LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 1658, 6 January 1917, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

A boat with 7,000 tons of coal from Japan has arrived in Wellington, and another with 0,00,0...t0iis at Dunedin.

A record wool load was hrm-giit into Gunning, N.S.W., a few 1 : ,s ago. It consisted of 75 -a weighing 11 tons, and was drav t >y 24 bullocks.

As an example of phonetic pelling from the land of the wooden nutmeg the address on a letlcf received recently by a Hastings Easiness man would he hard to i'eat. The letter was addressed “Mr - Ox Bay, New Zealand,’’ and from a large firm in America. ,

In order to probe to the htHmii certain alleged in '"nnection with the supply of mill :ir . v re<|uirements, a departmental u, ‘ quiry is now being held in Well) 1 !*- ton. It is alleged that certain mT 1 : hers of the stall of one of the ■ ' '

fence Department’s brandies u;,:

implicated', as well as some Ims in

men of the city. The plorecdu are being kept strictly private. The continued spell of dry weather at present being experienced locally is becoming serious. Yery many‘households are quite out of water, and in others the supply is particularly short, necessitating very careful use. The gardens are dried up, and the paddocks are brown. Last evening there tfas every appearance of rain, but the much-hoped-for downpour did not eventuate, and as a result wasliiug day at many dwellings Ims again been postponed. To-day rain appears to he as far off as ever, and the glass is high.

A comp:my is being - formed in Christchurch for the manufacture of'printing paper, and we hope to hear of it being successfully floated. New Zealand timber has been sent to Switzerland for trial purposes, and manufactured into printing paper, a splendid sample of which now lies before Us, says the New Zealand Herald. The company has secured land situate on the West Coast with a splendid water power quite handy, and a fine supply of timber. If this industry is successfully established, and we hope it will be, it will be a splendid thing for the Dominion to see limber manufactured into paper instead of being destroyed' by lire. The estimated consumption of newspaper in the Dominion is 50 tons per day.

A case of interest to railway travellers and persons using weekend tickets was heard at the Magistrate’s Court, Auckland, hist week. An Auckland clerk, named K, Munro Storey, was charged alternatively with having travelled on the railway without having previously paid the proper fare, contrary to the by-laws of the New Zealand Government Railway Act, 1908; and that being a person holding a ticket issued for travelling for specific, purposes, he used the ticket for another purpose, contrary to the bylaws quoted. Mr S. Mays appeared for the Department,' and Mr A.-Den-niston for the defendant, who formally- pleaded guilty. Mr Mays pointed out that the chief object of the : .prosecution was jo make it perfectly clear to the public that those travelling on week-end tickets not break their journey en route to the station to which they had taken the ticket, or on their return. Despite the fact that this limitation*on week-end tickets had been extensively advertised both in the newspapers and on railway stations, flhere were numerous cases of persons endeavouring to avoid the conditions. It was stated further by Mr Mays that the Railway Department’s reason for forbidding ih'l breaking of the journey- war, thperfectly good one that these ffekt enabled dwellers in town und.’coii y k try to make a week-end journey y minimum Cost, but the tickets not intended for commercial purposes. The commercial interests were profit-making concerns, and could’well afford to pay the ordinary rates. If breaking the journey was permitted there was gravy likelihood that week-end tickets would he extensively used for commercial purposes. The object of the prosecution was not punishment, but for the information of the travelling public. Defendant was convicted on one charge, and ordered to pay costs. Thy alternative charge was withdrawn.

