LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, 3 January 1916, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The Taranaki Group rifle shooting meeting will be held at the Rewa Rewa, range, New Plymouth, to-day. A hundred and fifty-one entries have been received from all parts of Taranaki, The building trade in Sydney has shown a marked decline during the year, owing to prevailing war conditons, The new buildings in the city and suburbs do not exceed 0800, a decrease of 4000 for the twelve months.

With regard to the blockage in the Mokau river, Mr. W. T. Jennings, M.P., has received the following letter from the Minister of Public Works:—"l am in receipt of your letter of the 22nd inst., covering one from the secretary of the Mokau Harbor Board, with reference to the block caused in the river by timber as a result of the recent floods, and have to state that 1 will obtain a report on the matter." Apparently the "cost of dying" has increased at a greater rate than the "cost of living." A return placed before the Wanganui Hospital Board last week showed that the tost of funerals had exactly doubled—a rise of 100 per cent. The increase in the cost of provisions has been 13 per cent:, and in meat 11 per cent.

The annual training camps for the territorial forces are to be held as usual this year. It is understood that the camp in the Wellington district will 'be held at Rangiotu, which is now occupied by the 3rd and 4th Battalions of the New Zealand Rifle Brigade, and the camp will be in charge of Lieut.-Colonel F. T. Bellringer, of New Plymouth. A start will probably be made about the end of February,, or the beginning of March. If the eight units each receive two weeks' training tho camps will run into May. Mr. H. Okey, M.P., has been in communication with the Minister of Internal Affairs with reference to the procedure in obtaining passports to visit Australia, and incidentally he asked whether there was any authority in New Plymouth to whom applicants could be referred. Mr. Okey has now been inI'ormcd that the Collector of Customs lias been appointed representative of the department in New Plymouth for the purpose of receiving applications for permits.

The Dominion census would, in tho ordinary course, be taken next April. Tlie matter will be considered by the Government shortly, and, in view of the importance of the information obtained, the Government will probably give instructions that the census be taken as usual. Two general elections have been held since the electoral boundaries were revised by the representation commissioners in 1911, and there have necessarily been considerable movements of the population in the interval. A great volume of valuable information regarding the industries of the Dominion is gathered by means of the census returns.

Recently Mr. •!?. Okey, M.P., communicated with iiic lion. Mr. Myers, Minister in Charg- of Munitions 'and Supplies, relative to the making of shells from the iron niiinrt'aetured from Taranaki ironsand. The Minister replied on December 23 as folbws:—"l beg to acknowledge the rot:»iv.'t of your letter in which you state that Mr.'Heskett, who has been experimenting with the Taranaki ironsand, thinks the article being turned out will be most suitable for making shells after being put through 'a further process. I notP your request to be informed as to whether arrangements have been made for tiny particular quantity of steel to be imported and in this connection I have to inform you that the quantity we have u'uder order and which is due to arrive hel e shortly, is sufficient for the trial batel of shells which it is proposed to ma nufacture. 16 will, of course, depend on (the result of this experiment whether /there will be any further steel requited and I regret therefore that I air/ unable to igive you anything more definite than this i at present." I The line of men's folder/panama hats at 19s 6d it the Melbourne] Ltd., te proving an excellent seller. Tmese hats are extra fine plait, of a very Jeven texture, an 4 the bleach is extreme!;* white. Altogether a; worthy, hat coBMSi«r»Wy un-,

The Mail says t\w steamer Paparoa is expected to arrive in the Waitara roadstead on the 20th inst. There are 3000 bales of wool awaiting shipment,' as well as tallow and frtzen meat.

The holiday season will be brought to a close to-day. At New Plymouth, the Taranaki rifle shooting meeting will be held at the Rcwa Rcwa range, while a bowling tournament will be played on the local greens. The second day of the Stratford races is another interesting attraction.

"The quietest Xew Year holidays T have seen in any town," was a constable's description of the week-end in Xew Plymouth. Two men, whose 7iiorriment on Christmas Eve led to their arrest on charges of'drunkenness, found their festive spirits again aroused on New Year's Eve, and they were again afforded the hospitality of the police over the holidays.

One of the casualty lists published this morning is notable its reporting that twelve members of the Ist Battalion Xew Zealand Rifle Brigade have been severely wounded and admitted to hospital at Alexandria. These casualties presumably are the result of the Christmas Day engagement with the Arabs in Xorth-west Egypt, and show that it was evidently the ist Battalion whirl) tlius received its baptism of fire. The Prime Minister said at Auckland that 70.000 acres of land had so far been definitely set aside for returned soldiers. Most of this was in Hawke's Bay. Areas which had been provisionally set aside totalled 439,000 acres—l34,ooo acres in the Auckland district, 93,000 in T.iranaki, 74,000 in Wellington province, 31,000 in Marlborough, 20.000 in Southland, and 17,000 in Otago. So far, said Mr Massey, there had not been a great demand for land, but the Government was anticipating the time when the bulk of the men would have returned.

A troopship arrived at Port Chalmers on New Year's Day direct Tram mien, after a fast and uneventful passage. The only troopers on hoard were two prisoners, whose sentences expired at the conclusion of the voyage, wtien tncy were to 'be discharged from the forces. The vessel also brought Sergeant-Majoi> ■Baker, of the Royal Engineers, who came out to act as instructor to the engineers division of the Dominion forces.—Press Association, Tlie Minister for Education has written to Mr. W, T. Jennings, M.P., as follows:—"I am in receipt of your let-ter-covering a communication from Mr. W. Cowan, regarding the necessity for the provision of a more suitable school at Awakino. In reply, I desire to inform you thatVit is my intention to visit the outlying portions of the various education districts as soon as opportunity offers, and I will, if possible, endeavor to inspect the Awakino school." A large number of people visited Mt. Eginont at New Year and spent an enjoyable time there.. Mr. W. H. Mayes and a party of six others reached the top of the mountain, being the llrflt party to do so this season without a guide, while Mr. Stanley Shaw and a party of seven others also reached the summit. The accommodation at the North Egmont hostelry is now taxed to its utmost.

A Wellington telegram says:—New Year's Day was fine, but was spoiled to some extent for picknicke.rs by a lilgn wind. The various pleasure resorts were well attended, but the people who went across the harbor and leit their return till late had to wait some time owing to a slight mishap to the boiler of one of the ferry boats, putting her temporarily out of commission. Those who could not get on to the last scheduled sailing had to wait till the vessel came back from town to pick them up. By evening the harbor became fairly rough, so holidtvmakerg often got a wetting from spray and many suffered from seasickness.

The takings at the East End picnic on New Year's Day totalled £96, the gates being £l6 more than last year, a Dalanco sheet will be published shortly and the committee hope to show a handsome profit, although they had to j)ay for everything. The committee recognises that the public are being called upon all the time for donations, and are quite satisfied to cater for the public on their own merits, knowing that they can deliver the goods, as the Yankees say. A social and dance was held in the evening, the hall being packed, and by special request the committee are holding another dance this evening, wnen, as usual, everything will be of the best. The people of North Otago, not content with their admirable efforts in the direction of raising funds for our wounded soldiers and supplying Red Gross material for the hospitals in Egypt and Malta, have forwarded to the High Commissioner for delivery to the Royal Army Medical Corps a motor ambulance for use by the British forces in France or with the New Zealand forces if the Imperial authorities so direct. A special driver for the ambulance has also been sent Home at the expense of the North Otago people. The Shaw-Savill Company are generously carrying the ambulance freight free.