LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 2117, 20 April 1920, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Mr Walter Waters, of Paeroa, and formerly of Foxton, has been appointed Town Clerk of Eltham, out of 25 applicants. Master in High School (not a hundred miles from Foxton) : “What happened in London at the time of the Great Plague?” Budding Socialist: “They stuck the prices up!”

Such is the scarcity of houses in Eltham that the postmaster and his family tire obliged to sleep in tents at the rear of the office, and the Argus states that there is every prospect of their cofttinning to do so daring the winter mouths. /

The annual meeting of the parishioners of All Saints’ parochial district will be held in the Anglican schoolroom on Thursday. The adoption of the Annua! Report .and balance-sheet, election of people’s warden and vestry, will take place.

\ The Mayor invites the public to place flowers anti wreaths, on the occasion, at the foot of the Fallen Soldiers’ Memorial, to be unveiled on Anzae Day.

Those who failed to vote at the last general election have had their Jinnies struck off the rolls, but notices are' about to be issued to them enclosing a form of enrolment for use where the elector is still resident in the district.

A good idea of the conditions prevailing in England is contained in a letter received by the last mail by a resident of Wellington from his father in England. lie writes; ‘■9454. -This is my registered number for ITutter and sugar. My weekly 'allowance is one ounce of butter and (joz. of sugar, so that I cannot invite anyone to tea.”

There is reason, to believe that bacon will presently he cheaper (says the N.Z. Times). The prices paid'by many enrers for pork are now reported to be, fully Id per pound lower than formerly, and this is expected to be reflected, in Hie price of bacon. A leading eurcr reports that pigs are to he much more plentiful in the North Island and consequently (he price of pork for turning into bacon is now easier, and r’esh pork should soon ho correspondingly cheaper.

Thai money is net everything in life is illustrated by a case which lias come before the Taranaki Hospital Board (states the Taranaki Nfnvs). It concerns a lonely old man —he lias no wife or family, no relatives, and, apparently, no friends—ami lie wants to spend the evening of his life in the comfort of flu/ Old People's Home. He has money; in fact, his circumstances, are very comfortable, Imt his money keeps him from the comfort of flic home and the gonial companionship which he seeks, because the board cannot extend its charitable hospitality to those who are well off. All the law permits him to do is to make his wealth over to the hoard, and then they will care for him, and only then will he reach his happiness by making himself poor.

“Those black squares represent an advancing cloud of extinction; they mean that we are steering a (•nurse of national extinction,!’ said Dy. Trilby King, in a lecture at Auckland, when pointing to a' diagram showing the declining birthrate. Had (lie birth-rate remained at 35 per 1,000 the lignro for 1877, there would Inne been no black squares. The table, however, showed a steady decline in the rate since that dale, failing to IS per 1,000 in 1917. To emphasise the great- national danger the falling birth-rate'lias created in all western countries, Dr. Truhy King stated that of the 220,000 inhabitants of Hawaii, 85,000 were Japanese, yet these 85,000 Japanese were responsible for no less than 53 per e.ent of the total birth-rate of the islands. In connection with the holding of a “tangi” at Tongoro, the correspondent’ of the Napier Telegraph writes: —“There is growing dissatisfaction in connection with ‘tangis’ being held, at lime.-; like the present, when influenza is more or less prevalent throughout Hawkes Ray. Under ordinary circumstances there can he little or no reasonable objection to the carrying out by the Maoris of (he customs so dearly loved by (hem, imt if the health of (he public is to be unnecessarily endangered by these gatherings, there seems to he reasonadire'gronnds for complaint. Another aspect of the ‘tangi’ is often the absolute lack of sanitation and absence of ordinary conveniences, frequently as many as 100 or more persons eat. sleep, and spend the greater part..of a week —some limes a fortnight—on an area amounting to something under a couple of acres. Alien the scene of the ‘tangi’ is far removed from town or settlement the position is had enough, Imt when adjoining a seltlemenl or near a town, disastrous consequences must surely result.”

