NEWS OF THE DAY.

Colonist, Volume LX, Issue 14642, 21 February 1918, Page 4

NEWS OF THE DAY.

[ Tenders are called for supplies for the Tapawera Territorial Camp. Forms of tender may be obtained at the Defence Office, Avhere specifications may be seen.

Sir James Allen, Minister of Defence stated.on Saturday evening that he had received advice £o the effect that members of the Thirty-third .Reinforcements were reported "Ail well."

A Press Association message from Wellington states that William Borlace passed in three subjects at the Public bervice senior examination held in January in Nelson.

For the third time the Wanganui Plunket nurse's bicycle las been stolen. Several weeks have elapsed since it was last taken, and up to the present its . whereabouts are a mystery. "'

Foot rot has made its appearance this season in the sheep flocks of Southland to a greater extent than usual, and a farmer it' the Roslyn Bush district states tlat fully 10 per cent, of his flock are suffering from the disease.

Memorial services for the late Rev. A. H. Colvile, who died after an operation, were held in St. Sepulchre's Church, Auckland. Archdeacon MacMurray spoke of the late vicar's brilliant talent as an qrato?*, and of his work as a missioner ia various parts of I the Dominion.

Some members of the Y.M.O.A. Town] Committee will visit Brightwater this evening, and hope to meet residents of Brightwater, Spring Grove, Waimea West, and surrounding districts, in jthe Reading Room, in connection with the appeal that is being made throughout the Dominion for funds to enable the V.M.C.A. to; carry on its 1918 war work. Sympathy with this work is general, and it is hoped- there will be a good attendance.

Licenses to shoot deer in the Nelson Acclimatisation Society's district are now obtainable on payment of the fee.

A motor car collision occurred near Little Hawke's Crag Buller road, about 15 miles from Westport,, one of Burley's cars coming into collision with one of Kilkerny's cars, the latter being driven by T. Pribbs, and having Mrs Monson as a passenger. Kilkenny's jcar (says the "News") went over the bank, falling some 20ft. with Mrs Monson and the driver. It was held up by some light bushes within a few feet of the river. Phibbs escaped uninjured, but Mrs Monsor received a cut on the leg from broken glass. The car was damaged. Burley's car tad a broken wheel and axle.

The following extract from the New York "Tribune" forms an interesting commentary on the views of tho»« critics who see. Germany victorious in all her operations: "As between the British and the Germans, no one should mistake the advantage that rests with the former. The British have taken five prisoners to the Germans' one. They have- occupied more than a million square miles of German colonial territory whereas the Germans have not | reached a foot of British territory. They have banished the German flag from the sea. They have,blockaded the German ports. They have destroyed the bases of German trade. By every sign and token one can adduce, the British have triumphed over the Germans so far as the war has been a struggle between these two nations. Were the war to end to-day, on the basis of things as they are, so far as'the British and Germans are concerned, no one can fail to concede the extent of the British victory."

A large number of imported engine parts of ships have been discovered and seized by the Brazilian police at Santos. These partß had been removed and hidden by the German crews before the German shipping was requisitioned by the Brazilian Government.

Captain Malcolm Ross, official war correspondent with the New Zealand Forces, cables that great interest was taken in a football match between. Welsh and New Zealand teams chosen in the war zone. The New Zealanders were victorious by fourteen points to three, this being the third victory they have scored over their famous opponents since coming to the Western front. The game was a brilliant exposition of Rugby, fast, and spectacular. The New Zealand backs excelled in passing rushes. Each team included a number of famous players.

According to a London correspondent, Mr "Bbyd Cable," R.F.C., writing in the "Times" on the Canadian Conscription Referendum, says:—■"! do know something of Australian and New Zealand politics, being still m touch and correspondence with a good manj there, and reading the down-under papers as I can get them, in New Zealand there has existed for long a No-conscription part/. New Zealand, to her everlasting credit, long ago laid down the rule: 'To the last man and the last shilling, ' and played up to her word by bringing In conscription. The Anti-consc'riptionists were beaten, but not silenced. Ever since, although they are in a minority, they have worked untiringly against conscription. Their latest argument shows signs of j bearing some fruit. 'New Zealand has given freely of the best and bravest of j ,her manhood. 9 is the cry. 'Surely we! shall have done our share when we have] sent the 100 f OOOth man. After that let no more go. The country needs them. We are robbing our country to feed the cannon of Europe.' "

The "country of the dead," that strip of France from Peronne to the sea where lie buried so many British soldiers, is thus spoken by Mr G. E. Slocombe in the London "Daily Chronicle," the conditions being those of a few weeks ago: "In the familiar haunts of their lives there is a sorrow and mourning, but not here. Here is another memorial. Nature's own. There spring tears—here springs triumph. To-day there is a great riot of poppies over all these nelds of death. The yellow and gold of the garlic blossom gives back sunshine to the sun. The blue cornflower, countless among the long .trass, sways gently in the wind. Old battlefields that but this last winter were an aching devastation— how the^ are now beyond words redeemed!"

The earthquake yesterday morning dislodged the top of a chimney at the residence of Mr W. Douglas, in Vanguard, street.

Eunice Hammer, aged 18 years, a daughter of the proprietor of the bookotall at the Dunedin Railway Station, was shot in the left foot by a pea rifle bullet at Wakari last week. Tie bullet struck her while she was standing at the gate of her home about 2 p.m. She did not see anyone about, but had heard shootirg going on in the neighbourhood. Dr. M'Kellar, who dressed the wound, which is not dangerous, expressed the opinion that the shot had been fired at close range. The bullet entered near the instep and came out at the sole of the foot.

At the last meeting of the "Waimairi ■ County Council one councillor, whose duty it was to countersign cheques, objected strongly to signing a cheque for 6s, which he considered was an unwarrantable and prodigal misuse of the ratepayers' money. "We must save the tuppences," te- insisted (says the Christchurch "Press"). "Send stamps; that's good enough for such a 6mall sum, isn't it?" "Oh, sign it, sign it," said his fellow-councillors. "It's safer, you know; it's as good as a receipt." In spite of the urgirgs, how ever, the objector stoutly refused to sign his name.

An extraordinary affair occurred in North Canterbury, a motorist being stung into unconsciousness by a swarm of bees. As a party of motorists were returning to Rangiora from Christchurch the other day, along the line road at Flaxton, they. came upon a motor car, the driver of which was lying on the side of the road in a delirious condition. The disabled man was recognised as Mr Harneiss, representative of the New Zealand Farmers' Cooperative Association, Ltd., at Amberley. When returning home he had been attacked by a swarm ■of bees. The occupants of the second car rendered first aid and Mr Harneiss was taken to the Brocklehurst Hospital and attended by Dv Burnett, of Rangiora. The next day he was reported to be making a good recovery.

For some time past the question of the shortage of petrol supplies and the ever-increasing pric~e has been agitating the minds of those connected "with essential industries in the Wairarapa (says, the *'Times"), The Masterton Chamber of Commerce recently urged upon the Government the necessity of affording some relief to mail contractors—those who carried farm produce, etc., to and from town—either by supplying them with benzine at wholesale price or by increasing, the mail subsidies in sympathy with tho increased cost of benzine, over which the contractors have no control. This relief, however, the Government had resolvtely refused to give. At a meeting of the Chamber held last week, the following motion was carried unanimously :—r- ; "That the Executive of the Associated j Chamliei s of Commerce be asked to bring under the notice of the Minister of Munitions the urgent necessity for action being taken to conserve the petrol supply for the essential industries of the dominion."