LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XL, Issue 1795, 28 February 1918, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The Minister of Defence has received a cable message stating that the 33rd Reinforcements have arrived at their destination safely. Advices from Pekin state that an earthquake in the Amoy district resulted in nearly ten thousand deaths. Blackberries are fairly plentiful in this district this year, and considerable quantities have been gathered by residents. “We were in hopes that the war would end this year; but I stand here as one of a huge majority and say; ‘We are prepared to cany on till 1928 sooner than submit to an incomplete peace!’’ —lit. Hon W. P. Massey, during a speech at Wellington on Tuesday night. Why bother making cakes when there is such a good assortment at Pcrreau’s*

The NewC Plymouth -BoroughCouncil is taking steps to municipalise the gas works there, which is owned by a private company. The by-election for the Wellington North seat takes place to-day. The final polling results will heposted.up outside this office at about 9 o’clock this evening. “The curse to this Dominion as a result of the practice of exchanging properties is tremendous,” staffed his Honour the Chief Justice, in tho Supreme Courf in Wellington, “The leaders of the Labour Party live on labour, and not by labour,” declared the Hon. W. Earnshaw, when speaking in Masterton on Monday evening. The Horowhenua County Engineer reported at a special meeting on Saturday that the .first work to bo done would be the metalling of the Foxton road, then the KoputaroaFoxton road.

The tea-room at the local Horti-' cultural Society’s slfow next Thursday and. Friday will be in chai’ge of Mrs F. Procter. Contributions of refreshments will be thankfully received.

We are asked to announce that all Protestants desiring to attend to-morrow night’s meeting in the Town Hall may obtain tickets of admission from Mr W. E. Main Street, up to 5.30 p.m. to-mor-row. The Mayor will preside, and among the speakers will ho the Hon. Wm. Earnshaw, M.L.C. The Hon. Colonel Baillie, M.L.C., celebrated his ninety-first birthday at Wellington on Friday. Owing to a recent family bereavement, tho birthday was kept very quietly, only a few of (he older friends visiting 1 him. Many congratulatory telegrams were received, including one from the Bishop of Nelson, conveying greetings from the diocese. Mr A. N. Poison, the Thacker candidate for (ho Wellington North seat, makes a slogan of the high cost of living. lie has printed these quotations on his banner:" —Fancy coal at £2 10s per ton! Cheese Is 4d (wholesale lOd, pre-war price 8(1), bacon Is 8d (pre-war 8d), the golden sovereign now worth 12s, and the workers’ wage of £3 .10s per week now worth 425.

, At the annual mooting of the Newspaper Proprietors’ Association at Wellington on Monday night, Mr P. Selig (Christchurch Press) was re-elected president. The question of paper shortage was discussed, and it was decided to wait upon the Prime Minister aml endeavour to gel more paper sent down by tho mail boats from Vancouver. A Gazette Extraordinary issued last week contained the names of reservists who have been drawn in ballots and have failed to present themselves for medical examination. The following are included in tlie list: —Anderson, 6., Palmerston N.; Beech, W. S., Toxton; Burke, T., Longburn; Burnett, W., Kakariki; Darlington, P. A., Foxton; Halsall, W. F., Taihape; Hogger, A. T., Taihape; Kane, P., Groua Downs; M’Kay-; J., Taihape; Murray, W., Feilding; Smith, A., Wanganui; Walsh, IT., Taihape.

When speaking at Napier, says the Hawke’s Bay Tribune, the Minister of Justice (Hon. T. M. Willord) said that after the See Adler incident, and on strong representations being made to the Imperial authorities, the Germans in Fiji were deported to Australia, Alj these Germans, numbering about 50, came under the heading of “suspicious.” Similar action was taken in New Zealand when Germans gave cause for suspicion. Incidentally, Mr Wilford mentioned the fact that there were British people at large in Germany.

Some interesting particulars concerning the Manawatu river were supplied at the Supreme Court, at Palmerston yesterday morning (says the Standard). It was stated that, at its normal level, and in the vicinity of the Fitzherbert bridge, a body of 28,81!) cubic feet of water passed down stream every second, at a velocity of over five feet per second, and the fall was 4.0 feet per mile. The rise and fall of the river in Hood time was very cpiick, it being'stated that on Sunday, the 17(h inst., a drop of two feet was registered in a few hours.

