LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Wanganui Chronicle, Issue 12856, 15 April 1912, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Mr C. Jefferson is now at Hodder s Opera. House Stables, and will i>e pleased to sco hi.s many friends and patrons.

The latest addition to the telephono exchange is No. 852, Mr Will Jameson, manager, Lyceum Theatre; residence, 3(3, St. Hill' Street. On Tuesday afternoon (says the "Lyttelton Times'*') Mr S. Pickard, of Southbrook, had a trap horse killed by lightning. He had just taken the horse out*of tho trap when the storm came on, leaving the harness on and covering the animal with a horse rug. It appears that tho lightning was attracted by a bucklo on tho bridle, and it made a mark right along the horse's body.

The Westport Jockey Club's March meeting, which had to be run withouta ■] totalisator, showed a deficit of £30. The "Stratford Post" learns on good •] authority that the Opunake Railway Commission will visit Stratford in about « fortnight's time. '. At the Magistrate's Court on Saturday morning, Mr Kerr presiding, Tho- , .mas Mahoney and William Wood pleaded guilty to breaches of prohibition oi'ders, and were fined 10s each. Hugh O'Donnell, a. tsecond-offending anebriote, was fined 10s, in default 24 hours' imprisonment, and a first offender was convicted and discharged. \ Mr P. Hercus, manager of the Kaiapoi Clothing Factory, has submitted proposals to the Chi-istchurch Technical College for the training of girls in handling the machinery of woollen and clothing trades. He told the College Board that the industry in Christchurch was on the verge of a crisis owing to the shortage of hands. The Board referred the question to a committee. In response to the invitation of the local Methodist Bible Societies it has been deciSed to hold tho next Easter camp for young, men in Wanganui. It | is anticipated that some 250 young men from all parts of the Dominion will at- ( tend the camp, and that probably 200 | young women from the Bible classes will also be in Wanganui at the same time. I Mr J. W. Hoskin, the well-known contractor, met with a serious accident one day last week. While driving a dray he fell from the vehicle, which passed over his body, breaking three ribs and otherwise injuring him. Two doctors have been in attendance on Mr i Hoskins, who has been in a serious state, but his many friends will be pleased to hear that he is now progressing satisfactorily. In connection with tho Mayoral elec- > tion a meeting of Mr N. Meuli's committee is to bo held in the large meet- ' ing room at Duigan's Buildings, Ridg- ' way Street, this evening at 7.30. Ladies are invited to attend at 8 o'clock, J it being considered that that hour will | best suit their convenience. All interested in Mr Meuli's candidature are {requested to attend. We understand that since the announcement of his ihi tention to stand Mr Meuli has reoeivj ed offers of hearty (support- from all classes of the community. . Tho "Sydney Sun" relates the follow- ! ing:—Mr. C. R. Brown, a Pitt Street ■ : auctioneer, is £2.600 richer as the re- ' suit of Locha.no\s win the Doncaster Handicap. A few nights ago he dreamt that he met a friend coming off 'the Randwick Racecourse and asked him , what had won the Doncaster. "Loch-! j ano," was the" reply. The fact that Lochaiio was a rank outsider did not deter Mr. Brown —in fact;, it added zest to the wagers which, in spite of tho ridicule of his friends, he proceeded to make. Some of his'money was got on at 100 to 1, and now £he lucky punter] j is in the happy position of the man who laughs last. ! Tho ■inspector,of factories (Mr H. E. Moston) has been advised by the Labour I Department, following the prosecution of Chinamen in Wellington a few weeks j back regarding closing hours, that shops i carrying on the sale of groceries toj^ gethei; with fruit must close on the half .holiday, and a temporary partition in 1 a shop is not sufficient to exclude them ' from tho provisions of the Act. Tho | authorities further state that wherd l there is a partition it must be of * , permanent nature. Mr Moston states that it would be well for occupiers of such'shows, to note this, as keeping open, on the half holiday in future will render occupiers liable to prosecution. -■ A young Wanganui man had a lesson ' last week, says the " Woodville Examiner." that he sincerely hopes he will • have no reason to heed in future. He came from Wanganui to get married to a Woodville girl. But he made no hurry , about getting tho license, and when it , was wanted the Easter holidays were ; . on, and he was unable to get it when it I was absolutely essential. So the wedding had to be postponed. But the wedding party thought that was no rea-' ''son'why they should be done out of the fun, and thei breakfast was held, 'and the speeches made, and the good j things enjoyed just as if all was serene ias bride and bridegroom could wish j them to be. Next day there was a quiet ■■'wedding'pro forma. The Town Clerk, Mr G. Murch, has received the following notice of motion: "We ■ihefoby give notice that we inI tend to move nt the meeting on the l 2:inl inst. : (n) The.resolution passed on tho 2nd inst. refusing to accept the engineer's explanation be rescinded; (b) that the following resolution passed on 13th February, namely, ' that in consideration of the strained relations between tiro engineer and the Council, he i bo urged to strive to obtain another ■eongdnial appointment at the earliest possible date,' bo rescinded; (c) that this Council considers the engineer's reply to the various charges made against him as. satisfactory." Dated this 11th day of April, 1912.—(Signed) James T. Muir, J. P. Holteway,- John Calvei\ F. M. Spurdle, Allan Robinson. An official of the Royal Household, with His Majesty's approval, has contributed to the "Strand Magazine" an article telling how the King's day is occupied. His Majesty's, "office," as ho smilingly calls it, is situated on tho first Hoor of Buckingham Palace, and was formerly used by the late King Edward. It is a light and airy apartment, very simply furnished,, and contains a large roll-top desk which His Majesty used when Prince of Wales, Ou the other .vide of the room is another desk, now used by Lord Stamfordham, while His Majesty's assistant secretaries and the minor officials of the department are close at hand in caso their presence is .suddenly required. King George is an oxcremo&y early riser, and his secretaries often find when they arrive to commence their daily duties, that lie has been hard at work for several hours. All letters addressed to the King or Queen are sent direct to whichever of the JRoyal residences they are occupying from the General Po-.st Office in London in specially sealed bags. In the case of Buckingham Palace, this bag arrives, as a rule, just as His Majesty is finishing dinner, and i.s taken charge of by the .secretary on duty, who opens it and proceeds to sort our the contents. Such letters as will ultimately demand the personal attention of King George are placed before him the .same night, but it is not often that he deals with them at the moment, save in matters that will not brook delay. H? glances through them, makes a few brief notes upon them, and they are then placed under lock and key until he is ready for them on the following morning. The King has barely had time to deal with , these before the Royal breakfast is : served, and almost simultaneously an even larger bag of correspondence arrives. By the organisation of a wellnigh perfect system, however, this heavy correspondence is dealt with in remarkably quick time. Lord Stamfordham. should he be on duty, opens every communication, and, glancing at it, places the bulk of it in large crimson leather baskets labelled with the tenor of the episfTe. Thus invitations to undertake public functions of one description or another go into one basket, charitable appeals into another, the official report of the proceedings of the two Houses of Parliament into a smaller basket, letters of a personal or semi-personal "character into a fourth, and so on.

