LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, 5 December 1916, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

There was in Manaia at the end of last week a man whose five brothers volunteered for active service early in the war, three of whom are at present fighting in France (says the Witness). One was mutilated by shrapnel, and another, who suffers from shell-shock, is being treated in a mental hospital in Australia. ''There is nothing unusual in the sacrifice," he quietly remarked, "except in the contrast it provide- or those numerous families who have contributed nothing to the total national sacrifice, and who are now squealing against the application of pressure."

Oil the initiative of the Mayor, the Borough Council last night decided to hold a special meeting next Monday night to consider the question of reducing the number of councillors. The matter was briefly discussed last night, when the Mayor and th(w majority of the Councillor's favored t ||pouncil comprising eight Councillors and the Mayor, though one .or two Councillor!) lavored an even smaller number. The principal reasons advanced for the change were that there would be more competition for the honor of being councillor, and that at the meetings' there would be a .considerable saving of time owing to less discussion, and better work would be done.

The executive of the Taranaki School Committees' Association decided last evening to urge the Government to re-introdiico the junior cadet system in the public schools. Mr. T. C. Mills, who proposed the resolution, said it was essential that hoys should be subject to some form of military discipline. The junior cadet, system _ had proved an excellent means of training the young, and it was regrettable it had been abolished. Mr. S. G. Smith, the ichairman, read a letter from the Minister for Education, in which it was pointed out that there was little or 110 prospect of the junor cadet system being re-introduced, at any rate during the period of the war.

At yesterday's meeting of the local byanch of the Red Cross Society it was decided to guarantee" the sum of £25:0 towards the cost of an ambulance. It was also decided that the proceeds of the fete to be held in the grounds of Aoteu on December 14 and ll> be devoted to tlhis fund.

Each week women are entering more largely into business life in Nov/ Zealand. A young lady is now acting as ticket collector on a motor bus in Oamaru, while in Auckland a member of the same sex is filling the position of secretary to joint stock company. The banks and big commercial houses in cities, are gradually increasing the number of their female assistants, and most favourablo reports are given respecting the manner in which the young women dischargetheir duties.

A ffisborne lady has received from a relative in England, a civil engineer! information Inch discloses something of the internal state of Germany. The writer's daughter was married to a German m good position, and had been unable to return to England since the war The letter states: "My .daughter's lift now is not a happy one! She ha 9to wait sometimes four hours in queue to get rood, and then often goes away emptv, her servants also, whom she sends in another direction, so has to fall back on chocolate."

Mr. Albert Kaye, who has lately returned from a visit to England, speaking at a Christchurch meeting last week, said that he believed that people out here got a better view of what was going on in connection with the war than in England, "I have -said over and over again to my English friends that the papers in New Zealand collate the messages and put everything =„ a more readable and understandable form than those in England," said Mr. 'Kaye. ■The letters from eorreS|>ondents and cabled summaries aided those at this epd to get a better gra*p of' the situation. New had much to be grateful for to their Press.

.The ballot has picked up some hundreds of farm laborers, ploughmen, and milkers, and I really don't know how these,inen_are going to be spared,'" said a .farmer to a Dominion reporter. "The Military Appeal Board is saying that the farmers' sons cannot have exemption, and that may be fair enough. But i' the farmers' sons go. then other hands must be found, and there is a shortage of competent farm workers already. The position is mote serious than many people realise, from the point of view of the primary industries, and T am glad to see that the Government is giving some attention to the subject." The Council of Agriculture,' acting on the suggestions of the Minister of Munitions, has sent circulars to all branches of the Farmers' Union, pointing out that there are about 3000 boys in the secondary schools whose services could bo secured during the holidays for harvesting and other farm work. Tne school holidays coincide with the busiest season on ttib farms.

Mi". M, .T. Fartigan, who has bt.en a resident of the.Tarata district during the past twenty-five years, and is consequently quite familiar with the requirements of farmeri- when visiting Inglewood, has taken over the well known Tattersail's Stables in thijt town. lately occupied by Mr. W Crozier, These stables are conveniently situated in the centre of the town. Farmers whilst in Tnglewood on business can My 011 their horses receiving the best of feed and attention. Another important feature,in these day:, of shortage of labor is the promptitude; with which they can obtain their turnouts when they are desirous of leaving for home. Mr. Hartigan has a very complete plant of horses and gigs, etc., available fcfr hire, and can supply reliab'c steady driven No up-to-date Stable®)* complete nowadays without the' nertlsary motor car and in this respect Mr. Hartigan is right up to the moment with a seven seater ear of the latest model, which runs to the Mountain regularly on Thursdays and Sundays and is at other times evailable day or night for trips to the Mountain or elsewhere, a thoroughly reliable driver sleeping on the premises, the 'phone number of which is two.

