LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 265, 19 April 1915, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Gisborna is congratulating itself upon having procured tho services of an additional policeman. A slight shock of earthquake was felt in New Plymouth shortly before eight o'clock last night. By this morning's express train twen-ty-seven young men will leave for Trentham to undergo training for the reinforcements for tho front. The following amounts will be pah* out to-morrow by the Stratford dairy factories: Cardiff £1702, Ngacre £4024, Lowgarth £1750, Stratford £7070. According to tho local paper tho visiting bowlers at tho Easter tournament at Cambridge spent close on £IOOO in Cambridge during their stay. It is surprising to what lengths the sneak thief will go. The contractor at the new electric lighting sub-station in Liardcfc Street has had fittings stolen from his engine there on two occasions recently. The fittings will cost some pounds to replace. A very narrow escape from a serious accident was witnessed in Devon Street on Saturday afternoon. A waggon and I pair of horses was proceeding along the street near Ambury's corner, when a little girl stepped in front of it. The horses were pulled up within but a few inches of the child, for whom it was very fortunate that the driver had them well under control. At the Stratford Magistrate's Court on Friday, Joseph McCluggage sued J. C. Monteftore, late of Taranaki, and now of To Awamutu, for the sum of £l9, alleged to have been paid to a third party on Montefiore's behalf. After evidence had been heard, the Magistrate (Mr. W. G. Kenrick, S.M.) gave judgment for the amount of claim, with £4 8s Cd costs. H.M.S. Kent, in smashing the Dresden, avenged an old friend and paid a debt to the sunken Monmouth. Those ships were on the China station together, and during a typhoon in J lly, 1008, the Monmouth did the Kent a good , turn when the latter had dangerously dragged her buoy in Hongkong harbor. The following year the Kent went ashore in the Gulf of Pi-chi-li, ami again it was the Monmouth that answered her wireless and stood by tor the 34 hours the storm lasted.

Private Sir Herbert H. Raphael, MP, the banker and one of the wealthiest men in the House of Commons, who hps a fine house in Cavendish Square, stepped out briskly with D Company of tec Sportsmen's Battalion when they made their route march through London (says a Home paper.) He is rapidly gettiyig fit, the marching being an admirable antidote to the debilitating influenco ol the House, and he is remarkably popular among his comrades, who vote him a good fellow.

With his briefs, the barrister changes color like a chameleon. Mr C. P. Sk"rrett, K.C., caused some amusement in the Full Court recently by relating Huh lie was now engaged in arguing the exact opposite to what' he did some years ago, in the ease in which the question of the exclusiveness of electoral rolls first cropped up in this country. On tint occasion, he explained, he was covering the ground taken by Sir John Findlay, K.C., while Mr Bell was launching against him contentions which he himself now had to adopt.

Wars no longer exterminate (s,i*s Chiozza Money.) There was a time in the world's history when wars of extermination were possible. No such possibility exists to-day. At the end ,->t tins war Germany will contain more people than at its beginning. Indeed, we are not warring to .exterminate the ci.itmans. We are engaged to put do*.i those elements of attempted domination which have come to rule in ' Germany, and to make it clear that as to Germany, or as to any other Power, the world will never again tolerate a military over-lordship.

The Otaki paper states that a scene of an unpleasant nature occurred at the Hutt County Offices on Tuesday, when two councillors nearly got to fisticuffs. Jn consequence, the meeting adjourned for half-an-hour, but even this did ml cool the heated members, who expostulated with each other till their faces almost came into contact. Onco or twice it appeared as if blows would be struck, and challenges to "come outside" were frequent. One unconcerned councillor left the room hurriedly, and was not seen during the rest of the day, others watched for developments.

In an interview which he gave to an Auckland reporter, Mr J. J. Boy-.'l, formerly of Wellington, said that one tiling which he. did not find satisfac'o.-y on his recent trip abroad, was the mariner in which Australia gets all the credit in the. English papers for the assistance Unit comes from this part or the world. The part New Zealand is playing in contributing men and money is rarely mentioned in the Home papers, but Australia's doings are kept proficiently before the English public. Tills was a matter which he brought umhr the notice of the High Commissioner in the hope of seeing it rectified.

