Mount Ida Chronicle FRIDAY, SEPT. 28, 1917.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume XLV, Issue XLV, 28 September 1917, Page 2

Mount Ida Chronicle FRIDAY, SEPT. 28, 1917.

The patriotic football tournamentfat Clyde on Saturday was a great success. The gross takings were OKrer which the gate contributed £21*83 Od. The local team (seni/ors) gotin the final round. In the Ifirst round;they got a bye, in the secdud they beat the Miller's Flat B by 6 to) 0, and in the semi-final they beat! Gromwell by 10 points to 3. The] Dunstan Times says Naseby's win was\ deserved, and the applause they re-1 ceived showed it was' a popular one, \ The final was between Naseby and I Roxburgh, when the former were! beaten by 4to 0. This is described as * a fairly even game. A potted goal was the only score. B. Marslin and G. Shaw played very fine games. Soma thought the former the best forward on the ground. JNaseby won the prize | (a football) for the. team travelling the greatest distance.

Just how rapidly the cost of living is increasing is conveyed in the latest official monthly abstract of statistics. One table shows that in Central Otago 27s 10£ d is now required to purchase foodstuffs which could have been bought in 1913 for 20s. The relative worth of a sovereign under the heading of three food groups, 1918 against June, 1917, is shown at 15s sd, taking a Dominion average. The lowest figure reached was at March 31st, 1917, when it was shown at 14s 9Jd. Another comparison of present rates against 1913 shows the purchasing power of a sovereign for groceries 15s Bd, dairy produce 14s ljd, meat 13s lljd.

"There is a town close by which has beep under bombardment for some two years, and SLill has shells thrown into it (says a writer at the front). Yet one hotel.has never closed its doors, although it has put up its shutters, because there is practically not a whole pane of glass in any window. The women in cnarga have continued to run the place without a break. Upstairs A thera are great holes in the wa'ls where shells have come through and exploded, and there are no workmen to repair the ruin, but the hotel continues to serve meals, and good meals at that."

On Tuesday, before Messrs H. Wilson and ;J. I. Fraser, J.P's., two charges of committing unprovoked assaults were heard. The complainants were George Kinsman, of Pukepouri, and Wm.'Alex. M'Lean, of Patearoa' and the - defendant James Dunf ord. Constable Bandy conducted the prosecution and from the evidence it'appeared that during the medical examination of recruits at Eanf arly on Monday afternoon, defendant, who had been drinking, walked up to the two young men and struck each of them a severe blow on the face. Defendant's excuse for doing.so was that be thought they were laughing at him and they would Dot apologise on his asking them to do so. He was convicted and fined 10s on each charge, with costs of court 18s, witnesses' expenses £1 13s, and trap hire 10s; total £4 Is.

Owing to wheat supplies being unprocurable from Australia as the result of the strike, there is a shortage of that cereal in f tbe Dominion at present, and some mills have had to shut down. The Minister of Agriculture considers that the position is not serious -at present," but admits that there will be a shortage before the end of the year if we cannot get supplies from Australia. It all depends on the termination of the »trike and the supply of shipping... The strike according to cable reports, is practically over, f The coal miners held out. the loDgest, / but on Tuesday a conference between/ . Cabinet Ministers and the miners' re-i presentatives took place, and a sa-Cis- • factory agreement was expected. On Tuesday afternoon rain set in and continued up till Wednesday night when it turned to a fall of snow, and on Thursday morning there were a couple of inches on the ground. The high winds of the last two weeks! were beginning to dry the ground up arid the rain was very welcome, and will give crops an I grass a good start. , ' On Monday evening the> residence of - Mr John Fennessy, the Welcome Inn, was nearly the scene of a tragedy. ' When putting three of the younger children to bed,- Mrs Fennessy left a light on the mantelpiece. Sie. went into another rcom lay down and; dozed off. After a short time she was awakened by the smell of smoke, and on going into the children's room found the light'had fallen and set the bedclothes on fire. In getting the children out - and the fire extinguished, she burnt her hands a bit but no other injury was sustained. The door of the room was open / and allowed the smoke to escape' and ' so aroused her; if it had been closed more serious results would have followed. On Wednesday the marriage of Miaa Kita Christopher, of Naseby, te Mr A. J. Hal!, of Mornington, took place at St. George's Church, the Rev. W. T. .Drake conducting the ceremony. TO VISIT AN OPTICIAN is absolutely imperative when the eyes are painful, swollen, reddene6]Jfcos watery. These are Nature's sight tr that some-thing is wrong. Very catena spectacles or eyeglasses will corrac, these irritations. My visual tests art scientifically made, and enable mete prescribe accurately if glasses aro needed. 5 WJGH NEILL, D.8.0.A., Glasgow Optical House, 249 George St., Dunedin.