NEWS OF THE DAY.

Colonist, Volume LXI, Issue 15044, 11 April 1919, Page 4

NEWS OF THE DAY.

The Nelson Dog Trials Association will hold a' meeting at Tapawera, at 8 p.m. on Saturday. All entries must by then be in the hands of the secretary. Amongst those who did solid work unseen last night in connection with the licensing poll were the attendants atj the telephoae exchange, who performed yeoman service, and the telegraph operators, who also had a strenuous time. The Nelson Golf Club will open its season to-morrow afternoon. A meeting of the Nelson Repatriation Committee was held on Wednesday, there heing present Messrs. TV. W. Snodgrass (chairman) W. A. Vercoe, W. Thorn, A. G. Shrimpton, J. H. Finney, C. R. Fell, A. Barclay and R. B. Jack-1 son. A largo number of applications were received and dealt with from returned soldiers for assistance to establish themselves in business, loans for the purchase of furniture, etc. The1, local Repatriation Officer (Mr R. B. Witty) reported that there were no returned soldiers out of work. Your Easter ISuit is lere! Yes, all ready to wear, smartly cut, and just the material you like. Of course, we mean the "Clyde" Suits at McKay's. See them to-day. You wont be pressed to buy.*

A meeting -of Brightwater, Waimea West, and Spring .Grove residents will be held to-day to arrange for the local peace celebrations.

, The Minister of Internal Affairs. (the Hon. G. W. Russell) has approved of the Nelson Acclimatisation Society's request to shoot, quail in the Nelson district from Ist May to 31st July.

The New Zealand Society of Accountants notifies that the cqmplete examination syllabus for 1919 is now available, and may be obtained from Mr. Ernest W. Hunt, secretary, G.P.O:' Box 1527, Wellington, or from local. • branch secretaries.

It was recently announced that Lieutenant Grierson intended to apply for a new trial of his action .for slander ] against Dr Thacker, M.P., on the ground that the damages awarded were inadequate. It is now understood (says the "New Zealand Herald") that no further proceedings will be taken. A German sea mine was; found washed up on the Rangitikei beach about, seventeen miles from Bulls recently by a resi-! dent of the locality. The Naval Adviser was communicated with and a party was j sent up from Wellington to destroy it. IA square box, covered with wire netting and bearing the number 34, was also found, but it was not known whether it i is a piece of wreckage or a naval appliance. ■" ■•■',:; ■''.-• .■' v ■ . \. "From the point of view of national efficiency the indiscriminate employ■ment of boyp or girls under the age of j l6 years is a. serious matter," said Mr ;F. V. Frasei-y S.M., at the Wellington ■Magistrate's Court, during the .hearing of a case brought by the Inspector of Factories. Counsel for the defendant company, admitted that a girl under 16 i years of age had been employed in the factory, but stated that the girl looked much older than she was. Her age was not asked when she was employed. A . fine of £2; with 7s costs, was imposed. The "Melbourne Argus" says: , Queensland has the misfortune to be the only State in which the worst elements are behind the existing Administration. ' i How debased those forces have become : is revealed by the Brisbane" T'Worker^" , which has published in its columns a r' blasphemous travesty on Bolshevism. ■ The full text would be so offensive to j every decent-minded person that ft can- ■ • not be given. Its grossness may be . i judged from the fact that it deals with a revolution in Heaven organised by the Bolsheviks, and the principal sub-head- " ing is "God Abdicates." The name of > i the Deity is bandied about j there is a c! ribald "jest" about the Virgin Mary, ,|and an infamous reference to the Saviour.. This brazon affront to the ' j community has been resented in Brisj bane, but so far no person in the Labour . j ranks has had the courage to disown a .jword of it. Truly the Ryan Governh i ment should be proud of the support I which keeps it in office. : The largest shipment of Burberry t ■■ Coats for men and women ever imported into Nelson has just been opened by ■[McKay and Son, Bridge street.*

EmileMonzheimer pleaded not guilty at the Featherston Magistrate's Court to a . charge of having assaulted - one Hugh Midlaeker on, the 27th February, '■■ in the German internment camp, Featherstoa. H. Midlaeker, a prisoner of war, stated that on 27th February the accused, who-was also a fellow prisoner, was disturbing the quietude of those who' were in the hutment. He was requested to keep quiet, and after going towards the door, turned back and refused to "shut up." "Witness then closed with him, and -. while they were struggling the accused got hold of a chisel and struck him on the left cheek, left arm, and right thigh. As a result of these wounds, witness had to have hospital, treatment. The S.M., in summing up, said that the whole thing arose from a small row that might have had serious consequences, but he was iqituc convinced that the man was only trying to defend himself as he had been rushed from behind.. The evidence also went to show that when the man was freed he did not attempt to do anything further. Information dismissed.

