LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 1520, 9 March 1916, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The supplies of eggs are short, with a keen demand, in Wellington. The market rate has advanced id per doz., to is Bd. The engagement is announced of Miss Cooper, Tologa Bay, Gisborne, second daughter of Mrs Ruback, of Foxton to Mr Frank Doreen, ot Ormond, Gisborne.

The Canadian soldier is paid 4s 6d per day, as compared with is paid to Fnglish troops, lod to Italians, to French, i#d to Tapanese, to Russians, i}(d to Austrians, iy 2 d to Turkish, to Germans, 6s to Australians, and 5s to New Zealanders. In bringing before the Palmerston Patriotic Society the case of a mother who had two sons killed at the front, Mr W. Devine pointed out that she had done her duty well, for not only had she given these boys for their country, but had reared a family ot seventeen children.

The schools in the Hawke’s Bay district now open at 8 o’clock. At 10.30 o’clock there is an interval tor lunch. Duties are resumed at 11 o’clock, and two hours later the children are dismissed for the day. The new hours will be observed until the weather becomes cooler.

The Mayor ,of Carterton (Mr J, T. M. Hornsby, M.P,) states that it is intended that all those who have married since the war began shall be equally liable for service as the single man. This will come as a shock to a number of “newly-weds’’ throughout the Dominion.

Two men, Fred Power and Charles Olsen, were arrested by the local police this morning on a charge of alleged theft of a cheque for 15s 3d, the property of the Whakapai Flaxmilling Company. They were brought before Mf Rimmer J.P. this afternoon and remanded to appear at Palmerston North on March 13th. It has been decided by the Public Service Commissioner that this year girls shall be admitted to the Publice Service entrance examination. Each candidate for the examination will be required to pay a fee of £l, which will be refunded if the candidate is successful, and accepts an appointment in the Service.

The Palmerston Chamber of Commerce went into Committee on Thursday night to discuss its policy relative to the giving of evidence before the Commission appointed to adjudicate on the Foxton wharf and Leviu-Great-iord deviation. When the Chamber resumed, the following resolution was carried: —'“That the president and councillors should act as a deputation to the Foxton Harbour Board at its next meeting, and that the president and secretary should arrange a conference with the members of the Feilding Chamber of Commerce.” The late Mr Thomas Cawthorn left ,£15,000 towards the erection of a new hospital in Nelson on the understanding that the Government would subsidise that amount. The Hospital Board objects to expend Mr Cawthron’s money unless the Government will promise to assist with a subsidy, and it is anxiously waiting to see what Cabinet is prepared to do in the matter. In a letter which be wrote in January, the Minister of Public Health expressed the hope that the Board would erect the hospital without calling upon the Government for any subsidy, or at any rate any subsidy until the war was over.

Mr and Mrs T. Bowe and family insert a thanks notice in this issue. BUY WHOLESALE FROM JLAIDLAW LEEDS’ CATOLOG . IT’S FREE.

A prospector near Nelson claims to have made a most important discovery of a 3ft. reef of molybdenite ore, which produces an acid of immense value for toughening steel, and is in great demand at present. The scene of the discovery is about 16 miles back from Upper Takaka, and as the work of removing the ore would cost over £22 per ton, the finder is endeavouring to obtain the aid of the Takaka County Council to construct a light tramway which could be taken to within a mile and a-half ot his claim. From the Government Statistician comes a copy of the New Zealand Official Year Book for 1915 (delayed on account of the war). In the main the new volume follows the lines of its predecessors, but the whole book has been revised and in some places rearranged. New matter has been introduced, including a section on prices ol living and a subsection on morbidity. The sections dealing with commerce have been entirely re-written ; and every care has been taken to secure accuracy in the statistical sections of an extremely helpful handbook.

The Tramway Manager’s report submitted at the recent meeting of the Manawatu County Council was as follows The traffic was good in February, and earnings show a surplus of ,£152 5s 2d over the payments. The following were the chief items of traffic : Grain 107 tons, merchandise 2io)£ tons, grass seed tons, timber 32,100 feet, sheep 63 trucks ; fares amounted to £$ ns qd. Attached is a report from Driver Eteveneaux with reference to work required to be done on locomotive Rangitikei. It will cost approximately ,£2OO to carry out these repairs. Repairs costing about ;£So also require to be done to locomotive Manawatu. In New Zealand men who ought to enlist are known as shirkers; the Canadian soldiers at the front have dubbed them “ sooners.” A “sooner,' 5 as was explained’ in a letter from a Canadian in the trenches, is “ a young man who would sooner stay at his work, sooner be on home defence than on active service, sooner stay at the base than go to the fighting line, sooner drill men, in home camps, sooner swank round the streets in a uniform than enlist for active service—in fact, sooner do anything than fight.” The name should stick. In conversation with a wellknown district settler who has large interests in the cheese industry, he stated that he could not understand why the Government made fish of one section of our principal exporters and. flesh of another. “ The Government commandeered a third of the Dominion’s butter and cheese output fcr Imperial purposes. I have no fault to find with that nor with the prices arranged. But why did the Government not commandeer a third of the wool output for Imperial purposes ? Clothing Is essential tor the troops, and wool is of vital importance yet it was given an absolutely free run. In my opinion a third of the wool clip should also have been secured. as was done with butter and cheese.”

Proot of the severity of infantile paralysis was suddenly brought home to the people of Otakeho (Taranaki) on Wednesday morning, when it became known that Martha Elizabeth, second daughter of Mr and Mrs Ee Fleming, had passed away in the morning hours, a victim to infantile paralysis. To within thirty-six hours of her death Miss Ee Fleming was in the very best of health, and on Monday evening she complained of a headache, which did not cause alarm, nor cause uueasiuess in her family; on Tuesday morning she seemed little the worse, but during the day signs of something more serious developed at an alarming rate, and medical aid was calledin the evening; yet despite all the medical aid and skill, the young lady passed away at 5 o’clock in the morning. The case is rendered more sad when it is remembered that she was twenty-five years of age, and has hitherto been robust and healthy.