LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 14234, 6 March 1914, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

In * ho House of Lords. Lord Lucas staVl tint the present establishment of the regular army was 10,547 officers, 233,2] S non-commissioned officers and men, special reserve 78,714, and territorials 3,124,000. I rank Lydston, a Chicago doctor, announced at a meeting of the Medical Association that he had transplanted the generative gland from a dead person 'o his own hody. If . the operation proved a permanent success a cure would lie found for Bright s disease and other hardening ailments duo to premature , seuiiily. n Or Alien stated at the Wanganui County Council that he had so far received fifty signatures to a petition in circulation asking the Wanganui County to consider the erection of a bridge acrois the Wanganui river, between A ramoho and Dpokongjtro, Or Allen also stated that the fwo o'b-r lists in circulation were also bei«g...w:ll supported.

On February 25, an Indian, at Suva, using a cane knife, badly slashed a coolie I woman, who died in'a few hours. The murderer was arrested. [ Owing to the inclemency of the weather the Wanganui East School picnic, which was to have been held up-river to-day, was postponed till a future date. The District Nursing League beg to acknowledge the following donations:—Mr I'. U. Moore, .£2: Mr C."W. Poynter, IDs; Messrs. Tingey and Co., 10s fid. Owing to the exclusion of frozen mutton from army contracts, the Hon. T. Mackenzie offered to demonstrate to the War Office the suitability of New Zealand mutton for Array rations. We are pleased to hear that all the formal! iEs necessary in connection with the Harbour Hoard’s loan poll have been duly attended to, the rolls are nearly ready for the printer, and the poll will be taken next month. “The piece of road from the top of the Wangaehn Hill to Mr E. Campbell’s residence is the worst piece of road between I'anncviika and Wanganui.” Such was the statement by a councillor at the Wanganui County Council meeting this morning. Messrs K. N. Liffiton and F. P. Ta’.boys, I’s.P., presided at the Magistrate’s Court this morning. The two men, William Williams and James Johnston, who were arrested on Tuesday for small thefts from the Newmarket Hotel, came up to he dealt with. They pleaded that they were under the influence of liquor at the time and did not know what they were doing. As the stolen property has been recovered, the accused were convicted and discharged. The Department of Agriculture has re ceived the following cable from Uuenos Ayres, dated 4th inst.: —The following produce was shipped from Argentine to the United Kingdom during February, coni’ared with February, 1914; Frozen beef, quarters, 119,000 in 1914, and 252,000 in 1913; chilled beef quarters, 353,000 and 257,000; frozen mutton (carcases), 147,000 and 281,000; frozen lamb (carcases), 30,000 and 56,000; butter (cwts), 10,370 and 13,314. A London cable states that a young woman named Julia Deeres has been sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment for wounding, with murderous intent, Basil Piffard, a man of independent means. They had lived together in a West End flat for years, and on returning from supper one night she shot Piffard while in bed, permanently injuring an eye, because he stated he might go to Paris with another woman. The Hon. James Allen, Minister of Education; in opening a new school at Akaroa yesterday, said he intended next session to give further consideration to the salaries paid to school teachers, atid hoped to make things better for them, not only in primary schools, but also' in .secondary schools, for, in his o] inion, the teachers in the latter schools were very much underpaid, and he hoped to make their position more comfortable in future. An indication of the great volume of motor traffic on the roads around Wanganui was furnished at the Wanganui County Council mooting this morning by Cr. Fletcher. He stated that on the Thursday and Saturday of Hie Wanganui races 450 motor-cars passed over the AA’anRae.hu bridge. On Thursday 107-cars came into the county from the Raugitikei ands beyond, and on Saturday 118 came from the same district, a total of 225. The returning of those cars after the races accounted for the large total. The Wanganui Conntv Council has decided to alter its riding representation, and with the object of carrying this out, a motion to the following effect was passed at this morning’s meeting :—“That in lieu, of seven councillors as at present, the Council consist of ten members, to be djvided as follows; Kaitoke, Purau, and Kaukatoa Hidings, one councillor each; Mangamaliu and Upper Wangaehn Ridings, two councillors each; and Man»awhero Riding, three councillors. The alteration will ta-e effect from November next, when the County Council elections are held. A capital story illustrative of the roa’.i y of the Entente Cordiale is narrated by the , ri f au !“j s apropos of the recent visit °l W B , ntlsh flret t ” Toulon ’ A party 01 British seamen ashore, looking around for a place to get tea, were attracted by the English .words “Tea Room" over a very fashionable restaurant. . They promptly went in and ordered tea. When the bill amounting to £2 odd, was presented they could not raise enough money between them. A French naval officer in mufti, who had observed their embarrassment, went across from his table, and explaining that he was a French navii officer begged the bluejackets to consider themselves as his guests for the day. Lady swimmers will be interested in tne discussion on costumes for ladies that took place at the last meeting, in Wcllington, of the Council of the New Zealand Swimming Association. According to the president (Mr O. Harris) it would come well from the Council if it look some stand with regard to the appearance ol lady swimmers at the carnivals and meetings It would be better, quite apart from surf bathing or anything like that, it they took the matter in hand, and insisted on ladies swimming as amateurs appearing in the costume stipulated for in the regulations. The Canadian eofu tnme was the best for ladies. In races for men they wanted to get the best times, and it was well known that the man who had a low-cut costume had an advantage over the man who was clad to the neck. ” *th regard to the ladies, however, it did not much matter whether they made records or not. The regulation costume was a picturesque dreis, and much nicer, to his mind, than those he has seen some ladies appearing in. Public opinion was with those who favoured discipline in this matter. The subject was disemsed by the Council, and eventually it was decided to strictly enforce the association rule regarding costumes for lady competitors. At a meeting of the Wanganui Museum trustees last night a discussion arose over the question of the protection of native birds, which are now becoming rapidly extinct. The curator of the Museum, Mr Hesse, had expressed the opinion- that all real native birds would become extinct within an appreciably short space of time, and stated that the paraqnet. North Island Crow, and the kiwi were rapidly dying o t. The native birds w’re driven into the bush by the iraperted birds, and as the bush was disturbed they were driven out. and tiro Maoris destroyed them. Mr J. H. Burnet remarkcdjhat so long as the ftiver Trust controlled the bush one mile back from the river the birds would be safe. It was then pointed out that it was impossible to prevent the Maoris from Ifilling the birds, and that it was difficnlt to protect the birds,- notwithstanding the penalties imposed by legislature, A short time ago an English collector was in New Zealand collecting specimens for an English museum. Finally, with a view of fmtlicr projecting native birds, the fo’lowing resolution was passed:—“ That the River Trust be approached by the Government'to allow their river foreman, Captain Marshall, to be appointed a special ranger, with tbs object of protecting the V-.re native birds.”