Price ViU'iaiions in the Dominion continue. They are difficult to understand. A tin containing l : loz. of tohacco-r—reputed 2oz. —is obtainable in Waihi for Is -Id, in Auckland for Is SH, in Wellington for Is s id, in Whangaroi for Is (id. Cigarettes : that cost 10c! in Invercargill are obtainable in New Plymouth for 7yd (says the Wellington Post). On the oilier hand, New Plymouth sells ■rump steak for Is 2d per lb., whereas the Dannevirke price is l()d v Waihi retailers charge Is per lb. for pork sausages, which in Dunedin are purchasable for 7d, and in Wellington cost Bid. The distinction of obtaining the highest retail price for a leg of mutton is shared by Hamilton and Rotorua, where it costs lOd per lb. In some cases variations of from 25 to 30 per cent, are to be noticed in the prices of identical articles in different places. The figures are those furnished by the Government Statistician. Wholesale prices also show variations. For instance, household soap, Now Zealand made, selling at £52 per ion in Dunedin, is obtainable in Wellington and Auckland at £39 per ton. Building bricks are £4 per 1,000 in Wellington, and £3 2s Od in Dunedin. Leather (first quality brands) is about the same per lb. in the four centres. Ordinary building rimu is £1 6s 3d per 1000 ft. in Auckland, £1 8s in "Wellington, £1 4s Bid in Christchurch, and 19s in Dunedin.

0! Zeus! When you ring my knell, Decree of me not a frozen hell! For if to lliee ’twill be the same, I’d far prefer a hell of flame. But if thy unrelenting hale. In that alone itsHust can sate, • Grant me, to make my fate allure, A gross of Woods' Great Peppermint Cure. —Advt. " 7

Mr ami Mrs W. Signal* Miss Signal,mnd Mr M;. Signal'returned yesterday from an extended trip to .Rotorua and .Auckland. A number of local Masons intend, to proceed to llongotea this evening to attend the annual'installation of W.M. and investiture of officers of Lodge llongotea.

We regret to report the death of Mr P. Gay, who passed away at his residence, Thynnc Street, this morning, after an illness of several weeks. Deceased leaves a widow and several children to mourn their loss, to whom'sincere public sympathy will be extended.

A warm overcoat is not only a great comfort, but a necessity during the autumn, and winter months, and in order to’ provide the requiremoitts of (he Poxton public, A. N. Smith, cash draper and ouililter, has landed some warm and serviceable overcoats, for ladies, hoys, and men. A perusal of his'advertisement to-day will give an idea of the values offering.

-Two riddles: If 7 cats kill 7 rat’s in 7 minutes, how many cals would it take to kill 100 rats in 50 minutes? —A man has £IOO. lie goes to a sale and buys 100 bead of stock', which includes cows, sheep, and fowls. The cows cost him £5 each, the sheep £1 each, and (he fowls Is each. How many of each did he huv?'

Since (lie beginning of ilu' war between 300 and 400 buildings in AVaiiii, mostly dwellings, have been sold for removal, the most recent sales being in many instanees al prices in excess of the original cost of ereclion years ago. Sound dwellings of I‘rom live to six rooms have lately been selling al from £350 to £125, to buyers who will transfer them elsewhere, and more roomy kauri, houses have sold up to £SOO. with a still ansa I istied demand.

It is anticipated that the total number of school children who will lie in Palmerston North on the dale of the visit there of the Prince of Wales (MaV 3rd) will he about £5,000. In addition to the. children from, tlie local schools, about SO!) are coming by train from the south-, ern end of the province, while about 000 will come by rail from Bunnythorpe, Paxton, Ashlmrs), and the districts be!ween those places .and Palmerston North. Added to these (here will he the children from places like Kairanga, Awahuri, Eil/herherl, and Kongoloa, "which are not served by rail, and for whom other means of conveyance will have to be found.

