NEWS OF THE DAY.

Colonist, Volume LX, Issue 14635, 13 February 1918, Page 11

NEWS OF THE DAY.

Mr Arthur Hacon, who was badly shaken and received a severe wound in the throat in a recent motor accident, necessitating his admission to the Eichinond private- hospital, is reported to be progressing favourably towards recovery. • . The/following men left by yesterday morning's steamer for the Ci camp :— Frank Brewer, Stanley S. Collier, Jas. H. Dayman, and Leo. Ashley Hunter. Charles R/Win was to have gone with this.draft, but a day or two ago he met ""with an accident, injuring an' arm, and he is at present in the Hospital.

The Nelson- Second Division Loague will meot in the City Council Chambers to-morrow evening.

T?vtL pecJ al meetlDS of the Stoke F mtgrowers' Association to be held on J-nday the 15th mat., Mr W. C. Hyde. Orchard Instructor, will read a paper on "Brown Rot," and a general d.scusion of the disease will fellow.

A man named John J. Watkins, a resident of Picton, who travels for orders tor enlarged photographs, met with, an accident in Queen street, Richmond, at about o o'clock yesterday afternoon. He was namg a motor cycle, and ran head on into a horse and cart driven by' T. * rater, of Awa. He must have failed to notice the cart, as there was plenty of room for bim to pass it. Watkins, who was taken to the Richmond private hospital, had no bones broken, but was severely shaken. The horse was cut between its front legs, the wound being of _such a nature that it had to be stitched up. The motor cycle was considerably damaged.

_ A serious .accident befell Miss Mabel frask yesterday at the Rai, where, accompanied by Miss Dayman, she was spending a holiday. Miss Trask was standing on a log and endeavouring to get her horse to cross it. . The animal made a jump, and knocked her down, with the result that sue was seriously injured,. Her right arm above the elbow, and her left collar-bone, were fractured. She was brought in to. the Nelson Hospital, accompanied by a doctor and a nurse from Havelock

A collection in aid of the orphans of St. Mary's will be taken up ai the trots at Richmond this afternoon. It is hoped that the public with their usual generosity will respond to this urgent appeal. The war, besides increasing the cost of upkeep, has added to the number of inmates, and it is being found difficult under present conditions to provide for the 100 or more children at present in the institution.

A flannel dance in aid of King George's Fund and the Y.M.O.A. will be held in the Rowing Club Shed tonight. °

The policy of the Public Works Department in regard to the metalling of country roads was stated by the Minister, Sir William Fraser, at Hamilton. Sir William said that, in future, he would not authorise the expenditure of any Governmert grants for road metalling, even though they appeared yon the Estimates', unless the settlers interested were also expending some of their own money oh the work.

The Sydney correspondent of the Melbourne "Argus," telegraphing on Surday, 28th January, wrote: The performance of the Japanese fairy tale, "The Willow Tree," by Miss Kathlene Macdonell and company at the Criterion lheatre on Saturday night had a somewhat sensational termination. In the play one of the characters, Nogo, is fellirg a tree. The sound of chopping is the cue to Miss Macdonell to ask the question "What's that?" The reply, "No go/ amused one of the gallery girls, who giggled audibly, boon the giggling became general, and Miss Macdonell, worn out by the strain or rehearsing and the strenuous nature of the performance, flung dowr.' the mirror which) she had been holding, and left the stage. The other performers, after some hesitation, followed her, and the evrtain was rung down.

'I would be the last to discount a wowser," stated Brigadier-General Sir Robert Anderson, of Sydney, at a meeting at the Wellirgton Town Hall "Anyway," he continued, "I am not sure that I know what a wowser is now. I would rather be a wowser than a boo&er. I know that. It seems to me that any man who fights against something that is bad or praises something that is good, is a wowser. If that is so I am content to be a wowser. I was' intimately acquainted with) the originator of the .term wowser, the late Mr. John Norton. He and I worked on the same plantation, and I am certain that when he used the term for the first time it meant nothing discreditable."

During the hearing at the Auckland Supreme Court of a case in which a mar' was charged with•' obtaining goods valued at about £28 by means of false pretences, a pawnbroker gave evidence that he accepted a number of articles m pawn, andthat he subsequently purchased some of the pawn-tickets from the person who pledged the goods. As the witness was about to leave the witness-box Mr. Justice Stringer asked him how long he had been in business m Auckland, and received the reply: "About 17 years; one year as a pawnbroker." His Honour thereupon remarked very severely: "Yotr course of business is a very dishonest one, and if it continues that way it will be a.very short one. Accepting goods in pawn at a very small advance and afterwards buying the tickets mears that you are obtaining; them at less than half their value. I think you might very well be charged with obtaining goods well knowing them to have been dishonestly' obtained."

The "Potteries Gazette" of November Ist says:—The ratirg question in the potteries has become one of much uneasiness. Figures, so far nnchallengecy, have been published, from which it appears that next financial year Hanley ratepayers will be taxed for local purposes to tre extent of 12s m the £ Burslem come*.- next with a rate totalling ll s O-Jd; Longton follows with a call for 10s lid; Stoke ratepayers will have demands npon them for 10s 9^d • while the Tur stall and Fenton rates will stand at 10s s*d and 9s 4d respectively. It is not easy to find a reason for this condition of things. Une -of the most popular arguments urged in favour of the federation of tte six towns, and the one which, perhaps, carried more weight than any other single argnmert, was that the concentration of the various departments' would eventuate in a considerable saying not only in the upkeep of establishments, but in other appreciable ways. If administration costs less than in pre-federatior: days, other ad-1 ditional expenses have been superimposed which much more than counterbalance any advantage in that direction. With the prospect of a considerable addition to- the needs of the location Committee to meet the calls ot increased-and ircreasing stipends for certificated and nncertificated teachers, the prospect is indeed serious for the manufactirers as well as for the general body of ratepayers. What will happen after the war with schemes already in the air for spending 'We sums of, money for local government purposes it is impossible to say

The annual meeting of members of the Nelson Institute will be held on MoEday, the 18th'inst., and a full attendance of members and intendinc members is requested.

