LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, 14 March 1917, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The next sittings of the District Medical Board in the Taranaki Group will bo iis follows: New Plymouth, March 10; Stratford, Mareli 17; Hawera, March 19. A Wellington press message, received lasi; night, stated that advice has been received by the -Minister for Defence that all transports with New Zealand troops aboard are safe.

Owing to an outbreak of fire in the lupins on the beach below the railway line, the Fire Brigade received a eail about 10.15 yesterday morning and speedily extinguished the flames.

'The Waipa (County Council carried a resolution fo-day recommending that all single intvn up to 50 years of age should be called up before the second "division.— Press

A concert party organised by the C.E.M.S., journeyed* to the Waiwakaiho camp last night and gave the men a most enjoyable entertaiftmejit on the grandstand. Mrs. Moverloy's' orchestra of seven instruments gave some splendid selections, which were duly appreciated by the men. Song!) were given by Miss Cocker, Messrs McDonald, N. Day R. Day, and Lieutenant Pnxton, and recitations by Mrs. F. G. Evans and Mr. G. Goldsworthy. Owing to Easter falling iu the first week of April, the. 2Sth Reinforcements draft, which was to proceed to camp on April 2, will now leave on Monday, April P, arriving in camp the same day. Several men are required to proceed to camp on March 20, to join the Samoan relief force. The men required must be between the ages of 4G and 48, that is over military age for active service in Europe and under the age of 48, and are required for the duration, of the war. Any men available should make application to the Group Office, Ilawera. Judgment for plaintiff, by default, was given by Mr. A. Crooke, S.M., in the Magistrate's Court yesterday in the following undefended cases:—Margaret Cecilia Callaghan v. Edgar Anthony Anderson, £1 18s and costs lis; Harry Norman Hoby, Toko, v. Thomas Gouiton, New Lynn, £4 9s and court costs 8s; Cook and Lister v. 11. Bennett, Inglewood, £1 13s Id and 0s costs; William A. Collis v. Samuel Hill, Auckland, £4 14s, costs Ss ; Taranaki Motor Transport Company, Ltd., v. Opunake Sawmilling Company, 14s Sd and 13s costs.

A lengthy discussion took place at a special meeting of the Patriotic Committee last night regarding the treatment of returned soldiers at the Mountain House. The Inspector-General of Hospitals wrote suggesting that convalescent men would receive .ninth benefit as the result of a sojourn 011 the mountain slopes, and asked the committee to consider the matter. A' committee consisting of Messrs C. H. burgess, \V. A. Collis, N. Howell, C. E. Bellringer, and J. I'aton was set up to consider a scheme ot utilising the old Iloll.se for returned soldiers, and to report to the Patriotic Committee.

The question of repairing and reinstating many of the bridges of the Eg--1110111 county was considered at yesterday's meeting of the Kganont County Council. Mr. E. C. Robinson, consulting engineer, submitted a comprehensive report of the condition of 30 bridges in the county. After some discussion it was decided that the clerk be instructed to take steps to raise £15,000 to cover the cost of the work, the money to be raised at the rate of £3OOO per annum. Mr. Robinsoir was instructed to prepare plans and specifications for the reconstruction of the Puniho bridge. A special meeting of the New lilymouth Patriotic Committee was held last evening for the purpose of making arrangements for Anzac Day. It was decided that Anzac Day be observed 011 .Monday, April 23, and that a united religious service bo held, cither in Pukeliura Park or the Good Templar Hall, in the aflcrnopn. 111 the evening the Ladies' Committee will entertain the returned soldiers and veterans. A committee* consisting of Messrs \V. J Chancy, J. Paton, C. E. Bellringer, A. B Gibson, N. Howell, H. Goodacrc, and Captain Black, was set up to solicit t'ne assistance of tlie ministers of the town and to arrange details.

HOW TO TREAT A SPRAIN. Sprains, swellings and lameness are promptly relieved by Chamberlain's Pain Balm. This liniment reduces inflammation and soreness, so that a sprain may be cured in about one-third the time required by the usual treatment. Sold 1 everywhere.

"What is the hind of the country compared with the lives of those who are fighting for us in the trendies?" This was the question asked by Mr A. I'. Whatman at a meeting of the Wairarapa Patriotic Association on Thursday. Three Masterton rcsidente, Messrs Whatman, C. Bennett, and A. il'Donald. have presented 1 a motor-car to the P.M.O. at Feathorstoh Camp, Major Robertson, for the use of himself and staff. Two Gorman subjects who had bookid passages from England to Capetown a Home liner which arrived at Auckland on Tuesday were arrested by the military authorities before 1 lie vessel lot': her final port. They were taken ashore and interned. A) British officer, writing from the front to a relative in Maslerton, states: —"Top-hole chaps is what the British officers and men call the New Zealanders. They are lilted better than the Australians and Canadians, though both the latter have done excellent work."

