LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXXVII, Issue 13663, 20 April 1912, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The Radio office advises that the Victoria, Moana, Maheno, Athenic, and Tofua will probably' be within wireless range to-night. The following motion will be moved by Or. Robinson at the Borough Council meeting on Tuesday: —(I) That the following section be added to the standing orders, ‘‘Notwithstanding anything contained or implied in these standing order*, it is hereby provided that wherever in the opinion of any member of the Conned, the ruling of the chairman is contrary tc sound reason or to the above standing orders as set forth and a motion immediately after such ruling is given is dulymoved and seconded to that effect, such motion shall take precedence of all other business and shall if carried bo accepted and acted upon by the chairman without further question"; (2) that the word “chairman’’ in Section 93 of the standing orders be deleted and the word “member’' substituted. No doubt a good many English newspaper readers, says the Christian World, have been surprised at the strong action taken by tire American President and Congress in protest against the exclusion of foreign Jews from Russia. That exclusion docs not affect American Jews a whit more severely than Jews from any other country. Why. then, should America feel herself specially concerned in the matter? The answer will appear as soon as it is understood that only two countries in the world—Russia herself and Aus-tria-Hungary— have a greater Jewish population than the United States. The Jews iu the United States are more numerous than the combined Jewish population of the British Empire, (Jermany. France, Italy, Morocco, Turkey, Spain, the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway. China, and Peru The question of where and under what circumstances a statement made to a police constable is privileged was raised during the hearing of a slander case in the Supremo Court at Masterton. It was shown iu evidence that a woman had complained to the police that she had been charged with taking money from her employer. Pile police made enquiries concerning the complaint and in the course of these enquiries certain statements were mads. Those statements formed the basis of an action for slander. Mr Justice Edwards stated that the police were not acting in the execution of their duty when they did what they were not required to do bv haw. It was a question whether statements made in such circumstances were privileged. As far as his Honor was ooncerne.- 1 ho was not aware that a decision had boon given on the point. Uruguay has sot aside .£43,000 for prize to be awarded to sheep-farmers who havdone most to improve their stock. Not only are the stock-raisers of die country encouraged by these prizes, but there ar also some compulsory laws with regard ti agricultural interests in general. For ox ample, all range-owners are required t plant five trees per hectare (2471 acres and to plant 1 per cent, of their rangein forage crops. Failure to coni) !y wit’ this law is punished by a fine equal U one-fourth of the laud tax for which tin land is assessed. There will also be : prize competition for tree-planting anr for cultivated forest crops. There are nr forests in Uruguay. Firewood is scarce and generally is supplied by the bushe which grow along the river bauks. AF trees for planting purposes are imported from abroad.

Householders are reminded that the annual election of School Committees take place on Monday evening next, at times and places as advertised. The Wanganui ■lection will Vic held in the Borough Council Chambers at 8 n.m. At a meeting of the directors of the ewly form'd South Taranaki Shipping Company, Limited, Captain Johnston was ippointed chairman of directors, Mr. F. A. Grainger was appointed general aanager and secretary, with the head iffice at Patea. Mr. Wm. Bennett was ippointed manager at the branch office at iVcllington. But for the prompt action of Constable Crawford last evening, the Albion Hotel might have beer, burnt down, or at least very badly damaged by fire. The constable was patrolling Ridgway Street shortly after 9 o'clock, and he noticed flames and smoke issuing from a small, semi-detached building at the rear of the hotel. Ho broke open the door and extinguished the flames just as they were getting a good hold of the walls. The body of Mr Patrick Keegan, who has been missing from his home at Wanganui East since Saturday last, was found in the river at Castleeliff early this morning. The body was first notic'd floating in the water near the Castlelilf wharf vy one of the hands employed in the Freezing Company’s lighters. On ‘lie bodv being recovered from the river, he police were immediately communicated with, and a constable went to Castle■liff and brought it to town to await an inquest, which is in progress as we go o nrcss. There was a very large attendance at the annual meeting of the Gonvillc Beautifying Society, which was held last evenin e- in the Gonville Town Hall. The following officers were elected -Patron, Mr V. G. Bignell; president, Mr W. T. Benefield ; secretary and treasurer, Mr C. Bowater; committee, Messrs Allen, J. H. Bowater. F. Webb Jones, W. H. Swangcr \\. B, Laurie, F. D. McKenzie, W Lvoll, G. Jensen, Dawson, and H. Rico Messrs Benefield, 0. Bowater, and J. H. Bowater were appointed to inspect the various reserves and to report at a further meeting next week. Some correspondence has recently appeared in the Sydney newspapers resnect mg the pay of hank clerks, it being stated that considerable dissatisfaction exists in soma, or at least one, of the banks Perhaps it was this that led Mr J. Russell trench, president of the Institute of Bankers of New South Wales, to refer to banking as a profession in his presidential address at the annual meeting of the institute. Banking made a strong appeal to him as a profession, he said. One sometimes heard complaints from bank officers about their treatment, but the fault was mostly that of the individual, and not of the institution. There mio-ht be some cases of apparent hardship, but when they were examined it was generally found that the question of fitness came in, or that illness or some other disability led to a man falling behind in the race. On the whole, he thought the pay was fair having regard to the services rendered. The loading men were keenly alive to doing the best they could tor their officers. They don't do things by halves in America. An anonymous donor has just given .£500,000 to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which is presided over by President Richard C. Maclaurin, formerly of New Zealand. The gift has set the American newspapers guessing ns to the identity of the donor, but Professor Maclaurin absolutely refuses to give the faintest clue. He himself is getting no small share of the bouquets. The Boston Herald says; “President Maclaurin has won not only the good will of the alumni, but tlie confidence and admiration of the shrewdest men of the nation, which has been very fortunate in securing the serv vices of so eminent and well-trained a man.’’ Another paper says; “Our hcart'felt gratitude goes out to our benefactor for the magnificent gift and with it our heartiest congratulations to Richard Coekburn Maclaurin for the splendid tribute to his wonderful work. The donor's reason for the gift is succinctly expressed. Ho says it is due to his belief in the need of the highest technical education to-day and of its growing importance in the future; also his association with men of prominence in England and Germany and their assurance to him that the. Institute of Technology is one of the greatest educational forces in the world. He makes no conditions as to the manner in which the money is to be spent.