LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 279, 4 May 1915, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The Chief Postmaster notifies that stamp booklets are now obtainable at the New Plymouth Post Office.

On a charge of drunkenness, a firt't offender was convicted and discharged at the New Plymouth Magistrate's Court yesterday.

On the motion of Mr. Quilliam (Messrs Govett and Quilliam), probate of the will of William King Jonas (deceased) has been granted hy Mr. Justice Jlosking to the executors named in the will.

'An inquest .concerning the death of William McCormick, who was killed near Tataraimaka on Saturday evening, was opened at the New Plymouth Courthouse yesterday. After evidence of identification had been taken the inquest was adjourned until next Monday.

We were shown on Saturday last a particularly good sample of appbs grown by Mr. Harry Cole, of the Veale road. The fruit in question is a cooking apple, known as the Alfreston, but as a desert -has considerable merit.' The apples) are large, beautifully even and of good appearance.

A meeting of creditors in the estate of A. Crcsswell, pork butcher, bankrupt, was held in New Plymouth yesterday, the 0.0.A. (Mr. J. S. Medley) presiding. A committee of two was set up to confer with the D. 0. A. in regard to future action. It was stated that bankrupt had left the country.

A silting of the Prisons Board was held in New Plymouth yesterday. Routine business was done and the Board will leave for Wellington this morning. The members of the Board present in New Plymouth were: Sir Robert Stout, Mr. George Fenwiek, Mr. C. B. Jordan, Mr. W. Hay, and Mr. W. Recce

"I often wish that a 15-iiieh sncll would drop on Lambton Quay or .Willis Street on a busy, afternoon," said Mr. Doyle at the Ly'all Bay meeting of the National reserve last week. "It would wake people up and cause them to realise the real gravity of the conflict the nation is engaged in."—Wellington Post.

An Independent' Cable Association message to Australian papers, sent from Vancouver on April 20, states:—"At Montreal last night 'Sam' Langford and 'Porky' Mynn fought an eight-round contest, but gave a very poor exhibition. The referee interfered, and stated that the men were not trying to fight. The crowd thereupon chased them out of the ring, booing and hissing at them."

A few weeks ago pheasants were reported to be very plentiful in the Okato district, consequently a goodly number of sportsmen from various parts of Taranaki assembled at the Stony River hotel on Friday night, where they had secured accommodation in readiness for an early onslaught on the birds the following morning, when the season opened. The majority, however, were disappointed, as the birds had evidently become aware of the fateful day and hn>d flown to pastures new. One pheasant and two or three quail formed the average bag —though there were isolated instances of good bag 3.' Not to be done out of their sport, some clay pigeon shooting was indulged in, the first sweepstake being won by Mr. B. T. Booker, and the second by" Mr. Whetton of Manaia. Stratford sportsmen also had poor sport, only quail being plentiful. One of the sportsmen obtained 29 quail, but only one pheasant.

When Count BtU'iistorfl' failed to bluff America about Germany's responsibility j fin- the war which ■Austria-Hungary nominally began, the aid of learned men, distinguished in siccnee, art, education and literature, was invoked. Some 03 professors attached their names to a circular,... "An Appeal to the Civilised World," which was distributed throughout the United States. This was an attempt to persuade the nations that ' C.ermauy was more injured than injuring, and the blame for the nrencli of peace must be put upon 'Germany's enemies. One of the signatories was Br. Fritz Schaper, a personal friend of Mr. Samuel Harden Church, President of the Carnegie Institute, Pittsbury, who sent an open letter in reply (published by the Loudon Times Company in a penny pamphlet). j\lr. Church has given a masterful analysis of the ''Appeal," which he courteously cut into worthless scraps of paper. One of the most interesting passages for Xew Zealanders in that answer is this: "And so, at last, ■my dear Dr. Schaper, we find ourselves shocked, ashamed and outraged that a Christian nation should he guilty of this criminal war. When T say that we hale this conllict and that we execrate the German militarists who made it, I am uttering the opinion of the great majority of the American people, including hundreds of thousands of our German-American citizens. 'There was no justification for it. Armed and defended as you were, the whole world could not have broken into your borders. Your great nation floated its ships in every ocean, sold its wares in the uttermost parts of the earth, and enjoyed the good favor of humanity, because it was trusted as a humane State. But now all this achievement has vanished, all this good opinion has been destroyed. You cannot, in half a fcntiiry, regain the spiritual and material benefits which you have lost." I

There 'was a fair attendance of settlers of tlio district at tho 801 l Block hall last night at tho meeting culled to discuss the proposal to establish cooperative freezing works in North Taranaki. Mr. J. S. C'onnett presided, aim the meeting was addressed by Mr. Newton King on similar linea as reported at previous meetings. Mr. I'. A. Oponshaw, of Lcpperton, wlio lias been canvassing the district with considerable success, also spoke. At tho conclusion sixty additional shares were applied for in tho room. After an absence of several mouth*, the small whaling steamer llananui 11 returned to Auckland on Friday. The Hananui II came to Auckland from (lie Campbell Islands over twelve months ago, and after refitting proceeded to the Northern whaling waters, with \Yhangamumu as headquarters. The vessel's search for whales during the two seasons has been most successful, m:d her catch totalled 52. For the past five months the Hananui II has been laid up at Russell, and the station at Whangamumu is closed until the season opens in a few weeks' time. She will undergo her annual bmvcv and overhaul at Auckland, and will "leave for the North about a fortnight hence.