Some startling figures dealing with defective children have been furnished by Sir George Newman, Chief Medical Officer of the Board of Education, Great Britain. Out of 0,000,000 elementary school children, *250,000 are seriously crippled, invalided or disabled. Thei physically, mentally defective or diseased children who derive no benefit from the State education number 1,000,000. In this Dominion the number of defective children, jo far as can be ascertained, are over SOO, according to Hon. Mr, Hanan, Minister of Education. During ,i recent visit to Wellington, Mr. W, T. Jennings, M.P., brought under /the notice o£ the Minister the urgency of having a school for these children somewhere in the North Island, the present two schools being situated at Nelson and Oainaru.' Parents are reluctant to send their children so far away, as the expense of visiting them is too great, as well as other disadvantages. The Minister recognised the .position plated before -him, and said if Cabinet provided the money lit. would select a suitable place in the North Island. Lieutenant-Colonel Freyberg, whose heroic deeds were referred to in the cables recently is the youngest son of the late Mr. James Freyberg. who. was for some years Government Timber Expert in New Zealand, and was born in Richmond, Surrey, twenty-six years ago, and came to Wellington with his parents when he was a little over two years of age. Af(:er receiving his education at Wellington College, lie adopted dentistry as a profession, qualifying in Dijncdin, In March of 1014 he left for San Francisco, where he practised his profession for a time. He then went to Mexico, where he took part in the war there, and had some very, exciting experiences. When the Kuropean War broke out he made his way to London and enlisted in the Naval Brigade in which arm of the service he has «• ccived rapid ar.d well-merited promotion. Wounded at Anewerp, where he greatly distinguished himself, lie was sent back to London for treatment, and on recovering was despatched to the Dardanelles where he again received some wounds. At Antwerp Colonel Freyberg suffered partial electrocution through coining into contact with a wire 1 which formed part of the outer defences of the city. After tho retirement, from Antwerp of the Royal Marines, with whom he was serving under Major G. S. Richardson (formerly of Wellington), he was removed for treatment to the hospital at Ostend, and on the firman approach on that seaside town was taken to England. It is said that Colonel Freyberg lost the use of his arms for some weeks through the effect of the electrical charge, he: received. At Gallipoli he swam ashore one night from a destroyer, and by depositing some lighted torches on the beach led the Turks to believe that a landing, was being made, which created a useful diversion. For this deed he was awf>-<Jed the D.S.O.

It happened at a school not a hundred miles from .Mastcrton. The, teachor of a £lasß, Who is eligible tor military service," ordered a' lad" to remain behind after hours and write fifty lines, a course of punishment usually meted out to offending pupils. The lad, 'who considered his offence did not warrant the punishment, .determined to get one back on the teacher. He completed the task set him, and whan the teacjier went to examine the work, he was confronted by fifty lines of the sentence, "Your King and Country Need You." The arrest of five natives on charges of perjury, urging out of the Rim trial occupied Senior Sergeant Caßsells, of Hamilton, and Native Constable Te Whaiti, of Glsborne, for four weeks of continuous travel. During the recent spell of wet weather, they had to seour the whole of the) rough bush country extending from Opotiki back to the heart of the Urewera Country at a time when the rivers were swollen and the bush tracks,were mere morasses in many places. One of the natives was encountered about forty miles from Gisborna, the next was found near Opotiki, a stroke of luck brought the policemen on two of their men 'together In Wfchnana, while the fifth native had to be dug up from the Urewera wilds of Maungapoliatu. The captors tWenty-four successive days in the saddle in the course of the arduous round-up. Private L. Stephenson, brother-in-law of Mr. H. "C. Jones, of Masterton, who was orderly to the late Major A. A. Martin, writes as follows to Mr. Jones: "Just a few words concerning Major Martin's death. He and I went to form a dressing station at Piers, 011 the Sotnme front, under very heavy shell fire. After getting everything fixed up and patients in, lie rushed out to pick up a man who had just been hit. Just then a high explosive shell came down and luugtft Major Martin. Pieces »£. shell penetrated liis face, broke his jaw, broke an arm, a leg etc. The bearers then rushed out and picked him up. He asked that I should take him to Amiens, to our stationary hospital, N.Z. No. 1, which we did. We were in the car two hours. He died the same night after the operation. He was awarded a full' Military funeral. His death lhts been a bloivXto the whole force, for he was a man who wa? beloved by all with whom he came in contact.'' The busiest store within town these days is the Melbourne, Ltd., due to the unprecedented bargains offering during the firm's gigantic sale of drapery and clothing. The bargains are of an appealing nature inasmuch as tliej comprise seasonable and everyday "wanted goods at a time wlier. economy is suc-li a desideratum.