LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 260, 13 April 1915, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Hie Wellington Harbour Board ) lAS Icumulated a. sinking f lmd which nmv totals £IOO,OOO/ and is growing at about .€12,000 per year °

Thence of butter in Wellington yesterday was advanced one penny per >om,d. Knt grade is selling rot ail P at Is 5d and second grade at Is 4d

At the New Plymouth Borough CoiinofisWd "V? 1 CVening ' H ™ ™S for »7W dCd , to - proMcute a local fi ™ foi allowing drains to become foul.

Exceptionally heavy frosts for this luring th e last two nights, savs the Hawera Star.. All tender stuff bag been severely cut down.

Mr G. H. Buckeridge, of Eltham, reoeiyed a cablegram yesterday morniii" intimating tliat cheese is not quite so lirm and is quoted at 935. Butter is steady at 134s to 138s.

Our correspondent writes from Urenui concerning the band concert on Sunday that the largest amount was collected I? M i ß -i- H - Bmke (• some £ « 3s), and 'Mrs. R. Pigott next, with £5 19s.

An Italian has characterised the "perfect organisation" of the German army fis that of a. soldier with every button m place, but his head put on the wrong

Twenty-three of N ew Zealand>s j,. t Contingent for the South African War ntteon years ago, are serving in the prorant war. Ail except three of these are ■now oftcorß. The First Contingent was only 214 strong.

At Ilawera recently a giant puff-ball, C,," 1 - In '•""'•'""iiwcncc, was discovered. Wtlmm l ms golle one bettor _ Qn Saturday Ah'. George Collingwood exInmtcd m Mr. J. Andrews' fruit window a puff-ball that measured 53in. in circumference, and was also a fair weight.—Eltham Argus.

At the Xcw Plymouth Borough Council meeting last evening, the Mavor mentioned that the engineer had 'informed him that the rails for the tramways had arrived in good order, and that the work on the route would be commenced in a few days.

A little over a week ago a man \rait round Taumarumii and its neighborhood collecting money on behalf of the Salvation Army. He had a printed card on ivhich contributors! signed their names with the amounts. It has been stated the collector was no other than the escaped Waimarino prisoner, who was captured a few days ago.

"1 was particularly struck/' wrote Xiss M. England, examiner in English literature at the Church of England Diocesan High School for Girls, in her report to the council, "with the good spelling of every writer. Ido not know whether you will lie gratified or merely amused, but I should mention that my experience of New Zealanders has taught me that even among university students such trifles as correct spelling and grammatical construction are by no means to 1)e taken for granted."

Sheep-worrying is understood to be prevalent in the Manaia district. A night or two .ago, states the Witness* eight sheep were destroyed on a farm on tho Wains.

A public meeting was held at Christchurch on Saturday to consider' the advisability of instituting a K. of K. pledge campaign. The Mayor presided. It waf resolved that those present form them selves into a committee to do all in their power to further the movement and to call further public meetings at an early date. °

It was suggested at the New Plymouth Borough Council meeting last evening that the abattoir manager's report might include the names of those killing bullocks. People would then know where to buy bullock beef. It was pointed out that this wou'd be a breach of faith. One councillor remarked that the matter should he dealt with by the butchers themselves.

(A new club has been formed in Eltham under the auspices of the Church of England Men's Society. The formal opening took place on Saturday evening. Mr. C. A. Wilkinson, M.P., has generously offered the free use of the large top room in his new block of shops in Bridge Street, besides making anotheigenerous donation to the club 1 should the progress of the club warrant it.

A meeting of delegates from the classes in agriculture, conducted by Mr. R. Browne, supervisor of technical education in the northern district of the. Wanganui Education Board, was held in Hawera on Saturday afternoon, when it was unanimously resolved to form a central body, distinct from any other organisation, for the purpose of furthering the classes, aiid also for the mutual benefit of the members.