The chairman of the Commission appointed to inquire into the West Coast Settlement Reserves leases states that the; date of the first sitting has not yet been fixed and cannot be announced until next week. The inquiry will cover, among other matters, the grievances of 7the Ohotu Block settlers. The branding registration districts of Taupo and Wanganui are abolished, and * new branding registration districts of Taupo, Wanganui, and Waimarino constituted, as detailed in the Gazette. Mr R. Alexander, of Hamilton, is Registrar for the Taupo district, and Mi* D. Munro, of Wanganui, for the Wanganui district . :' The Federal Labour. Government will soon have <a difficult problem to solve, says the " Sydney Morning Herald." Last week a company of cadets were paraded at Wallaroo (S.A.), but 30 of the boys refused to fall in because one of the lads, employed at the local phosphate works, where there is a strike, was in the ranks. The area officer in charge of the district took all the names of the cadets, and has forwarded them to headquarters to be dealt with. Now the cadets have acted in the real spirit of Trades Hall unionism, and have declined to do duty with a lad whom they regard as a non-unionist. Here a vital principle of unionism is involved. If there is an appeal to the Fedaral Government, the Labour Minister for Defence will have to decide whether he will punish these boys for carrying out the principle of trade unionism to the very letter, or whether he will, for ths> time being, throw over the Trades Hftll and consider that the enforcement or~the military law is more important than regard for a, youthful conception of unionism. However, a decision on th© point by a Labour Minister will be interesting. Recording his impressions oft New Zealand, which he recently vistod, Dr. F, Schone, of' Germany, warns th» workers of the Dominion against pursuing personal advantages to the point of endangering the futuT© of the country, and also says:—" To me personally it always gives a somewhat painful sensation to hear people openly admit that they are fighting for the hierhest possible pay for the least possible work; it borders on claiming a higher pay than ono's work is worth, which would mean to claim a premiuih on either lasriness ;or mediocrity. On the other hand, it proves that these people look upon their work as a thing they hate, and not as 1 .something that they have dearer <at heart than anything else. Doing the work cheerfully necessarily improves its quality, whereas labour that works by mere compulsion, that objects "fetrninst ! immigration from fear of competition, and that concentrates all its energies on fighting for advantages out of proportion tbi-tho industrial and economical 'state of things at large, is bound toclieck the energy and spirit of commercuil and industrial enterprise." j There was an interesting passage in Mr H. B. Irving's remarks or. the Do- ! minion,.given to a Sydney reporter. Mr Irving is. interested in criminology, and in- the connection of crime with the drink habit. Speaking to the reporter; he said that, it puzzled him to kndir. why the prohibition movement should, be so actively taken up in New Zealand, "wliich was not a drunken country. "It is not half so drunken," says he, "as the United Kingdom. I was also struck very much by the fact that the governor of the Invercargill prison, when I visited that institution, told1 mo that he "considered that the chief cause of crime was not drunkenness at all, but the want of parental control was one important factor, and the other was i idleness. In the places in New Zealand. where prohibition has not been carried, , lor instance, the people seem to me to drink very little." It is a curious coincidence that one of our magistrates referred to this question of parental control —or rather the absence of it —Ijhe other day. " Trouble is spreading through New Zealand/ remarked Mr V. G. Day, S.M., at the Magistrate* Court, Timaru, " because the children are not subject to proper discipline. Parents • nowadays have not the samu control over their children as our fathers and 'grandfathers had. Parent* must exercise control over their children at all times." We suppose there i» no doubt that the control of children is much less effective here than at Homo. There are, no doubt, good reasons why it should be sot But it cannot be doubted that the loss in discipline must have an unfortunate effect on character. There is a need, we take it, for. something that will arouse the public concern on this matter.—"H.B. Herald. 1