LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 287, 13 May 1915, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

llw shops in New Plymouth which observe the weekly half-holiday on Ihursday will, from to-dav, close at noon, instead of one o'clock

r 10 regulation preventing women from aniliiiK tit Samoa. Ims been remove! bv tiifi Defence, authorities. The rcstrictlo" st,U "PI s, however, to wives of soldiers now serving on the. island.J less Association.

At a recruiting rally at iPatca on Monday evenmg, the following handed in hen- names for active service .--John Abeit Pym. James Laurence Edwards Mud rs.Tames farradus, Henrv Rc». maid Clark Albert Swain, rt Jom '''» ™<l Kdward John Thome

IWH-""' of , t '"' R "«« , t.v''«* the I'lwvnt.ono! Cruelty to |) lim |, A, lima . s ■1 Ae,,' Plymouth, the chairman the ; -.A.i f .roiviie,b ro , lfr , ltll|)lll( ; s^ ' «"t of cruelty mvolved in the conrsin.r /calami. It appeared that a to deal with tlio practice.

.in\ kid-glove business n dealing win, -m-t-wvight „read cases aKWS tin ,«!,,, the price is high and there I- ... el poverty about." Such was the d deration of Mr. E. V . Erazer SM wL I f a " d , .■ vest « nl ».v, when bakers ueie bctore him on charges of bavin" ThemaS

Mr'p V g u--..^ tl,am the otk ' r «»Sl't, jK,f' U »'«■ J1.1>., mil i thati f " WM w< ' re gainst us "Hj.uate.st conquest of the enmm, »0.,1, ihe the British colonics DnUhe? >e asked, realise what that meant? The oot, fibre, and (branch of our •<mp,re wn „ at stake .„ tbi » '« «oi,hi appeal to every; available man to come forward. He ,!id not know .liclher be would be eligible, but, if so he would offer bis services. '

In connection with the .Stratford fire early yesterday morning, }[ r . I'ivac's ■lidding, which ha a suffered to some extent, was insured for £250, the plate glass for m, and Mr. I'ivac's stock and liUings for £2OO, all in the Queensland olhce. Mr. Stone's stock is covered with an insurance of £12,"), also in that office. Lie budding, of wood and iron, was owned by llr. F. \Y. Wake, of Auckland, and, it is understood, was insured in the United Oil'ice, ibut the amount is not known. Mr. T. Mercer ihad a cover of £(>oi> on bis stock and fittings in the I'hoenix oil'ice, and Mr. Kelly's billiard saloon, furniture and fittings were insured for £OOO in another office.

Steps are being taken in Xew Plymouth to obtain an expression of oiiinion m favor of legislation being Introduced during the coming session, in regard to fixing a day to be universally observed as the statutory lialf-holidav. Communications are in progress between the chief towns with this object. As the majority of the people, whether employers or employees, are in favor of one day being generally observed, it is Hoped that the Ciovermneiit in the lace of this fact (if expressed by resolutions of boroughs and chambers of commerce) would introduce an amendment to the Shop and Offices Act to give, olleet to the popular demand for a universal half-holiday.

Good progress continues to be made on the Opunake branch line of railway works at the Te Itoti end. for a considerable distance the formation work is being pushed on, the line fenced off, and f'llmgs made. At one point the level of the line is considerably above the road level and the road is being made up; at another point near .Untapu it passes some feet below the road level, and an overhead bridge will have to be put in ISetween fifty and sixt.\( men are at work, including a number of co-operative men from Wellington, and the number of temporary sheds and whares near the Te Itoti end give quite a bu.;v aspect to the place. Apparently no start has yet lieen made with 'the Wamgong'oro bridge.—Star.

"Vou cannot drink water here, there and everywhere, like vou can in Xew Zealand," writes a Xew Zealand trooper to a relative in Xew Plymouth. "All drinking water has to be boiled, and vou are not allowed to bathe either in'the -Nile or in the canals on account of some insect that gets into the blood through the pores of the skin, setting up a disease of the blood for which so far no cure Ims been discovered. Water can be got anywhere by sinking to the level of the Nile. The "greatest drawback is the sand. You eat sand, drink sand, breathe sand and sleep on sauil. To the newcomer the constant eating of sand causes sand colic, which is a very severe kind of dysentery and leaves the victim very weak. The horses get it also, and in many eases succumb."

