LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 2302, 14 July 1921, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

To-day is ihe 132nd anniversary of the taking of the Bustille during the French Revolution.

The planting of marram.grass at Castleclilf, near Wanganui, has completely checked the drift of sand.

There is widespread concern in England for the health of the Prince of Wales, owing to an over-strenu-ous life, and an announcement than he must rest is probable. A man who promoted a sweepstake on the Ellerslie racecourse, and kept half-a-crown for himself, was fined £3 at Auckland on Friday for a breach of the Lotteries Act'.

A large number of Manawatu football enthusiasts motored to Wanganui yesterday to witness t he opening match against the Springboks in New Zealand. The total donations received by the Palmerston Hospital Board lor the year ending March 31st, 1921, was £llO 17s 2d, of which amount £3O 11s 6d was contributed by Chinese residents of Palmer-ton X.

At the advanced age of fourscore years and two. there pas-ed away at Patea on Saturday. Mr .lames Konwnrihy, a veteran journalist. Tie was a particularly wellknown and esieemed pressinan. •

The Council of the Wellington Chamber of Commerce has supported ihe protest against the Education Department’s proposal to undertake the supply and disiribuiiou of stationery in the State schools of the Dominion.

Charged at the Ashburton Court with defalcations of borough fundtotalling £(l4. <m Tuesday, James Henry Alfred Poddcr, lately actingtown clerk, pleaded guilty, and was committed for sentence. Xo bail was applied for.

Discussing the result of the Dempsey-Carpentier fight, a Maori supporter of the Frenchman, when asked bis opinion as to the result, replied: “By gurry, that no good: 1 think that Carpoutnv want some more frog!"

William Ileuvy Grant, who pleaded guilty to assaulting a Chinaman, and robbing him of £62, wa- committed at Invercargill ,on Tuesday for sentence to Wellington, where In: will lie charged with escaping from prison and with burglary at Lower Hutt.

The cost-of-living figures for March issued in Australia show a remarkable fall.* Compared with the highest point reached hist year. Melbourne shows a decline equivalent to over 25 per cent., and Sydney a decline equivalent to 19 per cent.

A prominent New Zealander sit present on si visit to Australia wr'it- ■ as follows to a friend in Gishorne: “On this side one hoars nothing hut good things said of New Zealand, and one needs to get out of our good little country to realise the estimation in which it, is held.’’ “Many townspeople think Ihe farmers stetil their money and get plenty of it at that. If they had to pay £l5O an acre for land, and £SO to £OO for a good cow, and then sell their butter-fat at Is (id a lb., they would soon change their minds. • This opinion is credited to a Knuwhata farmer.

Mr Hunt, S.M., at 'Wellington this week, gave reserved decision in an important case, Wellington Hotelworkers’ Union v. Gilbert Wilby/a claim for arrears of subscription amounting to £2 13> at the rate of (id per week. The point at issue was the union’s right to sue for a greater sum than twelve months’ arrears, the rules providing then for striking off the roll of the defaulting member. Judgment was given for twelve* mouths’ arrears.

At a meeting of the Mauawatu Bowling Centre in Palmerston, tho question of whether bowls should he played on Good Friday was brought up. A motion was proposed by Mr W. G. Ilaybittle, of Feilding, that the practice should be discontinued. The members of bowling centres in the Manawatu have received a circular letter from the Anglican clergy of Palmerston, asking that no games be played on Good Friday. The. mat.teg was held over for the decision of the annual meeting.

The Auckland Holler Mills announce that the price of flour has been reduced to £22 2s 6d per ton for sacks, less 2A per cent. Owing to the unsatisfactory state of the finances (the overdraft amounting to £11,500) the Waimarino County Council has dismissed twelve members of its staff, and those in the electrical department '•"ve been placed on half-time. The local Fire Brigade intend holding their annual meeting in Perrcau's tea-rooms to-morrow night.

The last picture by Gaby Desks was “The God of Luck,” to be shown at the Royal on Saturday Advfc.

