GENERAL NEWS.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXV, Issue 68, 23 March 1915, Page 3

GENERAL NEWS.

The Press Association states that the Hntt Borough Council has decided to support the Runanga Borough Council’s representations to the Government to control the prices of the necessaries of life. 1

The Kawhia Settler says: The Maori “King” refused a large sum ol money offered him by local natives, declaring that he had come to visit his people —not to collect money. “Kia Ora,” adds the writer.

The Wellington office of the Post and Telegraph Department advises that the mails which left Auckland on February Bth and connected with the R.M.S. Ventura at Sydney, on February 13th, reached London on the 2Uth iust., six days late.

r ' A burglary occurred in New Plymouth last evening, when the house of M iss Russell, of Fulford Street, was entered, and a sum of £1 14s stolen. Miss Russell was absent at the time, having attended the pictures, and she discovered her loss immediately on arrival home (reports the News).

The body of a newly-born male child was found on the. foreshore near the foot of Dawson Street, New 1 Plymouth, yesterday afternoon. It was discovered at high water mark, at about 4. o’clock (states the News). The hotly, which was contained in a bag, was taken over by the police, removed to the morgue, and viewed by the coroner, who ordered a post mortem to be held. An inquest w’as held this morning.

Speaking at a meeting of the Wanganui Agricultural Association,. Mr A. Robinson said that oaten sheaf chaff was one of the greatest distributors of noxious weeds. He knew of one instance at- Walton, near To Aroha, in connection with an area of 12,000 acres of land. Horses were brought there from Matamata to winter, and chaff came with them. The result was that the aj’ea was soon covered with Calithistle.

It is interesting to note that the £IOO to be paid by the Hawke’s Bay Herald to Mr J. Vigor Brown, M.P., in settlement of the libel action, and to be handed by the member for Napier to the Hospital Board, is entitled to a Government subsidy of 24s in the pound, so the funds of the hospital will thus be benefitted to the extent of £220.

Evidently the Dominion does not hold a monopoly in the matter of fakers of totalisator tickets. After the recent Milicent (S.A.) meeting, a printer was prosecuted for publishing additional totalisator tickets to the number ordered by the club. It was shown that he had collected over every winner, and a line of £lO was inflicted.

Users of famous brands of Austrian lead-pencils will be glad to hear that British firms are reported to be turning out huge quantities of very high-grade pencils, which it is hoped will take the places on the New Zealand market of the enemy-made article. This was stated at the meeting of the Wellington Central Chamber of Commerce to be the apparent position. Recently the Chamber was asked if there was a contract in existence between Johann Faber, the Bavarian pencil-maker, and the New Zealand Government for a supply of pencils to this country. The Chamber made inquiries and has been informed that no such contract exists.

The British soldier is never at a loss when sarcasm is needed (says an English exchange), and an example of his readiness was seen recently in one of our seaside towns where thousands of men are in training. A long route march had been in progress, and the officer had been none too patient. Several times he had occasion to speak strongly to the men. At last, on the march home, the order came, “March easy”—the time when songs are indulged in. There was no call for “Tipperary” this time, but unanimously they started singing, “Kind words can never die.” The officer’s feelings are not described.

Tlio British Admiralty has just commissioned a new type of submarine, which is to be known as the “W” class. There are four of these vessels, and they have been designed and built at Armstrong’s works since the war began. The latest vessel to be sent to sea is WB, but W 1 would appear to have been in commission for some time, and it is not quite clear whether there are eight or four of the type afloat. The new class is styled by the English newspapers “Mysterious Secret Submarines.” Another ne',v type of under-water craft, known as the “S” class, with a speed of 18 knots on the water, has been built and designed at Scott’s yard at Greenock, and has been in commission for about a year. The two big submarines of the Swordfish typo are now attached to Sir John Jellicoe’s flagship, the Iron Duke.

For some time the police stations in Wellington have been used by the military pickets as places for the temporary storage of defaulters absent without leave, or who have overstayed their leave. A month ago four or live soldiers were the occupants of the stations every night until the picket called to take them back to camp, but lately several evenings often pass without a single arrest being made by the military authorities. The picket, although it can arrest for disorderliness, usually coniines its exertions to the capture pf soldiers absent without leave. The “red caps,” or military police, who have become a familiar sight in the streets, deal with cases of misconduct, but lately their services have not been required vary frequently.