Manawatu Herald SATURDAY, APRIL 27, 1918. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XL, Issue 1819, 27 April 1918, Page 2

Manawatu Herald SATURDAY, APRIL 27, 1918. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

At the Magistrate’s Court yesterday, judgment for plaintiff was entered up in the undefended civil case Harper Bros. v. T. Rhodes, claim £5 10s Od, costs 18s. The Government’s orchard inspectors are showing activity in regard to the thorough cleansing of orchards. Several fruitgrowers in the Wanganui agricultural district have been fined £lO at Marton for failing to comply with the provisions of the Act. At yesterday’s sitting of the Magistrate’s Court, Ernest Ingram, who did not appear, was charged under the Dog Registration Act with failing to register three dogs. The Town Clerk said that since the summons had been issued the registration fees bad been paid. Defendant was convicted and ordered to pay costs

For Influenza take Woods’ Great Peppermint Cure. Never fails. 1/6 and 2/6.

The Bishop of London (Right Rev. Winnington-Ingram), speaking at. the Tower Hall, said the clergy did not wish to be excluded from the Man-Power Bill. He had sent a letter to all the clergy in the diocese up to 41 years of age, asking them to enlist voluntarily. In the New Plymouth Police Court on Tuesday, before Mr Crooke, S.M., a sequel to the recent. Mao’ri riot at Rahotu was heard, when about a score of Maoris were charged with various offences. Billy TV Whiti, son of the Parihaka prophet, on charges of indecency and assault, was committed for trial, as were also eighteen others for participating in the riot. The Rahotu constable attributed the trouble mainly to his efforts to enforce military registration among the Maoris. The food economy campaign conducted by Sir Arthur Yapp has come to an end, and Sir Arthur Yapp has returned to his work at the Y.M.C.A., where his services are urgently required in connection with a new scheme. The cost of Sir Arthur Yapp’s “save or starve” campaign is estimated at less than £2,000, according to a statement by Mr Clynes in the House of Commons. He added: “The result of the campaign has been the enrolment of between four and five million people in the League of National Safety, and enrolment forms are coming in at the rate of between 15,000 and 20,000 a day.”

The Prime Minister informed the members of the Wellington Chamber of Commerce that in 1914 the insulated vessels trading to New Zealand numbered 99, in 1915 the number was reduced to 84, in 1916 to 78, and 1917 to 62, but more use was made of the space last year, when £31,500,000 worth of produce, was shipped. Since then, 19 vessels, some of which traded also with Australia, have been lost. The imports for the year amounted to £20,600,000, and when the pbpulattion was taken into consideration it would be found that the trade per head was greater than in any other country in the world. It spoke volumes for the wonderful productiveness of the countrv. *

Mr W. H. Field, M.P., speaking in support of the Mangahao hydro-el-ectric scheme, at the conference of delegates at the proposed headworks on Thursday, gave a brief history of its origin. He stated that he had always taken a deep interest in the Tararuas, and had crossed them in a dozen different places. Many years ago he brought Mangahao under the notice of the Government, but the original suggestion came from the late Mr James Wallace, general manager of the Manawalu Railway Company, who was a resident of Shannon. A survey w;u» made shortly afterwards, and was favourable to the harnessing of the waters. The matter was then dropped until quite recently. It was doubtful, ho thought, whether Mangahao would provide sudicient power for all time, but there were numerous supplementary schemes —ho referred particularly to one at Reikiorangi —which could be taken in hand when necessary. He would whole-heartedly support the Mangahao scheme and urge the undertaking of preliminary work.

Mangahao, behind Shannon, the proposed headwork's of the hydroelectric scheme, is, according to a Wellington pressman who made tint journey on Thursday, altogether easily reached. Through the courtesy of Councillor J. E. Fitzgerald, three Wellington pressmen motored to Shannon, and to the surprise of each member of the party got to within three-quarters of a mile of the proposed dams. The remainder of the cars stopped at least five miles away, and were, apparently, unwilling to tackle the narrow mountain track. Certainly, it was little-more than a track, being only eight feet wide, or even less than that in places. The corners are plentiful—right angles and complete horse-shoes being common. It was; really surprising that a car could, cover the journey without the slightest mishap. The grade was very steep —four in one in places, with an average of, perhaps, three in one. It is obvious that this road will have to be greatly improved before thq necessary material for erecting the dams could be conveyed along it.

Sir Joseph Ward was 'in merry vein at the Chamber of Commerce luncheon at 'Wellington, when dealing with criticism of the National Government. He said that after a particularly strenuous week in Parliament he went to the theatre on a Saturday night, and there afterwards appeared in print a statement that he had there spent 50s in chocolates for distribution to ladies who were with him. Well, he did not spend a shilling. And then during an election meeting in Welling-, ton North it was said that he had had his office furnished at a cost of £IO,OOO* —“and,” he remai'ked, “1 suppose a lot of the poor people that heal’d it believed it,”As a matter of fact, his office was already furnished when he went into it. But the value of the furniture was £IOO, Again, it had been said that Mr Massey and himself had had in London at the Ritz a dinner costing £l2 each. All this was very absurd, he added, speaking with warmth; but, nauseating as it was, it was grievous to think that this sort of thing was the kind of criti-i cism raised against the National Government in this present serious time and during the present great war. This was the kind of criticism used by some people against thq National Government at this of all times.

The committee of the Manawatu Racing Club lias passed a motion that all the profits from the Autumn Meeting be invested in the War Loan, and that the securities be handed over for patriotic purposes as the committee may think tit to decide. It is understood that the profits amount to a considerable sum.

There is a mistaken belief in most places that what the sea washes up belongs to the first finder (says the Hawke’s Bay Herald), and those who do believe this should take note of a decision in the Magistrate’s Court last week, when two men were penalised to the extent of £1 each for removing timber from the beach. Flotsam and jetsam washed up on the beach belongs to the Grown, provided the real owner is not able to be discovered.