LOCAL AND GENERAL

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXVI, Issue 18444, 30 March 1922, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

According to the Mail, Oamaru is “thee most beautiful and the cleanest town in New Zealand.”

For having in her possession a Winchester rifle without having a permit, a married woman was convicted and ordered to pay costs at the Hamilton Court on Monday. . A new vehicle for hire has made its appearance in Dunedin in the form of a motor-cycle with a high, square saloon body in place of the usual side-car. The body is comfortably upholstered, seats two, and is equipped with luggage grid on the roof and box carier at the rear.

It is stated that the WellingtonNew Plymouth mail train is to be heated by steam during the wintermonths, and that the necessary alterations are now being made to the carriages. The Pall Mall Gazette announces that a syndicate has been formed backed by a firm of armament makers with the object of acquiring the Government airships, with the prospect later of arranging regular transAtlantic and Indian services. Hundreds of thousands of people in the Old County has been for months past testing their wits in fascinating “Put and Take’’ competitions. On Monday next the first of these competitions to be held in New Zealand will be advertised in the local papers. A first prize of £2O and ten consolation prizes of ten shillings each will be provided for the successful competitors.

A few days ago a Blenheim sportsman was agreeably surprised to receive a money-order for £B, representing a sum which he had lent to a friend just eight months ago and which he had written off as a bad debt. Struck by the fact that the sum was eight pounds, and he had been out of pocket for just eight months, he resolved to place the lot on No. 8 in the eighth race on Saturday. “The horse was true to form,” he confessed to an ‘Express’ reporter after the meeting, “it ran eighth!" Burglars entered the workshop at the rear of G. T. White’s jeweller’s premises, Lambton Quay, Wellington, some time during the week-end. The workshop is occupied by Gamble and Boxall, working jewellers, and was ransasked. the thieves taking about sixty pounds, worth of odd stones and bits of gold. The burglars apparently’ found the task of getting into White’s jewellery shop too difficult. They, however, paid a visit to the tailoring room above and took away portions of suits.

Mr Hurst Seager, of Christchurch, the New Zealand architect who ha? been assisting the Dominion Government in the work of erecting memorials to the members of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force for a considerable period, is now in France where he is engaged with the constructional operations on the battlefields. The monument at Le Quesnoy, when finished, wil be one of the principal memorials to the heroism of t! 3 N.Z.E.F. Mr Seager was recently on Gallipoli, where the site has been chosen on a point overlooking both sides of the Peninsula. A good harvest is expected in New Zealand, and for the first time since 1912 the Dominion should have a substantial quantity to send aboard In the “eighties,” it is recalled by the “Millers’ Journal,” New Zealand was a large exporter, shipments one year reaching nearly five million bushels. Estimates of this year’s surplus for export have varied greatly. from as high as three million bushels down to 1-250.000. The latter is the later estimate, and the discrepancy is explained by the increased proportion of second grade wheat which is now expected to figure in the crop. The Government guarantee of 5/6 per bushel applies to prime milling wheat only. News sending by wireles is a bigger problem tbau many people imagine,” remarked a wireless ollicer on the Dorset to a “Star” reporter yesterday morning. “Take, for instance, what constitutes about three-quar-ters of one of your columns. To send that by wireless would take at least two hours by a high power station.” For that reason news at sea was very costly, and under present conditions it was a very expensive matter. There was a good news service in the Atlantic, but it did not extend further than a certain radius over that ocean. In the future something undoubtedly would be done for the other parts of the world, but at the present time news dispatch was almost prohibitive by its cost. “I have just completed a visit to the East Coast district of the North Island, where I had good opportunities for getting in touch with soldier settlers. And I have just returned from Canterbury, where I also came in touch wiih the settlers,” said the Prime Minister to a deputation in Auckland. “And although they recognise as well as I do that we are passing through a period of financial depression, I was more than pleased with the spirit that animated the soldier settlers both in the North and the South Islands. 1 do not doubt for one moment but that every man will do his best to make a success of his section. 1 am more than pleased with the spirit manifested. A local gentleman, who has been on holiday in the South Island had an interesting experience when on a walking expedition outside of Nelson. He sat down for a rest, ’and a gentleman came along the same track on similar bent. The two quite naturally entered into conversation, and it turned out that they had both originally come from Melbourne. The strange thing was that both had taken part (although unknown to each other) in one of the well-known Australian gold rushes, in which neither had made a fortune, and thirty years had lapsed in the meantime before they met again. Another interesting incident occurred in Mohueka, where the visitor wanted to purchase some apples —none were on sale although there were apples everywhere.

