LOCAL AND GENERAL

Taihape Daily Times, Volume XI, Issue 3405, 9 February 1920, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Fashions in ladies’ dress in Japan have remained practically the same for 2500 years.

In Serbia, tbe husband is responsible not only for hisi wife, but for bis unmarried sisters.

Forty-four per cent, of the world’s doctors die heart disease, 20 per cent, of nervous ailments, 20 per cent, of morphine poison, and 7 per cent, of tuberculosis.

A London exchange says:—The lowest tender for printing the Peterborough. Corporation’s abstract accounts is 18/6 per folio. In 1918 the price was 8/, the previous year 4/3, and in pre-war days 3/6.

A witness before the Railway Wages Inquiry Board said that a first mate in a Wakatipu vessel received £l3 10/ a month, or only 8d a day more than a deck-hand on the same vessel, and actually £1 a month less than the firemen on her.

In a note to the current issue of the Journal of Agriculture, the Government warns farmers as follows: Great care should be taken in buying paspalum seed at the present time, owing to the very inferior seed on the market. The New Zealand-grown seed of the .1919 season should on no account be sown unless its germination capacity has been ascertained. Australian seed seems fairly satisfactory.

It was alleged in tlie course of a slander action in tlie Supreme Court recently that a well-known South Taranaki farmer was in the habit of watching through field glasses to see if his men were -working properly. A former employee deposed that in the whare there was a photograph of boss bearing this inscription; “Beware of P with the glasses, and beware of Jim the Crawler."

The Canterbury Licensed Victuallers’ Association has decided, in consequence of the increased rates, imposed by the brewers, to raise the retail price of beer by Id all round, as from Monday next. Threepenny glasses, as dispensed in public bar, will thus become 4d. All ales in private bars will rise to 7d, and “square riggers’;’ and similar receptacles will be filled for 10d.

A new position of wool instructor has been created in the Department of Agriculture, to deal systematically with this side of sheep-fanning. Mr H. H. Chaplin has been appointed to the position, and is attached to the Live Stock Division, with head-quarters in Wellington. Mr Chaplin is well known in wool circles, having had a lengthy practical experience in all branches of sorting, classing, etc., at various large wool establishments and sheep stations in th e Dominion. He has also twice visited the United States for the special purpose of giving wool-classing demonstrations in the country.

In an editorial article on "The Meat Requisition,” Friday’s Wellington Post s'ays: “And, now. what of the future, with present disquieting reports of out-bulging stores and ships delayed in serving- as mere floating insulated chambers? Producers may well be anxious as to the market of 1921; but they may require reminding that it is not impossible that alarmist statements originate with interested parties, in order that such may be able to manipulate the market when the commandeer and all other controls ends. This is an aspect of the case that the bonafied producer of New Zealand must keep in view when considering the disposal of its meat in the 1920-21’ season.”

[ The formation of a farmers’s cooperative shipping company may be discussed at a conference of farmers’ co-operative societies and other organisations during the present year (says an exchange). A similar conference was held, shortly after the outbreak of the war, and it was then stated that a capital of £5,000,000 could be raised, and the Prime Minister was interviewed regarding the matter of a Government subsidy. Owing to the war the matter was indefinitely postponed, and latterly it has, continued to remain in abeyance, owing to the absence of information as to what action the Imperial Government intends to take in respect to the control of shipping.

What might have been a serious accident (says the Auckland Star) was narrowly averted in Queen Street on Thursday, through the heel coming off the shoes of a lady who was alighting from a tramcar with a baby in her arms. She fell heavily on the street, and the baby was saved from a similar fate by a well-known builder who managed to catch the little mite just before she reached the ground. When crossing the ferry to Devonport an elderly lady fell on the steps leading down to the cabin through one of the heels of her hoots coming off. When the boot was examined, it was found that the heel had been put on without nearly enough nails to keep it together.

An advertiser has a" lady's bike, in perfect ordey, that he wishes, to exchange for a babv*g brain.

Determined to keep right in the front as far as the convenience and comfort of patrons<»is concerned, the proprietress of the Carlton Luncheon and Tea Rooms has installed a large electric fan, which undoubtedly will be much appreciated during the hot summer weather. An Auckland resident has received from a friend who was at Klomdyke mining, a portion of the outward scale of the tusk of & mammal. This was found 30ft below the surface, and ! points to the fact that where now there I is snow and iee, the climate was warm enough to warrant the growth of mam- , rnoth mammals.

