LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 1744, 4 August 1917, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The members of the local Presbyterian Ladies Guild were entertained at an afternoon on Wednesday by Mrs Perreau, and not, as previously stated, elsewhere. A most enjoyable social time was spent.

For falsely representing himself to be 21 years of age and obtaining liquor in a Wellington hotel, a y*mth named Vigil Smith was lined £2, or seven days. The barman was lined £5 and costs.

It is reported on good authority that there are 15,000 ballotted men of the First Division who cannot be found. The Government are shortly 'appointing a number of special constables to deal specially with deserters.

It is provable that; the diningcars will be taken oft the Main Trunk and New Plymouth express (rains as from Monday next. Suitable arrangements for the supply (A meals have been made at various stations.

In a Gazelle Extraordinary, Ills Excellency the Governor-General publishes the proclamation of His Majesty the King declaring that the mime of Windsor is (o lie borne by bis Boyal house and family, and relinquishing the use of all German titles and dignities.

A special,meeting of tlie Borough Council will be held on Friday, lOtii inst., at 7.30 p.m,, to appoint delegates to wait on the Minister of Internal Affairs re .hydro-electric’ scheme, and to discuss the recommendation of the public meeting re Round Bush.

The- Eltham bakers have decided to discontinue delivery of bread. From August Ist their only terms will lie lOd per 111) loaf cash over the counter. The linns give as a reason for their action the “present extraordinary expense of running delivery carts.”

The many friends of Mr J. Rose will regret to learn that ho lips been seriously,ill at Mangatainoka, where he went on a business visit over a week ago. He was allacked with diphtheria, followed by quinsy. He is now making a good recovery from what was considered an almost hopeless ease. Objection was taken by Mr J. Vigor Brown in the House to the way in which Sir James Allen had answered a, question put by him. “We are treated like a.lot of schoolchildren,” said Mr Brown, who complained bitterly of the evasiveness of Ministers when questions were ■put to them.

The Minister for Defence nfMiiies Hint, as it ha* come to the knowledge of the Deportment Unit certain persons have been wrongfully dealing in arms, etc., the .property of the Government, that any person who wrongfully sells or buys, or has in his possession any such propertywithout satisfactorily accounting for same, will be prosecuted.

The latest British triplane, which is said to be the fastest machine extant, Ims created no'little admiration in France, says a British paper. Its guns, loo) outrange all existing aerial weapons to date. The bringing down of six German aeroplanes one afternoon by one of these, without itself sustaining any damage, js eloquently satisfying. A .proposal of the National Efficiency Board to the Government was that it should he made an offence for men engaged in any industry to hold what are known as “stopwork” meetings. The Commissioners expressed their opinion that grave injustice is done through the serious loss of efficiency arising out of these meetings.

“Before the Avar the best customer of the Ncav Zealand ' primary producer AVas Ncav Zealand itself,” said a member of the Wellington Chamber of Commerce. “The people of this country bought 70*per cent, of the beef, 50 per cent, of the mutton, all the pork, grain, coal, and timber,” he said, “and the farmer is not entitled to talk as though the local market was of no account.”

Coplain J. Hirschberg, Royal Flying Corps, sou of Mr and Airs W. J. Hirschberg, of Masterlon, avus-ad-mitted to the British Red Cross Hospital on 30th July severely wounded, his juav being fractured. Captain Hirschberg left Ncav Zealand Avitli the 2nd Reinforcements, and served on Gallipoli. He also served in the Army Service Corps in Prance, and joined the plying Corps in Alay last. Captain llersehberg is a nephew of Airs Chas. Symons, of Foxton.

The Alinister for Education states that regulations and directions have recently been issued with the object of securing more definiteness and thoroughness in 'the essential subjects in the primary *ehoid syllabus, and further consideration is now being given to framing instructions which deal with the principles upon whielr I lie selection of subject matter for tiie scheme of work should be made by teacher*. It is anticipated, he *latc*, that I hi* Avill help to overcome at its source the difficulty, for the solution of: which a reduel ion in the number of subjects has frequently been urged.

