LOCAL AND GENERAL

Taranaki Daily News, 30 November 1916, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

A Tendon oablr- states Hint the Anzafi Hill lias passed the Committee stage in (lie ilmi-.' of Lords,

Tim Minister of Defence yesterday received an intimation that tho 18th Reinforcements were all well.—Press Association.

At the Wellington Supreme Court yesterday, Sydney Marte!!, late manager of the Hawke's Bay Fruit and Produce Company, was acquitted on charges of stealing sums totalling' £ls9.—Press Association.

A 'Press message last .night stated that the Auckland Education Board had resolved to urgently recommend the Department of Justice to appoint women police for protective work, among girls and women. The Government intends to sell the old Drill Hall and site at New Plymouth, and will offer them in the course of a' few weeks. The tablet to tiie memory of the soldiers who fell in the Maori war between ift oo and ISfJO, now gracing the wall, will be shifted to some public spot. The Government has agreed to renovate. and kerb the remainder of the soldiers' graves in St. Jlary's churchyard and Te Henui Cemetery, arid to grant the Horough Council a small subsidy annually towards keeping them in order. It has already seen to several of tho graves. The Government is also willing to subsidise any public fund for the erection of a suitable memorial to the deceased soldie^*.

The Government Statistician officials boasted before the ballot of the efficiency of their system, iind the care that was being exercised. These claims are hardly borne out by the complaints being made in connwtion with the first ballot. For instance, the very first name in the Taramiki group was that of a Tntarainmka farmer with a wife .and seven children His name, 01 course, should have been in the second division.

At the-close of the Boer war the late Lord Kitchener presented a number of Pompom guns captured by the liritish troops to the New Zealand Government. One of them was given to Mew Plymouth, and graces llarslnnd Hill ill-. J. Hislop, Under-Secretary i'rr Internal Affairs, inspected the gun yesterday, and, in conversation with a N'ews representative, stated t'.iat a cover should be found for the gun without delay, as the <«rriage was rotting, and the grin itself suffering from the lack of p-oiestion. The gun, he added, was an interesting memento of the P.oer war, and of its donor, the late Minister for War, and was worth taking care of.

To-morrow (Friday) evening an exceptionally interesting industrial film will be screened at the Empire Picture Theatre, illustrating the manufacture o f the noted Maxwell motor car. The film will show the making process of the cars from the molten steel stage to perfectly finished rcady-for-the-road vehicle. The picture will be witnessed by invitation up to S.l") and after that hour the doors will be thrown open to the public absolutely fr»c of charge. Such an opportunity of witnessing the workings of one of the world's greatest motor factories does not often present itself and as the film will be highly educative there will 110 doubt be a large attendance. The present "industrial stress (the big coal strike) was referred to by Archbishop Kelly on Sunday, the 12th inst, at Woolwich iSydney). ''You see," he said, "what strength the democratic Government has. Xone at all. It must have the people at it* back, otherwise it cannot carry out its duties. The first duty of the members of any society is observance of the law.'' The Archbishop went on to say that if they (lid not keep a careful watch their unions would become tyrants. Let them bav«t men of sound principles at the head o" their unions, otherwise they would become like a wild beast seeking its own destruction. Let them avoid any desire to push matters to an' xtreme, for no one would suffer more than the wageearners and their families.

Wangamii wilway nien (stat n s u correspondent of the Railway Review) are of opinion that the consumers of this country should tell the producer? that the limit of high prices has been more than reached. "The fact should be gently whispered to them that withou* the aid of the great body of manual workers not a box of butter, not a sid-. 1 of beef, could leave New Zealand; and in that ease the great producer would be only able to get a reasonable price for his products, and the children of the consumers {the general public) would perhaps get sufficient of the necessaries of life. As oiganisation is necessary to that end. and our council is in the position to give a lead, the following motion is to he forwarded: —That the executive council be requested to convene a conference of transport workers to consider the best means of combating the cost of living, the decisions of the conference to be immediately placed before the Government." The Cristmas "smokes" for soldiers' tins, specially prepared by the New Plymoiit Patriotic Committee, will assuredly be one of the most ! opular gifts for the men at the front. The tin contains four plugs of Ilavelock tobacco and five packets of Three Oastles cigarettes, and is put up in a specially designed colored label. Stamped ready for posting, it costs only ;K Bought in the ordinary way, it could not be got for less than 11/6. Orders are being taken by the Tarar.aki Daily News, J. Aver)', Ltd., C. Carter, J. Abbott, Gilniour and Clarke, J. W. 11. Martin, and L. A .Nolan. Country readers may send to any of the above, with soldier's full address, and a srtiall card or note to be enclosed. The tin, like a. letter, goes straight to the soldier, and will be posted in time to reach him for Christmas.—W. J. Chanty, hon. treasurer.

Our readers arc asked to be on the look out for an important announcement by the Melbourne Clothing Co., Ltd., in Friday's issue. The firm lias eomplctuo arrangements for the holding of gigan tic sale of drapery and clothing d'ith the result that many substantial bargains will he offcivd thus all'ording the public an easy means of practising desirable economy.

THE MELBOURNE, T.TI). CHILDREN'S WASHING HATS. A smart showing of these goods is on view at all the Melbourne, Ltd.'s six stores. White linen hats for boys or girls with or v,ithout cords, Is 3d Boys' khaki washing hats, Is 3d. Boys' smart mercerised cotton tussore hat-:, with siik cord, Is 3 Id. Pure Jap silk tussore hats, ■ls 3d. Kxtra fine quality ditto. 3s Gd. Largs size wl.ito linen hats for girls and young women, 2* Sd. All above \vaihing hats sre guaranteed not to have •"•own untidr iuterlininss in the brims.

