The Chronicle LEVIN. TUESDAY, AUGUST 14, 1917. LOCAL & GENERAL

Levin Daily Chronicle, 14 August 1917, Page 2

The Chronicle LEVIN. TUESDAY, AUGUST 14, 1917. LOCAL & GENERAL

"A mutter of urgent need" was the <li c-npuon given sit Saturday's meeting ITornwhcnua County Council, | by Councillor Murray, when speaking I >!' ihe-nood for more effective drain- ! in;; oi "J.ake Horowhenua. At present (continued Councillor Murray, tihe i I>omaiix 13oard would not allow the County Council to clear the outlet at the point whore, it needed cleaning. The dual control of the lake was noit | iii the settlers' true interests; and the j Lake Domain Board's insistence upon i tl«> eel-weirs being cleaned out, and the straight stream left alone, was absurd. The. County Ooundil, -it seemed, was 'bound to find the money am! yet have no say in the Way of doi".g the work.—The Cotipty Engineer remarked that the present state. ; ot the lake was most unsatisfactory; J acres upon acres of Jand along the j .Hoach road were swamped. 'Coiinoil- | lor .Monk said that th« only raiuedy, i tii his mind, was to get the bill am- : ended. The County Clerk explained i t Imt 'the clause giving dual control ' was added to the Iball after the draft j hi I! had been sent to the Horowhenua . County Council.—-Councillor Monk at : this point in the discussion 'remarked 1 that the council should approach the member for the district, who h'ad Ibeen i instrumental ,in getting the bill put ' through.—The County Engdnjeer: ( 'Ves: and he claimed credit for What he had done! The biggest piece of iegisLiliVo bungling that over I saw!" •T!u» discussion then dropped, po potion being moved.

Last Friday the shop of Mr J. P. Ivess, Levin, was burglariously entered and goods to the value of £4 6s BJd stolen] also 9s lljd in money. On the previous evening, or later, t'he shop of Mr A. Sims, ironmonger, also was entered and goods valued at several pounds sterling taken away. It is undertsood tliat a case against two youthful prisoners will be called on ait Levin S.M. Court, next Thursday, having these robberies as the basis of the charge. At the Courthouse yesterday (Monday) Mr 15. B. Gardener, J.P., sat to hear a charge against a lad Norman Pearce, arising out of the robbery at Tvess's shop. On the application of the police the case was remanded for hearing until Thursday next. The strike at Wellington gasworks has been settled and the men resumed work yesterday. •Horowhenua County Patriotic Association lias hud its rules printed, and coipiea now are obtainable from the hon. secretary (Mr F. P. Walkley.) The Druids' annual social and dance will be held in the 'Druids' Hall on the 17th inst. Particulars are advertised on page 3. On Friday last the price of eggs (wholesale) in Wellington dropped 6d per dozen—from Is lOd to Is 4d. Evidently the season for preserving eggs is approaching earlier than usual. At Farland's "movies'- last Friday and Saturday, during the showing of the two dramas "Salvation Johan" and "Always hi the Way," Miss O. Mid- : dleton sang with pleasing effect two pathetic songs. The effect was appropriate and the audience gave loud applause. A lecture on "Bagdad" will be given in the Century Hall to-night by Mr Xott, a well-known authority on this important topic.— The city of Bagdad is the centre of illustrious and historic interest. At the dawn of the age of writing, or say 4000 to 3000 years 8.C., we ifirst see the great Mesopotamian river valley, rich, populous, and progressive, with an irrigation system of great antiquity. Under Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian, and the Caliphs, w© have t'he old system of canals, kept up and developed till in the year 1000 A.D. (Bagdad (had 4,500,000 population and 5. great navigable canals. For 5000 years tthe land bore its huge population, supporting them in such plenty that "Ori ental magnificence and luxury became a by-word. What a contrast to-day Only 1,500,000 people at most—chiefly nomadic Arabs—and the old lalborously constructed irrigation works in utter ruin, the land a desert waste alternating between burning sand and devastating flood. For all this there is one word of explanation—the Turk! whom that wretched figment, "the balance of power" in Europe has kept on his tottering feet for so many years Freed from what Lloyd George called "the blasting blight" Mesopotamia should again blossom .as the rose.