MISCELLANEOUS.

Otaki Mail, Volume XXVIII, 14 June 1920, Page 4

MISCELLANEOUS.

That the backbioclcs settlements should have better roads and more roads, and that the claims of these districts should be mot before further improvements were effected to roads in tlie more central localities, was the contention of Or. Dalziell at the hist meeting of the Mastcrton County Council. The discussion arose out of a claim by Cr. George Moore, jun.. for funds with which to straighten the roads of the I'riti Riding by cutting out dangerous corners, etc. Mr Dalziell said that in his opinion those ridings which already had roads should waive their claims in Favour of the buckblocks settlers, who a many cases could not travel at all in ■ ilie winter. There were places in his j ■w» riding which urgently needed road- I njj. Many returned soldiers held land situated in such inaccessible places, the Government would only grant a certain amount, and the money should bo used where it was most urgently iceded. Eventually Mr Moore withlrcw his claim. W The strange malady which the doctors call “encephalitis Icthargica. ’ ’ which is popularly known ns sleeping sickness, is breaking out in all sorts ot j places (says a French correspondent). , ( Recently it was a young woman who | fell asleep in the arms of her partner t while dancing in Bordeaux, and then I slept four days. Now there comes from | Versailles the story of a 55-year-old j agricultural labourer named Louis Mer- • ■irr, who promptly went to sleep when landed in gaol for theft. After sleepinn JO days in the Versailles Hospital. „ which lie was taken. It*' has only just * wakened. lie will probably claim ■* :] l: ,t the ten days should be deducted from his sentence, and this will open i]• a nice legal point. t * * \n account of the present stale of (tennanv. as seen by a Gorman, is siip- .- plied in a letter received in Wellington i'nini a German naval otlieor who was interned in Now Zealand during- the ear. “Your papers have been right.” he writes. “Germany lias perished good, ol«l. proud Germany, with its princes and aristocracy, is m the hands ..r the noiseful mob. It gets terrorised hv a number of what you call i.W.W.’?. J call them beasts in human body. Do votl know what we are longing for? For your troops to come over anil to bring discipline and civil behaviour to this infamous horde of criminals. T have been a great patriot. I loved my countrv more than anything else, but I now 1 am ashamed to bo called a Ger- | i man. You were not wrong when you ' called them Huns. They have turned into Huns verv soon, and we will liavo i lie same conditions us in Russia, killing each other, latlo i killing his soil, and son hi? mother. It is horrible.'’ The humour of life is a vastly more amusing thing than the humour ot books. As the Salvation Army Band move*l off from the Fountain on its wav to the barracks in Dunedin a baby in a perambulator commenced to cry boisterously, whereupon tin elderly man who was passing commenced to beat time with hi? hand? and express himself as delighted with the music of youthful lungs in full blast. Pausing for a moment he injudiciously ventured the customary enquiry: “Is it a. boy or a girl?” The mother, who was all . novel! because the child’s noisy outbreak had prevented her from attending the service in the citadel, replied in the brusque accents of the Celt: “A bov. of course, a giri would not make that noise.” ami rapidly pushing her perambulator away, she left her interrogator looking decidedly discomfit**i. It is pleasant to think of ancient Stusbourg as once more as old a centre of learning. In the sixteenth cc at in v. Strasbourg took its place among the notable educational centres. 1 The French Revolution put an end to ’ its activities. Napoleon tried to revive ; it as an Imperial Academy, but its glory had departed. The French Parliament is asked now to make a >tatc giant of a large sum, and. under 1 J new ami wider ideals, the investment I may turn out one of the best. # * * The Netionnl Dairy Association raises a bitter complaint about the pillaging of butter and chec-e from the , railway?. The Association’s annual report says: “The evil is on the increase, . and when three boxes of buttc-r are lost ■ 1 from a consignment of 200. a.- between . loading station and destination, it i? f time the Railway Department took responsibility for losses incurred, and , adopted preventive measured to mini- , du.-C ill* constant annoyance and seriou- loss now prevalent.” . '* * A Press Association telegram from Whakatnnc report? that a leading Maori chief, Hurunui Armani, called a ■ meeting of representatives: of the principal public bodies at the Maori Pa on Wednesday to propose a joint Maori and pakeha war memorial. There was ' a large attendance, and Hurunui’s proposal was unanimously adopted. A representative committee was set up jo ' decide on the form or the memorial, anil to erect it regardless of cost. The Natives desired the memorial to be j erected at the sacred Pohatuioa rock. near the landing place of the original Maori canoe in Whakatane town, and this was unanimously approved.