LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 163, 16 December 1914, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The East End Hatliing Reserve Committee announces its grant annual beach picnic for New i'ear's Day. it promises to be bigger and better than ever.

Miss Nellie Stewart, supported by a strong dramatic company, will pay a visit to New Zealand early next year. The repertoire will consist of "Madame ilu Barry," "Dorothy o' the Hall." "Sweet Nell of Old Drury," and probably ~ne other play. New Plymouth will lie included in the itinerary.

A case which occupied the Stipendiary Maptrato for over four hours last week was based on a «l«i>m of ,€2!) 17s, made by a young Maori named Wild Kapo, a resident of the Mimi, against 11. H. Martin, settler h-JlTl W , llo -,i t WaS alle g«l'had contiacted to build a house for the Maori i for £32 10s, the latter to find the timber I and o her material. Though the work was started it was not completed, and the plaintiff asked that £l9 of the amount sued for be awarded him as damages in consequence. The other part of the claim was £7 for a buggy defendant allegedly purchased, and 37s ior shafts obtained for the vehicle. The defendant s evidence was that there was no contract, that he started the house work on day labor, and finding he was not being paid, he ceased operations, and took Ins tools away. As for the bugoy, plaintiff contended that though he spoke about the vehicle he made no agreement to purchase. The Magistrate reserved I his decision.—Mail.

A scarclrof the records indicates that Admiral Sturdce has been employed at the Admiralty, and his last sea-going command appears to have been the Shannon, as flagship of the Second Cruiser Squadron. This may be* some clue to .Ins present command (says a military critic) The Second Cruiser Squadron consists of the Shannon, Achilles, Cecilranee, and Natal.The last three are sisters, completed in 1907. The' Shannon was completed in 1808, and is a sister ot the Minotaur (which some time ago arrived m Wellington with the Ibuki to torm the convoy of our Expeditionary ■Force)., [The main armament of all these armoured cruisers is 9.2 in and 7.5 in guns. The Shannon (14,000 tons) has four 9 2 and ten 7.5. The Achilles type (13.000 tons) has six 9.2 and four 7.5. It will be seen that the Shannon, Achilles, Cochrane and Natal are, a much heavier combination than the Good Hope and Monmouth. Even one ship of this type, such as the Minotaur, would have made a big | difference in the Chilian battle.

Let me tell you of the dramatic death hunt of a German submarine off the coast of Scotland (writes the London correspondent of Sydney Sun under date October loth). A fortnight ago our destroyers caught a ship which was engaged in furnishing suppli. s—especially oil-fuel—to the German submersibles which had dared to sneak so far north. Apparently one of the enemy's wasps was not aware that its parent ship had been captured. It stple forward to the appointed meeting place, and it had not sullicient oil-fuel when it reached there to retrace its track back to Heligoland. It had to come to the surface for ob■servation purposes. It was seen two or three trates before it was finally marked down by a destroyer. The destroyer ■remained where the submarine had sunk, knowing that it must come to the surface again, and it wirelessed other British destroyers to hasten to the spot. The German submarine nestling on the bottom in the shallow sea, maybe thought that it had eluded our scouts. It lay there many hours, while above it circled several destroyers grimly waitin" for their At last the German submarine was compelled to rise, its periscope peeped above the water, its commander only had time to see the destruction which surrounded him, when there was a tremendous thunder of guns, and the submarine sank to rise no more.

Judging by the way the German prisoners from New Guinea are being treated (says the Sydney Daily Telegraph), if the captain of the Emden were to come here, no residence but Sir Gerald Strickland's or the Primate's would be considered worthy of him. The Minister of Defence explained that it is not true that these prisoners are being accommodated in expensive flats at Potts Point, and the best rooms in Sydney's leading hotels. But from what he admits, they arc being provided for on a scale entirely disproportionate to their condition and deserts. Why should it have been agreed, under the terms of capitulation, that "the higher (German) officials should receive threo months' salary"? Could they not be persuaded to surrender without that? And why "the higher officials?" Was it because the lower and plcbian sort had probably less to do with the importing of those jagged bayonets that smash the bones and break the rules of civilised warfare? Higher and lower, these men are simply prisoners, entitled to be treated humanely, and given reasonable, though simple accommodation, and no more. They are not honored guests of high degree.

One of the best cantines in Paris is organised and managed by the wife of a newspaper proprietor. This has for its object the care of the mothers of the next generation, and only women with young babies are eligible. The cantine is installed in the ancient precincts of drastic-ehangtfj. Staffs have been altered in are on a very large scale. A thoroughly nourishing and satisfying meal is served here every day in the week, and, wonderful to relate, no complaints are ever heard in the dining hall. There is even provision made here for the babies' tea, and from 3 to 4 in the afternoon you may see them with their bottles of good sweet milk. They are given a daily tub, at the Lycee, too, these babies, and that is a luxury not often offered to Parisian infants.

