LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Wanganui Herald, Volume LII, Issue 16017, 7 January 1920, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

It is estimated that between 6000 and 8000 tons of spoil was brought down by tho explosion of 15001b of gelignite on the Island of Moturoa on New Year’s Day in connection with the extension of the New Plymouth Harbour works. The Supreme Court in Washington has decided that the Volstead Act, which enforces war-time prohibition, is constitutional, and beverages containing half per cent, or more of alcohol are intoxicating and thus cannot be sold. Ibe New York Times’ Washington correspondent states that a Bit! is to be introduced in the Senate contemplating the creation of a Federal Commission with supervisory power over all packing and storage plants and stockyards.

A Sydney cable states that Mr J. A. Carpenter, former manager for Messrs Burns, Philp in Northern Queensland, has been appointed general manager of the company’s New Zealand business, which it is intended to extend to the South Island.

The Pacific Cable Board advises that the delay on ordinary traffic from the United Kingdom is now only five hours, and to the United Kingdom throe hours. -All stations are clear of ordinary' traffic. The .American traffic is still subject to a delay of sixteen hours and deferred messages to nine days. With reference to the demand for the lifting of the war-time restrictions making it necessary for all who leave New Zealand to obtain passports and permits, it was stated to a representative of the Lyttelton Times by a Government official that until other countries abolish the passport system it is useless for New Zealand ;to do so, for people from N%w Zealand arc not allowed to land in other countries without passports in their possession, Major-General Sir C. Rosenthal has returned to Sydney. In an interview, he emphatically protested against the view that the Gallipoli campaign was a failure. It was necessary to study the war in all its parte. Gallipoli had farreaching effects in the result of tho war. We have access to the papers which show that tho Turkish army was absolutely decimated on Gallipoli, and that it was not possible for Turkey to have an army again for some time. An nnfortunafco motorist who had the had luck to enter the Manawatu Gorge from the Woodville end just as the procession of cars from the Palmerston races reached the opposite end, was held up on the road for nearly two hours. Ho counted 31 cars passing him before his exasperation over-ruled his calculating faculty, and his first expression of mild amusement and curiosity developed into blasphemous profanity before, he again got under way.

A bedroom th ief has been busy .git tin well-known Auckland private hotejßpiar* gem whore sums from. A2O down idlTfes shillings have disappeared. Several rooms were visited and the pockets oi the occupants emptied. The total amoun* taken was A JO, Ono of the principals of the J. C« Williamson Musical Comedy Company missed the \\ aiotalii, which took the( members of the company to Cowes Bay, where they hold a, picnic on Sunday (states the N./. lieiald). A seaplane* was secured from Kohiraarama, however, and the lady arrived at her dcstu nation at the same time as the steamer, much to the astonishment of the others. A. serious accident occurred at Alex* andra Park (Auckland), when a mote® cycle ridden, by William Charles Madolow collided with a. motor cycle ridden; by Selwyn Craig. Both cyclists were thrown heavily, and Mack low, who is 23 years old, was taken to the hospital .suffering from serious interna! injury irons; which he died shortly after admission, Craig sustained a broken arm. Both, men were practising for motor-cychj sports. Jlhnsteliurch 'grocers appear to hav# adopted a very effective, method of ra*/ ’ tioning the very small supplies of sugar! at present held in Uu: city (says an exchange). A number are limiting sak*( to 21b lots, and then only to people wlks pureha.se goods to a certain value. Ona large concern requires a customer to* purchase groceries to the value of 5s be-, fore it will supply up to 21b of sugar, the idea is to check people 'going thej rounds of shops and purchasing saga# at each. An important notification of ther official instruction regarding saluting was notified in a. recent military order issued in Melbourne, in future soldiers serving in lire Australian military force* will not bo oliliged to salute officers in, the streets and off parade, unless thet soldier has occlusion to speak to an., officer, or an officer to a soldier. At; all times when on parade, however, iV will bo strictly adhered to ami enforced . Judging by opinion expressed, in military circles, the cessation of’ saluting in the street will Ivo welcomed' by officers as much ms the men. of other* ranks. Fruit prices in Auckland rose wrih,” the coming of the New Tear. .Straw—berries were, selling at Is and Is 6d ; per chip; the supply lasted out better than was expected, the showers which) have fallen having saved the crop A . few days, however, will probably see" the end of the season, which has been . -*4 an exceptionally good one as regards " both quantity and quality. Plums and poaches sold well, and tomatoes came in freely, the wholesale price being from lOd to Is 3d per pound. There will be no new bananas for three weeks, but a shipment of about; 1000 cnees of Californian oranges arrived a day or two ago.

