Manawatu Herald. THURSDAY, JANUARY l6, 1919. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 1927, 16 January 1919, Page 2

Manawatu Herald. THURSDAY, JANUARY 16, 1919. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

,Manaia, a small Taranaki township, is about lo raise a loan lor a water nd drainage scheme. At a meeting at Oroua Downs on Tuesday evening, it was resolved to hold the annual sports meeting on Wednesday, February 2Gth. Leslie Vincent Bugler, of Springlands, Blenheim, aged seventeen months, was ran over by a horse and trap, and died immediately afterwards. Mr J. M. Coradine, .Mayor of .Master!on. who is just hack from Australia, stales that I lie cost of; living is cheaper in Australia than in New Zealand. More particularly is this the case in respect to bread, meat, clothing, and boots and shoes. The High School teachers of Palmerston North are collecting funds for the establishment of a memorial to the late .Mr J. E. Vernon, to which end it is their intention to place a brass (ablet in the school and to establish a scholarship. This will involve an outlay of at least ,£250. Mr J. A. Nash, M.P., has communicated with Messrs Field, Newman and Vcitch, M’s.P., respecting the proposed Mangahao Hydro-El-ectric Scheme. Mr Nash is of the opinion that as the Government has placed a stated sum of money on the Estimates no time should be lostj in getting the work put in band. The Featherston Comity Council lias decided to purchase a tarsprayer, for the improvement of the roads in that county. It is only a matter of time when the present methods of road formation and maintenance will give place to something more modern and move economical. »

Locally-grown dessert apples aro being retailed at 5d per lb. M. Jacques Lehaudy, tlie famous French explorer, has been fatally shot by his wife, at New York.

The price of land in the neighbourhood of Masterton lias enormously increased in recent years. The farm of Mr G. H. Perry, on tho Upper Plain, is reported to havo been sold at £lO5 per acre.

The Union Steam Ship Company has received word that tho crow of the steamer Wairuna, captured by the German raider Wolf in 1917, with tho exception of Campbell, an engineer, and St oilman and Patterson, (\vo firemen, have arrived safely in England from Germany. The Moana, which is due at Wellington in about a week's time from San Francisco, is bringing 7,721 sacks-of mail matter, of 'which 5,(523 sacks comprise American parcels. The balance consists of letters from the United Kingdom and the United Slates of America. The manager of Budge’s Pioi station, Awakino, where the mine exploded last week, reports (hat at low spring tide it has been disclosed that a great hole was blown in the reef by the mine. He also found a piece of mine-casing, weighing live pounds, inland of his. house.

Al (he Palmerston Magistrate's Court yesterday, a young man, Sydney Moxled, pleaded guilty to (diurges of forging and uttering cheques, and was remanded to the Supreme Court at Wellington for sentence. Accused was also remanded to appear al Wellington on a further charge of forging a choi que at Fetonc,

The (irst shipment of hemp from Auckland for many months will he taken by the steamer Suevic in February. The shipment: will comprise about -1,000 hales, and is expected to ease the position of the llaxmillers to a certain extent. The present season is expected to he a good one, in spile of the fact that it has been late in starling. Most of tho mills are now busilv at w'ork.

Lord French, in a telegram to Marshal Foch, ‘*my old friend and comrade in the Held," says: —‘‘Your wonderful display of military skill and ability will cause your great name to rank with the most illustrious soldiers the world has ever known, it will always be a pride and glory to me to remember my association with so great a soldier in the early days of the war. I hope later on you will give Ireland an opportunity of welcoming you.”

The most important commercial transaction in the history of southern Hawke’s Lay was completed on Tuesday, when the old-established business of 1 lie Dannevirke Co-op-erative Association was amalgamated with the Wairarapa Funnel's' Co-operative .Association, in future the business will he carried c.n in the new building being erected in the (ire-swept area, which, when completed, will be the biggest de-p-arlmenlal store in Hawke’s Lay. The amount involved in the transaction is approximately .€1)0,000.

In a word or Iwo on Hu; subject of school cquipmenl. Mr \V. 1). BoyIcy. a Canadian educationalist, (old the 'Educational institute, at "Wellington, of what has been done in (In's direction in Canada. “I cannot compliment you on your equipment as 1 can on your energy and enthusiasm,’’ said Mr Baylcy. Ho mentioned the equipment in a school in a working-class suburb of his own (own. The building was a substantial one of brick, with beautiful white walls and Venetian blinds to all (he windows. Each child had its own adjustable seat and its own desk of highly polished wood. At the end of the year (here was not ;<, scratch or an inkslain on any of the desks. The children responded to the influence of good furniture, and it was a good investment ■ in every way to provide it. Edward Joseph Fay, a world notorious crook and bank' robber, known as-“ Eddie Fay,” was found shot to death in an alley in Chicago on November 5t h. There was a bullet wound in Ids head just below Ihe right ear. The police believe he was slain by a member of his own gang, following an argument over the division of loot. Fay’s career of crime extends all over America and parts of Europe. He became internationally known lo years ago, when he was arrested in Paris with “Eddie” Duerin, also of Chicago, for robbery of a Paris bank. They were sentenced to Devil’s Island,- a French prison surrounded by (dill’s, and Fay later escaped. He was the first criminal to make a successful break for freedom from that prison. The American police estimate that Fay had stolen more than £400,000 from bunks (throughout, the country. * A school teacher at a recent- silting of the Xew Zealand Educational Institute could not resist the temptation of hurling a jibe at school committees. He said (hat they met to discuss an increase in the caretaker’s salary, and indulged in petty quarrels. This delegate vaunts Ids ignorance in making suclj undignified remarks, and one is almost prepared to assume from his remarks that he ranks as one of the misfits in the profession. He is ignorant of the powers conferred upon committees by the Act, or probably he may have been sensed of his duty by a vigiient committee. The election of committees appears to be the only democratic principle connected with the Act, as they arc. the direct representatives of the people, and possess as much initiative as the Education Boards, who control the grants for their expenditure. Even the Institute is guilty uf unseemly wangles,

