LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 11254, 7 December 1914, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Divorces to the number of 223 wero granted by the New Zealand courts last year, according to the official particulars just issued.. This total exceeds that fOr 1912 by one. Tho number of petitions (260) was, however, fewer by thirteen than in the previous year. Divorces continue to increase in the Dominion year by year. The number four years ago was ninety-nine in one year. There was a, big rise in 1911, and this has been . maintained. The deaths from cancer in New Zealand during the last few years have increased with an almost . alarming rapidity. In 1904 tho number of persons who died from this disease was 571, while in 1913 the number had increased to 856. Only, thirty-seven of tho latter were under thirty years of age. If we reckon that one-half of the population of the Dominion is over thirty years of age, we find that almost one iu every fifty matured persons die from cancer. Writing on Friday last, the Stratford correspondent of the Taranaki " Herald " says:— ;; Some £20,000 was Said out by the dairy companies toay. The cheques might have been larger had the weather been more favourable to the production of milk, but they might have been very much smaller if many events had happened differently. If, for instance, the Bel-' gians had made a less strenuous resistance to the German invasion and the Kaiser's legions had' established themselves as firmly on the coast of the Channel as they have, for the pasttwo months held their inland position, what, then, would have been our insurance rates on our produce cargoes for London P" On the arrival of the steamer Waiwera at Auckland on Thursday morning from London, she was boarded by Detective Gourley, who arrested four seamen employed on the vessel on a charge of broaching cargo. It is alleged that when the Waiwera was between London and Cape Town on October 26, the officers noticed that several members of the crew appeared to be under the influence of liquor The captain was informed, and a search of the steamer's holds was ordered, with tho result that two cases of whisky amongst the cargo in No. 4 hold were found to have been broken open, and ten bottles of the liquid stolen. Tho detective again visited the steamer in the afternoon and as a result of further inquiries, made a, fifth arrest. A large number of officers iu the steamers in the New Zealand trade have recently been appointed to. the Royal Naval Reserve, and are serving in various capacities afloat. Sub-Lieutenant H. G. Hatchwell, R.N.R., late fourth officer of the Tainui, and elder son of Captain R. Hatchwell, of Lyttelton, has been appointed to H.M.S. Harrier, a torpedo gunboat in charge of the Downs boarding flotilla. The Harrier is a vessel of 1070 tons, and is on special service with the Admiralty tugboats Chub, Cerberus, Carcass, Chester, Ceylon and Chichester. _ Attached to each tug are two Royal Naval Reserve officers, one as boarding officer and the other as witnessing officer. Every vessel passing through the Downs b?tween the Goodwin Sands and the Kentish coast is stopped and closely examined before, being allowed to proceed. Tho officers have twenty-four hours on and twenty-four hours off duty. Serving' with Sub-Lieutenant Hatchwell in the Harrier are Lieutenant A. P. Melsom, R.N.R.. late second officer of the Riniutaka, Sub-Lieutenant A. E. Weller, II.N. 11., late third officer of tho lonic, and Sub-Lieutenant Bayrell Reed, E.N.E., late fourth officer of the Hurtiiiui.

The Telegraph Office advises that all the Canterbury trout streams were clear this . morning. The Rangitata was reported to be fishable. In connection with Mr Massey's statements that ne is on the best terms with the Huntly miners, the following telegram has been sent to the fremier by Mr J. O'Brienj secretary of the Xaupiri Ooaiminers' Industrial Union:— " Press publishing statement by you that you are on good and friendly terms with Huntly miners. We challenge you to come here and prove it." An instance of how a fund will grow by the addition to sums almost insignificant in themselves was afforded yesterday, when a barman employed at a Wellington hotel brought to the "New Zealand Times" office two lemonade bottles full of coins, principally coppers. He had converted the bottles into money "boxes" by knocking a small hole in the side of each near the top, then standing them on his bar, marked " Belgian Fund." When tKe coins were counted yesterday, they were found to total £1 19s, which has been handed over to the proper authorities. A woman informant in an assault case in the Wellington Magistrate's Court on Friday would persist in airing her grievances to all and sundry. Not receiving the sympathetic attention of the crowd, she addressed her remarks to her husband, a meek-looking man whose attitude showed that he was no stranger to the admonitory finger and the grieved observations of his irate better-half. Three stentorian requests for silence from Constable R. Miller having no effect, the irate one was promptly locked up on a charge of drunkenness. On Saturday a very much subdued woman was convicted of being found drunk in the Magistrate's Court, and after-.being warned that the public gallery of the court was a very undesirable place in which to air grievances, was discharged. The assault case in which the woman was concerned was, after her arrest, "adjourned for a week.

