LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 204, 5 February 1915, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Every hour the clock strikes is an hour less for bargain chances at Morey's ten days' wonder sale, See advertisement, and come again to-day.

Owing to many members of the T.ir >. naki Flumpton Coursing Club being n of town last night, the annual me<... •., lias been postponed until next Wednesday night.

There has been no fewer than a dozen old people pass away at the Grey River Hospital recently, the youngest of whom was 67 years of age and the oldest 80. Four were of the age of 74 years.

A well-known Dunedin citizen showed a Star reporter a letter from a dependable friend in England, stating that the super-Dreadnought Audacious, which was mined or torpedoed off the Irish coast, lias been refloated, and is now under repair.

There are signs of a coming influx of theatrical companies to New Zealand, and numerous inquiries are being made for dates. Theatre proprietors report That the inquiries are coming from the Australian side, and they attribute the desire to play New Zealand to the drought and the threatened bad times in Australia.

"Banjo" Patterson, the Sydney Herald's commissioner with the Australian forces in Egypt, says: "Our Polish mentor has settled one very moot point. He has taught us how to pronounce Przcmysl—he says .it is pronounced Chemez. It does not sound very likely to our ears, but a word spelt that way must be allowed a good deal of latitude."

Hecruits are still offering for the sixth reinforcement draft of the New Zealand expeditionary force. To date about 40 men from the Auckland district have been passed as medically fit and have been accepted. The sixth contingent will probably leave about the middle of march. About 100 men are stil required to complete Auckland's complement for the- draft.

To help the poultry breeder the Victorian Government appointed a Board to assist poultrymen in securing supplies of foodstuffs, as a result wheat has been made available at 6s 6d and 6s 9d per bushe]. Then pollard was rushed up in price, but the Board got to work. The price came down at once. The Board appear to understand its business.—Exchange.

As many of the men discharged from the expeditionary force in Egypt are still wearing uniforms, other Territorials have been subjected to unpleasantness owing to the public being unable to discriminate between soldiers with an unsullied record and those in disgraee. The defence authorities have consequently instructed the police to arrest any of the discharged men found in uniform after this. If any do not possess other clothing a suit of civilian clothing will be presented on application to the defence office.

"Yes, it's a delightful country," said the Hon. J. A. Boyd, member for Henty (Melbourne), to "an Oamaru Mail reporter, "but your land is too dear. Sev. enty pounds for agricultural land is out of all reason." It was pointed out that an assured rainfall, though not enclosed by the fences, made farms pay even at that high figure. "You say sheep and a half land here is worth £20," said Mr. Boyd. "Over our way you get that land for £3 an acre, and even allowing that a dry year does come along now and then, every year is not a drought, and farmers do well out of it."

Both the Girls' and the Boys' High Schools re-opened yesterday. There is a marked increase in pnpils, and many more are expected during the next fortnight. The girls' roll stands at 75. There arc at present twelve boarders and seven or eight in the preparatory class which has been opened this year. Miss Gabrielle Shaw is the mistress in charge of this department. Miss Shaw conducted a private school at Te Hcnui a year or two ago and since then has been employed as relieving teacher by the Education Board. The boys' roll is approximately 200, as against 171 at the beginning of last year. There were 41 boarders last year, but this year there are 58, whilst the preparatory school lias increased from 46 to 57. Neither school is yet at its full strength, further pupils being expected during next week.

Five advances have been made in the price of sugar in New Zealand since the outbreak of war, and the maximum of £2O per ton, which has been fixed by agreement between the Government and the Colonial Sugar Company, was reached on December 22. At the beginning of August the wholesale price of sugaT was £ls 2s 6d. fThe first advance of 25s was made on September 12, three advances of £1 each were made on October 23, November 7, and November 26; and a further advance of 15 on December 22 brought the wholesale price to £2O 2s fid, the odd half-crown representing the cost of cartage. The total crease of £5 is equivalent to slightly more than y 2 d per lb. According to the agreement announced by the Prime Minister, no further advance can be made before June 30:

Some time ago there appeared in the Press a statement to the effect that two men near Eltham had caught eels which, on being opened, were found to have shags inside them. The fact was looked upon as very extraordinary, but a Wellington gentleman called at the Dominion office the other day and threw a little light on the habits of eel's. A few years ago he and a bushman were riding round a swamp area. They heard a tremendous hubbub among the swamp growth. Clearly it was from fowl of some description, and the bushmen explained that that was how the wild ducks behaved when tho eels raided their.nests. The riders dismounted and investigated, and saw an eel and a duckling disappear into the water. The bushman hud watched the nest for some days, and had noticed that the cradle was becoming more empty every day.

