LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, 23 September 1916, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Monday next is Dominion Day, but apparently nothing has been done in New Plymouth to recognise the anniver-i-ary. In view of the fact that. shags are particularly destructive to yomijj front, the Taraiiaki Acclimatisation .Society are oli'ering two shillings each for shag's heads. Nothing like being in good time. Yesterday, Webster Bros received the first nomination for Sutton's Field Acreage Competition at the next Winter Show. The farmer in question is from the Tikorangi district. .Several Wellington city and suburban tradesmen were yesterday fined sitmr varying from,.ls to £2 for having im perfect weights and measures,—Press Association. Yesterday, at the Wellington Magistrate's Court, H. 0. Bedell was fined £lO and costs for a breach of a military contract, in that lie sewed tunics with cotton instead of linen thread.—Press Association. The New Zealand Base Post Office has now been transferred from Calais to London, and is stationed at Regent's Park. Lieut. McCnrdy (Wellington) is in command, and the staff n.:iubers over fifty. A Press Association message from Wellington, says that John Alfred Shirley, who was caught in the act of stealing petrol from Fitzgerald 'a motor garage early on the morning of September 11th, pleaded guilty at the Magistrate's C ourt yesterday, and was committed for sentence.

A rattle drover received rather a surprise the other evening, when, as he was strolling behind his mob of cattle and, as he thought, leading his steed, a passing motorist suggested that it would be as well to bring the horse along. Looking round the driver discovered that the animal was peacefully grazing along the roadside some chains" back, and that he had been merely dragging the bridle, which had slipped off his steed's head, instead of leading the hbrse. The Kast End Committee held another of their popular socials in the pavilion on I hursday night, when there was ail excellent attendance. The euchre prizes were secured by Mrs. Harvey and Mrs. 13. Gardiner, Messrs. 0. (iordon ano Heft'erinap. After supper Imd been enjoyed, dancing was kept up for several hours, Mrs. George supplying the music. The committee wish to'thank Messrs. Corrigal and C, Bond for donations to the prize list. Canvassers for shares in the Ngamotu Seaside Hosort, Ltd., report capital busi. ness, having met with exceptionally few refusals. The provisional directorate has been furnished, gratis, with another plan for the buildings; it includes a very attractive design for a v bathing pavilion and tea kiosk. The promoters report having received the first, hundred shares application, this being from "Dr. E. A. Walker, With another eight or ten such applications the success of the proposal will be assured. A Wellington Press message states that the Post Office Savings Bank deposits for July totalled £1,:j02,4!)8, exceeding the withdrawals by £372,7.3!). In August the deposits were £1,352,008, and withdrawals $1,608,011; the witndrawals thus exceeding the deposits by £214,852. Those heavy withdrawals it :s pointed oi't were made during the period that the war loan was open for subscription, and in view of the fact that approximately £10,000,1101) was raised in the Dominion, it is considered remarkable that the Savings Bank finances were so slightly disturbed. Apropos of the Taranaki Education Board, the Inglewood Record remarks "This Board is at present enjoying a perfect avalanche of meetings) and if the outcome of the visitation is commensurate with the time being given to it, the lovely army of martyrs—or masters —will very soon outnumber, and certainly outcost, the army of scholars to teach, and taxable individuals to pay the various units for which salaries are to be provided. At the Board meeting held on Wednesday last, some very important business was put through, business too, which will be of interest to every dweller in the Educational district. as it shews very clearly that the members of our new Board are fully alive to the necessity of keeping quite abreast of the times, even with regard to the numerical strength of the staff, and the money value of the services to be rendered."

