LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, 8 September 1916, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Mails which left New Zealand on July 20 arrived in London on 3rd inst. "The last day of the new year" was how a legal luminary referred to a certain date in the Supreme Ceurt yesterday. Heavy continuous rains are falling throughout Southland, and floods are threatened. At BlulT the water entered business promises. The damage is estimated at £IOOO. Yesterday Mr. .D. Barry, of Fitzro.v. informed the Mayoress (Mrs. Burgess) that he would present a thoroughbred ho.rse to be disposed of for patriotic purposes. On the motion of Mr. Billing (Messrs Weston & Weston) probate of the wills o; the late Mr. John llawke and the late, Mrs. Klizabeth Loveridge was on the sth day of September granted by his Honor Mr. Justice Edwards to the executors named in the wills. "The solitude of Patoa" was a frequent phrase in the Supreme Court yesterday, and its reiteration immensely tickled the risibilities of some of the auditors. A photograph that was taken at ■> o'clock ij the afternoon, and produced in the course of the evidence, disclosed the main street of the township without a living soul in it! -Mr. J. S. Connett, president of the Taranaki Agricultural Society, attended the annual meeting of the Fmnklcy Road Hairy Company on Wednesday and addressed the suppliers on behalf of the society, outlining the progress that had been made during the past year and the policy of the future, and appealed for a continuance of their support. In addition to those who became members last year quite a number of additional members were obtained. Mesdames Hugh Bailv and 'Morrison acknowledge with thanks contributions to their fund for parcels for the hoys at the front as follows: Mr. A. S. Brooker, wicker baskets and Chinese lanterns; Miss llamerton, soap and perfume; White &-Son, towels; Mrs. Boulton, tobaco, pipes and cigarettes. Mrs. Ceorge is arranging that her popular orchestra will supply music at Holland Hall on Thursday, September 21, when the Christmas gifts will be on view.

The Tariki Ladies' Patriotic Committee desire to acknowledge the following donations to their fund's;— Mr. and Mrs. Therki'lson. senr.. t'l: Mr. F. Kiloy, £1; Mrs. ir. Knowles. £] Is; Mrs. \V. Trewin, 1 (1- Gd: Miss Strachan, 10s lid; Mr. and .Mrs. Rudkin, £2; from sale of cushion donated by Ill's. Grossman. CI Mi<; also from the young ladies' leap year ball the sum of .08 7!/.d for Christmas cheer for the soldiers.

What is probably a unique record in Supreme Court proceeding-, was established by Mr. A. 11. Johnstone. of New Plymouth, lit the sessions that concluded yesterday evening. Mr. Johnstone appeared for the plaintiff in each of the two civil action?, which were each for i'.'ifll damages. In each case the jury (a different one for each action) was unanimous in returning a verdict for the full amount claimed. As a "learned friend" who was opposed to him put it. "two such bulls-eyes in succession are a great score. It's a feather in Mr. Johnstone's cap." "Flower Day" to-morrow will be in aid of the blind soldiers, and the Mayoress (.Mrs. C. 11. Burgess) is anxious that by the evening a sum of £SO will be raised for this laudable object. Nearly £l2 was obtained last Saturday, and the public will to-morvow have a unique opportunity of trebling that amount, for not only have the owners of gardens promised freely of their blooms, but the Whiteley Show Committee have generously given the whole of the gorgeous collection of blossoms, now on view at Whiteley Hall, for the purpose. This in itself should ensure the emphatic success of to-morrow's sale. To-morrow will be "Tarnrutangi Day" a.L the Bed Cross Mart, and the inhabitants of that settlement, spurred on by the success of the Bell Block and Hillsborough settlers, have set themselves to achieve, if possible, a greater success • than their friendly rivals. The Mart tomorrow will be replete with all kinds of ■produce donated by Tarnrutangi folk. Cheese, butter, jams, cakes, pickles, hams, bacon, eggs, vegetables, etc., will be in abundance, and the market should be the rendezvous of many housewives who are on the qui vive for fresh and wholesome household necessaries. The early shopper will secure the pick of the choice viands that will be on sale. For Bronchial Coughs, take Woods' Greet Peppermint Cure

Captains Sydnev -Holm ami Arthur Irvine, both of U'anganui. where the latter was lately harbormaster, have been appointed assessors for the Sto-m----bird wreck inquiry.—Press message. The Dominion products entered for export last week were valued at .-£417,720, including dairy produce £34,587, frozen moat £101,5*03, gold £25,000, hides £27,01)3, hemp £17,871, tallow ,£30,472, wool £103,873. —Press Association. At the annual meeting of the Patea Farmers' Co-op. Freezing Company, the chairman, in reply to 11r. Pearce, said that the company during the past season had paid out .something like £12,000 in wages. Elephant Island is one of the South Shetland chain of islands, lying close on the border of the Antarctic regions, close to the YVcddell Sea and about 500 miles southeast of Cape Hoi\|i. It is snowcovered for the greater part of the year, anil grows nothing but mosses, lichens, and some scanty grass. A press message from Wellington slates that the Golden Bay Cement Works. Ltd., shows a profit oi £5344 for tlie year ended June 30, including £3334 brought forward. A dividend of six per cent, has been recommended, abforward.

