LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, 25 March 1916, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

One of Napier's taxi-cab drivers occupies his waiting time on the taxi stand in knitting scarves, etc. To see a man Knitting in the public streets is rather a novel sight, and his dexterity with the long thin needles lias caused a good deal of interest.

Under the Wellington by-laws, Mr. Cooper, S.M., on Thursday, fined a woman £lO for keeping what is known as a one-woman brothel, which class of house has hitherto existed unchecked as there was no power under Statute Law to deal with them. The police stated that such places had been a great menace to the health of soldiers.

As a sequel to statements made by Councillor Smith concerning the engineer (Mr. W. J. Lopdell) and his qualifications, at the last meeting of the Stratford County Council, the latter has (says the Post) instructed Mr. P. O'Dea, of Hawera, to demand a public apology and the payment of a substantial sum to the Stratford Public Hospital fund, failing which he will take action for alleged libel.

A Wellington telegram says that since the inception of the Imperial meat supply scheme over eight million pounds have been paid on the purchases, which comprised 544,503 quarters of beef, 2,815,010 carcases of mutton, and 3,985,78!) carcases of lamb, besides large quantities of pieces of mutton and boneless beef. Eighty-seven big insulated steamers have been utilised for meat carriage, whereof seventy-one have already reached their destination.

What must be a record in family patriotism was disclosed at the Palmerston North recruiting office the other day, when a young man named William Laison, 22 years of age, offered himself for active service (states the Manawatu Daily Times). It transpired that he was the last of seven sons, six of >vhom had gone to the front. Five of these had returned wounded, and there was one still at the front. The young recruit, who comes from Fordell, is a widower with one child.

_ The New Plymouth Gills' Friendly Society, desiring to assist in patriotic work, decided to cultivate the section of land belonging to their clubroom at the corner.of Vivian and Robe Streets, and grow vegetables to send to Trentham camp. Mr. Sergei, seeing the efforts being made, offered them a bag of manure, which was gratefully accepted. The labor resulted in a bag of potatoes being sent to Trentham a few weeks ago, and Miss Percy Smith, secretary of the Girls' Friendly Socety, received the following acknowledgment from Captain Bell:—"I have pleasure in acknowledging receipt of one sack of potatoes kindly sent forward by you, and I shall he glad if you will make known to your members that such action is much appreciated by the troops, and on their behalf, please accept cordial thanks. These potatoes have been distributed for the use of "B" Company, 13th Reinforcements. Some biting reflections on the German cult of militarism are made by Pierre Loti, the French writer. "We know it only too well," he says, ''that if their voices are human, and perhaps their faces also, their souls are not; there are lacking in them essential elements—those of loyalty, of honor, of remorse, and especially that which is the noblest, perhaps, and at the same time the most elementary, and which even the beasts sometimes possess the feeling of pity. During a whole lifetime, to have had no other eare s than to have machines for slaughter made, to invent explosives and poisons to kill, to exercise soldiers to killing; to have organised to the ends of a monstrous personal vanity all the bnrbarism that slumbered in the depths of the German race; to have organised the native ferocity, organised its grotesque megalomania, organised its sheeplike servility and its credulous stupidity. And afterward not to die of terror uefore his own work! Let us never forget that this predatory race U incurably treacherous, thievish, murderous, that with them no treaty of peace is binding, and that so long as they are not crushed, so long as their head has not been cut on"—that frightful Gordon head—Prussian imperialism will begin again."

One do-ys news came that great num. bera of British soldiers were coming direct from France to Salonika (writes a Now Zealander there). At that time we were in camp some miles distant from the city. It was no rumor, either. Shortly after, from above the hills above the harbor, came the sounds of peculiar music. Gradually it drew closer, and at last the "Cock o' th' North" was easily distinguished on the Scottish pipes, while behind marched the tallest and finest-looking soldiers I have yet seen. They were the famous Black Watch. Alex, and I paid a visit to the Black Watch camp a few nights after, and when we told them our parents had travelled, about forty years ago, to New Zealand from the same old river Dee, which many of them had just left, their Scottish "speerita" knew no bounds. We were taken in and given a great reception. I shall never forget with what feelings quite a number of them farewelled us with the singing of that fine old Scotch melody, "Will ye no come back again?" Ah, they're real soldiers, these Highlanders. There has been some frightfuly cold weather here lately, arid our tents have had snow a good distance up the sides, but it does not seem to affect the "kilties." One poor fellow, who was acting sentry one night on the next hill to the one we're on, was actually frozen to death at his post. The Highland regiments have about a quarter the number of any other British regiment in hospital.