Tie T.-iranaki Motor Transport Co., T.til., will inn its big motor 'bus between Fitzroy and town on Saturday night, ■leaving Fitaroy at 7 p.m. and 7.30 p.m., and returning from town at 9.15 p.m. and 10.15 p.m. Fare 6d

"Where shall T spend my Sunday afternoon?" This is answered by the announcement clscwlicre in this issue that tli.' Ta-ratiaki Transport Companv is instituting another trip, which will embrace the "Meeting of tlhe Waters." Tlgmont Village, and back to town by the Epmont road, through very picturesque country. ONLY TEMPORARY AT FIRST.

The Supreme Court sessions concluded •tsterday.

At the Feilding A. and P. Show Mr G. V. I'earcc, M.P., was awarded the championship in Lincoln rams, and Mr P. Brema: the championship in ewes. The championship in Shorthorn bulls was given to Air W. Gibson's Duke of El-t-ham.

The I'atea Press says that tilie liarhour Board lias made the necessary linuucial arrangements in connection with the £BO,OOO loan and it only remains for the Board to lift the money as it is required. , ,

It is rumoured that certain military officer's holding important commissions, ■both in the territorial force prior to tlie mobilisation and in the main body ol tlie expeditionary force, were concerned in an unsatisfactory administration of the regimental fund's (says a Press Association telegram from Dunedin). The rumour appears to have been well founded. The matter has been investigated officially upon the authority of the Minister in charge of the Audit Department, and steps taken to secure the personal attendance in New Zealand of the officers concerned. They are well-known infantry officers in Otago, one being a "lieutenant colonel of a certain regiment and the other an adjutant of tlie same 'regiment. One of the officers is now on his way from T-lgypt, and the other is understood to have, been given orderu to return from England, where lie had been despatched by order of a superior officer.

Write* Dr Cohen, son of Mr M. Cohen, of Palmerston ?{orth: —Our guns did more damage with less wastage, I bet, and when it came to being attacked we naturally came out top dogs. I know after one little night affair we had 10 men killed, but we counted over 100 dead of theirs, and I had more wounded German prisoners to treat than I d'd of our own men. I think our killing power is generally about 10 to 1, or more. It : .» a great life, and I wouldn't miss it for a lot, though naturally one wishes it vas all over and one could enjoy the luxury of pyjamas and a bath and normal life again, and I rm pining to see old London and people there. It's very cold now, and it has been three or four degrees below zero all day, hut it H wond-srful how eomfortsible one fan make oneself in the ground. I suppose ve'll soon be back there for a wt. ■.r-wdSßiiS

A writer in the Hawera Star says:— "The excitement of enrolling and farewelling our Expeditionary Force has somewhat subsided, their patriotism has been duly cheered and extolled, and now I think a word of appreciation should be given to those who have stayed behind, many of them regretfully, foregoing the excitement and elan of going to the front for the sake of stern home duties. Ido not mean the men who loaf about the streets, hang about the street corners, frequent the hotel bars and billiard rooms, and care nothing for honor of duty, only for their own ease and amusement. No, I mean the man on the land, whose muddy boots, toilworn hands and humdrum days calls for the cheap jest of the empty-headed, working long days with only occasional opportunities for amusement, but who is producing food for the men at the front, and as surely serving his country and showing his patriotism as those who are more in evidence. The man on the land is producing those exports which bring that wealth to our Dominion which enables us to assist the Motherland; and if he stops, all else will do so. Foodstuffs must be scarce when so many of our best workers are fighting, so let us cheer and encourage the man on the land, and hope that waste lands and idle hands will meet and increase our natural products, without which we cannot exist."