LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Wanganui Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 15754, 28 February 1919, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Captains Dixon and Hudson leave on Monday for Taumaruimi to inspect that portion of Group 20. Messrs A. A. Gower and J. 0. luchardson, J.’sP. presided over a sittingof the Police Court this morning. A first offender for insobriety was convicted and discharged. It was reported at a meeting of the Wellington Hospital Board yesterday that a letter had been sent to the Minister of Public Health asking if the period for the quarantine of vessels arriving from infected ports could be further extended so that at least seven days should elapse from the day of a vessel leaving an infected port to the clearance of same. It was stated also that the chairman had received a letter from the president of the local Medical Association strongly favouring the extension of quarivntine to seven dear day*.

The Zealandic with a large draft of returning soldiers has arrived at Wellington. Owing to quarantine restrictions it is not expected that the men will be able to before this afternoon. Wanganui men may be expected to arrive here to-morrow afternoon.

So far all cases of influenza in the State have been traced to Melbourne (says the Sydney Daily Telegraph). The ease of Miss Marie Eaton confirms this. She travelled from Melbourne in the same railway carriage as three other actresses. All four are now in the Coast Hospital, and definitely diagnosed as having the disase. The comment of Mr Justice Chapman on the fact that ill a day seemed to be quite an ordinary wage for a working man in the Mauawatu district, has (says the Manawatu, Times) elicited the information that in numerous cases the earnings of even unskilled labour is considerably more. Recently a paddooker at a flaxmill drew the nice little sum of ,£567 for 35 weeks’ work, which works out at £2 14s per day, if there was no work on Sundays. Many a Christchurch householder has wondered why the men on the city dustcarts are always so careful to rescue, old kerosene tins from the refuse collected by them. The reason was revealed by a witness giving evidence before the Parliamentary Industries Committee, These tine, he sai3, were sold, to his firm for the purpose of converting into oxidised paint, the manufacture of which was recently started in Christchurch.

Out of twenty-two applicants Wanganui Fire Board has appointed Mr John Williams, formerly Deputy-Superinten-dent of the Auckland Fire Brigade, to be Superintendent of the Wanganui Fire Brigade. Mr Williams has had a long experience as a fire-fighter, and is spoken of as having exceptional capacity as a leader and organiser. The Fire Board cannot, under the Act, commence its operations till July Ist next, but Mr Williams will report in Wanganui about April Ist, in order to assist the Board in the multiplicity of preliminary details which have still to be arranged, and the appointment of Deputy-Superin-tendent will probably be deferred till his arrival.

The clever forgery of Bank of New Zealand pink ten shilling notes has just been discovered. The forged notes are on pink coloured pa,per, but the printing has a chocolate tinge and is not nearly so clear as the genuine notes, and the papier is not water-marked. All forgeries which have come to light so far bear the same number, viz., 555,171. and purport to be signed by L. M. Little, with the date of June 1, 19TT. The public, cam easily protect themselves by refusing to accept any pink Bank of New Zealand notes unless watermarked ‘‘Bank of New Zealand, ’ which is readily observable on holding the note to the Tight.

A remarakble escape from instant death occurred recently near Melbourne, when a young married woman, Mrs Milton, got beneath the 8.10 a.m. train to Melbourne as it entered the station. She had a child of three years with her, and was carrying an infant about twelve months old. As the engine approached, she seemed to go off in a faint, and disappeared under the train. The driver at once stopped the engine, and the insensible woman and her infant, which was uninjured, were brought to the platform. The toddlrog child walked outwards from beneath the second carriage, apparently quite unconcerned. The mother and baby were taken to the hospital, where it was found that Mrs Milton was unhurt, save for an abrasion on one elbow, and slight shock. The New Zealand Bakers’ and Pastrycooks’ Exhibition is to be held in Christchurch on the 21st and 22nd of March. Having been inaugurated in Christchurch some years ago, the exhibitions are still held in that city, but to secure fair conditions all goods shown have to ho baked on the same day throughout the Dominion. The prize silver shield was won last time by an Auckland exhibit. Each year the prizes are "becoming more valuable. For instance, there are three solid silver cups, a silver challenge shield, then the first prize for the beat cake is £l7. There is a special prize of £ls and gold medal for the test loaf from one firm’s flour, £ls 15s for another brand, and £ls for still .another make, fh second prizes being either £lO or £5. There are also a number of gold and silver medals offered.

The directors of the Wellington Gas Company have announced a further increase in the price of gas of one halfpenny per 100 cubic toot, making the new net price B£d in place of Bd, which will come into operation as from the Ist March. In making the announcement the directors state: “The increase is unavoidable in view of the substantial advance which has just been made in the wages paid to the company’s workmen. In applying for higher pay the men contended that the cost of living had gone up to such an extent that it was no longer possible to make ends meet on the wages they were receiving. Detailed lists of domestic expenditure submitted by the men convinced the directors, after careful examination, that the demand for better wages under existing circumstances was not unreasonable. The company has also to meet further heavy charges on the freight of coal, and these, with the increased rates of wages, have made the higher price of gas inevitable.’’

