LOCAL AND GENERAL

Taranaki Daily News, 28 February 1916, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

The Taranaki Education Board has granted the school committees permission to close their schools on Thursday (March 2nd) for the winter show. In the Auckland Police Court on Friday, William James Burman was fined £4O and James Lye £SO for illegal betting on a racecourse. Seven more eases of infantile paralyse reported at Auckland. The total !<"■' ) date are 278, hcing: City 152, cj:ii.i>y 128.—Press Association. From barely a quarter-acre of ground, Mr. R. Stewart, of Tinwald, Ash'bnrLn county, has gathered a crop of brown Spanish onions weighing 11,0801b. In accordance with the resolution passed at last General Assembly, the Rev. W. Scorgio (Moderator of the Presbyterian Church of New Zealand) has feed March 19th as a day of humiliation and prayer in connection with the war.—Press Association. Wirth's Circus concluded its season here on Saturday night, when a very large audience witnessed a comprehensive programme. The wonderful performing seals" again attracted much attention,,.and the numerous other items were appreciated. Sharks are in the vicinity of the Waingongora beach, no doubt"being attracted shorewards by the warm weather. On Friday, says the Star, a monster, over eight feet in length, was caught in two feet of water by a local resident. It took three men to bring the brute on shore. At a meeting of the Teachers' Institute at Tiniarn on Saturday a motion was passed that the Junior "Scholarship examination be abolished, and that the money so saved be spent on deserving pupils who are not otherwise able to attend a secondary school.—Press Association. At the Elthani Council meeting on Friday night (says the Argus), a complaint was made of barking dogs being a nuisance. One of the councillors grimly suggested that "perhaps a piece of meat would abate the nuisance." Of course he meant that the meat should be properly ''seasoned," and although he did not explain, councillors quite understood what he meant. Our Ohura contemporary in describing a meeting, says, 'There was a large attendance, including Constable Fleming." This sounds like a "leg pull" for the local constable is a host in himself in any drawing-room, and might well he called "a lafge attendance." If the worthy constable happened to fall on a resisting offender of the law, the man underneath would know all about "the large attendance."—Taumarunui Press. The Minister of Agriculture (the Hon. W. D. S. Mac Donald) accompanied by his private secretary, Mr. A. W. Mulligan, and Messrs R. Masters, W. P. Kirkwood, E. Dingle, and A. D. Stanley (secretary of the A. afltl P. Association) motored round the Stratford district on Friday and visited several dairy factories. The party inspected the Cardiff, Lowgarth, Mangatoki, Kaponga, and Ngaere Dairy Factories, and the Egmont Box Co's premises at Eltham. The Minister, when asked his opinion of the district as a whole, simply remarked : "It's a beautiful country." The Minister returned to Wellington on Saturday morning.

A London cablegram reports that Mr. Jabez Balfour, at one time M.P. for Burnley, was fuund dead in the Fishguard express when it reached "New-, port. In 1882 he established the Lond»n and General Bank in connection with the Liberator Building Society and several other companies, forming what were termed the Balfour Group. This body, professing to have a capital of seven millions, by means of prospectuses, false accounts and balance-sheets, attracted thousands of small investors. Dividends were paid out of capital and wild speculations indulged in. When the crash came in 1892 many people found the savings of a lifetime had disappeared. Mr. Balfour, finding his arrest for fraud was likely, escaped to Buenos Ayres, but was arrested there and extradited. He was tried in April, 1805, and sentenced to 14 years' penal servitude, from which he was released in 1900. In common with the majority of dairy factories in Taranaki, the Oaonui Dairy Company is having a highly successful season. The output is 15 per cent, greater than last year, being in the flush HO large cheeses as against 78. Despite the dry weather, the supply is keeping up very well, the present output being 72 daily. The tests are good, ranging from 3.8 to 45. The product is grading well, as high as 94 points being touched with pasteurised cheese. There have been considerable changes in the personnel of the staff during the year, no fewer than nine having at various times enlisted for the front. As the total staff at the two branches is l."i. it means that the factory at times lias worked short-handed. Next year the manager (Mr. Callaghan) considers that the difficulty of securing men will bo accentuated, as quite a number will enlist when the slack season comes on. The factory is at present paying out Is 2d per lb butter-fat, the total payout for January being in the vicinity of £SOOO.

