LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 253, 5 April 1915, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The Xcw Zealand Government paid tlie sum of £300,100 in the pmvlm.se of meat for the Imperial Government up till Thursday last, a period of just on one month.

The township of Manurewa, near Auckland, lias received the permission of the Minister of Lands to call certain new streets hy the names of Jellicoe, Stnrdee and ITalsey. Applications for shares in the Farmers' Co-operative. Freezing Company are coming in very freely, and already applications have been lodged for over two thousand shares, representing .CIO,OOO.

The Taranaki War Veterans will be the guests of the Ngamotn Foreshore t'onniiittee at luncheon to-day at Kawaroa Park, and in the evening they will lie the guests of the younger men of Xew (Plymouth.

A country editor and a preacher were walking down the street during a slippery spell, when the editor's feet !ltw from under him and he sat down rarlier suddenly. "Ha ha," said the minist-r, ''the wicked stand in slippery pla.vs." "Yes," replied the editor, "I see they (Joint ]'U be hanged if I can." The Salvation Army hall wa 3 crowded last night, when tile children gave the service of song entitled "Wee Elsie,'' Adjutant Home gave the connective reading, and the solos and compan\ items as rendered /by the young people showed that much training' had brought them to a very creditable rendering''of their several items.

A very successful opening of the Wairarapa Lake was made on Saturday, says the Age. The 'place chosen to cut the outlet was two chains and a half wide between the lower lake and the sea. Kino two-horse teams and scoopß, and twenty-one men with shovels, were used to cut the trenches, and a splendid flow was obtained.

A party of about twenty, under Guide. Upson, ascended the mountain from the North Egmont House, yesterday morning. Starting at 5 o'clock the" summit was reached in good time, and a fine view was obtained. The soft snow which prevails for some thousands oT feet down the mountain assisted the climbers, who found three or four feet of fresh snow in the crater.

The Herman Socialist paper Y\>rwaerts, which manages occasionally (o print little bits of truth about the'genesis of the war, was started 31 yearn ago, under the name of the Berliner Volksblatt. It began with a circulation of 2000. At the paper's 25th birthday in limn, this had jumped to 140,000. It n» i then calculated that the editote t l stall' had spent more than ten years in gaol,aud had been fined £550.

The Mayor of Otahuhu (Mr Alf-ert SI urges) has made a handsome gift to the residents of the district, in the shape of 1-! acres of land on the FoM l.'ichiird Ksiatc, situated almost in tin heart of the borough (says the Auckland Star). The land, which is valued tit I'.'IOOO, is to he used as a public park, and a hill upon it commands a splendid prospect of the surrounding districts of Mangcro, Pupatoetoo, and Otira. An improvement in the condition of the trout in Lake Taupo and contributory streams is noted by Mr A. M. Nuylor, a well-known English sportsman, who has just completed his eighth successive fishing season in the DommV.n. "The fish are about the same average weight this year," he states, "but the'.' are in much belter condition than w.'.'s Hie case last year. One curious thins' 1 have noticed is that the Government netting operations bring to light a great (pi-iufity if brown trout. Smoked, these fi-h are just as good as the rainbow. I went to the Government curing house there, and of SO fish I saw, 40 we-e brown trout, all in nice condition.

The great menagerie procession from the 'Melbourne Corner to Kawaroa Park (West End) will be led off by the captured and caged Kaiser and the Knwliin sea-serpent nt about 10.30 o'clock this morning, going via Egmont Street and St. Aubyn Street. The menagerie is complete, and so arc the arrangements, for a record carnival at Kawaroa Park, and the swimming baths, the Citizens' Hand assisting.

The sad case of a veteran of the Crimean and Maori wars, who is an employee of the Lyttelton Borough Council, and who is now incapacitated by illnevs, was touched upon by Councilior ?agt at the Lyttelton Council meeting mi Monday night. Councillor Pago said that lie regretted no adequate provision had been made by the State for old soldiers in their declining years, and moved that the council grant the veteran three months' wages, and that :i----prcsontations should bo made to V e member of Parliament for the district with a view of securing for this employee the old age pension. The motion was carried.

