LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 1676, 17 February 1917, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Interesting reading matter appears on pages 1 and 4 of this issue.

A motor car number plate, “P.N. 1047,” awaits an owner at this office.

The Queen of the South, with general from Wellington, arrived at live o’clock yesterday afternoon. She will sail again for Wellington tonight with a cargo of hemp. Neal M’Culloch, aged <J4 years, residing at Ravensbourne, met with a fatal accident while cycling, as a result of a collision with a motor cyclist. Death was due to a fractured skull.

The tents at the Fealherston Military Camp hold eight occupants, and in some cases the names of the men give a distinctive name to their special tent. For instance there is (he “Bird Cage" which contains an Eagle, a Robin, a Parrot, and a Chook.

A Carterton settler, Air F. E. Tyler, tried some Australian seed potatoes this season, understanding that they were very ■ good. They grew fair lops, and he has now commenced to dig the roots, lie has dug several rows without discovering a solitary potato of any kind, and is wondering what kind of fancy plant he has wasted his time over, says the News,

The statement is reported to have been made at a meeting of the Californian Press Association recently that 800 country town newspapers in the United States of America had ceased publication since the commencement of the war and in consequence of the increased cost of paper. One thousand other publeations in America have since gone out.

Some good stories arc told of the quarter-deck and lower-deek in a Grand Fleet Chaplain’s note-book. Here is one: —“One of our destroyers was in action and in the course of the light was struck by a shell which penetrated into the hunkers and there exploded. Fragments of the bulkhead and a litter of coal came Hying out into the stokehold and shot out with them In a cloud of black dust also came a stoker who at the time bad been trimming the coal inside. He picked himself up slowly, and gave himself a shake and then, turning to the chief

stoker, said, “I don’t see that I’m doing much good in there; the bloomin’ coal is trimmin’ itself.’ ”

Call in at Walker and Fume’s when you require anything for cleaning or cooking purposes. Ail household lines stocked and excellent value given.

The Poxton Ladies’ Patriotic Guild desire to publicly acknowledge a cheque for £2O from Mrs Gower.

Paddy’s market at Palmerston for the wounded fund realised £1)50 for the first two davs.

In consequence of the high price of Hour and general increase in cost of ail material used by bakers, also the increasing difficulty of delivery, the Wellington bakers have advanced the price of bread as follows: sld 21b. loaf delivered, and 5d over counter.

Levin bowling green on Wednes-

day (says the Chronicle) resembled a poultry yard in March. A rink from Foxton plucked every feather in the Kinniburg trophies from their local possessors, and departed in triumph for their seaside home amid congratulations from the bowlers they had despoiled of their finery.

A recent visitor to the West Coast found that of the three towns, Hokitika, Greymouth, and Westport, the last mentioned is feeling the effects of (he war conditions in a greater degree than the others. The Canterbury visitor counted no fewer than 30 empty shops in Palmerston Street, the principal thoroughfare of Westport. Rentals as low as 10s. per week were being asked for some of these 1 .

In , illustrating Iho remarkable growth oi: (he British land forces, Mr T. M. WiH'ord, M.P., in the course of his war lecture at Wellington on Wednesday night, recalled how, years ago, Bismarck had said (hat if the British Army dared to land in Germany he would order (lie police to look it up. ‘‘And he could very easily have done it, foo,” added Mr WiH'ord, amidst laughter.

The Wellington correspondent of the Auckland Herald says: Sir John Denniston is retiring from the Supreme Court Bench shortly, but it is possible that his retirement will not be announced for a little time. It is no longer any secret that the vacancy will be tilled by the appointment of .Mr Herdman, but it is not likely that his colleagues will wish to lose Mr 'Herdman from the Cabinet just now. This may delay the appointment for a little while.

No fewer than 1!) Jockeys were, drawn in the recent ballot, and live trainers, besides quite a number of .-table lads. The jockeys drawn were as follow:—A. Clark, L. Morris, B. Rac, W. Ryan, C. Cochrane, G. Pickett, H. Munson, R. Alanson, K. McColi, F. Film, R. Ellis, L, .Id-

lings, C. McKay. T. Montague, J. Dixon, A. Hamilton, J. Wallis, A. Trotter, and A. Crerar. The trainers drawn include G. Price, d. Hennah, C. Alillen, A. Russell, and J. Clarke.

The family of Mr E. Bregmau, of Rangiriri ( Waikalo),.has a good record of war service, all live sons, farmers in the Rotongaro district, have volunteered, says the New Zealand Herald. Air Bregman, sen., is a Maori War veteran, and holds the New Zealand war medal. He has a son-in-law and one grandson at the front. One son, Alfred, has been through all the Somme, lighting and at latest advices was well. George Bregman was injured at the Somme by a shell, but has returned to the trenches. Then. Bregman, who went to Australia to enlist, was posted to the Wireless Specialist Corps and served in the Fast. He is now in hospital suffering from disease. Albert Bregman is now on duty in the trenches. The youngest son is now in camp. Air Bregman’s grandson, Stanley Foster, is in camp with his uncle Albert.

A pitiful story was recounted in (he S.M. Court at Christchurch on Monday last by the defendant in a case brought for arrears of rent and tor possession. He said that he was only obtaining £2 2s a week, on which his wife and ten children had to subsist. Moreover, a scries of accidents had befallen him. He had broken a linger, then his wife broke her arm. then his toes were crushed and broken at his work. His wife expected to be confined at any moment. He would pay accruing rent, but he could not pay arrears. “How can a man,” he asked, “pay arrears on £2 2s a week The Bench gave him four weeks' respire till an eleventh child had been given to the world and the mother had been given a needed rest.

