LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taihape Daily Times, 22 March 1919, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

In Palestine a. serious food shortage' has been averted, employment found for impoverished natives in the larger cities, and refuges opened for the homeless wanderers left in the path of war, -7'

A Masterton soldier writes: When wo marched through Cologne the people could not make out who we were. When we told them we were New Zealanders they were awfully disgusted, as they been told that we were all wiped out long ago.

The arrival of the Waihora at DunCdin with a cargo of gunnies (the first direct cargo to be landed in New Zealand for a long time) has had an effect on the price of sacks. To-day about 9d is the market price, and it is a falling one. Tho present quotations for new sacks in tho south arc Is 4d for 44-46 sacks an» Is 5d for 47-49 sacks. The Waihora; has arrived in good time for the requirements of the harvest.

The Referendum to be taken on Thursday, April 10. on the liquor question is the topic of the hour On pagse fi of this issub appears an interesting anuouneonicni regarding this question,

Madamoiselle Antonia Dolores, wno is giving a concert at the Town Han this evening, will by special requesi sing "The Skylark" and the "Marseillaise," The former will exhibit Madamoiselle Dolores' wonderful technique and vocal equipment, while tne latter number will show how a daughter of France can interpret the French National Anthem.

London Is becoming crazier and crazier about dancing. There is now not a hall to be hired, and even the parish hall is eagerly sought for. "I do not know of a single place you couSd hire during the next two months," an agent told an Evening News representative on January 22. Service men who have lost limbs are taking to the new dances. They find that even with an artificial leg it is possible to fox-trot and one step.

Attention is callcjd to the meeting to be held in the Presbyterian Hall to-morrow evening at 9.15 j.m., in the interests of the National Efficiency Kefendum Campaign. The speaker for the evening will be Mrs F. M. Rankin, who comes to us from Queensland with the hightst credentials as a journalist and platform speaker, and is described as charming, witty, and logical. None who ape called to exercise their vote on this important issue on April 10 should fail to hear her side of the question.

Though the bi,ddy-biddy, or burr, causes much, annoyance when it comes iu contact with one's clothes, there is no 'doubt about its valuable medicinal properties. A farmer informed a Levin Chlronicle representative this week that he knew of a case where fa herd cf 60 calves were badly attacked with scour, and all would probably have d7o)d but for treatment with biddybiddy. The plants were pulled and boiled and about half a pint was given to each calf, with a similar quantity of milk. All the calyes were saved but three. The plant is very wellknown to the Natives for its medicinal properties.

• In a painfully frank view of the situation a recent issue of the Munich Post says:—"Everything is being stolen today, and everybody is stealing. At Cologne, in the course of last week, an immense number of stoves and kitchen ranges, both new aujd old. were stolen, also telephone parts, canvas, and even false teeth, in large quantities. Hundreds of persons, armed with revolvers, arrived in the centre of the town day after day in vehicles of every sort. Entering shops and warehouses, they simply took what they fancied, driving away with their carts filled with spoil. At Rogensburg the Soiv,et seized a railway truck filled with furniture and household utensils which an officer at the western front had despatched to his family. Persian carpets and rugs to the value of more than £SOOO were confiscated at the house of a lieutenant at Breslau. The goods had been stolen by him from Roumania.