LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 1523, 16 March 1916, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The Foxton Ladies Patriotic Guild desire to acknowledge a donation of three guineas to the funds from Mrs A, S. Easton. A prolific crop of maize is to be seen growing on Mr Stiles’ farm at Moutoa.

The continued dry weather is becoming serious to dairy farmers in this locality. Except for two sprinkling showers, no rain has fallen for about two months. In nearly every house in the borough there is a shortage of water, and “washing day” has been indefinitely postponed.

“ What becomes of stale bread ?” asked Mr Justice Stringer of a master baker at Auckland this week. The witness explained that his firm did not find much bread left on its hands. Bakers who did, however, usually disposed of it to pork butchers at half-price. Several witnesses agreed that the public could not be persuaded nowadays to take the stale article.

Mr Alex. Saunders, of Moutoa, put down about five acres of lucerne on his farm last year. It has been twice cut this year and stacked, and is now ready for cutting again. The crop showed up in marked contrast to the parched grass, and stock devour it greedily. The ground in this district is well suitted for growing lucerne, and the wonder is that settlers do not appreciate its value for dairy stock. In a memorandum from Egypt to the General Post Office, Colonel R. H. Rhodes advices that packages and parcels intended for delivery to units should be sent to Captain Bilton, officer in charge of the Defence Shipping Office, at K Shed, Waterloo Quay. Wellington, to be despatched in bulk. Parcels for individual soldiers should be sent through the post, and not otherwise. If this distinction is not attended to, the responsibility for non - delivery must rest with the sender.

“ One thing is quite clear to me with respect to Wellington, of which I have now had some experience, said a Wellington medical man to a Post representative. “ It is this ; There are just now, coinciding with the military camps being held, large numbers of woinen who are doing an immense amount of mischief by spreading disease far and wide. They manage to elude the vigilance of the police, although they are known, aud the way they earn their living is well known to the police. True., th.e police now have authority to deal with,onewoman brothels, but there is a vast amount of harm being done of which the police are quite well aware, and with which they are perfectly willing to deal, provided they only had the power and the obtaining of evidence satisfactory to the Court werg not so difficult as it is,”

Household supplies I "Von cannot do better than make up y° u . r 111 , to use only the best groceries, in other words ds,a 1 from Walker ana Furrie who promise you genuine quality and good service at the jfovvcsl prices,

Miss Betty has been appointed organist at All Saints’ Church.

A case of cerebro-spinal meningitis is reported at Moutoa. The patient, a child, has been removed to the District Hospital. George Shand, aged 13, died of heart failure In the Masonic Hall, Huntly, when there was some excitement caused by a flare-up in a kerosene heater.

A Pongaroa old identity, John Fitzgerald, over ninety years of age, and an Imperial Army Maori War pensioner, succumbed at the Pahiatua hospital to injuries sustained in a trap accident. A fire broke out on Mr Chrystail’s property at Moutoa yesterday morning, and tanned by the wind spread rapidly to the adjoining property, but was stopped by the drains, and it now appears to be well in hand.

Pte. Howe, of Foxton, who was invalided home last January, has been notified that he will be discharged as physically unfit as from April 3rd, Pte. Howe received a severe wound in the head and it is thought that a further operation will be necessary. He is unfit for work and should be provided for by the Pensions Board. His case is being investigated.

Should it ever be said that New Zealand had lagged behind in the hour of the Empire’s need ? Never! Enlistment was no child’s game. It meant that a man was prepared to face privations, endure suffering, risk his life. But the man who did his part in the war would have something to be proud of all his days ; the man who could go and would not go would have a failure to regret to the end of his life—Hon. A. L. Herdman.

Among the latest list of French honours appears the name ot Lance - Corporal Jack Comyns (Australia;, youngest brother of the late Mr D. W. Comyns, of Wanganui. Lance - Corporal Comyns left with the first Australian Army Medical Corps, and after being mentioned twice, in despatches has been personally decorated by President Poincaire with the French war cross. He was at latest advice in hospital, suffering from a nervous breakdown. He went right through Gallipoli, and was woundedlwhile there.

There is considerable anxiety in the Dominion concerning future supplies of printing papers, and the loss of the Matatua will cause further uneasiness, An appeal was recently made to the Government for aid in obtaining a steamer to bring the paper here. Notwithstanding that freight rates were five times ‘as high as before the war, from the east coast of America it is very difficult to obtain the necessary space in the steamers. Mr Massey said at Wellington on Tuesday that he had been trying to make adequate freight arrangements, and he hoped to be successful.

Eight children who went boating at Oriental Bay, Wellington on Friday afternoon have to thank a twelve-year-old boy named Arthur Radford for their rescue. Radford, who is a boy scout, and a practised swimmer, was returning from Roseneath school, when he noticed that a flat-bot-tomed punt was drifting out into the harbour with eight children on board. Without hesitation, the youth stripped off his clothes and swam to the punt. There were no oars in it, so he took the painter in his teeth, and began to swim back, pulling the boat and its heavy load after him. When he was half-way to the shore two gentlemen came along, They found a boat, aud with pieces of plank for paddles, had no difflculth in reaching the punt. The patriotic shop was open as usual last Saturday and good business was done. Gifts were received from the following:— Joe king, Mrs Hughes, Mrs Newth (Moutoa), Mr Stiles, Mrs W. Barber, Mr .Shailer (Palmerston), Mrs C. Symons, Mrs Greig, Mrs Kellow, Mrs Kempster,. Mr James B.oss, Mrs W. Ross, Mr Mitchell, Mrs Nesbit, Mrs Francis, Mrs Kerr-Hislop, Mr Thirkell, Mrs Austfn-Johnstone, Mrs A. S. Easton, Mrs Stevenson, Mrs C. Robinson, Mrs J. Robinson, Mr Freeman, Walker and Furrie, Mrs King, Mrs Moore, Mrs A. Ross, Mrs Raine, Dean and Rawson (Eevin). The shop will be open again on Saturday under the supervision of Mesdames John aud Chas. Robinson.

