LOCAL AND GENERAL

Taihape Daily Times, 22 August 1919, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Having about 40,000 new blankets on hand, the Defence Department is now disposing of them to the Public,

“It seems peculiar that a Woman in receipt of charitable aid should own a motor-car. I suppose :1 Chem? motol‘~ Car is about the most expensive thing in the world to run,” remarked Mr S. L. 'P. Free, S.M., in the Masterfon Court.

A black Orpington pallet in the egglaying competition at Christchurch, has laid 100 eggs in 108 days, thereby nearly equalling the world ’s record for consistcnt laying. The present wol'ld’s reco;-<1 of 100 eggs in 107 days was established by {L black Orpington pullett in an Australian egg-laying céxrmpc. tition. “

1 During -the hearing of 2: charge in‘ |Chl-istchurch against a man of havingr stolen two bicycles—on'c valued at £3 ‘and the othezr a.-t £ls——thc prosecuting }scrgc.ant said that 30 or 40 bicycles [were stolen in that city per week, and inot half of them were recovered.

The Cunard ‘Company has announced in the American Press that for the nlolnelit it does not intend to bung any more express mail steamers, but is going to concentrate on improved Franconius and Tuscanias, cargo and passenger steamers of 18,000 and 15,0-J0 tons gross, and about 18 knots speed.

The rather unusual sight of father and son playing in a Cup ffyotbau match was witnessed on Saturday at Patca. Onlookers were divided in their verdict as to whether the father or the son played the better game of the two, but some and ;all agreeid rtlna.t bath played s crliné football without any shadow of doubt. '

“_Yrou can’t, and never will, eradicate sport from the human race,” said ‘Sir James Carroll, at a. meeting of the Owners’ and ‘Breeders’ Association at Christchurch last Week. What has made the British nation but this sport. ing proclivities? How would We have scored in the great war had it not been ’for -our young people, who went out, thoroughly imbued with fine sporting spirit, ready to -give their lives for sportsmanship and duty? Sport does not demoralise mankind—-it elevates it.’ ’

The Prince of Wales. finds it a trial to keep a cheerful and docorous face beforeisome of the military digntaries he has to encounter. A Dominions’ General, for example, persists in addressing him always as “Prince”— “Yes, Prince. You see, Prince, it is this way, Prince.’ Apropos of which the heir to the throne complained gently to an intimate: “Prince, Prince, Prince. You’d think I was a. Newfoundland dog, and ought to wear a muZZle_

Added to the list of interesting, but: tardy war inventions is a so-called “earth torpedo,” of Canadian origin. It bores its subterranean way undetect ed towards the enemy lines, and 'l'hL.".‘ explodes with great force. The burrowing operation is hydraulic. The nose of the ‘torpedo is equipped with an ingenious boring nozzle, and takes with it a length of hose, which a pump in the trench supplies with water at 3001 b pressure. This part of the performance is silent. In a test, the device burrowed for 200 ft, and ‘then blasted out an excavation 20ft. ’-across. ' A meeting of the brethren of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force Masonic Association was held in the Masonic Hall, Dunedin, recently. There was a good attendance. The chair was occupied by R.W. Bro. ’Lieutenant-Colonel Geo_ Barclay, who explained the PW-pose of the meeting. It was decided to form a branch on the Association in Dunedin, and the following were elected the first officebearers. Chairman, Bro. the Rev. J. Bush-King; deputy chairman, W. Bro. W. B. ‘Anderson; hon. secretary, Bro. the Rev. A. Hardie; hon_ treasurer, Bro. J .11}. McKissock.

A Dutch daily, the Nieuws van den Dag, discussing the question as to what would become of landed prope-.-iy in Holland if the revolutionary wav-3 came that way, remarks: “So far as we can see, the agi-ax-Mll position would change Very little because‘ the vast estates of Prussia, Hungary, P-9-land and other countries of Central and eastern Europe are unknown here. Many think that Holland llumb’-21's seine thousands of great landed n:il- - proprietors, but this is a mistake. The total area avaiiablc for farming in Holland is 2,000,000 hee‘cares, of w}-I'-ct-. 1,200000 are p.<1~:..-ur-e and 800,000 arable land. This areavis dlvided up as follows: 100,000 farms of 1 to 5 hectares, 41,430 of 5 to 10, 30,281 of 10 to 20, 23,797 of 20 to 50, 3287 of 50 to 100, and 216 of 100 and over. So there are plenty of woll-to-do farniers, but for millionaires We 1"!‘-Uh": 100 k elsewhere.”