The trade of Germany in engineering and all that pertains to it was enormous millions of pounds worth of German goods being imported into England every year. The port of London authI ority recently cancelled an order to a [ German firm amounting to £250,000 for machinery, and many other contracts are being cancelled. British engineers are fully alive to the situation, while the Board of Thade have asked British firms to supply them with samples of German or Austrian goods that have competed with British products at Home or abroad, The Board of /Trade also proposes (o hold an exhibition of samples of this nature. The British Engineers' Association has pointed out that foreign firms, who have secured addresses i in Great Britain often use the word "British" as part of their title so that the real origin of their goods is obscured, and a large quantity of inferior goods is annually sold as "British," when as a matter of fact it is German or Austrian. An association has now been formed with the idea of assisting purchasers by giving them accurately the names and specialties of bona-fidc British manufactures.

Tlie imported turbot are thriving at the Portobello hatchery near Dunedin. When they arrived there about two years ago, these turbot were very small in size, but they took kindly to the new conditions, and many of them arc now Win. in length, and much thicker than flounders. A few died after arrival, but for the past eighteen months there has been no deaths. There are now 200 of them altogether, and they are doing well. t is intended to keep them in hatchery tanks for another .12 months. The curator considers they then will be fully capable of taking care of themselves in the inevitable struggle for tlie existj ence at tlie bottom of the sea.

At one of the polling booths on Thursday (says the Auckland Herald) a lady was noticed to walk up to the electoral box and drop'her paper in, but to ignore the box set aside for the licensing paperß. She was challenged by the deputy in charge as to the of these papers, but refused to give any information. (The deputy insisted, however, and at last she was induced to pro- : duce them from the depth of her umbrella. As the law is very stringent on the question of taking papers out of the booths, the lady in question took a decided risk, but 'what her object was can only be conjectured. Steady progress is being made with the installation of the automatic telephone service throughout New Zealand, The undertaking is a long and costly one but when completed will effect a great saving to the. Dominion, and ensure | greater efficiency in working. The Courtenay Place and Newtown stations, Wellington, are now partially complete. Another station is likely to be established at Kelburne. In time a new station for the automatic system will be biiilt at the back of the Government Buildings, between eatherston street and the proposed Stout Street extension. ' The automatic system will be extended over the whole country, and when finished will be found to be a great improvement upon the present system. Unfortunately, the war has seriously interfered with the delivery of plant necessary for the installations already decided upon. Private Thomas, of the Royal Marine Light Infantry, writing to his father, describes the conduct of Premier Asquith's son in the irenches at Antwerp, and says:—"lt was fine to see our boys lie in the trenches for eighty hours, cracking jokes amid the terrible hail of fire. Young Asquith, as daring as anybody, moved about, giving us a cheery word from time to time. Nothing ever seemed to tire him. He had one or two narrow shaves, but,* bless you, he never troubled about that. 'Wait and see was" his motto.' When the shells 'began to fly round, he looked as if he was not going to worry until one hit him. Officers like him make a lot of difference to men. There is not one of us who would not go through fire and water for him."

The Mercantile Gazette, in referring to the war, says:—"The New Zealand farmers, ami especially the wheatgrowers, have now the chance of their lives. Every acre that can he spared for the growth of wheat should bo sown as early as possible, and a large proportion of other cereals, such as oats, rye, and maize, would pay handsomely. Potatoes also seem likely to be in good demand. Eruope will want a vast amount of foodstuffs when the war is over, because, apart from the waste that is inevitable in war, the absence of tile agriculturists from their farms will stop all or most of the farm work, and, therefore, even if there is sufficient to carry on until the end of the year, there will be great scarcity in 191'5, for Europe will have had no harvest. Producing an increased amount of foodstuffs will be profitable, and, above all, it would be humanitarian work." ' , ■

There was a good muster of members of the Stratford Home Defence Rifle Club on 'Monday evening, thirty-two members being present. It. must be encouraging to the officers in charge to find such enthusiasm among the men. Already six men of the Corps Slave left for the front, and last evening the opportunity was taken to bid farewell to a (popular and enthusiastic member, Mr C. S. Kelly. Giipjtaiu 'McMillan, on behal,!! of, tlifc CoTps, presented Mr Kelly with a silver wristlet watch as a mark of the esteem in which he was held. Captain McMillan said their comrade was the envy of every member of the Corps that he could go to the fronh, Lieutenant 'Grey was also in attendance to wish Mr Kelly "good ludk." Hearty cheers were given, with the besti wishes of all. Two more members were elected to the Committee, Messrs iR. B. Andersen and T. Richardson, and it was decided to urge the Government to supply ammunition for more rifle shooting.— Post.