At a meeting of the Manuwatu Bowling Centre, Mr J. A. Nash was nominated for a sent on the Dominion Council of the Bowling Association.

Farmers and others requiring posts should not miss Saturday’s .auction sale at the Mart, Avenue Road. The auctioneers have received a consignment of first-class tola ra- posts and strainers, and those are to be submitted under the hammer.

The Foxton Auctioneering Coy. will hold their usual sales on Saturday. Meat will be sold at 9.30 a.m„ and the ordinary mart sole will be held at 2 o’clock .as usual. Entries for same are advertised today, and further entries are invited. At a meeting of the Wellington Central Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday, the Levin Chamber of Commerce wrote protesting against “the enormous expenditure” involved in the proposed deviation of the Main Trunk line from Palmerston North, and asked for the support of the Central Chamber tcdKhe protest. A resolution endorsing the protest was adopted without discussion. _

A deputation of Rangiotu rc-si-dents waited upon the Kainmga County Council at its meeting on Tuesday, with a request that the amount lying to the credit of the Ngawlink,uraii Road Loan (£400) be utilised in assisting to fill up the depression ■n the road near the railway station at Rangiotu. The council decided tq hold consideration of the matter over for the present.

“Local builders may not like the idea of houses being landed on our wharves like motor ears," said a Wellington land agent, “but American mills are turning them out in wholesale quantities, with the parts all numbered and marked in such ;'i wav tli.it they can be erected in two or three weeks. The present cost „f building is very high, and money is scarce, but. the imported house." may come to New Zealand from Oanadn sooner than expected." Found lying unconscious on the Fnlk.U-.u.e-llyiho main fond ••.•(England) ait unknown man was taken to hospital, where, on regaining consciousness, lie stated that he was Tames Macdonald, an cx-Army sergeant. He had tramped from Glasgow in search of work, and through exhaustion' and starvation had col-lep.-cd by the wayside. Tn his possession Was a pawn ticket showing that lie had pawned his Military Medal for half a crown to buy I'ood.

War i> war. whether it is fought with hatchet and javelin, or with big berthas and poison gas, and the aftermath of the struggle was as had in tho second century as it is now, explained the Rev. 0. S. Cook, in Palmerston North. As an example of this, the speaker quoted an instance of a house in Rome beam sold for 2,00 n drachmas, the equivalent of about £SOO, and forty years later, after a period of struggle, the currency had been so debased that there was a mortgage on that house- of 3,840,000 drach mas.

Auction- sales have a fascination for some people, the same as football matches or horse races have for others. The other day (states the Marlborough Express), when a sale of unclaimed goods was held in Blenheim, the auction mart was crowded out, and. in the language of the hooking-office, “hundreds were turned away." That was the day when a man paid about thirty shillings for a parcel containing discarded clothing. A few days ago the contents ' of an eating-house were sold up, and there was another “bumper house.” So great, indeed, was the crowd that the floor sank an inch ee •’ so under the weight of humanity imposed upon it, and there was a breathless pause until the people had assured themselves that it was not an earthquake.

A helpless father writes to an editor for advice. He says : I have a boy who has absolutely no respect for the law. order, property or peace. He -destroys the quietness of the house and the neighbourhood at -all hours. He ruthlessly smashes all kinds of property that comes to' his hands—books,., papers, glassware. He bus no table manners in politeness. He has repeatedly struck his mother in the face as violently as his strength permitted. He is addicted to drink and never knows when lie has had enough, and yet his mother and I think ho is fine as lie is, and dread the day when he gets old enough to write fool letters for the newspapers like this. His age? Not quite a year old.”

