LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Otaki Mail, 24 February 1919, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Mothers who find that their children ’s boots and shoes are a most ex* pensive item, will be interested in Messrs Pearce’s replace advertisement in to-day’s “Mail,” in -which a special i offer is made in children’s footwear. ! for one week only. The coming Chautauqua (pronounced “Sh’torkwar ”) is an American Indian word which means “come here-and gain joy.” Stiles and Matheson are combining business with pleasure and are offering 10s season tickets absolnI tely free. See the many Chautauqua 'i specials they are offering this week. J You will not only “come here and gain joy,” but many big bargains as well, j Head about them in their advertiseI'nient in this issue. Mr V. G. Day, G.M., gave a decision at fimaru in a test case which is said to affect all the towns in the Dominion. Twelve grocers were summoned by the ') Dp.hour Department for failing to close on Mew Year's Eve at 7, the hour fixed by requisition. Reference was made to the decision of the judge that ‘evening-’ in the Shops Act meant utter sunset. The amendment of the Act in the Mar Regulations Act of last j session was intended to remove the . doubt as to what was meant by * ’evenj lag. ” The amendment says: “Evenings; shall be deemed to be the time of !■( Dm ° a T not earlier than 5 o’clock in | the afternoon.!” and that is to apply { to all existing requisitions. Mr Day . held thgt it does not apply*, but that j “not earlier” lirnite the application to j » night on which the'sun sets before 3 ' WT ~V.. 52 dismissed one case, and I ”' T -*Ana!jls ts.® Labour J adjourned the rest tv • Department to appeal" if-it deems It is understcod tEat if this decision ■ is correct, it is doubtful whether anv requisition in the Dominion in regard- to closing hours hsj asy-legal

As the result of a bazaar, held at Levin in connection Mary’s Church, the sum of £l4O was realised. Mr Howard Andrew, of Manakau, has issued a neat wall calendar. Customers who have not received one may secure one on application at the store. Mr, Harold Cockrell ’.s and Messrs Bills and Moore’s business premises will be closed on Wednesday for stocktaking. It is stated that Mr Childs, of Manakau, has purchased the lease of the Manakau Town Hall aud Mr Farland’s interest in the pictures. News was received yesterday that . “Karamu,” the homestead of Mrs Ormond, was destroyed by fire on Saturday-. J Nearly forty- English brides, accom- ' panying their soldier husbands, passed through Otaki on Saturday after--1 noou by- special train en route for Auckland and intermediate stations. | The Horowhenua County Council’s surfacemen are at present busily- engaged in widening the main road bc- : tween Otaki and Manakau, and already a deal of good work has been done,on I the hill at Pukehou.

Mr Robert Bevan, while in Masterton, purchased a very fine Southdown ram, which will be an acquisition to his already splendid flock.' Mr Bevan expresses himself delighted with the manner in which the ram fair at Solway was conducted;'

-The court-martial in connection with •■Lieut. -Crompton.- concluded; at.-.-Wanga-f' nui on' Saturday, when the two remaining charges wore heard. The Court • found Lieut. Cramptou not guilty on each of tlio eleven charges and honourably acquitted him of tlie same. ,A very creditable educational record has been established by Miss M. Herrick, daughter of Mr E. M. Herrick, of Weraroa. At 12 years of. age she obtained a .junior, free.:place, next year , she won a junior national scholarship, and she has now annexed a senior : national scholarship. The harvest - festival services at the Manakau Anglican Church yesterday ; were .splendidly attended while the Church was beautifully decorated for j the occasion. In the evening- the Rev. ! G. F. Petrie gave an eloquent address. ' An important) unreserved clearing j sale will bo conducted by the N-.Z. Loan { and. Mercantile Agency Co. at Otaki ' Railway on Monday next, when stock, ! implements, furniture, etc., will bo sold I on behalf of Mr D. F. Bradley, who has I sold his farm. The,comment of Mr Justice Chapman | on (lie fact that £1 a day seemed to be j quite an ordinary wage for a working ' man in the Manawatu district, has. elicited the information that in j

numerous cases the earnings of even unskilled labour is considerable- more. Recently a paddockcr at a flaxmill drew the nice little sum of £507 for 35 weeks' work, which works out at £2 14s per day, if there was no work on Sundays.

