LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 1604, 29 August 1916, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

A jiuiii named Lilias, employed at I ho o|)iii mill, had lli<* misfortune to break liis arm vesterdav.

Tin 1 annual general meeting of members of Hit* Poxton Bowling Cluit will lie held in the Town Hall supper-room on Thursday evening next, at 8 o'clock.

The long-expected deelaraiion of war hy Ilaly against dermany has boon made. It is announced that a stale of war exists between the two nations as from yesterday. The Rev. D. 0. Bates wires as follows at noon to-day: —Northerly strong winds to gale; the weather appears likely to be cloudy and unsettled, with rain following. Barometer falling. Sea rough, tides moderate swell, sea increasing.

Many people are inclined to think that one certificate in the Government loan is not worth applying tor, but lbs will provide over 100 cartridges or a certain amount of lood and clothing for the troops. A racegoer would not hesitate to invest €1 on the totalisator in order to back his “fancy” in a race. Well, the loan is a sporting proposition, with the absolute certainty of a dividend, savs the Palmerston Times.

The Maori social at the Town Hall on Friday last resulted in a surplus of C 3 lbs 8d lor the B ounded Soldiers’ Fund, which lias been paid over to the Mayor. The poi dances, hakas, etc., by the natives were much appreciated, and gave rise to several encores. Be understand that the performance and social are to he shortly repeated in Levin and Shannon for the same deserving cause, and trust our Maori friends will get the generous support that they undoubtedly deserve.

Xearly 40,000 womim in England have already been made widows by ihe war. When 1 lie euntliet started and (lovernmeut of'lieials were making’ estimates of the number of widows that in all probability would be created by the struggle, one of the highest estimates was 40.000. When Lord Kitchener heard of it he told those who were responsible for making provision tor the war widows that the estimate was too fow, and said that they should make provision for at least 50.000. As a result of the recent naval battle 1,550' widows were added to (he list of women receiving pensions.

The change programme to be screened at the Town Hall on Wednesday contains a number of pictures of an unusually Inch standard. The leading attraction is a dramatic production entitled, ‘‘The High Hoad." 'Hie leading role is taken by Valli Willi, an artist whose fascinating characteristics win tor her Ihe approval of her audience. She is charming and vivacious, and her ad bur is marked with wonderltd realism. A remarkable feature of the drama is the large number of different scenes that are presented. The artists are equal to the heavy demands made upon their histrionic ability, and they are successful in achieving an extremely line performance. Tin 1 plot is lull ol incident, an exciting feature being (he deslruction by lire of a huge factory. “The High Road” is supported by a number of excellent topical lilms.

The extract from an article in ) lie London Times, slating Mini “voluntaryism lias not sufficed to fill up (lie promised New Zealand emit ingents,” was referred to by the Minister of Defence (Hon. -I. Allen, who said; —“I make no comparisons, )mt wait eonfidenlly until the end of the wav, until the historian shall say whether New Zealand has done her part. I rest absolutely confident that when the story is told no one will he able to east a slur on New Zealand, not even the London Times, as to the part she has taken in this war. I could give figures, but I will not do so, 1 simply make this official statement —-that we have done our share, and we are going to do our share until the end. Not only have we sent our share of men away and 1 believe more than our share —but we have kept our Territorial training going during the whole of the war. Our home army exists today practically as strong as when the war broke out, and available for service here if required.”

At the Town Hall on Saturday night the slides announcing the enrolment of the Expeditionary Force Reserve under the Compulsion Act were screened. The War Regulations make it compulsory on all picture theatres to exhibit the slides at every screening on the date (September Ist) and every day (hereafter until further notice. The slides call attention to the necessity for men of military age to enrol in (he Reserve. The screening of the slides was followed by a round of appla use.

“Glossomancy” is the name which has been given to the newest “science,” which consists in reading people’s characters by the shape and size of their tongues. Thus, according to glossomancists, a long ’tongue shows frankness; a short one, dissimulation; a broad one, unreservedness; a narrow one, concentration. When the tongue is long and broad it is a sign that its owner is inclined (o be a gossip; when it is long and narrow, that he is moderately frank and open. Those who possess short and broad tongues arc untruthful: those whose longues are short and narrow are sly as well as bad tempered.

A gift to the Serbian Relief Fund is at present on view in a window in Auckland, says the Herald. It is a collection of trinkets, forwarded anonymously to the secretary, Mr G. L. Scansie, manifestly by a woman, probably a resident in one of (he Waikato (owns. The articles consist of a silver and gunmetal watch, two gold rings, set with a

topaz and an amethyst, respectively, a gold brooch, a pair of earrings, set with topazes and amathysts, a bracelet, a gold cross limin' on a necklet, a tiepin, and a pair of silver sleevelinks. In forwarding the package, the sender wrote: —“I am sending by this mail a registered packet containing' my trinkets. I have no money I can subscribe to help, but thought that perhaps you might lie able to sell these. They are all very precious gifts from my own beloved people, but 1 do so want to help. 1 " “We bought it to make money out of it the best way we could,’' said Mr W. Stevens, of Dannevirke, referring to the purchase of the (>,OOO acre Oporae Estate, and some of the statements that have been made regarding it. He said nobody had been fold the price, and it was the business of the purchasers, himself, and Mr F. S. Easton, of Foxton, what they were going to do with the land. For the present it would be worked as a going concern, but that was not to say that it would not eventually be subdivided and sold, though there was no intention at present to adopt this course. Mr Stevens explained that he had become connected with the transaction by making an inspection on behalf of a gentleman in Xapier, who eventually had pulled out. Mr Stevens then interested himself and endeavoured to form a syndicate, and eventually he and Mr Easton became the possessors with the intention previously expressed —to make money out of it the best way they could.

