GENERAL.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXVIV, Issue 78, 8 March 1916, Page 2

GENERAL.

The Otago Daily Times says that the directors of the Bruce Woollen Mills have adopted the course followed by various other mills throughout the Dominion, and are granting their employees a 5 per cent, war bonus. In reply to a question as to whef ther he could find anyone to go bail |for him, an Auckland accused per--1 son who was charged with failing to 'maintain his wife, mentioned his 1 mother. “1 refuse to put my name to any paper,” declared the old lady, j “Let him go to the front and he a I man, like his brothers before birn.” The suggested way out was accepted. At Monday night’s meeting at Eltham (states the Argus), when Mr Wilkinson, M.P., was speaking, some one interjected, “We have a weakkneed Government.” Mr Wilkinson immediately retorted, “A .weak-kneed Government P Why, the Government includes some of the strongest men in Parliament; if this is a weak-kneed Government, where will yon get- a strong one?”

'Plie work of collecting cocksfoot seed has been enthusiastically taken np by the Lawrence school children, and all likely patches of this now valuable seed are being eagerly sought by tile juvenile gatherers (says the Tuapeka Times). Each child is endeavoring to gather two pounds of seed, and, judging by the activity displayed, the majority of them will have no difiiculty in reaching the mark aimed at.

The Eltham Argus states: At the recruiting meeting on Monday night, Mr Ci A. Wilkinson, M.P., brought ui> the matter of supplying deck shoes to the Taranaki men in camp at Feathefston. He said that our men were the only ones in camp who had not been supplied with these shoes, though they were absolutely for deck training. The “hat” was sent round and there was a ready response, the necessary funds being quickly raised, and a draft was sent to Major Hamilton, Featherston. Seeing that deck shoes are now a necessary part of the men’s equipment the Government should see that they are provided.

In the very early hours of a recent morning the Mayor of Napier (Mr J. Vigor Brown, M.P.), was awakened from his sleep, and asked to go bail for a soldier who had been arrested for stealing a door mat. Mr .Brown immediately communicated with the police, offering bail, but as the sergeant was not there the policeman in charge had no power to accept it. The soldier was going by the Wairoa boat, so it is reported, to spend his final leave. He had had a drink or two and was arrested with a door mat in his hand. The soldier missed his boat, and when the case came before the court it was dismissed as “too trivial.”

That squint-eyed town on the West Coast known as Ruuanga has again revolted (says an exchange/. Its local Borough Council says in effect: “Down with Britain, up with Germany I ’.' It has not only refused to help m the recruiting of shirkers, because “the Government only wanted to shift the responsibility on to local bodies,’ hut it has further resolved to urge the Government to recommend the Home Government to “open negotiations with the Central Towers with a view to discussing peace proposals.” Hie peace agitation in Ruuanga is not surpr’siag. The town -was the birth-place" or the Red Federation, and has produced j more cranks for its size than any other j place in the world.

The forecasts for the coming seasons, as made by Mr Clement L. Wragge, are of a distinctly reassuring nature to farmers and pastoralists of the Dominion (states the Otago Daily Times). Mr Wragge began seasonal forecasting in 1901, he told an audience in the Burns Hall, and though lie never dared to lay claim to absolute accuracy, he did at least claim considerable accuracy. His forecasts had proved correct in 95 per cent, of cases, Referring to the present local shortage of water, he predicted that that might soon be expected to improve, even in the Maheno district, where drought was caused by its peculiar physical configuration. He was prepared to say that when 191,6 came to an end we would he able to say that it had proved a good year in New Zealand. Certainly it would he for Australia. The years 1917, 1918, and 1919, would also be good years, but as for what is to happen from 1920 to 1930 the curious were referred to the little book that Mr Wragge has written on the subject.

Writing to a friend in Wellington, a soldier who is now in Egypt tells of a prohibition imposed on the nurses engaged in hospitals there. He says; “An order came out some time ago, issued presumably by the matron in charge of the nurses in Egypt, that Ino nurse was to be seen out with either officer, non-commissioned officer, or man, except her fiance, ii he is I here, or a relation. It at once brandled both man and nurse as a criminal, }l take it, that they can’t he trusted out together. Poor nurses, they have given up a lot coming out here, and if they cannot go out with a friend when not on duty something is wrong somewhere. Furthermore, a large firm of tea-room-owners evidently got to hear of this order, for one day after it was issued the matron was informed that the place was full of nurses accompanied by men in uniform. She paid a visit, and the nurses heard more about it. I may say that the majority of the nurses will not sign anv paper re this order, and a woman who issues such orders and who will be so underhand in her methods cannot he taken for much, and I am sure that the people of New Zealand would not tolerate such methods of handling their own nurses.”

Potato-growing lias been a profitable industry for a number of New Zealand fawners during the past 12 months. ! After paying all expenses a profit of fully £IOO per acre has been obtained One Nelson grower has dug 10 tons of tubers from a two-acre patch, and has sold them in Wellington for £. Pis per to.n, netting a profit of more than ; £2OO. A southern farmer who planted a thousand acres of wheat this year in response to the Prime Minister’s appeal for the production of cereals has ! secured a crop averaging eight bushels I to the acre; He mentions, in the ! course of a letter to Mr Massey, that his loss amounts to about £3OOO. He adds to this his land tax, which amounted last year to some £I4OO, and shows a substantial increase this year in consequence of the extra war rate. The farmer suggests that the Government should afford him some relief.