LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XL, Issue 1788, 12 February 1918, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

It is officially announced that America has 2,139,00.0 men under arms.

A heavy downpour of rain fell throughout this district yesterday afternoon.

Miss Kay, the newly appointed second assistant teacher at the local State school, took up her duties yesterday. Accounts amounting to £5Ol 10s 8d were passed for payment at last night’s meeting of the Borough Council,

At last night’s Council meeting Mr J. A. Hofmann tendered his resignation as sexton, which was accepted. A meeting of the Moutoa Drainage Board is convened for Thursday, 14th inst., at 7.45 p.m. Business : Flood gates, drains, and general.

During the month of January, nine horses and seven cows were impounded by the borough ranger, the driving fees totalling ten shillings. To-morrow —Ash Wednesday—there will be a celebration of the Holy Communion at 11 a.m., and a short evening service at 7.30, in All Saints’ Church,

There were present at last night’s Council meeting; The Mayor (Mr John Chrystall) and Crs Coley, 'Walker, Thompson, McMurray, McColl, Stevenson, Henderson, Bryant, and Hurlev.

A committee meeting of the local Horticultural Society will be held this evening, at 7.30 o’clock, for the purpose of appointing judges and stewards for the Autumn Show, and general. • The Quebec province has adopted prohibition. The entire Dominion of Canada now prohibits the traffic in liquor. There is not a single bar open. The Federal Government has undertaken to suppress the manufacture of liquor. At its meeting on Saturday, the Horowhenua County Council decided to support the resolution of the Kairanga County Council that the Government be asked to reduce railway freights on cement, tar, and bitumen to local bodies for roadmaking, at least to one-half the present tariff. Commenting on Mr Massey’s statement in an interview that Germany ought not to be allowed to recover Samoa, the Canadian press endorses the view that the Oversea Dominions ought to be represented at the Peace Conference, It is pointed out that if Canada conquered any German territory she would vigorously object to relinquish it.

Exclusive of Mnoris mid Cook and otlier Islanders, the estimated population of (lie Dominion as on 31st December, 1910, was 540,885 males and 550,008 females, a total of 1,100,503. Including members of Expeditionary Forces, the departures from New Zealand exceed the arrivals by 20,602. The estimated population at last December was 537,260 males and 560,293 females. The latter number 23,033 more than the males for this year, whereas in 1916 they were only 1,773 in excess. These figures show where most of the New Zealand male population has gone.

“I would be the last to discount a wowser,” stated Brigadier-General Sir Robert Anderson, of Sydney, at a meeting at the Town Hall, Wellington. “Anyway,” he continued, “I am not sure that I know what a wowser is now. I would rather be a wowser than a booser. I know that. It seems to me that any man who fights against something that is bad or praises something that is good, is a wowser. If that is so I am content to be a wowser. I was intimately acquainted with the originator of the term wowser, the late Mr John Norton. He and I worked on the same plantation, and I am certain that when he used the term for the first time it meant nothing discreditable,” UNNECESSARY EXPENSE. Acute attacks of colic, diarrhoea, and dysentery come on without warming, and prompt relief must be obtained. It is not necessary to incur the expense of a physician’s services in such cases if Chamberlain’s Colic and Diarrhoea Remedy is at hand. A dose of this remedy will relievil the pain before the doctor could Irrivdl For sale everywhere.

A conference of teachers and inspectors will lie held at Palmerston on Friday next, at 10 a.in., and as a result the local State school will he closed on that date.

William Dunlop, who is alleged to have deserted 1 while on leave from Featherston Camp, was arrested at Waihi by the police. It is said that Dunlop has been in hiding in a friend’s house for three weeks, only coming out under cover of darkness.

The necessity of painting the Council Chambers was mcnti:< »ed by Cr. Stevenson at last night’s meeting of the Borough Council. He said the building had been erected nine years, and had not been painted since.—lt was decided to invite tenders for the work.

At last night’s Council meeting the following recommendations b.Y the Works Committee were adopted: That seven willlow trees neai’est the windmill be cut down level with the ground, and that the sand drift on the hill in Bi’own Street be fascined with scrub as soon as possible, and planted in proper season with ieeplant or marram grass. At a recent Borough Council meeting it was decided to communicate with the Manawatu County Council, complaining of the willows overhanging Whirokino road. At last night’s Council meeting a reply was received from the County Clerk, stating that the property owners concerned had been notified to cut the willows back.

Aii effort is being made by the Manawatu District to erect, under the auspices of the Church Army, a hut, to be called the Manawatu Hut, for the soldiers in the fighting line. The ladies of All Saints’ Church have taken in hand the raising of a quota towards the cost from this district. They intend I to hold a small sale of work in the Masonic Hall on Wednesday, the 20th inst., and they make a confident appeal to all to assist to achieve the result. Gifts of all kinds will be gratefully acknowledged.

The Mayor mentioned at last night’s Council meeting that the committee appointed had visited the Coronation Hall, in company with Mr Knewstub, and found that everything was not quite satisfactory, some of the Council’s plant and fittings being missing. The main item was electric light bulbs, there being a shortage of about 300, and these would have to be replaced by the present lessees. One side door was broken, and required repairing. They had communicated with the Pictures Supplies, Ltd., on the matter.

