LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XL, Issue 1832, 28 May 1918, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Sixty clergy in the London diocese are joining the army for combatant service.

The stormy weather on Friday did not reach Hastings, where bright sunshine and spring-like Aveathcr prevailed all last week. An alleged military deserter named Charles Thomas Robinson, of Wairarapa, was arrested by the police yesterday and taken to Palmerston N., where he was handed over to the military authorities.

The death occurred at Palmerston on Sunday, at the age of 03 years, of Mr George Suisted, an early resident of this distinct, and one who was held in high respect by all who knew him.

The first of a series of socials under the ' auspices- of the local Presbyterian Church will be held on Thursday evening next. A good programme has been arranged, and refreshments will be provided. Admission Is, ehildi’en half-price.

On Saturday, when the Wairarapa northward train was about seven miles south, of Woodville, the first wheels of the front car were derailed through the side-rod of the engine breaking. The passengers, including many soldiers on leave, walked to Mangatainoka, one mile distant. The damage was quickly repaired,

The hemp market and prices are without change. Lieut. R. H. Buchanan, son of Mr A. Buchanan, Palmerston North, has been awarded a Military Cross.

The Minister of Defence states that commissioned officers of the Territorial Force, called up for active service, are going into camp as sergeants in the Expeditionary Force, They retain their Territorial commissions.

It is understood (says a Christchurch paper) that a charge of perjury is pending against a military reservist in the Ashburton County for having, it is alleged, given false information in order to gain exemption when his case came before the Appeal Board. The annual meeting of the local Horticultural Society takes place in the Town Hall supper-room tomorrow night, at 7.30 o’clock. The annual report and balance-sheet will be presented, and officers for the year elected. A full attendance is requested.

Parents and relatives of expupils of the local State school who have paid the supreme sacrifice in the present war, are requested to forward the names to the head teacher as soon as possible, in order that they may be placed on the roll to be unveiled at the school on Friday next. Russia can be only one of three things—an ally, an enemy, or aj neutral. If she is an enemy, Japan has every right, with the assistance of Americans and even Chinese, to invade Russia, just as the Allies have every right to enter Belgium to drive out the Hun.—Hon. T. M. Wilford.

The local paper states that an act of wanton hooliganism was perpetrated at a Patea motor garage last Wednesday night, when the'tyres of a motor car that was left outside in, readiness to go into the country were cut to pieces. The benzine tank was also emptied and filled with water, and the sparking plugs of the, engine removed. “Opossums are increasing steadily in the Tararuas, at Paraparamnu, Rangitikei, Wainui, and other places, but as they are absolutely protected in the Wellington district, no trapping season can be opened until an amendment of the Act, enabling differentiation to be made, has been, shnctioned by Parliament,” remarks the council of the Wellington Acclimatisation Society, in their annual report. .Owing to the ever-increasing amount of motor traffic on country roads, and the resulting greater wear and tear on the road surface, county councils and other bodies have for some time past found difficulty in keeping pace with the growing expense. The Tribune reports that the Hawke’s Bay County Council has received a letter from the Ohinemuri Council, enclosing a resolution asking that the Government shall take over the whole of the main arterial roads in the North Island, and maintain same out of Consolidated Revenue.

Many Second Division reservists seem to be stili of opinion that additions to their families after they have been called up in ballots, affect their classification in the Reserve. The Second Canterbury Military Service Board has had before it several cases in which reservists drawn in Class B ballots have claimed to be in Class C because of the birth of children soon after the ballot. In each case the board has had to point out that only children born before the ballot, in which the father is called up count for purposes of classification. The present spell of wet and changeable weather has, says the Herald, produced a mild epidemic of influenza in Auckland. Chemists remark upon the prevalence of an affection of the neck, which causes stiffness of the muscles. This is one of the peculiarities of influenza infection, and is described as another valuation of the complaint, which last winter manifested itself in what one chemist said he could best describe as a form of gastric influenza. Many business houses have already felt the effect of the incipient epidemic in the temporary depletion of their staffs. Several men classed as fit for active service have appealed of late to the Military Service Boards upon the ground that they have been wrongly medically classified, and' have produced doctor’s certificate*) to that effect. Cold water was thrown on these appellants at Wednesday’s sitting of the Second Canterbury Military Service Board by the Chairman, Mr H. W. Bishopj “We have nothing whatever to do with the medical aspect,” he informed one appellant. “We are bound to accept the Medical Board’s certi-* licatcs.” An appellant applied for a medical re-examination. “We have no power to grant that,” replied Mr Bishop.

