LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taihape Daily Times, 16 April 1918, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Some wonderful values in flannels are advertised by Collinson and Cunninghame, of aPlmerston, Patterns wil be sent you free on request. Read this advertisement on page 8. “ A man who ought to put £IOO,OOO into the War Loans has put in nothing up till now/' stated the Finance Minister in the House when referring to the compulsory loan provisions of the Finance Bill^ Potatoes are firming the price in Dunedin, and are being sold at £7 per ton. The blight has affected crops in some districts but the more potent, cause of the rise is shortage of labour for digging the main crop, A Wellington mounted man writes from Palestine: "The rainy season suits our horses. The green grass here is better than the sands of Egypt. We can endure this climate without discomfort, and hope to hold all that we have, so far, gained from the enemy.” The Returned Soldiers’ Association has decided upon the publication o.f its own journal, to wheh it has given the inappropriate title of the Quick March. Mr C. W. B’attcn is the honorary editor, and it is hoped to bring out the first issue before Ansae Day (the 25th inst.) It will be a monthly* at first, and next year it is hoped tnj make it a fortnightly or even a weeklv' ° • ■ r

A bed-sitting room with all conveniences, electric light and fireplace, near centre of town, is advertised to iCv. One ebginc-driver, bush trucky, and bushmen are advertised for by Gardner and Sons, sawmillers, Turangarere. The Taihape cattle fair will be held in the local saleyards on Wednesday, May Ist. Over 1000 entries have already been received from various clients, and further entries are solicited. A Palmerston resident, who has just returned from a visit to Raetihi, states that although numerous individual losses in the recent fires were severe, the general destruction is not so great as was at first anticipated. The insurance assessor has already completed 93 claims, totalling £20,000 and the work of restoration has been carried on with all expedition.

A French Ministerial decree places General Sarrail, the defender of Verdun and later Commander-in-Chief of the Salonika army, on the second reservo list. General Sarrail has been accused of conspiring with Caillaux to bring about a separate peace between Germany and France, and following these accusations he was relieved of his Macedonian command. His removal from the active army is possibly the prelude to more drastic action. In Germany several thousand women —selected for their youth, energy, and attractiveness —are learning the Russian language. Their tutors are Russian prisoners, who are compelled to give them lesions. These students are intended to pursue, after the war, the occupation of travelling saleswomen to capture the Russian markets, and descriptive catalogue of German goods are already prepared in the Russian language for their use in that capacity It has been reported in several places through out the Dominion that master-bakers have raised the price of break without reference to the Board of Trade. The Board now makes it clear that this was contrary to the regulation gazetted on March 19 as the stanaarcThis s-tanda-rd price: could not be raised without the con-, sent of tho Board. Where increases : had been made without reference to the Board the latter would take action agaist the offending bakers. Says the Times: A well-known resident of Russell street, Palmerston, had distressing home-coming one night last week. His house -was in. a turmoil, and the furniture was thrown hither and thither. The householder and his wife had been out for the evening and on arrival home were told by the maid that she had gone to bed early in the evening and had been disturbed by a noise in the hall. She got out of bed to investigate and found a man in the hall. She attacked him and he knocked her senseless. When she regained consciousness she found that a gas jet had been turned on and that the baby of the house was in danger of suffiocation She rescued him and rang up a doctor. The police have, so far, made no arrests

Stock has done worse this season as far as fattening is concerned than for several years (states ‘‘Agricola” the South Island correspondent of the Farmer’s Advocate). This is not because there is no feed about, but because the grass and the rape lacks fattening qualities, particularly in regard to lambs. The fat buyers have been .able to got very few fats comparatively speaking as yet, but it is now evident that there is a bit of an improvement taking place. Those who bought lambs for fattening at a big figure earlier in the season are not having at all a good time with them. In some cases all the rape has gone, It is the first time in the experience of most of us that the rape has but the lambs are still on the farm, been so deficient in fattening qualities.