It is announced tliat Messrs F. Ward and Co., have been favoured with instructions by Dr R. J. Boyd, to sell the whole of his household furniture and effects. The sale is to take place on Saturday, February 28, and it is to be entirely without reserve, as Dr Boyd is leaving for England early in March. Full details ■will appear in a later issue.

In the Sydney Daily Telegraph of 23rd January last, appeared this news item: “The new retail rates for Australian manufactured tobacco came into force recently. Neither cigars, cigarettes, nor imported manufactured tobaccos ar e increased in price. : ’ This fact makes interesting reading for New Zealand smokers, who are now paying an extra three halfpence an ounce for tobacco.

Here’s r. suggestion for iQcal men. An Auckland bricklayer who got stuck for bricks to complete a small job went round to a few houses with the old-fashioned he'avy-toppejd chimneys l , and agreed to make them the latest straight bungalow type if he could have the remaining bricks. Several owners agro'ed to his proposal, land before long he had the 500 bricks required, and went to finish his job with a light heart. The old-fashioned broad-topped chimney was a glutton for swallowing .up ’bricks.

The ways of the Railway Department are often inexplicable, and its vagaries are often difficult to understand. A Sydney visitor to this country, when spending a few dayg in Wanganui, decided to take a run down to Wellington before going to Rotorua. So .she had her luggage checked to Marton, intending to pick it up on her return journey. Upon her arrival at the junction, she was surprised at not being able to obtain her luggage, and the inevitable search took place. One box was located at Auckland, and the other at Napier. A fairly good distribution, isn’t i‘>?

Inland bush settlers are anxiously looking forward to a continuance of the present hot weather for a period of at least ten days or a fortnight, to enable them to burn the fallen bush. There are some thousands of acres down between Eaetihi and the Wanganui Paver, as also above and inland of Eaetihi and Pipiriki. and if the weather continues fine, local residents may expect to see dense smoke inland within a week. There have been a few burns recently, "but most of them are poor. The usual burning season is from February Ist to the end of March, though efforts are frequently made to secure burns ibefotfe Chkistmas. Lucky are those settlers who thus succeeded.

The return of the estimated population of the Dominion of New Zealand on December 31st, 1919, shows the estimated population (exclusive of Maoris and residents of Cook and other Pacific Islands), males; 542,046, females 566,327, total 1,108,373. By excess of births over deaths 13,683, by excess of immigration over emigration including members of Expeditionary Forces) 42,352. estimated population (exclusive of Maoris and residents of Cook and other Pacific Islands) 1,164,408. Total estimated population of the Dominion on December 31st, 1919, males 621,393, females 605,588, total 1,226,981.. The Maoris total 49,776, while the population of Cook and other Pacific Islands is 12,797.

Speaking on Thursdey morning in. regard to the petrol situation, Mr Macchairman of the Board iof Trade, said that the position would be easier with the arrival of supplies by the Cyren'a. He advised applicants for benzine to apply to their regular suppliers, People, he said, had run away with the idea that the Board of Trade had a big stock on hand, 'and that they could get cases whenever they went for them. This was incorrect. The Board first of all satisfied themselves that all applicants were essential users, and then referred them to the oil company, who would Supply them with sufficient benzine to fcarry oh with. Arrangements had also been made to prevent people getting & re* pition of orders, and in future when people tried to get supplies* beyond their normal requirements, it might be necessary, as an example, to cut them out entirely.

Mr 6. L. Petersen, advance manager •for Wirth'e Circus, is at present in ' Taihape, making arrangements for & one night season, opening On Friday, February 27. ,- ~ ■ \ : i ('< According to Mr Beauchamp the shilling is now intrinscally worth from fifteen to sixteen pence, owing to the. high price of silver. The German mark has, however, fallen to one penny and a third.

The manner in which the returned soldier settlors of fulfilling their financial obligations was referred to by the Commissioner (Mr R. P. Greville) at the meeting of the North Auckland Land Board. He stdted that they were fulfilling their obligations in regard to the payment on their instalments in a very satisfactory way,, some of them not even waiting for the notice to pay. This showed conclusively that they were doing their best to fulfil their part of the bargain. In some eases hardship had been experienced as the result of the dry season, and several applications for assitance had been received from settlers on the Pakaraka estate. With regard to these the Board intended paying a visit to the North shortly,, and would include the estate in its itinerary. Each one would have to be treated on its merits. Bit settlers could be assured that when they were doing their best to win through, they would receive a sympathetic hearing from the Government.