LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, 4 January 1917, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The hottest day of, the season w.u experienced yesterday, when the rejiiste:' at the New Plymouth Meteorological Station showed 81 degrees. A donation of £2'2 lias lieen received by the secretary of the Red Cross Society from the matron, sisters, ami nurses of the New Plymouth Hospital for the Ambulance Fund. Anyone paying a visit, to Xew Plymouth at the present, time might, says the Argus, easily imagine that he was still in Kltliam. because there are so many Eltham people holiday-making at the seaside town. Si\' sections, in areas i'rom 382 acres to 1373 acres, arc open for selection in the Toranaki- Land District by discharged soldiers. Applications are to be made to the Commissioner of Crown Lands, New Plymouth. Auckland is supposed to be a drier place than Wellington, in weather as in other respects, but. the rainfall figures do not bear out this assumption. Last year Wellington's rainfall \va 37.28 inches, and Auckland's G9.3G. Tiie recent spell of tine weather is interfering with Taranaki's milk supply. Some of the rain that is falling in st:eh copious quantities on the other coast and northward is badly needed, otherwise the herds will dry off quickly. Chaplain-Captain IT. L. Blamires, writing to Wanganui from the Western front, says: "At the front we all heartily wish the whole beastly business was finished with; but there are no pessimists here. We are on the winning side, anc". pray 'God speed the right, and prepare us as a nation for peace.'" A man named Charles Haughey appeared before Mr. II .R. Cattley, .LP., in the Magistrate's Court yesterday morning, charged with drunkenness. He was convicted and fined Ids. Sergeant Bowden stated that a charge of committing a breach of his prohibition order would bo preferred against Haughey later. At the Auroa Hall last Thursday there was a large gathering to welcome home Rifleman H. M. Poole, who has returned wounded, and to bid farewell and Godspeed to Trooper B. Hooper, -who is leaving for the front. The former was [presented with an engraved gold medal, I and Trooper R. Hooper with a safety razor, and also a Testament from the | Auroa Bible Class.

Tiie extended leave over the Christmas ami "New Year holidays, grafted to the Reinforcements in training, is now expiring. A number of the men returned to camp yesterday; many more will return to-day and to-morrow, -i:d the last batch is due back 011 Saturday. From Monday next, therefore, the training at Treutham and Featherston camps will once more he in full swing. The annual training camp of the 11th Regiment (Taranaki Rifles) will be held at the Wahvakaiho in March. The men who have not been able, owing to distance, to attend drill during the year will go into camp vi. March 3, and will be followed eight days later by the main portion of til Regiment., who will be under canvas for nine days, illelusive of the period required for travelling to and from the camp. As illustrating the present congestion of dairy produce, the Hawera, Riverdale, and Kaupokomii companies hr.ve made, arrangements to store their cheese in the main hall of the. Winter Show buildings in llawera, and already stock:: have begun to arrive, says a Taranaki correspondent of the Times. It is estimated that the hall will hold comfortably 12.000 crates of cheese. The building is to he thoroughly ventilated, electric fans will be provided and all skylights' darkened. CROUP. Xot a minute should be lost wher. a cihild shows symptoms of croup. Chamberlain's Cough Remedy given as «oon as the child becomes 'hoarse, or irven I after the eroupv cough appears, will; pre-

Killing operations will bp commenced at the Taranaki Meat Freezing Company's works at Smart Road on Monday. Past shortages are being made up with the two reinforcements now bein" called up, and this means that durin" the next eleven day? or so from 3000 to 0000 men are to go into camp. This numbei will include both the men recruited under section 33 and those who were drawn in the first two ballots under the Act and have passed the doctor. Both classes are declared- to be men of it very <ine type. A party, consisting of Mr. 0, A. Cowan and .Miss It. Cowan, of Nelson, Mrs. A. X. Walyters, Hiss A. (lillington, 'Messrs F I!. Walters and B. White, of New Plymouth, and Mr. ,T. 11. Skellev and Mrs, fiibson, of Xew Plymouth," made the a.-wnt of Mount Kgmont on Sunday last. Mr. IT. Williams accompanied the party. The Mountain House .vas left at 1.30 a.m., and the party was hack again at noon. ,Thc weather conditions ,vorc ideal. .Mt. S. Turner, the mountain-climber, of Wellington, was met on the summit, having ascended from Dawson Falls side. He is in training Sot his annual climb up .Mount Cook. Some Dudley Road residents presented the editor of mil Inglewood contemporary with a toothsome Xew Year dainty in the shape of a tuna that had been caught in the Xgatoro Rivei. It measured, according to the veracious Record, some 5 feet 2 inches in length, ]!)'