LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXVI, Issue 17583, 29 May 1919, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

A statement recently appeared iv the press .to the effect that there was a strong feeling fn the Wairarapa in favour of, the deviation of the Rimutaka railway via Wainui-o-mata. At a ineetingr'of hte Masterton Progressive League last Tuesday it was pointed out that the majority of tho people of.;the Wairarapa favoured no particular, route, but were prepared to accept whatever route was decided upon by,jthe Government engineers.

During the hearing of a case at the Supreme Court yesterday a witness said 'he saw the prisoner take a kip out oi! his pocket to get rid of it. "A what?" queried Mr. Justice Chapman, and it was explained that a kip was a small piece of wood which played an important part in the gambling game oi: "two-up." "I don't thiiik it is played as openly on the Wellington wharf as it used to be," said his Honour, reminiscently, "but once or twice I have walked right through them."

In the condensation of a report of the meeting of the Borough Council on Tuesday evening on the leasing of the Opera House and municipal pictures, some remanks made by Cr. to. Spriggena were omitted. Cr. Spriggens pointed out the large amount of revenue that the Borough received from the picture shows by way of rates, lighting charges and revenue created for the tramways. He particularly wanted to point out that he 'did not have a penny invested in any picture enterpriso in Wanganui.

Owing to the depredations of wild pigs in the Whareama (Wairarapa) district among sheep flocks, poison is being laid with the object of destroying the animals. The scarcity of food in the hills has driven the pigs down from the rough country on to the flats of the far. as and stations in search of food. A similar state of affairs was recorded in various parts of the Wairarapa in 1894, when farmers and station-holders lost large numbers of lambs and weak sheep as the result of their being attacked by wild pigs.—"Daily Times."

The suet cf February brought into relief a rare and curious effect of weather, strange in itself and very qminous to the farmers in England, Wherever one went in rural England, even in the dry areas, one saw cornstacks, the repositories 6f this year's loaves, showing a brilliant green down their sides and roofs. Even those most cunningly built and best trimmed, as on the large farms of Norfolk, looked like vertical- tennis lawns. The wet had so driven into the stacks that the grain had sprouted a yard within the stack, and the green blades thrust out that distance to the light. Green thatch has often been seen, but such green walls are scarcely within memory.

Saturday last was the centenary of the sailing of the first steamship to cross the Atlantic. The first steamboat to cross the Atlantic was the Savannah, an American-built fullrigged ship of 350 tons, with paddlewheels, which could be unshipped if necessary. She left Charleston on May 24, 1819, and arrived off the coast of Ireland on June 17. During the voyage steam was used for only 80 hours. The first vessel to cross under steam only was the Sirius, which crossed from Queenstown to New York in 1838, with 94 passengers, In 17 days. The Sirius was a British-built vessel of 703 tons, rigged as a brigantine. Her engines developed 320 horsepower with a daily average coal consumption of 24 tons.

The follow, ag motion in regard to the "Ne Temere" decree was carried at the annual conference of the Protestant Political Association: "That whereas the 'Ne Temere' decree defies the lavs of this Jjominion and affronts Protestants by declaring Protestant and civil marriages invalid ana concubinage, and whereas it is the intrusion of a foreigner into the domestic legislation ana affairs of this country, this council demands an amendment to the legislation, constituting it an offence for any person to question or impugn the validity or the sanctity of such a marriage either publicly or privately, and, further, urges upon all Protestants the extreme unde3irability of contracting mixed marriages."

It is almost certain that one of the Hun mines that was iknown to be drifting towards the west coast recently has been washed ashore and exploded, for, according to wellauthenticated reports, says the Patea Press, a terrific explosion occurred on the coast at some point between Kp.karamea and Hawera on Wednesday afternoon last shortly before 4 o'clock. A local resident, who was out shooting in the vicinity, states that at the hour mentioned he heard the explosion in the direction of Hawera along the coast-line. The report consisted of three distinct blasts almost simultaneously. So far no trace of any mine has been discovered, but this is accounted for by the fact that if the mine struck and exploded on the rocks no trace of it would be seen, as there are steep cliffs practically all along the caast and little or no beach.

A protest againct the high rates charged •on Homeward shipping freights was recenttly forward to the Acting-Prime Minister, Sir James Alle", by the council of the Auckland Chamber of Commerce. Particular reference was made to excessive rates charged on tow and flax, which were so high that it was impossible for producers to pay them. A requeaSi; was made that Sir James Allen try to arrange mode modification of .ttiese rates, to whic'i a reply was received at Friday's meeting of the Council. This stated that inquiries had been made, and Sir James Allen had received advice that thp!.New Zealand Government had no control over the rates of the freiglu charged by steamers from the Dominion to the United Kingdom. From information obtained from the New Zealand Overseas Shipowners' Committee, it appeared, however, that the present reduced rates compared favourably with those ruling from the United Kingdom to New Zealand* being based on a fine measurement rate of 120s per ton. It was also, pointed out by the committee that at present, a large number of vessels were coming to New Zealand from the United Kingdom in ballast, and that in view of all circumstances it was considered that the present time was not opportune for any further reduction.

