LOCAL AND GENERAL

Taihape Daily Times, Volume 7, Issue 107, 8 January 1915, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

The 6tli Mounted Rifles held their first parade since the holidays' at the local Domain yesterday.

Mr Robert Frene i, a well-known resident of Auckland, and ?■■ prominent no-dicense leader, died on Thursday, aged 66,

Arrangements have been made to send a cricket eleven to Ngaimikehu this week-end, at (lie invitation of Mr. Led wood .

Some of the shearer friends of Miss E. A. Rout, the first editor of the

"Maeriland Work?r, are presenting her with an oil pail-ting of herself by: Mr C. BicksrCm.

Two first offending inebriates were convicted at the Police Court this morning, one being discharged and the other, who did not appear, forfeiting the amount of his bail (5/-) •

The French prisoners of war at %6s sen, Prussia, have started a weekly paper entitled Le Heraut. The journal is produced entirely within the ecu centration camp, and is sold at one penny to the prisoners of all nationalities confined there.

The King has sent a present of game tc wounded soldiers now under treatment in West Norfolk and Lynn Hospital, and by direction o fth'e Queen of Norway, flowers, fruit, and vege tables have been sent firm Appleton House, Sandringham. - - -, ,

One afternoon last week n thunder storm passed over Rotcrua, and the rain which felt in -,a litMe more than an hour registered an inch and aquarter. The liglTtn'ing wasVof a vivid character, ! and seme of the peals '■/

thunder. we?eT alifrm'ing. The rain "fell at times very heavily.

The. ■Yery-Rev: Dean Reguault, S.M. the Very,Rev. Ds'sn Hol.lay, 5.M.., am the Very Rev. Dr Kennedy, S.M. (R'ec tor of' St.. Patrick's- C ollege), are ex pected to arrivejn v Aueklan.d on Mon

day of "next from their visit to Relgium,-.v/here%h~ey went to attend -\ General Chapter rl pl',.the Marist Order.

t , W-erk,..on-?th"e wharves-is still very, scarce. Yesterday the- secretary 'cf the Wharf..Labourers' Union informed a "Times" reprosentathcthat thi average weekly wage is under £2. The nan;her of men in the union is 1700 and there is possibly work for about. 1200. Quo married mac with years of experience only made £3 12/ last'month, and a married man with a family of seven, 'in the employ of "the Harbour: Beard, -only averaged thirty-five shillings per .week for the last three .months. The. position may improve when the frozen moat boats commence to get away.,

The luek of some people! Last Tuesday a man carrying' a swog arrived in Carterton, and on leaving the staticn, lost a boot i'vom his bundle. The next clay a- wedding party left by- train, and desirous of having a ".II Life young fellows "sjecuiml thif old boot and tied it to the. ' happy Couple's baggage. Just before the 'traju left, the bridogroom happened affcng to the guard's van to make sure his luggage going en board, and seeing the boot, tore it off, and It y>'F>s. Ibrotfn into the railway drain jiU;ngsid|. tlie.-iTn..e. This morning the "swagger" returned and inquired if they bad found a boot, as' he bad leet r ::■ from his swag." Remembering whs! had occurred, the porter hunter} up 'he boot and handed it over to the ' mp, and to his consternation found i it contained a number,, of pound. '.es. The trainp thanked.th ; e officials .1 went away, rejoicing at , having. - und his lest prGpertv,' ' Xiras Cards in great variety: Plenty n hand at FINCH'S BAZAAR,

Mr F. Y. Lethridge, who is in hospital in Paimerston North, yesterday underwent an operation for appendicitis. He is making satisfactory progress.

The Army Council has issued instructions that no obstacle whatever should be placed in the way of soldiers conversing;, on duty or otherwise, in their native tongue, whether English, Welsh, Gaelic, or Irish. On parade all orders will be given in English.

A nationa] movement, in the form of a Scottish Bag day. has; been organis,.,j |>y Hid Scottish' Society, Edinburgh, and the- St. Andrew's Society rf Edinburgh, in order to provide comforts for the Scottish regiments in the field.

