LOCAL AND GENERAL

Taihape Daily Times, 28 August 1919, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Foreward—Cribbage' to-night. Roll up. A blue and wiiite slut, having tancoloured jaws, Idst from Mataroa, is advertised for. The “rat centre” of the world is declsred to be London. Englnad. It has been estimated that the British metropolis has as many rats as human beings and that’s about 8,000,000.

Some of the dairy factories in the \Vail'al'apa, have commenced ODGTR’ tions for the season, and it is hoped that the butter shortage will soon be a thing of the past.

Some (3000 acres in the Te Awaifi block, near Martinborough, have been offered to the Government by Mr V. Riddiford for soldier settlement. It is understood that the Land Plll'Ch3SO B'oal'd will shortly inspect the p1'~0I)01'tYAccording to statistics Dllblfihed by the Berlin oVssiche zcitung, Germany lost during the war 198 submarines. This total includes SOVGII which were interned in foreign D°TtS: and 14 destroyed by their own crew.

There are 500:0O0 buildings to .be reconstructed in the devastated (11:triets of France, according to 2 statement given to the Ch3_m_b°r oi: Deputies, in Paris, by the Mmrster 01 Liberated Territories. Three hundre‘ thousand buildings were totatlly deetroyed and 200,000 were Pamauy dc”troyed.

A returned soldier employed by 3 firm in Christchurch recently made 39‘ plieation to the Canterbury Repatriation Board for -assistance to obtain a businesgs plant. When the mat-ter_ came before the Board, “the ‘CHairm:an of the Committee which dealt with the application, said that the man was earning £4 5/ per week with his present em~ ployers, and he wan-ted the plant ‘IO work in opposition to them. The Com. mittee saw no reason why ‘the 80935 should assist him to do this, -and in clonsequence haii Ideelined to recommend the application for ‘the BOBTd’S approval. _

I 9 , A Waggonette—buggy, 111 firs-’[-class I order, is advertised for sale.

Messrs White and Sons announce in anoiher column that they are now holding their -spring millinery show, dur. ing which there will be on View in their shop the lates‘ti creations of the mil. liner’s art.

According to the Ha.wkc’s Bay Tribune, Sir Andrew Russell has withdrawn from the HaWke’s Ba,y,seat be_ cause he finds Mr Hugh Campbeu agrees substantially with his views’ and Mr Campbell-has alfeady served the constituency. .

The reiwort of the directors of the New Zealand Dairy Association (Auckland) to be presented to the shareholders at the 19th annual meeting on Friday, states: The general trading aocount shows sales for the year of £1,338,972 and the agency of £1,883 making a total turnover of £1,380,055.

The Auckland District Repatriation Board has recommended or approved of no'fewer than 1000 applications for loans for the purpose of buying or establishing businesses. The sum involved in ‘these transactions is over £IOO,OOO. These figures are apart from the subsidiary activities of the Board, taking no account of the considerable ‘sum aadvancedc \fo;r the purchase ‘of furniture, and the cost of imparting special tuition and subsidising ~trainees._

An Assyrian paper, The Eagle, published in America, gives particulars -of remarkable work done by an Assyrian from Mount Lebanon. On -an egg he drew a map of Turkey, and wrote :on it 10,000 characters in ‘Turkey and Assyrian. For this he was offered £2OOO, but refused to part with his curio On a grain of wheat he Wrote 113 words in Arabic, and sold_it for £IOO, and on a grain of rice 31 words in Arabic.

The manner in which racin-g’clubs contribute to the public revenue‘ was referred to recently by the“ -'Hon..W. Alison, who presided‘a;t‘the*'a‘nnu'é a‘-. meeting ‘of the 'l‘aka'puna.“ ‘Jockey’ Club. Mr Alison‘ said that ‘the’: amount pa.id by the club to the Gove-rnment COlltl'ibll}lC to the“p‘u'bli"c revenue was £6sl2’9'*~lss.=Min-“a&a&i'ti'on; -‘£v499“i -7/8' xvag paid by the"clilb‘for local rates and lalld"6zix,;‘niakin'g’a total of £7029 2/8. This was just? £s2o’ 17/4 less than the amount 6f'”s"takc money paid by the club ‘dfiririg tl_l_e year. _

4'l‘-he termination of the shipping strike and the resultant divergence. of labour has brought. about some changes, and that it is no unmixed blessing to one business man in Wellington at least was demonstrated on Tuesday. At one popular restaurant, where male waiters are employed, the greater portion of the stafi yesterday suddenly relinquished work, with the avowed object of renewing their association with the shipson which they had been serving. The result was a crowded restaurant, worried ‘and_ perspiring proprietors, v;_aitil_lgV_ and _impatient patrons, and a skeleton staif a~ttelnpting——and, of course, failing—to do the imnossible.

“The only «thing I object to is the price,"-" remarked Mr S. G_ Smith, M.P., M.P., while speaking of 1110t.o1' cars in the course -of a speech at ’l'ataraimaka (Taranaki). The cost to people in this country would be lessened if definite steps were taken to deal with the matter, and he thought that New Zealand would yet be in a position to manufacture her own cars at a cheap price that would place them within the reach of everybody. To illustrate what sometimes took place, with regard -to prices, Mr Smith mentioned that some years ago it was found that sewing machines costing £2 15/ on importation were being sold for from £l2 to £l4.

Sir Auckland Geddes is not nearly so serious in private life as he looks when addressing public meetings and depu'l‘:l’rions. He is :1 wonderful singer of Scotch songs. He has a fine voice, and a good knoxfledge of music, and his Scotch accent is admirable. Some of his Scotch soldier songs would be worth a fortune on the musie—hall stage. I’ve heard that nothing pleases the Prime Minister better than to get Sir Auckland to sing after dinner, and very few popular entertainers could give a better performance. As -one of the Prime I\{inister’s ViSitol‘S I‘o!ll3l‘ked, “Sir Auckland is as good at singing as he is at recruiting, which is saying a good deal.”

An exceptionally large octopus was seen in one of the bays near Wellington the other day. A party of Wellington residents had sojourned at the seaside for a few days, and ventured out in :1 small boat. Something like a derelict bag floated past, and one of the occupants of" the boat struck it with the blade of“his oar_ Immediately the blade was grasped by a number of tenticles, and the astonished visitors saw a huge octopus make its unwelcome presence known. It was with difficult}? that -the devil-fish was got rid of, and it was not until the Octopus was. drawn close to the boat and its tentacles slashed and severed with kniqges, that it relinquished its hold. It is estimated that the tentacles were fully 6ft" long. _ _

u A portion of the Rarihakzx Block, in Taranaki, comprising 3136 acres, has been acquired by the Governmentifor a soldier settlement. The purchasing of this land has been a very complicated business. At one time Parihaka was worked as one block under two chiefs, To 'W'hiti and Tohu, but subsequently it was subdivided into over sixty sections, ranging from 36 acres to 200 acres. In many instances there is 2!. great multiplicity of interests in the sections, and all these part-owners had to ‘be consulted before the sale could be effected. _

Replying to a Post reporter, nhcv asked when the Tnrnbull Library would be open to the public the Hun. G. W. Russell said that a fun staff was now engaged in classifying, cataloguing, anddealing with the library, and this involved an eI1~’.)!'n1()1‘.s amount of work. "The more fie library is gone over, the greater is the evi.-3‘-encc obtained of the magnitude of the bequest which was made by the late Mr Turnbull to the nation_ It is‘ truly a magnificent collection, which will stand for all time as evidence of the enthusiasm and far-sightedness of the collector, as well as of his abounuing liberality in.making so great a presenta.tion.