A large graph, beautifully reproduced and printed on board, giving the annual price of wheat for 122 years in the United Kingdom and United States, has been issued from the office of Mr George Broomhall, Corn Trade News. Liverpool. It presents in a very striking form the tremendous disparities in wheat prices in the period under review. In the early part of the 19th century wheat touched its zeulth iu 1812. when 12 6/ per quarter (4 80 lb.) was reached. Nine years later it dropped to 44/; in 1 834 it touched 3 9/. The lowest prices reached was in 1894, when it was selling at 23/. It zig-zagged in the neighbourhood of the thirties for the next 20 years; then wnen the great war broke it jumped to 59/ in 1915, to 67/ tn 1916, up to 96/ in 1917, then to 106/ in 1918, followed by the dizzy limit to 136/ in 1920. Then prices tumbled, until we find the average for 1921 is 64/.

According to the Government Statistician New Zealand property was insured in 1920 for £255,707,380 in 37 offices doing fire insurance business in the Dominion. / A man who is reported to be mentally deranged has been at large in the Bunnythorpe district during the last few days, and is said to have created alarm by his nocturnal visits to certain households.

A London cable states that an order for five passenger ships offered tn Hartlei 00l has gone abroad. The lowest English tender was £99,009 per ship, whereas a first-class foreign In iu, apart Lorn Germany, quoted £47. ('UH.

Tills season the tests of milk at j the various Wairarapa factories | snow a drop all round on last year, I'iuost likely accounted for by the extraordinary wet season (states the | Wairarapa Daily News). The quanI tlty of milk received on the other , hand, is a good deal in excess of last ( year, and it is quite reasonable to except that the increased yield this year will practically compensate dairymen for their lower test, au« bring their balance-sheets out about square with last year. The latest reports from San Francisco state that during the week ended isth February, tuere were 1034 cases of miluenza and seventeen deaths. The outbreak in California seems to be mild. The Minister of Health staled yesterday chat the effort to clean up the cities of the Dominion ought not U> be relaxed during the next few months. There has been a death from septioaemic plague in Sydney last week and medical men stated that best safeguard against influenza was vigorous health in the individual, and this heaitu must be based upon personal and public cleanliness. Too much care cannot be exercised at ports, especially with regard to shipping from Australia and America.

The Court of Appeal was occupied at Christchurch yesterday morning in the consideration of a case stated tor its opinion in connection with the case of John Leonard, who at Christchurch in November last was arraigned on a charge of carnally knowing a female detained under the the provisions of the Mental Defectives Act. A peculiar fact in the case was that the female mental patient was the wife of accused. The jury found a verdict with a strong recommendation to mercy, as they believed the act had been committed through ignorance; also, that the hospital authorities showed laxity in not warning the prisoner. The questions for the consideration of U,e Court of Appeal were: Firstly, whether the accused committed au offence; secondly, whether the verdict was a verdict of guilty. After argument, decision was reserved.

People who despair of humanity and believe that the world is going backwards so far as altruistic principles are concerned would probably Change their mind if they lived in the Fairlie district (says the Timaru Herald). This summer a settler at Sherwood Downs (a few miles from Fairlie) was taken seriously ill so that he was unable to attend to his crops. He was in bed for some weeks and when able to get about again he was surprised and delighted to find that all his harvesting had been done lor him aud his grain was safely in slack.. No fewer than ten teams had been taken on to his farm by neighbours who did all the harvesting without charge of any sort and without even the knowledge of the owner of the farm. Though he has since ascertained the names of some of his benefactors the farmer in question has not even yet discovered who they all were.