"Damn the party system. What we want in Parliament is a bodv of the strongest men in the Dominion' to carry on the business of the country in a businesslike manner to the best advantage of all concerned." Thus Major Dusk (provincial president) expressed himself at the annual meeting of the Matam.ita branch of the Farmers' Union. The country, he added, was sick of the party system, which had come to such a pas's that members did not hesitate to bivr.k their election pledges and vote against their honest convictions in order to he loyal to party. The sooner party politics were ousted the better for the country and the legislators themselves. The popularity of the North Egmont Mountain House as a pleasure resort was very evident yesterday, when a von' large number of visitors' to Xew Plymonth, as well as of local residents, made the trip and expressed themselves as highly delighted with the outing. In all, some dozen motor-cars, besides Jack.son's bus, the Motor Transport Company's ohar-aibanc, and numerous motorcycles and horse-drawn vehicles, were assembled at the house. At the new hostelry considerably over a hundred sat down to dinner, three relays being necessary. This Easter has been a busy one at the North Eginont House. Not only was the accommodation at the new hostelry and at the cottage fully taxed, but it was found necessary to place the overflow at the old house. A little child, the daughter of Mr and Mrs Bleisener, of Tarong road, near Nananga, Queensland, was the victim of a terrible experience one morning recently. Mrs Bleisener heard the child cry, and noticed that its hand was hanging out of bod. With difficulty she raised the limb, and then found that a large carpet snake had the little one's hand in its mouth. The snake was despatch, d. the usual remedies were applied to ''io bitten hand, and the child was oonv--vod to Nanango for further treatment, The whole hand and wrist had been well down the reptile's mouth, and its efforts to swallow (he limb evidently awakened the child and made it crv. Several marks made by the snake's teeth were noticeable on the arm and fingers. The "scaler," as the person who attempts to sneak away without paying for his entertainment is designated, finds occasion to deplore 'modern inventions, home of this genus will not altogether appreciate the benefits of the telephone especially the three or four horsemen who rode away from the North Eginont Mountain House yesterday, leaving their park fees, horse feed, etc., unpaid, but who found out that the gatekeeper, advised of their flight by four miles of telephone wire, had barred the gate against their exit and refused to open it until they paid up. Two or three motor-cyclists, who also forgot to pay their fees, were more lucky, as flTev got through unchecked, their disappearance from the environs of the house not being discovered until too late. TRc shilling received for park fees is utilised for the upkeep of the park, and it Is hard to conceive that anyone would seekto evade payment of it.

The demonstration on Saturday night in aid of the Beb'ian Fund, arranged by the East End Bathing Reserve Committee, attracted much attention. The procession through the town, headed bv the Citizens' Band, drew a large crowd to near the Post Office, where brief addresses were delivered by- the Mayor (-Mr. J. E. Wilson) and Mr. A. 11. Johnstone. These gentlemen both referred to the fact that it was a duty the.v owed the Belgians to support them in their present hour of need. After the speeches the Merry Pierrot troupe gave a programme of "patriotic and other songs, while many collectors in fancy costume made their wa- through the crowd with some_ success. Later the party adjourned to a position at the corner of Brougham Street and repeated the programme. The total 'proceeds amounted to £53. of which £ls came from the sale of the Belgian Jag, the purchasers being "Jock" Taylor f. r T). t Hughes £4, A. IT. Johnsto'ne £3, and "Jock" Taylor £3.

11l connection with the elections to be held on April 28th, of the Boro>,gh, the Hiirlior Hoard, and the Hospital and Charitable Aid Hoards, certain amendments have been made in the Acta, which it may lie of interest to the electors ia know. The Local Elections and Polls I Amendment Act, 11113, section 4, provides that "The assent of any person to his nomination as a candidate may be signified to the Returning Officer w'itivii the time limited for making nominations, by writing, or affixed to the nomination paper, or by telegraph. Bv section 2 of the Harbors Amendment Act, 1014, it is provided that ''Xo person shall be deemed to be a candidate at any election of members of a harbor board, unless, at the time of nomination, he has deposited with the returning officer the sum of £3. Tf, at the election, the candidate does not poll one-eighth of the votes polled by the successful candidate, or, as the ease may be, bv the successful candidate polling the'fewest votes the deposit shall be forfeited to the harbor fund.

The East Knders' great procession moves westward along Devon Street on arrival of the south train this morning, headed by the Eltham Brass Band. The programme at the Henni beach is extraordinarily varied, including boating, swimming, military events, and a baby show, and the committee is quite justified in catering for a record crowd. ''Charley's Aunt," a play which mwJe Brandon Thomas' fortune as well as the fortune of others, is said to have brought the author as much as £30,000 a. week in royalties, the piece being played nraetieally all over the worid. A c-itv 'man who put i: 1000 into the first venture vereived a, return of £37.000. The royalties to this day are £3O a week.