THE OTAKI MAIL. Published on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 15, 1919. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Otaki Mail, 15 January 1919, Page 2

THE OTAKI MAIL. Published on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 15, 1919. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

s • , ._ T - Snails for Australia close at Otaki tomorrow at 9 a.m. It is officially announced that Returnfng Draft "No. 205 will arrive at Auek- | . land by the Ruahine" on or about ISth ' Januarv. ' 4 ! The Fcathcrston County Council lias ; i decided to: purchase a tar-sprayer, for j the improvement of the roads iu the , ! county. , : , j Mr Boiiar Law, the leader of the j , ] House of Commons, will fly to Prance j; j u'j'i Saturday. Mr Lloyd George de- : | clined to lly. | 1; Sixteen New Zealand soldiers, mostly jt Maoris, havo boon quarantined from the J mail steamer Malta at Frcman.tle, suf- j fcring from influenza. | A serious fire occurred early yesterday morning in Kcmpthorne, Prosser , and Co.'s acid works at Burnside. The j damage is estimated at about £IO,OOO. I A well-known land and estate agent I of-Levin stated to a "Chronicle" re- . porter that the demand for house properties had been greater during the past \ twelve-months than at- any time during his residence'of twenty years in Levin, i At 1 yesterday's meeting of.the Kairanga County Council, the engineer re- J ported there were 200 head of stock I taken on Mie Toads during the month. | The; driving fees collected amounted to j ■til 4s 6d,' and the expenditure £l7 4s. t A number of orchardists in the. j Hawke's Bay district have expressed | • the opinion that the limitation of fruit bearing tliU season will' give the trees a much-needed rest, and have a good j effect by increasing the yield next sea- J son... • f . r A social and dance-will be held at the To Horo public hall on Friday cyenir next, when all local returned soldiers will, receive a hearty welcome. The function is free to all, and those who attend are assured of a pleasant time. : Excellent music will be provided, while supper will be supplied by the ladies. A buyer for one of the big companies informs tho "Manawatu Times" that , they are offering Temper lb for fat lambs 'this season, as against 7jd last season. That is to say, lambs will average ISs to 20s, instead of 20s to 225. This, in the face of the fact that the Government purchase price is the same, does ! ntft appear to be warranted. It is sug- ! gested that the Farmers' Union should make the matter a subject for inquiry. It docs not appear generally to be ; hnown that free passages arc only pro- ' ' vided for the wives of deceased soldiers j who arc in England or Egypt, and assisted are available only to I wives of soldiers who married > since going on active service, or (if ma-ricd previously) their wives reached the United Kingdom or Egypt before I the olst December. 1917. The. Minister for Lands (the lion. D. 11. Guthrie), in a letter to the general secretary of the New Zealand Returned Soldiers' Association, informed the association that early in November j a cablegram w despatched to the High Commissioner setting out the requiremeats of iron and fencing wire for solders settling on the land. As no reply j has been received, steps are being taken to expedite the matter. There is great competition nowadays amongst pig-buyers, and farmers do not raise nearly enough pigs to cope with the demand. Cheese-making having so largely displaced butter making is the main cause of the scarcity of pigs. Tho farmer who raised six pigs on skimmed milk will probably raise only two on whey. There are some farmers who say < that by mbing meal of some kind with [ their whey they can raise pigs very satisfactorily: but there are not many of them -who do it—"Elthani Argus." The "Daily Express" correspondent in Brussels states that the Govern- " meat's Reconstruction Bill, which proposes to preserve Ypres, Nieuport, and Dixmude in their present ruined state, is in danger of being defeated. The Mayor of Ypres is vigorously urging the-complete demolition of the ruins and the rebuilding of the city and the Cloth Hall on the same site at a cost of £5 000.000. The correspondent adds that the British, Australian and New Zealand troops loipect the ruins of Ypres as a sacred spot, whkh should be unmolested. Women certainly during the last years have entered almost every sphere of occupation. One of the few paths : not entered by them was auctioneering, but some three months ago a lady, aue- , tioneer made her appearance in London. ( This enterprising lady is Miss Evelyn ( Barlow, the gifted daughter of the late , Dean of Peterborough. A recent Eng- '. lish newspaper gives an interesting ac- | count of her first appearance as an aue- j tioneer at Sotheby's, in Bond street, ( London, ana one gathers that she proved herself as successful at; an auctioneer } as lecturer. For some time she hag been ■■ learning the business from every chair of vantage. g A paper on the dental treatment of c school children was read to the 2\ew j Zealand Educational Institute Conference on Monday by Mr P. Armstrong! (Dunedin). Mr Armstrong stressed the B great- necessity for keeping every school i dentally clean. ; 'There were 200,000 * school .children, and the question was j j where should *be si&ft be made? The jt cost for 100,000 soldiers hid exceeded |« £300,000. This had to be met to fit our ? J fcet 'manhood for the-fightiag line. As * a-considerable portion of the fit .male z population scut" a**? would never re- P "turn, it was «f-the'utmost imparlance *hat'every effort should be made to as-; * ~isr a»F scheme .which would tend to the. f ,of the general health and ? virility '-at '*** ■- If Govemment injected, this - ,oppo.rtaE|.ty, it as-; sumed to criainal negligence. -. \ . ,-\ L »* 1...:-'-... '..,-:;- -wv. ■".::-: ....-■■-.;- .-•■■■ .:' ■"..... .'.-'r,-:.: ■'.!':."»