/• inches in girth, and turned the scale at 2Sll»s. The young men speared the fish with hay-forks, but had their work cut out to land it, and although they almost severed the head from Mie body by a'stroke with an a:;e on the back of the neck (ahvayr supposing that an eel has a. nerk) when caught, yet hours after, when brought to the office, when a pieec of stick was put into its mouth it bit it savagely, and shook it as a tcrriei would a rat. Arrangements arc being made by the Citizens' Band to visit the mountain on January 1" and 14. The Band will lc-avo Xew Plymouth on Saturday afternoon and will play a programmi a( the Mountain House in the evening. Early on Sunday morning a start will be made to reach the summit, and on arrival a niunbei of selections will be played. Souvenir programme wil' lie issued to mark the event. The public will be invited to make the trip and to take advantage of the reduced guides' fees and other privileges that are being arranged. In the afternoon the Band will again play at the Mountain House. Mr. 11. Williams! the manager of the 'bouse, is arrangiaig the details, and, given fine weather, the venture should be a successful one. A man who had been guilty of a despicable practice at two high-class boarding houses in Auckland was arrested on the south express at the Auckland railway station last Friday night. The iran had stayed for two nights in each of two boarding-houses, his room being adjacent to the ladies' bath room, and after his departure it was discovered that, holes had been bored through' the walls of the bath room to enable peeping to br carried on. He was a commercial traveller named Frederick William .lohnson (30), and a married man, and iu his luggage was found the tools with which lie hored the holes. Brought before Mi. E. C. Cutten, S.M., on Saturday morning on a charge of mischief, he pleaded "guilty," and was fined £2 and ordered to pay £4 damages Xorth Canterbury is scriousiy tnreatcued with a drought. From all parts of the country there is heard a call fin rain. The continued hot, dry weather has been the cause of a considerable transformation in the appearance of (lv« country, the grass everywhere beginning to put ftn a bitrncd-up appearance. This is not confined to the low country farms, but extends to the back country, and rain is absolutely necessary to arrest the process of disappearance of feed. Il is just as much needed for the grain crops, which in many places are badly smitten with rust, while in all directions they are being hastened on to ripening in an immature condition, the ears as yet being imperfectly Ailed and the berry short of development. Unless rains comes quickly, therefore, yields generally must be light, and in any event they will not realise the expectations begotten of the appearance of both wheat and oat fields a few weeks back, [n South Canterbury the position is much the same. For days past now we have heard quite plainly the booming of the guns in France, which tells us that a terrible battle is raging and that our best and bravest are being lost to use (writes an English lady to a Manaia friend). In the day we can distinctly hear the thundering' of the guns across the Channel and at night. I bury my head undci the bed-elothes to deaden the sound. During the day and far into the night the tram]) of armed men past, our plact. hardly ever ceases, as wc live on the London Road which leads to all the great military camps. In one day fifty thousand men passed through to Canterbury. We are all praying for peace and whatever it brings us it will find England a desolate and licartsorc country for long years to come. It is a sad. a stricken England to-day. All our dear boys all around us have gone, and T often think of the thousands of poor mothers left with many little ones to bring up in bare, poor homos with a future beforo them unrelieved by a single hope. And the way they bear their heavy burden should be a lesson to us all. Good progress has been made with the Patea harbor works up to date, the new western wall or rather the raising of the wall being a big improvement. Its value can be seen from the amount of sand that is banked up on the town side of the structure, thousands of tons being piled up to the edge of the wall, w r hilst on the lower side there is a sheer drop of some 20 feet. The wall now it has been completed, makes an admirable promenade and incidentally a good fishing place on calir days. The raising of the wall on the eastern side of the harDor entrance is just about completed and makes a big improvement to the appearance of the port from the train. Previously the walls looked insignificant and more or less incomplete. Now what people see is a very' substantial struct tnre of imposing height that appears capable of withstanding any storm and in addition protecting tlu harbor from the sand drift. When work is resumed tlu. (ask of extending both walls will be put in hand at once. Already, thanks to the raising of the walls and the stopping of the sand drift, the entrance to the port has considerably improved and the near future should see a still further improvement as the amount of sand scoured out now far exceeds that entering the river.—Press. STOPS THE PATN INSTAXTLY. The pain caused by a burn or scald will be instantly relieved if Dr. Sheldon's Magnetic Liniment in applied. A most useful household remedy to always have on hand. Price Is lid ft"d 3s. Ob-

