LOCAL & GENERAL

Levin Daily Chronicle, 13 February 1917, Page 2

LOCAL & GENERAL

On page 1 of to-day's issue appears tliei biography of the well-known novelist, O. Henry, while on page 4 appealsome very interesting motor and cycling notes, a special feature of which is the story of the ride from Sydney to Brisbane. A proposal has been made that the iiorowlieiuia Boating Club be wound up, through insufficiency of public support. A meeting of club members to consider the proposal is convened for next Thursday evening. A cockerel put up for auction at a sale for war funds at Huntingdon, was knocked down 73 times, realizing £50 in all. The cockerel has been at Red Cross sales for more than a year has travelled l 2000 miles, and has been "sold" 2003 times, and raised £2169. In regard to the statement ;by Christchurch bakers that bread should be raised to 9Jd per loaf because prices range from 9£d to lid in other parts of the Dominion, it is pointed out that bread should' ibe at its lowest price in Canterbury. North Otago, and Marlborough. These are the only districts in. the dominion that have more tlian the amount of wheat they require, and flour can be supplied at the minimum cost of £15 per ton, plus comparatively short railage to country: districts. The X'orth Island grows very little wheat, and almost the whole of the requirements have to be obtained from the South Island, entailing not only the cost of shipping the wheat, but distributing the flour either .by coastal steam or long railage inland. Westland grows no wheat, and lias to import all its flour. South Otago and Southland do not grow all the wheat they require, and what they have must have the harder wheats of North Otago or Canterbury to mix with it. Therefore, outside of' Canterbury, North Otago and Marlborough, the cost of flour must be greater than it is in these three wheat growing districts.— Evening News. i

The death of Private 0. E. Burgess, youngest son of Mr F. J. Burgess, exwarden of the goldfields, S.M., President of the Auckland! Military Service Board, was reported six months ago. The following pathetic letter, scrawled 011 the. page of a pocket 'book, has just reached his sorrowing parents:—"Dear mother,—l am done; struck by a bomb and lying in a trench. No one can come to me. Good-bye to you and father and' the others.—Claude."

The position at the waterfront remains unchanged. Practically work was at a standstill on Saturday, only one new gang being engaged. This was for the ferry steamer Mararoa. A call was made to work the three boats which the waterside workers have hitherto refused to work, on account of the fact that they had' .been maimed by non-union labour in another pflrt. but 110-labor was forthcoming. Three oversea vessels which have been employing gangs for some days past were the only vessels on which men were working, the rest of the boats in port being idle. The Secretary of the Waterside Workers' Union (Mr J. G. Bruce) stated that the men were quite willing to negotiate with the Governmen for all labour required should the regulations recently issued come into operation, but could not recognise a bodfy like the Employers', Farmers', and Citizens' Committee, which had no official status or (authority.—New Zealand Times.

"We regret to again report that several men sent to work, after haying been engaged to start, did not do so," states the report of the Welling,ton Labour Bureau. The object of the bureau is to assist men in procuring employment, not to give them «a letter in order that they may evade the police. Strict attention is being paid to these so-called workers, and "they taigain apply for work.

"A rank outsider" is one of the qualifications necessary for ■ a ranger to the Pohangina County Council, according to the Manawatu Standard. At Saturday's meeting of the. council it was said that a person who was "tied up" to the settlors would fail in his duty by not seeing certain stock wandering," etc., and the oouncil agreed that whatever other requirements were necessary, the above was one of them. -

Levin Terminating Building Society mil holcl its adjourned annual general meeting next Thursday in the Druids Hall, Levin. Details are set out by advertisement Sn toj-day's 'Chronicle. A special general meeting will be held tlie same evening at 8 o'clock. The annual general meeting is fixed for 8.30 p.m. An appropriation «by tender will bo decided upon. An amount of £300 is available.

A special order authorising the raising of a loan of £300 for construction of a bridge over the Makaliika stream (beyond Levin waterworks) is advertised to-day.

The captain of Levin fire brigade wishes to thank Mr R. Prouse for a donation of two guineas to the brigade funds.

The County Engineer has almost recovered from his recent indisposition and ha.s resumed his duties.