They don'.t live like fighting-cooks, the men. in garrison in the conquered port of Rabaul, New Britain. A member of the force sends along a menu, which is solemnly sworn to as a true picture of the airy feasts they have up there: —"Australian Expeditionary Force. —Rabaul Garrison Oaf©. —Menu:—Soups: Consomme a -I'oxygen, atmospherical broth. Fish: Filleted flies' eyebrows, wiudbait, sauce imaginaire. Entrees: Saute of air-or-naught, fricasse of nitrogen. Joints: Buliamoocow, tinned meat and hot water dumpling. Sweets: Baked wind pie. boiled steam pudding. Savoury: Bees' knees on toast. Fruit: Pawpaw, bananas, cocoauuts. Wines: Tea, coffee, guesswhatitis, and Adam's ale. Grills at all hours, rashers of wind, fried snowballs, grilled hydrogen, scalloped vapour. Fancy lunch biscuits are served with each course." A sample of the knives being used by , those brilliant little hill soldiers, the Gurkhas, has been handed to the members of the literary staff _ of the "Southland Times" for inspection, and this particular little weapon is in itself sufficient excusa for the German soldier who screams in abject terror when he beholds his comrades falling beneath its kind. The knife is shaped after the manner of a sickle, though its inward curve is nob so great. From liilt to point it measures about twenty inches and the blade. » quarter an inch in thickness, weighs nearly two pounds. The knife is something akin to a butcher's cleaver and its momentum when on the swing must bo tremendous on accouut of thofnet that the bulk of the weight is pitched forward towards the point of the blade. It is stated that the knife was originally secured by Sergeant-Major Sutton and is now the property of Captain Bell. The magnificent North _ German Lloyd steamship Kronprinaessin Cecile, winch returned to America after war was declared, presents a war problem of considerable interest. She is guarded I■■ y the revenue cutter Mohawk and a torpedo boat.. Just off the coast British commerce destroyers are lurking, ready at the* first opportunity to dispose of the German steamship. So lone; as the Cecile remains within the American three-mile limit she is immune from attack, hut it is found that to convey her to a suitable winter berth she must, pass out. beyond the three-mile limit. The United States has a. voi'v material interest in the vessel. bevmuo of a claim tiled against her by a Xew York ban!:. As .-lie has been seized by the United States, the j Cecils is really I. nited States Governj nient property for the time being un- ! dor American law. 'I here would be no | tor -fli" British to recognise j this peculiar statu; on the high seas. I ! 1 is';'"' she would (>e ;i German mer- • ehan< a: \n. I::ible to attack. To Jeave J tbe strarvbip through tin? winter at j Bar Ha/I,our, where ice* uould' almost i inevitably deifoy her. would make the '"lilted Stare liable po-dljfy to her German owner-, and would rob American hunker; ui their eeeuritv. Jj, is desired, therefore, to lake her to Boston ( !j- ',\.w. \oi l;, 'i h-t-t- w-niid mean a trie rated Cap- Cad. ami there a big vessel i:ke the (. oeile must. go beyond Tiio tnree-iiii!e !in/'t-. It is hoped at V. aslnngton (>ays the Xow York correspondent- of iho London ''Daily Telegraph ) that, in view of the spooia 1 circumstances of the care, riie British Government will make concessions, arid allow an American Governinent- collier to tow the Gorman peaceably to winter quarters. ( hristmas i'l eparaiions. The attractive Sun':: of Me.-srs ilasiic, Bui! and ; Piekji i;,;.. Ca jiici Sireti, pi\ ems a very animated appearance just now. New goods of elioieo design and great value are Ivim.' opened up. and every pi eji,, i'a, ion i- b, inu niad" lor a busy Chri.-i jiiu-v. XI

The new post office at Oxford -will be opened for business to-morrow. From that date all post office business will bo conducted there and not at tho railway station. In nearly every Anglican church throughout tho Christehurch diocese yesterday, special sermons were preached in favour of tho Bible in schools referendum. Sermons wero also preached on tho same subject in many other churches, the object being to unite in intercession all churches who were in I favour the platform or the League, | and to emphasise tho religious aspect of the movement. The first poll on national prohibition taken on December 7, 1911, resulted in nearly AG per cent of the valid votes recorded being in favour, of the proposal. Tho local option pol taken on the same date did' not result in any alteration of tho existing position in licensing districts. No-liconse was not carried in any of tho fifty-six license districts, nor was restoration carried in any of the twelve no-license districts. The total votes cast in the Dominion in 1911 for continuance was 237,025, and for nolicense, 234.1356. The present nolicense electorates, with tho year in which they went "dry," are as under: —Clutlia, 1893; Ashburton, Mataura, 1902; Grey Lynn, Oamnrn. Invercargill, 1905; Eden, Ohinemuri. Masterton, Wellington South, "Wellington Suburbs, Bruce, 1908. A three-fifths, or 60 per cent, majority is necessary to carry cither local no-licenso or restoration, or national prohibition. _ In cases where local no-license is carried the existing licenses will lapse on Juno 30 next. The following comment from the •'•'New York World" is typical of the American Press as a "whole, oil the naval situation: —"Great Britain has paid a trivial twice for her command of the seas. Not only has tho British Navy kept the German fleet bottled up, with tho exception of a few vagrant cruisers, but it has swept Germany's mercantile commerce from _ the face of the waters, hold the British trad© routes open, and made the transportation of British troops as safe as in time of , peace." Showing that