The grass growing in the borough streets has been cut, thus obviating the danger of grass Ores. Mr and Mrs W. Hamer this morning received a cable from their son,Harold, who is with the New Zealand Forces, advising that he is “homeward hound.” Among the soldiers recently decorated is Private William Bryant, son of Air W. Bryant, of Foston, who has been awarded the Military Medal. The Wanganui Education Board, at its meeting last night, decided to refer the correspondence in connection with the purchase of a German piano for the Foxton School hack to the School Commit lee. A number of orehardists in the Hawke’s Bay district, have expressed the opinion that the limitation of fruit bearing this season will give the trees a much-needed rest, and have a good effect by increasing the yield next season.

An amendment is needed to the Municipal Corporations Act, making it compulsory that boroughs should instal water and drainage without the sanction of a poll. If the source of supply is 100 distant for gravitation there is an unlimited artesian supply. The local Council cannot delay this question much longer. At a meeting of the Educational Institute held in Wellington last week, one of (lie teachers, Air Combs moved “that from the age of fourteen to twenty-one years it bj compulsory for adolescents to attend a continuation school for three months in the year.” The good sense of the meeting prevented this extraordinary motion from finding a seconder. Saturday last was (lie seventythird anniversary of the capture of Ruapekapeka Pa, in 184(i, during the war with the Alaoris in the North. Colonel Despard, of the Imperial Forces, was in command, and the British were assisted by the Ngapuhis, under the chief Tamati Wakanene. Hone Heke’s war was thus brought to a close. The U.S. National Industrial Conference Board asserted that tho cost of living between July, 1!)14, and July, l!H8j increased in the United Stales 50 to 55 per cent. Tho increases found for the different items which go to make up the budget of the average family were: — Food, 02 per cent.; rent, 15 per cent.; clothing, 77 per cent.; fuel and light, 45 per cent.; .sundries,. 50 per cent.

The American market for hemp is reported as suddenly stagnant. London is disinclined to operate, as (lie fixed maximum for Manila has just been reduced hy £2O per ton. There is no appreciable tonnage for London available at the moment, but there is a considerable amount of tonnage offering in America, which cannot be taken advantage of in view of the absence of inquiries from that quarter. Mr Joseph Dawson, the wellknown Wairarnpa contractor, and a member of the Wellington Land Board, slates that he can construct concrete roads 12ft in width at £l3 per chain (says the Wairarapa Age). This works out at £l,OlO per mile. The cost of putting down the road between the Masterlon Borough boundary and Carterton (a distance of approximately seven miles) would, therefore, be less than £7,500. The interest on this amount, at G per cent., would be £l5O per year. One result of the Commonwealth guarantee against the flax crop of Victoria has been a demonstration of the superiority of locally-grown seed over that imported. Ur, 8. B, Cameron, chairman of the Blax Industries Committee, reports a Melbourne paper, states that loeal seed Ims been uniformaly the most successful, disappointing results having attended the use of A'ew Zealand seed. Apparently the imported seed-was of a variety of plant more developed for its seed production than for fibre.

A determined attempt at suicide was made in Nelson yesterday (says (he Mail) by Mrs Batchelor, wile oi Mr G. J, Batchelor, who is serving with the New Zealand Forces at the front, having left with the first draft of married men. It is slated that Mrs Batchelor had been very depressed at the absence of her husband. From what can be gathered, she iirst took poison, then cut her throat with a carving knife, and next plunged, fully dressed, into the girls' bathing hole, just: above the Nile Street bridge, from which she was rescued by Mr Alfred Denholm. Mrs Batchelor is now in the hospital. Why are potatoes so dear! From inquiries made by us (says a Dunedin exchange) it would appear that the answer is simply because sufficient quantities of them cannot be obtained. The lateness of the local season is a big factor in bringing about this state of affairs, and relief from the North Island and Australia is rendered difficult— almost, impossible—by the lack of transport facilities. There are few, if an\, old potatoes til lor table use, so that the public arc, as.il were, in u cleft stick. We understand that efforts are being made through the Minister for Munitions to obtain priority of loading for pat a toes and onions in the case of the Kaiapoi, which is at present loading at Melbourne. If this can he done it will relievo the situation considerably, and tide us over until our own supply is available in quantities. To give an idea of the demand, it may be mentioned that Auckland new potatoes were sold at 3i to -Id per ih. wholesale the other morning, and Oamaru and Peninsula, freshly gathered, at 51d.

Ainon.tr (he soldiers .returning with Draft 208 nre Privates G. Collins and N. Sutton, of Eoxlon. The'steamers Durham and Ayrshire whitdi are expected to arrive at- Auckland within the next few days, will load record shipments of'butter and cheescmt that port. In order to cope with the .amount of produce, additional cold\storage has been provided, and withjthe shipment of this produce, room will be left for the store ~, of meat during (be season. The shipment will be made by the Auckland Farmers’ Freezing Co., Lid., and space lias been granted them on (be (wo vessels for 208,550 boxes of butter, and 7,500 crates of cheese, which is held in cold storage in Auckland to the order of the Imperial Government. The butler is valued at the Government prices, and amounts to £045,000, while the cheese is worth £50,000. Both vessels will commence loading this week.