NEWS AND NOTES.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 1619, 3 October 1916, Page 4

NEWS AND NOTES.

A sufferer from the recent licensing legislation, curiously enough, is the Palmerston North brunch of tho Salvation Army, says the Palmerston Times. In .the “good old days” the lassies used to make a round of the public-house bars op Baturday nights and take up a collection for the good of those at the bottom of the precipice. Their takings from this source were said to have averaged £4 104 a week. Now that a woman is no longer a human being after 6 p.m., the lassies cannot either shout or be shouted for (in a dry manner of speaking), and are therefore cut off from a flowing source of revenue.

Some of the food prices in the Old country when the mail left are interesting reading after two years’ war. XJie cheapest vegetables on the London mayket is asparagus, and this may be easily understood, as if is more a luxury than a food, and is in nowise nourishing. Prime bunches are to be had from 8d to Is, and the glut threatened a reduction to lid. Pish is wonderfully cheap. Cod, for .instance, is only 4d a pound. The dearest and best fish in flie world, turbot, was to be had for is a pound, and salmon, owing: to large shipments from Cun-

a da, could be bought at Is 2d a pound by taking the whole fish. Nearly all meats were much cheaper than in Australia, and eggs were about 1-id each, or less. Bread was the same as here. According to these prices, food seems to be fairly plentiful. When the starving of Great Britain by our chief enemy, which was to' commence some months ago and finish about now, is going to commence seems rather a puzzle.

Here is a good story, and the incident is said to have taken place in the great training ('amp at Salisbury Plain. It was a hea.vj s work, fourteen hours ot it in all, and at the end of some nine hours one man showed signs of giving out. “Come!” said the officer, “surely you can do as well as the old Romans did, who could stand 24 houis at a stretch.” “Please, sir,” replied the soldier, “I’m not a Roman; I’m a Wesleyan.”

“That Government be asked to submit to the Imperial authorities, that will consider such matters when the time arrives, the question of high and constantly increasingrates ruling for shipping freights to and from New Zealand.” I his motion has just been adopted by the Council of (he Central Chamber of Commerce, Wellington, as a remit for the Chandlers of Commerce conference. Mr G. Winder suggested (hat it was about time that they asked the Government to nationalise some of the shipping with a view to controlling freights.

That the parcels which are forwarded to the soldiers at the iron! reach their destination would seem to find much proof in the fact that one lady who has -consistent ly sent away parcels has received no fewer than twentydive letters of thanks from different soldiers, says the Dominion. The greatest appreciation was expressed, and one or (wo of the writers mentioned iliat they were so (dose to the German trenches that they could with ease tell (he German soldiers opposite them what their presents consisted of. They took care to do so, apparently to the envy of the'latter.

“I think,” remarked Dr. Cockayne ill a lecture on “Daylight Saving” at the Wellington Philosophical Society’s meeting, “that I have-had as hutch practical experience of daylight saving as anyone here present. In the early ‘nineties I was working on a farm in the Chatham Islands, where the family were in the habit of putting the clock on two hours. The result was Unit we had breakfast at six o’clock, although the clock hands showed eight o’clock, noon, and ten o’clcok respectively. I can assure you that 1 never worked harder in my life.” { Laughter).

A representative eoiiferem-e of delegates from local bodies was held at Wanganui this week to discuss the building 1 of a link railway between Wanganui and Raetihi under the provisions of the Local Railways Act. There were also present Messrs W. A. Veitch, G. V. Pearce, and R. \V. Smith, M’s.P. It was staled that the proposed railway would serve a largo area of good country and shorten! the present journey between Wanganui and Ohakune by fifty miles. It was decided to approve of the formation of a railway district embracing portion of four counties and roughly a thousand square miles in extent, and to urge the Government to have a survey carried out with the object of ascertaining the most practicable route.

The long arm of the law figured iu a case heard in Blenheim the other day, says the local paper. It reached over a period of five years, extending hack to a football match in Blenheim on .June fi|h, 1011. The game excited a demonstration on the part of a number of spectators, who rushed the ground and were ejected with difficulty by the officials. A sequel was the laying of an information against a young man mimed James Sand for using obscene language. The accused evaded the prosecution, taking his departure hurriedly for the North Island and changing his name. He returned to. Blenheim, and was at once identified. Counsel appeared for him when (he case was called on, and said his client was a Dane, who <lid no fully understand the laws of the country, that ho was not aware of (he gravity of his conduct, and that he had returned to consult u solicitor as to what he should do. A fine of £5, and 10s costs, was imposed.