A good deal of variety fails to the lot of the average reporter, mid the >vcent lift fatality in Auckland prese.-.ts a tragic phase as yet unknown to the public. One of the Auckland papers sent a special reporter immediately to procure a first-hand "story" and the reporter was horrified to find, when lie arrived at the scene, that the victim wu* his fiancee, to whom he was to have been married a fortnight following. As was to be expected the poor young fellow collapsed, and is only just recovering from probably the most unpleasant experience that has fallen to his lot during his varied career.

Often we have been told that the standard of music teaching is hi;:ii (says the Otago Daily Times). IIe:e is one more proof of that statement. In the scheme of the Trinity College six exhibitions are allotted to Canada, Tasmania, and New Zealand—not six for each country, but six for the three, ihe results of the 1915 examinations are. just to hand, and of the six exhibitions that are possible five have come to Dunedin. Of the five Dunedin students, three are the pupils of Miss filadys Stonehamviz.. .Marjorie Stoneham in the senior ela«s, .lean V. Wagner in the intermediate, and Garth R. Stoneham in the ,]i iuor, the latter receiving 100 murkv

According- to Mr Nisliida, a member oi the Japanese Trade Commission in Nc« Zealand, horses do not do very well in Japan, and every year the Governmonl imports largely for army purposes. Breeding is not -curried on very extensively. Questioned by a reporter, Mr. Nishida said that in the event of trade I development between New Zealand and Japan, lie did not think that there would at first be much domand for butter and cheese, but that the taste would bo acquired later by the people. The drawback to trade in the past hal been the lack 1 of a direct service between Japan and New Zealand, and on their return arrangements would be institute towards remedying this lack. At t':e present time, it is stated, ships to Australia, from Japan were booked up for four or five months ahead. "We are very keen to capture the trade which recently went to (iermany," said Mr. Kishida.

There were some sixteca or eighteen big motor-cars in Manaia on Wednesday morning, the property chiefly of Maori landlords and aristocrats—the idle rich of New Zealand.—Witness.

The Awatuna Dairy Company will pay out a penny bonus on the 20th instant for butter-fat supplied during the cheese-making period. This will be much appreciated by the farmers, as their herds are rapidly diminishing in their milk yields. It lias been decided to erect a new curing-room in ferroconcrete by day labor, and Mr. Amoore, of Kltham, will have charge of the work. The directors have also decided to erect a ww house for the manager; this building, which is urgently needed, will be built on a corner of the recently acquired farm, and will enable the management to remedy the over-crowding evil at thf men's quarters.—Argus.

The valuation of the town of Opunake is £105,000; valuation for water and drainage rate £90,500; estimated cost of scheme £11,700. Interest on this sum at 6 per cent. £702; upkeep and attendance £54; total £754; to provide this sum it would be necessary to make a rate of 2d in the £. It would be an eye-opener to the ratepayers if it were put in tabulated form the losses the town and district has incurred on two items alone—labor and material—by not following a vigorous progressive local policy such as providing water and drainage, together with county road loan and an improved harbor. Ten years ago when these proposals were discussed labor was cheap, and material correspondingly so—Opunake Times.

The effect of the drought on business is very noticeable in all parts .of tho Commoiiv.ialtli, except Queensland. Actording to a recent visitor the problem which presented itself more forcibly to him was how the Government is to"collect its taxation this year. There suvt millions of acres of land in the Commonwealth which do not appear to have pro duced enough to pay even the taxes. The various State Governments aie, therefore, faced with a very series problem, as the whole of them, especially New South Wales, are working on deficits, spending ' more than their annual revenue. Queensland was the only State which had experienced anyth'ng like an average year, to the high prices which had been obtained for meat. In one case alone a stockbroker had sold 12,000 head of cattle at £ll a head, to be delivered next month.

