LOCAL AND GENERAL

Taranaki Daily News, 17 March 1916, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Queensland claims to be sending the tallest soldier to the front, in Trooper Knickle, wiio is 6ft llin.

A Lexington, Ky., woman has presented her husband with nine children in eighteen months—five at one birth and four at the second.

So;a»thing like a clearing sale! Next week station, which the Government is resuming, is disposing of 100, SOU sheep, besi£ps horses, etc. As a result of ttie carnival held in Timaru in aid of the New Zealand branch of the French Red Cross, the fund has benefited to the extent of £IOOO.

Japanese capitalists are seeking permission to erect metal refineries in Australia. They purpose employing Australian labor under their own mining chemists.

At the Rangiora Magistrate's Court a well-known business man of the town is to be charged with a breach of the War Regulations Act in having changed hi 3 name during the currency of the war..

Some fine kingfish have recently been obtained on the West Coast, says a Dargaville correspondent. At Maunganui Bluff, where the coast is rock-bound, fish are always plentiful. Some large fish have been caught, one weighing 451b. At a gathering of the Gisborne Soldiers' Club, the Minister for Agriculture, the Hon. \Y. D. S. MacDoiniid, stated that since lie had been last in Gisborne a valuable property had been offered t» hiin at fair Government valuation. The owner was prepared to accept Government debentures, and was not asking for a single penny In cash. He desired that the property be cut up for the settlement of returned soldiers. The Minister added that he was urging the Government to proceed at oiice with the settlement of soldiers on the land, and that the property should be made available, so that tlie men from Gisborne, when they returned, should not be forced to settle elsewhere.

The competent tradesman is much sought after as a recruit just now. Each month the quota of Engineers and Army Service Corps men contains vacancies for specially-qualified tradesmen, such as blacksmiths, wheelers, butchers, bakers, fitters, stonemasons, and the like. The dirtiqlilty, however, is to get men with these qualifications. The clerk is not wanted, there being too many recruits with similar qualifications looking for a "job" in the A.S.C. As a matter of fact, ordinary recruiting in this branrh of the service has ceased, but as has been indicated above, the tradesman is almost always sure of a place. The Australian Weekly Mirror of January 211, a paper which has dealt exhaustively with German matters for several weeks, contains the following paragraph, which is at the foot of a column entitled "ITim Chemists":—We may inform our readers that a large number ■of typhoid and other cultures were recently seized by the Australian authorities in a laboratory near Sydney, and that we are specially asked to give publicity to this matter as a warning to the public. The public, ought to he on it 3 guard against the. subtle devices and cruel intentions of our remorseless and pitiless enemy, that would fain destroy us, men, women and children —slaying withi poison those whom they cannot reach with steel.

A life-sentence prisoner at Mount Eden (Auckland), named Victor Henry Simmonds, was brought to the Auckland Police Court on Monday to answer a charge of having committed an aggravated breach of the prison regulations by pretending illness. The prisoner had been twice sent to hospital in consequence of severe and sudden vomiting and indisposition, but the symptoms and the very quick recovery at the hospital aroused suspicions that the sickness was artificially caused by the prisoner by the swallowing of tobacco or some such irritant for the purpose of getting a spell in the hospital. The hearing of the charge against the prisoners was adjourned to the gaol, when witnesses nominated by him, as Y»ell as the gaol and hospital doctor*, T.ere to be called to give evidence. Honest poverty, of which Burns was so sturdy a champion, has found an ar-, dent supporter of Mr. Justice Real (says the Brisbane Daily Mail). Tn the course of his address tn a prisoner at the Supreme Court in Brisbane last week he said: "There seems to be a tendency at the present time to be ashamed to be poor. I caut understand it, I was told in my young days that it was not a crime to be poor; that the poor man was as good as any other so long as he was honest."

HEADACHES CUBED BY BHEUMO. You know that Khemnatisiii, Gout, Sciatica, are caused by excessive uric acid in the blood, but do you know that uric acid is often the cause of those distressing headaches? The cure is within your reach —a quick, sure, permanent cure, Eheumo. Bheumo eliminates the cause—it drives the excess uric acid from the system. The inflammation of the nesves disappears—the pain ceases. Suffer no longer. Bheuino quickly cures headaches. 2s Gd and 4s Gd everywhere. Barraclough's Magic Nervine instantly steps T»otlmche. Pi-nirandra. Buicklj' cures Corns, 129

Ngamoko settlement, near Dannevirke, lias established a worthy war record, as, Ijy the end of March, it will have despatched, at the country's call, all its eligible young men to take up arms for King ami country.