ro -morrow (Sumlity) afternoon, a; '2.4.') p.m., tho Citizens' Band will, by special request, give a recital at the Breakwater. Tin' request was eonsidercrod at last nhht's practice and unanimously agreed to, in view of the apparently settled state of tlif, weather. Special irani arrangements are bein-j made by the authorities, aiul the first car will start from the terminus for the seaside at 1.2,"> p.m. The usual collection will be taken up. We have been '.hown a very fine sample of imported Canadian apples by Messrs. AVebster Bros., agents for a big apple ranch lip the Wenatchee Valley. The apple shown us is the King David, and is of very fine color and good quality for so early an apple. This fruit is under five weeks off the ti'ees jand should find a ready sale. Farmers throughout North Taranaki will be interested to know that through the kind offices of Mr. (i. S. Clifford a public demonstration is be given at his homestead, Lepperton, on Friday next, of the motor tractor that he has leeently imported from tlie International Harvester Company, through their local agents, Messrs. AVebster Bros. Thv. demonstration, which will give farmers some idea of the uses to which the tractor can be put on the farm, is already creating keen interest among Taranaki agriculturists, and intimation has already been received that farmers from as far south as Waverley will attend. The Triangle Keystone have produced another of the imputable comedies, in which sensation and fun run side by side. "In Dizzy Heights and Daring Hearts," with the popular comedian Chester Conklin, better known as "Mr. Walrus," aeroplanes and dynamite play prominent parts. A most sensational incident is the escape of a girl from k stoleA aeroplane by means of an umbrella parachute. Although the casualties were big, the laughter-raising episodes —i iiannaxaa-j. . J

There is someone who wants just what you have to sell—an advertisement will liiid that person. The Manaia Town Board election was held on Wednesday, and resulted in the election of Messrs Craig, \V. Butler, A. H. Christie, J. J. Meldon, C. Taylor, C. Davis and G, Meuli. There is a shortage of men for un dcrground work in coal mines. Not only is there a scarcity of competent experienced face-workers, but of brakesmen and truckers also. These men are not skilled workers, but they are needed ft the faecmen are to go on winning coal. The demand for seaside cottages for the summer has already set in. 'The Xgamolu Seaside Committee have received applications from Mangaweka, \Vaverlev and very many from Ilawera, IClthani, Stratford, Ingle'wood. The committee are unable to cope with the demand for persons desiring a vacation by the seaside, and it is anticipated that in the near future there will be at least one hundred seaside cottages on our sea front. _ Something new in beach resort sensations was introduced at the fashionable Narragansett Pier the other day (writes the Auckland Star's New York correspondent), when Mrs. Benjamin K. Gating had out her husband's polo pony, and rode liini into the surf and up and down the beach clad only in a purple silk bathing suit, and riding bareback and astride. The fashion was at once followed by a score of the wealthy younger set of women, and before the week was out the beach was a ctizz.y scene of women in an exhibition of raiment and I limbs that the wet of the surf tended to display al) the more glistening. Many were unseated in the surf, but it only added to the fun, and there were always enough men about to help them remount if necessary.

Some information respecting the new armoured ears, which played a great part in the latest British success, was given in Auckland by Lieutenant-Col-onel M'lnnes, of the Salvation Armv, late of Manchester, who has just arrived in New Zealand. He said that for some time Britain hail been manufacturing armoured cars by the thousand. The type he had seen, anrt there were many varieties, were forts on wheels, carrying guns capable of being fired in every direction. The ears were so strongly armoured that they could stand almost, anything, and eut through almost any obstacle. Alluding to Zeppelins, he said the German raids did not now extend far beyond the coast. The British air do fence had improved beyond expectation, and the raids were in no way feared. Freezing works in New Zealand will commence next season's operations with (■lean floors, as before that time, unless something n;.coward happens, the whole of the present stocks in store will have been shipped Home. Such was the statement made by the Minister foi Agriculture to an Auckland Star reporter 011 Monday. Mr. MacDonakl said there was, according to the latest returns, 130,084 carcases of mutton and lamb in cold storage in the North Island, and 58,402 carcases of beef. The southern figures were .'!()(!,060 caresses of mutton and In nib, and 20,001 earceses of beef. The total for both islands was 52(1,073 and 8-1,523. The shipping arranged for will clear more than half the meat in store almost immediately, while the whole wiU be taken away before the end of the present year. "Germany has progressed by damaging others bv underhand methods," said Professor A. P. W. Thomas in Auckland in discussing the topic of the past neglect of science by Britain and the dominions. "I pointed out years ago," he added, "that the damage to British trade as regards Germany was not caused by the total amount of Germany's f >rr;:n trade, hut was due i.o the fact that the latter was increasing vastly more rapidly than that of Britain. You cannot measure the total trade or efficiency of a nation by the e.vtent of lie: foreign trade only. The larger a country is, and the more.one part of it supplies another part, the greater the volume of internal trade. It would be con ceivable for a country of large area and population, and varied resources, to he more prosperous than any other nation, without having any foreign trade whatever. That is what the economist overlooks."