Procrastination may give a careless or negligent man some time in prison. Undei the Military Service Act a Reservist who does not send by registered letter to the Government Statistician timely notice of change of address may make himself liable to a charge of desertion. Any post office will supply the necessary forms, cards, information and help. A smart capture was made by a couple of police officers in Wellington on Friday. Sergeant Xewin and Constable Fleming were visiting an hotel in the ordinary course of their duties, when they saw a number of nien standing round the bur. One man, just as they door, was in the act of passing something round behind the back of the man next him to a."pal" on the other side, in such a way that the men standing at the counter could not see what he .was doing. The officer at once went forward and spoke to the man in the centre, asking him if he had his watch on him. "I've got it all right," he replied, but on feeling in his vest pocket lie found it had gone. The man next him put his hand in his own pocket, and on the police asking him to show them what he had in his pocket, he produced a watch with about 10s, which the centre man at once claimed as his. The British War Office has decided to issue a special badge to men discharged after service with the colors. The gold stripe is not to be worn with civilian clothes, and the badge for all discharged men, while it will save our heroes in mufti from such undeserved reproaches as they have suffered too frequently, leaves the man .who has been wounded without recognition. The badge stands for the uniform; something is wanted to correspond to the stripe. A stripe will be given to mark each occasion on which a man ia wounded —not to mark each wound lie receives. A man may receive u dozen shrapnel wounds simultaneously. He will not receive a stripe for every wound. Three or four stripes will have a deeper significance than three or four wounds. They will mean that, undaunt- I ed, the hero lias gone hack to the fray not once but twice or thrice.

Many of the letters from soldiers, sent by friends or relatives to the newspapers for publication, are in the highest, degree ''human documents." The followin;; passage, takei> from the letter (to his wife) of a soldier who must, remain anonymous will serve as an example oi many:—"Don't be afraid of the casualty lists—l'm not, with all my love for yon and the dear little ones taken in—anil, there's no earthly .reason why yon should be. Jf you had seen—as we have seen—even in this town, which was nearly on the edge of things, women and children, girls and boys, some with scarred faces, some with shortened arms and legs; if you had seen these and considered the horrors and abominations that lav behind, and in addition to, these mutilations, \vhy, sweetheart, you'd only have to think of our own kiddies, and the biggest casualty list in the world wouldn't induce you to have me anywhere but where I am. : ' An extract from an officer's letter which lias been received in Wellington concerning Sergeant Barber, gives information as to how the heroic sergeant n.et his death. "Soldiering develops character," says the writer of the letter —"both ways, for good and for ill. When you see what some of our chaps put up with, long hours of work in rain ai,d cold, coming 'home' tired out, and then perhaps being called on to 'stand-to' during an alarm or a bombardment, you marvel to see them turn to without a grumble. There are things that ; sbow only in a sudden emergency. Such, fur instance, as the man at a bomb school who had an accident with a grenade. Knowing it must burst, he ordered his class to run clear, and he himself held the thing in his hand till it exploded and shattered him. If he had thrown it out of the window he might have killed somebody outside, so he preferred to die himself. 1 knew that man, a Wellington boy named dim Barber, so I can guarantee the above." Another letter from Lieutenant-Colonel Hart states that had Sergeant J. Ba.rber not been killed be would have attained commissioned rank in a few weeks.

Owing to tlio fact that the carpenters will not be out of tlm building until next week it is intimated that the new term for the New Plymouth Boys' High School will not commence until Monday, 18th inst. At the beautiful ground* of Mr. E. Cock, "Overdale," which Mr. Cock will generously throw open, on Sunday, the : Citizens' Band will render a choice selection of musical items. '"Good wine needs no bush,'' and there is 110 need to say that the 'Band's selections will be most enjoyable. The "Overdale'' grounds are now looking charming, and with the profusion of blossoms and the wealth of native greenery present a pleasing picture. On Sunday afternoon, therefore, jaded townspeople should in large crowds make a point of wending their various ways to "Overdale," to appreciate good music- and bright gardens. A collection ■will he made for patriotic purposes.