LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 10235, 18 August 1911, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The Radio Station at Wfellingtoi# reports that the Ulihl&rba should b§ within wireless rdnge to-night. At a sitting of the Lyttelton Police* Court this morning* Alfred Burnicle, a second offender for drunkenness, was fined 5s and costs. Mr G. C. Smith, J.P., was on the bench. A Press Association message front j Dunedin states that the secretary of' the South Island Dairy Association advises that ojd per lb has heen offered ror the season's output of cheese. This means a rise of f d on yesterday's offer*: At the Dunedin Police Court to-day. Ah Loy was fined £5 and costs, in de>* fault six months' imprisonment, foir having opium in his possession. Owing to the difficulty of getting opium, the police stated that the Chinese now were j resorting to evaporating laud&flum to! conditions suitable for smoking. j The Lyttelton railway casual workers played a euchre alld cribbage match on! 1 Wednesday evening with the Fire Bri-t gade. There was a large attendafte&j and thirty-one gatnes were pkyed. TW Fire Brigade won the match by Six games. Afterwards a social was held/ and the usual toasts were honoured. There was a very thick fog over Lyt* telton early this morning, and it wa(i ( not until six o'clock that a view couldii be obtained of the inner harbouf. Out-.] side the conditions wete "similar, and? the steamers Mararoa and UlimaroaJ from Wellington, reported running into! fog within ft range of twenty miles o? Godley Head, and in consequence t&e? suffered about an hour's delay. | Great havoc has been caused by alt insect pest among the cocoaniit plants-' tions at Yap, in the Caroline grotip. i Thousands of nuts h<ave been destroyed by the pest. It is stated that as soon! as the insects -attacked ihe> trees they, lost all their colour and faded away iul a dirty brown. Scientists sent out from! Germany succeeded in tracing the insect pest, and it is being stamped out. The losses to some of the plantations' have been heavy.

A message from Wairoa sayg thatf some members of the Waitoa cofttin-*' g6nt to the instruction camp aft Palmerston North had a trying esheri-] ence on the return journey, Reading, Napier on Monday they fotind. was no steamer, and they decided to' walk a distance of eighty miles. Thg party, numbering seven, left Napier at 6.40 on Wednesday morning, and twa reached Wairoa at 8.30 last flight* The rest are expected to arrive to-day*

At a sitting of the Juvenile Court held this morning before Mr H. Wj Bishop, S.M., four boys, aged tively fifteen years, twelve years,' eleven years and eight years, wer« charged with having broken and entered a week-end residence at New? Brighton and having stolen therefrom/ various articles to the value of 165.The Magistrate lectured the parents of. the boys at some length, pointing out! that the offence committed had been a/ criminal one. He said that the tutnfS of the boys lay with their parents, and! added that the offence seemed to betoken an absence of pafehtal control* He warned both the parents of the boys and the boys themselves that If tfaeys appeared before the Court again they, would be put under State control. Th# youngest boy was cautioned and dis-* charged without ft conviction. Hid, other three were convicted and discharged, and their parents tfere ordered to pay the aflaoUiit 6f thfe damage* i6s. J The wireless apparatus on the Maitai*; which arrived at Wellington yesterday,! was in frequent use on the run over, from San Francisco. Communication, was maintained with that port until' the steamer was 1200 miles on her jour-; ney to Wellington. The Aorangi, which!: was bound from Auckland to Sail: Francisco, was picked up at a distance! of 800 miles when she Was getting intdl Papeete. Honolulu was heard working) by the Maitai when the vessel was fid; less than 2100 miles away from that! port. The Maratna Was spoken about j 200 miles the other side of the equator,' while bound for Honolulu. Suva wa3 also communicated with, and the flight the Maitai left Rarotonga she got ill touch with H.M.S. Challenger at a distance of 1700 miles, and gate the time of her anticipated arrival. The operator talked to the Rtiahin© For three or four days, but experienced great difficulty in picking up Wellington On Tuesday night when only a comparatively short distance away. This he puts down to the bad and shut-in situation of the present temporary station at the General Post Office.