The Levin paper reports that a fifty-:. icre farm at Ohau changed hands the Jther day at £95 per acre. It nearly I loubled its value during the few years ' it had been in the possession of its late 3 jwner. . ; As an illustration of the prosperity ruling in Ireland it is recorded that the workhouse of Miehelstown has been , purchased for conversion into a shirt and hosiery factory.--' i Mr A. E. Anderson is at present offer- i ing his large and fine stock of drapery i at below eost price. As the quality of the goods is first-class as well as fashionable residents should grasp the opportunity. ' Mr J. M. Ooradinc, Mayor of Masterton, who is just back from Australia, states that the cost of living is cheaper in Australia tnnn in New Zealand. More particularly is this the case in respect. to bread, meat, clothing, and boots and shoes. The following paragraph;.is from the "Australasian^; —The High Commissioner for New Zealand (Sir Thomas Mackenzie) announces on behalf of the Graves Commission that the temporary ; crosses placed on soldiers' graves will I be saved for relatives and friends, so | that those who wish may have such a | memento of the dead soldiers. I "That the time has arrived when the I religious and conscientious objectors,in J gaol should bo released," is the opinion 1 expressed in a motion carried at a meeting of the Thorndon branch of the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants. ItMs considered, further, that "no good purpose can bo served by keeping them there.'' t Mr ,7. A. Nash, M.P., has commuui-. \ cated with Messrs Held, Newman and . Veitch, M-IVs. respecting' the proposed Mangahuo hydro-electric scheme. Mr I Nash is of the opinion that, as the Government-has placed a stated sum of j money on the Estimates no time should 'be lost in getting the work .put in rdiund. j A resident of Otaki commenting upon [ the fact that the Chinese arc gradually utilising every vacant plot: in the town, remarked to our representative, : that if the Maori people pnly possessed the desire for steady indunstry and the same frugal mode of living shown by the Celestial, they would now have been the aristocracy of this country.— "Manawatu Daily Tirncs."The new tuberculosis hospital for New Zealand soldiers being erected in the neighbourhood of Waipukurau is expected to be available for occupation by April next. The site, which is pronounced an excellent one by medical authorities, is situated about four miles west of Waipukurau, on the Waipuku- , rau-Hatuma road, and is on a hill slopjiug north-cast, so that it always gets i (lie sun. It is surrounded on three sides j by the river. ' "It is not expected," says Sir James i Allen, "that it will be necessary for the hospital ships to continue running for | very much longer. We have not decided ' yet what v.e shall do with the ships ', after we have finished with them as hospital ships, If we should decide to use them as transports we should have to refit them, and as this would be a long and expensive business we may decide to hand them back to the Union ' Company to be fitted out again for their ' ordinary trades." I Arrangements have been made for the repatriation in the near future of about 100 German prisoners of war at present interned in New Zealand, stated Sir Janies Allen,Acting-Prirne Minister and Minister for Defence. These drafts will include men who have been taken prisoner and also a number of civilian internees who have expressed a desire to return to Germany. In the case of the wife of Edward ,Bevan, of Manakau, who applied for an increase of her maintenance order, the defendant did not appear. The applicant informed Mr F. V. I'razer. S.M., at Wellington on Monday, that her husband had an interest in proponent Manakau which had recently been sold for £14,000. The order was increased from 15s to £1 10s hi respect to the wife and from 15s to £1 10s in regard to the two children. Mr W. M. Clark, the Levin draper, is now holding his annual summer sale, which will continue for three weeks only. Durins this sale sweeping reductions will be made in all departments for cash. Seeing that Mr Clark has a magnificent stock, including many lines that are very scarce just now, there should be a busy time at this sale. Residents irooi this district who cannot visit Levin are invited to do their business by mail. A determined attempt at suicide ..was made in Nelson on Monday (says the "Mail") by Mrs Batehelor, wife of Mr 0. J. Batehelor, who is serving with the New Zealand Forces at'the front, having left with the first draft of married men. It is stated that Mr* Batehelor had been very depressed at the absence of her husband. From what can be gathered, she first took poison, then cut her throat with a carving knife, and next plunged folly dressed into the girls ' bathing hole, just above the Nile street bridge, from which she was rescued by Mr Alfred Denbota. Mrs Batehelor Is now in the hospital. Efforts ar-3 being made to bring j about a.n amalgamation of all bodies of j teacher*. At present the Educational Institute comprisc-a the primary school- j teachers only. morning, at j the Educational Institute Conference, j on the motion of Mr H. A- Parkinson, it was Tesolved: "That the cseeotive be empowered to complete the amalga- : mation with tint Technical S-rhool j Teachers' Ataoeiatioß." It was stated J, by Mr Parkin s-oa. that there would have 1, been an" amalgamation with the Secoed- j ] arr School Teaeh£ri , ''AssC'Ciatioji -feat ~ for a difference as to representation vs. ] the executive. _ > . , j;