Aniens the passengers on a ship at Sydney were abcut 20 Australians who formerly had gone to Canada to settle having been attracted by "land of milk -■slid honey" advertisements. They are convinced now that Australia is the place for I horn. They are. accompanied by about 100 Canadians, who have been, attracted by the possibilities of Australian settlements. They report .:hn! very depressed conditions prevail in Canada just now.

•During his stay in Auckland, tn-; Prime Minister of Australia, the Klgr.r Hon. Andrew Fisher, discussed with the Prime Minister of New Zealand in the matter of naval defence. The question of reciprocity and other matters has also been under consideration. Asked on Saturday as to whether there was anything to disclose as a result of tnc exchange of views, Mr. Massey stated that for the'present it had been mutually aranged that the conversations should be regarded as confidential.

There is apparently no limit to the ingenuity of the German spy. During tb/3 fighting in the north of France a man wearing a Bavarian uniform was marched along handcuffed to two gendarmes. He passed through the French lines unquestioned. The party wer? by another gendarme, who saw two apparent colleagues whose faces were unfamiliar to him. After two minutes' conversation the soldier and his guards were in cutscdy. They were, all three spies.

. Says a writer in the Sydney Bulletin: —Something of a mild sensation has been caused amongst Red Cross workers by a letter from a couple of soldiers at. Rabaul, wdio told how, after paying 1/6 for some pyjamas in a local store, they found notes in the pockets gliowng that the garments had been prepared by Sydney women as free gifts fo the troops. Laboured explanations are beingoffered, but the true, one has not yet seen light. Here it. is—bald and' unbeautiful. Somebody at the Rabaul end has been making a bit.

In the market place of Alford tnc other morning (writes the Paris correspondent of the Daily Express) a number of fat pigs had come up for auction, and for one of them the auctioneer started the bidding at 100 francs. "105," "110," came the bidding, and ""130," and then, to the amazement.of the company, a stentorian voice shout* ed "3,600." .Everyone held his breath, and then came from the same voice, "Fire!" It Was an officer at the adjoining barracks instructing a squad of artillery recruits in range-finding.

The recruiting officer in Auckland eferring to an applicant for enrol

aren't in the reserve contingent, says: \ wouldMxi soldier stated Sihatt he ; md sent his wife home to her relations, in England, and he was now

uixicus to depart fc-r Europe. "Where have yen been staying lately," {he officer inquired. "Well," was the reply, " it's hardly a fair di-es'tidn, but I liavon't been doing "ny harm." Further questions were nor asked, but it was tolerably certain that the man, who had not been "hie to readily find his wife's passage 'ucaey. was penniless, ana had been deeping in the open air.

Just as the old woman believes her favourite corn to be an infallible indication cf the weather, so the average fireman is convinced that the amount of damage by fire is a sure and certain reflex cf the state of commercial prosperity cf a place. If a fireman's criterion is worth anything states the "Star," Auckland should have experienced a phenominally successful year from a business point of view, during the twelve months just closing for the number of fires and the smalines,- of the havoc wrought probably constitute a record. Never in the '-ecclieetion of Superintendent Woolley has there been a year when tires have been so few and tlie resultant damage so insignificant, Up to date the estimated damage done by fires-in the city (hiring the twelve menths is only £4078, which was covered by an insurance on the biiifdiDgs and contents of £l7f,109. Tb e significance of these figures may be realised 1 when it is mentioned that an average year's damage by fire in the- city cf Auckland is something like £30.000, Apparently the period of immunity from serious nre gees back for more than twelve months under >'e. view. During the period eiding Juno this year, the damage by Auckland's fires only totalled £5,59-'>, against £17,709 in Christchurch. Auckland was in a unique position, far all the' towns af cny s&e and importance were , afflicted by fires far more extensive , than those, in the largest city in the Dcrrihv;rr| suffered £9917 damage, Dunedin £13,435, Hastings 1 £0,402, and, Palmerston North £5,383,