Just landed, a supply of BradesMills hooks. Only, a limited quantity. and Fume.*

All the local Soldiers ™ | been on leave teft W -? morning's train on W to camp. -■ \ . ■ The raspberry eyop of the Nelson reported to be a very.pcfoir|pue^P||fc^ It is understood that' the ment, dfi behalf of the Iniperihl vornment, will take cheese ,hefe on >’ the basis of per pound, s£ee board, New Zealand main ports. , , } A Canterbury, lady touring America, writing home, says:'. All the railway bridges on our way across Canada were guarded, and at Niagara barbed-wire entanglements and sentries kept the vicinity of the huge electric power houses very exclusive. v Cocksfoot cutting is in full Shifts on Banks Peninsula, nearly a earlier ihhn usual (slates iWLytfp telton Times). Labour is ’ scarce, and any new arrival is fairly snapped up. “Two bob an hour and tucker” seems to be the. ruling, wage, ■

At Tauhevenikau races on Tuesr day the police executed a search of the refreshment booths, for which no liquor: license had been obtained. A quantity of liquor was seized, and the names of the persons in the booth were talon. It is probable that a, prosecution will follow.

Tin 1 Ttu/uinn(ions received for the' local Han»g Club’s abnual meeting to he in 1., on ilie 22nd and 23rd inmant are very si .sfactory indeed, and even thing ponds to a most sue* cessfui ‘ gathering. This yearV nominations total 270, an increase ut lli lover last year, which, were 43 in excess of those received for the--1915.| meeting.

/. ''■ 1 ■■ ■ ■ A {regrettable i-oectacle was noted on aft rnoon. when a dtfL **still j|i her"lcons was seen- in php i H’i'J wm-se-Tor’lii' >r (sayrCtc Grey difor Argus). er loud :md disjointed talk atti/ ifed the notice of a-Liy passers-1 and many renlAsrks were hea 1 the" '■ "fid sight.

t Hi mm Higgs writes thus to. the fraction Bulletin“l received the

hook you sent me which is named What Makes the Gasoline Engine .to. I ain’t read it yet because what’s the use reading it when I don’t care what makes the gasoline: engine go as long as it goes which; mine dont only occasionally. What 1 want to know is What Makes the Gasoline Engine Stop. If you got a book called that send me one. I want to know what makes the gasoline engine stop when everything is o k and nothing is the matter.”

An official census of the French civilian “active” population—namely, of the adult non-mobilised portion of the nation—taken-on March 15th, 1916, shows that there were 12.494.000 men and ,7,715,000 women, or a total of 20,209,000, representing about half of the total population of France. Figures show that of this number 4,655,000 men and 3.927.000 women were at the head

of their own establishments —namely, either as agriculturalists, farmers, tradespeople, workshops, factories, or businesses. There were, 6,312,000 male and 3,093,000 female workpeople and -employees.

Some Dudley Road residents presented the editor of the Inglewood newspaper with a New Year dainty in the shape of a tupa that had been caught in the Ngatoro River. It measured, according to the veracious Record, some 5 feet 2 inches in length, 191 inches in; girth, and turned the scale at 28 lbs. The young men speared the fish with hay-forks, bat had their work cut out to land it, and although they almost severed the head from the body by a stroke with an axe on the hack of the neck (always supposingthat an eel has a neck) when caught, yet hours after,.when brought to the office, when q. piece of stick wafe put into its moutfi, it hit it savagely and shook it as a terrier would a rat.

Norway’s merchant slapping service, - with which Germany is playing havoc, is the largest ,of any Continental nation so far as the number of vessels is concerned, Lloyd's Register prior to the outbreak of war showed Norway to possess uo'ifewer than 2,174 merchant vessels, us against Germany’s 2,l(i(j, France being next with 1,539. Britain leads the way in all the world with -9,285, to say nothing of 2,008 boats belonging to our colonies. It is interesting, too, to read in the latest Panama Canal %ures that the British were the most frequent users of the canal, the States second, and Norway third only.

