LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 236, 15 March 1915, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The total value of the Citv of London's square mile is placed 'at about £250,000,000.

The following return of expenses at ■the last election ha 9 been filed by candidates for the Masterton seat:—A \V Hogg, £7B 3s; G. R. Sykes, £129 lis.

The Welsh Regiment rcfoiscs in the possession of a mascot in 'the shape o? a raven, which takes his morning bath with the troops, and cries "Halt!" with all the vigor of a seasoned sentry.

Cable advice has been received by Mr. G. TT. Buckeridge, representative of 11. A. Lane and Co., of London, that the last shipment of cheese from Tfawera, Melrose, and Mcrcmcrc to arrive Home has realised 02s Gd.

Over 0000 signatures to the petition for a poll on the Saturday half-holiday question in Wellington, have been obtained. It is intended to lodge the petition with the civic authorities about March 23rd.

The Citizens' Hand made a welcome re-appearanco on Saturday night and played a heartily appreciated programme of martial and other music in the business centre. "The Death of Kelson" seemed particularly to suit the taste of the large crowd of listeners.

Every child in' Taranaki should be given an opportunity of seeing the great menagerie parade and procession on Easter Monday. It finishes at the popular Kawaroa Park, where a huge carnival is to he held in aid of the fund for beautifying this park, which is the, property of th c people. A start has been made with the ploughing of ili„ Camp Reserve sports ground preparatory to the. levelling. It is expected, says tiie Waitara Mail, that thc process will lead to one of he best football grounds in the province, and, with a little attention, a tip-top running track is possible.

In connection with the foundation of Methodism in Taranaki seventy-five years ago, commemorative services will be held throughout the province on Sunday, March 21. The co-operation of the Veterans' Association has been sought and obtained, and there will be a Veterans' Parad,, at Whiteley Memorial Church, Now Plymouth.

Mr A. T. Wills, of Ilawcra, who was one of the judges at the recent Taranaki Show, has written to the Agricultural Society that he had no expenses to charge against that institution. His generosity drew a very hearty vote of thanks from the last meeting of the committee.

A striking illustration was given of tho rough nature of the country some men farm, when it was stated at last meeting of the Waipawa County Council .that of the WOO acres farmer by one man, he. had only two acres of fiat land for his homestead. lli s request for reading assistance to this portion of his ■property will come before the Council for consideration.

The local committee which had charge of the work undertaken by the Y.M.C.A. at the recent cam], held at Waiwakajho met together on Friday afternoon for the purpose of making a small presentation to Mi-. Ilaimn, who had charge of the woi'k. Members of the committee all spoke in high terms of praise of the tactful and efficient way in which Mr. Hamia had conducted things. Th e recipient suitably replied.

Early on Friday morning" following the Taranaki Agricultural Society's show Mr. It. Johnson, who is amongst the most enthusiastic and energetic members of the committee of the society, had the misfortune to have a valuable working collie dog poisoned, and the committee at its meeting on Friday night subscribed among themselves'£s as, which was handed to Mr. Johnson bv the president with the request that he purchase another suitable dog.

An extraordinary meeting of the shareholders of th 0 Opunake Dairv Company was held at Opunake on Wednesday to consider installing a cheese plant (says the Times). This company lias discussed the question every year for the last six years. The general feeling of the shareholders was in favor of cheese manufacture, but owiiiL' to the present state of the financial market, the shareholders decided to continue butter manufacture until the war is over.

During tin; week ther,, lias passed away a Maori named Teiki. His age lias been variously stated, but the Otakcho correspondent of tile Star believes that lie was about 00 years of lie. was one of tin- fast disappearing Maori* of the olden days. As one of Titokowaru's warriors, lie, took part in actions with Te Kuti, and if the claim made locally is to be believed, Tei'ki was the warrior who at Tc-Xtfiitu-o-tc-Maim shot the late Major von Tempsky. At the tsiuffi over two hundred Maoris attended, from as far afield as Waitolara and Parihaka,

The Land Hoard notified theEgmont County Council on Friday that thirds to the amount of 4s had accrued to the Council up to 30th October, 1!) M, and they forwarded the, usual notification asking tin- Council to submit plans and specifications for its expenditure. The money is from a section in the Te Kiri townshoip. which will be a long time getting its pavements asphalted if it waits for snliicient thirds to accrue.