As Sandy Alagilly was boiling his hilly ' He said to, his male, Avilh a moan, “I’m stiff, I’m cold, I’m feeling quite old, And I’m aching right thro’ to the bone.” Said his mate, with a smile, “Wait - here awhile: In my swag I have something that’s sure To put you right for the rest of the night— It's called Woods’ Great Peppermint Cure.” 18

The Queen of the South arrived]* this morning from Terakohe wit 150 tons of. cement.-■■ She will sail to-night for Wellington with and is due bh.ck on Tuesday with* general. One of the things which attracted the notice of the Efficiency. Board was' the large number of holidays observed in public offices. In a report to the Government on the matjer, the Board recommended that the Slate should set an example in efficiency to the Dominion by reducing the number of holidays which are observed in the Slate partments, saying that in (lie opinion of the Board the number of holidays constituted a grave abuse.

“We have not stopped enlistment for the v Second Division,” said Sir James Allen on Tuesday, “but the classes will be so small that I not think that enlistment will be of much use. 1 hope to be able to iii)h something about the medical nation of members of the Second " Division; it all depends on the British Medical Association as to whether they can supply us with the twenty medical men we have asked for. They have told us that they will try to help us, but' the matter is one of some dillienltv.”

A sectarian mailer was revived in the House of Representatives yesterday, when the member for Ashburton, Mr Xosworthy, put 1 lio following question to the Prime Minister: —Whether he, or his ■colleague, I lie Right Hon. Sir J. G. Ward, can refute the statement made by a Roman Catholic priest at Waerengaahika on Sunday, July 291 b, to his congregation after the celebration of Mass, that “When Massey and Ward were in England (hey were interviewed by Bishop Cleary, and they gave him (heir promise Dial the Marisl .Brothers would not be conscripted?”

At (lie ordinary meeting of tlie Borough Counoil lo he held on Monday, 131 h hist., the following notices of motion by llis Worship the .Mayor i will be oonsideml; (1) That the resolution passed/at the special mg of the. Council held on the It) Ili .Mardi, I!H7, re war bonus lo surfacemen, be rescinded. 2() That on and after the first September, 11117, the cash discounts on gas used for cobbing, healing and power be reduced by tenpenee per 1,000 cubic feet. (3) That in all where gas is used in a private dwelling for both lighting and heating through one meter, the first 000 c.f. lie charged at lighting rales.

“A happy'meeting occurred al the Tauherenikau Camp recently, states ' a contemporary, between two brothers who had not met fur fifteen ’ years. One of them, a Gisborne boy, a company regimental quartermaster, who is well-known in Poverty Bay, had a parly of out slowing them (he art of using, the bayonet. One of the recruits was very hack ward in his drill, and came under the notice of the ollicer, who called him aside and gave him a little extra tuition, “When the recruit was in front of the officer p they stared at one another, and thengrasped hands in silence. Each man had thought the other was dead. 'Two special passes were granted, and the happy pair celebrated their reunion.”

In reply to a question by Mr j. Payne in the House of Representatives regarding ffhe personnel of General Sir A. jGodley’s staff, in which he complained that it was constituted practically of Englishmen, the lion. Sir James Allan, Minister of Defence, stated that General Godley commands an Army Corps of the British Army in France. Since the Army Corps is not provided by New Zealand there is no reason that the staff should consist, of New Zealanders. “Moreover,” says Sir James Allen, “as I have already slated in the House, General Godley is not paid by New Zealand. There is one New Zenlande officer attached to his staff to assist him in the work lie still does for our troojus.”

The funeral of the lute Mrs D. Buiek, Avife of Mr D. Buiek, took place at Palmerston yesterday afternoon. The Prime Minister (Hon. W. F, Massey) being unable to leave Wellington, the Government was represented by the lion, AV, lierries, Minister for Railway,if Amongst those present also were Messrs D. 11. Guthrie, R. J*’. Bollard, W. A. Veiled and G. Witty, M’s.P., and the Mayor of Palmerston and the Borough, Councillors. Settlers were present from all parts of the district to pay the last tribute of respect to one who Avas held in Avarm esteem by her friends, Tim pallbearers Avere Messrs D. Pringle, A. Bennett, W. M. Bayly, J. H. Murray, D. it. Guthrie, M.P.,’ and R. J’. Bollard, M.P. The burial service was impressively conducted by (lie Rev. McG. Murray, of (lie Pre-byleriau Church.