A serious accident was narrowly averted by a motorist last evening by skill aiul presence of mind. It was pitch dark, and raining heavily as the driver turned from the South Road into Queen Street, when suddenly there came into view the portable, tar boiler that for some time past has been at nights left on the road near the soltar tanks. "There were no lights on this danger to traffic," said the irate motorist, speaking to a News representative,, "and there were no lights on it on Saturday night. What is the fyirough Council doing to leave such a thing on the road unlightcd?" He also asked: "Why was it that Wirth's Circus employees were allowed to take truck-loads of material down Devon Street West to the railway yards on Saturday night from ft o'clock to midnight, without a single light being attached to any of the vehicles? It was not a pleasant thing for women and children to meet elephants lumbering along a comparatively dark street, drawing unlighted lorries." The News can personally confirm these two complaints, and the Borough authorities should see to it that the portable tar boiler should always be provided with lamps, whenever it is left on a public highway. Money savers at the Melbourne, Ltd. "Ivy" wool one ounce balls (id; stout calico, 30-ineh, (id yard; grand white flannelette, 32-inch, (id yard; 72-ineli unbleached sheeting, Is 2d yard; large brown towels, Is; 10-inch striped towelling 6d yard. A national pride. This is no idle boast. Smokers through the Empire unanimously agree that State Express Red Packet 333, the famous all-British cigarettes, arc absolutely unequalled in quality, purity and high-class methods of manufacture. Obtainable at all high-class tobacconists throughout 'New Zealauf <

The farmer is realising more an4«we every day the benefit »f the motor-car in bringing him closer t« town. It is stated that in the district near Okatp half-a-dozen farmers have jiyna erders lately for m»tor-cars. "The police investigate, they do not suggest," was the terse reply of a constable giving evidence at the Christchurch Supreme Court, when asked if he had suggested that a certain outbreak »l lire was intentional. Two students who were trained at the Christchurch Technical College H»stel have received appointments as domestic science instructors ia the North Island. Miss Romola Taylor has been appointed to tlie New Plymouth Technical College and Miss Esther Thornton to the Wellington Normal Colilege. Owing to the scarcity of labor many sawmills in Southland are working shorthanded, and a few in the Catlins district have their full complement of me«. The position is due to the number who have gone to the front, no fewer than 300 having been accepted fo' service since the war commenced. A Now iPlymouth resident has received a letter from a relative in North Canterbury stating that the onion crop is a, failure, and only "picklers" will he available, there not having been sufficient moisture to develop the roots. The potatoes, too, have likewise suffered, and in some cases are making second growth. Information was received in Dunedin on Tuesday last, in a letter written aboard the hospital ship Maheno in midocean on .T;nnir,rv I!!, that the vessel had. up to ir»< limp. |ij,d a verv rough passage. :ii'<! (If stail' had been very sick. Thi> \iilm-i of mal-de-mer and all others l.iid \ rrv comfortable quarters, and were being well looked after. Parcels addressed to members of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force should bear outside in the lower left-hand corner the name and address of the sender. The authorities state that great delay is experienced in the Base Post Office in dealing with parcels, for want of this precaution. The delay not infrequently means failure to deliver the parcel. Firms dealing in ironmongery are finding considerable difficulty in'replenishing their supplies, and there has, in most cases, been a very large increase in price. A country storekeeper informed a representative of this paper that lie recently gave a traveller an order for 21 different items, and a few days later received a reply from the warehouse that all but three were at present unprocurable. "We follow very carefully what you are doing in war matters, and we follow it with pride and gratitude as well,'' says Sir 3eorge Foster, Canadian for Trade' and Customs, in the course of a letter to the Prime Minister (Right Hon. W, F. Massey). "Both your Dominion and the Cowmonwealth are doing splendidly, and your men are up to the best. No story has been so thrilling to people here as that recorded of the Australasiais' fight in Egypt and on the ill-fated Galilpoli Peninsula." Sir George. Foster adds that Canada hoped to raise her full complement of troops under the voluntary system. The New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Co., Ltd., draw the attention of clients to their Kohuratahi supplementary sheep fair, which* they are holding in their Kohuratahi' yards on Thursday, March 2. Full particulars will be found in our advertising columns on page 8 of this issue.