At a special meeting of the Horowhenua County Council, held last Saturday, it was decided to erect a l<)ll*g(nto*?\t the Waikanae bridge for 14 days, a tally, to be taken of all traffic for 10 hours a day. This is the first move of the Council in the direction of erecting toll gales through the-County for the purpose of ascertaining what financial support will be forthcoming in (his connection to assist in paying interest and sinking fund on a loan for the purpose of laying down concrete or tar-sealed roads.

“There are in the Dominion 45 harbours controlled by boards,” said Mr J. Blair Mason, in his presidential address at the Civil Engineers’ Conference, “25 of which have a collective loan indebtedness of nearly £7,120,000, with assets other than cash valued at £8,440,000, and total annual changes for interest and sinking funds amounting to £350,000, The loan indebtedness of the terminal and main ports, viz., Auckland, Napier,* Wellington, Lyttelton, Tiniaru, Dunedin, and (he Bluff,'ftThoupts to £5,400,000, Most of, these ports possess landed property ‘of great prospective value,, notably at Auckland, Napier, Wellington, and Dunedin, where the endowments of land ami laud reclaimed from the sea am city lands and the sources of considerable revenues which are in every case increasing every year,”

The local School Committee will ineet # on Monday evening next. The Echo de Paris says: “Japan’s hour strikes. She alone is able to check Germany’s Eastern penetration. She is anxious to intervene when the signal is given,” Persons intending to exhibit at the local Horticultural Society’s Show next week are reminded that catalogues and entry forms may be obtained from the secretary, Mr Patterson.' “When my time comes,” said an applicant at Willesden Tribunal (London), “I am prepared to face the music.” “The band has,been playing for over three years,” was the chairman’s retort. Auckland province has 221 lawyers,- Wellington 179, Canterbury IK), O,tago 92, Hawke’s Bay 57, Wanganui 57, Taranaki 55, Hamilton 51, Southland 35, Westland 20, Gisborne 22, Nelson 19, Marlborough 11. Tradespeople should watch out against mistaking the new ten shilling note for a ten pound note. Wo are informed that “mistakes” havo already been made. The ten shilling note is tied in a knot with the figure ten exposed, and passed oft* as a-£lO note. “You may comment as strongly ami as often as you like on a public man,” said Mr Justice Chapman, during his summing up hi a libel action at Christchurch, “hut before •you do so you must have facts, and make certain of your facts. Comment without facts, or with perverted facts, is no comment.” While motoring to Wanganui on Thursday, Mr and Mrs J. R. MacDonald, of Levin, were precipitated over a steep embankment through a faulty steering gear. Mr MacDonald escaped with a few scratches, but Mrs MacDonald was severely shaken. The intervention of a karaka tree saved the car a fall of 200 feet. This was the accident which was supposed to have happened to a local motor party. A Urewera native woman, on visiting a local tea-rooms tor refreshments the other day, noticed her image in a full-sized mirror, and straightaway went up to shake hands'and rub noses ( says the Gisborne Herald). Her face came into contact with the glass, and she proceeded up the stairway in disgust, remarking in her native tongue of the marvellous works of the pakeha. The incident caused some ’amusement in the establishment. Obviously (he “old blood is bold blood” up Singleton way, states the Sydney Daily Telegraph. Recently a recruiting meeting was held, and an appeal was made-.in more or less eloquent terms for men to fill the gaps abroad. “The only response,” says the officer who conducted the meeting-, “was from an old man, who gave his age as 102. The statement as to his age has since been proved to be correct,” In the form supplied him by the recruiting sergeant, the old warrior gave his age as over 45.

“There is only one inn tier ] can think of upon which there is any community of ideas between the ■various parts of the Empire, and that idea is to make money,” said Mr Brandon at Wadestmvn on Monday night. “The idea is a degrading one, but loyalty to the Old Country, loyalty to their own country, is too much’ submerged by the indi - vidual struggle after money, and there is no class more dangerous to any country than the class known as the plutocrat—the rich man with no idea except the idea of making money,”

Dame Fortune is a freakish wench; she woos or jilts with cal-lous-partiality. Just before one of the recent big pushes, a Canadian Tommy received the news that the only relative he had in the world had died and left him £50,000, says London Opinion. He joyously passed the news along to his chum, an Englishman, who was waiting by his side to go over the top. Then the thought struck him, what was to become of the money if his luck changed and ho “stopped one?” So there, in the muddy t rench, he scribbled InVwiJl at the back of his pay book, with a stubby piece of indelible pencil, making his pal his sole heir. Sure enough, the poor fellow’s luck turned. In the early hours of,the day’s lighting he went West, leaving his friend the richer bv a fortune.