Applications, to close April 18, are called for the position of Field Inspector for the Department of Agriculture, New Plymouth. Particulars are announced in our advertising columns.

The services at Whitely Memorial Church to-morrow will be conducted by the Rev. T. G. Hammond, Chairman of the district. Mr. Hammond will also preach at the Vogeltown Harvest Festival in the afternoon.

To-day is the last day of the Melbourne, Ltd.'s annual reduction sale. Anyone requiring men's or boys' clothing, shirts, hats, or household drapery at greatly reduced prices should avail themselves of this last opportunity of saving money.

Ones of the lightest materials known is swansdown. It is soft, very close in texture, an dheing a natural covering for the swan, is very, very warm. Therefore, one could not possibly find a more suitable covering for'providing warmth without weight. Down quilts are the most liygenie winter bed-covers manufactured. Morey and Son announce their special showing in this issue. The Taranaki Daily News is on the breakfast tables in places as far away from the publishing office as Patea, Hawera, Manaia, Kapuni, Whakamara, etc. We literally cover the whole of the province by breakfast time. Business men of the province— let us tell your story to the public every morning 1

! The New Plymouth Boys' High School has been tomporarily closed owing to the occurrence of a suspected case of in'fantile paralysis. Pending definite diagnosis, the boy, a bonnier from Mnnaia, has been removed to the public hospital. The members of the Stratford Hospital Board visited New Plymouth yesterday and inspected the Old People's Home, and the ww hospital. They were shown round by Mr. F. C. .T. Bellringcr (chairman of the Taranaki Hospital Board). ■ The total number'of patients in the thirteen military hospitals yesterday was 290, a decrease of thirteen on yes. terday. There is one serious ease nt Featherston and at Greytown.— Press Association.

A Greymouth message says that two suspected eases of infantiie paralysis were reported to the Hospital Board yesterday. One case was that of a child four years old, who recently arrived at Runanga from Bealy Plat. The child is paralysed from the waist downwards, The other case came from Nelson Creek.

A New Plymouth drapery firm yesterday received the following significant cable from London: "Advise all drapery clients that it is important to order immediately staple lines for next winter .season (1917), as deliveries are likely to be very bad." In our report, yesterday morning, of the general meeting of the Taranaki architects that was held at Stratford on Thursday, the names of Messrs. Frank Messenger and Victor Griffiths were inadvertently omitted from the list of those who were present. At the Auckland Police Court yester. day, Martin Taylor was charged with having removed a sulky and wheels from the control of Customs on the wharf without a written permit He was fined £IOO and costs, the fine being reduced to £25 and defendant ordered to forfeit the sulky. At the Magistrate's Court yesterday, David Maxwell appeared before Mr. A. Crooke, S.M., charged with committing a serious offence at Toko on January 14th. Mr. J. H. Quilliam appeared for the accused, Who was remanded to appear at Stratford on March 30, bail being fixed at self £SO, and two sureties of £SO, The following are the totals of the various" relief funds contributions received to date by the Under-Secretary for Internal Affairs:—Belgian Relief, £103,665; Allies' Relief, £1850; Serbian Relief, £5204; Scottish Islands Relief, £2001; N.Z. Red Cross, £15,849; New Zealand War Relief, £11,220; Convalescent Homes, £5380. The total for all funds stands at £255,001 14s Bd.—Press Association. ' The Daily News has the biggear circulation of any paper between Wellingtoi and Auckland. It covere the whole of the prosperous and closely-Bettled province of Taranaki, and as an advertising medium cannot be equalled. Advertising charges on application.