LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 97, 19 September 1914, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Co.'s Opunake horse fair is to be held to-day, not next Saturday, as previously advertised. A meeting of the Taranaki Agricultural and Pastoral Society's committee will bo hold at the secretary's ofiice, New Plymouth, on Tuesday next, at 8 p.m. The Wellington Furniture Maker?' Union has decided to ihold an exhibition showing the difference between good Sind eihoddy work; also showing reasonable prices. A. census of stock, taken on December 31 last year, showed that on that date France had 1,230,700 liorses, 10,. 213,030 sheep, 14,087,380 head of cattle, and 7,047,750 pigs. A visitor to recent spring flower shows states that New Plymouth exhibitors can with advantage take a leaf out of the book of Mr E. A. Osmond, of Stratford, whose magnificent display at the Stratford show last year had a uiack background, throwing the blooms into bold relief.

I Auckland witnessed an interesting prtocession when twenty-two military wagons left the premises of the build'ers. On tho foremost waggon waa the announcement, "Twenty-two military wagons made by Auckland coaohbuilders in ten days." Twelve carriage building firms co-operated in thia notable feat of producing in so short a time vehicles to the exact standard of the Woolwich requirements. At the last meeting of the Ilawera Hospital Board, a letter was received from tlio secretary of the Loyal Ka- ) ponga Lodge of Oddfellows, stating that with other lodges they intended holding a church parade in October, and taking up a collection in aid of a cot for the children's ward in tho hospital. In asking for permission to make the canvass, the Lodgo wished to know if tlie Board would allow the cot to be named the Kaponga cot. The Board was distinctly favorable to the suggestion. A platoon shooting competition was held by the Defence Rifle Club in the old ' Drill Hall last night. The conditions were seven shots (all to count) at head and shoulder service target, distance about 25 yards. Pour platoons, comprising 7'9 men, entered, and the competition wag won by No. 4 platoon (West End), with an average of 24. No. 2 (Fitzroy) was second, with an average of 21, and No. 3 (Westown and Carrington Road) third with 19'/i. No. 1 (Central) averaged 18. The highest scores were notched by Crombie, Evans and Oliver, 34, all of whom belonged to No. 4 squad. Some of the competitors failed to find the target.

The total births for August in the four chief cities and their suburban boroughs amounted to C 29, against 601 in July—an increase of 28. The deaths in August were 291—a decrease of 13 as compared with the previous month. Of the total deaths, males contributed 152, females 139. Fifty-nine of the death* were of children under five years of age, being 20.27 per cent, of tho whole number; 47 of these were under one year of age. There were 100 deaths of persons of sixty-five years and upwards in the four chief cities and their suburban boroughs, as against 114 in July. Says the Stratford Post: A good deal of activity was noticeable about the police force; on Thunsday afternoon, and people in Broadway wero soon aware that eoinebhimg out of tho ordinary was afoot. Something of a sensation was caused when it became known that Arch W. Rawles, the Broadway draper, had teen taken into custody by the police on charges of theft. He appeared at the Court yesterday morning, before Mr. G. iW. K. Kenriek, S.M., and was charged with having on or about June 22nd stolen a motor car tyre and a motor car tube valued at £7 17s, the property of Mr. Newton King. Constable Bloosel said there was a number of other charges against accused, involving an amount much higher than that lepresented by tho charge now before, tho court. The S.M. fixed bail at sell £IOO and two sureties of £SO, and accused waa remaaded till next Friday.

Tho battle line of the British-French Allies in the present war extends over 250 miles, a much greater front than has over before been extended in tho history was (according to Professor Ely, at Mukden in the Russo-Japanese wa"r, when 300,000 men were extended over 80 miles, was considered something unusual, and had never beforo been equalled. The conditions under which the present war is being conducted in France lend themselves to extensive lines of battle, and we even hear of the present front being further extended. The battle front in some of tho big wars of

last century pale into • insignificance when compared with those of to-day. For instance, at Diamond Hill, during tho Boer war, the British front, which included 16,000 men, extended for twenty odd miles. At Gravelotte, in the FrancoPrussian war, the 180,000 Germans engaged attacked on a front of barely twelve miles, while at Waterloo the British and French fronts covered less than two mlies. The Russian line in the " present war is probably longer than that of the Franco-British front.

On being questioned on Thursday evening regarding the probable length of the session, the Prime Minister uaid that it wag rather too aarly to aak ihiu question "There is no sign yet of the mission coming to an end," he said, "We have our work; to do, and no intend to 4o it."