The following resolution, proposed by Mr Hornhlow, and seconded by Mr MeMumiy, was carried unanimously at last night's householders’ mooting: “That this meeting of Eoxfon Householders urges upon the Government (lie great necessity for reform in the National system of Education in regard to; (1) The extension of the school age and. the reduction of the size of classes; (2) the semiring of more trained teachers, and, to this end. the paying of much hotter salaries, and (3) in-or-der to give full effect to these measures, a .reform of the system of administration by establishing a National Education Board and local education committees.”

' To conduct a Divine service, followed by Coimnunion, id (ho age of hi year:-;, surely constitutes it ministerial .record in (bis Do'minion, mid probably in Australasia. Yet tins was accomplished by the Rev. Janies Patterson (for many years pastor of St. John’s Presbyterian Church, Wellington) in (he Foxton Presbyterian Church on Sunday morning', (he rev, gentleman preached a very eloquent sermon, with .a brief address to the children, and delivered a pre-communion address. During the course of his remarks, (he Rev. Patterson referred to the excellent services of the late Rev. Jas. Dimcan, who erected the present church and with whom he had been associated in the days gdne by. Mr Leu. freeman has disposed of his interest in 'Whyte’s Hotel to Mr Walter Krklaml, of .Shannon. Mr Kirkland will take possession when the new building is ready for occupa.tion. During Mr Freeman’s occupancy of tin's old-established hotel he has conducted it with credit to himself, and to the entire satisfaction of the travelling public. Mrs Freeman and children leave Foxton on Tuesday next for Wellington, on route for England by the Corinthic, which sails on the 30th insl. Special recognition of Mrs Freeman’s services in the social life of the (own are worthy of public recognition. She Ims-given -her talents and services freely for the support of every patriotic..movement, with which she was actively connected during the war period, and to every other public and deserving cause. From a social point of view her departure will be generally regretted. Mr Massey’s manifesto, by which he replied to the claims of the railwaymeii, is thus commented upon by the New Zealand Railway Review; — “Really it is not Mr Massey’s, hut a production of the head office- of the New Zealand Railways, which sought to pul.up what the Thornd»m branch of the A.S.R.S. aptly calls a smoke-screen between the raihvaymen and the general public. Cannot every railwayman with experience of the bloodless, arthmetical methods of the Railway Department, sec in the statement of the Frame Minister the familiar 'hand which' calculates how a sixpenny rise, spread over so nftmy thousand men, over so many days in the year, totals out at some surprising number of thousand,pouiids-sterling?— they still talk of sovereigns, though what the men gel are dirty pieces ofpaper,, not .worth half a real glittering good-as-gold sovereign.”

•The friends of Mr ami MV" P. S, Easton will regret to learn (hat their young son, Mmitoa, underwent a critical operation in a Palmerston X. private hospital, on Sunday last, and now Res in a Critical condition.

The biggest sheti]) ever kilk-d-at -■ the Waingawa (Masterton) mg Works was dealt with last week''- U" (says the Wairarapa Daily Times). - It was a ewe, and its freezing weight proved to be 151)fbs. Mr J. McGillienddy, of Taratahi West, reared the animal, and i£_\vas delivered at the works in a (‘art.

A phenomenally good yield of oats Ims been threshed by Mr William Straehan, of Georgetown, from a -15-acre paddock (says the Oanmi'u Mail). The crop was Garton, and the yield of 4,050 bushels works out at 00 bushel."' per acre. No special'cultivation was given to the ground; just one ploughing, double 'discing, and cultivating, but no fertiliser was used. Last year tin’s same piece of ground was down in wheat, and gave a yield of -10 bushels.

There are two sides to all ques--1 inns, including that of prohibition orders. That is how a man who appeared in the New Plymouth Magistrate’s Court, views prohibition orders: “I don’t think they are any good. They prevent - a man from doing business. Men owe me money, and I can’t collect it. As soon as they see me coming they duck into an hotel, knowing I can’t follow. If I do go in after thorn the police arc onto me.” The Magistrate staled the other side of this question, and had the last."word. —Herald.