The provisional directors of the Nelson Farmers' Union Lime Company, Ltd., will be present at a meeting of all interested in the flotation of the company, at the Tadmor School, on Saturday, the 16th irst.

_ About 9000 bales of wool have been despatched from Dannevirke to tte respective loading ports, the figures last year beiEg ahout 8200 bales. Dannevirke figures on the list as one of the highest export stations for wool Masterton holding pride of place with a few bales more than Dannevirke.

The "Lyttelton Times" states that tli© curator's report presented to tte Domains Board gave some particulars of a blight that had become noticeable m many of the oaks and English elms ihe scale was' easily distinguished by the appearance of the it sect upon the surface of the bark. It presented itself m very numerous small white spots like those on the bark of birch The disease was caused by the trees becoming bark-bound.

la addressing the electors of Wellington North, Mr H. E. Holland, the Labour candidate, expressed the strongest disapproval of conscription and of the administration of the . law. Already ( 5000 men had been gazetted as deserters —men who had never had a uniform on and who had never sworn an oath to serve. Some of these men had escaped in,the boats, but many were in hidin" in ' the country, being' hounded by the police. The only oifence of some of these men was that they believed that Christ really meant it when He said, "lhou shalt not kill." A party of fourjteen of these men were put on a ship and sent off to the war without even their mothers being aware of it. They had been persecuted all the wav Home j—damnably treated. Mr Holland read a letter which, he said, had been sent to him by a soldier in camp in which was told a story of how a party of men forcibly stripped some conscientious objectors at the camp. He said that if elected he .would have all these things probed to the very bottom. &

A Taranaki soldier at the front records an interesting experience (says tfc c ' 'News''). He was in hospital in England and attended by a particularly charming nurse, to whom he became quite attached. He returned to France and from there he wrote to the nurse m terms of endearment, following up later by a direct offer of marriage. He received no reply. He could not understand, for the ru,rse was ever courteous and considerate, and had always, as he termed it, given him "a good hearing. ■ A month or two passed, and then one day he got a small tin box, containing a piece of wedding cake, with a paper giving an account of the marriage of his inamorata. She was no other than a daughter of one of England's prominent peers, and she had married a belted earl who I eld a high position in the army/" The,Taranaki boy understood and now laughs.

Tie traffic returns on the Nelson section of railways for the-period erded sth January, 1918, show that 10,096 passengers were carried, as against 14,767 for the corresponding period of the previous year. There was also a falling off in the number of live stock earned and the goods traffic, the figures 270 and 565, and 2381 tons and 2565 tons respectively. This falling oir in the passer ger traffic was only to be expected, tie Department not making special arrangements for the convenience of the travelling public during the holiday season. The revenue for the period from all sources was £2908 7s 9d, as against £2989 13s 9d. The increase m revenue was due to the iccrease in fares and charges.

In the Supreme Court at \Yr?sngton, on Friday last, in chambers, before His Honour the Ctief Justice, on the application of Mr. Maginnity, probate of the will of the late William Scrimgeour was granted to William David Scrimgeour and Thomas' Pettit, two of the executors named in the will, leave belrg reserved to Arthur Eaymond benmgeour, the other executor, who is now on active service, to come in and prove when he returns.

There is a fair number of ships available for February," remarked the Hon. W. D. S. MaclXmaid to a Poverty Bay "Herald" representative on Friday, when discussing the shipping outlook. 'So far the tonnage for March is about half that available for this month. Despite the fact that Mr Lloyd George, accordirg to recent cables, stated that it was impossible to think of tonnage for Australasia, the number of ships out here has exceeded the expectations of the Government up to the present time. It is impossible to give any i guarantee of what future ships we will i get, but there tas been a good clearance from all cold stores during the last two months, and that, with the additional cold storage erected, makes the position fairly satisfactory for the seaeon."

Asked by a Christchurch "Sun" reporter on Saturday whetter the finding of the Court of Inquiry into the charges made by Dr. Thacker, M.P was yet available, Sir James Aller (Minister for Defence) said that he had received the finding, but had referred it back for the answering of a certain question. It had not yet been returnedl to Hm. He anticipated that it should be available for publication aS a? e, arly date' The finding, he added, had not beer: considered by Cabinet.

Arthur Waldemar Schaef, who was found guilty at Wellington on a clarge of concealing £1500 from the Official Assigree, a charge under the Bankruptcy Act, was sentenced by Mr. Justice Hoskmg to two years' reformative treatment.

An attempt was made some time between four o'clock on Friday afternoon and seven o'clock on Saturday morning (says the Christohureh "Star") to break open the safe at the Linw-ood railway station. Whoever the intruders were, they were evidertly not of tire professional cracksman type, as the implement used in the endeavour to eitect an entrance into the safe was the office axe. The door of the safe was still intact, and showed little effect or the.attempts to prize it open with the axe. Altogether it was a clumsy attempt at burglary ' i

A company with a capital of £60 000 bas been formed in Scotland for 'tire purpose of recovering tin from tir plate shearings and other tinned scrap and zinc from galvanised scrap—a trade which has hitherto been almost entirely in the hands of Germany. 7