I At a meeting of the Central School Committee, the headmaster reported: 'J'he average attendance for the last four weeks respectively W!K.i'2!,i, f>:?ll.:t, H 12.-1 and :),'!l.r>; average for the month, 521.:!, licin»' !>:!.! per cent, of the average roll. The present roll is fiu'li; the hifrhest attendance, on April 20. 51)7, and the lowest, on April 27 (very wet day), -177. Ten pupils were admitted during the »'<"illi. and three left. .Miss Williams, who has been aetine temporarily since the of the year, left on Friday last, and the permanent leacher. Miss Anthony, took up her duties. It is very plcasine; („ „ote (he «rn\viii« tendency anions parents l 0 send their children regularly to school. It is i|ui(e customary now to ask permis-,ion to stay away, and if the eause is a. reasonable one this permission is never refused. Of course, in case of sickness, children cannot be expected to conn' to school, but if they are required for any special reason n request to that effect will always receive attention.

A pathetic family tragedy occurred at Cioud wood, a suburb of Adelaide, a fortnight ago. Charles Angas, a mason's laborer, the father of seven children, the. eldest of whom is '2-2. ami the youiigc»t. two, died on the Friday night from.heart trouble. A little later Mrs. Aligns collapsed. She was taken to the Adelaide hospital, where a baby was born, but. did not live. Tin; woman rallied flight": iy, but died on Saturday afternoon..

In the last few mouths no fewer tluui nine steamers have arrived in Australia, from ' Eastern ports with smallpox: oji Honrd. This is accepted by the, Commoinvealtli Director of Quaraaiitttv (Dr. Cumpston) as an indication, of. the beginning of a severe smallpox cycle in that particular part of the world., ' Ho.stated last week that past ox-periejicu showed that there were well-dclined: uval«n oi epidemic disease like smallpox. ' Cnder Ins instructions preparations have been made to cope with the. introduction of the disease into the. ('ommonwcu)th, and Ik; advises persons who intend travelling in Asia or among the adjacent islands to become properly vaccinated More leaving Australia.

Many strange incident's, are related as the outcome of the. fighting round La Bassec, and two coineidvueos are peculiarly interesting. Af;,,,. solw „f the brisk attacks and counter-attacks near Festubert, a knot jrf the Grenadiers found themselves, iu charge of a couple of Herman prisoners, whom they proceeded to examine with some sharpness, until one of the two turned to a Guardsman with the remark: "Jx>ok here, Mick, give an old 'pal a chance. Don't you remember me when 1 was in the 'Grenadiers?'' "Mick" looked more closely at the prisoner, ami discovered him to be

a man whc.in he remembered as having served three years iu the regiment. Further explanations followed, and it transpired that the German, who had been born in England, had returned to Berlin, where he had married a German wife, and she had insisted upon his taking up arms for the ■Fatherland. In a second case a coincidence also figures. A prisoner turned on one of his surprised captors with the threat: "i'ou treat me decently, or when 1 get you back in Smetliwjck I'll make it hot for vou." He was recognised by the man thus addressed as a quondam Smethwick ironworker.

Tlie Chinese Keep down rata liy eating them, and maintain that this diet tends to stave oir baldness. They are split open, dried and tlu-ii powdered with a finely-ground white bark, which gives them tliu appearance of haddocks as they ban;; in buy strings over rat vendors' stalls. Some Ktm.'peans who have eaten rats pronounce them palatable enough. '"When a man has mustered' murage enough to devour anything unfamiliar," writes Dr. Arthur' Stradlimjj "he does not like to confess afterwards that it was not good; but, accordin" to my experience, one rarely has the opportunity of a fair test, because one has almost invariably to cook for oneself; No one else, servants included, will' touch the things. 1 firmly believe rats would be very nice if properly prepared. The flesh of those I ate, though perfectly white, was dry and tasteless;, but then they were only skinned, eleainvl and submitted to the fire without any of the etceteras winch make other meats savory."

Chatter at knitting tea parties about the war and war plans and so forth is mischievous, as any sensible person will admit. Says a correspondent: "London is a iiot-hed of insanely indiscreet gosH]i> which is bound to filter through to the German headquarters staff. For ex- •»»!'''', several days before the Dardanelles were bombarded, I was told that hey were to he bombard,,]. The fact that the Queen Kiizabeth had gone out was openly discussed. H„ w ,j 0 these leakages occur? As far as I can make out they can be traced to dinner parties. _ niaiik: tells Dash and Dash tells Asterisk. i n twenty-four hours the ■tary S ecre, s all over London. One uaiH these things without wanting to strYf "f r J , mvc W » J"»rt the 2 8 ° r frd Kitchener predicted so l»ce sely that I trembled. Then there are the gossips who talk about army ino 1 e not.ces put up in London society, too: >,ix on the war talk."'

I ). al ] idure patrons will find the »»w •programme for Saturday i„ the amusement columns e