LOCAL AND GENERAL

Taihape Daily Times, Volume XI, Issue 3331, 8 November 1919, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

The Government tax paid by the Masterton Racing Club in connection with its last meeting amounted to £2335 16/2. ‘ Z

The Miners’ F€(l(}l‘Elt':’LOll -11.1.4 written to the mine owners’ offering to abandon the go—sloW policy, conditional on the owners granting a conference on wages within a fortnight.

It is characteristic of divorce proceedings nowadays that very few children are involved in the reshuffle of husbands and wives effected so simply by a stroke of his Honour’s pen. Four cases heard in Auckland on Thux-sda.y gave a total of thirty-two years? married life, and the only benefit to ‘the State was one child.

Answering a question by Dr Newman regarding the War Loan, Sir James Allen said yesterday that £IOO,OOO had come in since he announced ’the applications as eight millions. The 'J.‘reasury was now taking ‘action in conjunction with the Tax Department for the purpose of calling 1113011 people who had not subscribed to subsiribe under the compulsory clauses. 0

I “Has Mr Meldrum received his discharge; if so, why does -he cling to the General stunt?” was a qll9Stiol’l handed up to General IVleldr:ml at Wanganui East on 'l‘hur.<.-day night‘lll. reply, the candidate said he \vd"~ glad this question -had ‘been asked. As fiat matter of fact, hié proper designation was Brigadier-General Meldrum. ‘He was entitled to be so designated, ’ ‘as! he had won the rank on the battle3field, and had been placed on the re‘serve of ofiicers, with the rank Of Brigadier-General. However, in this contest he preferred to appear simply as Mr Me-ldrum. Arrangements have been completed for Jimmy Clabby, the well-known American boxer, to contest three matches in New Zealand, and he will shortly arrive from Sydney to fu‘-lii the engéigements entered into. His first contest will be at Hastings, where .11 will meet Jack Heeney, and he will lthen go to Auckland, and me-3'.“ the New Zealand heavy-weight cllanl:Jio7l, Albert Pooloy, under the auspices of the Northern Boxing Assoeia't':on This contest will take place towq_.r'l the (ml of November, the exact date not tet ‘ocing‘ definitely fixed. His third fight will be at‘VVellington,t lnrt details have yo’ to ‘be arranged. ' I‘ ’ ‘

It is reported that a resident of Tenui, W-airarapa, named Gibson, -has dl'aWll E Drize of ‘£lsoo in one of Tattersalls( sweeps.

The many friends of Mr B. P. Lethbridgc will be glad to learn that he is much better than he was a few days ago, though he is still confined to his bed,

Mr W. Meldrum, the Liberal candidate for the Rangitikc-i electorate, who openedlthe campaign at Eastown on Tliursday evening, will deliver a. political address in the Taihape Town Hall on Monday ne-xtq, commencing at 8 pm. On Tuesday he will speak at Utiku, in the Town Hall, and on \Vednesday evening he will speak in the schoolroom at Winiata.

“One of the greatest feats of legislation is to the credit of Sir Joseph VVard,” said Mr W. Meldrum, speaking at Wanganui East on Thursday night. The particular act referred to was the State Advances Act, which, the speakor said, was responsible for not less than 21 niillioils being advanced t 9 the people of the Dominion at the lowest rate of interest. 7

A peculiar point of in'cov‘mt to I':u-nl- - was mentioned by Mr J. W. Paynton, S.M., in the course of :1 judgment at the Magistrate’s Court Auckiauui on Thursday. He stated that :1 person is supposed not to allow damages to accumulate, and further, is 1-eguired to lessen them where possibin. Thus, if a bull breaks a gate or fr.-11¢.-=*,i the farmer wh osuffers is expected to repair it as soon as he can. He cannot sit down and let damages pile up through other ‘cattle COi'll‘i.ll§ thn)llg»§l the opening, and then claim from the owner of the bull all his losses; much of which was due to his own inactivity.

The most Conservative of politicians and opponents of State enterprise in shipping must now fall into line with the latest movement. For even the London Times has been converted into recognition of the foresight of Premier Hughes of Australia in securing a line of State-run steamships. The Times concludes an editorial article on the subject V_Vit_h” these signfiermt words: “It is undesirable, if not dangerous, for an island nation to be; com.pletel_y dependent on uncontrolled shipping accommodation.’ V Even Premier Massey should ‘be inipressed by this”-3rguxxlent,'for New Zealand is very much more at the mercy of the Shipping Ring than Australia.

