LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 161, 14 December 1914, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The annual boxing championships in 1 connection with the Isoys' High School 1 will be contested at the school gym- I nasium to-hight, comencing at 7 o'clock. I The Orchestral Union concert fixed for ' Sunday night had to be postponed till next Sunday evening, pwlng to the inclement weather conditions. Killing operations continue to be satisfactory at the Patca Freezing Works, the j butchers having a busy time. The contractor has made a start with the erection of the new freezing chambers. The Borough Council desire to thank Mr Wm Mitchinson for valuable donation to the cemetery of 14 boxes of as- < sorted plants (value about £0). The South Taranaki Winter Show committee show a profit of £sl on this year's working, after writing off £IOO j from the plant. 1 The committee of the High School Old Boys' Association held an informal meeting on Saturday evening, Mr Austin Bewley presiding. It was decided that owing to the war the annual re-union of Old Boys would not be held this year. A meeting of the Association will shortly bo called with a. view of making representations on the matter of the fresh appointment to the fcoard, as Mr EyreKenny is understood to be resigning. Cr Smith has given notice to move the following resolution at the Borougli Council meeting this evening: "That the resolution passed by the Council on the 9th November, 1914, instructing the Borough solicitors to proceed with the , action against Messrs Sole Bros for removing malodorous oyster shells in their meat waggon be rescinded and that the Borough solicitors be now instructed to discontinue such action upon payment , of all costs by the defendants," r As a rule, mushrooms do not make ' their appearance until February or \ • March, but they are now being gathered J . in Hawera in fair quantities. As this . species of fungi is supposed to spring k after a spell of hot weather, followed by rain, and as we have not, so far, had I ■ weather of this kind, it would be inter-1 • esting to learn what has produced the ] . heat in the ground to cause the mush- j . rooms to appear some months before I their usual time.—Star. > During the neat ot the last session of j " Parliament, Mr Atmore, member for Neli son, declared that Mr Fisher, at the com- . ing elections, WQuld bo served by his constituents with' a writ of ejection. ' Yesterday Mr Fisher remembered this 1 prophetic pronouncement, and telegraphn ed Mr Atmore as follows: "Writ of ejec- . tion received last night, apparently prepared in duplicate. Understood you re- ' 'ceived the other copy." Mr.Atmore, ap- ' parently, is not in .a jocular mood, for o\ no reply has yet come to hand.— j Dominion. !1 . - . - . _ 0 The Ngamotu Foreshore Committee have the arrangements well in hand for • their initial monster picnic to be held 3, on the Moturoa breakwater beach on . New Year's Day. A very lively inter - est is being displayed by the country schools ill nominating a team for the 0 Marathon school squad race. The challenge cup is of handsome design and will . shortly be displayed in ono of the windows for public inspction. In addition each boy of the winning squad will be Y presented with a silver medal. Entries e close on the 19th instant, and we hope f to see the event well competed for. The 4.25 train has been delayed, and trains will lcavcthe Breakwater at 0.5 p.m. and « 6.35 p.m.. d About forty members of the New Plymouth Defence Rifle Club participat- '" ed in the route march which eventuated, I- at short notice, parly yesterday morning, ■e Captain McDiarmid and Lieutenant ,f Crutch were in charge of the company, , which left the Drill Hall about 7.15 a.m. -' and marched via Moturoa, Spotswood y and Westown back to the Coronation h Hall. The company was met at the j. Hospital gates by the Citizens' Band, and played back to the hall. One and all n thoroughly enjoyed the outing which was 10 much improved by an agreeable surprise !0 in the shape of a cup of tea all round ;o which had been prepared by SergeantMajor Davies on the route, midway le between Spotswood and Westown. This :k route march will probably be the forele runner of many others. ,0 A statement by Mr Hawkins, Liberal 10 candidate for the Stratford seat, at his >f open-air meeting on Wednesday night, j. concerning the construction of a branch line from Kaponga, on the route of the b " Opunake railway, to Stratford, should le not be lost sight of by residents of y/ Stratford and district. After referring le to the fact that the Commissioners in w their report on the Opunake railway, strongly favoured the construction of a in Kaponga-Stratford branch in tho near :y future, Mr Hawkins stated that ho had j. the authority of the Liberal leader (Sir Joseph Ward) to make public the fact that should the party be returned to !*• tho Ministerial benches, one of the first y acts in their public works policy would a . be to push on the construction of this branch.—Post. !r There was more behind the taking of h Germany's Togoland and the Cameroons, ~ in Africa, than the mere acquisition of another bit of the enemy's earth. It was a matter of important policy. It appears that & few miles north of the railhead at Taktpame, at a"placc'callcd Kamina, there is situated the biggest wireless station in the world out of Europe. From ,it, communication could be kept up with Naeun, just outside Berlin, 3450 miles distant, with the other German wireless stations in the Cameroons ' and at Windhuk, and with German South-Africa, as well as Tabora in Ger- ' man East Africa, and with Palaos and !j the Caroline Islands. The big station at : l Kamina was, in fact, a receiving and l - distributing station for messages from j Berlin. Through it also German ships j in those waters could be warned, and I 5 Germany's Pacific cruisers instructed. By seizing it, Britain paralysed the I wireless heart of Germany in Africa. |

Some peculiar bequests contained in the will of a deceased Italian market gardener led to a. Supreme Court case at Nelson the other day. The estate was valued at £1207, and out of this modest sum the Italian had bequeathed £4OO for the erection of a handsome tombstone and railings over his own grave and that intended for his wife; £IOO to the local Koman Catholic Orphanage, £SO for the celebration of masses, £25 for a picnic for orphanage children (to be held as near his grave as possible) and £25 for the Roman Catholic funds in consideration of his body being allowed to remain in the church for a special period. His widow, who found that she possessed nothing beyond the income from £1207, sought the. aid of the Family Protection Act, and asked that a. bigger proportion of the estate be allotted to her. She stated that she had two daughters, one of whom had married and gone back to Italy, and neither of j the two would receive anything from the estate until after her death. The j Chief Justice expressed a wish to hear what the remaining daughter had to JlfcMlLasUiaiSMJhi -cane according. |