NEWS OF THE DAY.

Colonist, Volume LX, Issue 14874, 24 September 1918, Page 4

NEWS OF THE DAY.

Two first offenders for drunkenness were before Mr X G. L'evvey, S.M.,' «iii<the Magistrate's Court yesterday, ari'J*were convicted and discharged.

The Korere-Motupiko branch of the Farmers' Union wiil meet at Ivorere on Saturday evening next.

The Returned Soldiers' Association is holding its final ball of the season in tho Provincial Hall to-morrow evening. Permission has been: granted for men to wear uniform. Dancers may look forward to excellent music, a first-class floor,''a lid a good slipper' >

For tlio period ended August 17th, 3918, the number of first and second class passengers carried on the Nelson section .of railways wn« 7.434.. as against 7,398 for the corresponding period last year. Live stock carried totalled 1144 as against 173 and. the tonnage handled was 2242 tons as against 2121. The revenue from all sources amounted to £2350 lus 5d as against £2302 19s Id.

TLe Thermometer.—At 8 o'clock this morning the tempoi-arare outside this office registered 43 degrees.

The sun wiH cross the line at 15 minutes.past 8 this morning. Astronomically, to-day is the first day of spring.

lhe latepayers of Tahuna are notified that a meeting will be held in the Pu'bhc Hall this evening, when members of the Nc-lson Harbour Board will explain che wharves lo?.n proposals.

Beyond the closing of the banks, public offices ' schools, and the display of flags on half a dozen buildings, there was-nothing to indicate that yesterday was Dominion Day. The obsorvanco of this day in Nelson has apparently lost its significance. ■ « . " "

The annual sale of work of the Women's Christian Temperance Union will be held in tho Methodist Hall on Wednesday, October 23rd. ' A list of the competitions appears in another columu.

The concert, to be givpn by members of tho Loyal Temperance Legion in the Methodist Hnli on Friday, the 27th instant, will be of an attractive charactor. For several weeks the children havo, been preparing for this entertainment, t.nd an evening's enjoyment is promised. Good songs, choruses, and instrumental and , elocutionary items will be given.

The-Port Nelson limeworks have been taken over by Mr Frank W. Greenslade, and are now, alter a period of suspension, again in operation. ' There-has been a famine in regard to lime supplies, and this being the spring season, when garden pests revel in destruction, the announcement to'be found in our advertisement columns will gladden the heart or the gardener, apart from the more commercial advantage conferred.

Seven sons, all of whom volunteered for, active service, is the military record of the family of Mr Fairfieki Thompson, of Feilding.--.Five- went to the front, one has been killed, and one has returned, while the sixth son is in camp,! and the remaining one was rejected. The local Military Service Board has*recommended indefinite leave for the returned member of the household

The Now Zealand black lid postage stamp has. been withdrawn from circulation. The stamp to be used in future is of the same design, "but sienna in colour, with wliite embossings. The change has been made it is stated, on account of the difficulty of discerning date-murks on the black surface of the earlier issue.

L tlle feUn Oltlce- I

Mr F. B. Gardiner, public health inspector for Napier and Hastings, stated the other day, that there was a peculiar and violent form of .-uifhienza prevalent in the district He\added that four deaths had occurred within a.fortnight within a few miles of a given spot,,and there were many other serious cases. Whilst the cases did not show any marked similarity to cerebro-cerebral meningitis there was some similarity •betweensfttee. two diseases. 3fr Gardiner^ also stated that "trench mouth" was increaping in the district.

- Information that has reached New Zealand through official channels shows that the military authorities in the United States have not thought it necessary to place barriers in: the way of enlistment of men of German parentage. Tens of thousands of young Americans whose parents were born in Germanyj and very,-many, men who were bom in '-'Germany,- have been 'the ; American Army. They are reported to•"• be- fighting against: Prussian militarisnr as -determinedly as ..the. boys of, pure American blood. ■ Some months, ago an American regiment composed largely of German-Americans Jcrossed bayonets with one of the Kaiser's crack regiments on the West front, and benl it decisively.