Already, thunks to the raising 0 f the walls and the stopping of the sand drift, the entrance to the port has considerably improved, says the Pateu paper, in referring to the , ■ rboiir improve iients at Patea ■ jid the future should still furl, improvement, as the auiount of sand scoured oat now far, execi d* that entering the riven Seeing that the'total value of the cheese expbrted annually from the port ,is already well over a million pounds, everything possible should be done id improve the facilities for shipping. . The board, with the as- ii : sialance of the engineer, has accomplishes! some good work . the past 13 something still better to allow be- ' w • fore the eu4 of 1917. y Wanted Known. Housewives should make a point of inspecting our 'special ’Kinds Stocks Grocery Department. PuiPa Ssort , ments of P reserved and Delicacies. Walker and Phrrie, Foxton. \

One dairy factory in the Eketahuna. district has a lady engaged as second assistant, and it is reported that she is an expert worker. A sitting of the Medical Board was held in Palmerston yesterday. It is stated that eight out of every twelve men examined were “turned down.”

The biggest nominator for the local Racing Club’s annual meeting this month is the Foxton trainer, Mr A. M. Wright, who has put in no less than 22 nominations.

The Town Clerk notifies that a special meeting of the Borough Council will he held on Monday, 15th inst., for the purpose of fixing the statutory half-holiday.

The ordinary monthly meeting of the Borough Council will he held a week later this month, on account of the holidays. The meeting will take place on Monday, January 15th.

Just to show the amount of money that passes through the hands of the bushmen, the Wairoa Guardian mentions that a Gisborne bushfeller called in a Wairoa hotel and casually asked for a drink for himself —ihe anti-shouting law preventing, him from doing anything else —and tendered a cheque for £1,200. ■*'

Captain and Airs Chrisloff'erson, who have been in charge of the local corps of the Salvation Army for the past twelve months, have received notice of their transfer to Inglewood. They will leave Foxton on the 18th instant. The vacancies will be tilled by Ensign Hull and Lieutenant Young, both at present in Norsewood. Ensign Hull was in 'foxton for a little time last year, so is not altogether a stranger.

A important matter that is attracting the attention «>f all interested in providing employment for the. people through industrial development is the question of training apprentices. It is known from a preliminary analysis that an extraordinary large number —out of all proper proportion —of youths are developing into general labourers. The matter will ho discussed at the next annual conference of the New Zealand Industrial Corporation, to he held at Auckland in February.

A travel scenic subject, oi' considerable importance is booked to appear at the Town Hall pictures at an early date, which will contain a complete holiday tour from Sydney to Loudon, via the Islands and Canada. This most interesting and valuable educative addition to the long list oi' triumphs of the motioncamera is reported to have created tfio end of interest in Auckland and Wellington. Without mal-de-mer or luggage, or any of the little worries incidental to a sea journey, the audience are transported from Suva to Honolulu, to Canada, over the Rockies to -Niagara, and so on, finishing up in ‘‘the Hub of the world.” The Minister for Education (Hon. J. Hanau) -gave the picture his special endorsement, and stated that not only was it of great interest and educational value, but being taken on the ‘‘All-red route,” it served to foster the spirit of Imperialism.

Astronomically considered, the year 1917 is decidedly more interesting than either 1919 or 1918, being marked by seven eclipses, the maximum number that can occur in any year. In every year not less than two, or more than seven, eclipses occur. This year two will be total eclipses of the moon visible in New Zealand, one on the evening of Jaupary Bth, and I lie other on the evening of December 28Ui. On January 23rd a partial solar eclipse will be visible in Russia and Siberia, while another on June 19th will be confined almost entirely to regions within the Arctic circle. On the morning of July sth a total lunar eclipse will occur, but will be invisible in New Zealand because it will not commence till the moon has set. Again, on July 191 Is an observer suitably situated in Antarctica would see a small porlion of Hie sun eclipsed, but on December 111li be would be more favoured, and woidd witness an annular eclipse. Curiously enough, one of the best localities from which lo view this latter eclipse would be the South Dole itself. Finally, mi Sunday, March 4th, a most striking oeculation of Saturn by the moon may be witnessed. In 1918 there will be two eclipses of the sun and a partial eclipse of the moon. Of these the lunar eclipse on June 24th will be the only one visible in New Zealand.

Sut.nl Tea is the tea of distinct flavour. It is superior to other brands. Try a pound. Walker and Furrie, Foxton.