LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Otaki Mail, Volume 26, 21 May 1919, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

— A house in Masterton which was erected .some years ago for £4OO, recently changod hands at £BSO. Street fighting has occurred in Agran between the Croatians and Serbians. Many have been hilled. The Government has completed the purchase of Mr F. Moore's property at Makuri, along with stock, which latter is valued at £9OOO. • Mr Byron Brown has disposed of his residence and adjoining town section at Otaki to Mr Palmer, of Wellington, at a satisfactory figure. France and South Africa are desirous of sending football teams to New Zealand in 1920. The New Zealand Union will decide which can be invited.

Steps are being taken to revive interest in the Levin Beautifying Society, and a public meeting, with that object in viow, is to be held shortly.

The Bolshevik squadron emerged from Kronstadt on Sunday. British warships after half an hour's battlo forced them to return, sinking one. A railway velocipede was 6tolen from tho Levin railway station between Saturday night last and Monday morning. No trace of it has been discovered.

Three boys escaped from tho Weraroa Training Farm on Monday last, and set out for Palmerston North, where they each commandeered bicycles. However, they were chased, and eventually caught near Ashhurst, and brought back to Palmerston.

The social and dance, to bo held in tie Otaki Town Hall on Friday for the purpose of raising funds for the local horticultural society, should bo largely attended, especially as* a most enjoyable time is assured. The charges for admission are low, especially as sapper is providod.

An instance of the vile work of Germans In mutilating prisoners came under the notice of the Military Medical Board which examined soldier pationts at New Plymouth .this week. Ono soldier had had the sinews of his finger sovered, and the outline of an Iron Cross cut in the back of his nock.

An important clearing salo will be held at Gillies' woolshed, Te Horo, on Wednesday next, 2Sth inst., when Messrs Dalgoty and Co., Ltd., will offer a lengthy list of stock, implements, etc., on account of Mr Eli Allen, who has disposed of his property. Full details will be found in our advertising columns.

The official year book for 1918 has now been published. Publication was delayed largely on account of the late session of Parliament in 1918, which caused delay in the release of a considerable amount of information usually included in the book. As usual, the book contains a mass of most useful information, and is indispensable. Mr Evans, who recently purchased Mr Eli Allen's property and a holding occupied by Mr P. A. Gillies at Te Horo, returned to Feilding to-day, after being several days in this district. Recently he concluded an extensive tour of Auckland, Waikato, Hawke’s Bay and other districts. He reports that for farm property the Otaki district is second to none.

The Acting-Minister of Finance states that tho State Advances Board has decided to extend limits for lending to local authorities and settlers. It is proposed that the limit for local authorities will be extended to £IO,OOO instead of £SOOO in any year. The limit to settlers desiring to procure homes will be extended to £IOOO instead of £450, and tho extension not to include Joans for repayment of mortgages, unless especially authorised by the board.

The second annual meeting of the Horowhcnua Patriotic Association is advertised to be held at the Century Hall, Levin, on Wednesday nest, 28th inst.j at 2.30 p.m. All members and patriotic workers from any part of the district arc earnestly invited to attend, and it is hoped and expected that there will be a very large and representative gathering. This matter is one that afieets all interested in patriotic work, and those who wish to assist or criticise should not fail to attend this annual meeting.

Messrs W. H. Field, M.P., and G. M. Lethbridge, representatives or the Mt. Hector Track Committee (Otaki side), ! waited on the Greytowa Committee last week and conferred with them relative to a suitable locality for the proposed hat. It was agreed that Tiro Tiro point would be the best place for a building at the present time, and that as soon as funds* were available a hut be erected on Mt. Hector. TbcGrevtown Committee is willing to assist the Otaki Committee financially. It is probable that a meeting of the Otaki Committee will be held next week to deal with this and other important matters.

The Horownemitt Repatriation committee, consisting of Messrs Matheson. Taylor, Higgins, Vincent, Keedtveil, IV. Ryder. Goldsmith and Karaoti, with Mr E. P. Walkley as seretary, has held live meetings since the formation of the committee, 'and a considerable amount of business has been handled. A lot of the work has been in the direction of assisting soldiers to go into ! .j business in different parts of the <Jis* trier. It has been decided to lecom- . mend assistance in a case when the sol- | dier completes arrangements regarding • business premises, also in another ease { where a soldier Is taking over a busi- | f ness. An application for a grant to • pnrehase a farming partnership is tcraj po rarity held up and a favourable rej port -.-. ill be-made where an applicant • desires to enter into a new profession. I .‘Several other cases arc under eonsider- | ation. —“Chronicle. 1 ’ i BootiaakiEg.— T. Barrett wishes to , notify the public of Otald and district J that he. has resumed business as boot ■ and shoemaker. Old and new easterners please take notice. Address: Russian Street, OtakL—Advr.

