LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XL, Issue 1820, 30 April 1918, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

At the local police court }Testerday morning, before Mr Hornblnw, UP., John Kinley, charged with drunkennes.-, was fined 20s. A prohibition order was granted against a district resident,

A military deserter was arrested at Foxlou on Sunday by Constable O'Donoghue, and handed over to the military authorities at Palmerston.

The weather was beautiful on .Sunday morning, but during the afternoon it clouded over, and heavy rain fell during Sunday night. It has been very squally since.

“The rich Avill have to unbutton their pockets and pour out their money like water,” said the Hon. AV. li. Merries at Petouc, referring to the prospective saerilices for tiie war.

The annual slatutory meeting of the Foxhm Harbour Board will be held at the Council Chambers, Palmerston North, on Thursday, May 2nd, at 11.30 a.m. Business; Election of Chairman, and general. Pte. George Krapp (Foxton) is at present at Hornchurch, suffering from trench feet, and his brother Harry is convalescing in France, where lie was in hospital suffering from shell shock.

The eighth death in London within a week is reported from botulism, caused by a germ attacking the nerve centres. Tbc germ is found in undercooked meals, tinned food and cheese. The disease is prevalent in Germany.

A New Zealand merchant says that he has in slock whisky to the value of £12,000. He adds that it lie were to send it hack to Britain and place it on the market (here it would realise £24,000. There arc fortunes in whisky for those who were early on the market and purchased to the full extent of their credit.

Sonic idea of the man-power toll tliat has been levied upon our counU'.v districts may lie gathered from the honours board of the Wail mm West School (says the Feilding Star). Up to date one teacher (Mr Chas. L. McLean) and 39 old boys of the school have answered the call to arms, of these eight have paid the supreme sacrifice.

According to the “Waka Maori,” (he journal of the. Native School Teachers’ Association, I he following odd notice was posted up at a native school: “If any young feller go foolin’ after girl this had war lime he he line. If any girl look at young feller to make him fool after her his mother he tine. His mother must look afler-thal girl this lime. This—na te komili wahine.”

The Minister of Justice was addressing an Anzac meeting at Pelone. A person in the crowd absurdly interrupted the speaker during a passage which should have hushed the hardest-hearted heckler. “You always speak out of your turn, Mick,” said Mr Wilford. “Mick,” unprepared for this disconcerting reply, lapsed into a respectful silence.

Four sessions of (he .Nineteenth Parliament have now been held, and the one to he opened later this year will he the lifth. Should Iho general election not take place until the time now appointed—December, 1919 — there will, for the first time, he a sixth session of a Now Zealand Parliament. It is over forty years since a lifth session was held, the Fifth Parliament elected under (he <(iiinCjiiemiiul system having assembled for the fifth time in 1875. The Third and Fourth Parliaments also met five times, says “Mercutio.”

The planet Venus, which has been conspicuous as a morning star for the last three months, has now reached its maximum western elongation, being just half a right anglo ahead of the sun. For the next month it will rise almost due east, about three hours and a-half before the sun, which it is approaching. By August it will be too (dose to the sun for observation, but will reappear as an evening star about Easter, 1010. Venus is still sufficiently bright to be observed in the day time.

Special safes,, (o enable the public to store valuable documents (such as wills, insurance policies, mortgage deeds, and so on), are to he installed soon at twenty-live post offices, including Wellington, Palmerston North, and Alastertou. The packages are to he limited to a length of 11 inches, a width of 41 inches, and a thickness of 4 inches. The annual fees will be according to thickness and weight. Access to tho safes will he permitted during convenient hours. The inclusion of coin, bank-notes, jewellery, • precious stones, and similar valuables in the packages will be prohibited.

A question that has exercised the minds of many young men -who have been called up for service abroad, examined, and classified as unfit for service, is whether they can be rightly called upon to attend territorial parades, and consequently very considerable interest attaches to a reserved judgment delivered by Mr S. E. McCarthy, S.M., at the Wellington Magistrate’s Court on Saturday morning, in which Sergeant Arthur Sydney Bird, of the Police Force, proceeded against Frederick Albert Sydney Hewson for failing to attend drill. The Magistrate held that as defendant had been discharged from service he could not be called upon to attend parades. He dismissed the ease. INFLUENZA. This distressing and dangerous disease is readily controlled with Chamberlain’s Cough Remedy. The pain in the chest is promptly relieved, the cough soon disappears, the fever subsides, and the entire body becomes more comfortable. Recovery is complete, and you escape the after-effects of the disease. For sale everywhere.—Advt.

