LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, 29 September 1916, Page 1

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

A very h>ng list of New Zealand casualties is published on page 7 of this issue. A donation from Mr. I. Goodwin of one gr.inca is aeknov ledged by the secrofary of tlit Fire Brigade, in' recognition 'if that h.dy'.i services at the fire on Wednesday aimiihg. Very satisfactory progress is • bein" made with the erection of the freezing works at Smart Road for the Taranaki Farmers' Meat Producing Company. _ Mr. King has decided to fall in with the wisho: of the Inglewood settlers, and h< future his sales'will be held on alternate Wednesdays to those of the Farmers' Co-operative Organisation. As .'llustrating the hardihood of the old pioneers, a speaker at Okato stated tlnit two women had, in the old days, milked fr in that township to New Plymc.utli and hack to procure a\«s that their husbands required for bush falling.

Thi! followers if Izaak Walton are all Last season's rods are being overhauled and made supple, ohl flies are being diseaided for new ones, the prospects of likely rivers are being discussed, and all because—Sunday next is the opu'ing day of the trout-fishing season! A half-day parade of A Company, 11th Regiment, Taranaki Rifles, was held in the Coronation Hall yesterday, about 50 men and officers being present. The men were put through n course of musketry, and the drill was a very valuable one. Lieut. F. X. Whitcvombe was the officer in commarid. The military patriotic ball held at the Wjnt.T Show buildings, • Hawera, on We-ino=du> evening, proved a groat sned..s, the attendance being latge. The G.'fii'd March was headed by Major Cox and Mrs. Kimbell about 100 couples purt'ic'ipftting. It is expected, states ihi' Kfar, that between £3O and £4O will be divided between the fund for the prisoners cf war in Germany and the fund tor providing war clothing for the b/.'s at the front. The Opuuake Horticultural Society's Spring Show, which was held on .Wed-ne.-diiy. attracted less entries than vsm<\. Mctsri, Duncan and Davies, and '.lie MM'fhcrid Nursery Co (New TlymoutlO. had some choice exhibits, and tve )i.'i>'eisM shown by Mr. R. Gibson ii!iic;lea! attracted great attention, as did Mr. fi. Looney's collection of mangold-, and carrots. At a. children's elocutionary competition in the evening, Vini Mulli n and .Jean McLean were bracketed first.

Tn commenting nn trade ami the money market the Xew Zealand Trade Review of tlie 22nd inst. says, inter nlla: Onr exports continue to exhibit increase and show a very big surplus over imports, although the latter are increasing also owing to enhanced price*. The aggregate excess for trie two years is over 20'/. millions, and after allowing for payment of our outside obligations there is still some 10 millions loft, so alter the raising of the loan there should still he ample funds for all ordinary business requirements for some timo to come. Our export season is about to start now, and the prospects appear very favorable; the demand for all our staple products is still keen, and prices appear likely to keep high. Practically the only serious trouble is the question of sufficient shipping to take (he produce away. Town boys do ;ome curious things when they get into the .country sometimes A farmer at Arundel had a boy eleven years of age staying with him last week, and he was very interested in watchim.' the fowls and ducks at feeding time. One morning the lad was seen chasing the fowls away from their feed with a big stick. When asked wily he was doing this he explained that the fowls pecked up the grain twica as fast as the ducks, and ho was chasing the hens away so as to o;ive the ducks a better chance at the wheat. It wai» explained to him that though the fowls appeared to pick the grain up quicker than the ducks they only took one grain at a time, whereas the ducks shovelled it up with their broad beaks. . The fanner jocularly added that the ducks needed their beaks sharpening, A day or two later a great commotion was heard in one of the sheds, and on going to see the cause of all the noise l it was found that the toy had the ducks yarded up, and was sharpening their beaks! When discovered, he had operated on two, which he had left with beaks like pen points, floth had to be destroyed. The farmer in question has decided that in future he will only say what ho means .literally.

The wonderful educational film of the All l!od Koute will commence a twor.igl.t <md one matinee Reason at tlic Empire on Monday night next. The. picture is claimed to be the brightest and best travel film that 1 as been screened and embraces a comprehensive tour from S/.tny to London on British steamers and through British territory. Auckland, Fiji, Honolulu, Vancouver, the Rockies, Winnipeg, Niagara Falls and many other places of interest are visited, tint whole forming an ideal holiday trip which can be made via the film in a little over an hour. The picture has received the hearty endorsement of tht lion, J. A. Hana'n, Minister for Education, wJi" describes it as being of value from the interesting, educational and Imperialistic points of view. A strong supporting bill has been selected, including a bright comedy, featuring Anita Stewart and Earle Williams. Av. imiiMwl'y fine display of high-grade ready-to-wear suits is beiug made by the Mcil oiimp Clothing Ci„ Ltd. These suits c.-/iupv>i: all the \ai.-.n fabrics and weaves frcm the English ?uA Colonial mills, and include scarce lines such as indigo coatings and serges, warranted fast dyes. Prices 38s 6d to 755. Mr. T. VV. Welch, Egmont Street, New Plymouth, has been appointed local agent for the Wanganui Sash and Door Factory and Timber Company, Ltd., who are pvcriiiro.'l to give quotations for doors and joinery, railagp paid to New Plymouth, both in large and small quantities. _ Lost, strayed—gone none knows where, ■'Twas with me yesterday, 1 do declare. It racked my chest, my head was sore, It's gone, I'll ne'er see it more. What? Not a cough? Yes, yes, for sure; Lost when I used Woods' Peppermint Cure- 3

