LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 10927, 17 November 1913, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Carnival Week in Christchurch will be very fully described in the illustrations "of this week's " Canterbury Times." Several pages will be devoted to portraying adequately the annual show of the Canterbury Agricultural and Pastoral Association. In this section all the champion sheep and cattle will be shown, and there will be several splendid panoramic pictures depicting the wonderful scene at the grounds at Addington on People's Day. The record race meeting of the Metropolitan Trotting Club will also be fully dealt with. There will be starts and finishes of races, general snapshots, _ and a magnificent panorama showing the huge crowd on Cup Day, and a full page will be given to portraying the Cup race. The galloping at Riccarton will be finely described and so also will be the Kennel Club's annual show. There will be several pictures in connection with the strike, and a large number of general pictures dealing with topical and miscellaneous subjects. The number of illustrated pages will be added to considerably, but the price of the "Canterbury Times " will remain the same as usual, namely, sixpence. The journal will be on sale to-morrow. Despite the wet night there was again a great demand for " The Star o?i Saturday. The machine records show an issue of 22,400 copies. The street sales were enormous. Of the Canterbury trout streams this morning the Waimakariri (north and south branches) and the Rangitata were clear. The Waitaki was discoloured and the Rakaia dirty. The latest fashion in Paris is the wearing of white wigs by ladies. At some recent race meetings quite a number of smartly frooked women were observed wearing powdered wigs, generally with black hats. For some time past white hair has been increasing in fashion amongst Parisiennes, but whether it will extend to London remains to be seen. After the very charming representation of powdered hair and patches by the ladies of the Georgian era, one wonders why the English women do not straightway go baek to those picturesque days for their fashions; they were fax more becoming and feminine than many we see about nowadays. A Kaikoura pedagogue, in order to find out how much interest his scholars took in current events, set one of his classes to write an essay on the strike. Here are some of the notions of the rising generation:—"Mr Semple was shot, and so were several others, but Semple was shot dead, he ~was one of the leading men." " Sir Joseph Ward has been allowing too much free labour, and the men that have gone on strike began to think they could rule the roost." " A great number of people blame Mr Massey (P) but he is not so much to blame as Mr Ward." " There were some racehorses coming down from the North Island to Christchurch races. They went down by the Maori, and two warships went down with her to protect the boat and the racehorses." "The trains have oeased to travel because they cannot get coal to burn their engines." Referring at a meeting of the Melbourne Board of Health to the danger of the use of a single cup at communion services, Mr F. J. Wood <said that some time ago an expression of opinion was obtained from a number or denominations regarding the use of separate cups. The majority <.f the churches favoured separate oups, but others refused to make any chaige. The use of one cup was most insanitary and unhealthy. He had received a communication from Archbishop Clarke on the subjeot, in which it was stated that the matter had been discussed at the Lambeth Conference, and it was decided that the use of the separate was not desirable. Dr Robertson remarked that he did not think that the Board had the power to dictate as to the way in which the communion wine should be distributed. It was a religious rite. Mr Smith moved that the subject be referred to the various denominations not using separate cups, with a request that it be discussed ati the annual conferences. The motion was carried. In the course of an interview with the "Southland Times/' Mr Robert M'Nab, who has just returned from Sydney, said: "When I went to Australia I was a strong supporter _ of compulsory vaccination, but my views have since been altered. The effect there is to compel every_ person who is travelling to be vaccinated before he can do anything at all, but '-he people who are liable to contact are not subject to compulsion. I tldnk that so far as Sydney is concerned the smallpox outbreak would have been better dealt with had there been no compulsory vaccination, but whon ■smallpox appeared anywhere the patients and contacts should have been quarantined. The result then would have been that all the danp.tr spots would have been isolated." He regarded the present method as a. farce, because, after all that was said of compulsory vaccination ,it was possible to go from New Zealand uhd mako tlie round trip and return unvaccinated, and all that was wanted was a little brass. It was enabled to be done by the fact that *o many medical men considered the procedure a farce that it was not difficult to get past it. Says the " Grey River Argus " :—An amusing incident is reported as having taken place at a fire quite recently. The unfortunate occupant of the ruined premises was rudely awakened by a loud crash which first appeared to him as the wrecking of a test board which he had erected in his premises, but finding that article intact his next concern was the wires of his mattress which, however showed no sign of "earth"— the disturbance was occasioned by the collapse of one of the walls of his dwelling. The now startled gentleman took in the situation at a cursory glance and decided after a hasty deliberation to beat a retreat, but not before he had secured some of his valuable belongings. Naturally his first attention was centred upon the most valuable of his possessions. " The first thing that caught his eye was au up-to-date typewriter which was tendered but scant consideration and without much ceremony was hurled through the window pane and sash. The thoughtfulness of the man of the hour was then made manifest by his securing a sirloin of beef which was intended for Sunday's dinner but was carried out most carefully and placed tenderly on _ the side walk. In recounting his trying experience this thoughtful one generally winds up with: "It was my cool, calm, and collected demeanour which averted a fatality. My only regret is that 1 paid three week's rent in advance."