Air L. Al. Kill AI.P., in the House . i of Repre-entalive*, eliaracLeris^t as “a despicable eur” the man after having made his money in the

country, invested his money in a & Government loan, not because he wanted to keep (he ship of State afloat, but because he believed it would not sink, lie did-not believe in the principle of the Loan BUS*which meant giving the poor man per cent, and the rich man 0 per cent, and over. It meant that tbo persons best able to pay income tax were not to be charged income tax, but Avere to be-relieved of all further obligations, Avhile an additional bur-. den was placed on the smaller m3ST v The time might come Avhen nearly J everything the people had might go into the melting pot for the purpose of preserving the integrity of the Empire. He avus of opinion that V vested interests had been too AvelJ looked after. J

Mr P. C. Webb, member for Grey, took his scat in Parliament last " night after his enforced absence. On a division being taken, the third reading of the Loan Bill was carried last night by 40 votes to 4, the “noes” being Messrs McCombs, Payne, Walker and Webb. A football match was played in the local State school grounds this morning between present and expupils. The present pupils were victorious by 21 points to 3. Mr Jackson, iiead teacher, controlled the game. Darcy Ball did most of the scoring for the winners. At 11 ox burg (Dunedin) on Thursday, J. McDowell and E. Tamblyn pleaded guilty to a charge of improperly interfering with a dead body. The evidence showed that a body was placed on pedestals near the high altar in the’Catholic Church oh .Monday night, and the accused removed it to the other end of. the church, placing it on the lloor. Entrance was effected through a vestry window. Statements made by the accused showed that the body was removed for a lark. Both were committed to (lie Supreme Court for sentence. Bail vfas allowed in £IOO and a surely of foO each, on condition that they reported daily to the police. A verbal castigation was administered by Sir Joseph Ward to Mr J-. M’Comhs, the member for Lytlelton, in the House of Representatives on Thursday, as Hie result of Mr M - Comhs’ criticism of the big war loan proposals. Sir Joseph remarked that during the debate on the second reading of the War Purposes Bill only three members had said one kindly word about himsell, and Ministers had had to sit and listen to members at templing to demolish thorn by destructive criticism, including dial “bubbling out inTi jerky way from the honourable member for Lyttelton.” (Laughter). A little later Sir Joseph remarked that the deplorable pin-pricking, which, ne admitted with all candour, did not affect him much, was due to political inal-de-mer, political biliousness, and political cold Jeet. (Laughter). Such men were discontented with themselves, and, of course, were discontented with everyone else. (Laughter). They tried to make people look, ridiculous, hut the mirror reflected on themselves, and made the persons ridiculous who had made the utterances. (Langhlcr). “He looks so meek and mild,” said Sir Joseph, “hut he is so atrocious in his views. If he continues like this 1 am sure ho will get himself into serious trouble.” (Loud laughter).

The Xew York “Economic World" of 141 b April refers to some aspects of war taxation as follows:- —“A generation and more has passed away since the Civil Whir, and, in consequence, the speculators ol the present have no conception oi. the burdens imposed upon industry at that lime. Here are-some of them: Every ton of pig iron produced was charged two dollars, every ton o( railroad iron three dollars, sugar paid two cents n pound, salt six cents a hundredweight. The general tax on all manufactures was 5 per cent. .But: this lax was repeated on almost every article in different slates of product ion. Raw cotton, for instance, was taxed two cents a pound, as cloth it again paid 5 per cent, in reulity the Government collected between S and lo per (‘out. on every finished product. Taxes mi the gross receipts of railroad, steamboat, telegraph, express

:ui(l insurance companies were levied ov were increased when already in existence. The income lax sys~ (oni wns !’;iiscd o per cent. on medium incomes, ifful 1<» Id per oont. on incomes of move limn Id,Odd dollars. Under (lie operation of these luxes (he internal revenue inereased as followslß93, 11,003,192 dollars: ISO-!, 1id,50d,(172 dollars; and 18(15, 211.129,539 dollars. Based on area, population, ’banking power and the like, the revenue produced in 1S(!5 is about one-tenth of what similar taxes would produce now."