The Uniti Nursing Association is holding a "Soldiers' Day" on Thursday, , April 29. It may not lie generally t known that quite half the meinhcrg of 5 the Association are young men, and the - majority of these have either left or ' are leaving for the war. It very natur- ' ally follows that Uruti is very keenly ' interested iit the men who are fighting ! our battles for us, and realises to the 5 full that by sending medical and other 1 comforts to the Allies' wounded and ■ gifts to the men in the fighting line, i or who soon will be, it is helping, even in small measure, to form a link with . them in the only way possible. Gifts ] of useful or fancy work-books, proJ duce. home-made sweets or cakes, etc., , will be very thankfully received' and "_ acknowledged in the papers by the sec- . rotary of the association (Mrs. LarJ sen). New 'Plymouth gifts arc to be ( sent to 40, Devon Street, by kind permission of the Victoria League, who ; will forward other gifts to TJruti r.uij- ' ing Cottage or store. ' The drought in Australia was partially ' relieved by rain at the end of. March. Commenting on the fall, in its issue of s April 1, the Sydney Morning Herald said: L -"Where the rain has been at all heavy or persistent it will prove of incalculable value, and, through the wheat areas served by it, farmers will now be able to plough and do work which three days , ago seemed hopeless. New South Wales almost from end to end on the cousLward L side has been blessed indeed, but iv< u L there it is too soon to say the drought has actually broken. Our best cconr- ' agement should lie in the f:\ct that Hie , rain has-begun, that it hi.', l/.-er. warm ' and widespread, and that the time of year is favorable for repetitions Which will give us all relief. But drought still remains through a great deal of ■ country, taking in Victoria and South Australia, and stretching up through our , vast West. There the sheep have bo'ii . dying by thousands, In the South, cs- , pectally, the menace of disaster is very distinct and serious, the IhCro" so tlut fodder is practically unobtainable, although pastoralists and farmers ha ,-e money to expend in keeping, their stock alive, but find it useless in a dcsperiit'.' emergency." A case which the Dominion describes as the most extraordinary in the legal annals of Xew Zealand, that of Myers v. Crazier, was decided by Mr. Justice Denniston in Christchureh on Tuesday. In .1(110 the Destitute Persons Act was amended and a clause lays it down that the refusal of a Magistrate Vo make an allilication order shall be no bar to further applications against the same or un.y other defendant. This provision means that if Magistrates can be. induced to grant the necessary summonses the same person can be haled before the Justices Bench in every town in Xew Zealand, in the hope that at hist a conviction will be secured. Since August, 1912, John Scott Myers, of C'liiistchr.'cli, has on no fewer than nine occasions sought to have Albert Herbert Croz'ier. of the same city, adjudged the father of a child born to MyersV. daughter. Four of ths applications v re dismissed by Mr. Bailey, S.M., two were withdrawn, and three have been granted by Mr. Day, the Asiiburton Magistrate. Against each of these three decisions of Mr. Day's Crozier has appealed to the , Supreme Court, and on each occasion his appeal has been upheld. Nevertheless, Ci'ozier is at this moment in the Lyttelton Goal, serving a sentence of one month's imprisonment for failure to pay arrears of maintenance. On the appeal against Mr. Day's first decision'in October, 1912, Mr. Justice Denniston found that the girl's evidence lacked corroboration. On the second appeal, his Honor found the girl telling a completely different story, and still without corroboration. Tn his judgment on Tuesday, he stated that no new facts whatever had been adduced. It j is possible under the Act for this conflict between the Upper and Lower Courts to go ,on indenitely. And, moreover, his Honor says that he is without power to order the release of Crozier, and can only mention the matter to the proper authorities. i On another page of this issue, Mr. C. ' A. Wilkinson, general merchant, Eltham, ' makes an important announcement. He ' particularises goods which he is selling '■ at wholesale prices as well as paying railway and motor freight. Many of ' the lines are illustrated, giving the read- ' ers a faint idea of the great bargains of- ' fering. The advertisement can be profitably read by those in search of good •' value and real bargains. (