It is not yet absolutely certain whether Prohibition or the Trade has won the election, but we know that the showing of "Clyde" Suits at McKay's ;s splendid.* ..

-A romantic episode in relation to the Gallipoli campaign is brought into special prominence in a despatch received recently from the A.I.F. head-: quarters^ London, by the Acting Minister of Defence in Australia. ffAfter the Anzacs had established themselves upon Gallipoli." relates an English newspaper, "the Second Australian Brigade was removed to the southern portion of the peninsula to co-operate with British troops in tne operations of early May. The brigade gained its objectives, but lost heavily. One of its soldiers found a photograph of a girl on a portion of the fought-over ground and ihe picture so impressed hi* that he has retained it ever since. Coming over to ..England for his first leaye in February last, he showed the photograph to a canteen .worker,; saying th a t though it seemed jppossible that he. should do so he would like to.meet the .-original of it! vv jla-/.said tJ ie P^ure greatly resembled: a friend of hers, and offered to arrange an .introduction. The Australian vi; n?^ married^ I^^Photograph ; was lu^W as,one Q** had been given by fche lady it depicted to her husband, who | was killed in the Gallipoli operations jliut the widow is not sacrificing the S« rV f her/cad husband n?r discarding her weeds. The photograph was taken years ago, and it is the daughter of the original and the dead soldier that the will take back with him to

Twelve persons Were injured,;several seriously ,when. a steel-girder- protrude , ing from a flat of a west-bound, freight train on February 14th -toreV one side from three parlour cars: of. the east-bound Cincinati-pittsburg_ express on the Pennsylvania;, raili road at Oakdale, near OPittsburg, U.S.A. Both-trains were moving . skvwlv when the sixty-foot girder, believed,to have been jolted from its ppsi-. j tion on the flat car, struck the. express. It tore the roof ' from one of the steel parlour cars and ripped the side from all <; three. * v t During the hearing of a.case at the j Central Criminal Court, London, on q January 9, the Recorder said that the r ! number of 'bigamy cases was most appalling. He spent the whole of Wednesday, in investigating charges of. the "\ kind, some of which were very bad and others not so serious. There had, no j. doubt been considerable carelessness on ( the part of girls in entering into mar- j riages without making any inquiries in- ( to the past history of the men, which ( could easily be done by making appliea- "< .tion to the regiment. This referred not ] I only to our own men, but also to.Aus- * tralians, Canadians, and New Zealand- < ers. ' !■ A representative of the Tropical Fruit " Company, of Auckland, which"is com-M posed of the largest growers and mer-j] chants in Fiji, had an interview thisi-ii week with the Chief Health Officer' j (Dr Valintine) on the subject of the .-; handling of bananas. The represents- ' tive (Mr C. D. Fraser) pointed'out that ; the quarantine period of 24 hours re- < suited in the fruit ripening at express ". speed through being confined on the ship without ventilation which -was obtained while the vessel was in- motion, and the consequence was great loss to the trade, and a shortage of supply to the public. Dr Valintine informed. Mr Fraser that he would telegraph to Auckland, instructing the Health Department that if Fiji is a clean port (-as it.is at present), the bananas may be landed as soon-as the ship is in port: An extraordinary sight was witnessed in Otautau the other day (says the i Western "Star"). During a very heavy shower of rain, hundreds -of thousands ; of small white jelly-fish were lo be seen lying on the pavements. They did not last very long, melting as soon as the sun made its appearance. Wellington City is not the only place jin the North Island in which there is a : shortage of dwelling-houses. The. tewii.- ---! planning director (Mr Hurst Seager) . found during his recent tour that nearly • every town was suffering From an insufficiency of houses. "In Palmerston North," he.said, "there is not a house to be had, and in Hawera they want 100 houses." A large flight of mutton birds, was-ob-served off the Oamaru breakwater the other day, the calm "water being-bla<;k with the resting birds. A gentleman with considerable experience of:mutton! birds estimated their number at over! 130,000 (according to the "Mail"), It! j was only when they resumed:their. ftigm>.' southwards that the enormous nurn'oeri could be appreciated. I The wish of the New Zealand, Govern? ( ment to obtain a vessel to replace ihe Amokura as a fooys' training ship hasbeen represented to the Admiralty.. aJ communication lately received by Sir James Allen from Mr Massey states that an effort is being made by the Admiralty to obtain a light cruiser suitable *or.-the< ; purpose. j It is reported that a. very big lancf deal in Hawera town property. Bas-just been "brought off," the, purchasers, be-i ■ing two well-known rich drapery firms! in Wellington. The purchased properties, the "Eltham Argus" understands . are centrally situated^, and; at present ; occupied as licensed premises.. i