LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, 19 July 1915, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The Financial Statement will probably be delivered to-morrow.

The Patea Patriotic League has, to date, received .£251.') 4s lOd for its various funds.

Mails sent per Wcllington-Brindtsi despatch of May 20 arrived in London on the 13th inst.

A sitting of the Arbitration Court will be held in New Plymouth next Friday. The only dispute set down for hearing is that of the painters and decorators' union.

The Rev. (!. W. Dent, of Kltham, gave a stirring address to men at St. Mary's Church yesterday afternoon. The congregation was not large. The speaker's remarks were thoroughly appreciated.

Tt is stated (says the Stratford PosV) tlmt of nil the commanding oilicers :it this landing on the Uallipoli Peninsula Colonel .Miilumi was tho only one who wns not then wounded.

The Mounted Hi Acs ball held at 111Kl" wood on Tliuri sday though not as well patronised as it should have been, proved most enjoyable. The proceeds are earmarked for the wounded soldiers' fund.

At the usual session of the New Plymouth Brotherhood yesterday afternoon the Rev. 0. Ireland, of Patea, gave ;ui interesting address entitled "The Supreme Importance of Trifles.'' Mr. H. Cocker presided.

Last week the New Plymouth East Inlying Club held a race from Palmei'stou North, a distance of lliO miles in unfavorable weather. The l'aee resulted as follows:—II. .1. Moverley's Kowhai, ohrs., 1; W. Beal's , "dir. 20niin., 2; !■'. James' Castor .Oil, Bhr. iSinin., :i. A further call is made to patriotic l farmers for stock for the gift auction' sale, which takes place in Stratford on Tuesday next, in aid of the Wounded Soldiers' Fund. The sale will be an important one, and a big sum towards tills very necessary fund should result from the efforts of the members of the Scottish Society. »

At the, last meeting of the Waimate West County Council a discussion on tar for road-making resulted in a decision to order 10,000 gallons of Australian tar, it being stated that Australian lar was made from Newcastle coal, a li.'a'.'ter coal than New Zealand, an.l thai a guarantee was given that the tar was a full, heavy bodied tar free from floating water.

A Stratford resident, whoso business takes him right into the backbloeks aiul around the district extensively, reports that the back roads are in a very bad state. Between Douglas and Strathmore there is a. big washout, whieh pulled Dr. Paget up last week, and which li. 1 pluckily crossed and walked to his patient. The whole road is one mass of slips. From Kiore to Purangi the road is practically impassable. The Mangj.papa road will be impassable for weeks, except, perhaps, for pack traffic.. A large number of sheep were lost by settlers during the late spell of ba! weather—the worst experienced for years in the district.—l'ost.

Harry Lander, writing to a friend in Christclmrch, is as full of fervid 'patriotism as all good (Scots are when Britain is involved in desperate war. '"Our generations,"' he says, "will for ever and ever bless the name 'Britisher.' Scotland, I rojoiec to say, ia top <log again. The 'Spartan spirit' is not dead; it lives in Scotland yet. It's Tingin' thro' our mithcr's cry: 'Go on, Jock, do your bit!' and 1 feci sure the. boys of Xew Zealand will all rally Tound the. old flag. We only need the numbers; we have the grit. Tile Germans are not heat until the war is ended, and that must not be until Britain and her Allies have exacted from our unworthy foe the last ounce of regret and shame. Tell any young fellows you know we want them here, to be ready to enter the den when the door of the cage is opened. We need them all, the men of pluck like tlie boys of th« old Brigade." A case of some interest to dairy farmers was heard at Martinborough last week, when W. Hartly claimed a sum oi £2 from the Tawaha Dairy Co., Ltd. It appears that the manager of the company, in his report to the directors, showed that five suppliers to the factory on a certain date added from 5 to 15 per cent, of water to their milk supply, as recorded by the lactometer teat at tlie factory. The directors, in accordance with the bye-laws of the company, enforced a fine, the plaintiff being one of the five. Plaintiff denied the offence at a meeting of directors, who, however, refused to remit the fine iipposed. Plaintiff's counsel sought to prove that tin? lactometer test could not be taken as conclusive proof, and also that the by--law, as drafted, was not altogether a reasonable one. Considerable evidence was given as to lactometer testing. The magistrate, in non-suiting plaintiff, said that he considered that the bye-laws o'' the company were reasonable. Private James B. Lynda, Auckland Infantry, in relating his own experience, writes that he landed early on the morning of April 25, and was wounded in the shoulder about 2 p.m. lli3 rifle was also broken, and he picked up another abandoned by a wounded comrade, and continued "blazing away." Two hours later he was shot in tlie leg, and had to leave the firing line, "I started t« crawl to the beach," he continued, "and had gone about 100 yards when I was wounded in the same leg again. This made me very sick, but I rested for a few minutes, and then dragged myself along again for about half a mile until another bullet struck the same leg. It must have been fully an hour before I could resume my dreadful crawl, and I could not have been going more tlun ten minutes when I got another bullet through the same leg. This time I did not stop, for it was life or death to get to the beach." From information given to the police, it appears that a clever swindler has been at work in Dunedin, and has oper- , ated from there to Ashburton and Invercargill. In April a man who purported to carry on business as a produce and general merchant, leased an office in Ihmedin, and from there communicated with a number of Invercargill firms, asking for samples and quotations of grain. These were supplied, and presently the man ordered small quantities of wheat and oats. Before these were delivered inquiries were caused to be made regarding the financial position of' the purchaser, but investigations showed that he had a credit balance with one of the banks, and delivery was given. Tlie credit balance and the small orders are interpreted by the police to mean that a clever rogue was at work. Later on the man lodged orders for large quantities, and, as his financial position had already been investigated and found satisfactory, the orders were filled. When demands for payment were forwarded there was r.o response, so further inquiries were made. These elicited the information that the man had di* appeared, but had first disposed of tli» grain and other produce through a Shinedin firm of auctioneers.

