GENERAL ITEMS.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 44, Issue 13693, 19 November 1918, Page 5

GENERAL ITEMS.

There wero one hundred and fifty absentees from the "Wellington Post Office yesterday, forty-one of them being postmen.

An unknown man entered a cafe in Molesworth street, Wellington, yesterday morning, and immediately dropped dead. He was removed with all speed to the morgue, where a photograph of his remains was taken. The' body was sent away at once for burial.

Tho Wellington tram service hasbeen materially reduced to-day and will be stopped altogether after 8 p.m.

The doctors iin Wellington have organised to deal with the city in blocks and save overlapping.

A Gazette Extraordinary issued yesterday fixes the maximum retail prices of vegetables, apples, and fish in Wellington districts at those ruling on November .1. It also notifies that the police are empowered to seize and take possession on behalii and for the use of His Majesty of all vegetables', apples and fish jn the city of Wellington and adjacent boroughs and town districts. Things remain much the same at the Wellington Hospital. There aro between 120 and 130 patients in the institution, and there were only four deaths on Sunday. There are still a few people very ill, but, taken on an average, the patients are doing fairly well. Those on the improve are in the big majority. The staff is feeling the pinch very badly, over 70 members being affected, and the remainder are working under very trying conditions. Dr. Barclay, msdical superintendent, and Br. Fitzgerald are making steady pi-ogress towards recovery, and expect to bi , about again in a day or two. The Superintendent of Police on Saturday seized 64 eases of oranges and lemons at city Chinese shope, at the Thorndon Railway Station, and at auction marts. A tthe railway stations yesterday he seized 15 more cases of lemons and oranges. Prosecutions are pending against certain Wellington European and Chinese shopkeepers for selling oranges over the prescribed maximum price, namely, threepence each. A committeeinan in Wellington says , it is to be regretted that so few women of wealth and leisure have responded to the call for women workers in the Wellington Central district. He points out that disease is not a respecter of persons, and if tho leisured women of Wellington do not rally to the call of humanity it may bo to their everlasting regret. Consequent upon the compulsory closing of the Wellington hotels, it was necessary that there should be someone to dispense wines and spirits on a doctor's order. By force of circumstances this duty fell upon the Mayor (a prominent prohibitionist), yesterday, and he took it in his stride, as he does the hundred and one multifarious duties that are thrust upon him at an hour's notice. The spectacle of people waiting outside the door of the Mayor's room with slips of paper to be passed through.to His Worship, and the latter measuring out supplies of whisky and brandy "to the doctor's order," was one that would have made even members of the New Zealand Alliance smile. The Wellington Times says that the lack of public spirit on the part of ownera of motor cars is only too abundantly evident in connection with the present epidemic. Even owners of public taxi-cabs are exhibiting a disinclination to do any work that may as.«:st the brave band of volunteer workers, although the usual taxi charges are willingly offered. One striking instance is related in which a trained State-regis-tered nurse is working gratuitously at the St. John's Schoolroom Emergency Hospital, and on asking for a taxi at one of the stands' was unable to procure a car to convoy her to and from her home at Moana Road, Kelburn. Various excuses were made that the taxis were not available. The fullest precautions in the shape of disinfecting any ears that may carry "contacts" are carried out gratis.

On all sides in Wellington the highest praise ie accorded Major McCristell, of the Defence Department, and formerly of Masterton, for the wonderfully efficient manner in which he supplied all the equipment for the various emergency hospitals. Without the aid of the Ordnance Department the equipping of the hospitals would have presented an almost insurmountable obstacle.

One of the volunteer workers found in a house in Wellington on Saturday a father, mother and two children laid up with influenza. A third child, a girl about eight years of age, was running about unattended. There was a complete absence of medicine in the house, and the only edible was a half-empty tin of Glaxo.

In Wellington yesterday, the authorities discovered a baker who had been employed at making bread all day in a delirious condition through influenza. Tne man and his child (who was also stricken) was taken to a nemergeiiey hospital. The difficulty of procuring prompt medical authority for the removal to hospitals of infected persons is hampering the police and causing unfortunate delay to sufferers.

Distressing cases have been found in Wellington where families of three and four children have been left to fend for themselves where the parents have been taken away to hospitals, and, in a few cases, have died there. Last evening the Mayor and his committee decided to approach the chairman of the Wellington Hospital and Charitable Aid Board to see if the Macarthy Home for Convalescent Children could not be made available for such a purpose. If the homo cannot be obtained some other suitable place will at once be provided for the proper care and sustenniK-cj of such children.

Good progress continues to be made in fighting the epidemic at Featherston, and a hospital was opened yesterday afternoon at the Wairarapa Anzae Club, which has been vacated by the soldiers. An experienced nurse to take charge of the institution is, however, lacking. To date three civilians have succumbed to the prevailing complnint, and one child. An inhalation chamber in the town is being fitted up, but the urgent request for one nr the railway station made to the, Jie:tlth Department has not been acceded to.