An ingenious method of assisting the Belgian Fund has been initiated by the manager of the Auckland Tramways Company, Mr. J. J. Walklate. He has arranged for tho sale of numbered tickets at one penny each to passengers on the tram-cars, and the whole of the" money raised in this way will be paid into the Belgian Fund. The special ticket will not represent payment of the ordinary fares, but it is expected they will prove a popular means for making occasional contributions to the fund. Every penny subscribed in this way will be "doubled by the (iovornment subsidy and it is anticipated that in the aggregate the fund will be materially assisted by the. scheme. .Some thousands of pounds have been collected in a similar manner in the City of Edinburgh.

An officer of the Tango Mara, recently in Melbourne, stated that trade conditions in Japan at the present time were better than ever. Commerce was expanding in every direction, 'notably with Australia, Russia and America. The Tango Maru, he said, was to take 10,000 bales of wool'from Melbourne for the Senzi Woollen Factory, which -'s near Tokio. This factory at the present time is busily engaged manufacturing garments for use by the Russians. As an indication of the expansion of trade in Japan, lie stated that five steamers -were under order in Great Britain for the Nippon Yusen Kaisha Line, while the company was also building a number in Japan. Other companies were purchasing small steamers from Australian owners.

A Lancashire Territorial now in Egypt writes to his people at Accrington:—"l meet any amount of palscolor no object. I'm pally with all the .Xew Zealand boys at the depot. A right decent lot they are, too, and generally I'm in time for a cup of tea, which the'v msist on my having while mv bovs are leading tiie waggon. Here's a true yarn tor you: One of the New Zealand 'companies out here, had an inspection the other day, the inspecting officer being a bit of a 'knut,' who wore a monocle. He noticed one of the men needed a shave very badly, so, adjusting his bit o glass, and eyeing :him up and down a lew times, said, ,Ha-ha! Xo shave this morning!' Guess his surprise when the chap replied, 'He-he! No razor.' Result—seven days." "We can account fully and satisfactorily for the falling oh" in the uo-lieen»e vote last year," declared ifr. Wesiev iSpragg, ex-president of the New Zeiihu.d Alliance, prior to his return to Auckland the other day. -It i s not necessary thai, I should give you details. Wc have an ample majority o; the members who were elected to represent the people in Parliament pierced to work and vote for the reduction of the handicap from 00 to ao .per cent We knew that we would have to pay .to,- the action which was required to he taken to secure that result, but it is the first time we have entered into po itics-apart from being a force, in polties-and we were bound to disturb other relationships, for which we were sorry, if we secure, as we expect to do the reduction of the handicap, there will be no reason why we should again project ourselves as a disturbing factor in the election of members of Parliament, but we should relapse back into the position we were in before." Mr Spragg added that he was confident lrom their present position thev could again score a splendid vote, and'he was looking forward to that happening, especially now that prohibition, or abstinence from liquor, had become not merely popular, but fashionable with the King and leaders generally, because it was recognised as hurtful. ' He need scarcely call attention to the progress of the movement in America, for nearly every day brought a message of further a A r .r aa i°' ns " (Iry '" whilst thei >' great Allies, Russia and France, had set splendid examples of the reform which, in his opinion, was going to do so much to uplift civilisation.

Copies of several posters published in England with a view of stimulating recruiting have been received in Mew /eakind. One is entitled "The Scrap of Paper," the treaty which guaranteed Belgium s neutrality, and was signed in 1539 by Great Britain, Austria I'iance, Germany, Russia and Belgium. tAnother depicts a father asked of Ins son: "What did you do to help Britain for her freedom iu 1915'"' cheery, smiling Tommy i s the centre of another poster, headed, "Come Alon» Boys!" and a photo of the late Lord Roberta, with tlie words: "He did his duty; will you do yours?" makes a striking appeal in two others. A poster calculated to arrest attention with 'Halt! Co into training!" and another headed, "Why more men are needed" are artistically printed in bold tvpe, the latter containing an excerpt from Mr Asquith's fiuildhall speech, when he said that Britain would not sheath the sword until Belgium had recovered all and move than she had sacrificed. A fine poster displays the stern Tommy on sentry, in the background being a burning Belgian home ami a Belgian mother and child looking hopefully to the representative, of Britain, the'heading being, "Remember Belgium." Another stirring appeal is entitled, "Men of Britain, will you stand this?" and underneath is a cottage at No. 2 Wykeham street, Scarborough, wrecked bv the Cennan bombardment on December u last, and in which many people were killed, mostly women and children. The posters are striking evidence of the vigorous recruiting campaign being conducted by the Parliamentary Committee m England.