The trustees for the National Efficiency Board for the Wi'.irarapa intend shortly taking census amongst farmers, when the following questions will be asked: —"How many men wore engaged prior to the war?'' "How many men are at present engaged?" "How many have left your employ for the war?'' "How many men can you conveniently do with 1"

A notable example of patriotism is that of Mr. A. W. Stucky, of Levin, who will go into military camp next month for his third period of voluntary active service. Mr Stucky was with the colours as a New Zealand soldier in the second Boer War; he served with the column that conquered the Germans in East Africa early in the present war, and now lie is going again to the front with the New Zealand rcinfoicements

'Die Department of Labour's meeting with the same difficulties as are private builders in the matter of get.'.ing work done, states the "Dominion." It is ready now to go on with the construction of twenty workers' dwellings in Wellington, and recent tenders Were called for the erection of seven of them. Only one tender was received, however, anil the tenderer could not undertake to build more than three houses. Also, his price ivas so high that- the Department coul;l not accept the tender.

"Tf a man joins a French motor corps or the bombers he is-s aid to have joined tlu: Pi'Vido Cluh," remarked Dr. Newman, M.P.J at Wellington. "My son was in charge of a trench mortar corps," he added, ''and a 'brother oiiicer said to him one day, 'I say, Newman, how long have you been in charge of trench, mortars?' 'Four months,' tvas the reply. 'Poor chap, poor chap,' said the otlier; 'two months more and it will ill be over with you. ; They gave them only six months at- such work." But the most dangerous work, stated Dr. Newman, was that of the aviators. If a man crossed the enemy's lines six times in safety lie was considered very lucky. Many of (hem were killed "or taken prisoner before the sixth time.

A trip in a "tank" is anything but a "joy ride," judging by the description given of thorn at Wellington by Dr A. K. Newman, M.P. The doctor said the noise and rattle inside the weapons of destruction was terrible. Their disadvantage was that they travelled too slowly, and could only 'amble along at the rate of four miles an hour. The secret of tho tanks had been well-guard-ed. They were constructed in a lonely place surrounded by an armed guard, and the workmen were sworn to secrecy. Consequently the Germans were taken | completely by surprise when the weird monsters appeared 011 ilv scene. The speaker addfcd that lighter and. speedier 1 tanks were at presejit being contracted.

What was intended to be a mock due) between a woinap and a man resulted fatally at Melbourne a few days ago, Mrs Stella Hinep, a married woman, '2O years of age, and Eric Mcintosh, blacksmith, 28 years, both living in the same house in East Brunswick, decided to fight a sham duel. 011 the lines of one which they had recently seen portrayed at a picture show, namely, they were to stand back to back, walk away three paces, and then turn round and fire. Mrs Hines and Mcintosh were on friendly terms, and both were armed with revolvers believed to be unloaded. Thov stood back to back, and began to walk apart from one another. Before taking three paces, however, Mrs Hines swung round and fired her revolver, which unknown to her, contained one cartridge. The bullet struck Mcintosh, passing through 0110 of his eyes, death being instantaneous. Subscnwf!" it was found that the revolve: l.tij by Mcintosh was also loaded, all seven chambers being charged. A suburban incumbent, who had been working us a chaplain of the Forces in England, has been speaking of the soldiers' dislike for church pp-.vd-.i. They are forced men and lie had known a man to curse because lie had to attend them. Soldiers do not stand alone in dislike of being compelled to go to church, but there are snec:.\l reasons for the unpopularity of the Sunday parade. It is accompanied by an irksome examination of kit and equipment, which occupies, a good deal of time and leaves the soldier tired and listless; and a soldier who has just been sharply reprimanded fur cloudy |- "oils an imtidy pack is not in the best iramo of mind for singing hymns or listening to a sermon. At the same time it is notorious that church parades are not | always very inspiring. They must conI firm to the rigid Army pattern; there is 110 variety and the chaplain has m> scope; and no initiative. It is not surprising, therefore, that the men look upon church parades as a mere fatigue, and vastly prefer the voluntary service at which they can, more or le-s choose I their own hymns, and v. '■ ical forms do not necessarily :

Nature in one of hei fantastic moutls, created a unique and singularly beautiful picture for those who chanced to he on the Queen's wharf Wellington, early on Sunday. She took for l;"r model the Antarctic exploration • I : r:i: her background was tb,» t. v,

her paints w. re the fleecy »)•..•» Is, and her brr !i, as it were, the of the full moon. These were her materials. She set the Aurora against tho wonderful background, placed thin streaks of cloudlets slantwise across the masts of the vessel and decked the crows-nest at the masthead and the rigging with stray whis| sof white. The moon did the rest, and in truth the Aurora appeared to be hack in the Antarctic regions again so realistic was the picture. FLI-KEELO KILLS FLIES. ' Awarded first and special gold medal at the Auckland Exhibition. Successfully used throughout the Dominion. ' Have vou tried it? IT IS STOCKED BYT ALL CHEMISTS A XI) STOREKEEPERS, and is MADE By BRITISHERS IX TILLS DOMINION,

The Loan and Mercantile draw attention to their sale at the Matau yards on Friday next, '.March 10. Full particulars on page' 8 of this issue.'