Mr Clement Wragge on Ihe weather; —Another upheaval in (ho sun, approaching the centre or solar disc. To'these abnormal conditions is certainly yXtributable the Chinese eartlnptakc, and also "earth tremors in New Zealand, and the South African Hoods. Winds on an awful scale, with gigantic tongues of hydrogen flame around these solar storms in exactly the same manner as do the winds around the. puny cyclones of earth, northern and southern hemispheres respectively; and it must ever be remembered that the earth and the sun are inseparably linked together by the allpervading wireless ethoric waves. Such affect not only our atmosphere, but also industrial affairs and the vagaries of human nature at this critical lime. UNNECESSARY EXPENSE. Acute attacks of colie, diarrhoea, and dysentery come on without warning, and prompt relief obtained. It is not necessary cur 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 relieve the pain before the doctor could arrive. For sale everywhere. X ~Advt.

The Medical Board will sit in Palmerston on the _2nd—and 4th of March.

Four ounces of meat wasted daily, by each household in New Zealand means the loss of 20,000 prime fat bullocks yearly.

At the Masterton Ram Fair ,on Tuesday, excellent prices were obtained for Romneys. One bred by Mr W. Perry was sold to Mr W. H. Buick for 270 guineas‘ another, bred by Mr E] Eglinton, was purchased by Mr E. E. Riddiford for 215 guineas; a third, bred by Mr W. Rayner, realised 180 guineas. “There is no greater fallacy in the world than the® old saying, 'There is no sentiment in business,’ ” said Mr F. Wilding, K.C., in the Supreme Court at Christchurch. “Business is full of it. Sentiment is everywhere. What is it that sends our brave bovs to the * front, that leads our gallant ladies to Red Cross work, but sentiment? Everything that is good and nohlo in the world rests on sentiment.”

“A circular was shown to me,” said Sir Joseph Ward, at Wellington, apropos of misrepresentations, “showing what gourmandisers "Mr Massey and I were while in England, and what a terrible 1 amount it cost us at the Ritz Hotel. First of all, -we never dined at the Ritz Hotel. At (he place where we stayed there was a notice on the menu every day limiting us to three ounces of meat (oh!), half a slice of bread, and one lump of sugar, and everybody else was treated the

same way.” The continued absence from his home of Mr A. J. Thompson, late cleric of the Court at Queenstown, is causing great anxiety to his friends, (says Monday’s Otago Daily Times). Some months ago Mr Thompson suffered a serious nervous breakdown, and for some time he has been subject lo fits of deep depression, losing for the time all sense of locality. lie left his home 07i Sunday week to visit a friend at. St. Clair, and since then he has been completely lost. In appearance Mr Thompson is of medium stature, had very fair hair, wore a dark suit, a brown overcoat, and a soft grey felt hat.

A tittle* Maori hoy, aged two years, was. drowned near the old wrecked Hyderabad, on the Ilorowlienna beach, on Thursday last, says (he Chronicle, He and his father and mother and two brothers, one older and the other younger, were spending the day on the beach. The lather and oldest boy went further up the beach to collect pipis, leaving the other children with their mother, who, a little later, left the children asleep while she gathered the shell-fish in the other direction. She returned shortly afterwards, but to her distress found the body of the little boy floating in the water.

“Somebody • has said the wheat: people have been making fortunes,” remarked the Prime Minister at the meeting at the Town Hall, Wellington, on Tuesday night. “Let the man who has produced wheat for twenty years running show me his books, and 1 will guarantee that that man is not a shilling richer now than when he -tailed twenty years ago. I have been through the mill myself. They are not making a shilling an hour, the very best of them. Here is I lie difficulty; and 1 hope when wc get hack to normal times it will be put right. The shadow that hangs over New Zealand is the fear of dumping from .Australia. We shall have to put the New Zealand wheat-grower on a level with the Australian wheat-grower, so far as Customs duly is concerned, and then he will be protected.”

