LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 193, 23 January 1915, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Efforts are being made to establish a Winter Garden Association in Napier.

It is stated that there is not a blade of green grass "wiftiin a hundred i. .les of Napier.

Heavy losses of sheep are anticipr, icd on t!w East Coast unless the drov.Jit soon breaks.

A party of Australian boys, forty in number, known as tlie Young Australian League, will visit Wellington on February 3rd, en route to the Panama Exposition, IA correspondent writes to a Wellington contemporary:—l am sorry to worry you again, but this censor business is a farce. You can send a coded /message A.B.C. code to Sydney or London, and not to Napier, about "200 miles *wny.

, Farthings are coins that quite expensively circulate in England. A Httwera young woman who some time (ago went Home, and who was one day en- , gaged in serving a customer 111 a shop -.■ when the purchaser of an article presented in payment the sum of 8s lOVsd I in farthings—sl4 in all.

"From the point of view of material comfort, prosperity and general and re.ligious liberty, and, in fact, from every point of view, I have not found a country to compare with New Zealand/' said the Very Rev. Dean Eegnault, who was in Europe when the war broke out, and has just returned to the Dominion.

Sir John French has full powers conferred upon him, without having to refer to the Army Council, to promote on the spot, any officer, n.c.0., or private soldier to any rank he pleases, provided the man has proved his fitness for promotion by his work in the field. The corner-boy has just the same chance now of coming to the front as "the earl.

A writer in Public Opinion has the .following: "The retreat from Mons is *n old story now, but I heard an interesting tale by an officer who was in the thick of it. He says that our men could'nt be got to sing while marching away from the advancing Germans, though ordinarily songs enliven the march all day long. As soon as they were ordered to advance again, "Tipperary" broke out afresh. Tommy has never learnt to retreat.

Referring to the recent earthquake in Poverty Bay, a Gisborne paper says: "The old saying, 'The Ways of Providence,' are inscrutable, is borne out at Whangaroa. The proprietor of the accommodation house lost his reservoir, but a little lower down towards the beach a new spring of the purest water had sprung up, and is forced about two feet above the ground. The ground is much torn and shattered for about two miles from the 'Cape."

A young Frenchwoman, writing to an English friend, says:—A friend in need is a friend indeed. That is what England lias proved to be. Our country's place was in the firing line; a battle was fought just outside our gates, and we had to move out of the way for 48 hours. Afterwards, we came baek to an English camp, for our park was inhabited by 5000 men. We felt so proud adn safe. Honestly, vrq. can all say that we would be German subjects now if the English had not fought so gallantly. The whole French nation is proud to be able to fight beside them. What splendid men, and God bless every one of them!

Whilst surf bathing on the South Riverton beacli last week, two young lading had a somewhat trying experience (says the Star). They were seated on a raft, which gradually drifted towards the open sea. A son of Mr Cameron, fifteen years of age, noticed their predicament, and pluckily swam to their assistance, the raft having by this time drifted about a quarter of a mile from the land. Mr H. S. Beer was communicated with, and sent his launch Waituna, to the rescue, and the yotfng ladies and Cameron were picked up about a mile from the bar.

Writing in the Christehurch Press of a visit to White Island, Gilbert Archcy says:— I "The changes the eruption has effected are of considerable magnitude. The houses have disappeared; they were mere egg-shells compared with the other bodies that were blown about. Tie lake, which was about a square mile in extent, is now nothing but a hard, dry mud-flat, seared all across with crack's and fissures and small blowholes, and covered with huge masses of mud and rock twenty and thirty feet high; two huge gaps have been blown out of the top of the eastern wall, and now in the centre of the bed of the old lake there is an oval hole twenty yards long and about forty feet deep,'at the bottom of which is a smaller hole from which the steam hisses and roars in dense sulphurous clouds."

Commenting upon the fact that since the outbreak of war, crime in England has decreased 40 per cent, th e Literary Digest, of New York writes:—"The contrast between this report and war as history reevals it, as the promoter of crime, and the unbridling of all baser passions, in so marked that this paper is led to hail it as a sure sign of moral growth and a new patriotism. To be sure, many of the criminal class fire how engaged in wholesale crime upon the battlefield, and consequently prevented from stirring up civil disorder, bus this does not explain by any means the whole reduction of crime during the war." Tile paper then points out that there was a similar reduction in crime in America during the Spanish war. The writer adds: "The public mind is turned m a new direction, and a spirit of patriotism holds many in check who might otherwise be inclined to violate the laws."

