LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, 11 May 1916, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Reporting from Samoa, under date May 8, Colonel Logan states that the health of the troops is good, and there are no cases of illness to report. The Chief Postmaster informs us that the Wellington office advises that mails which left New Zealand on Maroh 16 arrived in London on May C, A Gazette Extraordinary, declaring certain firms to be enemies, includes the names of Rhodius and Co., Ltd., Christchurch, and the Continental 0. and G. Rubber Company, Australia and New Zealand. —iPress Association. Mr. W. H. Field, M.P., is asking the Government if it will, as a matter of urgency, bring down early this session the promised legislation providing for the collection of orchard registration fees, suc'h legislation being, in his opinion, 'absolutely essential to the wellbeing of the industry, which is already 'beset by many difficulties, pests, and problems of a vexatious character. In connection with the smallpox patient on the Willochra, Mr. H. Okey, M.P., last night wired that the man died ashore at Albany on May 0, so that, if no further cases appear, the quarantine limit will have run out before the vessel's arrival in New Zealand. The Minister is expecting a wireless message as to whether there are any fresh developments. The annual communication to the Masonic Grand Lodge was given yesterday afternoon, Mr. Dougall, Grand Mastor, presiding. The annual reports showed that the accumulated funds were ;544,(f22, of which £27.4.12 belongs to t'lic annuity fund and £BSIO to the special war benevolent fund. Mr. Oliver Nicholson (Auckland) was elected Grand Master. An Ashburton telegram says that recently householders protested again; t the insanitary state of the Borough School, and the Education Board at its last meeting decided to build two new rcoins as the commencement of a new school. Many householders considered this insufficient, and a meeting was to have been held 011 Friday to petition Parliament for n grant for a new building. Mr. Hugo Friedlander 011 Tuesday handed a cheque to the Guardian newspaper for £IOOO as a donation towards the new school. '

Mr. A. Fnull has just returned to Xew Plymouth from a two months' trip to Australia, (luring whieli time he travelled extensively in Xew South Wales. In the; Northern Rivers district, which is said to he the garden of New South Wales, the country is looking well at present, the late rains .having caused great growth of grass. Farmers there had a very bad time during the drought, and eases came under his personal notice where two fanners each lost 100 dairy cows and another lost 00, the cows dying in the paddocks. "It is," remarked' Mr. Fnull, "a pleasure to get hack to New Zealand." Considerable perturbation has been caused amongst .some of the old a.ge pensioners in Auckland by the receipt of a formal notification from the local pension office, stating that it is proposed to bring the pension of the husband into line with that of the wife. It happens that in many pases the husband's pension is £2O per annum, whereas the wife receives £2l. The pensioners jumped to tlie conclusion that it was the intention of a heartless Government to reduce the husband's pension to £2l, "in order to bring it into line." As a matter of fact, the notification was issued by the local office to inform t'he pensioner's that soii(p slight changes would have to bi> made in their papers to facilitate book-keeping. : The. Prime Minister gets occasional letters from soldiers, some of tlieni jocular. Anyhow, he can take a joke, and appreciation of their quality is expressed in a letter he received by the last mail. Some months ajro he received a request from a party of men that he should see that they had a supply of Christmas "dull'." It was far too'late for Christmas "duff," but ! he arranged with Mrs. Massev to secure a box of cakes and send them off to the men. The parcel, not the only one of the sort he has sent, arrived ail right, and the other day lie received an acknowledgment of it: —"Dear Bill.—Just a few lines to thank you for the cake you sent us. It arrived list mail safe—not a bit crushed. We enjoyed it immensely. It came as a surprise packet to us. We never expected anything. The letter was written in joke, but never mind, that cake was some good. The boys and myself who had some of it send you our hearty appreciation of the way you took t'lie letter, also our thanks and best wishes." "The Wolf," a six-act Lubin feature, tells one of the most powerful stsries of romantic adventure seen for years. The life in the far north of Canada during winter and summer is depicted with rare actuality. The actors and producer must havo spent many months in those regions in order to obtain the scenes the Alms show so clearly. "The Wolf" was picturised from the book of Eugene Walter, whose tales of the wilds are s« well known. "The Wolf" will be ta-*|£kt at the Theatre Bo^

No fewer than 2000 newspapers and magazines have already teen withdrawn in Germany during the war. A Sydney cablegram say that Empire Day will not be recognised as a public holiday as previously. A London cable says that in the case of the Mangaone Oil Fields v. Herman Wiger, the appeal was dismissed with costs.

The wholesale price of standard brands of butter in Auckland has been advanced by one penny, to Is 5d per lb. The retail price will now be Is 7d. Prior to the capture of Trebizond Russia had occupied 10.1,000 square kilometres (nearly 40,000 square mil&s) cfl Turkish territory in' Asia. 1 The latest newspapers to reduce theil size owing to the great difficulty of obi taining supplies of paper uro the Wail kato Times (Hamilton), the Grey-.Riven Argus (Greymouth), and the North] Otago Times (Oamaru). The attendance at the Central school; for the last four weeks respectively wag 542, 535, 548,1 356; average 645. The number at present on the rolls is 604. During the month 33 were admitted and 12 left. There was a certain amount of sickness among the children, chiefly throat affections. At Vogeltown the roll is 37, with an average for the month of 36.7 from an average roll of 38. During the month three pupils had been admitted and five had left. At Sydney, Mr. Justice Higglns de- | litfered an important judgment on the Melbourhe Steamship Company's application against the Waterside Workers' Federation for an injunction to forbid breaches of the award and agreement. The application was dismissed, the judge holding that the breach of the agreement was made outside the award, but having reference thereto. It was not'* a breach of the award inasmuch as the award does not deal with the subject of ceasing work. The sneak thief secured a good haul' recently when he got away with the sum of £IOO belonging to two young men milking for a settler living on the Seott Road (says tiie Okaiawa correspondent of the Hawera Star). This sort of lias been going on for some considerable time, and quite a number of houses in the district have been entered, and sums of money abstracted. The thief is evidently a person who knows the run of the district, and the habits of the settlers, the majority of the houses Wing entered while the folks are out milking. A rather serious accident befel tw'i aon.H of Mr. W. Carter, farmer, of I}/"* ter Road, Eltliam, yesterday. Aq M nine o'clock thi children were rK pony at an canter to school, }/L animal shied, throwing both ily. One sustained a 3ion of the brain, in addition bruised knee. The other little chap received a nasty gash on the side of his head, necessitating several stitches. One of the Transport Co.'s motor lorries fortunately arrived on the Bcene in time to convey the children, one of whom was unconscious, to the residence of Mr. Watts, of Mangatoki, where Dr. Buist, of Kaponga, was quickly in attendance. At -latest advice both boys were doing as well as expected, • Referring to the work of recruiting, the Feilding Star says:—'*A number of young New'Zealanders have been dodging the issue by a constant change of address. When the Register is after them, the report is: Gone, left no address. A father of one of these in the Feilding district chuckled out loud the other day: 'Oan't get my son—l've sent him away out-back, where there are none of, these inquisitive recruiters.' Our attention lias also been called to a very eligible young man in this district who Is the fortunate owner of five farms—and because of this property he will not enlist. Yet >New Zealnndevs wlm have no stake whatever in the country are lighting for the safety of other fellow.:' farms." The Melbourne. Ltd. ,announce that (hey have *ecnred another small lot of men's Kaiapoi all-wool tweed suits'to sell at I!7s (id. These suits are good winter weight, strong and warm, and are guaranteed to .give double the wear of imported shoddy suits at the same price,