Milk supply has bee* a snibject of discussion at numerous uveetJngs ol ttie Wellington; Hospital Board, and some time ago it was decided that the board should consider the question of arranging its own supply and the practiea'buity of purchasing its own dairy furiu. The matter was carried a, step'further on Thunsday, when the board decided that tenders be invited without further delay for a suitable property /or, the establishment of a dairy f»wa for the Hospital milk supply. A story of how a girl's simplicity was alleged to have been imposed upon by an unscrupulous married man was related in the Hamilton Magistrate's Court in an affiliation case. The defendant failed to put in an appearance. Plaintiff stated that when she first met defendant she was engaged to be married, and with tho purported view of assisting the marriage defendant wrote her out a cheque for £250. This he subsequently obtained from her again, promising her a cheque for a larger sum. Later on he made her a present of a dressing-case, which he told her contained a seal coat and £IOOO in notes. He instructed her not to open the case until instructed to do so by him. Having thus won the girl's confidence, intimacy followed, and after waiting a month without hearing anything from him, she obtained a key and opened the easo in the presence of her mother. To her disgust all they found was a bnndls of newspapers, several empty beer bottles, and an old pair of trousers. The great mistake in American history was (according to Professor Ely, of Winconsin), the bestowal of the vote on the negroes when they were granted their freedom. At that time the negroes were not educated sufficiently to exercise the vote, and an extraordinary position was created by the fact that the vote was taken from a numDcr of white people for participating in the rebellion. There was actually the possibility of the white people in some States being dominated by an inferior race, and this led to all sorts of subterfuges being resorted to, in order to prevent the negroes from using their votes. On one occasion a circus was touring in one of the States prior to tho election, and the authorities arranged with the proprietor to accept.certificates of registration in lieu of tickets of admission. These certificates were what the negroes had to.produce when recording their votes. In that particular state very few negroes exercised the vote at the election following the circus.

Among idte smaller towns of Mew Zealand, which responded to the call of the Empire foT men and money there was perhaps none more patriotic than Huntly, says tibo Auckland Ktar. On the .wry day of the disaster in RaJpnte mine an auction sale wag to have been held of gifts which had bees made for the benefit of the Patriotic Fund, and on tiho evening of tihe day of the second sad funeral a patriotic concert was to have taken place. At a. subsequent meeting_ of the Patriotic Oommiittec it was decided to elotaie the fund with a sum of £336 in hand, and start another fund for the relief of local distress. Since then, however, a letter has been received from the Mayor of Auckland (Mr. C J. Parr) asking that instead of sending on this money for uhe Patriotic Fund the committee BhouH retain* it for the purpose iaf relieving local distress. Needless to state, this thoughtfuil action has been much appreciated in Huntly. Generous contributions are 'being received from all parts of *he Dominion, together with numerous messages of sympathy.

/ The press representatives* to wihose lot [ it fell to record Professor Dixon's lecI ture in the Town Hall on "Explosions" , lad several uneasy moments, says the New Zealand Times. They were "seated almost right under the experimenting table, and the nonchalant manner in which the professor burnt cordite and ' gun cotton, though it irfused confidence, could not be imitated. "In performing this experiment once," said the professor, with a kindly beam at the pressmen, "the jar burst into fragments quite unexpectedly"—thii was in reference to a gas explosion. A soda-water bottle containing oxygen and hydrogen, and wrapped round with a cloth in case it burst, exploded very convincingly, and picrid acid was shown burning merrily. "We will now," said the professor, "drop oxide of lead on to the hot picric acid. This may be a very large explosion, and I will stand back a little." The pressmen thought of the Upper Hutt and other tragedies, but sat tight, and the loud explosion did no more than cause a lady member of the audience to emit a startled "Oh!" Later on in the evening another explosion reduced a glass tube (surrounded by wire mesh for safety's sake), to an almost I invisible dust.

A most confident view as to Germanv's prospects in the event of war was expressed by Admiral Brcusing, a prominent member of tho German Navy League, in the course of a lecture delivered at Stuttgart a few months ago. So far, the admiral's prophecy has proved to be very inaccurate. "When war comes, Germany's position will be very favorable," he said. "Our destroyer and torpedo craft cannot fail to eause tremendous damage to the British ships, for we are used to night attacks. Further tho enemy will have great difficulties to provide themselves with ammunition, while we shall have ours on hand. The moment will then come when many British ships, being destroyed by our guns, many otheTs detained in f.irdistant seas by the protection of British trade, the two fleets will be equal in numbers. From that moment I Oan confidently that the advantage will be on our side. Our torpedo boats, our guns, our shooting, are far superior to what is done in England at present. Our guns can do terrific harm at 10 miles' distance, and the British fleet will be disabled even before they have attempted to fight us. Italy will have a double task. Her fleet will neutralise the French fleet in the Mediterranean, and her army will invade Egypt, The Italian fleet will be able to keep the French fleet under control, even without the assistance of the new Austrian Dreadnoughts. As to her army, she 'has some 100,000 men in Tripoli, which she can easily send to Egypt to exterminate the weak English garrison stationed there. Then Japan is only a make-belief friend and ally of England. The Mikado's Government is tired of England's proceedings, and only too anxious to shako off the British yoke. There is no doubt that, in ease of a European war, the Japanese fleet will sail to Australia, and seize both the Commonwealth and Now Zealand."