The Hawke’s Bay County Council has affirmed the desirability of erecting toll gates.

Mr Arthur Seed advertises heart birch fencing posts, strainers, and droppers for sale. It has been suggested that the State Farm at Levin should be subdivided for soldier settlement.

The retail price of milk has been raised in Otaki by one penny per quart, and is now being sold at 6d.

The formal authority of the Minister of Public Works to go on with the Mangahao electric power scheme is gazetted. It has been laid down in a judgment of the S.M. Court that a publican’s booth at a racecourse is not “licensed premises” within the meaning of tho Licensing Act. The Labour Party in Masterton is calling for nominations for a candidate for the Parliamentary election. A selection is to bo rnado under the preferential voting system. A thrce-ycar-old daughter of Mr Vivian Donald, of Masterton, fell from a chair on Monday evening and sustained hemorrhage of tho brain, from which it died shortly afterwards. Nominations for the vacancy, .caused by tlic retiremment of Mr W. H. Reynolds, on the Otaki Town Board close on May 26th. The election will take place on June 11th.

The unreserved clearing sale of dairy cows, on behalf of Mr Neville Halso, will take place at To Horo on Friday, when some first-class cows and milking plant will bo offered for salo. Mr T. A. King, always alert to the interests of his customers, has in hand a special assortment of books by various authors, and at prices that defy competition. Mr King also has leading lines of stationery, etc.

The estimated population of tho Dominion on March 31 last was 1,157,203, made up of 588,372 males, and 595,831 females. The Native population was estimated at 49,776, being composed of 25, 933 males and 23,543 females. A Gazette Extraordinary has boon issued fixing the wholesale and retail prices of rico in the Dominion. Tho maximum price when sold wholesale cx store is fixed at 30s per ewt, and the maximum retail price at 4d per lb. Canadian soldiers in Scaford Camp rioted owing to the restrictions against leaving camp for short periods. Tho rioters wrecked tho canteens and sergeants’ messes, broached beer barrels, and made a demonstration through the streets.

Wo xeraind bowlers and ladies interested in tho meeting to be held in the Druids’ Hall this evening for the purpose of considering the formation of a croquet club and the holding of a bowlers’ ball. Both matters are of importance and we hope to see a full muster.

The sale, to be held on behalf of the trustees of tho late Mr D. I. Larsen, on Monday next, at Paraparaomu, should be well attended, as the stock is all of high-class quality and implements, etc., in first-class order. Full particulars are advertised.

Now that wc have broken into wintry weather, extra blankets are being placed on the bed, and we’ll be donning extra garments ourselves. With this in view there will be a big demand for inoirette underskirts. Ladies should view the splendid display of these serviceable garments which Stiles and Matheson arc now showing.

Tiiote is no deubt that you will require a pair of goloshes soon. We have ju*t opened a frc-sh shipment for ladies, gents and children. Tho price is right. Also gent’s football boots just in. Try a pair of rubber soles on your golf of walking shoes. They always grip. Irvine's Shoo Store, Otaki. — Advt. '

The exports of produce from the Dominion for the week ended 13th May were of a total value of £1,332,366, made up as follows: —Butter £126,304, choose ££03,634, lamb £143,414, mutton £54,397, other frozen meat £69,746, wool £607,318, tallow £128,358, hides and skins £37,023, grain and pulse £1823, flax and tow £47,021, timber £7530, and kauri gum £llß. That famous old trader, the Queen of tho South, that went ashore near Cape Campbell on 10th May, has now reached tho end of her long career. A telegram received yesterday morning by Mr G. Allport (Secretary for Marine) from tho principal keeper at Cape Campbell lighthouse, stated that the vessel broke amidships on Monday night and completely disappeared. The Mararoa, which arrived at Lyttelton at 1.55 p.m. on Sunday, was held up at Wellington on Saturday night owing to the firemen refusing to sail until the vessel was thoroughly fumigated, one of the men from the - stoke- 1 hold having been removed to hospital on Saturday Buffering from a disease supposed to be influenza. The health officers boarded the Mararoa at Lyttelton and gave the crew inhalation treatment," and other preventive measures against the spread of the disease were also taken. Three local “sports,” keen on a couple of days shooting, visited a locality in the direction of Manakau for the purpose of “bagging” a number of the feathered tribe. After an arduous days’ journey, a cold night without shelter, and, the wet owing to the boggy nature of tie ground, they returned, somewhat erest-fallep, without practical!y a feather. One of the x-arty says his recent visit io Table Top was far preferable.