LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 1945, 27 February 1919, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Tim air yesterday and this morning was nippy about sunrise just a few degrees short of a frost.

The blackberries are now ripe, and a number of; local residents have already gathered large quantities.

The local squad of Senior Cadets who are to compete at the Rifle Meeting' at Wanganui left by this morning’s train. The shoot takes place to-morrow.

The monthly abstract of statistics gives the total exports of Dominion produce (exclusive of. gold) during' 19.18 as £298(5,^81, compared with £80,184,099 in 1917, and £32,975,907 in 1916.

During December, lf)18, the total deaths from influenza in the four metropolitan areas and nine suburban areas were 921. The city figures were:—Auckland, 102; Wellington, 442; Christchurch, 95; Dunedin, 118.

The lion. Kir W, Fraser, Minister for .Public Works, who is visiting Khannon 10-niorrmv, at the invitation of the Mangahao Hydro-Elec-tric 1 league, will be entertained at a complimentary smoke concert in the Druids’ Hall in the evening.

Erroneous reports having been circulated regarding the date of arrival' of the transport Port .Melbourne with Keturning Draft No. 21!) on board, Da-c Records advises that the vessel is due to reach Auckland on sth March, and assuming all on boa.rd are well, will berth on the following day, 6th March.

“What are you going the increasing cost of living I ?'’ asked tho solemn man as lie marked his Japanese goods three Junulred per cent, in advance of Ihe landed (Mist, and Ihe nasty person he addressed said. “Gel the (iovenmuml In enact a law that every article sold in New Zealand must he marked with the cost as well as with the selling price." —Auckland Observer.

Mr T. ’Wyeth (brother of Mr •). Wyeth, of Fox I on), one of the oldest directors of the Wairarapa Caledonian Society, was presented with an illuminated address at the recent annual meeting of the society. In Ids younger days Mr Wyeth was a prominent athlete in the Wellington Province, and during the time he has been associated with the Caledonian Society has done much to advance the sport.

Dr. Walker, medical Superintendent of the New Plymouth Hospital, giving evidence bet ore the Arbitration Court in a case concerning the death of a man aged sb, who had been handling quarters ol beet (weighing about 1701 b.) in a freezing chamber, said: “Any man of 50 years or over who does ‘bulloeking’ work lakes a risk." lie added that no man should ’sloop for a long lime, and that no man over 50 had any right whatever to exert himself while stooping.

It is staled (says (lie Christchurch Press) that with the close of the war and the release for sale of large numbers of motor lorries, life education Department will probably purchase some for the purpose of conveying children to the larger schools in the country, and so enable the department to (dose some of the smaller outlying schools. This method of centralising is much in vogue in America, where it is increasingly popular.

I'ublic M'l'vnnls will! ii;tvc rc,•idled 1 lie age id Go are not being encouraged lu slay in I lie service. Steps nre being taken to give an tin;uisl;iknl)!e reminder to men who may forget to lake advantage of (he superannuation provision tor veterans. This policy of; speeding-up the retirement of the dsjxty-fivers” is being worked in special consideration of those public servants who joined the N.Z.L.K, and have yet to resume civilian duty, ft is also intended to brighten the promotion prospects generally for (he compare tivelv voting men.

A comment of Mr Justice Chapman on (he fact that £1 a day seemed to be unite an ordinary wage for a working man in the Manawatu district, has elicited the information that in numerous cases the earnings of even unskilled labour is considerably more. Recently a paddocker at a flaxmill drew the nice little slim of £S7G for 35 weeks’ work, which works out at £2 14s per day, if. there was no work on Sundays. — Levin Chronicle.

Adjutant Herring and Lieutenant Smith arc farowclling next Sunday. A full report of the garden party hold at All Saints’ vicarage yesterday will appear in our next issue. The Rev. .(. ,11. Bredin returned from Christchurch last, evening, where ho had been attending the Presbyterian Assembly. Mrs Evans, of Foxton, yesterday received advice from the. Minister for Defence that her sou, Trooper John Evans, was dangerously ill in the Alexandria Hospital.

A special meeting of the Paxton Borough Council was (o have been held last night lo make arrangements for (lie celebration of peace locally, but owing lo (here being"m> quorum present the meeting lapsed. Those in attendance were: The Mayor (Mr J. Chrystall) and Crs. Coley, Henderson and Kempster. Apologies for absence were received from Crs. McMurray, Hannah, Thompson and Bryant, Mr W. Sexton, of Foxton, lias received advice that his brother, Private At, Sexton, died at the Codford Hospital, England. Private Sexton, who was a single man, volunteered and left with the 33rd Reinforcement, being attached to the Otago Regiment. His mother resides in Greymouth. Much sympathy is fell for the bereaved family.

Antonia Dolores, the world-fam-ous French soprano, will appear in the Town Hall on Tuesday evening next.

This week’s Mercantile Gazette gives the following particulars of a recently registered company: — Waikato Flaxmilling Co., Ltd. Registered as a private company, Feb. 19th, 1919. Office, Fox ton. Capital: £0,500, into 0,500 shares of £1 each. Subscribers: —Tauranga, L. Griffith 1,500; Foxton, K. Kennedy 1,090, A. W. Pearson 750, A. Ross 750; Taupiri, F. W. Seifert 1,500. Objects: To carry on the business of flaxmilling.