Seeing that tile prospects of obtaining any road metal from the' Mount Kgniout quarries arc extremely doubtful - -if not altogether outside the bounds of possi-bility-it should be of more than pass- ' ing interest to local bodies in Taranaki to learn that the Rangitikei County Council is opening up an extensive gravel pit at dreatfonl, into which it proposes to put a railway siding, with t'.ie object of supplying local bodies with road metal at as reasonable a rate as possible. U appears that th 0 Public Works Department also had eye, to the stme gravel pit, but it has, we understand, inl minted that, if Urn Rangitikei County Council is prepared to supply other local bodies, including those in Taranaki, at a reasonable rate, and satisfactory arrangements can be made with the Railway Department for the carriage of the metal, then there is no necessity for the Government running counter to 7ic! Council's proposed scheme.

At a meeting of the Auckland Mister Grocers' Association, held recently, the advisability of reverting to Wednesday as the weekly half-holiday was dpscussed. The unanimous conclusion was arrived at that it would be against the interests of the trade to revert Ito Wednesday. The opinion was also expressed that with gome exceptions most businesses had now settled down to the f atuMay half-holiday, and that it would be unwise to make any alteration.

The Wangauui public will this winter be called upon to face a serious shortage in milk and other dairy supplies and consequent higher prices. In the opinion of a prominent Wanganui dairyman, tiie had season has had such an effect upon feed that the cows are already drying oil'. Many dairymen are at their wits' end to keep their herds going, and milk suppliers have the greatest difficulty in fulfilling orders. Already milk is in short supply, and the position will probably be worse before next spring arrives.

The members of the Ancient Order of Foresters in Antwerp have suffered severely by the occupation of the city by the Germans. Many of them with their families arc refugees in Holland, where they have been cared for by their Dutch brethren, who have exhausted their own funds in providing for the hare necessities of life for those cast upon them. .The .Foresters in Holland have appealed for assistance, and the Druids in the Auckland district have responded by taking up a subscription on their behalf.

Miss Dorothy Grace, one of the vocalists with the Kennedy Company, displayed fine presence of mind under very trying circumstances in the course of the performance at Opunake. During one of her songs, she got too close to the footlights, with the result that her dress caught fire. Nothing daunted, the young lady gathered up her dress ami pressed the flames out, meanwhile continuing her song, which did not falter a l ' note. Her wonderful coolness earned her quite an ovation, as it deserved, for by it she undoubtely prevented a panic that might have resulted in serious injury to herself and others. As it was, she escaped with nothing worse than a ruined dress.

A Shannon settler was astonished one day hist week by the arrival on his farm of a hoy wearing two coats. One was in the customary position for wear; the other where the trousers should have been, but were not. As a matter of fact the trousers had been left for safety in the Boys' Training Farm, it being the manager's wise custom to remove from the bedrooms the lads' nether garments every night. This discourages the matutinal exertions amongst newlycommitted pupils of nomadic instincts. The Shannon farmer notified the farm authorities, and in the afternoon the lad had his trousers restored to him, his extra coat hung over his arm, and his lower extremities in comfortable case of proper tweed.

It was reported to the council of the Auckland Acclimatisation Society on Tucsray night, reports the Auckland Star, that large numbers of dead trout are seen floating down the Waikato. Mr J. Oillett stated that that sort of thing had been going on for some years, and some people were inclined to the belief that the fish were affected by the pumice in the water, on account of quantities of pumice being found in the gills of the dead trout, though he personally was of the opinion that the piunico probably got there after death, when the fish were' floating down the river. The matter of making investigations was referred to the society's Fish and Game Committee.

One apparent sign of the exercise of thrift by the people of the Dominion is shown in a comparative statement of traffic on the railways for the period April 1, 1914, to January 30, 1915. The return shows that while more people have used the railways in this period tha" in the same, period of the preceding financial year, a considerable reduction is to be noticed in the number of firstclass tickets issued. The people are travelling second clasg and saving money. The total number of tickets issued in the period ended January 30,1915, was 11,2i;8,39f>, as against 11,05G,1448 for the corresponding period of last financial year, an increase of 18(1,247. There was an increase of 15,995 single and 216,298 return second-class tickets, and a decrease of 11,C10 single and 38 410 return first-class tickets.

A large Herman flag adorned the walls of the College Rifle Club's room at Auckland on Tuesday evening on the occasion of the club's annual 'meeting. It was explained, says the Herald, that this flag was found by a party of signallers of the Auckland Divisional Signalling Company, who formed part of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force at Samoa. The flag was hoisted by the Germans on a mast connected with the wireless station, seven miles from Apia, just before war was declared. It was lowered again by the German wireless odicials on the morning of August 29, 1014, the day when the New Zealand expeditionary force arrived in the harbor of Apia. The same night, at 11 o'clock, a detachment of the 3rd (Auckland) Regiment took possession of the station. Four Germans were matfe pn s . oners, and the flag was taken from its hiding-place by Lieutenant H C Cotton, and a party of the Auckland signallers and subsequently presented to the College. Rifles Club.