A well-known author, lecturer, and literateur, whose name appeared in the last Honours List, writing to a friend in Fiji, has a good word to say of the work the Fijian natives are doing qt the front. “I was on the Western front a few weeks ago,” he writes, “and, among other things, examined the various coloured labour corps we have in France. 1 saw Chinese; Indians, Africans, and Egyptians; but, among them all, I was most pleased with your hundred Fijians at Calais. They were far and away the best-looking of any, with their lithe, supple figures and clear-cut, handsome faces and smooth, olive complexions. Some of them were like Greek statues cut in old ivory.” It was decided at last night’s Council meeting, on the motion of Cr Stevenson, seconded by Cr McColl, that the Works Committee visit Johnston Street with a view to see it something cannot be done to put the road in decent order; and also examine work already done on footpath round Roman Catholic property, to see if same is being done in accordance with arrangement entered into with the Rev. Father Corley.—lt was pointed out that Father Corley, before leaving Foxton, made arrangements to have the work completed in accordance with the agreement entered into with the Council, and that the delay in completion was not due to any fault of his, but owing to the difficulty •in obtaining suitable metal.

. Daring Mr W. E. Parry’s address on Sunday night, he made a statement to the effect that his name had been associated with other names as being a likely candidate for this electorate at the next election, but he said he wished to have his name disassociated from any such controversy, as he was not concerned as much about a political position as he was about the construction of a political machine that would enable the people to control the members of Parliament, in place of (as at present) the members of Parliament controlling -s, the people. He wanted to say clearly and definitely that the people of this or any other country have no defence or guarantee against a recurrence of war, or the passing of undemocratic legislation while the people allow the members of Parliament to govern the people, in place of the people governing themselves, including the parliamentarians. Every Labour man who understands the Labour movement also understood the wonderful unconscious changes wrought in a man through a parliamentary environment, and that the only reliable safeguard a member could have against those changes, and their consequent damaging effect upon the cause of democracy would he to equip the people with a political machine with the power to initiate their own laws, and to recall the member who refuses to obey their instructions. The construction of such a machine was the work he was most concerned about. [Why not advocate every man a law' unto hints elf?—Ed.H.J

We understand that a branch of the New Zealand Labour Party is to be formed locally.

Sister Leila Grey, daughter of the late Mr Geo. Gray, of Foxton, has been transferred from Otald Military Hospital to Featherston for duty in the Military Hospital at the camp. Sister Grey was trained ,at Wellingon Hospial, and has since had private hospital experience.

The Reserves Committee recommended at last night’s Council meeting that the Council pay half the cost of cleaning the drain through the Target Reserve, such cost not to exceed the settler’s estimate of five shillings per chain, the settlers to undertake the letting of the contract and the supervision of the work of cleaning the drain.

The following Cl men from this district will concentrate on the show grounds, Palmerston North, to-morrow, and go into camp on the following day:—E. J. Gunning, Shannon; J. T. Hill, Bainesse; Hugh King, Shannon; James McCloy, Shannon; J. P. Smith, Foxton; Sidney Smith, Shannon; G. T. Wilkinson, Shannon.

Speaking at Christchurch on Saturday, Sir Joseph Ward said the short session of Parliament in April would be conducted on the principles established by the short session in 190!). It would be very short. There would be no Budget, but probably a statement of finances would be submitted, and the Budget would come down at the ordinary session.

The Inspector of Nuisances reported at last night’s Council meeting that a concrete step had been built at the main entrance of the Family Hotel which encroached a little over two feel on the footpath. —The Town Clerk said that a wooden step had been there for many years, and this had recently been replaced by a concrete one. The owners of the property claimed that it did not encroach on the footpath, as the building was five feet back from the boundary.—lt was decided to request the proprietor of the hotel to remove the step.

'l’llere was a good attendance at the Koval Hall on Sunday evening, when Air W. E. Parry, member of the executive of the New Zealand Labour Party, delivered an address on “Labour’s First. Plank.’’ The speaker dealt particularly on (bo representatiou of the people in Parliament, and quoted figures to prove that same was not in proportion to the votes cast at the last election. The first plank of the Labour Party was Px’oporlional Representation, the Initiative, and the Right of Recall. At the conclusion of Ihe address the speaker was accorded a, very hearty vote of thanks.

At a recent meeting of the Borough Council a complaint was made that the spark arrester on the tram engine was defective, and that several fires had been started by sparks from the engine. The complaint was passed on to the Mauawatu County Council, and at last night’s meeting a reply was received from that body, enclosing a report on the spark arrester from Mr John Ross, of Messrs Ross and Signal.' Mr Ross’ report stated that he had made an inspection of same, and found it well filled in, the grating being made of the plate used on the government engines, and is well fitted round the pipes and smoke box. He could not suggest any improvement.

At the Pukekohe Court, before Mr \Y. Wilson, S.M., an interesting case was heard to determine “What is a horse race?” At Tuukau on January 10th, a sports meeting was held. Two races were for horses in which the horsemen in one case had to dismount half-way, and each drink a hottie of hop beer; and the other at half-way dismount, light a cigarette, then gallop back to the winning post. The sports were held for charily. The local committee were now charged with having held an illegal race meeting, Mr Ostler, counsel for the defend-* ants, held that the linal result of the races depended on (he quickness of the riders to dismount and drink the hop beer, also in lighting a nigsirette; that it was not necessarily the best horse to wiiu The winner of the hop heer race expressed the opinion in evidence that his horse was not the best, but his ability to drink quicker was the element of Ins success. The Magistrate held that Sir Hubert Stout’s decision ia the “walk, trot, and canter race,”recently, bound him to decide that the races were illegal, but as the evidence pointed in the hop beet* case to otlmr elements than the speed of the horse, ho decided to dismiss it. The “cigarette” case he dismissed as trivial.