LOCAL & GENERAL NEWS.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume 8, Issue 8, 11 January 1916, Page 4

LOCAL & GENERAL NEWS.

A working man, in another column, is advertising for a home for his twomotherless children. ...,',, During the quarter ended 31st December, 1915, 17 applications for oldage pensions were dealt'with at Taiiiape, 15 being granted and two being refused. « A girl that has passed the sixth standard is wanted in Messrs H. D. Bennett and Co's office to learn typewriting. One with other office experience preferred. It is stated ' that a big scheme for the manufacture of munitions at the railway workshops, Sydney, has boon dropped owing to the men refusing to accept less than time and' a-half in payment for necessary overtime. Over eight hundred discharged soldiers have applied to the Discharged Soldiers' Information Bureau, and that number have been either provided with suitable employment or assisted in some way or other, according to their desires or requirements, The office is doing valuable work in this direction. j «a Krti n is ■'NAZQL" PROOF;

On hearing that a girl who had lost all the fingers of .her right hand in an accident was now earning 14/(5 a week packing fancy goods in boxes, Judge Smyly remarked at Bow County Court, London, that it just showed what anyone could do with pluck and fortitude.

General, Wilfred Ellershaw, of the British Army, has arrived in America to. inspect the ordnance and ammunition now being manufactured in the United States and in Canada for the Allies. He fought at the battle of tho Marne, and said that conditions on the western front were satisfactory to the British military authorities.

The Independent Unionist candidate, Mr. Gibson Bowles, has retired from the contest for St. George's. Hanover Square, in favour of Sir George Keid, ex-High Commissioner for Australia. It is felt that the election of an Australian representative would be a compliment to Australia, to whose gallantry and devotion we owe much, says a London cable.

Very many people in this district will regret to learn that the Taihape Plunket Nurse, Miss Jones, has met with rather a severe injury to one of her feet, and that, in consequence, her medical! attendant has ordered that she must suspend her good work for a period of at least two months. It is understood that efforts are to be made at once to secure someone to act in Nurse Jones' place, but, however good the temporary nurse may be, the loss will be felt.

At the .earooms adjoining the King's Theatre, the proprietor of the pictures, Mr. A. C. Nicholls, and the staff foregathered to bid farewell to Mr. Horace Keid, the operator, who left Taihape this morning with the local quota of the 12th Reinforcements. Mr. Nicholls, on behalf of himseif and the staff, presented Mr. Reid with a wristlet watch, and, in doing so, referred to the many good qualities of the recipient, who, during his stay here, had won the esteem of all. Others also spoke in ellogistic terms, and after Mr. Reid had suitably responded, a very pleasant gathering was brought to a close by the singing of "He's a Jolly Good Fellow."

Even in the. far-flung Philippines. Germans are causing a rumpus, and according to late dispatch over t-1-cable from Manila all the small arms, consisting of 300 rifles and 2,000 revolvers, on board the German ships interned there, have been seized ar pteced in the American Government Customs House. The German Consul has issued a stereotyped protest and has expressed the utmost indignation at the action of the Philippine authoriies. Uncle Sam is taking every precaution to prevent interned Germans from uprising and causing trouble and bloodshed. These interned men in several parts of the United States territory have recently signalised their presence by no small insolence and attempts to escape have occurred frequently.

According to reliable information wjiich lias reached New York, a British cruiser has captured on the high seas, off the coast of Brazil, a German officer whom the United States Government believes was responsible for many of the score of mysterious fires and explosions in munitions plants in America. The spy was taken off the Lamport and Holt liner Vauban. He is now believed to be a prisoner of Great Britain, either on the cruiser which captured him or in a British Central or South American detention camp. The whole sensational story c' the suspect's activities in the United States have been revealed. Under a forged or stolen passport, the spy escaped from America on November 13. He was "two. jumps" ahead of special agents of the United... States Department of Justice, whohnd .mail? .discoveries which they said connected him with quite, a long list,.of .disasters.

In reply to . an. enquiry. regarding uork on the railways, the Prime Minister wrote the following interesting letter: "There is serious shortage of employees in the traffic branch, of the department, owing to the number who have enlisted. Instructions had been given that, ns far as possible, , single nven eligible for enlistment, are not to be engaged, and that married men are to bc° given preference. The department hopes to get men who, owing to slight dfocts, are not eligible for enlistment, but are quite capable for railway service. As you will readily understand, these positions are not available for elderly men, as they get too stiff aud clumsy for the work. The shortage of men has reached such e serious state that unless the gaps are filled the department will be faced with the alternative of stopping enlistment from the traffic branch or reducing the number of trains, neither cf which cmrse would be in the public in teres 1 .." SjuVndid line of summer singlets at 1/C. Very cool and 'omfortable; at Stanley Peyton's. A sill: shirt is very sice for wear during the hot weather. See Stanley Peyton *B stock from 8/6.

A Sydney Sun Cable states:—The German claim that the High Seas Fleet searched the North Sea has a substratum of truth in it. The squad- I ron peeped out cf the Baltic Sea as | far as the Skagerack. The cruise cost j them the Bremen and a torpedo boat, \ while there has been a further coii- } siderable less cf power. At least one | big ship was attacked and damaged, I but managed to limp into port. The fleet stopped fifty ships, which must i have been German coasters. If they | had been British they would have ' been sunk, and if neutrals they would , have been taken into ports. The expedition was designed to impress the shipping communities of Hamburg and Bremen, but its effect has been to depress them.

Some excitement was caused among

rome of the settlers near Te Kuiti on Thursday by the actions of a man, a Swede, who was wandering about the bush for several, days. Eventually he discarded his clothing, and" the set-

tiers communicated with the police. Constable Kennedy, accompanied by some settlers, located the man in the bush, about four miles from the town, and surrounded him. The constable approached the nude bush dweller, who was armed with an axe, and attempted to use it. The constable's rush, however, was too quick* and he received only a blow from the handle en the shoulder. The man, when brought to the police station, said he had had no feed for a week, but very little information could be obtained ifrcn; him. He was committed to the Auckland Mental Hospital.

At a social gathering in Palmerstcn North, Premier Massey referred to -

suggestion that if sufficient fieldglasses were not forthcoming for om troops, glasses should be commandeered from sportsmen. He said he wrs sure there' would be no necessity to do any commandeering. Racing Oibs and sportsmen, said Mr. Massey, had been most patriotic in their efforts to assist the Government since the outbreak of the war. They only had to remember the action of the Wellington Racing Club, and later, that of the Manawatu Racing Club, which in the awful weather of last winter, when it was found necessary to get new quarters for the Trentham troops, had placed its racecourse and buildings at the Defence Department's disposal for the use of the soldiers, "and the Government and the Defence Department have not forgotten it, "said the Minister, amidst applause.

Mr. J. L. Lucas, of Hindhead, called atention to the fact that at the Farnham Workhouse the dietary costs show about £250 on mutton, and about £550 on beef. It was explained that two beef dinners were given to one of mutton, and beef is also used for stews and broth, although the price of the beef was half as much again as that of the New Zealand mutton which was consumed. It was further stated that no alteration could be made in the dietary without the sanction of the Local Governmen Board. "If this be so." says Mr. Lucas, "and the proportions of beef and mutton purchased by the Farnham authority are common-to all the Poor Law Boards throughout the counry, it was plainly within the province of the Local Government Board, by sanctioning a much greater consumption of New Zealand mutton in workhouses, to effect a very appreciable economy in the rates without detriment to the inmates of these esablishments.' *