“Wheat in Australia lor local consumption is 4s 6d a bushel, and the price of bread 6Ad aloat,” said Mr A. G. Hart at the Tiruaru Fanners’ Union meeting on Saturday. “la Timaru wheat is 4s 6d, yet the price of the loaf is gd.” This, he said, was surely out of all proportion. In Waimate bread was only Sd. He thought that as producers they should bring the matter before the authorities, as the price of bread was altogether too high. The chairman (Mr J. Talbot) said competition had a good deal to do with the price, as. it required so much money to be spent in distributing bread—a cost that was out of all proportion. He doubted if the price of bread in England during war time was any dearer than in Timaru. Mr R. J. M’Keown said wheat was coming down in price all the time, yet bread was not reduced. It was decided to place the matter before the Board of Trade, expressing surprise a> the unreasonable price of bread when compared with the price of wheat.

BUY WHOLESALE FROM LAIDLAW LEEDS’ CATOLOG. IT’S FREE.

A sharp and prolonged earthquake was experienced in this district at 6.30 a.m. yesterday. The tickets are selling well for the National Cancert to be held in the Town Hall to-morrow night. Everything points to a successful lunction.

The Queen of the South, alter being stuck in the river since Monday morning, got off yesterday morning, and sailed for Wellington. She is due back with a general cargo to-morrow morning.

A very emotional scene occurred at the consecration of Bishop Brodie at Christchurch, when Mrs Brodie, mother of the bishop, was led up to the throne, immediately on the enthronement of her son, to receive the first blessing at his hands. The new bishop embraced her very gently, and many of the congregation were visibly affected by the incident.

At the inquest on the soldier who committed suicide at the Featherston camp recently no writing pad was available for use in writing the depositions, A substitute was hunted for, and a piece of music—a duet was found which served the purpose, and was used accordingly. The irony of fate was once more illustrated when, on reading the title of the duet, it was found to be, “Life’s Dream is o’er, Farewell.”

The Belgian Government has completed an inventory of the devastation wrought in the provinces of Brabant, Liege, Antwerp, and Namur since the Germans crossed the Luxemburg fioutier 16 months ago. In these provinces a total of 18,207 houses, churches, and other buildings or monuments have been destroyed. In Louvain, xi 20 buildings were destroyed and pillaged out of 7433 ; in Dinant, 1263 were destroyed out of 1375 ; Vise, 575 out of 762, and so on. At the present time the amount of hemp and tow stored in the vaiious sheds in the Dominion is very large, and buyers are experiencing a fair amount of difficulty in getting same shipped, owing to the shortage of shipping space. This week a sailing vessel is being loaded in Wellington with hemp, her cargo totalling between 5,000 and 6,000 bales. The hemp is for New York, and the vessel will discharge at San Francisco and the cargo railed across the continent to its destination. It is stated that the amount to be paid in freight, etc., for this one trip alone would have been more than sufficient to buy the vessel before the outbreak of war.

In the Supreme Court at Napier a few days ago, Mr Justice Edwards made some drastic comments on the way in which accused persons were kept in gaol awaiting trial at the recent Napier sessions. “How long has this woman been in gaol ?” asked His Honour, referring to the case of a woman who was charged with abandoning a child. “ Four mouths,” replied counsel for defendant, “and the head gaoler informs me that five male prisoners, together with the accused, who could have been tried at the December sessions, have been kept in prison till now.” “That state of things certainly needs attention,” said His Honour, “ and I shall see to it.”

On account of the continued spell of dry weather the water supply in a large number of homes has run out, and residents in all parts of the town are forced to carry water, some from the river and others from houses where there is a larger tank capacity. There is a fairly plentiful supply at the well at the junction of the Avenue and Russell Street, but on account of the lack of facilities for getting same this is not the convenience to householders that it otherwise would be. . What is required is a tap whereby residents could get a supply by means of buckets. This matter should receive immediate attention as the shortage of water is becoming a very serious menace to the health of the community.

Stiles and Matheson announce a grand display of Autumn arrivals, including Millinery, Costumes, Coats, Dress Materials and General Drapery. In spite of the scarcity of all materials, they have been fortunate in securing as handsome a collection of new fabrics as it has been their pleasure to offer.

YOUR FAMILY ROUND THE PIANO ! If your home never knows that best of all pleasures —an evening of music with family and friends —you should lose no time in getting a really good piano. The cost of a first-class instrument need not inconvenience you. Take advantage of The Bristol Piano Co’s, liberal time-payment plan, and you can enjoy an excellent Piano at home while paying for it. And what a superb instrument you can obtain by selecting at “The Bristol.” This well-known firm holds extensive stocks of “The Broadwood,” “The Sames,” and other English Pianos of world - wide prestige. In organs, New Zealand’s premier music warehouse specializes in the two leading Canadian makes—“ The Bell” and “The Imperial.” As all these instruments ensure life-long satisfaction, one can purchase with confidence at “The Bristol.” The Bristol Piano Co. Ltd., Wellington. M. J. Brookes! North Island Manager.