At the Magistrate's Court yesterday morning, before Mr. A. Crooko, Joseph Hazeldino, member of a travelling circus company, was charged with having committed an indecent assault on a little Maori girl at Bahotu on Friday. Mr. Ron. Quilliam appeared for accused. At the request of the police, accused was remanded until next Monday. Bail was allowed on a personal surety of £IOO and two of ,C&0. '

At the New Plymouth Borough Counc 1 meeting last night, Councillor Sykes, chairman 0 f the Baths Committee/said that the past year had proved much more successful than any previous one, the baths receipts being £lsl The takings on Easter Mondav were a rcwt~ £ ' 21 - . T,loy ,10^1 ' t0 »«!« the baths a paying proposition next season. Ihe Mayor congratulated the chairman on the success achieved at the baths.

flic hold-up m shipping facilities is stated to be affecting the pav-out of ene Taranaki cheese factory" to the ?\ tra L?* at , lwlst V A& P" '"> Irattcr.' at. -With the product in the ship's bottom and not at Moturoa, the directors of the Makalm factory, it is understood, could pav out on a shilling rate instead of 10% d, hut in the present uncertainty they do not feel justified in doing so. It is expected the season will average about Is 3d per lb —Stratford Post.

The Japanese Press is full of the subject of a proposed Russo-Japaiieso Alliance. Japanese diplomats at Pctrograd have written home favorably of such a possibility, and leading men in. .Japan are open in its advocacy. One of the most able and conspicuous of Japanese statesmen, the celebrated orator, Saburo Shimada, has boldly stated that the war with Russia was due to misunderstanding, and really a blunder, wasting the blood of nearly two millions of mou on the plains of Manchuria, and that an alliance with Russia should bo concluded.

That Napier is steadily progressing, says the Telegraph, is agaiii demonstrated by the amount of building which -went on during the vear ended March 31. In that period the corporation officials issued permits for the erection of buildings, the value totalling in all £64,884, as compared with £44.007 for the previous twelv*. months. This, of course, does not include Napier South, which is merging into the city, and the building figures of which will in future be added to those of the city. Chief of note in. the new buildings erected last year are the motor garages, no fewer than three big motor houses having been built.

Two striking instances of determination on the part of men unemployed owing to the war to suffer in-silence rather than publish their misfortunes are cited by Sister Esther, a well-known worker amongst the poor of Auckland. Since the war began, she said, two perfectly respectable men have been sent to gaol for failing to pay fines inflicted upon them for not sending their children to school. In each case the father was genuinely unable to get work but rather than make his conditions known in court went to gaol. Neither man had ever been imprisoned before. One 'of these cases was particularly hard, because the child had been ill, and the only doctor who could certify the fact had 1 gone to the war. Had these facts been made known to the Magistrate concerned, Sifter Esther is convinced that the two men in question would never have been imprisoned.

Mr. Michael O'Shca, Eawhitiroa, had some interesting tilings to Bay to an JMtliam A-.-rtis representative ,on Saturday last concerning the hardships of backblock settlers in the not very long ago. "I came to this district in 1894," said Mr. O'Shca. " That's just twentyone years ago. Well, if you saw this town at that time you would hardly believe your eyes. There was more 'bush than town then. Eawhitiroa was a wilderness. I used to have to walk sixmiles to obtain a paper. The only little bit of' outside news that we got wae when I walked those six miles every week-end. Oh, no. of course six miles is not far, but if you had to walk through, I think you would sooner have played the stay-at-home. I had to .walk through thick bush, and the track was very narrow, and in wet weather it wasn't all honey, I can tell you. I used to do it every week-end —wet or. fine. We poor settlers there used to thirst for outside news, and if we didn't make our week-end trip we would have to go without it." And did you never get to a theatre, or have some taste of civilisation? the pressman asked. " Theatre. Oh, my! Why, New Plymouth was the only town worth visiting by companies in those days, and New Plymouth took some getting to, I can tell you. All the civilisation we got we obtained from our weekly paper. Ah, yes. Things have altered a lot since those days. I can drive into Eltham now when ever I want to, without having to scramble through thick bush, but I often think of the good old days."

Mr. (leorge Frame, who was one of the victims of the sinking of the Falaba, was born and educated at Sapicr. TTc was a civil engineer, and after leaving New Zealand was engaged in South America. Recently he entered the service of the Admiralty, and was in charge of certain works in Ireland connected with the construction of some, large docks for men-o'-war. After his recent marriage, about six or seven months ago, Mr. Frame was ordered to West Africa by the British naval authorities, and lie was on his way there when the Falaba was Mown un. Ho was thirty years of age.