At Wliiteley Memorial Church to-mor-row evening the Rev. A. B. Ohappell's object will bo "Through Darkness ta Dawn." The anthem will be Woodvnrd's "The Radiant Morn," and Miss V. Gilbert will sing Wilfrid Sanderson's new song "Beyond the Dawn."

"(for chronic chesfi complaints, Woods' i'i*»*,i Pofperaißt Cure, Is M, 2» 6&

Awarding *» tt» AiSuMiu;. earrespondent of tha Kawent JBtar, Taraaaxi auiemberg took »*• cpjxwtuwty afforded by the Bd«eaii*a Jbttes/tw to wtrongly «0Bd«m» .ttka Tietoria College governors' proposal i» sAttJaa a jetrtio* of the revenue of| ta# Ofaloi Reserve for braidings, or otiher garanoeeg outside the eonditjonj of tin tiwtj, ejfaica speaify that the money jfluJl ke used lor the higher education of Tuwnaki thiiirem The Minister of Bdiacstioa said vi« matter would be conjEderei in the University Bill, and if aay proposal eame from Victoria College, fee would eweiuUy «• amino the trust deed which would ke observed. NotihaiMf woadd be doae without consulting the Taranaki •dutation authorities.

An exciting ineidbni took pJoee on board the German-Australia* lixev Aiastr*lia in Oolomibo on the nigbit ef August 29th, according to statements by passengers om tflie mail eteames Mooltan. An officer of the Australia Is said to tare attempted to descend tawards the holds, where tiere was a large amount of explosives. When a Punjrtbl guard requested bim not to de SO, the officer insisted ca going belaw, and pushed the guard oa one side. He was on his way down when tie PftnjaK fiTed and wounded himi The ieffleer is stated to have beta removed to i&e Hospital. Mr. M. A. Carr, of the firm oJ Messrs Mandel, Oarr and Co., wholesale jewellers, of Wellington, had an unpleasant experience in Germany, where ke was travelling when war was declared. Mr. Oarr, who recently arrived in London from Bentheim, Germany (near the Dutch frontier, where he was imprisoned for eighteen days, trtated t&at on 'Mb arrival at Berlin his passports were approved, but he was afterwards repeatedly taken from the train. At Bentheim he was thrown into a room 36 feet square with fifty Russians, French and English, and kept there for eighteen days in .frightful insanitary surroundings. Ultimately word was got through to the Foreign Office, per medium of an Englishwoman who was going to London, and Mr. Carr was released from his predicament. An Australian traveller (Mr. L. Alexander, of Perth, Western Australia) was also subjected to the same treatment.

Experiments were made with high velocity bullets some years ago. It was found that when the bullet struek with more than a certain velocity, its effect was out of all proportion more eevcre than at lower speeds, the result being often comparable to those that would follow the use of a Dum-dum or even of an explosive bullet. This was considered to be at least partly due to the fact that the bullet, acting as a wedge, drove the fleah apart so rapidly that the-displaced portions became themselves destructive to the surrounding tissues. Both French and German troops use pointed bullets, as distinguished from the round-nosed ones used by every other nation except the United States. The German rifle fires its bullet, which is jacketed with steel, coated with a copper-nickel alio}', at a muzzle velocity of 2882 ft. per second. Tho velocity of the French bullet is 2390 ft. per second, and of the British 8090 ft. per second. The result of the high veloitcy of the German bullet is that its trajectory is very low.

General the Hoiu Jacobus Hendrik De La Rey, M.L.C., who was shot by the Oape police owing to misapprehensions, was a member of the first Volksraad of the Transvaal. Ho commanded the Lwhtemburg (burghers during the Booth African Wax, and was one of the miost successful of the Boer giaerate. After the war lie went to England with Generals Botha and De Wet. His most, notable exploit during the war woe the eapture of General Mettocit He was born in 1848, iand was of Huguenot descent, though not a Frenchman. He was in fact, a Boer of Boers, and a fine type of the race which (has sprung from the intermingling of the Dutch and tine French refugees from religious persecution. Not hampered by enlightened views of life, and certainly not overburdened with secular knowledge, De 1* Rey was a 'born general The very fact that he was able for so long to avoid disastrous conflict with the British is la itself an evidence to his worth as ft soldier. Lord Methuen knew the country as well as any trained soldier can who 5-ad spent months in it; and for all that he «ould never force De La Key to a trial of »trength to which (he Bo*i leader was not minded. It is a curious eoincidence than on March 18, 1001, De La Key reported to Commandant General Botha that Lord Methuen had been doing his best to; free the prisoners at iWokrtaranstad, but that "he had not lhad luck yet." Just a year later, Lord Methuen had the strange "luck" of 'being caotured by the very man again** whom he had been pitted. Count Sternberg in his of the Boer War/' described De La Rey thus:—"He ww a big and dignified man, with a splendid profile and! ilia aristocratic hooked nioee. He had a long grey beaTd, which gave him the look rather oJ a prophet than a general. He had the reputation of being the ablest general in the southern army."