it is the Navy that lias made possible the landing of the Expeditionary Force in France, the sending of reinforcements and supplies, and the bringing of troops from India, Canada, Australia, and elsewhere, the leader continues: "TTie British certainly have no cause to complain when they balance the books. The advantages have been incalculable, and the cost in money and. men has been small. What are half a dozen second-rate cruisers or half a dozen ' Dreadnoughts' for that matter, ill comparison with the military and commercial dividends which the Navy has paid tho Empire within the last ten weeks P" An Onehunga tradesman is now in a position to estimate the value of. the law in helping him to collect longstanding accounts, says the Auckland " Star. Some time ago ho obtained' judgment against, a debtor for £l3 and £3 costs. The debtor was ordered to pa.y the total amount of 1 £l6 at one shilling per week. The creditor congratulated himself upon getting the order, and remarked 1 that it would only take six years and eight weeks to liquidate the account. Since then, however, he has discovered that the order of the Court holds good only for one year, so that to get all his money he will have to apply for a renewal of the order each year, at an annual cost of £1 10s, made up of Court costs and travelling expenses for the debtor. . If all goes welt, and' the Court favours each application for renewal, the account should be liquidated in sixteen years and forty-eight weeks. As all costs will be added to the original debt, of £l3, the debtor, under this process, will pay £44. Under an amendment of tne Act, passed last session, the debtor may apply to the Court at any time to have the order varied, which will be granted if he can satisfy the Court that he is no longer able to pay Is per week.

Regarding New Zealand's participation at the San Francisco Exposition, Mr -Edmund Clifton, the representative of the New Zealand Government in America, stated to a San Francisco correspondent:—"The New Zealand pavilion is rapidly Hearing completion, and, according to present indications, should be ready for the installing of exhibits within a few weeks, lliere arrived from New Zealand, on the Marama, quite a large number of exhibits, comprising some 250 cases. They came ' in excellent condition, and the plants and ferns which had reached San Francisco some months ago, are responding to the treatment extended to them by the Superintendent of Parks, Mr John Maclaren, who is one of the finest horticulturists in America. The specimens of these _ indigenous plants of New Zealand will, in a wonderful degree, display the unique flora of the Dominion of the Southern Seas." The unloading of the Now Zealand exhibits has attracted considerable attention at the Exposition grounds, and experts who have examined the Dominion's contribution of hemp have declared it the highest quality ever,seen in the United States. Appearances indicate that for scenic beau ties New Zealand will have no equal in the groat World's Fair at San Francisco, when the big function opens on February 20 next." Already there are 30.000 Belgian refugees in London. Of course, they are not all poor, although many of the formerly wealthy ones havo lost all they had, One meets them continually in every street in batches, most of them very evidently family parties, and almost always wearing signs of mourning. One wishes one were able to speak their language well, so that one might be able to take a little oft' the strangeness oft their unhappy situation. But they have come to a country which has, for tile most part, disdained to learn French. Perhaps that, too, may be altered in the future. But mostly everyone is trying to help these refugees in other ways. One worthy Englishman the other day, who did not know their language, insisted on escorting a Belgian gentleman and his family to their destination when they disembarked from their steamer. He proudly succeeded in his tusk of safely shep* i herding them right up to the Salvation | Army homes. Judge of his disappointment when he discovered that the party he had in tow was one of the wealthiest families in Belgium, and that they 'had already telegraphed for rooms at the RitJ! Hotel, the most fnshionnblo establishment in the whole of London, to which they imagined that their conductor was leading them ! (Occasional correspondent.) j Should national prohibition be carried it will remain in force until superseded bv the coming into force ot a determination of the electors of the Dominion in favour of the restoration of licenses. No poll on the question of restoration will be taken tor a certain oeriod of three years ntter the coining into force of national prohibition. " The Act provides that at the iirst general election held after the expi rat-on of three years from the day of the editing into force of national prohibition. and at every general election thereafter, so long as national prohibition remains in low. a licensing pot! shall be taken, and at that poll there -jlki]' bo submitted to the electors of eiich liven.-in:.: district the question whether lice.-'.'s shall be restored :n ,\Vv Aal.v.n!. In the ordinary eouico, therefore, with every Parliament lasting tor the nil' triennial period, no retoration poll eouM he taken until the. gmeral elections of 1923. Should a dis- ! solution of Parliament take place in the interim, however, the date of a re storation poll might bo earlier. To carry restoration a three-fifths majority would be necessary, as in the case of the prohibition poll, but in the even of restoration being carried license? would be restored on the expiration of three months after the taking of the pull. Should national prohibition not be carried the next- poll will be taken '•> the uaiwl c'i'ithree rears