened to men of Class B. The enlistment of men of Class C is still prohibited, and is likely to remain so for some considerable time.

Once again the railway facilities provided proved utterly inadequate to transport racegoers to and from Trentham on anniversary day, says the "Post." Although there were several trains in the morning, only one train was announced for the return journey —to leave Trentham at 4.47 p.m., and long before this hour the platform was besieged by folk anxious not to be left behind. As the time wore on.for the departure of the train the crowd became dense, and when the wicket gates were sln.t some of the* more adventurous spirits scaled the fence, and boarded the train. Several of the women suffered somewhat by the jostling they were subjected to, and all sorts of hard things were said of the" railway management. The train steamed off, leaving many people Jbehind, and they were eventually picked up by a special, or "secret,"'train, and reached town soon after 7 p.m. It is understood that the railway authorities had arranged for this "secret" train some days ago, but declined to announce it. By so doing they would have saved a good deal unpleasantness, is the-opinion, of many: The indignation freely expressed at Trentham was intensified by the fact that special trains were/run to Paelcakariki, while Trentham, patronised by thousands, was ignored.

The British Government recognise the value of advertising in all their activities. They, spent £600,000 on advertising space in the interests of their first recruiting campaign. Large sums were paid for advertising a "Thrift Campaign and in connection with floating their loans. A London paper just to hand says: The following sums were paid to tie priacipal newspapers in connection ■wtih the Government loan publicity campaign— "Daily Mail," £2680 los 9d; "Daily News, £1434 7s 6d; "Daily Chronicle," £1082 Is; "The Times," £1050 10s 8d; "Daily Telegraph," £1007 Is lOd; "Morning Post, £737 8s lid; "Yorkshire Post," £655 10s lid; "Glasgow, Herald," £630 4s lid; "Scotsman," £536 18s 6d; "Manchester Guardian," £410 Bs. Of coi.rse many more thousands were expended in advertising the loan in the otler London and--provincial ..papers:

Writing to a friend in Dunedin, a member of the 28th New Zealand"Divisional Signallers, who was in England at tie time the;letter was v despatched, stated, inter alia: "Most of us here have a grievance. We are not re-, ceiving even half civilian pay, while the 'Tommy' Royal Engineers from the post office are receiving iull civil ;pay, even those who have joined ujp quite recently—both single and married. In other words, all British Post and Telegrapb men employed in a special capacity receive full civil pay plus military, while the Now Zealand men employed similarly receive only military, or at most, half civil pay. It is not as though they were more efficient than we. Comparisons are odious, bit I cannot refrain from quoting our O.C. in this connectism, viz., 'Our men can beat them at everything bar saluting.' He has worked with ttem all at the front, but I suppose some allowance must be made for bias."

Evidently the anticipated demand for! harvesters for the present harvest sea-' son ?»as largely exaggerated, judging by local experiences (says the Manawatu "Standard,). Mr. J. H. Torbit, of tie Labour Department, stated that there was ample labour offering. Numerous inquiries for work had been received, and only in one instance had a farmer applied for harvesters. This man resided in the Feilding district, and he required four men for two days only. The Department, said Mr. Torbit^ had taken the trouble of posting notices in conspicuous places' in several towns in the Wellington district, inviting farmers to make their labour requirements known, but ttis had met with a poor response. The number of men inquiring for work was more than sufficient to meet the situation.

Blackbirds and thrushes are admirable in poetry, but prosaic fruitgrowers are apt to take a different view from poets (says the Dunedin "Star"). When the "mavis sings his love song in the morn' 3 the gardener is apt to reflect that tie bird's happiness is in a large, pajrt due to a satisfaction derived from a sated appetite on fruit meant for the grower's own use as dessert or jam or sale for profit, and he may be induced to think bitterly about the introduction of these gardenrobbers by well-meaning acclimatisation societies. This season in Wyndham—' and no doubt the experience will be general—some gardens have been stripped of small fruit, red currants in particular (reports the "Herald"). Birds do not allow tie bunches to come to ripeness, but seem to have an eye for colour or some other means of testing palatable fruit. But they do not restrict themselves to currants. Cherries : they even prefer, and it is not their fault if a single cherry is left for the 5 grower. As , they get through tl:ese fruits, gooseberries do not come amiss to them; they penetrate the skin and abstract the pulp. Plums are served in the same way. Apples are punctured in their rii>est pnrt. and picked as a fowl would do it. Unless gardens are made bird-proof or the birds are destroyed, fruit cannot be grown, not -alone'to-advantage, but some of it not at all. The small bird is a problem to the fruitgrower,