The selection of candidates and the choice of a name for his variegated party are not Mr Willord's chief worry (observes the Christchurch Sun). The public is only mildly interested in both tasks. What it is really concerned about is neither the label nor those who carry it; it is genuinely curious to know the party’s policy. So far, that policy has been nothing more than indicated vaguely. Later on Mr I\ Ilford is to ask the electdrales to put him and his followers into power. Before such a drastic substitution is made, the electors are entitled to a reasonable assurance on Mr Wilford’s part that the change will be for the better. And not only an asurance; there must be a guarantee that the defeat of Reform will be succeeded by the benefits promised. In other words, it is incumbent on Mr. Wilford to satisfy us that his platform is sufficiently superior to that of the Government to justify a change of horses in a turbulent midstream.”

“Is August the last month of winter in New Zealand, or the first month of spring?” inquires a correspondent of the “Post.” On the matter being referred to the Dominion Meteorologist (Mr. D. C. Bates), he stated:—“Great differences of opinion have arisen as to the actual dates of the commencement of the seasons mainly through astronomical conditions. Of course the sun is the ruler of climate, but meteorological effects follow the (what may be called) astronomical seasons. Thus, the warmest part of the year follows Misummer Day; and some people would make the midsummer, midwinter, and equinoxes only the commencement of the seasons, while others make them the middle of the seasons. But neither would be correct in a meteorological sense, and the division adopted by meteorologists is (in this hemisphere) to divide the seasons as follows:—Winter: June, July, August; spring: September, October, November; summer: December, January, February; autumn: March, April, May. As all meteorological records are kept in months, the coming of winter and spring is different in different years, aud there are differences in the harvest in the North and South Islands of New Zealand. The seasons also differ in length in different countries, but as a general rule the seasons. divided as I have given you, on this side of the world and their corresponding months in the Old. « answer all practical purposes.”

A sad case of electrocution occurred U Ohakune on Saturday. A wellknown resident named Fraser was blasting logs, and it is surmised that a fragment struck an overhead electric wire, bringing it down on the unfortunate man. Deceased was married. The Hon. W. M. Hughes has signled an agreement with the Amalgamated Wireless Limited, for a direct wireless service between the Commonwealth and the United Kingdom. The rates are not to exceed: full rate two shillings per word and deferred one shilling; week-end message sixpence, with a minimum of ten shillings per message. Government messages a shilling per word. Press sixpence, deferred Press threepence.

An important circular has been issued by the Director of Education in regard to sick pay. He says: “The question has been raised as to whether teachers on sick leave are entitled to full pay during holidays, and I have been directed to say that if a teacher is on lick leave both prior to and subsequent to any school vacation and returns to work immediately the school resumes, salary is payable only from the time of recommencing duties, unless he submits a medical certificate from a practitioner approved by the Board showing that he was fit to resume work at an earlier date than the re-opening of the school. If this evidence of fitness is sent to the Department and found satisfactory, favourable consideration will be given to an application for the payment of salary from the date when the teacher is shown to be fit for duty.”

The Fire Brigade responded to an alarm yesterday afternoon and journeyed to Putiki. where a six-

roomed cottage was blazing merrily. For once, the firemen had to be mere spectators, for no water was jgS available, and the house, built 4 0 years ago. was completely destroyed. The building occupied by Mr J. A. Jury and family, belonged to native owners, was situated near the Putiki slip, and fortunately was well isolated. because a high wind was blowing. The nearest borough hyirant was several thousand feet iway. and one lead of water would have been useless under the conditions. Superintendent Williams said he knew that the Brigade could be of little service except perhaps to rescue any of the occupants. Fortunately there was no need of such service.

