LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taihape Daily Times, 19 April 1919, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

There will bo no publication of the "Taihape Daily Times" on Easter Monday.

America had the second largest allied army on the western front when the armistice was signed, according to General Peyton C. March, chief of staff. France stood first with 2,559,00 men. the United States second with 1,950,000 men, and England third with

1,718,000 men, including Portuguese

The following vessels will bo within' wireless range to-night: Maori, Mararoa, Pateena. Corintliic.

Mrs John Ballancc, relict of Now Zealandfs ibest Premier, 'is fgood health and was a passenger to Wangarnri ,on Tuesday,

The New Zealand Alliance and the National Efficiency League publicly thank all those who worked in their interests during the Referendum Campaign.

The editor of the Timaru Post was assaulted on the nighf of the licensing poll for expressing regret in public that the prohibition poll in Timaru was not larger. It is much safer to say these things in print.

A meeting of friends and supporter.; of Mr. A. J. Joblin for the Mayoralty is convened at the. Town Hali Supper Room on Tuesday evening next when organising plans to secure the return of Mr. Joblin will no set in train.

The curious circumstance has been pointed out that, while our soldiers have brought back wives from England and Scotland, from France, and some have even been known to marry Turkish girls, there is no known instance of an Anzac marrying a Belgian maid.

Ludendorff, the brains of the old German military machine, is declared to he living under the name of Ernest Lindstroem in Sweden, and posing as a Finnish councillor from the Berlin legislation. He speaks to no one but the man with whom he lives, but takes long walks daily in the woods. .

Conflicting estimates are given as to the date when the North Sea can be declared clear of mines., and in some quarters it is anticipated that the operation will be prolonged for five or six years. More optimistic prophets put the period at twelve months. The life of a mine is considerable, and .some of ours, laid down at the beginning of the war, were founa to be still active when recently taken up.

It is a curious fact, disclosed by the official abstract of rtalistics, remsffks the Taranaki News, that New Plymouth, the capital of the butter and cheese province, is o.ie of the dearest places in the Dominion for dairy produce. The index v. umber for the Dominion in February was 1442, while that for Now Plymouth was 1433. A year ago the Dominion number was 133?' an'd that lor '%*•* >' Plymouth: 1313.

During the absence of Mr. MaSsey and Sir Joseph "Ward there is inceascd work for the Ministers of the Crown who have temporarily divided up amongst them the portfolios of the two leaders. The Hon. Mr. MacDouald mentioned at New Plymouth that at present he is holding about 15 portfolios. lie said that at times it was very difficult to adjust all matters. For instance, tis of Agriculture he had to get the best possible price for the producers, while on the other hand, as president of the Board of Trade, h.~ had the task of keeping the cost of living down.

A high dive so daring as that made by two sailors on the American fullrigged ship Dunsyrc, bethed at the ucen's Wharf, Wellington, on Tuesday is worthy of note. An argument about swimming and diving had reached such lengths that one of the seamen of the vessel challenged, his opponent to an unusually high dive, the wager to be 25 dollars (£5). It was taken up with alacrity, and, the man mounted the rigging and climbed out on to the foreyard arm, over 80 feet above the water. Fully clothed and wearing dungarees, the sailor took the water in fine style, and was soon on deck none the worse for his effort. The second party to the wager supported his claim to the full, and the argument was amicably settled without the passing of money. The carrying out of the wager was watched by a large number of wharf workers in the vicinity at the time.