Mr Will Crooks, M.P., at the opening of the Poplar Club for Discharged Soldiers and Sailors, told how he once proposed 4he Kaiser's health. “It was at Cologne,” he said, “at the English-Speaking Club, in 1908. They said to me, ‘You will propose the Kaiser’s health, won’t you?’ * I said, ‘What for?’ and they replied, ‘Well, you are the most likely man.’ (Laughter.) I said, ‘Well, seeing he is the grandson of our dear old Queen Victoria, I don’t mind.’ So I proposed the Kaiser’s health, and God forgive me I I will never do it again.” (Laughter.)

Let NAZOL protect your family against coughs and colds. One dose a day keeps colds away. Good for old and young. Sixty doses 1/tj.

Another old Manawatu settler in the person of Mr Robert Mudraek, passed away at Palmerston on Sunday. While waiting at Palmerston yesterday for the return train to Poxton, Constable O’Donoghue spotted a military deserter named George Carian, wanted for about twelve months. He arrested the man, and handed him over to the military authorities.

Pongaroa is a lively place. The only bank has closed down, the doctor has left, and the chemist is going. This is not all. Gossips gabble on the party line, and those who use the ’phone for serious business are annoyed. Such is life in the back-blocks.-—Times correspondent. Professor Lomonanco, of Rome university, after twelve years’ experiments, announces that the treatment of tuberculosis by saccharine solutions arrests the disease and restores the patients’ organic force. Many patients, including soldiers in the advanced stage of the disease, are progressing favourably. Practically the whole of the retail drapers engaged in the trade in Dunedin have arrived at an arrangement under which a charge will bo made for sending goods on approval to all customers in city and suburbs as from the first of next month. This has been forced on them by the increased cost of delivery, the pro-, spect of a much reduced supply of petrol, and the difficulty of obtaining goods to ensure full stocks. Some few weeks back (says* the Auckland Star) the Hikaurangi Dairy Co, received its final returns of sales on last year’s shipments, and a supplementary balance-sheet was issued to shareholders. This shows a very fine return ort’ last year’s shipments v . The most noteworthy points in the final returns are: Average price received per lb, of butter-fat, 20.15 d; average price paid to shareholders, 19.38 d; average price paid plus cartage and Gor vernment levy, 20.5 d. The total net profit was £22,494.

The heaviest sufferers by the recent flood at Masterton were Messrs Watson and Co,, grocers, who lost stock to the value of over £IOO. Mr J. Purchase, tobacconist, had about £IOO worth of tobacco and cigarettes damaged. Other sufferers were: —Mr H. T. Wood (chemist), £SO: Mr Shoosmith (clothier), £2O; Messrs Graham and Co. (grocers), £2O; Messrs Hallcnstein Bros, (clothiers), £lO. Messrs Norman (draper), Allen and Co. (grocers), A, Dickason and Co. (auctioneers), and Elliott and Co. (saddlers), also lost more or less heavily.

An old Masterton settler, referring to the recent storm, stated that he never remembered such a violent, thunderstorm. Houses shook at every thunder-clap, and to many it was a night of terror. The crashing of the thunder, the roaring of the wind down the mountains, the noise made by the heavy rain beating oq the iron roofs of houses, and the almost continuous flashes of lightning was an experience that Masterton people are not likely to forget in a hurry. When the thunder ceased for a brief spell it was succeeded by a terrific gale of wind, which tore iron from sheds and destroyed boarded fences. By 3 o’clock the night of terror was over, but very few people in Masterton had any sleep.

