LOCAL AND GENERAL

Taihape Daily Times, 21 March 1919, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

A round gold brooch, bird set with pearls with turquoise drop from boa!;, is advertised for.

The British Government, is aiming at an output of 1000 now; cottages a day, a maximum of 300,000 in a year.

At the Tui Street mart to-morrow Messrs Ward and So. will sell six weaner pigs, fruit, onions, 80 tins of coffee and milTc, lamps, furniture and the usual collection of useful household articles.

It is stated ("says the Wairarapa Daily Times) that a charge of embezzlement is to be laid against a Mastorton bank clerk. The sum involved is said to run into four figures.

The Western Canad Labour Conference has decided to throw over tin proposal for the international affiliation of unions and .adopt the one big union scheme A referendum ,u ether parts of Canada will bo necessary before the change is adopted.

According to the latest figures of the Government Statistician (Mr Malcolm FrasLn-) it took £1 lis 7d during the final quarter of last year to purchase what could have been bought for £1 in 1913-14—a rise of over 50 per cent, in the cost of f ood, clothes and material generally.

"A large number of marriages are taking plactej which will considerably add to our difficulties in regard to shipping accommodation," writes Brigadier-General Richardson, Officer Commanding New Zealand troops in the United Kingdom, to 'Sir James Allen. "I estimate that about 2000 wives and families will hav,e to beturncd, and that marriages will continue up to the last draft."

A leading official iq connection tha National Woolgrowers* Association of America has recently stated that the total pre-war production of wool was 2,750,000,0001 b., or an average of 51b. per sheep, equal to 51b. for every white person in the world. It is estimated that, according to present rates of consumption, apart from military use, 01b. to 71b. is necessary for e:ach individual, so that there is every encouragement, for sheepgrowers to increase their flocks. The Department of Agriculture reports an increase of 15 per cent, in the number of sheep in the United States, ~and that the estimated production of wool for the present season win be •~. :"rtnnib.

The Remuera sailed from London for New Zealand last Saturday, March 15th.

The receipts in connection with the Mastcrton show totalled £33G6. and tho expenditure £3557.

Th'o following vessels will probably be within wireless range tonight: — Maori, Mararoa, Patecna, Zealandic, end War Opal.

Though a selection has not y.;t been made, it is the intention of the Labour Party to bring forward a candidate to contest' the Otaki seat at the general election at the end of the present year.

It would seem that people at Home are anticipating an early signing of the peace treaty, for R.W. Bro. A. S. Bankart has received a cable from the United Grand Lodge of England inviting him to attend the Peace Celebration in London as its guest from June 23rd to 30th.'

Tho practice of wearing beards had practically died out in England when Queen Victoria came to the thronie. But during the long winter siege of Sebastopol the British soldiers in the Crimea allowed their beards to grow, and on their return revived the fashion, which has never died out.

He was a mine-sweeper, and, home on leave, was feeling a bit groggy. Ho called to see a doctor, who examined him thoroughly. "You're troubled with your throat, you say?" said the doctor. "Aye, aye, sir," said the sailor. "Have you ever tried gargling it with salt and water?" asked the doctor. The minesweeper groaned. "I should say so," he said. "I've been torpedoed seven times."

A campaign for the utilisation of kitehen and table refuse has been inaugurated in the United States. Figures show that in one ton of garbage there is sufficient glycerine to make the explosive charge for fourteen 75milimetre shells, enough "fatty acid" to manufacture 851 b. of soap, fertiliser elements to grow eight bushels ,of v. : heat, and a score of other valuable materials essential in the manufacture of munitions.

The. vacant position of sexton for Hokitika drew ten applications, some of which, were couched in somewhat original terms. One wrote: —"I wish to have the position of sexton, and think I am entitled to the job, as I am as good a man as any of yon, and as for digging graves, well, I have dug a few at the time of the Dublin riots, and got them through, in quick time at that." Another stated that he was brought up in Hokitika and knew all about the cemetery and all the people in it.

A London correspondent states that the: advance of the New Zealand Division into Germany has had a peculiar effect on one of the activities of the New Zealand "War Contingent Association. For the past year or more the association has undertaken shopping in London for men at the front, and the orders handled by the branch have amounted to something like £l5O per week, x\s soon, however, as the division reached Cologne orders almost ceased. The men are now able to get all they want in German shops, and there is no further us. 1 at present, for the shopping branch of the War ConAssociation.

tingent

Europe's milk supply is now only about 35 per cent, of the normal. Approximately 25 per cent, of the daiiy herds of France are gone, and those remaining are much less productive because of scanty rationing. In the neutral countries—Denmark, Holland, Switzerland—the. conditions are better as to numbers, but poor feeding has had its bad results everywhere, even when, as in England, the numbers are scarcely depleted at all. Switzerland, for example, produced only two-thirds of its usual milk supply in 191 S, and the butter ration is 8:]- ounces per person per month, at a cost of 6s or 7s pier pound. The English ration was reduced to one ounce of butter per week, with four ounces of olco margarine.

Mr W. Ferguson, chairman of the ational Efficiency Board, states that the board is undertaking no big new work' It has completed nits iiquiry en education, and its report will be forwarded to the Government' in the course of a few days. It is also carrying on some inquiry work for the Defence Department. The board, in fact, is completing its task, and will before long cease to exist. In Auckland, Christchurch, Dunedin, and Wellington the Commissioners have either closed their offices entirely, or ~ are carrying on with reduced staffs until details are completed,. The repatriation work which was done by the board's local committees on: a n entirely voluntary basis has now devolved upon the local repatriation committees, on many of which there are members of the efficiency trustee boards.

The Big Summer Sale ends Saturday, February 22nd. White and striped flannellettes, 9/6 dozen Collinson & Gifford, Ltd.

lii connection with the forthcoming \ referendum ,on April 10th, Mr F. M. Rankin, a talented speaker from j Queensland, will speak at a big after- j noon Church Rally in the Presbyterian j l Hall, Taihape, on Snuday evening, j March 23, at 8.15. A treat is in s'ore j for those who attend. !

At a luecting of the Stationary Ki gine-drivers and Firemen's Union it was decided to ask the Arbitration Court to amend the present award in the direction of granting an increase of 2/6 per day. The application will be made under the legislation of last session, which gives the court power to review any award.