LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, 27 March 1916, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The passengers travelling by the New Plymouth tram cars on Friday numbered 1891, and the revenue was £ll 5s 4d. The sum of £1 10s was collected at the Fete of Nations on Friday night by the sale of sweets. During the month-of February arrivals in New Zealand from oversea totalled 2854. compared with 2512 in February, 1915. Departures were 2806, against 1995 a year ago. Owing to the unprecedented shortage of milk, and also due to the present shortage of labor, members of the Wellington Licensed Milk Vendors' Association will make one delivery per day only to private houses, commencing on April 1 next.

The Auckland City Council has every reason to believe that about 40ft tons of steel required for the market buildings was aboard the Matatua.. It was covered by insurance, but the market price has advanced £lO per ton since the steel was purchased. A Waikato officer, writing from a hospital in Egypt, says:—"l was offered a trip tc New Zealand, but as I love my home I feel I have not done my bit yet. There is too much of this tourist business going on, and it ought to bo stopped. Things arc too serious at present."

Newspapers which concern themselves with what is going to happen at the close of the war (writes the Sydney correspondent of the Wellington Post) are urging that no time should be lost in preparations for join effort among the British Dominions generally for the reception of many of the huge numb* of immigrants who will, it is believed, hi leaving Great Britain when peace is declared. Reasons put forward for this expected, outflow from Great Britain are: Past experience, the inability of land settlement in Great Britain to absorb more than a comparatively few of the soldiers who will be demobilised by the million, and the fact that industry will not readily be readjusted to take the remainder. It is contended that: action for the reception of a big share I of the outflow will be forced upon Australia, which is now being advertised as never before, and that the best and wisest course is to make preparations for the absorption of a big flood of immigrants without the disturbance of our industrial and social machinery. I Speaking at Auckland the other day, J Sir Joseph Ward said that so far as New Zealand was concerned it had done Its duty nobly. No one could gainsay the fact that in a country with a million people, to pi.)vide 50,000 soldiers, over 40,000 of whom were away, was magnificent. If anyone, supposed for a moment that the Government or Parliament desired on personal or other grounds to eond men out >of the country lie was wrong. Under ordinary conditions it was their bounden duty to keep all the able-bodied men in the country. The reason for the appeal being, nmlo in the opposite direction was that it was necessary. Ho. believed in the voluntary system and was a strong opponent of the German military system of conscription, ivhich had made the people of that country the slaves of the military autocracy. It was because he wanted to see the war won by the voluntary method that he appealed ,to every eligible man in the country to enlist."

The cheapest all-wool cashmere stockings in the Dominion are to be found at the Melbourne, Ltd. Every pair is guaranteed all pure wool, and the dye is warranted fast color. Prices: Plain cashmere, Is 6d pair; ribbed sashmere, Is 9d pair. KARBOL, the cheapest and best germ killer, destroys bacterial life.—Sykes, Chemist. If a friend asks, "Do you collect camels!'' do not be surprised. She refers to the eamels on Deaert Gold Tea packets. .£6O in prizes.

The members of the Twelfth Reinforcements are at present on final leave. The Taranaki contingent arrived by the mail trainn on Friday and Saturday, The grass seed collected by the Rotokare school children has been sold for 30s, and the amount handed to the Wounded Soldiers' Fund.