Speaking at a social evening tendered to him by the Wellington Bowling Centre, Dr John Rusk, of Belfast, Ixeland, an international bOWlC‘l' Of high repute, said that, generally speak--111%, a bowler was a man one COIJId trust, and he had found that New Zealand bowlers were no exception ‘ZO the rule. He would return to Ireland with the kindest feelings towards the New Zealand bowlers. They WOUld 110 was sure, do all they could to pl’o‘~’ol'V9 the splendid game in every I'€SD‘3Ct—SoC‘ ial, patriotic, health—gi"ill§; and in every other aspect—and that thOY would preserve the ancient game—— pure and noble and he might S33’ Em‘ pire-building——in every sense of the term. The English. had the Sam‘? 1701” 300 years, and then the Scotsmen took ma of it and perfected it, with the result that Scotland had carried Ofi the international games 11.0 105$ than nine times from 1903 to 1915, when they ceased. Dr Rusk gaV€ those Dresent some interesting details Of bOWl‘ ing and bowling greens at Home, and said he hoped to Welcome some New Zealand bowlers there ‘oefoxe long.

The following vessel will be W-thin

wireless range to—nigllt: Giessen.

An extraordinary strike, connected with the influenza. ’epidemie., was one which held up a British liner in the Pacific for two days. The Chinamen, who formed a large proportion of the crew, refused to sail until =the captain had shipped a cofiin for every celestial on board. Their argument was that the owners had contracted to §end {he bodies of any men who died on service straight back to China.——and in these days of influenza, one never knows!

Among those who recently returned to New Zealand from the W.--.r 2::-ne is it nephew of Mr Parkin, of ‘Foxton. Sergt. Parkin was one of the New 7ealand prisoners of War in G-evinauy. 130 with several other New Zealanders, was sent round Germany as 3, “war exhibit.” On one occasion Sergt. Parkin, with others, entered a. turnip field with the object of satisfying their craving for food. As :1 result Sergt. Parkin was brutally treated, and had his jaw broken with the butt of a rifle. The injured soldier is still under medical treatment.

The Rome newspaper Tribune points out that by a recent decision of the conference Italy will be entitled to confiscate private, as Well as public, property of enemies in Italy as compensa-. tion for damages susltainecl. Consequently the German and‘Austrian Embassies in the Palazzo Venezia, an-El Palazzo»,Cafi°:arelli, and Villa Valcon-l ieri at Frascati, the Villa. d’Este at Tivoli, a.nd similar properties will become Italian, and -the non—Catholic cemetery here, where «our countrymen lie, will cease to be controllecl by Germany.

A daring escape fnom a “Blaeki Maria” is reported by the Liverpool, police, three men gaining their freedom I in an extraordinary manner. A police-ll man on street duty saw a man’s head‘ protruding from the top of the back of theivan, which"‘Was travelling at a. good speed. He blew his whistle, and the vein stopped,’ and it Aw‘a"s discovered that arportiron of the ventilation aperture at the back ‘of the van had been broken suflieientlypito admit of a mani’s body passing‘ through. The car" proceeded to the prison, and-the prison ers being counted it Wes’ diseo’v.ere‘d that three men who had been remanded a-t the Police Court for ‘alleged housebreaking were missing. ' A

“The only word of dissent. that I propose to utter to Lord Jellieoe on this occasion,” said Sir Joseph Ward, at the recent treception in the Town Hall, is that he has left the most beau. tiful portion of this country out of his itinerary of New Zealand. Why has he not gone down and gone into Bluif Hui-bour——(laud laughter and applause) ~—beats me hollow. (Laughton) ‘lt has the most charming scenery about it; and great and tall as is the. reception they are going to get here or elsewhere it will be nothing to what they will get in that beautiful part of the world.” (-Laughter and appl,ause.)‘ He welcomed Lord and ‘Lady Jellicoe and the oflicers -and men of the New.Zealund once more, and wished them a. very happy time in this country. (Loud applause.) ' 'i - V

In spite of the stern ‘lessons that were burned into the mind of the community by the epidemic last year, it seems that some people are still ignorant of the facts about the spread of disease. (Remarks the Otago Daily Times). A Dunedin lady met a neighboul"s'little girl the other day, and on making the usual polite inquiries about the health of the family, learned that a sister had just been taken to the hospital suifering from diphtheria, “And where are you going with the bundle of papers?” the lady asked_ “Oh! I’nl just taking them round to sell at the store,” was the startling reply. It would be interesting to know if any lwves of bread were subse-qr“:-~.‘fl§.' Wrapped up in these papers from -3. infected house, but in any case, such ignorance at this time of day must be considered closely akin to crime.

The unwzritten law that fat is one of the special perquisites of the cook was condemned by Professor Worley, in the course of :1, lecture at Epsom Library (Auckland). “We have seen,” ,” he said, “that the value of fat. as a food is two and a-half times that of either carbo-hydrates or pnetein, yet ill many hotels and on most stearners, food is‘ s'erve(l with as much of the fat removed as possible. The travelling public are thus deprived of :1 very important constituent of food, 3. constituent important, not only for its food value, but also for its dietic value as .a. lubricant. No Wonder that we tire as we do of hotel or ship’s food, The reason for this is that -the fat, by ancient custom, is regarded as the cook’s perquisite.” He mentioned that a friend of his counted between 30 and 40 benzine tinsof fat being removed from the hospital ship -after one voyage during the war. That was -to be sold at the ruling price by the cook.