LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, 24 May 1916, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

It is expected tlint the opening ceremony in eoniiection witli Kapongn's electric lighting scheme will take place on Hay 2<t. Between the present time anii the middle of August one motor company in S'ew Zealand has under order to arrive 11200 motor ears, valued at .■£llo,ollll. The Hon. tt. W. Russell has received a special contribution of £SOO from the Vvanganui Patriotic Society with the reruiest that it be cabled to Lord Ranlurly on behalf of the Red Cross Fund .or sick and wounded belonging to New Zealand. At the Magistrate's Court yesterday, before Mr. A. Crooke, 8.M., judgment ivas given for plaintiff in default of defendant in the following cases: .Tohn Sefton and Thos. Sefton (Mr. A. Bennett), v. Guy Edward. Hooke, £3 7s (costs 14s); S. B. White and Sons (Mr. A. Bennett), v. Robert H. Daveney, £ll |!s 5(1 (£1 10s Od); Kate Booth Rowe I Mr. A. H. Johnstone) v. Whcro Puhara, £1 5s (£l).The Hon. fi. W. Russell states tlvi 1 -. lrj has received advice that the Canterbury Agricultural and Pastoral Association has resolved to establish a special ; - !ind for the assistance of Belgian farmers whose homes and properties have been destroyed. The chairman Mr. Henry Overton. Tt is intended to communicate with all other agricultural a:!.l pastoral associations, urging that the movement be taken up in various districts. "Since Mr. McLeod came to Xew Plymouth he has recruited youths for a juvenile band, and I think the time will joon come when we will have two splendid bands in New Plymouth—a senior Land and a junior band," remarked Mr. K Sole at the annual meeting of the Citizens' Band last night. Mr. McLeod said the point of the association between junior and senior members was that the hand had to be built up, and the. juniors could be trained up to take the place of the senior men. Several men who are capable intrumentalists could be obtained to come to New Plymouth if employment could be found for them. Mr. McLeod added that during the past few weeks the improvement in the band bad lieen T«y awketj.

<; We are beginning to feel the pinch no\y," said an employer. at the Conciliation Council in ChristcWeh last week,, referring to the necessity for boy labor, in view of so many men going to the war. "In our office," he continued, ''we are working twelve hours it day, and soon will not have enough men to carry on the industry." A triple mouth-whistle suitable for military purposes, though adaptable to other uses as well, which it is claimed is louder and more distinctive than any other pattern of whistle, has (states an exchange) been manufactured by Mr. W. Lewis, constructor of acetylene gen erators for the, New Zealand Railways and Public Works. Mr. Lewis will pr'obfibly submit the whistle to the War Office. "We want our men to marry. Ro man Catholic Clubs are all right in their way, but when a man passes 21 it is time for him to think of establishing a little club of his own. (Applause). He can be the president—even if he is not the speaker," (Laughter). And the bigger membership he has the better. (Applause)."—Brother Egbert at the Marist Brothers' Old Boys' reunion in Wellington this week. An extraordinary coincidence occurred one day recently on tlio British front (says the Glasgow Evening News). A young lieutenant of the Royal Horse Artillery was sitting on the top of a haystack, accompanied by two of his 'men, and engaged in making observations for his battery. Presently another artillery lieutenant, followed' by two men, crawled up beside him, and they made their observations together. Chatting, the two were amazed to find not only that they were both New Zealanders, but that each was an Aucklander. Then, by comparison, they discovered that, although they had never before met, their respective homes were with- • in a few yards of each other at Mount Eden, one of the suburbs of Auckland. The Meat Trades' Journal of January 20, says: In his wonderfully graphic ebntributions to the Daily Mail, Basil Clarke, in connection with the food question, clearly shows that Denmark ! s' feeding Germany and buying her own supplies from Britain. He writes: And if anyone should doubt she is sending it, and the bulk of it, here is a sample report of the sales one day at Espjerb cattle market. Cattle sold to-day numbered 1450 head, of which Street, of Hamburg, took 141: Dar Neilson, of Kiel, 330; Franck, of Berlin, 440; an Austrian buyer, 327. This leaves 212 for Danish buyers. No wonder the best beef is half a crown in Denmark! Incidentally great quantities of the fodder with which these cattle for Germany are fed comes from British ports and colonies. Commissioner and Mrs. Hodder, who are the chief officers of the Salvation Aimy in the Dominion, are due to arl ive in New Plymouth on Saturday, and will give their first addresses at AmLurys' corner in the afternoon of that day. On Sunday afternoon, at the itood Templar Hall, a special address on the Army social and rescue work in New Zealand will ,be given, when the chair will be taken by His Worship die Afayor (Mr. C. F... Burgess), and a mini* her of leading citizens will occupy "eats on the platform, In the Theatre Royal .it 8.1.1 p.m., a united memorial service in memory of the New Zealand fallen soldiers will be held, when representatives of the various churches will ic eiip.v seats on the platform. An amusing instance of the persistency of New Zealand soldiers in getting their own way was related by Major Maguire in addressing the members, of lie Auckland Women's Patriotic League ni the Town Hall. While strolling along the streets of Cairo one day, lie siiid, he came across some New Zealanders and Australians in heated altercation with the native conductor of an e'eetric car, and on going across the sireet to investigate, he found the men insisting on taking a small donkey iiboard the car. They explained they hart tnken n fancy to it, and bought it from its owner as a mascot for- one of (he regiments, and not knowing how else ii get it out to Zeitoun, they prophsed Uking it on the car. The conductor olfprwl a most strenuous resistance to ( 'lis unusual fare, but the soldiers finally became so urgent in their speech and ii'-tion that the native perforce had to allow them their own way, and the donkey vas duly, taken aboard, a fare pnid for it and the men dismounted in triumph v-ith their new pet at j,he camp. The extent to which the spirit trade will be affected by the requisitioning of. stills by the British Ministry of Munitions is apparent from statistics to baud by the last English mail (says the Hohart Mercury). At the end of February these were ' 140,350,000 gallons of Bri-tish-made spirit in bond in the United Kingdom, of which probably at least 130,000,000 gallons was whisky, a quantity sufficient for three ov four yearsnormal consumption. The pot stills, which produce the spirit at about in per :.'ent. ovcrproof. were apparently not taken over by the Ministry. Gin. which is made from new spirit, has been more i/l'ected than whisky, as stocks are un. isnally light. The recent advance in whisky prices appears to have been due to fears of an acute shortage when current matured stocks are exhausted, should the war last as long as some people consider possible. For this winter you should certainly have a tweed costume. Morey jiml Soil announce some special tweeds, tin.l the attention of every smart dresser U directed to their advertisement. A reminder is given of nient which is to take place at the Good Templar Hall this afternoon under the auspices of the Junior Associates of the Victoria League in aid of the fund for furnishing a room for New Zealahders at the Overseas Club. A good programme has been provided, including saluting the flag, and the object is one that should receive universal support. Mr. iPaul Dufault, the famous Canadian tenor, ha? just completed the busiest season of his career in America. One of his most enjoyable tournees was made under the aegis of the Lafayette ' Society of New York. There 'is a strong bond between France and America, and the name of Lalayctte is greatly loved, numerous towns and innumerable babies having been named in his honor. The Lafayette. Society is composed of a number of wealthy women, and this year it was decided to raise a specif 1 fund for the French Red Cross. A concert tour of the large eastern cities was accordingly arranged, the '.members paying the fees of the artists, of whom Paul Dufault was the star, and all expenses of the tour, and the entire gross receipts, totalling many thousands, were turned over to the Red Cross. The Dufault concert will be given here at the Theatre Royal this evening. IKARBOL purifies tie atmosphere, and destroys the germs. —Sykes, Chemist. Vor Childrenjs Hacking Cough, Woods' Great Peppermint Cur*.