The town clock lias been chiming very erratically for some days i>ast. and considerable inconvenience has been caused to residents. Par from Xapier Daily Telegraph:--It is said that, 611 the arrival home of Right Hon. Mi. Massey and Sir .Joseph Ward, twc Ministers will leave the Cabinet. The occupied area of land in Taranaki is now acres, of which 74.1,0,3.3 acres arc freehold. The number of holdings is 0132. The land was carrying at the end oi January' hurt 25,052 horses, 327,082 cattle (including 151,8H0 dairy cows), 54.050 pigs, 3418 goats. The number of sheep in the district is not at present available. A Wellington telegram states that the total rainfnll in Wellington last year was .17.2S inches. The average annual fall during the past sixty years was just under fifty inches. There was no measureable rainfall in Dvember, the first time such a record ha; been noted since 18(12. In November nearly six inches fell. As a remarkable instance of growth in thr ?pace of H hours, the following record is worih notice. Mi, Ralph Paynter, orchardist, of Haveloek road, Hastw i, now growing some pumpkins, :-.nd lie resolved to measure their growth, and he found that one plant grew eight inches md another seven in the time mentioned (-ays the Hawke's Bay Tribune). " . The Timaru carnival queen competition resulted in the election of Miss Airini Rhodes, daughter of R. Rhodes, of PJueclifTs. lies votes being valued at £10,150. The other candidate* represented Mackenzie and Levels counties ( £8100), G'eraldine county ( £li'>s's) and Timaru borough £2538. 'The total proceeds are not yet available. The amount is 10 be divided among lied Cross and other patriotic societies. What is regarded 'nv the Christeiiurch Sun as an illustration of the relaxation of the standard of medical examination of .nen for the New Zealand Expeditionary Force, under the present- system, is the fact that one of the Chr'istchureh men drawn in the first ballet and passed as fit for active service abroad, had enlisted seven times under the voluntary system, and bad been rejectee! as unlit each lime. A proposal to present a silver cross to every mother who lias lost a »on at the front is .-being considered by the Canadian Government. It was \vid r "" discussed when first mooted, av.d \va"then submitted to the Governnien: for a decision. In referring to the mavter hist week, Mr. W. A. Beddoe, Canadian Commissioner, suggested tint a. similar project might appeal to the paj|.l.; oi Xew Zealand. It is understood that the Dennis motor fire engine, which the Firr Board ordered just before the war, has arrived by the Tainui, and will reach New Plymouth some time next week. Oiu town will then possess a flnej Yqulpment for fire-fighting than an> bthor borough of similar size in the Dominion, and our excellent brigade will have a plant which should enable its members to attain the highest degree of eflieiency and maintain the reputation they have for so many years enjoyed. Owing to the phenomenal growth of verdure in the early spring, due to the abundant rainfall, grave fears are entertained in the Wairarapa of the fire f.entl assuming sway. The growth of ginshas been so abundant that stoci; had i.ot been abh to eat it down, and. in fact, were dillicuit to proeaic,'except .t exceeding!) high values. If a (ire did start, it would prove a terrible disaster to the district, and would probably convert miles of country into a burnt-im. desolate area. During a period extending beyond two years, private owners of pig-' had the benefit of the overflow from the tallies 01 Treutham, but now the Government has the advantage. The new enterprise had a small beginning at the Remount Department, where a few pigs were fattened at a profit. The new pig farm at Trentham has about 7011 inmates, and about 200 weaners arc :it Wnllp.ccville preparing for promotion <0 Trenthnm. Tiie waste of Featherston camp will be probably turned to similar profitable account in the near future. An elderly ,man and 0 little girl ivore admitted to 'the' Southland Hospital vocuitlv, the victims of an unusual accident. It appears that, in company with a boy, they were waiting on t.i'e kerb near one of the tram termini for a car, when a motor-car towing anotk-r' by a rope and hugging tie footpath passed. The rope seems to have parted when opposite the party 11; the kerb, with the result that the disabled car slewed round, knocking the boy aside, threw the old gentleman up against a telegraph post, cutting his head, and knocked the little girl oyer, inflicting somewhat severe although nimo; 1 injuries. Mr. Justice Sim, at a sitting of the Supreme Court at Christr.hureh recently, spoke in no uncertain mind during the hearing of one of the charges. The offnice was that of forgery and uttering. His condemnation was that of what lie described as the silly practice of business people enshing cheques for others they did not know and upon the signature of people whose identity they ivcre ignorant. In tlhis instance the prisoner had made foui' utteraneef of forged cheques. A hotelkeeper cashed a cheque of £,5 12s tendered in payment ot a 3d glass of bee; - . The signature: i 0 the cheque or the man presenting same was not known to the -hotelkeeper. A business man deserved to lose bis money i:i adopting these methods. A claim for £G made by 11. E. Shurp, daffodil expert, Oratia, asraiun Herbert Ingram, Auckland, was hearc' ir the Magistrate's Court before Mr. C. C. Kettle, S.M. 111 his statement, reports the Herald, plaintiff said that as «. result 01 labor and experience, lie had £ largt bed of valuable daffodil bulbs growing ot. his property, one of which alone cost, him £7 10s to import. Defendant lmd entered his grounds, out the blooms and converted them to his own use. As a result, the plants had suffered damage, and it was impossible to obtain any seedlings from the bulbs this year. He claimed £0 as compensation: Defendant admitted taking the flowers, and said he had endeavored to find plniritiff at the time, but without, success. Ho left sixpence in an envelope to show his bona fides in the matter. Mr. Kettle gave judgment for plaintiff for £G end ccsts."