LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXIV, Issue 17730, 2 December 1919, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Mr Cuttle will address the electors at ( ahe schoolroom, St. John's Hill, th':,j evening.

The Labour Party, which has run the Grey River Argus for many months now, has purchased a controlling interest, and took possession yesterday. The paper henceforth will be run uxclusively in the interests of Labour.

The Salvation Army Institute at Pak'a.toa was destroyed by fire at midnight on Friday, together with thefeontents. The officers and 18 other women inmates escaped unharmed.

The secretary of the Returned Soldiers' Association desires to draw the attention of all returned soldiers who have been recently medically boarded by the Travelling Medical Board to an advert, in another column of the "Chronicle."

A New Zealand brass band to tour the world is being formed, says a Dunedin telegram. The sanction of the South Island Band Association' has been secured, and it is expected the North Island Association will follow suit. The band will comprise thirty members, selected from all parts of New Zealand? The se-,j lecting will be done at Dunedin dur- i ing the band contest, the band leav- | ing in about six months time. The band will tour the Dominion first, then Australia.

The Mokau correspondent of a New Plymouth paper states that there is anxiety in» Mpkau in regard to the mine that has floated ashore at the entrance of the river, owing to the closeness of it to Mokau township after the* experience of Awakino, when a mine exploded some three miles away shattered windows. A party, including the chairman of the Harbour Board and Mr Jennings, M.P., visited the mine the other afternoon, and it is suggested to the authorities that the mine be towed out to sea and exploded. The mine was destroyed at 6 a.m. on Thursday. Reports received by the Naval Adviser state that the horns and other vital parts were broken off, that the mine was almost buried in the sand, and that it had been in the position in which it was found for some considerable time. •

An amusing story is in circulation on the Coast touching the ad 1 vice given by a lawyer (says the Poverty Bay Herald.) At one of the townships a lot of driftwood was washed on to the beach. Many of the residents, including the lawyer, piled up the wood and sought vehicles to take it away. One man took another's pile, and the man whose- pile had disappeared sought advice from the solicitor regarding the possibilities of a successful action for the recovery of the wood. The solicitor advised that he had no action, and the man paid his fee. Straight away the man whose stack had been taken got a cart and appropriated the solicitor's pile of wood.

In the Supreme Court at Wellington Arthur Thomas Munn sought a dissolution of his marriage with Ida Ellen Munn cn«the grounds of desertion. Petitioner said that he was married to the respondent on November/15, 1906, in Christchurch. There were four children of the marriage, but one had been accidentally killed since divorce • proceedings were commenced. Witness had the other children in his custody. There was a separation between them, when his wife went to Palmerston North, and Le contributed to her maintenance. Later he wrote to his wife to say he could not continue to support her and the children, and asking her io return. Eventually the petitioner joined his wife at Wanganui, ;.nd lived with her for some time. In 1914 they decided to come to Wellington. The petitioner came down first, and his wife later refused to come. " Petitioner went back to Wanganui, but found that his wife had gone to Auckland. He had not seen her since*-" Corroborative evidence having been given, his Honour granted a decree nisi, to be made absolute in three months.

Presentations are solemn things, and sometimes far from being those pleasing little ceremonies that they are so euphemistically described (says the Wellington Post.) In the case of lar^e 'staffs, where changes are more frequent than in small establishments, presentations may become a heavier tax upon the pockets of those "rho are having a continuous wrestle with the sovereign at 13/ to make it do what it did when it was worth 20/. Besides, "presentation" goods, being essentially luxuries, are never cheap, nor do the gifts always express the real feelings of the subscribers towards the recipients. Probably some such thoughts as these passed through the niind of the head of a large local organisation, who recently retired. It was tactfully hinted to him that his retirement would be made the occasion of a little presentation, and was there anything in particular he would like? In his case service of nearly fifty years in the one institution was being bror»i;ht to a close, and it was conspicuous all that time for kindliness and consideration for his subordinates. There never was any doubt about the respect and affection in which he was held by -those associated with him. He replied that there was one thing above all that he desired, and it was a fountain pen, and he hoped that the subscriptions in no case should exceed 3d per man. The best was done in the circumstances to gratify his characteristic thoughtfulness for others, and at the same time afford his staff the opportunity they desired to say what they thought of him.

The hon secretary of the-Garrisoi Band received the tesv. music for the Dunedin contest yesterday afternoon.The test march, outitlo i "The'Tatagoniau," is by the we ii-known writer, C. Trussell, and app&UHy;o be up to his usual high stand|rrs!r One selection is "Roberto II Diavolo" (Mayerbeer), the other "Wagner's Works."

"Is this a healthy tc^ra?" inquired a delicate-looking visitor to a local resident the other day. "1 should say tso," remarked'tne L.R. "When I came here I hadn't the strength to utter a word, I Jbtad scarcely a hair on my head, and I couldn't walk across the room, "and I had to be lifted from my bed." "Good gracious/ said the stranger, "You look Al now. How long ha?e you been here?" "Oh, some years; I was born here," was the reply.