Mr Rowe, of Gladstone (Wairarapa), celebrated his one hijnclredth birthday on February 19th. With the exception of a little deafness, Mr Rowe has all his senses unimpaired, and declares himself to bo the happiest man in New Zealand. Born on February 10th, 1818, in Somersetshire, Mr Rowe is one of eight sons whose father lived to the ripe old age of 97 years. Another of the eight sons is Mr John Rowe, the Ekefahuna octogenarian. In 185(i Mr Rowe Joined a crowd of people who were listening to an emigration agen] relating the special attractions of New Zealand as the El Dorado of the nineteenth century, with the consequence that he and his wife arrived in this country in 1857, after a comparatively uneventful voyage of ninety days on the sailing vessel the Alma.

A Ministers’ Association has been formed in Wellington. The constiIntlon of flic now body defines the object of the council os “co-op-erative effort in (lie promotion of civic, national, and international righteousness, and the furtherance of the ideal of church reunion, and mutual encouragement in the work of the Lord.” Membership is open to all bodies that confess the historic Christian faith. The council, which was formally constituted last week, elected the Rev. Dr. Gibb as its first president, Mr C. Swincy secretary, and the Hon. J. G. W. Aitken treasurer, and these, with the Rev, A. M. Johnson (Anglican), the Rev. J. R. Glasson (Congregational), and Major Colledge (Salvation Army), form the executive. Four ounces of Hour wasted daily ip each New Zealand home means the total yield of Id,ooo acres of land.” 1 TREAT IT PROPERLY. If you have trouble in getting rid of your cold yon may know that you are not treating it properly. There is no reason why a cold should hang on for weeks, and it will not if you take Chamberlain’s Cough Remedy, For sale everywhere.—Advt,

Some satirical criticism of the Government’s action in regard to the Railway Service was indulged in by the Petone Borough Councillors on Monday evening. The Manawatu County Council requested the support of the Borough Council for a resolution passed requesting the Railway Department to run trains to race meetings owing to the greater expense to the country and the severe damage to the roads caused by heavy motor traffic. Councillor Cox thought the Government might have displayed more backbone by prohibiting racing altogether during the war. Councillor Jones: “Bu| the war is over.” Councillor Cox: “How dare you make that out? It is only just beginning.” Councillor Janes; “The Minister said.he wa;| going to stop the trains till after the war, and as the trains are now running the war must be over.” Councillor Brocklebank hoped it would not be thought that, because racq (rains were advocated, the council was in favour of the races. The resolution was unanimously supported by the council. The whole-hearted loyalty of the press of New Zealand found expression in the following motion carried on Monday at the annual confoi’ence of the Newspaper Proprietors’ Association, at Wellington: —“At this crisis in the affairs of the nation the united press of Now Zealand wishes to record its deep thankfulness at the splendid courage which has been manifested by all branches of the Defence Forces of the Empire in the great conflicts which haye taken place with a powerful enemy since the commencement of the war. Their courage and endurance have been aq unflagging manifestation of thq deep patriotic spirit with which they are imbued, and it is‘in a similar frame of mind that the newspaper press of the Dominion now assembled in annual conference desire that a message be transmitted lo His Majesty the King, through the Go-vernor-General, expressive of its unswerving loyalty to the Crown, and its earnest prayer for the speedy triumph of His Majesty’s Forces and their brave Allies, and for a lasting peace founded on the principles of righteousness and justice and the liberty of the world,” The motion was carried with cheers for the King, following which the National Anthem was sung.

The story of a “waster,” a man who went to the war and then came back only to be looked upon as a “sponge” and shunned, was told by Sergeant M’Kenzie, president of the Victorian branch of the Returned Sailors’ and Soldiers’ Imperial League, at a meeting of the Sailors’ and Soldiers’ Fathers' Association in Melbourne. He related (says the Age) how, wearied of the “waster's” importunities, some of the returned men on the staff of the State War Council turned up the man’s record to see what he had done. “Pozieres,” they read, “B undergoing 90 days’ field punishment. Stretcher bearers all shot down. A call for volunteers!” Then came the brief, but telling account of how B stepped into the breach, and for 70 hours staggered in and out of the firing line bearing the wounded to safety. “And that is the man,” said Seregant M’Kenzie, “whom we are now calling a ‘waster’!” He pleaded for a more generous spirit in regard to the returned men who occasionally fell from grace. Who could tell what their record might be? There were plenty of people ready to call out.“waster,” but up to the present time there had not ■been many hands put out to help such men along.