LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume XI, Issue 3442, 23 March 1920, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

A mill owner at Raurimu advertises for “A slabby-—also a dry slabby!’ There seems to be a difference between one slabby and another. Some are wet and some -are dry. In the King Country they are mostly dl'Y!——Press.

A tender -has been accepted for excavnating the site and forming the road to the site of the Raetihi Public Hospital, Mr George Perfect, of Raetihi, being the successful tenderer for the work. The contract price for the work was £l7l, the engineers estimate being £156.

“No wonder it is a. diflicult matter to obtain boys for offices and for trades when a youth of 17 can earn £3 10/ a week in a baker’s shop,” remarked the Magistrate in the course of a Defence Department prosecution at the Wanganui Court on Monday morning The defendant said he was not apprenticed to the bakery trade.

‘ it so happens -that the salaries paid “to the headmasters of some of the largest State schols exceed that of some of the inspectors of education. The anomaly was pointed out to the Wellington branch of the Educational Institute the other evening by a member, and the chairman (Mr C. H. Haslain) agreed that it was not‘ fair that a. position with the -dignity of an inspector should carry a salary less than that of the highest teacher.

Mr Hopkins, manager of “The Dandies,” who show in the Town Hall tonight, arrived in Taihape to-day. In reply to a question, Mr Hopkins informed us that the tour had been nvarkedly sueeqssful, crowded houses and satisfied patrons being the rule. “The present. company,” remarked the manager, “is bdtter, brighter, and more entertaining than ever, and every performer is sure to please.” "As a parting shot the genial “Hop.” inrerjeeted, “Be sure you come along to-night; you’ll regret it if you don’t.” ,

“The difliculty in regard to profiteering is how to decide when a manut'a‘etul‘er or merchant. is ensuring himself against a rapid fall in prices at a time when he is holding big stocks, or when he is taking advantage of an extraordinary condition of affairs which puts the consumer in his path,” said Mr R. W. Dalton, British_’l‘rade Coinmissioner in New Zealand at Wellington on Monday. “Personally I am disposed to think that in most trades the possibilities of competition between individual firms is such as to make pi-oliteering, as the term is unLlel‘Stood. inadvisable.”

“When Constabulary duty’s to be done, 21 policeman’s lot is not 3 happy one.” With it sliglit vziriation of the Gilbel*tian strain, the above lines may be applied to the roudmen in one of the Kiwiteu ridings. The Councillor for this porrion of the county, in stressing the need for of‘feriug inducements to keep roadinen in the Council ’s cmploy, remarked that one man was engeged on :1 very dangerous section, where he carried his life in his l1aI1(ls, owing to the danger of in fall of ]):1]_):1 at any momenlt. “I would sooner worli down this end,” he said, “for 10/ a «lay, than up there for 12/.” Fancy :1. man carrying his life in his hands for a couple of bob :1 day!

Cable advice of a further increase in the price of cotton has been received by at Wellington firm of warehousemen from their London agent. Reporting upon the condition of the market at Home, the firm’s representative stated that probably the most important news in regard to cotton was that the Egyptian Government proposed -to put a new tax on‘ Egyptian cotton which would mean a rise of about ap penny per pound. Owing to the scarcity of good quality American cotton, he said, the demand had been driven into the Egyptian article, and it was estimated thiit the tax would mean to the Lancashire manufacturers in general an increased cost of a million pounds per annum.

An instance of the rise in land values in the op__unake district; is given. in a South Taranaki p'§’per. It is sta‘fec'( that in ‘September last an acre section was on the market at £llO. To-day the same section is again on‘ the market. for £lB5.

e The following vessels will be within wireless range for 23rd March:——— Radio Awanui: Navua, Mokoia, Rakanoa; Radio Auckland: Riverina, ‘Arahura, Monowai, Mokoia, Kaitangata, Rakanoa;;; Radio Chathams: Megantic, Lo-raine; Radio Wellington: Nil; Radio Awarua: Masula, Kaiapoi, Wanaka, Kauri, Te Anau, ,VVaipol-i.

The Government ’s new forest policy will be given ofl‘ect to shortly on the West Coast, when the itimber lands will be gazetted as State forests. Thereafter -the Department will control the letting of areas to sawmillers, =and will decide which areas are, through comparative unfitness for se’ftlement, to be devoted to reafl’orestation.

Thirty -thousand. spectators at a “Wild Wesit” show in the agricultural grounds at Sydney last week witnessed one of the Wildest shows imaginable. During a, buckjumping exhibition an Indian struck 2a boy. The Crowd resented this and surged into the inclosure, and badly mauled the Indian, who released some bulls among the mob. One man was gored and many others slightly injured before the police gained control.

