Manawatu Herald TUESDAY, APRIL 8, 1919. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 1962, 8 April 1919, Page 2

Manawatu Herald TUESDAY, APRIL 8, 1919. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

A meeting of (lie Eoxluii Harbour Boa I’d will be held at Palmerston at 11 a.m. to-morrow. William Stanley, aged -16 years, an euginedriver, was killed at Mokai, near Taupe, on Friday, owing to the brakes on the engine failing to act. Considerable difficulty is being experienced in Feilding in obtaining a candidate f<»i - the Mayoralty. Several prominent townspeople who have been deputalionised have refused the honour, Information in the latent Gazette is (o the effee! that the •Borough of Levin has been declared a special fire district under the Act. A Fire Board will therefore be set up shortly. The ordinary monthly meeting of the Borough Council will be held on Monday next, 14th inst., at 7.30 p.m. Business, ordinary. Finance ■Committee meets Friday next, at 7 p.m.; Library Committee meets Monday next, at 7 p.m. A steward on the Manuka who was sick and had a somewhat high temperature, was taken to the Wellington Hospital on Friday for observation. The walersiders engaged in discharging the vessel’s cargo learned of the matter on Saturday, and immediately stopped work. The condition of the steward is unchanged, according to the latest report. Crs. Geo. Coley and Thus. Henderson x’etnriied from a motor trip to New Plymouth last week. While in the Taranaki district they made enquiries into the up-to-date methods of road construction in those parts, They also visited the various scenic’ reserves, and their observations in this connection will be usefully applied locally. For Bronchial Coughs, take Woods’ Great Peppermint Cure.

On Thursday next, electors throughout the Dominion will be afforded an opportunity to decide whether the liquor traffic shall continue or be prohibited. It is the most momentous question which has yet been submitted to the people. The local polling booth is situated in the Council Chambers, and the polling hours are between 9 a.m. and 7 p.m.

The Westmoreland, which arrived with the Maori troops at Auckland on Saturday, when last in port there had a fire aboard, the estimated damage to the cargo being about £50,000. Nearing the home ports on the outward voyage she was struck by a torpedo, which made a hole 30 feet in diameter in her side and Hooded the No. 2 hold. She steamed ashore and was beached, being considerably damaged by seas. She was refloated and taken to Liverpool for repairs. Dr. A. 13. Pearson, the pathologist at the Christchurch Hospital, in a lecture in Christchurch on Saturday night on influenza, stated (hat no bacteriological examination had shown (he presence of the plague germ, and it was certainly not plague. It was not the same type of disease as tin 1 Creat Plague (the “Black Death") of the Fourteenth Century. If there were a recrudescence of the disease this winter he thought it would be in a milder form, though if might get more widespread.

At a general meeting of the Certificated Licensed Drainers’ Union (Dunedin) the following resolution was carried: “That this union of industrial workers views with displeasure Hie utterances of Mr JL Semple, M.P., at Christchurch from a public platform last month, in commenting, sympathetically upon Bolshevism, Hpartacism, and Sinn Feinism, and that this union of worker-- puts no trust whatever in (he New Zealand Labour Party’s platform nor in its executive as at present constituted,’' —Otago Times.

At last month's meeting of the local School Committee a suggestion which emanated from the Board's officials that a foundation stone be laid at the new school, was considered. The Committee decided to bear the cost of a stone, which it was proposed should be laid by the Minister for education, and contain the names of the Minister and Chairman of Committee. The proposal was submitted to the Board, but did not find favour with the Board Chairman, and was turned down. At last night’s Committee meeting it was decided to leave the matter in the hands of the incoming Committee.

The Foxlmi-Ilimatangi road runs parallel with the railway for nearly, its whole length. The road formation is right alongside (he sleepers. Fortunately for road traffic, there are not many trains to and from Foxlon daily, otherwise a fence would have to divide the railway track from the road. As it is. there, is an element of danger in passing trains, owing to (he (dose proximity of the road and rails. We are in--formed that the Railway Department claim (he land whereon the road is constructed. The County is now levelling the land at a safe distance from the iron track, presumably with the object of re-form-ing the road in the near future.

A! last night's meeting of (lie School Committee, when the question of an appointment' to the staff was being considered, the Chairman said the question of the health of a teacher should be given careful consideration by the Board and Committee before continuing an appointment. .Some time ago the Commiti*oe called the Board’s attention to the health of (wo female ex-teach-ers at the school. As a result of this the Chairman said he had been accused of victimisation by (he Board Chairman. Other members endorsed the views of the Committee’s action in respect to the health of teachers.

The records of the first licensing pell taken in Mew Zealand make strange reading in comparison with the vigorous propaganda of the campaign which will have its issue next Thursday, - writes “Merculio" in (he Auckland Herald. The poll was taken on March 21st. 1804, in connection with (he election of licensing committees, hut the public was so indifferent that in 33 of the (i2 districts fewer than half the number of electors on the rolls voted, and the polls were deelared void. In the aggregate only 122,234 electors voted, the total number on (he rolls being 2-18,194, but the otlicial returns are incomplete, as the figures for the Mannkau district were not available. In the following year Hie Act was amended, provision being made that (he licensing poll should be fallen on the day of the general electidh, and in IS9G, m total of about 77 per cent, of the electors voted on the question. Mow, after 25 years, (he issue is again to he submitted to popular decision without any of (he confusion of general polities. It would he a strange climax to the campaign of the past few months if only half the electors went to the poll, but that is a contingency which is hardly likely to arise. All children ere they hie to play I’pon a raw, cold winter’s day, Should don warm clothes, from hatto hose, To guard their lungs from bronchial woes; And when to bed they heat retreat'. To make precaution quite complete, Last, thing each one should have, be sure, A dose of Woods' Great Peppermint * Cure.—Advt. 4

A most; extra ordinary sight was witnessed in Giant an one day recently. During a very heavy shower of rain, hundreds of thousands of small white jellyfish were to he seen lying on the pavements (reports an exchange). They did not last very long, melting as soon as the sun made its appearance. On Saturday, at Palmerston, Constable Ferguson effected the arrest of a man named Robert Edward Brassell, on a charge of having stolen the sum of £oo,'the property of Izaac Piearson, whom he had joined company with curlier in the day. When the theft was discovered the police were immediately summoned, and shortly after the accused was arrested and searched, in nearby premises, without avail, but a subsequent search at the Police Station revealed the missing money. At the Palmerston S.M. Court yesterday accused , who pleaded not guilty, reserved his defence, and was committed for (rial at the next sitting of the Supreme Court in Palmerston, bail being allowed in one suretv of £2OO.

A cablegram from London announces (he death of Professor Wdliam Crookes, the eminent chemist and scientist, in his 87th year. The late Professor Crookes had a particularly distinguished career. His discoveries were many and important, and included thallium, a new element, repulsion resulting from radiation, fixation of atmospheric nitrogen, and eye-preserving glass for spectacles. His publications cover a wide range of subjects, including well-known works dealing with the manufacture of beetroot sugar, dyeing and calico printing, dyeing and tissue printing, metallurgy, artificial manures, disposal of sewage, etc. Professor Crookes was proprietor and editor of the Chemical News.