A remit from the Ashburton Association that a standard height should bet fixed fcr remounts for the mounted in-i fantry of the dominion aroused sotfiet interest at the Agricultural Conference,' yesterday. Mr J. G. Wilson suggested I that General Godley might have some recommendation on the subject. The! Commandant was accordingly rung up,! and replied that he would be unable : through a prior engagement to attend j the conference, but he would like to' say that he preferred a smallish horse| from 14.3 to 15.2 for mounted rifle pur-j poses. Such a horse Was easier to; mount, hardier and handier, and easier to feed. Small horses had proved far more suitable for the work in South Africa than large horses. For artillery, the General said, a heavier class of horse was required, as the 18-* pounder gtins needed powerful animaW Artillery horses should be at least 15.3. and of the style of the 'bus horse of London. Mr W. C. Buchanan said that the difficulty was to get horses of the required type. The conference resolved to adopt the limits advised by General Godley for the purpose of shows. The Council of the Pharmaceutical Society of New South Wales has sent out a circular to the members of that' organisation which shows that the So-1 eietv strongly condemns the sale ofj methylated spirits for drink. _ When it was discovered that these spirits were purchased by people on Sundays in. order that" they might thus satisfy their craving for. liquor, the sale was, the Council states, immediately stopped. But since the accusation is revived that chemists are again deriving revenue from this source, the circular urges that members should assist in stamping the evil out of existence, if it does exist, " The chemist has the right, and only he has the right," says tho circular, "to supply spirits on Sundays for medicinal purposes; he has no right to sell spirits for the purpose of drink, and it is certain that his right will and' must be curtailed if he misuses it." The; indiscriminate supply of chlorodyne and' similar narcotics to drug-drinkers is likewise reprobated, the Council urging members not to sell these unless satis-; ficd that they are required for medici-i nal purposes. Attention is also drawn. l to the danger which may result from the putting of medicines into bottles originally used for beverages, as more than one life has been lost through the mistake of drinking from a bottle sup-, posed to contain beer when it had really been filled with carbolic acid. ;

Gamago's, High Street, Christchurch, the cheapest for bicycle goods. Bells Is, oil lamps Is, luggage carriers Is fkl, trouser clips 2d pair, pump clips 6d pair, celluloid pumps 2s, best steel pumps 2s 6d; silver fern outfits, largest and b«st outfit made, 6d; inner tubes 4a fid, strong outer covers 5s lid, saddles 5s 6d, saddle covers Is 6d; bioycle and sports price lists free. Gamage's, High Street, Christchureh. i&sß

Dinner Sets, 2G pieces, from 16s 93 fea 355; 56 pieces, 39s 6d to £5. Tea &e€b, 21 pieces, from 7s 9d to 19s 4© pieces, 22s 6d to £3 10s. W. ana G. Cups and Saucers, 5s 9d dozen; Cups' only, 4s 6d dozen. Earthenware Cupsj and Saucers from 3s 9d dozen; Plates to match cheap, at Fletcher Bros., j

Crockery Merchants, High Street. 1 If ytm use Zymole Trokeys you will not be bothered with irritation of the throat, causing you to cough. Always carrv them with you; they are pleasant to take. A