There w*re sixteen motor cars outside I the L:iil at the Okato Patriotic concert last ni„>ht. Tiicse were : representative of i!,i; district from Xew Plymouth to Jbhutn. Tuesday's niilitarj hospitals bulletin summary ..shows that there wcro iHi pittieutn of the .reinforcements now encumped who were under hospital treatment. Of these only eleven were ton-. siuercd serious. Final threshing returns show that the Dominion wheat supply is 7,070,000 bushels, which is ample for .local requirements, and, according to the Hon. \V. S. Mae-Donald, it is probable the Government will releasi a little for export later on. It is unusual to look for German blood in a Maori, but two members of a Maori contingent claim as their father an unnaluralised German. The latter las lived with the natives for many years on a large island near Auckland, v.'berc he m.irrird a native woman. A French shin recently steamed into an American harbor with £8,000,000 in gold. The incident (says the San Francisco Chronicle) occasioned no widespread comment, though it was equal to six years' production of the whole world a hundred years ago. Owing to trouble having been caused io tramway motorrnen in Auckland by ['."/.zling headlights on motor-cars, the police throughout the city have been iwirucled to enforce the authority tlir.y possess under the Lights on Vehicle Act. It could with advantage be enforced in Taranaki.

Nearly three months have passed without a bankruptcy being recorded in Gliristehnreh. Speaking to a repi.rter a gentleman interested in financial proceedings said that the war had done some good by discouraging overspeculation, especially in building, and thus putting business more sound, and the length of tinis elapsing since a bankruptcy had occurred was a record. In Juno, 1015, a Hnwera lady receiveo\ o Mjiiirwltal pnthrtie letter from a Belnidi; florist-who had been driven into Holland, after managing to save hi«. 'stoi-k-in-trci:" ot IniTbi. He appealed for c/d'.i's frovr. English people in order to eni.blr him to rrmt'nue'in business. An order was =cnt by the lady, and some little lin.e since the bulbs, principally bcg((i?ias, reached Hawera. They, have l.ccn plai.ti.'.i, and are proving of very at 0.l diiality. It is her intention to use them on behalf of the Behian Relief F.ind.

Some strong remarks on the importation of ''trisliy" foreign article;! into the dominion during the war were made by the May.i (Mr. H. Holland) at the aniiusl -nc'ethig of the Canterbury Emp'.oy-ii-i' Asso'jHiion 'reports the Press), Mr. Holland 3ai'i that lie ha I figures to show that i'vc-r .COOflfl worth of ojrgs had, within a year, come into Xew Zenlan,l, which investigations showed were seagr.lls' and such-like rubbish from China. 'IIk! "Maci Major" is an artillery officer who keeps' his own aeroplane for rangefinding puvpi-ses. When he wants to correct a range he just flies over and drops smiiko bombs on the particular spot he want."' his gun o , to bit. Then lie goes luck and sets the guns to work. One il.iv, being amiM'»d with a Ornmn 17inch howitzer, he flew ovei with a 1001b bomb, nose-divt d to within 400 ft, droplied i)i? b-inih, and blew the howitzer to atom;. Fc returned with his planes riddlcC with bullets.

It is not generally known (says Hie New Zealand Times) that a private who went nway with one of the Reinforcements succeeded to a fortune and a title before his departure. The private in question is stated to have been a captain in the same regiment as his Excellency the fiovcrnor (Lord Liverpool). When lie enlisted he kept his identity secret, lml was discovered in the ranks by an Imperial officer of high rank. Mo was offered his discharge, but stoutly refused to accept it, and was eventually, allowed to proceed to the front as a full private.

II is mentioned, as a somewhat ren'.r.rkable fact, that very few indeed of the'men who go irto camp with the Reinforce nents have complete sets of sound tt;;tli. The majority of the recruits need denta'i attrition, and the dental staff has grown in strength and importance during '.he !a £ t twelve, months. An effort has bcf.n made lo secure some data concerting the, men whose teeth were sound when Ihcy altered camp, and it has been noticed that nearly all these men were country-bred, and had lived simply. A considerable proportion of them came from Scotland, and it is an interesting fact that the majority of these soundni'mthtd tii-:.n hnve mentioned fish as an important article of their diet.