LOCAL AND GENERAL

Taihape Daily Times, 16 October 1918, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

■«' yoD . ;• ■ .u- .w* V'..:, - v j n A girl or Romanis pan ted ,to assist; with j.hbusewogk- in.,, a* private • family. . f The' official ’opening of the local bowling green, will take place to-mor-row afternoon at 2 o’clock, provided the weather is suitable.’

The Taihapc. Tennis Club’s courts will be officially opened to-morrow afternoon, when., members, intending members and :friends are cordially ; invited to be present..

Sir Joseph Ward says there are at the present time quite '25,000 wives waiting at ports of departure in England*''|bf’.transports ’to take them back to theif various ‘' J 'homes in Britain Overseas. "" ’•

§ir OErLs . Geddes, - the ■ ■ British.; Shipping Controller, •.now in America, is anythng but :an optimist,.;as during, an interview lie stated people should, not be deluded by topes of an early peace, but prepare for two years more war.

In the latest casualty list issued by the Defence Department yesterday appears the names of D. R. Larsen, TaiKape; F. W. ißowers, Taihape; H. Pritchard, Mangaweka; all three wounded.

The Court of Inquiry into the loss of the Wimmera, which was sunk by a mine, has concluded its sittings. The court finds that the loss of the ship was due to the neglect of the captain to take the precautions indicated by the Admiralty.

Ratepayers in the Upper Wangaehu Riding are notified by advertisement that the general and special rates levied by the Wanganui County Couniil over the late Wangaehu Road Board district are now payable to the Rangitikei County Council Office, High Street, Marton.

During the annual conference held in Wellington the National Executive of the Freezers ’ Union, representing all men in freezing and allied trades from Whangarei tO’ Bluff, passed the following motions: “That in the opinion of the National Executive workers should not be sent into camp and their places taken by Australians.” “That this executive is confident that in view of the limited storage space available there tare ample men available to carry on the work without bringing men from Australia."

“The pay and allowances in New Zealand for married soldiers, ’ ’ says the Australasian, “on the present scale are more liberal than those of any other part of the Empire. For instance, a private soldier with a wife and two children receives in Great Britain £1 11s per--week, in Australia £3 2s sd, and id. New Zealand £3 17s. In Canada the weekly pay is £2 I2s lid which is not increased, no matter how many children the soldier may have. It is obvious that the wife of a New Zealand soldier with two children, under this scale of pay and allowance, is much bdtter off than the wife of an ordinary working man in civil life. ’ ’

Eeferring to the peace terms, General Pan said that no armistice was possible which did not include as a prior condition the evacuation of invaded territory and Alsace-Lorraine. The enemy must cede the Allies the left bank of the Ehine and let them hold the bridges across. In addition, she must cede temporarily as a guarantee the port of Hamburg.

Parcels for Netf" Zealand soldiers serving in Imperial units, that is to say, not in the New Zealand Expeditionary Forces, or for Now Zealand sailors in the Imperial Navy, may be posted to the care of the High Commissioner, who will see that they are sent forward to destination attending to any Customs requirements. The difference already announced stands: Parcels for New Zealand soldiers in the New Zealand Expeditionary Forces do not resnire Custom declarations, the others do.

Premier Massey, in an interview given to the Standard recently, said: There could be no doubt that the war would end with a Peace Conference which would go into the question of indemnities, and which would decide the ultimate fate of the German colonies, but that there "would be no mercy shown the murderers of the crews and passengers and non-combat-ant ships was absolutely certain. Even handed justice must be meted out to them, and none of the Allies could possibly be satisfied with less.

The 3 Public Works Department is to run a special race train once more to a race meeting, which happens to eventuate in the electorate of the Hon; W. H, Herries, Minister of Railway. “Whalebone” wants to know why the Public Works Department is not trying to help “win the war” equally as well as the Railway Department, which is helping to win the war by refusing to allow the regular trains to stop at the usual stations on the days a race meeting is taking place anywhere nea'r 'these stations.

The town of Douai, which the cables mention as being surrounded by the British, contains - ar. university, which was established in 1562, and a college.; for education of Roman Catholic-'priests,-founded in 1568. The Douayi Bible, tho English Roman Catholic, version of the -Scriptures, which was; prepared -partly -at .Bheims in and partly in Douai- in 1609-10. takes its name ftorn-the'.;town. .Also, Douai is noted for its-fine-arsenal and cannon foundry. Before the war it had a population of about 30,000.

The scarcity of medical men in Wellington' ,and the consequent pressure- of work on those remaining, were mentioned during an inquest last week. A witness stated that on Tuesday night last ho and a sergeant of police spent over three-quartets of an hour “ringing up all the doctors in Wellington befoi’o they got one.” these days of the shortage of doctors, ” commented the coroner, Mr W.'G.' RiddellpS.M. “if is well known that when accidents happen it is rather hard - to get a medical 'man as quickly as'one would'like, but I.do not see how it can be helped.”

An officer ■ who : has returned .from Egypt expressed himself as greatly im j pressed by the fertility of the land over which the New Zealand mounted troops are now fighting. As soon as they left the desert, he said, they got into a rich ehneolafe-coloured sob, the fertility of -which was manifested by the magnificent* crops of maize which it produced. The British military authorities were so impressed with it that they decided to put down 60,000 acres of the conquered country near Gaza in wheat. A competent staff was appointed for the project, ploughs, in large numbers were secured, and the work was well in hand when the officer referred to left for New Zealand.