LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Wanganui Herald, Volume L, Issue 14699, 2 September 1915, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

A Dunedin trooper (formerly a miner) now in the' Dardanelles trenches; writing to his friends in Duhedin, mentions that' he and his mates, when “digging ; themselves in,” struck what they regarded as favourable gold prospects. A poll was taken in Timaru on Tuesday oa the question of a £50,000 loon for the municipal purchase of J. L. and O. Scott’s electric light'installation. The vendors offered to accept five per cent, debentures with a currency of twenty years for the.-amount of their price, £4 !,000. The subject had been well ventilated in its pros and cons and the proposal was rejected by 578 to 571. The total .number of voters oh the roll is 2750.

Even yet the Dominion is not. so wellknown as some Now Zealanders imagine, A day or two ago the Hon. .Tamos Allen received from the office of the Minister for Defence at Ottawa, a letter addressed to the Honourable the Minister for Defence, Commonwealth of Australia, Wellington, Australia; and the letter was intended for Mr Allen. As a matter of fact, it was *in reply to an inquiry as to the rate of war pension payable in the Dominion of Canada to totally disabled soldiers; A Press cable published hero' tiid that The amount Was £97 .per year, but-tfie fact, as shown by the badly directed, letter, is that the amount is £79 per year.‘ , ' ■

Speakingat the Fire Brigade - social last evening, Archdeacon Reeve in responding to 'the toast-qf “Tfie..Army, and Navy,” paid a fine tribute to ChaplainMajor Lusford,' who, as the result of. a wound at the Dardanelles recently had to have a leg amputated. The Archdeacon said that, he was sure everyone who had read Chaplain-Major Luxford '.s' letters must have recognised that underlying what was written was the splendid work he had been! doing at the front- This had- been- testified' to by other writers'. If not helping the sick and wounded .he was helping to carry ammunition .to’ the line, of fire. He had done splendid and heroic work. In giving up everything ae held . dear and .going to y the -, frotot/ Chaplain-Major Liixford had #et a splendid example of self , sacrifice and valour; which all must admire. .

The Wanganui “Collegian,” in its latest issue, stated that, as far as could be as-’ oertained, there were close on 300 old boys of the Wanganui Collegiate School serving in His Majesty’s forces. The following is the list of old boys who have died at the war:—Walter Bussell Bus■iell, Kenneth Sinclair Thomson, Hon. James Boyle,; Charles Samuel Chamberlin. Edward Hewitt Brown, Lionel Richard Baddeley, Harold Leishman Langdnn, George Coveil Jackson, John Hughes Allen, Stephen Radcliffe Archer, George Burnley Cox, William Ba! combe-Brown, Leonard Cave Armstrong, John Randall Kebbell, Noel Braithwaite Williams, Herbert Augustine Knight and Arthur Hume, tn addition to the above, many old boys have been reported wounded. As far as can be ascertained a,t present, the list is as follows:—Lieutenant L. H. Jardine (three times'). Lieutenant F. K. Turnbull (twice). Corporal J, B. Rowe, Private F. V[. Meuli, Corporal J. Thorpe, Captain K. M. Gresson, Privates E. C. Hoult, N. B. Williams. R. G, Chamberlain. W.-J. Saxby, H. I. Jones, Sergeant J. R. S. Kebbell, Second Lieutenant D- C. O’Rorke, Privates A. G. Johnston, .T. ■ Harding (missing), A. B. Burns, G. E. Littleiohn,. Second Lieutenant B. H. Morison. Captain C. T. McLean, Lance-Cor-poral B. L. Joll, Private F., E., McKenzie, Lieutenant G. C. Wells, Private P T. Stevens, Trooper J. E. Moore, Major W. Cunningham and Private E. T. Maclean '(missing),. At the Supreme Court yesterday morning, two prisoners who had pleaded guilty to offences in the 1 lower Court came bofore Mr Justice Edwards for sentence. A .ad, just over .the age of .juvenile offenders had pleaded guilty to torging his late employer s name to a cheque. • The probation iffioer’s report stated that the lad was at home minding children for his rnoth-.-r, who was a widow." His Honor remarked that the boy was big enough for more serious work than day-nursing, and inquired if there .were any institutions in the district which would assist the lad ;o '-better : employment. Mr Marshall, Crown Prosecutor, promised to make inquiries, and his Honor, deferred sentence until Saturday. Mr Treadwell appeared ou behalf cf J, F. McClenagan, who had pleaded guilty at Waverley to thefts of moneys from the Post Office there. McC. was a postal official at Waverley, and whs a married man with three children. In asking his Honor to take a lenient view of the offence, Mr Treadwell said that McClenagan had voluntarily confes-red to the lapse to the Chief Postmaster at Wanganui, and his friends had offered to refay the money, which had been spertt in paying tradesmen’s accounts. Evidence was called: testifying to the good character previously borne by prisoner, and Mr Treadwell asked his Honct to admit him to probation on one charge and. order him to come up for sentence when called upon on the others. His Honor expressed a. doubt as to whether. T.e- was justified in taking such a course, thinking it might encourage crime, although he- admitted that, it had, ’. pen dene by other Judgeetond he fancied' he himself, had done’so. vHe would cdgjj, municoto with his brother . Judges and ascertain; their opinions on the ..mat-tor.*-and would defer sentence until. Monday morning or’ until tbe<:-replies-• had. beeq tec:ivei. ’ . * ,