In the Gilmonr Cup competition on Saturday, West End defeated New Plymouth Aby 10 points. The match between New Plymouth B and Fitzroy did not eventuate owing to no teams for Fitzroy being arranged. In connection with the quarantine of tho resident masters and boarders of the Boys' High School, it is requested that all day-boys belonging to the Fifth and Sixth Forms should meet Messrs. Rockel and Ryder in St. Andrew's Schoolroom on Wednesday, March 20, at 9 a.m. From recent statistics compiled in Australia it appears that sinco the outbreak of war the purchasing power of the sovereign in the Commonwealth has declined by os 10-jd. This was the average for all the Australian capitals. With a view of making a comparison, the Prime Minister has had similar statistics compiled by the New Zealand Government Statistician. These show that in the Dominion the purchasing power of the sovereign in the four principal cities has declined by 2s 9d. Whilst the sexton (Mr. R. Bennoch) and an assistant were carrying out excavation work in the New Plymouth cemetery on Friday, the workman felt the earth suddenly ghv way under him, and on examination an old cave was discovered which bore traces of occupation. The cave, which is situated on the left hand side of the main entrance, near the soldiers' graves, is about 7 feet high and C feet broad, and the sides, which appear to have been cut by a weapon similar to a tomahawk, are baked by continuous fires. It is believed the cave was occupied by the Maoris during the war. At a concert given at Timaru on St. Patrick's night, Miss Madolaine Hooker (daughter of Mrs. L. 0. Hooker, of Hawera), gave diversity to the programme and added not a little to its artistic merits by her splendid interpretation (pianoforte) of Liszt's "Polonoise." She has a line command of the instrument and her virtuosity is not detracted from by the simplicity of style adapted (says a Timaru paper's report of the concert). Liszt's "Rhapsodie No. 2" was played by Mrs. D. Mangos and Miss Hooker, who are reported as having given the work a strong and temperamental interpetation. According to the figures compiled by the New Zealand Trade Review, the valuer of our exports for the five months ended February 20, inclusive of specie, was £16,058,477, as compared with £12,750,154, for the 1914-15 period, and £9,548,158 for 1013-14. The total for the past five months shows an increase of £3,308,323, or about 26 per cent, over tho corresponding five months of the previous year. The bulk of the increase is in wool, meat, and dairy produce. A case of considerable interest to hotelkccpers, as well as to the general public, was decided at the Napier Magistrate's Court on Monday, when Charles Joseph Nathan, licensee of the Waikare Hotel, w.as fined £2 and costs for failing to supply a meal to a party of travellers on their way from Gisborne to Napier. Evidence given by Mr. H. de Latour, a member of the party, was to the effect that the hotel was reached at 8 o'clock on the night in question. A request for a hot meal met with a direct and impolite refusal, the licensee of the hotel saying that the hour for the evening meal was then past. Although the party had nothing to eat since leaving VVairoa, they were compelled to proceed to Napier before obtaining food. In inflicting the. fine, Mr. S. E. McCarthy, S.M., said the defendant would also be required to show cause why his license should not be endorsed.

The mefnbers of the Awakino County Council, in their capacity as a recruiting committee, are conducting a recruiting campaign throughout the county. Each riding member is responsible for holding meetings in his own riding. Mr. Body, chairman of the Council, who addressed a meeting at the Awakino Collie Club ball on Frinay e\'ening, snid that after hearing the Defence Minister at To Kuiti, the Council, from being antagonistic to the voluntary system, had deeded to pssist in recruiting. He explained the new recruiting scheme at length and said that the nation must husband its resources as the smallest detail might be the turning point. Mr. Beckbessinger (Mayor of Waitara), considered that conscription would show the enemy we were weakening, and they wanted to show that England had plenty of men available to win a just cause. He pointed out that the position wp.s different in the country to the towns. In the country a good many men were performing their part in raising cattle, etc. to feed the allies, and if the country were depleted of men the position would be difficult in this respect. With the previous speaker, he urged all to think the matter over quickly and decide whether or not it was their duty to offer their services. In the course of discussion, Mr. Avery said that the district near Awakino had already responded nobly by sending 60 men to tho front. Mr; Body also said that no other county in the Dominion had done, as well as Awakino on a population basis and the portion ; n which he was at present had done particularly well. W. H. & A. McGarry, of Eltham, advertise 400 acres of fattening country in exchange for dairy farm. In tliese troubled times you will find c'leer and refreshment in a cup of " Desert fiold," the Queen of Teas. Test it to-day.

The New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Co., Ltd., draw the attention of theii clients to their autumn bullock and cattle fair, which they are holding in their TCohuratahi yards on Thursday, 30th inst. Full particulars will be fouiid in our advertising columns on page 8 of this issue.

The great hustle-bustle sale at Hart's Cut-Rate Stores is proceeding with even greater success than former sales. Last week hundreds of shoppers visited the premises and found plenty of bargains in all departments. This week each day is to be a bargain day, and as all classes of goods arc greatly on the rise owing to the war, the opportunity of shopping at the prices offering should not be missed. See advertisement for list of goods and figures. Marguerite Clark, who stars in "The Crucible" at the Theatre Royal to-night, is considered to have so improved in picture work as to out-shinc the worldfamed Mary Pickford. Some of Miss Clark's greatest successes on the legitimate stage were in "Peter Pan," "The Lights o' London," "Merely Mary Ann," and "Prunella," which last was said to be one of the most beautiful little plays ever produced in New York. After this Miss Clark was engaged by the Famous Players in such productions as "The Seven Sisters," "The Goose Girls," "Wildflower," and "The Crucible." The latter picture will be shown at the Theatre Royal for three nights, comjneueing to-night.