There was n remarkable testimony to patriotism in the obituary column of the London Times on July 28. It reads: "Webber.—Killed in aetion on July 21, Henry Webbei, of Horley, Surrey, J.l-. for the County of Surrey, lieutenant South Lancashire Regiment; aged :iS years." Although years had warranted him immunity' from service, Mr. Webber who was a member of the London Stock Exchange, offered his service l ; to the War Office in any capacity on the outbreak of war. The authorities, however, could not find him military employment, and for a little while Mr. Webber contented himself ivit.li doing his utmost to secure recruits foi the Army, and found comfort in the lact that three of his mns were serving the King. Again and again lie. approached the War Ottice, and at last his perseverance overcame regulations, and he was granted a commission in the South Lancashire l!egiment. in May lie went to France., and two months later he was killed in action. One of his sons, f.icutenant-Col-onel N. W. Webber, R.E., has won tin? D.S.O. in the war, and a second son is a major, and a third a captain. The unique idea of filming a record of n trip from Sydney to Loudon, via British Columbia and Canada and launching the picture, on a ready market, entitled the *'AII Red Koute," has proved a prii • titable investment for the producer and a source of real enjoyment for the public. Wherever screened the picture has drawn record crowds, and the special matinees have proved highly successful, financially for the enterprising showman who has booked the film and educationally for the children who have viewed it. In the principal towns arrangements were made to let the schools out early and delay the starting time of the picture to fit in. The teachers gave special geographical lessons based on the picture, both before and after the screening. Over 2500 children in Wellington alone saw the film. The following new goods are exceptionally good value at the Melbourne, Ltd.: Ladies' English lisle thread hose, Is Gd pair; mercerised lisle thread hose Is !)d; lisle thread hose with silk ankks. 2s (id pjir; fine inadapolam 7d and I'd yard; ladies' corsets, 8s (id pair; suit cases 12s (id, 14s (id, IBs (id; men's all-wool cashmere socks Is 9d pair; merino underwear, Is lid, 2s Gd; boys' "sport" suits in English and Colonial tweeds 14s Gd to 29? (id; hoys' indigo serge sport suits, 22s Gd to 3fl? Gd. THEY DO NOT WEAKEN. The use of strong purgatives so weakens the bowels that chronic constipation frequently follows their use. Chamberlain's Tablets are a gentle laxative that produce a natural action of the bowels. Instead of causing constipation Chamberlain's Tabletß will strengthen the

Interesting details of a canvassing campaign in regard to men in the Manu-< kiiv County eligible for military service More given in a letter to tli? County' Council, read at its meeting on Wednes-' day, states the Auckland Herald. The canvasser appointed wrote stating that l,e covered 000 miles by car and 120 milei on horseback. One of the most remark* able features of the campaign, according, to the letter, was the discovery of many young men who had not registered under, the National Registration Act. A very pleasant evening was spent on Thursday night at the Fitzroy Hall under the auspices of the Fitzroy C.E. Society. Invite* lions were sent to other C.E. Socie.' ties, and in responce to the invitation members of the Whitely and Baptist C.E. Societies attended in full force, making the attendance nearly 100. Mr, R. Peppered occupied the chair, and a, short musical programme was then gono through, the following contributing items: Miss L. Aroa, pianoforte solo, sojig Mrs. Olds, recitation Miss Olds, song Mr. Hogg, duet Misses O. and 1. Campbell (encored), . pianoforte solo. Master N. Belringer. Miss Scott andV Miss Lome acted as accompanists. Ah very tastefuly served supper was then! handed round. Games and competitions! were jtlien the order of, the evening, and ■ wuie entered into heartily by both young 1 and old. Miss Bransgrovs,'on behalf of the Whitely Bible Class, thanked the Fitzroy C.E. Society for the splendid evening they had provided and hoped to return the compliment at a near date. Those responsible for the arrangements are to be congratulated on the success oi tiie junction, and the large gathering muss have been very encouraging to the local Society. The "evening" was brought to a close by singing "Auld Lang Syne," and everyone appeared to be wcil pleased with theii evening's entertainment. ''The Greatness of the British Empire" will be the subject of the Rev. H. B. Gosncll's address in the Opunake Meth* odist Church on Sunday. As the speaker intends dealing with the subject from the geographical, historical and religious standpoints the address should prove of interest. Hymns of a national character will be sung.