LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16331, 21 January 1921, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The grocers’ picnic will he held at Ashburton to-morr&w. The train leaves Christchurch at 9 a.m. To add to tlie interest of the visit of local bodies to Lake Coleridge, Mr P. R. Climie is endeavouring to arrange for two passengers to go up by aeroplane. The trip will probably take a little less than an hour.

The temporary office at the police station for tho registration of arms presents a very busy appearance at any hour "of the day. Tlie public is making a good response to the Government’s order that possessors of firearms must register them, and Sergeant O’Grady, who has charge of the registration, is kept busy with callers all clay.

The New South Wales shipping strike is seriously affecting the leading hotels in Auckland which eater largely for tourists, states the Star.” Since the Sydney-Auckland service became interrupted there has been a considerable falling off in'.the business done by these hotels, owing to the. fact that many Australians who intended touring the Dominion and had booked accommodation in Auckland, have been compelled to cancel their arrangements. The laying up of the Niagara, Maheno and Makura has also interfered with traffic between Auckland and Vancouver, and this will cause a large drop in hotel bookings in the city. “ M lien will Denmark be back to normal in the matter of supplying butter to the London market?” was the query put to a native of that country hv a representative of the Auckland “Star-’’ The reply was one that points to New Zealand farmers being sure of good prices for butter for the next couple of years at least., as he said his latest advice was that there was still a shortage of 250,009 cows in Denmark It was explained that during the war the herds were depleted on account of the impossibility of importing fodder, and it will take some time to get back to the old number and standard of but-ler-fat producers in that country.

What the Prime Minister hopes to see in the event of another war he told the audience at the civic reception to M. Henri Segaert, Consul-General in Australasia for Belgium, on. Tuesday. “If ever war comes again.” he aaid—“and none of us want to see it— X do hope that France, Britain and Belgium will stand together for their common defence. Ido not say that there should not be other allies. There are others I should like to see with them, hut after what has taken place during the last five or six years, the British Empire has become so closely connected with France and Belgium that I hope we shall he able to stand together for all time.”

The Governor-General, Lord Jollicoe, Bailed his third race of tlie season at Auckland ou Saturday in his 14ft onedesign boat, Iron Duke, taking part in the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron’s race for that class. The race brought out six competitors. Iron Duke got the best of the start and led until reaching the Resolution buoy, where she was overhauled by Betty. iron Duke, however, again assumed the lead after rounding the buoj*, but before the Bands pit beacon was reached had to give place to both Betty and Idler. lx)is also passed lie r at the completion of the first half of tho course, but on the second round she overhauled Lois and finished third. Betty was the w inner. with Idler second. For some time past the Wellington repatriation officers have not found it a very easy matter to place all the men who inquire for employment. Speaking to a “Dominion” reporter on the subject, one of the officers said that be attributed the difficulty to mere forgetfulness on the part of employers. He hoped that employers in need of men would revive the habit of inquiring in the first place whether the repatriation office could supply their wants. Partially disabled men made up the great majority of those whose names were on the books of tlie office. Such men could not do heavy work, but they could fill clerical positions or take up such employment as lift driving, . caretnikng and light store work. A lady resident of Dunedin has written to llic Mayor of''Christchurch, stating that, on the day of his picnic, she and some friends, arriving bv the ferry steamer, got into the carriages vacated by the picnic party at Lyttelton. The carriages were at th© end of the train. After they had entered, a. guard told them that they should not bo in the carriages, as they had been uncoupled. The train went off before they could get into other carriages, aud they had to wait an hour in Port for the next train, to the inconvenience of themselves and of their friends in Christchurch. The lady states that passengers should have been notified that th© carriages they got into would be left behind. “lb was only through the courtesy of some, railway man—a big, goodnatured man.” she adds, “ that f was able to telephone to my friends in Christchurch and explain.” “ It is well known that this regulation is being used by tenants merely to defy landlords,” said Mr W. J. Sim, in t llG 0013 rs © a tenancy case at the Magistrate s Court yesterday, referring to '“G War Regulation regarding tenancy. they need only come along to the Court with the most, flimsy excuse to show why they should not ho ejected when the landlord desires the house, and Jjiie landlord is impotent. I submit taat a step has been reached in tlie administration of this War Regulation when the tide should begin to turn.” In Spying his judgment later, Mr S. E. M Car thy, S M., declined to comment upon tlie virtue of the regulation, except to say that it had saved manv women and children from being c-ait into the streets.

a produce portraiture that pleases because of jts naturalness. Our prices are moderate, too. Steffano Webb, 252, High Street. ’Phone I«S9. l