A venerable native named To Warn, whose death in the Rotorua country is reported by telegram, was a man of uncommon parts, "with a record of some note. He was the chief of a small tribe living at the base of Horohoro Mountain, a singular table-topped hill which rises from the Plains between Rotorua and the Waikato River, and when the rebel leader Te Kooti appeared in the district, he joined him and became the chief strategist of the Houhou war parties. From native accounts, it secins that Te Waru was a Maori De Wet in his way, particularly in choosing country in which all the chances in an cngagement favored his side, and in securing the safe retreat of his men in the event of defeat. It was he who led the Hauhaus in a bush fight in 1870 at Tepupa, on the higli plateau between l' Rotorua and the Waikato Plains, with Colonel McDonnell's force of friendly natives. His particular aversion was the Kupapa, as a Maori who joined the Government side for the sake of the pay , and the opportunity of paving off old scores was called. "I never killed a white man," Te Waru used to say, "but only those Maoris who were in arms against us." The old man in his days was celebrated as a tatooing artist, and he was often to be seen on his travels from village to village in the Rotorua and Bay of Plenty districts with a black leather bag containing the instruments of his profession slung over his shoulders, jogging along on his pony, like some easy-going country doctor "of the old ichaol. Ha was a type of Maori that will not be reproduced in New Zealand.

A party of nicnickers at the K:;puni bc-ach on Wednesday were startled >y a heavy fall of earth, from one o! the overhanging cliffs, says the local Vitnesa.

Yesterday was tlie 40th anniversary of the christening of the town of lnglewood, the ceremony being performed by Mr A. Standisli, of New Plymouth, on January 22nd, 1875.

A farmer in the Oamaru district -ias decided to give to *ihe Belgian relief fund whatever money he receives this year for liis wheat crop in. excess of 5s per bushel.

Cabbages three feet across and filling a large wheelbarrow seem a tall order, ibufc these mammoths may be seen in the vegetable garden of Mr John Wheeler, of VogeWown. They have lately attracted a good deal' of attention. Probably bigger or better cabbages have never been seen in Taraiuuki. An Invercargill telegram reports that very beneficial warm rains are general throughout Southland, and will have a good effect on the turnip and other crops.. The district is looking exceptionally well, and there is every prospect of a satisfactory harvest, and good turnip crops.

The new motor 'bus service between | New Plymouth and Opunake will, commence on Monday week, Ist. February. 'Buses will run in the morning and afternoon, both ways. This should prove a boon to settlers, who will be brought closer ' than ever to the centre and railway line. The Motor Transport Company, to whose enterprise the inauguration of the new service is due, propose paying special attention to the parcel carrying trade. Details of the services will be published next week. New Plymouth is not the only town where the bakers are noil particular about the weight. Uhey give when they sell a. loaf (writes a correspondent to the Eltiham Argus). I recentdy weighed three loaves, purchased from an Eltham baker and on the three loaves there was a deficiency, in weight o£ 10 ounces. I don't for one moment think that any baker in the town would willingly defraud his customers, but it is quite possible that some of the employees are not as careful as they should be, and are sending out under-weight broad.

Tile Patea Pawners' Co-op. Freezing Company are still working at high pressure, the stock coming forward taxing t&eir utmost efforts in order to cope with it (says the local iP!ress). Thanks to the foresight of the directors in arranging for tihe erection of the additional freezing chamber the company will be able to cope with more stock than would otherwise Slave been the case to the "benefit of farmers, and district generally. The new chambers will be finished on Saturday, and will be put in use immediately. From what can he gathered, iti will bo necessary in the near future to still further enlarge the works tc enable the company to cope with the business offering.

A vctj- amusing incident is reported locally, says the Foxton Herald. Hone, a Maori, borrowed a trap horse from his friend Hamuera. Before setting out on his journey, Hone had several drinks. When Hearing Purutawliia he fell asleep in the trap and the horse wandered to the side of the road. Two persons passing decided to take the horse out for safety and left it standing near the trap, and Hone slept peacefully. The horse made back to Foxton. He met Hamuera who said: "What up, Hone?" I dunno, Sam." "Werra where te horse, anyhow?" queried Hamuera. "Look here Sam, you tell me if I Hone because if I Hone, I lose your horse, if I not Hone, by korry I find trap."