Questions have been asked regarding •the municipal voting qualifications of soldiers who may return home before the elections .in April. In an official statement the Minister of Internal Affairs says:—A soldier docs not lose his residential qualification by absence on active service. For the purpose of this franchise, an elector i* resident in the place in which he has his permanent home. The Minister states that local authorities have power to replace on the rolls the names of soldiers that may have been struck off during the men’s absence on active service, but this restoration. must be done before the date of the closing of the roll. If a soldier elector’s name is not thus replaced on the rail before the closing date he will not be eligible to vote.

AH motorists who require tyres that will give exceptional wear should buy Clincher Cross.” These tyres are made by the North British Rubber Co., Ltd., and are turned out in hundreds of thousands. They were used by the Allies in all the war zones and gave the greatest service. They are manufactured by British labour, backed up by British capital, and you are asked to support your own industries. In 1914 the value of imports of motor tyres from America into Great Britain was £231,096. In 1916 the values had risen to the enormous sum of £2,097.213. Help the British manufacturer to recover the trade he lost through having his factories commandeered for war ■work, and buy “Clincher Cross” tyres —the genuine British article. All tyres manufactured by this firm are guaranteed. The New Zealand Farmers’ Coop. Distributing Co., Ltd., are the distributing agents for Wellington Province.

- Speaking at the social to Mr Dick Storey at Manakau on Friday night, Mr .Howard Andrew maintained that the 'time had come when tablet porter.; should be entrusted with more powers, and said that they should be provided ■w ith a copy of the . railway note. At the present time tablet porters were unable to say, for some days, who goods belonged to, and this often occasioned considerable bother to business men and others.. It .was only by ringing-up Otaki or Levin that the ownership of good.- &i Manakau could be traced. Thi3 system, said Mr Andrew, was all right in the old days when there was but one -train in a sparsely populated district, but now that there were msnv trains and a larger populace, the old system should be improved. The matter was one which had engaged the at- j tention of the Chamber of Commerce at j Wellington, but the Government had.] said nothing eonld be done rill the war j ended. Mr Andrew ‘considered that I she business, people and others 'should i

Sooimaking.—F.. Barrett Tvisiie* i:, XJ. P& public Otaki and district that -fee ZT ***** *°!l *=3 -Ebemaker. Old and new eusiom-T* ?2es*« take norice, Address: Dan Man Street, Otaki— Advt. -

The Cyclone Gate Co., of .Christchurch, insert an advertisement in this issue. Particulars of Messrs Abraham and Williams, Ltd., next Levin stock sale are advertised. The prize-giving ceremony in connect; tion with All Saints’ Sunday Schools will take place on'Friday next. Electors are reminded that March C is the closing day of the supplementary roll in the Otaki electoral district for the forthcoming licensing poll. The Rev. Mosejs Ayrton addressed a meeting on the coming licensing poll at Levin on Friday night. The address was a good one, but the attendance was poor.

It is stated (says the Christchurch “Press”) that with the close of t-ho war and the release for sale of large numbers of motor lorries, the Education Department will probably purchase some for the purpose of conveying children to the larger schools in the country, and so enable the Departmentto close some of lhe smaller outlying schools. This method of centralising is much in vogue in America, where is is increasingly popular.

1 According to a story told by the Hon. \V. D. S. MacDonald at Gisborne on Saturday, the Hon. T. M. Wilford, Minister for Justice, was approached by the authorities in a small township, asking for an additional policeman. “Give me two raw recruits and I will Tv.va' ™,l n rmlieeman. tr nromntly re-

plied the Minister. The request could ,• not lie coinplied with, ns all the available single men who were fit. had gone to the front. All ,Auckland fruitgrower, who .was iu Christchurch last week, made some remarks about the high., price of fruit there. He had sent down a ton of plums for sale. lend received oil per lb for them. He was quite satisfied with ! the price, but he saw the same plums ‘ shortly afterwards offered retail at Sd per lb. “A consignment sold at the 1 equivalent of 141 s per ease,” he said, j ‘ ‘but. on the retail prices asked they a ill cost the consumer about 35s per : case. This, to me, seems an unfair profit to ask the consumer to provide.” I As Chautauqua Week approaches iu- ! tcrest in an epoch-making event .stead* ' i!v deepens. The guarantors met at : I.evin on Friday-evening under the | chairmanship of Mr P. W. Goldsmith, j and the reports received were most cn- , couraging. , About 250 tickets have j been placed to date, and arrangements I were made for an extensive campaign 1 for the final week. Miss Thurston, the ' organiser, was present, and her talk on | the Chautauqua “stars” convinced all j present that Levin has not made a mistake in inviting the great American combination into its midst.