The latest additions t if the Telephone Exchange are - —No. 303, Mr M. Higgis’s residence, Dnrievalc; and No. 456, Mr’lV. ivaui'a residence, Dune Hill.

■ At the Supreme Court this morning, before Mr Justice Edwards and a jury of twelve; .Samuel Wilson, of Waverley (Mr Treadwell) was charged with the theft of 101 ewes, the property of W. B. Cave, of Waverley. The case was proceeding as we went to press.

Tlicro is at present on view in Liberty’s window in the Avenue a very handsome and sulsVantial Christmas cake, .which is intended to materially assist the funds • f the Military Hospital Guild for the bonelt of our wounded. New Zealand t.rocps. The cake'is donated by Mrs A. E. Kitchen and Mias A. Willis, it being mndo 'by the latter lady, which is sufficient guarantee that the tickets for the cake will be in great demand. The Military Hospitals Guild, Sewing Bee held yesterday afternoon was well attended. . All were kept, busy, and numbers of parcels of work were taken home. All those lades helping are requested, to “spred up” the work in hand, especially the knitting, as the committee is anxious to- prepare for another display of work and get the case away at an early date. The pockets are now ready to receive letters, cigarettes, and handkerchiefs: ihe former will rrive a. chance to these wishing to send a cheery line, to hearten no our. b-ys. and may be sent in without, delay. Mr John McFarlane has presented to the e-uild a very handsome eiderdown quilt to be disposed of for the benefit of the Wounded Soldiers’ Fund. The secretary, Airs Suisted, wishes to- acknowledge the following donations for the past week: Mrs Newman. No. B Lino, 3 pairs of treks; Miss Gledhill, 2 pairs of bed socks. Carl Hoffman, the city editor of a Californian newspaper, who has just returned home after a two months’ stay in Japan, says he had the privilege of an interview with Count Okuma, Premier of Japan. “On the subject of war Count Okuma readily agreed that national patriotism,” said Mr. Hoffman, "could be carried to such a pitch that it becomes a vice instead of a virtue. "See Germany,” said the Premier of one of the nations now at war with the Kaiser. ‘We observe the Germans acting as if there had ; never been a Goethe, a Kant, or a Luther. They are acting like a nation of madmen. Indeed, if Germany were to be tried for the horrible crimes committed in this war she would surely be declared not guilty, on the grounds of insanity.” The New Age (London) recently published the following paragraph:—"Anybody who has been stationed in localities where espionage thus been taking place knows how right the .editor of this paper was when he stated a few weeks ago that the danger is not now from the naturalised or -non-naturalised German, but from the deliberate treachery of those who, by birth and profession, are as, English as ourselves. "A. striking proof has been awarded us in the matter of respirators. It will come as a disagreeable surprise to many to learn that a large percentage of the. home 7 madc respirators which were in use by the troops (until a recent order forbade them) have been deliberately .tampered with, so that the wretched soldier was exposed without protection to the gas. Others, again, were actually poisoned. Now, Ido not suppose that auy largo proportion Of these were ; made by G.ei* mans in any sense of the word. The 1 elaborate precautions now adopted prevent any recurrence of this treachery, but ouv confidence in our, countrymen is- not increased.-” : • ' - -