It ia umlnslojd that the Mayor : Wellington (Mr J, p. Luke) will bp a candidate for one "of the Wellington seats in tho Government interest at fhe next general election. In tho course of a discussion on native birds at a meeting of the Museum Trusties last night, Mr Hesse, curator of the local Museum, said that the object of the Museum was not to hunt the rare natiio birds and to place tb’eir stuffed bodies in a glass case for show, but to prevent other ■people from hunting them, and to preserve the birds in their native haunts. Many members will remember the fight put up by the Society and Mr James Jenkins, train examiner, Wanganui,, for recognition of his earlier time to count for superannuation. The General Manager raiused to sign the necessary papers, and, of course, nothing could be' done for the time being. Now, after ' eleven years' stannous fighting, Mr Jenkins ’ desires to thank the AVanganni Braftl’H and the Executive Council, through the “Review,” and to announce that he has been compensated by the Department' fbr r thp previous time which took so much fighting for.— Railway Review. W hen in Palmerston recently the Minister oi Railways, Hon. UE Harries, was interviewed by members of the Borough Council and other prominent citizens on various railway matters, and a suggestion was made that the District Traffic Manager should be shifted down to that station, Mr Elliott, who introduced the matter, said that it was felt it would facilitate the work of the Department if a responsible officer were stationed at Palmerston, to deal with waggons and tarpaulins. It was felt sooner or later that it would become necessary for the Palmerston district to become a separate traffic district, but at the present it was only desired to ask for the request previously mentioned. In reply the Minister said the Department had to ease the Main Trunk line, and bad treated a new district between Franlrton and Marton, with headquarters at 6hnknne Wanganui was ail old station and had tho workshops there, but be would go into the question of shiftino' tho traffic managed to Palmerston. Re did net say it would bo done, but he would look at both sides of the question, and see if there were any difficulties in the way. Seen this morning by a "Herald” reporter, Mr W. A. Ve.itch, M.P., said that he ' had sent the following wire to tho Minister of Railways:—“ Public of Wanganui indignant and strongly resent Bnick’s proposal to transfer district traffic management staff from Manga,nui to Palmerston, and strongly protest against the proposal M. A. Voitcb.” He stated that ho was also consulting with Mr A. Burnett, President of the Chamber of Commerce, and with Mr T. B. Williams, Mayor, upon what course of action to take. “lour hat, if you please, madam; w« must have that aigrette,” as the quaint but s’artling demand made bv the Customs inspectors of all ladies disembarking at New soi k with forbidden plumes in their headgear. Tt was the first day of the new Will', which prohibits the lift, ror'at’on of all feathers plucked from live birds. The first victim was a Frenchwoman, dresses! in the height of fashion, ' a"d wearing a small velvet hat decorated with a valuable aigrette. Standing with dn' er< L °*- l ° r P asspn ? ers rom the steamdemand. Madarao Bevijaqua was too.W" startled to reply: Nevt moment (he in- J svector reached forward’and extracted the feather before explaining the provisions of the new law. "My milliner neu>r told me a word ab-nt f,, e new law,” exclaimed the lady. fin’ious"y. Amid a s'orm of acrid adjectives aimed at the "chivalry” of the gentlemen vho drew un the tariff, » dozen more ladies were despoiled of their feathers. Soon a largo heap of aigrettes and stuffed birds, cut or tom from feminine hats, was adorning the Customs table, and was’promptly ■ nicknamed "Exhibit No. 1 of Uncle Sam’s new tariff.” AA hen the Campania arrived the went zealously to work again, raking women’s trunks in their search for illegal headgear. Many pounds’ worth of plumage was confiscated. The fajr owners of the contraband property, it is understood, will be given an opportunity of returning their feathers to the dealers in Europe. Tho author of tho clause forbidding C-a importation is Dr. Mm. HornnHay, director of the New York Zoological Garden.