NEWS OF THE DAY.

Colonist, Volume LX, Issue 14871, 20 September 1918, Page 4

NEWS OF THE DAY.

An inquest was opened at Greymouth touching tho death of C. Smith, fireman on the Anchor steamer Kennedy, who lost Jus iifo through falling over the wh^n. into the river at night recently. A.he boJv was recovered at the north tip. Ac tho inquest evidence of iden-T-i*icat!'jr. was given by a shipmate of the deceased, after winch the inquest was adjourned to a future date in order to allow of fuller evidence from tho erov; o[- die Kennedy beir.o; obtained. I

lhn itnlmn residents of Nelson will miske a display of bunting to-day in celebration of the 48th anniversary ot ttte union of their country

■I . Don t bo misled! The Liquor Petiftion does not provide a fair opportunity or. expressing your judgment on the Liquor question. It is designed to trap the nmvsw, I it protesscs to bo democratic, but is in j reality one o f the most undemocratic proposals ever submitted to the people xt professes to give an equal chance to cncn or the thine Lssit&s id advocates. Ib really provrjc^ t}, K t fciio votes on the proposals, national Continuance and National Ownership, shall be counted against National Prohibition and if the latter cannot win against the other two. : Jien, although neither of these has won; tiie Irado will go on as usual In a word, National Prohibition may fail to win. National-Ov^evsMp maT fail" to win, National Continuance may fail" to win, and. yet National Continuance has ■still woo. This 1,-oks -"p--"r.i ( v,,s]v ]iVi»; n loaded dice game. If y Ou think so.'! Miin tlie/IS.Z. Alliance Petition fOK* rofuse to sign that on behalf of Liquor. IJ---you.ha.vo si-^iJfif!' th-a lather ivuier-ni' I nusapprehension, ask your M.P. to have ! - ynur name removed or send word to the! , A.Z. Alliance represent;)tivn at once.* <

i :4h?^ev..^p:;.Lorig>jai'.deliver-a1 lantern lecture on- missionary '/work iii" .India, in the Recha6ito Hall Brichtwatcr, at 7.30 this opening. Meetings of ratepayers in connection with tin. proposed lean for the purchase! oi the wharves will be held at Applebv and Jvorero thi* evening, and at-JMotxi-piko to-morrow evening. There was a fair attendance at the meeting of ratepayers at Upper Moutere last night, to hear an exposition of \i ™.uarves purchase loan proposals. ALi\ A. Benseinann, chairman ol' the Road Board, presided. Messrs A P AllporL. J. Ingram, and \V. W. Snodgrass, r.embers of the ilarbour Board gave addresses, and a number of questions iu-ro asked and answered." On tho rmsliou of Mr. C. Thomas, the speakers were accorded a voto of thanks. The extent of Lho work done by the Church oi England military affairs commit! co in connection with the Church -vrmy is not generally known. A recent report presented to "the standing committee of the General Synod-of the Church shows that since tho commenceSLf^' 1® far no loss a sum than i-yJ.XbI has oeen received. Of this amount £9.076 has been spent in erecting and furnishing institutes in isew. Zealand. The supply of stationery books, magazines, etc.," has absorbed smot.ier £1,338, while on the general upkeep of the institutes £1,873 has been expended. For the simply of comforts, stationery, literature "and games for- troop and hospital ships £l;Joowas allocated, while £14,791 has been cabled home for the benefit of the men there and at the front. Of this amount £12..944 has been used for the erection, and equipment of Church Army Huts in the battle areas for the' use and benefit of all soldiers withoutl distinction of rank or creed. ' j

