LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 2150, 15 July 1920, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The last episode of “The Silent Mystery” will be screened at the Town Hall on Monday. Sec how it all ends. Mr Moses Ayrton, tutor in economics to the Manawatu branch of the W.E.A., will conduct both morning and evening services at the local Methodist Church on Sunday. Get rid of that stubborn cold. Take NAZOL, the penetrating, prompt and pure remedy. 1/6 ouys 60 dosps.

At Monday night’s Council meeting it was decided to make a donation of ten guineas towards (ho Willard Orphanage at Palmerston North. - '

After a delay extending in many eases over three mouths (says the Lyttelton Times) 500 applications for telephones are still on the wailing list in Christchurch. Shortage of material is the cause. The Foxlon School Committee has again been honoured by the Dominion Conference in having its Chairman re-elected as one of this Federation’s vice-presidents. Mr Bruce, a member of the Wanganui Education Board, was elected on the executive committee.

Mr TI. E. Holland (Buller) has given notice to move for a return of the number of members of the N.Z.E.F. sentenced to de/th by ord.er df court-martial, the number of cases in which the death sentence was carried out, the number imprisoned and at'present in prison, the nature, of the offences, and the' officers constituting the euorts-martial..

The University Senate has decided that after the- examination of March, 1921, no further exemptions than those already granted or consequential thereon from the operation of the University Statutes shall ho granted to returned soldiers, other than those suffering,from illhealth caused by war service. Each of such latter cases, including applications for provisional matriculation, is to he considered on its merits. This will not afJply 1° tbe grant of war scholarships, which will lie continued at the discretion of the Senate.

A novel method of illustrating what ho considered the fallacy of Labour’s argument that # farmers should he compelled to grow wheat, was given by Mr A. I). M’Leod (Wairarapa), in Parliament last week. “I want to put it to the representatives of Labour that if there were on Lamhton Quay a picture show in course of erection, and the builder was offering carpenters :i()s a day, while there were also being erected workers’ dwellings on which only 25s a day was being paid, whether they would not find on the workers’ dwellings darned few carpenters. There you have it in a nutshell.'”

At Monday night’s Connell meeting Hip recently appointed gas works manager, Mr .A. C. Kennerley was present, and the Mayor, on behalf of the Council, took the opportunity of formally welcoming him to ■Foxton. He said that whilst lie did not wish to discourage the new manager, he would point out that there was a fairly big handicap in connection with the. local works. The .Mayor said he hoped that the best relations would exist between the new manager and members' of the Council. Mr Kennerley thanked the Mayor for the welcome extended him, and said that he would do his best to carry out bis duties to the satisfaction of atl.

Writing to a country newspaper in New South AVales, a pastoralist primly comments (says the Sydney Sun) on tlie political cry for more production thus: —“We are producing more sheepskins to the acre than since the days the boiling-down works were competing with the drought. . . . Recently 30 of: my breeding ewes wery skinned in one paddock. l.got Hie skins, and the crows got the carcases. That’s what I call a fair division of profits. Lambs —well, if this drought continues, I’ll have nothing left to mother a- lamb; and if I’m outed ril r° to Sydney and got a job agitating for longer hours for sheepowners and a law to protect rabbits.” .

The Wellington branch of the New Zealand Educational Institute discussed,, the question of whether or not it is necessary to teach children “formal grammar.” As the result of; a long discussion, the opinion was evolved that the teaching of grammar in its scholastic sense toot; up a large amount of time which would be belter devoted to other scholastic activities; that it is a subject that conveys no appeal to Hie youthful mind; and that Hie best method of grounding young people hi the English language is the promulgation of Hie doctrine that “if vou read’good books you will learn good English, and therefore you will naturally speak good English.”

At present there are in New Zealand schools 1,400 uncertilicated teachers and 094 pupil teachers,

said the Minister of Education (lion. C. J. Parr) while addressing delegates to the School Committees’ Convention on Monday night. At best the pupil-teacher system was a makeshift, which was being dropped in other countries wherever possible. At present there were classes in some city schools of 130 to 140 pupils, but he hoped that sufficient teachers would be available shortly to bring 1 all classes down to forty. (Hear, hear.) The Department was circularising the head teachers, asking them to advise their brightest pupils to take up teaching, and he hoped that the Department would be'able to offer greater inducement to prospective teachers, but more care must be exorcised in selecting teachers. In order to meet the position, the Deportment intended to call for applications for temporary teachers, who would be given a period of four to five months’ training, so that they might he able to take np the work in the New Year. He believed that during the next year there would he three or four times as many entrants into the profession as there had.been of recent years.

Sore throat, tickling cough, cold in the head, quickly soothed and relieved by NAZOL. 60' doses 1/6,

A story of the Secret Service, “Shadows of Suspicion,” with' Harold Lockwood, at the Town Hal! on Saturday, together with Dorothy Dalton in “Extravagance.” Mr Mark Newth, of Moutoa. has hold his farm of (13 acres to Mr A. J. Thompson, of Foxton, Wo understand the price paid was £l5O per acre, including slock.