In these days, people who are noij loyally inclined would be well advised to keep their mouths dosed, as recent incidents show. A few nights ago in Elthlun a foreigner made certain remarks that were displeasing to his hearers. It was not long before he was partially undressed and then treated to a liberal coating of tar. We do not advocate violence, but if the man said what we have been told that he said, then he received no more than he deserved. Last night there was another incident. A man who is not a foreigner said that the Germans would win, and he hoped they would win soon. He was quickly seized by the throat, and only the interference of a bystander prevented him from being knocked through Messrs Mauley and Towers’ window. When there are so many people about who have relations at the front, and so many who lost their dear ones, feeling is pretty tense, and disloyalists are apt to get into trouble if they allow their tongues to run loose.—Argus.

There are some people who object to military appeals being published in the press. A correspondent in yesterday’s Palmerston morning contemporary says:-—“The fullest publicity should be given to all appeal cases. If appellants arc thoroughly straightforward, what have they to fear? We don’t want any of these Star Chamber methods. It will be manifestly unfair to those who do not appeal, yet, to use a legal term, could ‘show cause,’ and good cause too, why they should stand down for a time or be exempted altogether. As I say, some would be within theiy rights in appealing. They simply loyally abide by the decision of the Medical Boards, although in many eases they have a number of volunteer brothers who have long been at the front and badly wounded. The statements made by some appellants have been proved to be worthy only of Annanias, and its the publication of same in the press that has caused their cases to be reviewed and the individuals making falsehoods to be very properly sent to camp. One has only to read the reports of recent appeals in the cities and the towns to show the necessity of full publicity more than ever being given to these proceedings.”

For Chronic Chest Complaints, Woods’ Great Peppermint Cure, 1/6 and 3/6, , ~,v i .

A local “sport” who struck a substantial dividend at the Wanganui races last week was sauntering off the course, when he was accosted by several of his disappointed friends. “But you’re not off now, are you?” they said. “Yes,” he replied, “I’m going to keep the lire warm !” ;

Whilst driving into Poxton last evening, a trap containing Mr and Mrs H. Proctor and three children, on coming through the cutting near the cemetery, met a motor car, at which the horse took fright and ran up the bank, with the result that the trap overturned. Portunately, all the occupants escaped unhurt, and the trap was only slightly damaged.

Private C. Brewer, of Poxton, writing fsom “somewhere in Prance” to a resident of this district, mentions that he recently picked up a piece of paper in a shell hole on the battlefield, and found it to be a portion of “The Manawatu Herald,” which, strangely enough, contained a paragraph relating to a business deal of the citizen who has just received the letter.

Residents of the Levin and Otaki districts who motored through to the Wanganui races on Saturday found on their return in the evening that the flood waters were over the Whi-i rokino road, and they were unable to get through. Many were forced to spend the night in Poxton, and on Sunday two local residents, with two horses, put their services at the disposal of the motorists in towing the vehicles through the flooded area at a fixed price per trip. “It’s an ill wind,” etc.

Reporting on the dirty condition of an English farm labourer’s cottage, the Market Bosworth sanitary inspector said the man’s wife, who was quite healthy, had lain in bed for eight weeks, and this sort of thing had been going on for three years. In other houses where the woman had lived the husband got her up by throwing a bucket of water over her. A councillor suggested starving her, and the inspector said the husband had tried that.

Madame Melba raised £75,000 for patriotic purposes. She has entertained thousands of soldiers in American cantonments. She broke her wrist in Texas when a beam fell from the theatre flies, but continued the performance; was in an automobile accident, a locomotive explosion, a runaway private car, and was slightly burned while boiling water for tea. She saw a man killed on the spot by being run over by an automobile. Nevertheless, the tour was a great success.

The youngest member of the Auckland Returned Soldiers’ Association is a lad of about IGA years of age. He is a native of Australia, and enlisted in the Australian Forces about two years ago. Ho got as far as Egypt, and after being over eighteen months on active service, he was discharged on account of his youth. The boy, who looks* about two years older than his years, has come to New Zealand with the object of enlisting in th(j Dominion force, if possible. He was admitted as a member of the Returned Soldiers’ Association last week. _