Referring to the ■matter of tho'sorting oli.irgo which-is made on iho R-il-way Wharf, Mr. J. I<\ Hardey,~ Richmond, asks that a misapprehension existing in the public wind should bo removed by a statement of the facts Jn tlw published reply of the Minister of JvaiUvays to Mr. T. A. H. Field. M.P., it was stated that the charge, whidi had not been imposed fit Nelson '-in-iil comparatively recently, had been gazetted som..! years previously, and ?l was stated tbnfc the charge was one shilling per tor..- An error has erent in somewhere, for at September 19th, 1913, the charge, accordind: to. previous 'ci,'azette" notice, stood at elghteenpence per ton. On September 19th, 1915 a 10 per cent, addition was made vvhlcL \fter:ted snr.h lines as potatoes, ocil.mi bran, wheat, Hour, sugar, fivsh iij-ji' fresh meat, and Now ""Zealand fruit! Ihis impost brought the sorting charge up to Is 3d per ton for the commodities named. On.November 25th, 1917, the rate in respect to certain commodities was increased by 10 per cent, on the then existing rate, bringing the r.-.te for potatoes, pollard and bran, of the lines mentioned above, ui> to Is lOd nor ton. The other lines we"have mentioned are not.subject to the second impost, and the rate for them remains at Is Bd. These figures have been venhed. by reference to Railway ofn.ci,.ls, and can be . regarded ■as authentic. -*. is pointed out by the Railway authorities' that the charge is not imposed v: - less tho work of sorting has actually to be performed to a degree juseifvin^ the department in making th-.t charge to recoup itself for the extra work in volvod. As a matter of fact, we ..o(. assured the charge ie comparatively | rarely ir.ade on the Nelson .vhirf <•>:-! cept in respect of cargo b y the Corin.iu, m connection with which a coiisrl.'rab'e amount of sorting is lequired. Allno^V. „„.. ,1., 1... -VV.. /-I T>, T

ii"v;"«" »-tKs iiuiuu !>,v .Air v>. xtnoaen at a recent meeting of the executive oi the Auckland Patriotic Association to the provision made by the Defence Department at King George's Hospital at llotorun (states the "Star'). Mr Rhodes said he bad recently visited the institution in.question; and-was surprised ab the lack oi! provision for'the comfort of the man "Our men there," lie said, ' are. .getting much less consideration from the Defence Department than they are entitled' to. . I should be very sorry indeed to see a son of mine there."' fie went on to say that he thought it would be appropriate for the association to take tho matter up The place was like a barn, ami if the men did not go down town to some of tho other nistitiitions they had to spend their ovtflimgs in that portion of >■ the place m which till recently there were n 0 windows.. It was resolved to refer uic matter to the Rotorua Committee J or a roport ; as to what is being done for . the, men in the way 'of providing them with comforts at the institution mentioned. In connection with the restrictions placed od shipping owing to the danger of floating mines,. tho Paimerston JSortn Chamber of.Commerce on Monrtay passed the following resolutionr,?H -l" 1 v*eW-, of tJle"ProbaT>]e serious curtailment, if not actual stoppage of coastal *hipp»ng between Wellington \\W r?Xton' a"d othor Island v\ est Louse ports, owing to tiio risks IM™ Uif.f' Omv)a^S enemy "mines, the meice i* strongly of opinion: Q) That additional trawlers should loe pmvldS to sweep the. minefields, and thus reduce the clanger from, floating"mines as far as possible • (2) that in c"ler to allow the tracfe of the ports afi&tcd m~ ? T Tw d °n e{lectr^y the Government should arrange insurance acainst IjiH war n «k S at such rates as can hi i paid by sluppors and slhpov.-iiers and shoukl indemnify shipowners aoaii st cia.ims ; ,.t common lav/ for the loss 'of cargo passengers and crew, owin«; to loss through, the action of enemy mines- (3) that a series of float Stl should be institiitod by the Government to ascertain tbe c.jrectior. of currents, etc. .-uid, if possible, restrict tli* defined danger urea.- (4) that a wire be seiu to the secretary of the Slunowners' federation and to the Minister for Marine, advising that the above mofcior was carried." Henry Obernie Furlong, aged fortyone^ was found dead in the yard of tbo J.evin Hotel on JMonday evening jtfo v,-as a returned soldier, who had enlisted at Masterton, and-served'a year b°ing clisclidrged witli a pension in Jv.jv He had been suffering from weak heart. He went to Levin to inqaiiro about a position Deceased fiad served in tho •South African war also.

-St. ■.Mary'siToniiis Club' will' llold a' SSS, &&*?■*»> HaU > M^» A .suggestion .that banana-growiu.r should bo experimented with in JNcw Zealand does not moot with much encouragement from Mr T. W Kirk director of the Government Horticultural Department, who- wrote on* tho subject to the Auckland Industrial'Asfcocwlion intimating Ms conviction that banana-culture could not be a success Ul ~,.0m m clin'ato (states the Auckland star ). lie pointed out that while plants or tho lanana family had been grown here nobody had yet been able to produce .1 good bunch of bananas. Mr Kirk ;ilso drays attention to tho fa«t that the Cook Island bananas, grov.n in a c-limat-- much moiv favourable i'lan that ot jNow Zealand foi the fruit were not of as »ood quality as tho bananas grown .in a warmer climate