To-day (St. Andrew's Day), will bo observed as a bank holiday. A dembnstration of part of the school work will be given at the Fitzroy School this afternoon. The parents of o.ipils attending tha schools and the residents of Fitzroy are invited to be present. The Methodist Synod of the Tarar.akiW'aiigumii district is being held in Wanganui. New Plymouth is represented by the following:—Revs. A. B. Chappel! and C. H. Olds, Messrs. I{. Pepperell. W. A. Collis, V. Griffiths, J. T. Griffin and J. Sanders. ,

The Crown Lands Purchase Board Ims been engaged for some time past m :n----specting jnopcrties in the Tnrannki district for the use of returned soldier*. The values set on land are very liii'h. being based on the high prices at present jor produce. The Board hat had d'.T:o,i:t.y in rrranging for the pi'iihase vf the pviperties offered, feeling that the prices asked were excessive. tVn;..t'ations are proceeding for the purchase of one area of 722 acres at Tututawa.

Splendid work has been done in Taranaki in supplying soldiers at the front with cigarettes and tobacco. Mr. J Clarke, ono of the organisers of tho Tobacco Fund, states that 50,000 cigarettes and 4000 plugs of tobacco haw been sent from Taranaki to the men on active service, and that there'is sufficient Inouey available to forward another 10,i) 00 cigarettes and SOO plugs of tobacco. Money was still coming in, and was being devoted to the purchase of smoking material for the men.

At a meetinn of the Palmerston branch of the Amalgamated Society of Carpenters and Joiners, the following resolution was carried unanimously"That we demand that the Hon. G. W. Russell make a public apology to the people of Australia for the insult uttered by him to the Napier Daily Telegraph in his statement that tha anti-conscription attitude of Australia could be attributed to two things—the convict taint and the late John Norton's Truth."

The prospects of Auckland maintaining her proud position of filling her obligations in the matter of reinforcement drafts by the voluntary system do not noeiu, bright, in view of the poor respond.! made to cnll for recruits (sl)s the ''Star"). The thus is drawing; near when voluntary enlistments for the Twenty-fifth (Jamtar) > Reinforcements will close and if Auckland is to fill her quota there must ae 180 recruits r.eeepted as fit for service before December nth.

.Stronp; disapproval of the action of the Workers' Dwellings Board in deciding to purchase houses in Now Plymoiir.it was expressed by several representative ■itizer.s to whom the matter was referred yesterday It was stated that the housing problem in New Plymouth was acute, and thai the Government, would relieve the position if it erected dwellings under the Workers' Dwellings Act. The unusual procedure of buying hour.es already erected would not improve the present state of congestion in any way, anl the people would have to depend upon private enterprise to afford the needs of the increasing population.

"A Raw He?ruit" writes as follows to the Manawatu Daily Times: "I hope you will make a visit to Trenthsm anil Eeatherslon in mufti for tiie purpose of enquiring into the grcs* wastage of food and material produced by the tireless labor of good wen and women. 1 would direct you to, nee five cookhouses where a contractor obtains the waste from those at £1 "is per week each. It is stated that foi this trifle he obtains enough bread and meat every six weeks to fatten HO 1 ) pigs, upon which his net profit cannot be less than :C*;(10 per week. But t! ii is not the worst. Much of the pigs' frod is sv.r-i as might grace an officer's table. I have seen a fine IMb joint, of beef from which a couple of slices bad been cut, thrown into the tub."

Questions limine* arisen about the selection of men to jjo to camp as probationary lion-commissioned officers, occasion was liiken yesterday by officials of the Defence Department to explain upon what basis the choice is .made. The main qualifications, it was stated, guiding the fcoftction of men for such training were experience either as commissioned or non-commissioned officers with the territorials, or else evidence of ability and experience in organisation and ihc control of men in some oth'r walk of life. Other things being equal, returned soldiers were given every opportunity to prove their suitability upon re-enlistment, being required, however. to wait their turn. Cases of unexpected vacancies in a given draft occasionally gave an applicant, on the spot the eiianee io' go forward without til" usual wait, but the endeavor was always made'to deal with each case on its merits.

The question or arm labor is becoming more acute as time goes on (writes the Okaiawa correspondent of the Hawera 1 Star). Long before the war there was a great difficulty in securing reliable men for farm work. When war broke out a large number of country workers volunteered for service, and now the remaining able-bodied men are being "commandeered." What the ultimate result will be can only be imagined. In connection with this matter one might ask:

"What, are, tho women of New Zealand doing?" In England and France we read of the women turning out 111 large numbers to do all sorts of farm work, but in New Zealand only a few isolated cases are recorded. Dairy farming is a pursuit for which women are peculiarly adapted. They are much better among dairy stock than the average man, and almost invariably where women have the handling of a dairy herd better results are obtained. The majority of our women, however, seem to consider it beneith their dignity to milk a cow, even though their menfolk are engaged in a life and death struggle with a powerful and unscrupulous enemy. Many of our men will never come back, others will return maimed for life, and, with the experience of the Boer war fresh ill our minds, we. may expect that a big percentage of tlm unwounded will not settle down to work when they do return.