It was decided at Monday night’s Council mooting to supply 20 yards of metal for Stewart Street, Messrs Berry, Nye and Petrie undertaking to ha ve same .spread. ■ 1

A special general meeting of members of the local Borough Band will be held in the bandroom to-night, at 7.30 o’clock, when all instruments are to be returned.

The question of the percentage of “unaccounted for” gas at the local works was referred to by Cr. McMnrray, at Monday night’s meeting of the Borough Council. He pointed out that some eight or nine months ago the ii&accoimtod for gas represented about four per cent, of the output, Jmt it. had grown to •six, eight, nine, and one month reached fourteen per cent. He asked ‘Mr Kennedy what the percentages were in other works. Mr Kennedy said that in Waihi the average was about ten per cent., and the last Paeroa report showed the unaccounted. for percentage at eleven per cent.

. The Salvation Army intends to institute a motor caravan campaign in the Dominion, and there will be in each island a caravan from which officers will distribute Testaments and other suitable literature amongst the children of the ■backblocks. Commissioner Tlodder stat - es that the Salvation Army has been made the official representative of the Immigration Department in respect of the housing and care of Imperial immigrants who are shortly to arrive. Arrangements have also been made by the Army to receive and educate and train 200 boys and girls from England, and for this ,purpose buildings at a cost of £15,000 are being erected at Putaruru, near Kotorua.

A euchre parly and dance organised by the local Ladies’ Croquet Club'was held in the Masonic Hall last night, and was a great success, both socially and financially. There was a very large attendance, 30. euchre tables being fully occupied, and there were also a number of onlookers. The lady’s prize was won by Miss Austin, and the gent.’s by Mr R. Bryant. Miss Ethel Robin.son and Mr Walter Edwards were awarded the booby prizes. At the conclusion of the card tournament a dainty supper was dispensed by the ladies, and the floor was then cleared and dancing indulged in until midnight, the only drawback being that the floor space was not sufficient to comfortably accommodate the large number of dancers present.

In an effort to bring home to his congregation the inadequacy of his stipend in view of the present high cost of living, the Presbyterian minister of Gandonagh, County Donegal, hit upon a novel plan when preaching to the, congregation of that church. He took up a'basket with four dozen eggs in it. “Now,” he said, “that is what the Rev. John Canning (a former minister of the congregation) got for a shilling 75 years ago.” Next he produced another basket, containing two dozen eggs. “This m"what the next minis-

ter got for a shilling 35 years ago,” he explained. Then ho brought forward a little cardboard box containing two eggs, remarking, “that is all I get for a shilling.” So impressed was the congregation that it raised the stipend, which formerly had been £7O, to £l4O.

Tiie difficulty of securing the services of a sufficient number of engineers fur the proposed wqrk in connection with the Dominion’s hydro-electric development schemes was referred to more than once by the Minister for Public Works (the Hon. J. G. Coates) in the course of his remarks to an Otago deputation. Tie could obtain them if he were allowed to pay the salaries tjiey could get elsewhere, said the Minister. Private concerns were every day taking engineers away from the Government, by being able to offer higher .salaries. The man outside the service naturally should get more money than the Stale servant, because the latter was in his job for a lifetime, with superannuation at the close of his term of service, whereas the man outside had to consider things from a different point of view. The State, however, had its viewpoint also.

A very human document is a letter received at the Auckland Star office Teccntly from the Maoris at Takapuna, who are shortly to he removed from land where they have been living- for some years. The appeal they make reads as follows; — “Salutations! This is a word from us to you. We wish you to print it so that all the people, Pakeha and Maori, may see it. In a few days we will be driven from our land at Takapuna. The policemen will come. Our tires never went out on that land. We want the Maori members to see these words. We want them to ask the Parliament ‘Did this land that we must leave on the first day of August next belong to our ancestors when the* Treaty of Waitangi was made?’ We know from our fathers that it did. How did (ho land go from them I One says it was sold. Who sold it? Was the land taken*for the sins (raupatu) of those who fought against the -Queen? All the tribes know the Maori from Takapuna and Kaipara did not side with Ngati Maniopoto. AVh° took the land from our fathers V’

Mr Newman paired in favour of (he Government in both Mr McDonald’s and Mr Statham’s motions of no-eoulidenee last week.

In shooting for the Alexandra Prize at Bisley, W. H. West, a New Zealander, was eighth, with 9(> points, two points below the winner. There arc 820 entrants for the King’s Prize,

“The man with the big" family, the man who pays most for school books, is not the man in most ent circumstances,” said Mr A. G. Wallace while addressing delegates to the Dominion School Committees' Association Convention gn Monday evening, upon the question of free education ami free school books.

