The Daily News. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 9, 1914. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 116, 9 October 1914, Page 4

The Daily News. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 9, 1914. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

After quoting ouwial ngures to prove the increasing oost of administration iii-dcr the present Government, Mir Hawkins at Stratford on Wednesday night replied to a suggestion or two from the audience to the effect that this increase haft been caused I>y tho strike and the small-pox epidemic. "Oh, ves," he said, with irony, "the strike *<;ost three millions, didn't it I Small-pox? There wasn't oao single case of genuine smallpox in the whole Dominion. The small-pox scare was engineered by the astute medicos, who found that they could get half-a-crown a time for squirting calf-juice into the arms of hundreds of people."

Although at the outbreak of tlie war a serious position threatened in Auckland in consequence of the dislocation of trade, oa every hand reports -ire now forthcoming that th c worst ijj over, and that trade is rapidly settling down ii.to normal channels (the btar states). Inquiries into the state of unemployment locally showed that although tlie number of men seeking work is etill in excess of that usually experienced at this time of the year, the army of uninrployed is steadily diminishing, At one time as- many as three hundred a week called at the local labor bureau in search of employment, *>ut it. is probable that this week the number will be reduced to two hundYcd. Darin;: the past two or three weeks the callers have been steadily depleted, and the opinion may now l>o safely hazarded that, with the opening up of the dairying industry his happy progress will be con- ' tinued during the next few weeks. At. all evente, the position gives complete satisfaction to those responsible for dealing with unemployment.

The murderer of <t3ic woman, Ffanecs Marshall, whose dead body was found at Auckland on Tuesday morning of last week, ha* not yet been arrested, and llhe tragic affair still remains a mystery. U'.e facts now in the hands of the investigating detectives, however, are being energetically worked upon. There being a complote absence of any pronounced clue, i.t has hitherto been very difficult for investigations to proceed j along ordinary lines. There is believed to bo a strong probability that the perpetrator of tho deed succeeded in leaving Auckland immediately after the ii urder. A strict watch is, however, being kept by the police upon all suspicious characters in tlie city.

"I left Kngland in March, so I did not see the country under war conditions," said Sir William Vestey, a prominent merchant of London, in conversation with a New Zealand Herald representative on Monday, "but. I do not think that there will be much <t:strtss. The great volume of British slipping is going on almost as usual, and British industries are not oeing interfered with. On thc other hand industry is almost completely paralysed on the Continent of Europe—particularly in Germany, Austria and Belgium. The I'rench ports are still open, bub a- great proportion of the French men aiM) engaged in tho war. The disorganisation of finance and commerce might tend to create unemployment in Britain, but this is counteracted by thc fact that a million men arc being taken into the Army. It will be a long and costly war," added Sir William, "but there is no doubt about its ultimate result. The Germans will not be easily beatenThey have lines of fortifications in their own country of a stronger and more permanent character than those out of which the Allies are now driving them."

The nonsense talked by intelligent Germans about the British dominion-) prior to tho war is illustrated in a striking way by a clipping sent by a correspondent. An " Anglo - German " wrote y> a British newspaper at tho end of June t# protest against the "illusion'' that tho British territories overseas were inhabited by "loyal and patriotic people, ever ready to honor the King, preserve thu ilag and fight for the Old Country." The repetition of '■old Victorian theories," ho said, waß "nauseating to one who has travelled those same colonies and searched a vain for tho mucli-vauntcd lavalty." "The aggressive disloyalty of Australia, under a Labor Government is beyond dispute," the sadly misled German proceeded. "South Africa is dominated by 1 the ever-growing Dutch, anti-British element; India is soothing with sedition; whilst Canada you may travel from tlie Atlantic to the Pacific without he.iring a word spoken fur Britain by a Canuck. This is not surprising. The Canuck is a polygot product. So are the majority of the colonists. Why not recognise them as such and leave fairy talcs about imaginary Imperial unity to be exploited by your egregious Mr Kipling in a new series of Jingo jingles?" Presrmubiy there was at least one surprised Angly- [ German in Britain forty-eight hours after the declaration of war.