A big contingent of -oldiers who returned to Nev Zealand by the Rimutaka arrived in Wanganui last evening. The railway platform was thronge- and the soldiers were given a warm welcome liome. • -Respite anything you may sot^ sionally hear to the contrary, I do\n*j think any Government ever worked so harmoniously in the interests oi the people as the National Government."—The Hon. W. D. S. Mac Donald, at the farmers' canquet at Wellington on Tuesday evening.

At the wool valuation held at Wanganui last week some 2000 bales were put through. This^Sbou: completes the season's operations and we learn the total turnover since the season opened in October last amounts to 39,835 bales —an increase of some 5000 bales on last year's outpur.

Last session Parliament passed legislation with the intention of controlling the operations of the Meat Trust in New Zealand. The Minietei of Agriculture stated yesterday thai very careful inquiries had been made, and he would shortly be able to make a general statement on the whole position. Only one application for a license had been refused.

The other uay it was reoprted as something of a record that a southern stockowner had paid £14 per acre for a paddock of turnips for ' feeding off. This is a comparatively small Lgure compared to one paid in the Kaitangata district (states the Clutha "Leader"), where the fortunate possessor of an area of about 15 acres received the exceptionally higk price of £21 per acre.

Sir James Allen stated yesterday that about two thousand . New Zealand soldiers are in Egypt. A thousand of these are expected home, in June, and the other thousand in July. Sir Jas. Allen said this was not definite, because the. transhipment of troops depended on the ship* ping available, and because furthei 'trouble in Egypt might cause tha soldiers to be detained. "The Ne-.r Zer.land farmer maite? the finest infantry soldier in thY world." This opinion, brought back by a New Zealand doctor, wes related at the farmers' banquet at Wei* lington on Tuesday evening. "They lacked the dash of the Australians, but they had a tenacity peculiar to themselves. During the years ther were in France they never lost a yard! of trench, a record no one else could claim." '

The increased wag<js aftd other inducements that are being offered to office girls, form the chief explanation of the dearth of probationers offering jUBt now to learn hospital nursing. It us found on inquiry (says the Otago Daily Times) that many girls who had sentiu their names as desiring employment as nursing probationers have since entered offices, and now have no intention of learning nursing. It is likely that retrenchment in Government services, in* volving the discharge of hundreds of girls taken on during war time, may take place shortly, and that should relieve the situation to some extent for the hospital authorities. In the meantime the shortage of staff at the Dune- "* din Hospital is so acute that the medico 1 superintendent announces that only the most urgent cases can be accepted until the staff has been strengthened. One obvious solution that readily Occurs, of course, is to offer higher wages to probationers, but that there are serious objections to this is sufficiently indicated by the fact that the Technical Nurses' Association itself opposes such an increase. It is felt, for one thing, that it is "distinctly undesirable that • anyone should be attracted from purely, t mercenary motives into such an unselfish profession as nursing. It appears there is little.danger of this happening at present. • The shooting of a whale with a ma-chine-gun by an American '^aviator from his aeroplane, off the Pacific Coast, near San Diego, California, opens up a new field of possibility in the whaling industry (states an exchange). It suggests whaling ships of the future cruising forth with an equipment of aeroplanes and a complement of aviators and skilled gunners to scout for and bag these monsters of the deep. The first use of an aeroplane by a New York business establishment for commercial purposes was made by the firm of Lord and Taylor, whidh sent a load oi' household goods by air from a substation in Garden City, Long Island, to Mount Vernon, New York State. The experiment was a success, in the opinion of the firm. The consignment consisted of flour, a lamp, a carpet-sweeper, a fireless cooker, and linens. The first aeroplane ambulance flew to New York recently, bringing Lieutenant David Gray, shoe in both legs, from Rockaway to St. Luke's Hospital. Major Helen B&s-' tedo, of the Woman's Motor Corps,! accompanied the pilot—Lieutenant; Stevens, of the Rockaway Ilaval Station—on the trip, which was made in forty-nine minutes. Dispatches from Montreal state that aeroplanes will almost certainly be added to the: equipment of the North-West Mounted Police, for its far northern pa-"N. trols. Naval non-rigid dirigible air- 4. ships will be utilised by the United States Army in patrolling the Mexican border. Arrangements have been* made under which the navy will' turn over several dirigibles for this; work. A military border patrol has? been maintained since the original - Madero insurrection against the. *atj President Diaz.