The fat bullock presented by Mr N. Kirkcaldie in aid of the Nurse Lewis Maori Ambulance Fund ' has ibeen slaughtered. There was a wleight-

guessing competition conducted as to this beast at Horowhenua A. and P. ■Show, the result be'ing as follows:— Actual weight, 8871b. The winner was F. Parsons, who guessed 88711>s. D. McKaiu and Neil Campbell tied for second place with guesses of 8881b,., and W. Hughes (Levin) guessed 888ilb. Returned' soldiers are being taught hand-weaviing at GeeljOng, Victoria!, Australia. After 10 days' training a man can produce plain worsed tweed at the rate of a yard an hour. Allowing his wages to be 2s, this tweed, which is said to be of a quality unsurpassable, can be sold at 7s 6d ! a yard, including a substantial profit. After three months the man can make his own living. When more men are made available and the scheme is'in : full operation, other.classes of weaving will be undertaken, and even the looms will be "home made" by Anzacs. The war is costing, and is likely to cost, more than £5,000,000 a day. Though there is doubtless room .for economy in some directions, and for greater efficiency in expediture, we believe that this gigantic sum is now being, on the whole, well spent. The cost of munitions and- the claims of our Allies and Dominions will probably increase; but neither branch of outlay is one whioh Parliament or. the country is likely to ask the Government to curtail. We have not yet tapped our resources to anything like the extent to which our enemies have been, obliged to strain theirs.—London; Times. An instance of what a payable proposition lucerne can ibe made to be was shown a representative of the Manawatu Standard by Mr G. W. Keeling, of College street west. On a tenth of an acre of land a beautiful patch of this fodder has been cultivated which has now been out seven timesfive times last season and twice this. The last cutting was taken some three weeks ago and the lucerne is just ready to be mown down again. Mr Farland's picture theatre presented 1 a very attractive appearance on Wednesday 'afternoon (last, tihje occasion .being a gift afternoon for the Belgian poor, preparatory for a garden fete and concert to come on

later for the same worthy object. A very large number of people of Levin and district attended and gifts came also from Feilding and Manakau. The promoters are w.ell pleased with their initial effort and very. grateful to all subscribers. Besides gifts held over fcr sale, over £15 was obtained in cash and this amount is clear of all expense. The mayoress (Mrs Blenkhorn) jUesdames Duckworth, J. Pro use and iSowen acted as hostesses and were indefatigable in their efforts to make the afternoon a pleasant and enjoyable one. The orchestra played bright and pleasing music which was thoroughly enjoyed by those present. Mrs McJi'.van, a newcomer, sang delightfully. Hie children did well in their items considering the short time spent on training them, and their (Belgian song took well » n <l resulted in a shower of money. The thanks of the committee ai6 specially due to Mr Farland for the generous use of his theatre (free), to Messrs Gibson and Harvey for crockery and furniture, Mr Malcom, Mr Fosella and the ladies who worked so hard in dispensing tea. It is confidently anticipated that the garden fete will be equally successful and" a large number of influential citizens have

promised to assist. Sir James Wilson stated at the Palmerston North District Hospital Board meeting on Thursday that the germ of infantile paralysis had been discovered by the expert at Mayo Brothers' clinic at. Rochester, United State, and that the medical fraternity would thus be enabled to deal effectively with the disease by the assistance of this valuable discovery.— Foxton Herald.

Curiosity has been expressed re the meaning of the detters "5.0.5." wliich go to make up the wireless call for ships in distress. In commenting upon the part played by wireless in the sinking of the Lusitania, "The Wirelees World," of June, 1916, a magazine published an London by the famous Marconi Company says:—"The famous S.O.S. signal was chosen without regard' to any significance which might be attached to the individual letters S.O.S. The three dots, three dashes and three dots, which constitute the distress' call are not transmitted as indicating the initial letter of any dramatic sentence (such as 'Save our Souls,' 'Send out Succor,' etc.), but simply make up a rhythmic call which is distinctive from , other signals used is wdrele6s telegraphy."

The Manawatu Standard states that a prominent member of the executive of the Patriotic Society lias resigned as a protest in connection with running roulette wheels and what he considers other forms of gambling in conneectiou with the local "Paddy's Market Fair." "So you. want to know where flies come from, Tommy? Well, the cyclone makes the housefly, the blacksmith makes the firefly, the carpenter makes the'sawfly, the driver makes the horsefly, and the lodger makes the butterfly."

An advertiser offers a reward for the return to the Ohronicle office of a gold brooch lost in Levin yesterday.