Lynch, the Sinn Fein food director, has been deported from Ireland, probably to America.

A recent casually list contains among the wounded (not severe) the name of Private R. Heppner, of Foxton,

It is understood that Mr James Kerr, who lias been mentioned as a. Liberal candidate for the Grey seat, has decided to withdraw' from the contest, as he considers that three candidates in the held 'would only result in vote-splitting. air Jas. Stewart, who has occupied the position of hemp grader at Foxton for the past eighteen months, has received notice of his transfer to Wellington, where he is to take up Ms duties on the 7th proximo. The vacancy at Foxton will be filled by Mr W. J. Scollay, of Wellington.

It seems remarkable that the main road between Pahiatua and Eketahuna should be in such a bad state when metal in abundance may be procured on the roadside. If the Manawatu County were so favoured with metal this district would possess the finest arterial roads in the Dominion.

A special general meeting of members of the Foxton Bowling Club will be held in the Town Hall supperroom to-morrow night. Business : Consideration of alteration of croquet lawns, and general. All members earnestly requested to attend.

Mr Geo. Coley notifies that persons found trespassing on the property known as “Cameron’s Re* serve,” between the three and four and a-halt mile pegs on the Himatangi road, after this date will lie prosecuted without respect to persons. Mr Coley informs us that damage has been done to fences by persons removing firewood and gathering cones without permission, and he is determined to put a stop to it. Applications for gathering wood or cones on the property will be fav-* ourably considered if applicants apply to Mr Coley.

If there is any suggestion that Mr Webb, M.P., now Private Webb, has not had full opportunities of serving in the Expeditionary Force in a congenial capacity, that should bo disposed of as a result of what thq Minister of Defence, Sir James Allen, communicated to the Wellington correspondent of the Auckland Star. Ho stated that prior to going to (•amp, Private Webb was offered a place in the Tunnelling Corps, where his training would have been of advantage, and he was also offered an Ambulance Corps position with the object of disposing, if possible, of any objection he might Lave to faking life. The Minister added that he promised the member for Grey that (he necessary leave would be granted him to attend the sitting of Parliament if he were in camp at the time. “In fact,” added Sir James Allen, “every consideration was shown to him.” In travelling through New Zealand during the last forty odd years, I have often been surprised at tho callous indifference shown by many of its residents regarding the native forest llora (writes Mr J. Orchiston in a pamphlet published by the Forestry League). Probably no other country in the world contains such a variety of beautiful shrubs and trees, not to mention the magnificent tree ferns and nikau palms. In the early days the chief aim of most settlers seemed ■to be to destroy everything of native origin, both flora and fauna, and to replace the same with exotics. It Avas considered to be quite the correct thing* to cut doAvn native trees and plant blue-gums, pinus insignis, or macrocarpa in their place. Of course, 1 am well aAvare of the difficulty of saving portions of (he native,fox'est while the country was being cleared for settlement, still, a great deal more might have been done to preserve some of the bush near homesteads.

The Palmerston Standard records an muisual motor mishap, not without a touch of humour, which occurred near the Occidental Hotel on •Saturday evening. A country motorist, on cranking up his car, found it to be in the reverse gear, and the vehicle immediately shot backwards, with the bewildered owner hanging on to the radiator, and shouting, stop her; stop her!” However, nobody stopped her at the instant, and the car gathered up a couple of motor cycles, and after giving them a rough handling, threw them aside considerably damaged. By this time the car had careered backwards to the junction of Fitzherbert Street,where a bystander jumped aboard, and brought it to a standstill. With visions of claims for damages, the motorist, with amusing haste, set his machine again in motion, this time in the right direction, and with a smile and wave of the hand to the crowd, shot up the street. The irate owners of the damaged machines did not return the salute—they simply took his number.