Gratitude to the medical party sent from New Zealand to he!]) in fighting the “influenza” epidemic in Fiji is conveyed in the followingmessage from the Governor of the Islands to the Governor-General:— “I desire to express the thanks of the Government and people of this colony for the valuable assistance rendered by the relief party and for their good work, without which the effects of the epidemic must have proved considerably more severe than was actually the case.”

“Pohulu” writes to the Auckland Observer: They are telling a good story in Geyser Land concerning a wealthy Scot who dwells in this locality. The aforesaid Scot was not always a man of many shekels; in fact, there was a time in days gone by when the Scot ma.de a tin of porridge in the morning and subsisted on it for the day. One night when he went to dig out his supper he found it had grown whiskers. The position was full of tragedy, for the porridge, however whiskery, could not he washed. Then the Scot had a brain wave, for he remembered an old bottle of whisky he had had slowed away for many a day. Pouring out a good nip, he addressed himself thus: “Mow, Mac, be a Seed and eat your porridge, and the nip is yours.” The porridge went in quick lime. Raising the nip of whisky, the wily Scot poured it bade into the bottle. “Na, na, Mac!’’ he addressed himself, “I had ve that time, mon!”

Mr Justice Cooper is not a presumptuous man, and in consequence, Avhen he rides in a tram ear he does not rise and claim affinity with the sons of light. One day while travelling back to town from Remuera he was silling next to a gentleman of Ibo species Bolshevik. A well-known patrician from Victoria Avenue, when asked to pay his fare, said he was minus money, as lie had left it at home, and Mr Conduct or. knowing him, said, “All right, you can pay to-morrow!" Then quoth the Bolshevik to the Judge, ‘‘Say, mate, if it had boon me or you we'd a been chucked off. What?” The Judge said, “Mr, ye-es!” The self-same dispenser of justice was once in Greymouth. And he was sitting at the table in Ihe dining room after a meal one morning when a parly of men approached him. “I say,” said the spokesman, pointing' to a well-fed commercial traveller on the oilier side of ihe room, “I say, is that Mr Justice Cooper?” The Judge assumed an innocent air, “I don’t know,” he said; “you see. I'm a stranger here!”—Observer.

What All' (', L. MacDairmid characterised as a “monsirous case" was heard at the Hamilton Do'll ce Cumi recently, F. Maxwell, representative for Mcs>rs Kllis and Burnand. was charged with travelling on (he railway on Ist Angus! hist between Taumarunui and Frank!on. without a ticket, and refusing to pay his proper fare. The circumstances were That Mr Maxwell had an annual ticket, which expired on 31st July, and some three or four days previously he applied for another to he issued on Ist August, and this was awaiting him at Hamilton. The (rain left Taumarunui at 12.2 a.m., (wo minutes after Hie expiration of the old ticket, and upon being asked for his ticket he produced the old ticket and explained the circumstances. The guard reported the matter to his Department, but though it was found to be as stated, the Department ordered a prosecution, the contention being that Maxwell should have paid the fare and applied for a refund. The'Bench referred to 'red tape,” and dismissed the information, as there was not the slightest reason to think Maxwell desired to defraud 'he Department—WgiktMu Times.

‘‘There sire degrees of patriotism,” said the Chairman of the School Committee, at Tuesday night’s public meeting. “The women who worked on behalf of the sick and wounded soldiers, and the person who gave voluntarily without ’hope of reward were truly patriotic, but the patriot whom we honoured most was he who freely arid voluntarily offered up Ids life as a sacrifice to his country.’’ The speaker deprecated pandering to gambling instincts for the purpose of raising money for patriotic purposes.

A remarkable escape from instant .■tenth occurred recently near Melbourne, when a young married woman named Airs Milton got beneath the 3.-10 a.m. train to Alelbourne as it entered the station. She had a child of three with her, ami was carrying an infant about twelve months old. As the engine approached she seemed to go off in a faint, and disappeared under the train. The driver at once stopped the engine, and the insensible woman ami

her infant, which was uninjured, were brought to the platform. The toddling child walked outwards from beneath the second carriage, apparently quite unconcerned. The mother and baby were taken to (ho hospital, where it was found that Airs Milton was unhurt, save for an 'abrasion on one elbow, and slight shock'.

One of the chaplains who addressed the Presbyterian General Assembly at Christeluireh was responsible for its members —both ministers and elders —indulging’ in unrestrained laughter, in which the Moderator was unable to refrain from joining (says the Press). The chaplain was telling how the soldiers in Palestine showed interest in ancient sacred relics, and narrated that a guide, pointing to an eastern lamp (old a party of men that the lamp had been burning continuously for sight hundred years. “It will damn well burn no longer.” an Australian soldier had said, at the same time extinguishing the sacred llame. The use of the trooper’s actual language look the Assembly so much by surprise that members simply “let themselves go.” This paved the way for another story, the point of which was another outspoken remark. The padre had been talking about iSamson’s feat with (he gales of Gaza, and after (lie talk the soldier came along to him, and, after referring to the gate story, lie remarked; “Good Gml, padre, you don’t-expect us (o swallow that!”