The fees charged ‘by medical men were being discussed in the Magistrate’s Court at Wellington on Thurs—clay dlll'lll.g"t'h€‘ hearing of a case, and it was alleged that the incomes of some doctors were princely. It was suggested that the plaintiff in the case was receiving as much as £SOOO per yeai-. The medico laughed and said: “it is not so. ‘A large proportion of our accounts _are not collected." “Why;’ queried the solicitor. “Be—causethey are not pressed for,” said the witness. V “What proportion of unpaid. accounts rendered would" there be?” was the next question. “VVell,” said the witness contemiglatively, “if a medical man gets‘ in fifty per cent. he will, I think, he sat.isfied.{’

A definition of the laiv‘ of assault was given by Mr Justice Herdman in the Supreme Court at Christchurch. His Honour said that in the old days it was usual to talk about assault and battery. The assault meant the lifting of the hand, ‘and the battery meant the actual striking of the blow. Therefore, if a man simply lifted his hand, that could be held to constitute assault. If a man had a revol\‘el' in his possession and pointed it at another that was an assault. 'l‘he Act referred to assault as the act of intentionally applying force to the- person of another, directly or indirectly, or attempting or threatening by any act or gesture ‘to apply such force to theperson of another.

Some fine feats of typewriting were pe1'fo1'111e(1 at Melbourne a few days ago by Mr H. S. Blaisdell, who has twice won the Wol'ld’s championship contests, and is on :3, visit to- Australia for the purpose of explaining‘ the nietliods used by the ch-mnpion operators in attaining speed and accuracy. Using an ordinary 'F:vpewl'ifer——not a special machine, as so many -are apt to ilnagine——Mr Illlaisdeidl gave a ngln4 ber of one-minute. demonstrations, first typing‘ .109 words of new nmiter, then 121 I\\'or(!.< whilst ‘Con\L(‘l's‘ing f'i'(‘el_\' with these aboufi him, and then ]?3 words of “contest” copy. In these tests (says the Argus) Mi‘ Blaisdell read the matter before him. but in the blimifolded exhibition the inatter was dictated, and he rec-orded 121 words in the minute_: whilsf iin }-trying-’ a mcmorised sentence he attained a speed of 202 words a minute. As a final eifort. and to Show the speed that man be obtained on the machine, he made 369 impressions. in 30 seconds, or an average of little over 12 impre.~:sions a second.

Ladies? Black Silk ‘Ankle Hose; spe-T cial’value 3/11 per .pair_ The Big Value House.——-Collinson and Gifford, Ltd. ’ . ,

The programme for the twenty-first annual sports meeting of ‘the Ta.ihAa.pe Club will'be found on page six; The progx-axxmlo consists of 29 events, for which the allotted px-izo—money amounts to £l9O.

The extent to which American motor cars are being inlpol2tcd'to the Dominion may be gauged from the fact that the «cargo steamer Be-llbuckle, which al'rivcd'fronl New York on Wednesday, is unloading over 100 cars in Auckland alone. The steamer also brought 18,000 cases of oil for that port.

The first_practice of children intending to take part in the ehildl:en’s plain and fancy dress ball, to be held on the 141211 inst... takes place in the Three Stars Theatre on Monday next, at 3.15 p.m. It is enline’llt’ly dosix-:leble that all children should attend the first practice as new dances and figures are to be rehearsed. ~

During the: year ending June 30 416 fires occurred in the Dominion, with a loss aggregating £151,153, as compared with £245,806 for the previous twelve months. The insured loss throughout the Dominion for the year ended December 31 amounted to £462,540. Of the 416 fires, thirteen were reported as due to incendiarism.°A source of danger from fire, lately arisen as an outcome of modern developments, is the domestic flat-iron heated by electricity, several fires having beeli ‘returned ras being pairsed through leaving the current switched on when the iron is not actually in use. As indicating the fury of the gale in some parts of Otago at. the close of last week, a Dunedin paper has been supplied with the following extract from Becks correspondent:—-On Friday it -blew a living gale here. It was terrible, but at lMatakanui they got it much worse. There was a funeral on. It left the house at“ 2 o’elock and reached the cemetery at 6, after a =terrible experience. The fury of=the gale was so terrible that at one time 12 men had to hang on to thehearse to keep it from being blown over. At another stage it held them up for an hour‘ and -a—qilarter. The sides of the hearse were sniashed in and two’ of the wheels broken. 7 The "-‘coflin ‘had to be put into a cart tofinish the j»<>urney.' _There are7‘gig's- and "traps on the road: side ,now_, wrecked by the gale- V

‘Among -the Written qu'es’tion's which" were handed up to Brigadier-General Meldrum, Liberal cahdidate_ for‘ ‘the Rangitikci seat, at his’ meeting’ at Wanganui East on Thursday Was‘ ‘the somewhat unusual one, ‘‘Are’ you in favour of hanging Bill Massey?,” In reply, the candidate said, “I am a political opponent of Mr Massey,‘but, at the same «time, I have known the Pl.'ime M'inistel" for a long Atifne, and he is :1 manlfor whom I have the very greatest respect. A manlwho has given 30 years of his life to the service of his country, as Mr Massey has done, ‘is deserving of something better than rilicule.” This manly ’tri‘but"e fo :1 political opponent was warnily‘a.p‘pl;luded by the audience. Bri4g’adie;"—G«.\lleral _;\leldrum explained that hal he 2~.r=_i’:ced this "question, which was the last 05 several others on the same slip of paper, he wouliirave 1-efused to an-.-;\V(-tr any of the questions asked by the Wl-it.er. ‘