In the early days of Oamaru, somewhere in the very early fifties, the father of. an Oamaru business man id’ to-day was passing through the place on his way to the Central Otago goldfields (says the Mail.) He •found the accommodation so limited that he and a friend were obliged to sleep in a but with a day lloor and only one item of ‘■furniture” in the shape of an empty eollin. The fra veilin' spread his blankets in the eollin, his mate sleeping on the lid. \ ery many years afterwards, at a Timaru tire>iile, chance acquaintances were living again the hardy. Iree-and-easy old days, and one recounted how he had been unable to secure lodgings in Oamaru, and. in search for a cover from the dew. had looked into an old hut. In it was a eollin, in which was a corpse sitting reading and smoking. In a mild panic he had lied from the spot, quite a! a loss then or later to explain the hallucination, (ireal was Ids delight to learn that the man to whom lie was telling (lie lale was the ‘‘corpse.” who said that what he had been reading was an aged pamphlet picked up on the floor.

Auckland is not (o he without a memento of the (‘(dobrated racehorse Carbine. At a meeting of tin Auckland Facing Club Committe( (lie following letter was read from (lie Duke of Portland to (lie secretary of the dub, Mr .). F. Harlland: —‘•The skin <d' Carbine is al present in the bands of Messrs Howland Ward. Ltd., the taxidermists, of Piccadilly, London, undergoing the processes necessary for its preservation. As Carbine was horn in Xew Zealand, it has occurred to me (bat if would be lilting that his skin should be deposited in Hie land of his birth, and I think that perhaps the best course 1 could take would be to ask yon, as secretary of the Auckland Racing Club, to receive it, and then present it to the Auckland Museum. I should he much obliged if you would kindly let me know whether this course would be agreeable to yon. It is quite probable that the skin will not be sent while the war continues, but I write now, so that everything may be in order when the time comes for its transmission.” It is interesting to recall that the Duke of Portland purchased carbine from the trustees of the estate of the late Mr D. S. Wallace, for 13,000 guineas.

See cheap rates, front pages Laidlaw Leeds’ Wholesale Catalog.

For Bronchial Coughs, take Woods’ Great Peppermint Cure.

At last night’s meeting of members of the Foxton Racing Chtb it was unanimously decided to ask Mr Frank Robinson to accept the position of patron. Mr Robinson is one of the oldest members of the Club, and for a number of years occupied the position of president. He is also a trustee of the racecourse.

‘‘You can expect the end of the war,"’ writes a New Zealander from the Western front, “when we have filled the whole of Belgium, France and Germany into sandbags.” The lilling of sandbags is one of our soldiers’ occupations when they are “resting” away from the front trenches. The task appears to bo a never-ending one, and millions of those useful aritcles for trench construction are made.

The public are reminded that War Loan certificates will still be on sale at all money order offices throughout New Zealand. The fact that the Dominion loan was so succcessI'ully floated should not influence those who are able to assist by purchasing these certificates. In all, sixteen million sterling is required for the purpose of’the war, and allhough it was originally only proposed to raise half the sum in New Zealand, every £1 additional that is raised in war certificates will be £1 less to he raised abroad, and will so help the Dominion in its self-reliant policy. It is hoped that all those who have not yet taken up one or more certificates will speedily do so. The great strength of the French finance lies in the fact that the people generally have a share in the Stale bonds, which'are held in small quantities by all sorts and conditions of men. All those who cannot help the war by going personally into the battlefield can at least do something in the matter of finding the money required to bring it to a successful issue. If some enthusiast in every factory, every store, and every shop, who has the good of his country at heart, would voluntarilv lake on the dutv of can-

vassing his ikdlow employees to purchase war certificates, he would be doing a good work and prevent the indifferent, who would otherwise neglect to subscribe, from overlooking their duty in this matter.

“Parent” writes, objecting to dancing classes being held at the local school for the reason that it fills the scholars minds with pleasure instead of work, and that dancing with the teachers creates familiarity. “Parent” concludes, “it would be more to their credit if the teachers put in the extra time with getting the backward children on in their class work. In my opinion, sir. if parents want their children taught dancing the school and school teachers are not the ones who should be engaged. I am surprised to think that no one has thought lit to protest against what has been going on at the school for weeks past, and it is time it was put a stop to.” [On referring the matter to the head teacher. Mr Jackson said ; “I have had no complaints from par-

cuts, but rather expressions of approval. Only children who get permission from their parents are allowed to lake part. Dances taken have been, grand march, polka, barn dance. Highland 'fling and lancers. .Several of these dances are part of the training in Swedish drill As to supervision, all the staff —10 of ns

—have supervised, so that not much chance for ‘familiarity' has been given. What we have taken will be of use in displays in the future, so that 1 merely improved the occasion. Xo school time whatever has been given to the work. It was an excellent pastime in wet playtimes. Of course, we could have got another hall if the Committee objects to anything but school work being done in the school.”]