No legislation was passed, but the Government promised that an instruction would be sent to the military service boards to state that it was the desire of the Government that the last man should not be taken from a farm and sent into camp. Already the rule is leading to fantastic results under some at least of the military service boards. Men are said to be escaping who are nothing more or less than shirkers. Since the rule was made the authorities have met with the case of a rich man who has quite lately purchased a dairy farm and put his son upon it.
Coker's Hotel fire
The Christchurch Press states that the police are prosecuting active inquiries into the origin of the several fires that have occurred of late, particularly in view of the suspicious circumstances surrounding the outbreak on Monday night at Coker's Hotel, which, while presenting many suspicious features, was happily quickly extinguished, practically no damage being done. The owners of various hotels and other large institutions in the city - including the police - received anonymous communications on Tuesday, informing them that their premises were about to be burned, and bidding them ``Be-ware'', in large letters. These fanatical documents were signed ``A Friend'', and although little notice was taken of them - they were evidently the production of an hysterical mind or a very deluded practical joker - still extra precautions were taken by the police at night, and a picket of two or three constables was to be seen in the vicinity of most of the large hotels and boarding-houses throughout the night.
Sailors' comforts
As a result of an appeal made to the dominion by Mrs Hamilton Nimmo, organising superintendent of the W.C.T.U., for comforts for the men of the mine-sweepers and of torpedoed vessels, some 27 cases of warm clothing are (says the Evening Post) now ready for despatch. The cause is one that has appealed to the generosity of the people, for these men undergo hardships, and in cases lose all their personal belongings, and urgent assistance is necessary to relieve them from dire straits. Mrs Nimmo has had the support of all the branches of the union in her effort, and the cases contain some of the best of New Zealand-manufactured woollen goods - jerseys, sweaters, mittens, socks, shirts, and underwear - while monetary donations amount to quite a handsome sum. The sum of 400 is being cabled to Lady Dimsdale, president of the Ladies' Guild of the British and Foreign Sailors' Society for distribution.
Strawberry planter
A rather novel system of strawberry culture was seen this week in Waimate, consisting of an old cask filled with soil and holes bored around the sides, from which the plants were growing and blooming in great profusion (says the Waimate Times). On the open top of the cask one of the newly-introduced American varieties, Etersburg (planted in 1916) was growing, and almost occupied the whole top. - ODT, 22.11.1917.