It is reported that North Otags dairy farmers, in order to save their herd's from death, owing to the prolonged drought, are trucking their cows tu Wyndham, where there is an abundance of succulent grass and plenty of good running water.

The schools in the Hawke's Bay district now open at 8 o'clock. At 10.30 o'clock there is an interval for lunch. Duties are resumed at 11 o'clock and two hours later the children are dismissed for the day. The new hours will be observed until the weather becomes cooler.

At a meeting of the Hawera branch of the A.S.R.S. the following resolution was carried: ''That we are in sympathy with the Palmerston North resolution, and we consider the time has arisen for the executive council to take more drastic action as to taking a vote of all members re giving a fortnight's notice. A Dimedin business man has just received a letter from his father in London, in which it is stated, at the time of writing, that fresh eggs were being sold in the city at 4 S per dozen. Perk was selling at Is fid per lb, beef at Is 4d and mutton Is 2d. The correspondent is a prominent manufacturer, and in the course of his letter states, "There is a great future before Australia and New Zealand."

A correspondent writes to the Wanganui Herald drawing attention to the filthy state of many of the bank notes at present in circulation. He suggests that at such a time as the present the Health Department should send an officer to the banks and condemn any notes that hn considers in the least insanitary. Shopkeepers should make a point of retaining any dirty notes that come into their hands and send them in to be exchanged for clean notes, Women are playing a prominent part in harvesting in Southland this season, driving reapers, stooking and stacking. Wives and daughters of farmers are turning to with a will, and some of them are receiving the standard Is 3d an hour. Fortunately, the weather has been perfect, so their arduous task has not been rendered unpleasant by wind and rain. Never has better harvest weather been experienced in Southland, and never have crops been so uniformly good. The W.C.T.U. Convention opened yesterday at Wanganui. A silent vote of sympathy with the mothers who have lost sons in the war was passed, as was a vote of thanks to the Premier and Defence Minister for the assurance that wet canteens will not be introduced into the camps. The convention recognised Mr. Allen's efl'orts to produce highest physical and moral efficiency troops. The treasurer reported that there were 3333 fully paid-up members. The credit balance was £B2.

Several by-law cases were dealt with by Mr. A. Crooke, S.M., at the Magistrate's Court yesterday. For driving their motor cars without tail lights A. N. Morey, Frank Richards, and Fred. Payne were each fined 10s and costs 7s. For riding a bicycle at night without a light Reginald Horsup was fined 10s and costs 7s. The Taranaki County Council (Mr. J. H. Quilliam) prosecuted Leslie Jury for driving a motor car at night without lights, and lie was fined £2 and costs £1 2s lOd. Joe Houhi, for riding a bicycle at night, without a light, was fined £2 and £1 7s lOd. Jack Jones, for driving a vehicle at night without lights, was fined £2 and £1 2s 10s.

The "Fete of Nations" entertainment was staged at Inglewood last night to a packed and enthusiastic audience, who were demonstrative in their expressions of delight at the novel and artistic programme, which went throughout with the swing that characterised the New Plymouth performances, and all the items were warmly received. Over £3O will be added to the Patriotic Fund as a. result. Waitara. will shortly liave an opportunity of seeing this capital show and of adding to the good cause. To the owners and drivers of sixteen motor-cars who transported the performers to and from Inglewood last night the management are very grateful. | It is a common practice of motor car drivers in New Plymouth not to observe the by-law in regard to rounding street corners, and in order that attention may be directed to the by-law, the Borough Council instituted the first prosecution yesterday, when T. W. Ward appeared at the Magistrate's Court charged with driving his motor car round a corner on the wrong side. Mr. J. H, Quillian appeared for the Borough Council, and Mr. A. H. Johnstone represented the defendant ilr. Johnstone said the practice was general and as this was the first prosecution he asked for a small penalty. The Magistrate inflicted a fine of 10s arid £1 8s costs.

It is proposed to thresh the "Wounded Soldiers" wheat on Mr, T. IT. Western's farm at Bell Block next week. At present the threshing plant is engaged at Waihi, and it is uncertain what days it will he available. If possible, however, a start will be made on Wednesday and the work will be finished ou Thursday afternoon, when the committee will be glad to see townspeople and others at the farm to buy the wheat, the idea being to have one of the auctioneers to sell part of the crop as chick wheat. In the meantime poultry-keepers who are willing to buy a few bushels are invited to communicate as early as posible with Mr. Ambury, Mr. W. Sole, or Mr. Lysons. Should any townspeople wish to make up picnic parties on the occasion of the threshing, the committee, if given notice, will be glad to arrange for hot water and milk.

