LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, 28 September 1916, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

It is reported that a syndicate -s about to exploit the limestone deposits in tliQ Tangarakau Gorge.

The secretary of the New'Plymoudi Fire Brigade acknowledge the donation of ,€1 Is from Mr. >f. R. Hawkins, Five cases of plague, two of which have proved fatal/ are reported; from Uverpool. Notwithstanding the .nival of additional recruits, who went to camp on Tuesday, the 21st Reinforcement draft is ")09 short.

Tho Labor Department i-> taking action to remedy the dearth of lions"; in New Plymouth, and has decided to build forthwith four cottages at Fitzroy. An Auckland telegram states that the coroner returned a verdict that the flre at Waiuku on August 29 was wilfully (•iiused, but there was no evidence to show by whom.

A farthing coin thnt was plaefcd in one of the collection boxes on "Daffodil Day" at Christehurch last week, m payment for a bunch of flowers, wa:. put iip for auction by '-i-'ie helpers, and was finally purchased for .C 5 ss. The day's takingsrealised £423 17s lOd.

At the Magistrate's Court yesterday morning, an old offender named Daniel Fitzpatrick. who had been remanded for a week on a'charge of drunkenness, .was fined 10s and costs 17s (id, in default 48 hours' hard labor. He was allowed fourteen days in which to make pavrrjnt

It was reported at the meeting of the Soldie's' Comfort Week Committee that forty motor -.ars, for the conveyance of veterans ai;d returned soldiers on Labor Day, were already assured. A suggestion that soldiers' wives and children be auommodated in the cars was unanimously apjHovcd. Bv the will ef Lieutenant Lorenz Wilt'ved Meuli, who was killed in France on the 15th 'HS'.fiiit. he has bequeathed iizol) to she Manaia Presbyterian Church, €SO to the Manaia /'ublic Library, to the Manaia Beautifying Committee and .C.'if) to the Manaia Fire Brigade, making n total of £4OO. On Sunday afternoon ne:;t, the Citizens Band will give a recital in Pukekuni Park. Both branches (senior and junio") will participate, and a special programme, particulars of which will be announced lutei has been arranged so Miat the public may judge of the progress of the Junior' Band. A collection will be tak-'ii up in aid of the instrumental fund.

It is stated on excellent authority that uie improvement* now being carried out by !lie I'atea Harbour Board have already resmed in an increased depth of three feet in the channel. The Board and the community are to be congratulated.

A statement of Crown tenants in arreur with rental payments)was presented to M e Lur.d Board nt yesterday's meeting. ami after considering the various eases, action for recovery by sfnntnons was decided on if defaulters failed to clear c-ff their indebtedness within one month from date.

Following a precedent already established, the Land Board at their meeting yesterday promptly turned down an application for transfer of a Crown holding to an eligible young man of military sge who evidently preferred the quiet re turment of the backblocks to the nr n «"«nt risks of the trendies. Other two applications for transfer and sub-lease to Mui'ii. men weie passed, as in each case the parties were able to produce e\idence of rejection by the military ai'thorities.

The agenda paper dealt with by the I.nnd Board at their ordinary monthly meeting yesterday was of more than u°ual length and occupied the close attention of members for the greater part of the day The prevailing war conditions accounted for no less than sixteen items that required attention. . Included in this numbei were six applications from selectors who have enlisted for active service and require leave of f.hscnce from their holdings. One Crown Lands ranger in reporting on matters affecting his district informed the Commissioner that fully 5)0 per cent of the eligible men in his district were already on service or had enlisted. Those who possess the Imperial spirit will not readily miss seeing the picture, '■The All-Bed Route,' showing at the Empire next Monday and Tuesday. The vestness and beauty of an important part of the. British Empire is brought home in a manner which is second only to traversing personally the Pacific, Canada, the Atlantic, and the Homeland. The audience is taken pictorially from .Sydney by the R.M.S. Niagara to Auckland, where they make a ttiur of the city, to Suva, beautiful Honolulu, and Victoria, B.C. Then the journey across Canada is undertaken, the Xiagara Falls are seen, and, finally, one of the great Atlantic liners is boarded for Liverpool. That great port in turn is left for London, the journey being made this time by train. The picture is a masterpiece of its kind.