Cl. think it is an absolute disgrace that many young women teachers in country schools have no privacy whatever in their schools, even if they can obtain reasonable accommodation/’ said Air C. 8.. Munro, president of the N.Z.E.T., tho, other morning. "Perhaps a lady teacher has to ride three or four miles in the wet and wiien she reaches her school thorn, is no place for her to change her skirt and stockings but behind the door or tho stool. Every school, no matter how small, should have a special roonAjtor the use of the teacher, and a Toofjßtf moreover, with a fireplace in it.” A Canterbury delegate remarked that in more, than one city school still in use there was. not even a cupboard large enough for tho teacher to change her stockings. Courtesy is courtesy the world over, but tho Australian always nvas a "casual cove.” A sidelight on national characteristics was furnished by a trivial incident: recently in Melbourne.. J Three seamen and a sous-ofiicer from. A®, tho French gunboat A 1 debar an—now at J Auckland on her way to Noumea—were strolling along Swanston Street, keeping well to the left of the road, marching in line, and "doing the sights" after tho fashion of the usual tonrist-in-spito-of-himself. .Suddenly a group of Australians from the Cerberus hove in sight; in tho vicinity of the Cathedral. The right hands of the Frenchman shot up like lightning to. their quaint, bobcaps, in a regulation salute. Not so with the Australians, however (say s the Age); they merely smiled, said "Howdo, Preachy P” and engaged their Allies in friendly conversation—to the enjoyment of bystanders, who were able to overhear stray words of French, English, and ordinary "language." A Wellington contractor has informed a Post reporter that the serious shortage of cement was not likely to bo relieved until tho mid of February or the beginning of March next. He stated that one company was not now in a position to supply the general public. All the. companies wore experiencing great difficulty in securing coal. A consignment of cement from England was due in Wellington towards the end of February, but the landed cost would bo at tho rate of 4s 2d per bag dearer than the New Zealand product, and the quality was no better. It was useless to look to Australia for cement, as the k shortage there was very pronounced and cement companies declined to quit for delivery in the Dominion. Tho position just; now was a very serious one, as many big contracts in the city were practically suspended. Many men would find that their services were not required when they returned to their job* after too holidays. Tire following story concerning Bir James Carroll, who was defeated for the Gisborne seat, is related by the Eltharn Argus:—He was once on board a steamer on an ocean voyage, and, in response to a request, he gave a lecture on "Maoris.” There was a certain English war correspondent on board, and he, a few nights afterwards, had tho exceedingly bad taste, at a smoke concert, to burlesque Sir Janus Carroll's lecture in a vulgar, caddish fashion, that disgusted and annoyed all except Sir James. He listened quietly, with a face as stolid as that of a sphinx. When the war correspondent had finished, Sir James quietly rase and said that ho had been asked to contribute to the evening’s entertainment, and he would give a loerturotte, "My Experiences as a War Correspondent.” And then ho started off with an imitation of a lecture that had been given in Palmerston North by tho famous war correspondent. There was not one rough word in it. Delicate satire and irony poured forth in choicest diction. The audience roared, the war correspondent wriggled and squirmed, but Sir James Carroll kept going until the war correspondent jumped from his seat and ended the "lecturette” by seizing Sir James bywjAie hand, giving it a shake, admitting ho had i been beaten at his own vow- ' ing that he would retire from the leo- ‘ taring field. Sir James scored heavily that time.