In the opinion of Mr. W. P. Turcoman, an English tourist at present in New Zealand) there is no room in New Zealand for the .English artisan or skilled man, because of the unions, that seemed to him to govern the work of the people. Land, he also thought, was -too dear to encourage the capitalist. Tha tourist, he considered, was not given the best of encouragement. There was evidence of too much red tape in the railway service, whereas the system should make travelling for the tourist as easy as possible TheTc, were, for instance, said Mr. Freeman, certain little fads in connection with the checking luggage which seemed to him to be unnecessary and burtlensome for the department was not of much value to the tourist, who should be encouraged.

tourist. The tourist ticket issued by the

Mr A. G. Bennett, of Manaia, describes the Hawke's Bay district as being in a very bad state as the result of the protracted drought.. Th e country around Danncvirkc and as far as Norsewood looks well, but in thq Napier and Waipawa districts the conditions 'are very bad, the soil being burned 1 black, and entirely without the power of growth or vegetation, and this, too. on land thajt was redently fetching £BO an acre. Farmers arc cutting down their willows to feed the starving stock, and tfte consequences to stock owners ' must be serious. A visit to such a countrv, adds Mr Bennett, would be a useful object lesson to Taranaki farmers in showing tliem how signally fortunate they are in the two essentials of soil and climate.—Witness.

An Eltham resident, says the Argus, received a letter from Cornwall, in which the writer says:—"We had a big 'recruiting meeting here (Penzance). The result was one recruit)! It is surprising how cowardly the fellows around here are. In tihe local Territorials not quite one-third of the men volunteered for foreign service, and none of the officers. In the St. Ives detachment not a single mail volunteered. There were 0000 Territorials in camp at Falmouth when the war broke out. On being asked to volunteer for the front three stepped out I"

[ Mr A. H. Arnold, of Messrs Okey, | Son and Arnold, met with a nasty accident .yesterday morning. He was 'holding the reins of a liorse in the firm's yard, whilst his daughters unharnessed the animal from the vehicle that had brought them in to business. One trace had been loosened when the hone jumped forward, knocking Mr Arnold down. But he gamely held 1 on to the reins, though a wheel had passed over his thigh, and tihe animal was tearing l round in circles, dragging Mr Arnold with him. Suddenly the horse tmashed into a post, capsizing the ffig and breaking one of the, shafts. Then Miss Elsie Arnold; with pluck and presence of mind, seized tihe reins and held on. Mr 'Arnold was picked up badlv cut, bruised and shaken. iiRSE

The double income tax imposed in Great Britain means Is fid in the £ on earned incomes, and 2s 6d in the £ on unearned incomes, while the supertax makes the taxation as much as 25 per cent on the higher sums. The taxation collected on various incomes is as follows:—£600, £2O ss; £IOOO, '£74; £2OOO, £200; £SOOO, £700; £IO,OOO, £1095 16s Bd. In addiiton to these figures, the ordinary cost of living has increased by about 15 per cent. "But," says a letter received in Christchurch by the last mail, "the burden has been accepted cheerfully, and no complaint is heard either publically or privately."

During summer months children are subject to disorders of the bowels, and should receive most careful attention. If looseness of the bowels is noticed Chamberlain's Colic and Diarrhoea Bemedy should be given, Children teething have more or less diarrhoea which can be controlled by giving Chamberlain's Colic and Diarrhoea Remedy at once. Sold by all chemists and =;cir„ keepers. ; 4

''Der Tag!" For Taranaki- people at the present 't.ime these words mean the 4th February next, a day on which New ■Plymouth will be, in every sense of the word, on fete.

At a largely-attended meeting of shopkeepers at Wellington on Thursday night an association was formed for the .purpose of promoting a Saturday halfholiday movement. It is intended to vigorously agitate the question during t'he forthcoming municipal elections.

The Manaia correspondent of the Daily JTews states theft one dairy farmer of that fruitful district Is milking 110 fewer than 1600 cows. This surely must be a record for the Dominion. The correspondent also states that several dairymen with herds from 40 to 100 cows expect to t]ake from £23 to £25 ner cow this season. It is no wonder Taranaiki is prospering.

A collision occurred at about six o'clock last evening on the corner of Courtney and Currie streets. A motorcar was turning out of Currie street past the Daily News office, and was running on tihe wrong side of the road, about throe feet from the kerb. The driver of a' horse and gig in Courtenay street, in the middle of the road, slewed sharply to his right side, but the motor held on, and tile vehicles collided. t'he driver of the gig being hurled to the ground, where We appeared to alight on liis head. The horse was turned comp'otnly around in the shafts. The body of fh,> car was slightly damaired by the collision, so were the spokes of one of the wheels, whilst the sudden application of the brakes and the swerveto one ? : "e cav-icd one of the back tvrw to burst The horse and gig were scarcely damaged. A combined Opunake and Kaponga seaside picnic will be 'held on the Opunake beach on Wednesday next. Complete arrangements have been made for entertaining old and young, and it is expected there will be a large gathering.