LOCAL & GENERAL NEWS.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume 8, Issue 37, 14 February 1916, Page 4

LOCAL & GENERAL NEWS.

A cable to-day states that Warner, th e cricketer, is seriously ill. Sergeant Harvey, of Taihape, has received notice of his transfer to Otahuhu and will leave shortly for that district.

At the Taihape Police Court this morning, before Mr. J". P. Aldridge, J.P., a first-offender was convicted and fined 5/ for drunkenness.

The funeral of the late Frank Withers, of Pukeokahu, will leave the Presbyterian Church at 2.30 p.m., on Tuesday, for the Taihape cemetery.

The Taihape Orchestra will meet for practice to-night. In future all regular practices will be held on Monday evening of each week.

A lady's gray silk scarf was lost in Main Street, Taihape, on Saturday. The finder will be rewarded on returning it to this office.

An interesting curio in the shape of a Maori mere was dredged up in the Inner Harbour at Napier a day or two ago. It is 12 inches long and weighs about 51b s.

An unnaturalized German was arrested in Masterton on Wednesday for failing to report himself, as required by the war regulations. He will probably be interned on Somes Island.

The total ! number of men of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force' known to be prisoners of war is 23 —16 of the Wellington Battalion, two Auckland Mounted Rifles, two Auckland Battalion, and one Canterbury Mounted Rifles.

At Auckland the other day the Minister for Defence said the musketry instruction given in New Zealand was ample. They fired both through table A and B before leaving the Dominion, and there was ample testimony that the instruction was sufficient.

An Auckland tram conductor was considerably surprised recently to find that a sleeping baby had been left in his car. It is stated that a lady went to Onehunga, and then when her baby fell asleep she laid it on the seat and then forgot to take it with her when she reached her destination.

A Johannesburg message says it is estimated that the private damage caused by the Free State 1 rebellion amounts to £1,000,000, of which a quarter has been paid by the rebels—a practical punishment which is regarded as the soundest method of discouraging a recurrence of the trouble.

A lost coat was advertised for in these columns a few days ago, and in response a plurality of coats Lave been brught in. To save our office frin assuming the appearance of a sec-ond-hand clothes dealers' establishment, the advertiser might call and select the one he advertise! for—presuming it is amongst bhem. The reported capture by 11. M.S. Drake of the Roon and two merchantmen at the Bermudas has a peculiar interest for shipping folk in "Wellington, as the Scales chartered steamer Hehburn must have been in close proximity to the scene of the naval action, r" it took place as cabled. The Hebburn left Wellington en December 21, aiK

advice was received on Friday that she called at the Bermudas, «Ji route to Boston, on Saturday last, for bunkers, and sailed ngain os Sunday.

A g'M for housework, mornings only, is advertised for by Mrs. Ehodes, Taihape Public School.

The Under of a black horse will be rewarded on taking it to the Main Trunk Brewery.

Much of t'le heavy Christmas postal traffic at Manchester was handled with groat efficiency by local schoolboys ana Boy Scouts, if whom 300 spontaneously volunteered their services.

Quarter-Master Sergt. B. S. Palvr, of Yarmouth, was in November officially reported to have been killed at the Dardanelles, and .his family went into mourning. At the end of December h« wrote home to say how surprised he was to read of his death in a Yarmouth paper.

A smart piece of work was accomplished the other day by Mr. C. Morse, manager of the Tokomaru Timber Works. He lift Tokomaru Bay at C o'clock in the morning in -his car, accompanied by six men, travelled 22 miles to his destination, the Manutalii saleyards, cut out his job, which was the erecting of an office there (dimensions, 30ft x 12ft), and brought-back his men in time for tea at 5.30 p.m.

To-day tin" official opening of the new harbour at Motueka, a port which has made great progress during the last decade, takes place. The Anchor Co.'s steamer Nikau will .have the honour of being the first vessel to enter the new harbour, and she will break 9 ribbon which will bo' sketched across the entrance. The growth of Motueke is largely due to the big trade in fruit which has sprung up in recent years, but the district also exports wool, ■hops, butter, and a little hemp.

In respect to a returned wounded soldier —a young man with a shrapnel bullet near his heart —the Port Chalmers people are of opinion that he should be sent to London for expert treatment. This young- soldier,.who was a well-known footballer before enlisting, is now healthy and robust bui for the bullet, which makes exertion dangerous. He has returned from Hanmer Springs none the better for massage and bath treatment. He has ahv been discharged from th e Forces. /

Dunedin correspondent telegraphs thai the case is regarded as having a first claim on the Queen Carnival funds, which were subscribed to help wounded soldiers.

Sir Frederick Bridge, organist of Westminster Abbey, relates this story: I was approached while playing at the Abbey b ya soldier who begged me to play a certain piece of music. Unable to comply at a moment's notice, I consented to play the piece at some future times —on condition that the soldier returned when he had killed ten Germans. Tire man did 'return, but I was away. The sub-organist was in his place. The soldier explained the task imposed upon him. The organist played the fugue, and then asked whether the soldier had carried out his part of the contract. "Well," said the warrior, "I don't knoAv how many I killed, but the King gave me this to-day.'-' It was the V.C.!

A contemporary quotes the following paragraph from th e Lunebergorhc-ide Naehrichten, a German newspaper: "As sooiTas Germany has command o J the seas, which will be before long, we would advise our Government to turn its attention towards an island named New Zealand. It would not take much to get possession of it, because they have only boys as soldiers, and are too far away from Britain to get any help from there. It is a very fertile land; it produces an enormous quantity of butter, cheese, beef, mutton, and wool, all products much needed in our country. The country is also rich in' gold, coal, oil, and other minerals. The first nation in the world—Germany—ought to be in possession of it."