A pathetic incident is reported in a letter received in Christchurch from tin; Dardanelles. Two cousins, Harold and William Anderson (the former being a brother of Mr. Lopdell, New Brighton!, whose parents reside near each other in Melbourne, answered the call for recruits, William joining a Victorian regiment and Harold, who was holidaymaking in New Zealand, enlisted with the 10th North Auckland Regiment. They had not "ceil one another for three years, when they were growing lads of seventeen, and their parents were naturally desirous that they should meet i:i Kgypt. However, they did not find an opportunity to do so. liotli regiment-, were ordered to the front, and took part in the memorable landing on (iallipoli Peninsula on April 25, and in succeeding battles both were in reserve on May 8, when the fierce battle which exacted such heavy toll among the colonials was raging. Each lad was unconscious of the other's presence in the locality. Bo'.h were ordered simultaneously to reinfor.-e the fast-thinning firing line, and in the rush up the hill, while taking breath, the cousins saw one another for the fir.-fc timd. They .shook hands, exchanged greetings, were swept on with the rush, and did not meet again. Harold was killed in that battle, and William, who is now in hospital, was shot through the neck and shoulder. Considering the circumstances, and the thousands i>f khaki-clad men oil the peninsula, the meeting was a remarkable one. An increase of 38 per cent, in the household expenses of a family of ten persons is shown by a correspondent in a letter to the Auckland Star. He suggests that as the Foods Commission has stated that the increase in the cost of living during the past year has been only 7.1!), his experience should be interesting. He gives a statement of the prices for one week in his household, comparing them with the prices before the war, as follows:—1!' loaves of bread at 4d—before the war, (is 4<l; price at present at fid, 7s lid. 12 lbs flour at (is 3d per 50 lb bag. Is 7d; at 10s 3d 50 lb bag, 2s 7d. 5 lbs butter at Is Id per lb. 5s sd; at Is Sd per lb. Ss 4(1. 15 lb meat at 4d per lb, ss; at (id. 7s fid. 2 lb cheese at Sd per lb. Is 4(1; at lid. Is 10,1. 7 quarts of milk at I'd per quart. Is !)d; at 4d per quart, 2s 4d. Half-pound tea at Is Sd lb. lOd; at Is Hid, lid. 2 His currants at 4d per II), Sd; at (id per lb, Is. 2 Ih sultanas at sd. 10d: at 7d per lb, Is 2d. (V tins jam at 4d per tin, at 5d per tin. 2s (id. 2 lbs bacon at 11(1 per lb, Is 10(1; at Is Id per lb, 2s 2d. 1 tin baking powder. Is; at Is lid, Is liy. 1 lb candles (id. at fid. fid. I bag gerstina. Is 2d; at Is 4d. Is 4(1. Totals:--£1 10s 2(1 and £2 Is 7(1. The attention of the Stratford anl surrounding public is drawn to the insetin to-day's issue giving particulars of Manoy's great bargain winter sale, whi»h starts to-morrow. Particular attention is drawn to the special line of men's Roslvn boxed suits at the Melbourne's sale, at 32s (id. These suits are splendidly tailored and finish.'d and usually prices at 455. Colors are all dark.