Radical alterations *re to be made i» the supply of milk to Wellington City. Ci\ J. Godber (chairman of the public health committee of the City Council) states that the committee knew that in the outlying parts of the city putrid, doctored and watered milk was delivered to the residents, the milkmen adopting a take-it-or-leave-it attitude. Fresh milk was brought into the city from the suburbs and ouUkirts, while stale milk was taken out to be sold in Wic milk-sup-plying districts. Some of the milkmen, he said, were "'stiffening" their milk with dried milk. There had been a shortage of milk in the city itself, but, so far as the. committee knew, the milk sold i* the city was not of the inferior quality sold 111 the outskirts of the. city. The health committee, said Mr. Godber, were determined to urge the council to pursue the matter to the bitter end. The. citizens might rely upon it that offenders would be severely deal with when caught.

There is an exceptional run on the women's all-wool cashmere stockings at Is (id and Is 9d pair advertised by the Melbourne Clothing Co., Ltd. Buyers are advised to purchase for future requirements in view of the expected shortage of all imported hosier/.

Starting from to-day the Centra! School will open from S till 1, The children will get a short interval about 11 for lunch.

The Mayoress (Mrs. C. IT. Burgess) wishes to acknowledge with thanks a donation of £1 10a from Messrs Pike and Waters, this firm not charging for soft drinks used at the liawaroa Park tea.

The Lepperton Dairy Company is at present manufacturing 13 boxes of butter, as against .12 boxen at this time last year. The output in the flush of the season was '2l boxes daily, as against 18 last year.

On Friday evening the installation of Brother C. H. Speck as N.M., or Lodge Stratford 75, took place in the lodge room, Eegan Stree.t, before a large gathering of members and visiting brethren.

"There are ninny things that I would like to investigate about New Zealand," said the Hon. W. Webster, Australian Postmaster-General, in Wellington. "One of them is how you are able to pay the prices you do for the land that I have seen."

The- annual' district conference of the laranaki Oddfellows' lodges was held at Manaia yesterday. Members wore formally welcomed to the town by Mr. Craig, a, member of the Manaia Town Board (in the absence of the chairman). Tho visiting delegates were hospitably entertained, being taken as far as Kaupokonui, where they inspected the factory.

"The Public Works Department has no intention of stopping work on the Otira tunnel," said the Prime Minister yesterday. "The headings will be kept going from both sides. Ido not suppose that what is happening will retard the final completion of tho tunnej, because if they get the headings through our drainage and ventilation difficulties will be made easy." (But the Main South Trunk Line can "go hang.") A Dunedin message says that Mr. A. S. Malcolm, M.P., secretary of the New Zealand Branch of the Empire Parliamentary Association, has received a. cablegram from the British Branch inviting the former to choose four members of the Dominion Parliament to visit London for a month in July, to see the war organisation pnd exchange opinions informally with members of the British Parliament. Visiting members are offered hotel accommodation and travelling facilities in Britain, and possibly France.

"Some people are still telling one another that certain transports which recently left New Zealand with troops have returned owing to danger of some kind," said the Prime Minister last evening. "There is not a shadow of truth in the story. The transports are proceeding on their way and there has been no hitch or delay of any kind." The persons concerned in the spreading of these rumors do not see)n to be aware that they are laying themselves open to proscution tinder the war regulations. The funeral of the late Mrs. W. H. Keasberry, of Pungarehu, took place yesterday at Karori, Wellington. The ceremony, which was of a private character, was attended by relatives and few intimate friends of the family, who received many messages of condolence from friends in Taranaki, where the deceased had been so well known and highly esteemed. The chief mourners were her husband (Mr. Keasbury), Messrs. Andrew and Charles Compton brothers), Privates I. Clark, and H. Compton (nephews, and members of the Expeditionary Force reinforcements), W. Park, and F. H. Morgan (brothers-in-law),. —Wellington correspondent. The box plan for Elinor Glyn's "Three Weeks," opens at Collier's this morning. "Three Weeks" will be shown at the Theatre Royal next Monday, TuesHay, and Wednesday.

For the third series of London wool sales, the list of arrivals closed on the 10th inst with a gross total of 203,000 bales, of which 122,000 bales were forwarded direct. The market ia steadier, and competition is keener. Russia is buying at present. Best scoured is quoted at about last sale rates, whilst good greasy merinos are generally 5 per cent, lower.