From evidence, .the Hospitals Commission holds the opinion that) there is considerable laxity by boards in the collection of fees from patients. “In some cases there is little or no method employed,” states the report. “Your Commission considers that many patients, well able to pay all or some of the fees incurred, have been allowed to escape their liability. Where negligence in the collection of fees is shown, your Commission urges that the Minister should deduct a portion of the Government subsidy from tho board at fault, and continue to do so until the board shows returns in the collection of fees in keeping with the conditions of the district.” In .reference to foods. Dr. Blackmore, in lecturing _at Christchurch, said that ono vegetable that should be absolutely barred from every table was watercress, for it, more titan anything else, was likely to beeomo infested with forms of hydatids. Speaking of clothing, he deprecated over-clothing, but - said that great care was necessary, specially with children who complained of “growing pains.” Them were no such things. They generally mean} rheumatism. Dr. Blackmorc also spoke of “the fetish of cold baths.” These should not be taken unless a warm glow immediately succeeded the bath. If so, all was well, but it blueness supervened, then more harm than good was done. The insufficiency of rest for children was another marked evil of the day. “I would like to show you what it really costs a girl to live,” said Miss A. Cossey, on behalf of the employees, during the hearing of the dressmakers’ and milliners’ dispute iu the Arbitration Court at Auckland. Miss Cossey said the tariff' at one hostel for girls in Auckland was 27s fid a' week for shared rooms, and 35s for single rooms, exclusive of ironing and washing. At another -hostel, which was not self-support-ing, the charge for shared rooms was 22s Cd a week, and for single rooms 27s Gd. Many of the Union s members were living away from home, and had to support themselves. In view of the present tariffs at boardinghouses, Miss Cossey said she thought the increased wages asked for were not too high.

Writing in the Edinburgh Review. Admiral Sir Sypriau Bridges shows that it was under a shield of British ~ea power that the political ideals embodied in the Monro a Doctrine were realised,. Britain’s fleet, by virtue of its primacy, was a powerful factor in the liberation of Latin America, and several little known instances are given of how. the people of South America acknowledged lheir gratitude. Even Germany, loth as she was to admit it, built up her overseas Empire under the shelter of. the British Navy. “This was done, not so much .under.-'the disinterested sufferance . of the British naval primary its by its virtual support. . . There was more than one country that could have forbidden and prevented German colonial expansion bad the British Navy not been available to preserve the peace of the world."

A good atory relating to Mr James Edward Fitzgerald, fir-t editor of the Press, and afterwards. Provincial Superintendent, was told by Mr O. T. J. Alpers, in the Canei bury College Hall, Christchurch, a story which Mr Alpers guaranteed lmd not seen print before. Mr Fitzgerald was contesting an election at Lyttelton in (he early days, when the candidates spoke from the hustings. There was present at the meeting a butcher who enjoyed it local notoriety, inasmuch as he was (he proprietor of the first sausage machine to he imported into the new settlement. This butcher heckled Mr Fitzgerald badly, and in the course of one noUv interruption saidjie wished he had the candidate in his sausage machine; he would soon make mince-meat of him. Mr Fitzgerald replied scripturally: “Is thy servant, a dog." he said, “that tliou should do iliN thing?" Tho woman smoker hn> at la-t ventured into the London street? with a pipe. A young woman has been seen in Burlington Arcade, casually filling her pipe from a neat pouch, specially made for the feminine handbag. The pipe was half the size of a man’s briar, made of black wood, with a very thin stem. It i.s said that society women, in increasing numbers, are smoking pipes in their boudoirs. A woman pioneer of this cult writes that pipesmoking among women will increase because it is more healthy than cigarettes, and much cheaper; and, once tho tobacco habit hfcs been acquired, it is more satisfying. Givi cigarette smokers take on an average 10 and 20 a day, and as many as 30 to 40 are not. unheard of. “Since I started with my pipe,” she adds, “my tobacco bill lias dropped from Is weekly for cigarettes to 2s a week for tobacco.”

The writer of football* notes in the Wanganui Chronicle on Saturday, commenting on a recent match, has probably suffered from tho carelessness of a proof-reader when Tie is made to say.: “Improvement e-as also effected by the playing of Williams at centre three-quarters, where his face was a great asset.” “It has been suggested that we' should eat. margarine,” said Dr Blackmorc, in 'a public lecture on Saturday night. “It is undoubtedly inferior to butter, and I think thatthe suggestion that we should cat; and give our children to eat margarine while this great butter-pro-ducing country exports butter to the rest of the world deserves nothing but the strongest condemnation.”