In a divorce case at Auckland, Mrs Mary M. P, do Gray stated that she did not know till three years after her marriage that her husband (James Edward do Grey), was an escaped prisoner serving a life sentence for an assault on a woman. Evidence was given of an admission by the respondent of ■ misconduct with a Woman-in England, and a decree nisi was accordingly granted.

Home studies were discussed by delegates to the School Committees’ Association conference, and the foliowing remit was passed, to be forwarded to the Minister of Education: “That this conference views with disfavour the tendency towards overloading the school syllabus, and consequent home-work, but favours a course of light home studies covering subjects of historic and tqpical civic interest for scholars in the upper classes, commencing with Standard IV.”

The Timaru Post vouches for the following incident, which occurred in the local Police Court: The Court room was tilled with the class usually found in such situations, and who appear to derive peculiar pleasure from listening to details of the downfall and weakness of his fellow men and women. The prisoner—a householder —was adjudged guilty of the offence for which he was charged, the Magistrate had pronounced a term of six months in “durance vile,” and the candidate for the “Crown uniform” was being removed from the Court, when a policeman tapped him on the shoulder and said, “Excuse me, sir, but do you want to let your house ? 1 will take it for six months.”

One of the school improvements suggested by the School Committees’ Association is the institution of an assembly hall in all schools, and in making that point, at the meeting of New Zealand delegates from the various brandies of • the Association, the president (Mr A. G. Wallace) said that he believed that the cinematograph would yet play an important part in education, and therein would lie the necessity for a main assembly hall. The majority of secondary schools were much more fortunate in that respect than were primary schools, he considered, but in other respects us well '.secondary schools were far ahead of the average primary school. That,die held, was unfair, since the majority of children did not reach the secondary schools.

A somewhat remarkable case came before Sir Robert Stout in chambers at Wellington on Monday. It is not often that a young lady of 19 summers'has to petition the Supreme, Court to grant its consent to her marriage on account of her parents refusing her - their permission to her marriage with the man she loves. Yet this was the plea of a young woman, for whom Mr A. B. Sievwright appeared, made to the Chief Justice. Counsel asked the Court to grant the petition, because (here was no impediment of any kind in the parties, save the unreasonable objections of her parents. The young man in the case was anxious

to marry the young lady. The Chief Justice saw no valid, reason why the. consent of the Court to override her parents’ objection should be withheld, and made an order accordingly.

It is expected that the American census will show an estimated po-“ pulation of 112,000,000, and attention is drawn to the remarkable development of the United States in comparison with other countries (says the Dqily News). According to the 1910 census, the population was 91,072,200, which meant that it had grown nearly thirleentold in a century. During the same period the population of the United Kingdom had barely trebled itself, the ,

increase being from seventeen millions to forty-five millions. Some years ago the United States National Conservation Commission publishd an estimate of the probable growth of the American nation during each decade up to the year 2000. As the commission’s estimate for the year 1920 falls eight millions below what is now thought will prove the actual figure, it will ■ be seen that they have erred bn the side of caution. They consider that at the beginning of the next century the States will have a population of 249,000,000. NEVER NEGLECT A COLD. , Don’t neglect a child’s cold. The cold prepares the system for the reception and development of germs and other diseases. Diphtheria, scarlet fever, measles, whooping cough are most likely to be contracted when the cliild has a cold. So you will see that more' real danger lurks in a cold than in other common ailments. The quickest and easiest way to relieve a cold is to give Chamberlain’s Cough Remedy. It is as safe a medicine for a child as for an adult. For sale everywhere.—Advt.

The latest statistical figures show the population of Australia to.be 5,247,019.

Replying to Mr Parry in the House of Representatives yesterday, the Prime Minister said that while he regretted the incident in ’which a prominent citizen like Sir George Clifford was refused a passage from Lyttelton, the Government had no present intention of introducing legislation this session to amend the law concerning the sport of racing in the Dominion. He could not speak definitely on the point as the Government would consider the matter. He hoped the trouble would soon he settled, as the incident at Lyttelton was not to the credit of the parties concerned.

The London correspondent of The Post writes that Mr Israel Cohen has been entrusted by the Executive of the Zionist. Organisation with an important mission—the first of its kind in the history of the movement ;—to the Jewish communities in Australia, New Zealand, India, Japan, Java, the Straits Settlements, and the Far East. Its purpose is to explain the significance of the Peace Conference’s decision concerning Palestine, to extend and strengthen the ramifications of the Zionist movement, and to raise funds for the furtherance of Zionist projects in Palestine. Mr Cohen has left lor Palestine, in order to obtain firsthand information of the country’s developments and needs, and he will then go on from Port Said to Frcomantlc, where his mission proper wilt begin. lie has been furnished with credentials from the Foreign Office and (ho Colonial Office, and with special messages from the Zionist loaders, Dr. Qcizmami and Mr N. Cokolow, as well as from Lord Rothschild, Lord Robert Cecil, Mr Herbert Samuel, Dr. Nordau, and others. His tour is expected to last until the end of the year.