Life, apparently, has its grim humours in Papua, where the native dialects are a shade more difficult to master than Chinese. There is, for example, the unhappy plight of the head-hunter with the poetic "name of Didian, referred to in a police report recently received by the Mrnistgr for Home and Territories. Didian was arrested on account of his supposed oonection with a case of murder; but the arrest having been made, it was found that he could not bo tried, because no one could be found to speak his language—a form of defence somewhat novel in Court annals. After being some twelve months at Port Moresby, he wa,s apparently given up as a “bad ipbT and was taken back by the patrol to his own village. On the way, however, some of the natives became alarmed at the sight of the patrol, and Didian was asked by the patrol leader to make it plain 1o them that the errand was a peaceful one. Tiro task wan apparently too much for the head-hunter, “and/’ reports the patrol leader, “1 then discovered that he could hardly speak his own language. The head-hunter began to about to the alarmed natives in the forest, but when he was again asked to speak his own language, intimated — it may be with his tongue in his cheek —that he had forgotten it, so that it was not until some time had elapsed that the natives were persuaded that the patrol meant no harm, and became "exceedingly Jriendly,’’ after which all was well, and Didian ‘ was restored to his family, perhaps ready to babble of his strange experiences when the patrol was safely oat of sight. 1

The University Senate resolved that the next annual session shall begin at Dunedin in January, 1920. A Melbourne cable states that a proclamation has been issued prohibiting the importation of other than British made dyes. New Zealand’s emigrants during December, 1918, exactly equalled the number of immigrants, 420. This figure, of course, does not cover the movements of Expeditionary Force troops. Now that the war is over, public servants who have reached the age of Go arc no longer being encouraged to stay in the service. Their retirement is being speeded np in ejiecial consideration of those public servants who joined the N.Z.E.F. and have yet to resume civilian duty. At a meeting of the W-aitaki County Council it was unanimously decided to support the Ashburton County Council in objecting to the installation of any form of Territorial military service not emanating from the people through the ballot-box, and urging that the Government be requested to abolish the present Territorial system. A good deal of dry weather has been experienced of late in the Auckland district. The Waikato River has fallen so low that at present great difficulty is experienced with navigating. The water being low is, however, not an unmixed evil, as the swamp lands, being dry, are carrying splendid feed for stock. The drop in prices of hemp during the last week is likely to have a detrimental effect on its manufacture, for already the flaxmiHers in Lower Waikato are considering the advisability of closing their mills down. Low prices (according to one authority) will not permit of of payment of wages at the ruling rates, while the cost of materials is very high. Taking everything into consideration, the fibre cannot he manufactured at anything like the cost of manufacture before the war. Already several of the mills on Use river have finished their season.

The Mayor is convening a special meeting of the Council for next Tuesday evening to consider the following notices of motion;—(1) That the Works Committee be instructed to prepare a schedule of necessary street improvement and extension works, with a view of submitting loan proposals relating thereto to the ratepayers. (2) That the Tramways Committee be instructed to prepare a schedule of necessary tramway and electric lighting improvement and extension works, with a view of submitting loan proposals relating thereto to the ratepayers. A case in which an elderly man named J. S. Kobbie was charged, with vagrancy at the Police Court this morning, took rather an unusual turn. The defendant immediately applied for seven days’ remand. to obtain witnesses for the defence. The police had no objection to the application. The question of bail was discussed. “My word of honour is sufficient security,” be remarked. He did not think the police need have any apprehensions about him responding to bail, for it was the best advertisement he had ever had. “You can stake my life I'll be here,” he concluded. The Justices fixed bail at self and one surety at J2O each.

It has been suggested in certain quarters that the overseas steamer Farnworth, due here on Sunday, might possibly berth at Castlccliff. That a shipping company would take the risk of berthing a 6000-ton steamer at a wharf at which tho previous biggest ship was 2000 tons is most highly improbable, was the opinion of a shipping authority whom we questioned on the subject today. He pointed out that elaborate soundings would certainly, in the event of such a happening, have to be made previously by the officials of the company, and as the Pam worth left Auckland this morning, and no such soundings have been made, the idea of such a project being realised seems impossible. With the advent of the dredge Kaione steamers of the Famworth’s size may berth at the Heads in a short space of time, , but in the immediate future such docs not seem in any way possible. When the Napier-Wellington express was travelling between Paekakariki and Palmerston on Saturday last, an incident occurred that went near to ending in a tragedy. Going through the train in the course of his ordinary duties, Guard Stewart noticed a drunken passenger standing on tho platform of one of the carriages. A request to move inside was ignored, and after a few words the obsterperoua one gripped Stewart tightly by the throat. A willing struggle ensued on the platform, and if the gates had not been fastened tho probability is that both men would have fallen overboard. Eventually, with the assistance of a soldier, the guard managed to overcome his adversary, but not before the latter had put his arm through a window. The sequel to the. exciting affray was heard in the Wellington Magistrate’s Court, when George F. Fraser was charged before Mr F. V. Frazer, S.M., with wilfully damaging the pane of glass, valued at Pis 6d, and assaulting Guard Marshall Stewart. A line of £lO was imposed.