Some of the settlers in the dist.-ict" N between Rotorua and Ta rpo have pre[pared a petition for Parlimne, 1t asking for the construction of a nfilway to Fcenrect. the two places. Jfhey state that about 2,000,000 acres won-. 1 be 1 be;-efited by the line, and pr)pO:e' t} at‘ jthiv zu'ea—lands within '3O milzs of ‘the I'ailway—should be deciaroai a rating area, Crown, Euroo:a.l_. end ;r.2‘-tfve lands rated to the ext.-It. of ‘one shilling an acre, as '.t -:oJ‘1'i1»u?'1on towards the cost of the pr:p=):erl railway, conditionally on the line being ing opened for trafiic on -:.«r _be3-Ire January 1, 1926, the rate to he payable in one sum on January 1, 1927.

Arran-gernents are being made in Great Britain" for increasing the nutput of a novel and ingenious form of packing crgftes or boxes, which require no nails, no screws, no hinges, and no wires. It is collapsible, and when put together is capable of holding any kind of merchandise. Rigidity is obtained by a system of irrter-ueicing parfs. A special method of sealiig the cases has been adopted to render The Work of the pilferer more difiiculf. An advantage in these days of (-.ong3.:tl_-d transport is that “returned empties” take only one-fifth of the spare occur_2ie(‘. Ly ‘rte non-collapsible oox.

V AS an indication of the upward tendency of land values, a Councillor at Kimbol‘:on on Saturday retailed the experience of a Umutoi soldier. On his departure to New Zealand he endeavoured to dispose of his farm at £ll per acre, but could not find a buyer, and in that respect was fortunate. Some little time after the soldier’s return from the war, he heard his neighbour wished ‘to sell out. an-l on asking the price was quoted £25 per acre. He gasped in surprise. but eventually came to—and ofl’ered £2O. Next day the neighbour quitted his holding to a third party at‘ £25 10/.

Two members of the Wellington ‘Land Board, 9,cconlpanied by two officers of the Department, have comjpleted inspection of soldier settle)ments between’ Raetihi and Taumarurnui and Wanganui River. They state ithat the majority of the farrns are in “bush country, and the men are battling gumely to vbring their holdings to profit. Several of the farms, which average 150 to 250 acres, are not burnt off yet, but others are in good grass and carrying excellent stock. Some of the men had not taken kindly to work after war, but the C-ommis-sioner gave every man a fighting char.-‘ ‘. and if a. man gave up it generally was his own fault. Ninety per cent of those who took up farms here have made good.

Mr F. M. B. Fisher, addressing a. meeting at Caxydifl’ Exchange, when it was decided to form »a branch of the Imperial Commercial Association, said his experience as :1 member of the Grovernment of New Zealand. where nationalisation had existed for -:0 years, made him feel that nationalisation would cefitainly doom Great Britain. They must combine forces to resist the attack on private enterprise. In zol‘d9l' to climb the Pukerua saddle near Plimmerton", on '§l‘.l‘J'.‘fl, the last train to Palmerston WES t:li\'ide:] at the bottom. When the engine returned for ‘the second section the impact with the carriages W.IS so severe ag tn cause injuries to se reml passengers. Mr Stanley Withers sustzmur-d cut», on the face, and Mr W. Sterl suflered severe shock. Both were taker: to Otaki Hospital. Mr Withers was discharged yesterday. but Mr Steel is still in hospital. Some or‘ the camr-‘ages were damaged, and the trz-in was delayed two heirs.

No more grinding of teeth with WADE ’S WORM FIGS

An elderly, thoroughly reliablehandy man is adyertising for work.

There is small consolation for the purchaser of almost any commodity these days, the rising of prices having in its perpetual movement an element of the ‘tragic. Sunlight Soap took a jump last week, 8/ a box being tacked on the former price, it being now 26/ a box aonfaining 18 bars. The rise is (*.\‘p('v{n(7 to touch £3O 3. ton in the next few weeks, making ‘the Wholesale price 9d per lb. English lines can-’ h:u'dly\be procured now. Good tea cannot be bought under 3/6 per lb. Then, again, saddle:-y" has taken a 25 per cent rise. Indian jute has increased 33 13 per cent over laet sea~ so11"s prices. And the householders want to know: Where will it end?

Much has been heard recently of ‘the money in hides, but the possibilities of the rabbit do not apear to be equally familiar to the public. It is reported that a returned soldier went out after rabbits in the Smith with several mates, and amassed :1 large quantity of skins of a. value estimated at £7OOO. With the fruits of their interprise the party came to the city and shipped the skins to London, covering them with insuranee to the value stated. The value was questioned at the time by the officials of the company, but they were quite satisfied a few months later when the rabbi’ters paid a return visit to the insurance ofiicc. and showed them the invoice for the sale of the skins in London for £22,000.