' "Wager" has given £1 to the fttlayor's Coal and Blanket Fund, r The weather was fine generally in the jHominion this morning. Light, variable ijwinds were reported. I Th© Southbridge Town Board lias jfeiven £5 to the King George Memorial iiPome, and Mrs W. G. Atack has given )£1 Is. I Advice has been received by the New Zealand Shipping Company, Limited, ifchat the Ruapehu will arrive at Hobart 3to-morrow, and it is expected that she Jw-ill leave on Sunday for Wellington, bir Joseph Ward is a passenger by her. ! Mr Thomas Gapes, the permanent Histrict secretary of the Ancient Order bf Foresters, has received invitations for two of the executive officers of the Canterbury district to attend the initiation of Lord Islington as an honorary hnember of the Order on August 24. ! At the Wellington Magistrate's Court to-day, William Scott and Henry IMartindale were charged with publishing a document which contained a notification .as to betting on the horse races to be run in Auckland in June. The 1-eeeipt through the post of three betting cards bearing the Words, facott and Martindale, wool brokers, Wellington," was proved. Counsel for the defence said that the point was, who posted the cards? He contended that there was no evidence to connect the defendants with the publication. Judgment was reserved. 1 The Acting-Premier of New South IWales has received a communication from Mr J. B. Suttor, the Commercial Commissioner for New South Wales in ibe East, informing him of the intended rsit to New Zealand and the Commonwealth, In January next, of a Japanese training squadron under the command 'of Rear-Admiral Kato. No particulars 'were forwarded as to what the squadron will consist of. The information available is that it will leave Yokosuka, the naval station near Yokohama, on November 25, will, call at Suva and 'Auckland, and will reach Sydney on January 16. i The independent cable service reportfed last week that persons itt close touch with official circles predict that the Gamorra trial iri Viterbo will run for several nionths yet, notwithstanding ' that all that can be said on either side has been said. While there are ample proofs <in which to condemn the prieoners of the offence which the Italian bode designates criminal association, fend fof which the penalty is from one jto twelve years' imprisonment, there is too positive evidence to convict anyone of instigating or actually committing Jmurden The jury, however, may accept the mass of circumstantial evidence that has been tendered as sufficiently conclusive.

| Sergeant Conn, of Dunedin, who was lieaxi constable at Rarotonga, returned ly the Maitai to Wellington yesterday. jiEfe has been seriously ill, and is pracitically invalided. The sergeant spoke Well of the Rarotongans to a "Post" reporter. "They are a lovable people,'" he said. " and I speak as a police officer. Tney are honest and light-heart-ed. Their only trouble is their fondness for bush beer. It is illegal to make and drink it, I understand; but they get away into the bush, especially on Sundays and holidays. There the beer is made by crushing oranges. The juice is strained and fermented. They get imprisoned for twenty-one days or bo if caught. Does it make them fight P My -Word, it does. But only among themselVdS, Mind you. They are the happiest convicts going. They have hearts as light as air, and do not mind jfe bit working on the roads or pottering about at convict labour."

l The latest mails from Noumea, says fche Sydney "Daily Telegraph,'' contain an aeoount of an extraordinary fcas&, in which a woman successfully petitioned for a divorce from her husband because he insisted upon her becoming a queen. The Court of Los Angeles, according to "La France Australe," lhas just granted a decree to Madame Nellie Clarke, who refused to follow her husbandto the Pitcairn Islands, of .which he claims to be king. Two years ago Mr Clarke was shipwrecked on the Pitcairn Islands. Later on he purchased them, and was elected king by their inhabitants. His subjects, who numbered 125, soon wanted a queen, like a dutiful husband, Mr Clarke asked his wife to share his throne. She strongly resented the idea of being transformed into a queen, and asked the law to free her from her royal husband. The Couft was sympathetic, granted her wish, and at the sai&e time censured King Clarke for neglecting his home.

It has been ascertained that provision for invalided seamen is not made by fisting legislation in the case of New Zealand vessels "trading foreign " \ that is to say, if a vessel owned and registered in New Zealand trades off the coast, no provision need be made in regard to payment of seamen landed ill, as is done in the case of vessels on the trtasfc or the Home traders. In the case of the former, three months' wages and other provisions have to be made, and Jrt the case of the deep-water vessels (owned and registered outside of New ■Zealand) & deposit not exceeding £6O lhas to be made and wages paid if men are landed sick. A vessel trading between New Zealand and Chatham Islands, or between New Zealand and ban Francisco and Vancouver, although owned and registered in New Zealand, is exempt, it seems, from this liability. The matter has been mentioned to the Minister of Marine by Mr T W Youne secretary of the Seamen's Union with a view to its being rectified during the present session.