Boys' Petone flannel shirts 2s lid at too Melbourne, Ltd. Men's Petone and. Rodyn flannels. 4s Id; men's red drab merino singlets Is lid; pants 2s (id; red or blue spot handkerchiefs, largo size, G(i; men's cord trousers 5s lid; men's pyjamas 5s (id; men's tweed suits, all pure wool, 38$ (kl; men's odd tweed vests 4s 11(1; men's all-wool knitted soeks Is, 3d, Is (id, Is !)d pair; men's tennis shirts, 3s lid, 4s lid. The New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Co., Ltd., draw the attention of clients to their sale at Matau Yard: tomorrow at 1 p.m. Particulars appear on page 8. The Taranaki Agricultural Society are holding a working bee at the Waiwakaiho grounds to-day, and will be pleased to receive all the assistance iliat may be forthcoming. A great deal of work hus still to be (lone and the committee are hoping for a good muster. The ploughing demonstration by the Mogul Tractor to be held at Mr. 0. S. Clifford's property, Lepperton, to-morrow >vill commence at 1 p.m., and continue throughout the afternoon.

Mr. F. P. Corkill has a new advertise meat in to-day's issue. For Chronic Chest Complaint:, Woods', Great Peppermint Cure.

Tli«vOJiura Advocate states: It is rcpwiod that n railway survey party will shortly be camped at Oliura for the purpose of c.. , :tinu i ng' the survey from' Toi Tof, ■ Mr. Vavasour, of Marlborough, who has i'.:st reti.ined from England, lias publicly stated that two out of the three commissioners appointed by the Board of Trade to regulate the price of meat and protect the people from imposition, were interested in the Chicago Meat Trust.

There are * .He a number o! our chaps gctiiii!; nurried over here (writes a Man.iia bov ''rom Scotland). This is not to be 'von.lercd nt. as there aie so many niiic airls. and the job is not to catch one out tu escane thorn. I met some of thi) finest girls J ever set eyes-on in iScctliui'l. T'ueii mt-.nners and way of speaking fairly takes my fancy. A yiuiijj woman had an unpleasant journey tc toWi; this morning (says Saturday's Auckland Star). She was in an Epson: c<-r vhic'i chanced to b.> crowded. A yoiui" Man politely offered his seat, but received the scornful reply: "I will take nothing from a shirker." The gentleman pullrJ aside his overcoat, and sh'.iwtd his returned soldier's badge, at the same tii.ic administering the stinging' rebuki.: "I importunately mistook you for a lady.'' After that "the rest was silence.'*

Sunday afternoon next will be another cnoch-niaging day in the history of Now Pipmouth, when, weather permitting, two bras? bands will play in Pukekura Park. These are. the Senior and Jonior combinations controlled by the New PlyMouth Citizens' Band Committee. The juniors will contribute several items to the programme, and as this is their first niblie performance, the event is being looked forward <to with considerable interest. The two bands will combine (HO performers) in the concluding National Anthem. The usual collection will be taken up.

To illu-tr&te the isolation which the early pioneers' of Now Zealand experience), it i.s mutinied in the course of a vrty .interesting paper on "Old Hawke's Bay,'' lead before the Hawke'i Bay Phil-osC'i.'hk-al Scoiety hy Mr. W. Dinwiddie, that in IfMO Mr. f! J. Tiffen brought a Hock of siuic p, tc {'.raze at a remote inland run. For nearly three years Mr. Tiffen lived there almost alone, his nearest neighbor being the Rev. W. Culenso, of the Waitangi Mission station, twentyli'e miles distant, fo the southward the ncares* Europeans were at Caftlepr.int, seioi'ty miles away When Mr. liOVn was tailed to Wellington to give evidc.nra at the trial of a man called Good lor iimrdei he had to walk 340 miles, mil curry both food and blankets with liim. Vet this hardship be eagerly undertook r.s a •.velcome change, having seen- no Kuiopcnn men and no women for nearly two years. Cs;>tam J. B, Hine, M.P., who is in cnniirand of the .Seventeenth Mounted | Reinforcements, made u. brief statement to a Dominion representative on Saturday, on the subject of recruiting, with I particular reference to the'shortage in the Twenty-first draft. The emergency, lie remarked, wa- one calling for prompt and -t.rong measuies, and should be dealt with: from; that standpoint. In -his opinion the Goverment should forthwith notify al' single men in Civil Service who will he e'lssed in the First Division that f.hey inti't within a reasonable period —say a wee^i —enlist oi forfeit their positions. Captain Hine added that under this policy, with ,uch detail adjustments as might be necessary, a considerable lumber of r:cruits would at once be made available and a strong lead would be 'j;!vei: to private employers, who should be called upon to follow the example of the Government in reference to eligible : ingle men in their employ. The-'" measures, Captain Hine remarked finui'y, would not in themselves serve all ibe ends of justice. No doubt some men who should enlist would remain out of reach until compulsion was brought into operation, But the present emergency wou'd be tided over, and the shortage would he made good. And as ,<oon as the Military Service Act came into oncx ition men not amenable to any oiher influence than that of straight-out compulsion could bf singled out for early and mirtieular attention.