Speaking :il the Commercial Cluh in Wellington, Sir Ernest Slinekletoii told how, when the Nimrod was in view on the Thames some years ago, a mulatto managed to smuggle himself on board, and, obtaining one of (heir Endurance caps, was showing “the visitors round for a consideration.” (Laughter). He caught him, however, and sent him ashore. “Of course,” he added, “nothing of that sort can happen here when the Aurora is thrown open to visitors. (Applause). On another occasion, stated Sir Ernest, he was giving instructions to one of the officers on the Nimrod when an old lady with ringlets came up and said to him: “Are you Lieut. Shackieton He replied that he was. “And is this one of your officers ?” she asked. “Yes,” he replied. “Then,” she said, “do you think I should'be out of place in asking you to tell him that his coat is on lire?” (Loud laughter.) It seemed, Sir Ernest said, that the officer had been smoking when called aft for orders, and had at once pocketed his pipe, with disastrous results.

Why bother making cakes when there is such a good assortment at Perreau’s ?•

Just landed, a supply of BradesMilis hooks. Only a limited quantity.—Walker and Furrie.*

Mr Fraser informed us this morning that it is not his intention to seek re-election as Mayor.

The friends of Miss Boss, daughter of Mr and Mrs Wm. Ross, who is an inmate of a private hospital in Palmerston, will be pleased to learn that she is making satisfactory progress. One of the many things made solely by Germany before the outbreak of war was the lead mail-bag seal. When the Government ran short of the seals it advertised for tenders for making them. The tender of a Christchurch company was accepted, and now that firm is busily engaged in making them. The company had no data to go upon, so it had to design the seal. The result is that it is now turning them out at the rate of a million a month.

An Ordcr-in-Council just gazetted prohibits the importation into Xew Zealand of electric' apparatus known as the Violetta High-fre-quency Generator, and all accessories specially adopted for use with the apparatus, as well as all advertising relating to it. This procedure has been adopted under the seed ion of the Customs Act which empowers the Governor by Order-in-Council to prohibit the importation of certain goods in order to prevent fraud or deception.

The French authorities, Mr Wilf'oi’d (old his hearers in a lecture at Wellington, have been working for the last year in perfecting a great gun. It was a 400 millimetre, Kiingun, and was a “Jobber.” It was tried-out not long ago against an enormously strong and speciallyprepared dug-out. of which'afterwards there was not a vestige to be found. This gun, Mr WiH'ord added, was used against Fort Vaux. and six shots took (he fort. Then the Germans announced that they had evacuated Vaux, as it was no longer of any strategical importance.

The Rev. Father Bowe, of Dannevirke, met with an unfortunate accident during the progress of the grand parade at the show there on Thursday. He was taking part in the parade, driving a somewhat restive horse attached to a light gig, and as a result of coming into contact with a post in the enclosure the animal took fright and ladled. The gig was capsized, the shafts were broken, and the vehicle was otherwise damaged. The driver was dragged for some distance, and was reported to be severely injured about the head. The rev. gentleman was at once removed to the local hospital.

There was some excitemnt at the Australian Picture Theatre, Mossman (Sydney) recently, through the failure of a small group in the audience to stand when the National Anthem was being played. Just before the interval a notice was thrown on the screen, asking those who wished to express their loyalty, to stand while the National Anthem was being played. A small group remained seated, and a commotion followed. They were soon surrounded by the excited crowd, and one elderly loyalist made a swing at one of the offending youths. There was a lot of talk, during which the young people explained that they were Danes. Finally, after a policeman had come upon the scene, order was restored.

Palmerston is getting 1 notorious tor wtieking-up eases. On Thursday night, in the eentre of the town, and practically within a stone's throw of the poliee station, a young girl, Gladys Little, employed to assist Mrs 0. Kush in housework, was brutally set on by two men at the buck ot the Opera House, rendered insensible, and robbed of a sum ot money and some jewellery. Mr Lewis, a elerk employed by Messrs Kutherturd ami Connell, was held up on Paxton Line on Wednesday night. He put up a light, and escaped. On the same night, bed ween 11 and midnight, Mr Heggan, a Taranaki visitor, was attacked by the two men. Mr Deggan is a big man, and he gave a good account of himself, managing to knock one of his assailants down. However, that: was his fate in his turn, and his pockets were gone through and £2 odd taken. A young lady was held up in Queen Street on Thursday night, but no particulars are available.

The raising of the price of The l imes by 50 per cent, is conclusive answer to the common idea that a war is a god-send to a newspaper, largely increasing its revenue( writes Sir Henry Lucy in the Sydney -Morning Herald). In ordinary circumstances, when this country is happily free from active participation in a war, expenses in the direction of special correspondence and telegraph charges exceed any increment of revenue that may accrue from increased circulation. In the current war these normal charges are augmented by the added cost of paper, the rise in wages, and in all commodities necessary to the production of the news sheet. The Times puts down at £70,000 a year the extra cost of paper. In degree this tax is imposed upon every paper published daily or weekly iu Lie United Kingdom, and will probably in many cases lead to an increase in its price. A fortnight before The Times’ announcement appeared the editor of the principal London Sunday paper told me that the bill for paper supplied to Ids journal had gone up £I,OOO a week.

Housewives! We have the right labour-saving devices to cut your work in two. Our stocks are complete with every house need. Best value offered at Walker and Fur-. rie’s, Foxton.