A robbery is reported from Midhirst. «'?■ is stated that while everyone was I’wnt at the Stratford races a thief firoke into a store in the township and secured .£4O in cash from the till. No trace of the thief has so far been discovered, says the Htham Argus. A remarkable match was brought to a conclusion—perhaps the most unique in the history of high-class billiards—at Melbourne recently. As the clock struck 10 Waiter Lin drum was in the act of playing a shot which made his score equal to his elder brother’s (Fred) total-of 17,2 59, and the game ended in a dead heat, and consequently a draw. There is scarcely any article of conernoption that has rot increased enormously in price since the war. and wkiafcy ie no exception. A brand that before the war could be purchased at 6s 9d per gallon, in bond, now costs 15s. Nevertheless people still manage to get t&eir ‘‘drop of the era tub’ when they feel inclined that way. Pert wine has increased from 45e to 95s per gallon. The annuoncement was recently made that the Prime Minister has been advised that the Imperial authorities are prepared to make arrangements for the ehrpment of 60,000 cases of apples during the coming season. The Nelson Mail states that the guarantee of Parliament means that the grower gets at least 3s 4d a case for the fruit, clear cost of case, pocking, wood wool, paper, shipping, and all other charges. The many relatives of those who were killed in action on the battlefields of Europe will be interested and comforted to learn from a letter received here just recently from the sister of a boy who lies buried “over there,” that the graves of “Diggers” are being well cared for. She had visited the cemeteries at Steenwerck, Armentieres, Somme. Baillieul, Ypres, Staples, and Peronne, and the graves of soldiers all showed that some one was caring for them. In many cases the French people had placed artificial wreaths on the graves, and French girls were continually distributing freNi flowers over the cemeteries. The point has often been raised that it is a questionable advantage to throw the jack by virtue of scoring on the previous head, many maintaining that tie right of playing the last bail more than counterbalances the choice of a long or short head, especially on the last end when the scores are close. An attempt was made to alter this at the last meeting of the New South Wales Association, when a delegate moved “That provision be made in the laws of the game so that the winner of a head shall throw the jack for the next head, and may direct his or their opponents to play first,” This was defeated by a large majority. “Yon must know,” said a lady delegate to the Teachers’ Conference at Wellington, “that smoking is greatly in the increase among girls and women, and that drinking is also on the increase. I believe that this is partly due to the fact that many girls in the upper classes of our primary schools are not influenced • by a womanly woman. The statement brought to his feet a male delegate, who said that he did not think the charge should go forth that the working-class girls, the girls trained in the primary schools, were doing the smoking. It was the girls whose parents were verv wealthy and were able to send them to colleges taught by women. “The statement should not go down. he said, “that the girls trained by men in the Jfcjic schools are the sinners in that

The spell of dry, windy weather experienced in Taranaki, as well as in other places in the Dominion, has considerably decreased the milk-yield this season, and in some respects will affect next season’s supply also. Speaking generally, the hay crops have been verv thin, and in some oases so poor that tamers have not thought it worth vhile cutting. There are exceptions, of course, and some farriers have been lucky enough to get in good stacks of hay, but as a general rule there will be a serious shortage, and this will be detrimental to the condition of the dairy cows coming in next spring. There are some splendid takes of root crops to be seen throughout the country, but in places club-root is again in evidence, ibere is some consolation in the prediction of some experienced farmers that we shall probably have a more favourable autumn, and it is to be hoped that their prophecy will come true.— Hawera Star. Complaints by householders in Tictoria regarding the incomprehensible registrations of gas meters have been numerous of late, especially since the recent seamen's strike. It is interesting, therefore (declares Melbourne Age) to record the fact that in Great Britain the old method of buying gas by the 1000 cubic feet is to be abolished, and a more equitable system substituted. It is proposed in a Bill to be introduced into the House of Commons to provide for a new method of calculation, so that the purchaser shall pay only for value received. This is to be fixed by the capabilities of the gas; by its '‘heat energy,” as measured in terma.l units. A line of reckoning null be followed akin to that employed in dealing with

the consumption of electricity. It will be applicable to gas used either for s heating or for lighting. The Enel Research Board reported exhaustively on the subject, recommending the change, and pointing out how the meter could be adapted to it. -The effect will be to greatly stimulate tho industrial use of gas, and the British public will know what it is buying. Mans voting as a means for dealing with the liquor traffic is very unsatisfactory. The experiences in New Zealand should be a warning to Victoria, whose excellent system of licensing reform haa been favourably commented upon in many parts of the world and is feeing followed in other # Australian States (says the Melbourne Argus in its issue of 22nd December). In a poll in which 500,000 voters are taking part in New Zealand slightly more than onehalf so far are against Prohibition. It would be a poor compliment to the capacity of tie people to suggest that there is no alternative to the coercion of one-half of the community except the stolid resistance by the other half to any and every reform. Legislation must in the circumstances take a middle course. In Victoria next year there is to be a poll in each licensing district, and it is posable that in two neighbouring districts one will “go dry” and another will vote for continuance. This arbitrary and costly system is very weak in comparison with the .sane measures which have been taken since 1906 under the reduction scheme.