The application of the phrase. ‘ never look a gift horse in the mouth’’ nay apparently be extended quite well to cover temporary gifts, otherwise loans, at times. Anyway, it was the narration of the vagaries of a secondhand motor car. offered as a loan, that lent a touch of brightness to an otherwise recent dull sitting of the Inver- | cargili Magistrate’s Court (states the i Southland Times). One witness said i when the clutch was let out the offending vehicle was in the habit of jumping across the road and in a reminiscent mood told how at a funeral his passengers had indignantly objected to attending such functions in that car. Another witness remarked rather grimly that “one had to know it” before commencing even ordinary motoring evolutions. In answer to a question by His Worship a s to whether a passenger in the car one day would voluntarily be a passenger on the next, the witness seemed rather doubtful but thought that ‘the ca r was a good stand-by,” this at the suggestion of counsel, who came to th? rescue at a critical stage. General approval of the Government’s nominative scheme in connection with immigration was expressed to an Auckland Star reporter by an offi- ; ter connected with tlie Salvation Army s operations m that direction. He said that a very good class of citizen was, on the whole, being introduced into the country, and generally they were very well satisfied with conditions when they arrived here. Up to the present he had not had any difficulty in placing them, and they were not very long in the city, except in certain cases “So long as ’ the Government can find work for them, i that is what we want,” he continued. “Up to the present we have not had any difficulty because their friends ; very soon take them off our hands. It ■ is only in exceptional cases, where the ' Government has had to come to their assistance.” Conditions had been so bad at Home that the men were anxious for any employment, and he considered that things could not be any worse in the Dominion than they had experienced in the Homeland. What they desired was a living wage, and the right to work. That was the attitude, he concluded, of the average emigrant with whom the Army had come in contact. Coincident with the loss to the toxophilites of Begcnt’s Park, I hear of a movement which may portend a revival of archery, not as a polite sport of the favoured few, but as a real popular pastime (writes the- London correspond?nt of the Dunedin Star). A scoutmaster in the Home Counties was faced with the problem which perplexes all those who have charge of the young—aamelv. the primitive desire of the average boy to possess and use some weapon of precision, and, as expense alone rules out the miniature ride, this man had the happy inspiration of “arming” his troops with bows and arrows. The action was taken up enthusiastically by the Boy Scouts of the neighbourhood, and juite recently the matter was brought oeforo the Chief Scout. Sir Robert Baden Powell has always been at pains ;o safeguard his great movement igainst any charge of “militarism”; hence the absence of weapons from the Scouts’ equipment; but he was so impressed with the young bowmen of this troop that ho has given his blessing to the bow as the Scout’s arm, and this year troops all over the country will take up the royal and ancient pastime. Several interesting graphs illustrative of the progress of the Dominion’s industries during the past 25 years have been prepared by the Department of Industries and Commerce and were on view at the recent bakers’ exhibition in Auckland. In 1896 there were 27,389 employees connected with the manufacturing industries of the colony. The total last year was 64,951. The cost of manufacturing materials used in 1896 amounted to £3,204,619, but by 1920 the total was £47.037.931. The value of the output at the former dat ewas assessed at £7.934,141, and the value of real assets, land, buildings, plant, etc., at £5,796,017. year the respective figures were £69,780.296, and £33.436 129. The figures for the value of real assets in 1919 were £29,559.817. ' There were 1416 employees in the woollen mills of New Zealand in 1896. but by 1920 the productive employees had increased to 2025. In 1896 the value

of the woollen industry in pounds sterling was assessed at £139,317. Last vear’s figures showed the amazing in- ■ • ***rease totalling £591,257. The value of the output at the former date was £302.427. Last year it totalled £1,143,265, another stupendous increase. The value of the real assets showed an increase also, but not as correspondingly large as other sections for the long period under review. The 1896 figures were £223.173. and £502,644 for 1920.