The following vessels_ will range of the radio stations to-night:—'• Auckland—Moeraid, Maheno and Makura. Wellington—Maori, Maunganui, Makura, Ulimaroa and Maheno. Very distressing accounts continae to reach us (says the " Nelson Colonist") of the loss small farmers are experiencing through inability to ship their produce to outside markets. If the deadlock continues until the tomato season is well in, the losses will be greatly increased, and many of this class of producers will be pracnii ally ruined. At Monday's Court at Winton an intelligent and kindly old chap appeared before the Bench on a charge of drunkenness. He stated that he was sixty-five years of age, and it was the first time he had been before the Court. He had met an old friend at the races, whom he had not seen for twenty-five years, and he got "overwhelmed." The old man's genuineness apparently appealed to the Magistrate, who did not inflict a fine. A relic of the Kelly Gang was unearthed recently in Glenrowan, where the ruffians were eventually run to earth. It consists of a barrel and lock of an old-fashioned gun, once owned by the notorious (juartet. It is a gamekeeper's gun, right barrel rifle and the left 6hot, and was the favourite weapon of young Dan when he was out hunting for the birds and animals of the bush or human beings. The remains of the shooting iron were found beneath a heap of earth and wood ashes somewhat behind where originally stood the Glenrowan Hotel kept by Mrs Jones. Things turned out most unfortunately at the annual meeting of the Women's Liberal League at Ballan (Victoria) the other day. The orator of the occasion was H. V. M'Kay, the "Sunshine" man, who put up the tough fight for Deakin's old Ballarat sea-t. M'Kay poured out his Australian soul, and urged the .tabbies (in quite a delicate way) to keep the continent white. Then, the White Australian orator having subsided, the next item was called on—Mr Ling Ah Mouey would entertian the company with a song. When M'Kay saw his successor on the White Australian platform, he fled by a side door. The two chief cases at the Police Court in Auckland the other morning would appear to indicate a desire, In unexpected places, to assist the police in this time of stress. In one case a lodger in a boarding-house, who_ had his watch and tie stolen over-night, went out into the street next morning, did his own detective work, bailed up the thief in an hotel, and gently but firmly conducted him to a policeman. In the other case, a man who had stolen a gold watch early In the morning, pawned it for 6s, had a few drinks, and then, on reflection, went and told a policeman what he had done. No doubt the police would appreciate a continuance of the practical assistance evidenced by these cases. The Mayor of Dunedin (Mr W..D. Stewart) has received a communication from an attorney of Wall Street, New_ York, his assistance in obtaining information concerning a family named M'Cahill, in which there were three brothers, Cornelius, James, and John, and possibly a sister. About thirty-five years ago John lived in the vicinity,of New York, Cornelius in the western part of the United States, and James in some part of New Zealand. Nothing has been heard of James since 1880. If living now he is entitled to about 20,000 dollars, and if he is dead, having heira, they are entitled to the same amount. Anyone able to give any information on the subject should, communicate with Mr John J. Dwyer, attorney at law, of 7, Wall Street, New York. The disadvantages of the poor man charged with a criminal offence were voiced by a prisoner at the Supreme Court this morning in making an elaborate request for pencil and paper. He said that the prosecution was able to pay counsel, who was provided with a table to write on and was given every facility. A man with money charged with an offence had a similar advantage, but the poor prisoner had to be content with a three-inch rail for his table. His Honor Mr Justice Denniston reminded the prisoner that he was probably aware that there were regulations providing avenues through which ho could have applied for counsel. The pencil and paper were granted, his Honor remarking that the prisoner could have obtained them' just as easily and more quickly without such an elaborate speech. A correspondent of a Dunedin paper narrates the following incident: —A cream waggon was proceeding through the city. Just after it had passed a street intersection the uneven surface of the road caused one of the cans to be jolted out and the cream poured, over the surface of the roadway. The driver's attention was attracted by the shouts of the onlookers, the cart was stopped a few yards further on, and a man jumped down. By the time he had readied the can its contents were about half spilled in the germ-laden dust. To my amazement, and amid the jeers of the .bystanders, the man with his dirty hands commenced to scoop up as much _of_ the cream as he could and replace it in the can. Whether that canful would be turned into butter lam unable to say—l hope not—but I cannot avoid a suspicion that in a few days our people will be swallowing by the million microbes formerly disporting themselves in one of our streets. As a result of a dispute between the bandsmen of the 15th North Auckland (Whangarei) Regiment and the military authorities, the officer commanding, Lieutenant-Colonel Steadman. ordered the men to hand in their uniforms and instruments (says an Auckland paper). The bandsmen handed in their _ uniforms, but refused to give up their instruments, with the exception of a much-battered cornet. LieutenantColonel Steadman insisted upon the whole of the instruments being returned, and a heated altercation ensued. Eventually the police were called in, and the bandsmen left the building in a body. Lieutenant-Colonel Steadman then announced that he would issue a writ against the officials of the band for the recovery of the instruments. The instruments in the possession of the bandsmen are the property of the citizens of Whangarei, and are leased to the regiment at a nominal figure. Recently the bandsmen, acting on their own initiative decided to purchase a new set of silver-plated instruments, in view of the Exhibition Band Contest, and it is 6tated that they pledged the instruments now in use as part payment. As the Officer Commanding had not been consulted in the matter he raised certain objections, and this led up to the present trouble.