Among the new buildings about to he constructed in New York is a twentyeight storey hotel at 7th avenue and filth street, to cost £1,500,000, while I'.iiother hotel of almost equal size is to be erected by the Pennsylvania Railroad, and the two buildings will use 40,000 tons of structural steel. Apart from steel and shipbuilding, one of the greatest booms industrially of late has been in oil production, Since the beginning of the war 331 new comr anies have been organised, -with £sf},£OO,OOO capital, besides old companies refinanced. The largest is the Pan American Company, with £30,000,000 authorised capital. " Hprr Maumann, a member of the lieichstag, in an article in a Schleswig journal, the Heimdal, the organ of the local Danes, says:—"A declaration of war by America would result in a fleet, numbering in 1013 100 units, with 1331 gi'ns, placing itself on the side of Great Britain', thereby increasing the possibility of an nb.-.-iiliitcly effective blockade. German ships in American harbors would be lost, and America's daily- increasing financial power would mean an incalculable prolongation of the war, because America'can finance her allies for an unlimited period." Americans have been somewhat astounded to learn of the manner in which Germans ..reat their wounded. Dr, A. Hammond, who served with the German Red Cross % on the west front, and bears the marks of 27 shrapnel wounds, has returned to his home in Atlanta, in the United States, and declares that the German Red Cross surgeons kill hopelessly wounded soldiers. "Wo had to do it out of mercy," daid Dr. Hammond. "Chloroform and ether were too scarce and too precious to use." Asked how the unfortunates were dealt with, Dr; Hammond said: "The surgeon just attracted a man's attention lo something and then blew his brains out." Apropos of announcement recently retcrring to the youngest major in the British Army, age 24, R. Ward writes to the Auckland Star concerning the career of his nephew and namesake, Dick Ward, an undergraduate of Trinity College, joined the colors as Second Lieutenant in the Welsh Fusiliers at the outbreak, of the war. Although but a boy, he distinguished Mmself and was mentioned in dispatches. At the debacle of Neuvc Chapelle he worked a machine gun on the Germans at 50 yards distant. The Fusiliers were decimated; out of 12 officers five survived, and he was one of the five. He had siv bullet holes through his cap, wounded in head and hand, and was invalided home. He was sent out again with a fresh platoon, and last. June, from advices to hand, was, after the battle of Loos, made captain en the field #t yie age of 20. So per- , haps he is the youngest, captain in the British Army. Mary Pickford in "Rags" has been the greatest picture boom ever introduced t;i the Dominion. One local gentlen.'.n vNited the King's Theatre in Wellington three nights in succession at 7.15 o'clock, when the picture was b.r'ng screened, in the Empire City, yet was umble on any occasion to secure a seat in the theatre. This great attraction is !> ; !'ed for next Saturday, Monday, and Tuesday, at the Empire Theatre, and to enable hll locai picture patrons to view the film the management has complete! .'i angements to screen "Rags" at the 1 lustre Royal, as well as the Empire l'l tttre, on Saturday night. The Melbourne for ladies' fine Llama cashmere hose, 2s Od and 2s lid; Hu rnj Uses' 30-inch calico, 7d pard; Crewd--on's 311-inch calico, B}d; Ivy mending wool, 0d ball; 3-ply black' wool, 4}d rkein; white flannelette, (Id and Ui ■,'< ml; blanket rugs, lis fld, 12s fld to his Od. The New Plymouth Surf and LifeSaving Club wish to acknowledge, with thanks, a donation of 10s 0d from Mr. ■V. S. Brooker towards the funds of the club.