LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 96, 18 September 1914, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

.A money order office under the m pices, of tiie New Zealand Government WM b f o6 " °P cne d at Apia, Samnoa. This - U facilitate the exchange of money swsbf* ™ d u ""

The Itev. J. I), Rmsse]) omanjsinw secretary for the Chureh of England k oo ' wiu arri ve in town this afternoon. He will (hold a service in St Mairj. s Church at 7.30 p.,w. and at &T Yj i ll ® ddres 3 i» St, Mary's • i i churchmen are most heartily less! ttUCnd WUI fo«w^ a V? rkin ® accourtt for ei in A ende . d f UgUBt 15th - P*bl*hbto l»«t night, alwws the follow mg figures,—Revenue. —North Island (1914) £ISS 3{U (1913) i'li'iqru. ftwUi Island, £127,784 and £ls®. totals, £283,088 and £2f>7,22J. j Iture.—'North Island (1014) £i a« »'Sirs *~W,b7O. The percentage c f , rp . venue expended to dat* i„ th P cm rent year is 74.56 in the North Island and G0.31 jj, the South Island tin* nfl™/. corresponding porand 7i e W year - Wer< - "spoeti'ely 72.0 and 71.li.—Press ssociation.

There is probably good ground for the Italian report that German iirms are w'+Wi ?? tlleir attention on Italy, with the object of preventing the cap. ture of the Italian trade by the British afT a JL OV w-!T 1 tnidu ma >' not be qui'# at a standstill, because it may be earned on to a small extent in neutral blups from Dutch, Danish and Scandinavian ports, but the expense must render what th.-re is of it anything b:ii profitable, but, Britain, France and Kussia are closed to the Germans, shearing ofl a good half of their commerce, and in the circumstances there must be some tens of thousands of commercial travellers for German firms looking for business m (he few neutral European Countries open to them. (Probably in tiie matter of trade the United States may lose least but the new business transacted even in this case cannot make up for the markets lost through the war Britain, as well as the United States, will now be making strenuous elTorts to capture the trade lost by Germany iii South America, and it will be many a long dav before Germany will recover her position in that market. Considera- | tions of this kind help us to realise the , tremendous importance of the command of the sea routes.

There was a muster of 140 members ot the Defence Rifle Club at the Coronation Hall last night, when Major Fletcher put the men through musketry and manual drill. Members are reminded of target practice at the old Drill Hall this evening, when teams from each platoon will be chosen to compete. There will also ■be a pool target. As many members as possible are urged to attend, and those who possess pea rifles are requested to take them to the Hall.

Mr. Walter Brickett, who trained the British swimming teams for the Olympia Games of London and Stockholm, achieved a fine performance, when he easily succeeded in walking a mile, running a mile, cycling a mile, rowing a mile and swimming a mile, all within an hour. What makes the performance a particularly fine one is the faet that Mr. Brickett celebrated his forty-ninth birthday recently. His times worked out as follows:—Walking, lOmin 13sec; running, smin 39sec.; cycling, 3min 55sec.; rowing, Gmin Bsec.; swimming, lCmin 25 1-osec. The running and swimming were the most meritorious- sections of the journey.

One of the finest features of the mobilisation in England was the promptitude with which deserters from both services came forward to do their duty. All over the pountry men appeared at the police courts who had given themselves up to the police as deserters, and in every case they were complimented on their conduct and sent straight off to their depots. The occasional drunk and disorderly, too, was invariably discharged at once and sent off to his ship or regiment. But on the whole the mobilisation had teen remarkably sober. There were few cases of drunkenness and there was no rioting at all. The men went about their business as the nation is doing, without a symptom of flurry. The Canterbury Bee-keepers' Association met at the Trades Hall on Saturday afternoon to discuss proposals to amalgamate with the Taranaki Association, to form a co-operative company and to establish a depot to which shareholders could forward their honey, 4cwt. of honey to constitute one share, part of which would be deducted to pay off the interest in the company. It was stated .that one hundred and forty shares had already been applied form. In forming a distribution depot the company could control the price of honey in the producers' interests and also in the consumers' interests. After considerable discussion the proposal to form a company was rejected, but it was decided to amalgamate with the Taranaki Asociation and to form a branch of the New Zealand Honey Producers' Association. tl

was also decided to elect a-comjnittce of six to canvass the Canterbury province for members.

.Samoa, now held by the first New Zealand Expeditionary Force, has of late years produced considerable quantities of cocoa. The chief product is copra, of which something like 10,000 tons are annually exported, but cocoa and rubber haive been largely grown of recent years. A large number of Chinese coolies are at work on the plantations. They are engaged for terms of three years, but are at liberty to re-engage for an additional term if they so desire. Labor is also recruited from the Bismarck Archipelago, the Samoans themselves not being keen about plantation work or indenturing themselves to white employers. The chief trading concern of the group is the Deutsche Handels und Plantagen Gesellschaft, commonly spoken os as D.H. and P.G., or the "long-handle firm." This is a Hamburg firm. It maintained a largo fleet of vessels, and traded all over the (Pacific. It has branches throughout the Tongan Group, also in New Britain, and owns several big plantations, among them the Mulifanna Estate of 5000 acres, about 25 miles west of Apia, mostly under cocoanuts; ana the Vailele Estate of 2312 acres, lying some four miles from Apia; and several others in Upolu and Savaii.