MISCELLANEOUS.

Otaki Mail, Volume XXVIII, 9 August 1920, Page 4

MISCELLANEOUS.

I Tin' following are the vital statistics- ] Co- I'oMon ror the month of July:— Cirlhs ii. deaths J. marriage certificate.issued t. "I. know nl' a magistrate uho re fused lo h ' the defence of a. man who appeared in court with the receipt lor the amount of n claim against him. solely because lie hud nut given the usual formal notice of defence," declared Mr T. A. li. liailey, S.M.. at the Eltham Magistrate's Court. "That it mil the attitude I take up, however," lie added. "The magistrate V court is the people's court, to which people can come without a lawyer, ami 1 shall al uays do my lies! to make the procedure as easy as possible for litigants." The high price of woollen goods was one of the mutter* discussed by the ' Farmers' Union Confercucc. Mr E. Bowmar (Core; moved. That this conference enters its emphatic protest against the extreme prices now being charged for colonial-made woollen goods, anil asks the Government, when considering* the tariff, to examine the position carefully, and, if necessary, in oriler to protect the consumer, reduce the import duty on English woollen goods. Mr (;. I'. Johnston ((lore) said ti was not desired lo hurt local mills. ;• but when profits of up to 30 per cent j wore being made it was time that i farmers did something. The motion ) was carried,' i During the live years that closed in I March hist. Australia's accumulated ;■ surplus of exports over imports l amounted to something over £91,000.3 nun. which gives an average of about !SIS 10s per head of population. NV« Zealand, on the other hand, with a population slightly over one million. can show for the same period an excess of exports amounting to over £SS,O<JO,(tUO, giving an average of about Scotland will adopt prohibition with in a few years, according to a prediction by Mr .lames Gardiner, a former I magistrate of Glasgow. He predicted j that several counties in Scotland ] would go dry next election. Numbers ! of plebiscites resulted in a majority } favouring prohibition .Mr Gardinei | said; "At a meeting of workingmeii I in Paisley the vote was 104 to -JO in j favour of complete prohibition. When ', the countrv decides the question lam i • x sure the vote will be two to one in favour of the dry*." Says •'John Bull" (London): "New Zealand's Government proposes to raise a new army. It ; s to be composed of 1000 immigrants a month, and it is hoped that most of th<Mn will be drawn from Britain. Before n::y Briton leaves here for New Zealand under .the scheme he will save himself a great ileal of trouble, and probably a great deal of heartburn and disappointment, if he first ascertains how and where it is propose.l to house himself pad his family. Our information is that in the large cities and smaller towns houses are already so difficult j to procure that whole families have to live iu one or two rooms."