The following communication from an indignant ratepayer was read at.the meeting of the Pahiatua County Council on Saturday fast “I notice that last meeting of your Council I got no hearing of my shovel. Will you please return that game or pay 15s shillings or come up before the beak and prove your ability and I prove mine. This is ft fact.”

If it had not been for agitators, and disturbers of the peace and of the world’s pence of mind, there would have been no progress and no reforms achieved at any time, anywhere. Every community needs shaking up mentally nud spiritually periodically, and therefore we have n history those men and women who spend themselves for the sake of Causes which they spell with a capila IC. You may not like them, you ay not approve of them —but you've got to put up with them.— I’eilding Star.

Mr Massey and Mr Hughes both Intend being home by October 7th. In spite of the continuity of the “renders’ conference, only preliminaries have yet been discussed. Mr Massey says it is worth considering whether the conference ought not to tit in the evenings. “I don’t want,” if says, “to go back to New Zetland and tell them we have done •practically nothing. I want to be ible to tell them that we have done -omething for the benefit of the whole Empire.” Mr Hughes also is fretting and impatient at tho timo wasted, but tho Australasian repro•entatives are not responsible.

A senseless joke was perpetrated .it Napier between 11 and 11.30 ..’clock on a recent night. A telephone message was received at the Napier police station to the effect that burglars, had been busy at a certain house. Promptly two eonstables were, sent up to make inquiries. Owing, however, to the • ague directions concerning tho ex=tct locality, the police were compelled to visit several houses. This naturally led to some alarm being created, and residents hardly knew what to expect, although assurance was not lacking by those who knew Tint there were two constables in ite neighbourhood.

“We had a very sad cose tho iiher day,” stated an Auckland social worker to a reporter, during ihe course of an interview, “in which a mother came and begged for i dinner for her children. They had :,i sited neither meat nor potatoes for a early a week, and were begging for •something besides bread. We sent her away rejoicing, with meat and vegetables and some wood to make i fire to cook a real baked dinner. People in ordinary circumstances .•annot understand what a real treat a ‘baked’ dinner is to scores of children .in Auckland. Whenever they io get a little meat it is stewed, so to make it go further, and they get tired of watery sew when it forme the base of the principal meal lav after day.”

At the reception to the South African Rugby Union Footballers, in Sydney, (he captain of . the team, Piennar, asked permission tojspeak

a. few words in Dutch to several South Africans resident, in Sydney who were present at the function. U a later stage, Sir Henry Braddon, the chairman, said (he incident recalled a story of tho famous Maori footballer Jack Taiaroa. Back in the eighties Taiaroa was with the New Zealand team at Newcastle, and the Mayor of the city insisted upon Taiaroa making a speech in Maori. The footballer did not like the idi*a, but at last acceded. With the exception of two present none knew what Taiaroa was saying. The two men had'difficulty in suppressing their laughter. Later it was discovered that Taiaroa’s speech was the Lord’s Prayer in Maori. • Sir Henry hoped that Mr Piennar had not sprung something similar on them.

“There are. no finer places for spreading children’s diseases than many of our overcrowded, 'badlyventilated schools,” said Hr, Blackmore. superintendent of the Ca'-ti-mer e Consumption Sanatorium, in a lecture at Christchurch on Saturday night, “and yet it. is to tbe.-u jdueos that parents are forced by the State to send their children—r children whose lives are dearer to them than their own*. Far belter that a child should play out in the gutter, where at least it can be in the sun and get fresh air, than that il should_.be shut away from sun and fresh air in many, of those gaol - „ like buildings that we call schools.”Seeing that the child had to spend such a large portion of its life in school, the parents -had the right to demand that every measure should ho taken to ensure the child’s health being properly cared for while if, was in school, said Dr. Blaekmore. “Ts the State doing that?” he asked. “I venture to say that it is not.”