Residents of S'tratford and district may find food for hone of a new post office, saj-s the Post, in the following business which was transacted at the Stratford Borough Council (meeting on Monday evening:—"As the designs for the new post office are not yet complctcfcl, it is impossible at present to locate the precise position of the necessary culverts "'—.tinis the postal authorities wrote in reply to the Council's letter stating tOia.t the old wooden culverts were being done away witlh and asking the Department to sanction the laying down of iron crossings.—On the reading of the letter His Worship the Mayor said the Council might ask the Department what the design was going to be! Members were inclined to be facetious over the matter, hut eventually settled down to discussion, and it was resolved that tlhe chief postmaster he written to pointing out itfiat the culverts could he removed with lilltle expense and that permission, should be given to have, them put in when the channelling was being done. ; If you have any sympathy left over from what you bestow on yourself, spare a little of it for Lord Kitchener (writes a London correspondent). He is having a had time at the War Office. The cogs of the administrative section of the military machine have screeched noisily since the first gun was fired. K. has been busily pouring oil into them, and in many instances having completely new wheels cast. There is not a single department in which there have not been drastic changes. Stall's have been alter- ] systems have been changed, and still are efficient or expeditious. Besides battling with the problems which are inseparable from the formation of new armies, the Secretary for War h,as upon the spur of the moment to impart ductility to his cast-iron department. One concrete instance will illustrate how badly he is served. There is a scarcity of leather in England. Our soldiers at the front have worn their boots right out, and are, many of them, in shocking misfits,' that even a hoboe would hold in contempt. (Nottingham manufacturers offered to drop their ordinary output and specially make army boots. The War Office wiseacres paused and procrastinated. France cut in, and placed an order for 1,000,000 pairs, and now K has knocked some common-sense into this branch of his department and wants boots, the manufacturers are working overtime to satis- ) fy the French demand. j

Australian mails ox Ulimaroa, at Wellington, will arrive here this afternoon. At the Magistrate's Court yesterday, before Mr A. Grooke, S.M., judgment by default was given in the following .undefended casea:—Boon Bros. (Mr 11. H. Quilliani) v. A. C. C. Stevens, £3 Os 2d (costes 12s); ifallenstein Bros. (Mr D. Hutcliori) v. Arthur George Bishop, £2 15s fid (10s); Ridd Milking Machine Company (Mr Quilliam) v. fl. J. Lefevre,. £1220 lis 4d (£B 3s); .W. G. Emciiy (Mr A. ill. Standish) v. Thomas Atkinson, £2 14s (10s). No orders were niado in the judgment summons cascis of Mic'liacl Jones (Mr 'Goo. Grey) v. Joseph Ingley (Mr 0. H. Weston) and S. CoHier (Mr F. E. Wilson) v. G. van Heck (Mr C. If. Wright). Several adjournments were granted in defended cases.

This evening, in Whiteley Hall, the Rev. A. B. Chappell will givti an illustrated lecture, entitled "The Romanes' of the World's Greatest Missionary Book.'" The slides for this lecture have been specially prepared. It will be followed 'l>y a brief kinematograpb programme, the Rev. J. W. Griffin being the ■ijparjttor. A collection will be taken for mission funds. "Flower Sunday" at Oamaru, to raise funds for Christmas gifts for the Belgian children, realised £lls. —Press Assoc iatiin.

Members of the Borough Council visited Dlie new intake works yesterday afternoon), to see for themselves whether any damage had been caused by the heavy fresh in the Waiwakaiho on Sunday night. They were agreeably surprised and quite satisfied with, the state of affairs, no damage having been caused.^ To-day is Anniversary Bay in Canterbury. The "pilgrim ships" landed their [assengsrs at Lyttelton on 'Dcccnvbor 111, I*sl.

Reference to out advertising .columns will reveal the efforts of the newlyconstituted 'Xgamotu Foreshore Cojnanittee to ca'ier for our town and country people on New Year's Bay. A first-class programme of events has been arranged ;uul soma norel attractions are promised. The treasure hunt iprove bath amusing and profitable. The committee will sell spades on the foreshore and purchasers can dig out the tinned coupons buried in the oflicial arnas entitling t'heni to cash trophies from lg to a suit of clothes. The Marathon Squad Race far schoolboys under fourteen is being taken up enthusiastically, and should prove tue attraction of the day.