A meeting was held yesterday of representatives of the Borough Council, Chamber of Commerce, and Tradesmen's Association, to elect two trustees for the town of New Plymouth under the scheme of the Efficiency Board. The Mayor (Mr. C. H. Burgess) presided, and there was present Mr. Geo. Biu-keridge, who addressed the meeting regarding the dutn-n of the trustees and the requirements of -the Klliciency Board. After a good (leal of diseussion, Messrs M. Fraser and F. J. Hill were appointed, and in the event of the former not being able to act, a committee was set up to make another appointment.

A conference of municipal authorities at Caxton Hall, Westminister, on December 13 was informed that before the war the Germans made lmgc profits from the de-tinning and de-galvanising of British refuse metals, such as fruit tins and salmon tins, which were returned as coffin-plates, fancy trays, matchstrikers, letter racks, photograph frames ete. Steel obtained in this way had been made into light rails at low'prices in competition with British manufacturers. Mr Morgan L. Jones said the Germans had taken from this country 30,000 tons of old tins per annum.at an average cost of £ 1 per ton, and from £I,OOO worth of old tins they recovered £1,500 worth of pure tin, in addition to the base metal and spelter. The first .Wellington Military Service Board—Messrs D. O. A. Cooper, S.M., D. .McLaren, and W. Perry—arrived in New Plymouth last, evening. The Board will sit at Xcw Plymouth to-day and to-morrow, and at Hawera on March 10, 17, 19, and 20. Among those reservists whose appeals have been set. down for hearing before the Board in New Plymouth to-di._ • are the following:—X. E. Sampson, li. G. Coulston, W. C. Bransgrove, J. P.i Biiski, V. R. Simpkins, M. J'-- Clow, A. K. Green, A. W. Lealand, W. Luckin, A. McMullian, J. Hartc, C% \V. Kevcll, C. Pierson, J. Medley, B. Hoby, J. T. Bowler, L. Seamark, S. Anderson, ,). Baxter, H. H. Cutting, J. M. Biiski, C. B. McCoy, W. S. Fencott, •I K. Hocl- n y, C. 1. kirton, C. H. 1). Foote, J. J. Hanover, P. Malone, J. R Hall, W. E. A. Malier.

"Six cases of apples .were opened every day on the voyage and not ojfio apple was received by the men," remarked Cr. W. R. Wright at the meeting ot tin- Egmont County Council yesterday, when an application for requisites for a troopship was received. The chairman (Mr. M. Fleming) saH there was no doubt of it, unfortunately, if what he had been informed was correct. Cr. i\[. J. Macßeynolds proposed that .-£25 be voted. Cr. Wright seconded, 011 the one condition that the olliecrs did not get the comforts purchased with the money. Crs. W. C. Dudley and T. Harvey thought the application was a matter for the Patriotic Committee, which was collecting money for the purpose. The chairman said he did not like voting other people's money for this 'purpose. Wiien the motion'was put, the voting was equal, and the chairman gave his casting vote in favor of ths motion,, In the firing- line it has often been noticed that bullets travelling at high speed produce two sounds. A mar. fired at from about 400 yards hears first a vicious crash. That is the bullet passing. A little later the report of the rifle comes along. The speed of sound has, in fact, been beaten by the speed of rifle-bullets. Modern military rifle bullets, whim fired, travel at from 2000 ft to ,1000 ft in one sc*.:.ad. Sound can only travel along at 1100 ft per second. So it happens that wher/ a man who has been fired at hean the report of a rifle, he knows lie is safe—at least, from that particular shot. It is, naturally, at long ranges, that the two distant sounds are most noticablc. At ranges of 1000 yards a bullet arrives at, least a second, and sometimes more, in advance of the report. The sound of the flying bullet is caused by a vacuum at its rear. The air thrown fiercely back from the nose of the projectile travels rounnd and round rushes to the rear, as water to the stern of a fast-moving boat. Thus a crash is produced—or, in eertain cases, a kind of whining snarl, like no other sound on earth.

A splendid k] crimen of the quinnat salmon, a fish introduced a comparatively few yea: i ago to. New Zealand from Canada, it d which already is fairly common iu l ie rivers of Canterbury, was on l view i Balclutha last week. When caught it weighed 101b, andnn its gutted state 111b, but as a matter of •fact it looked much heavier to the eye of the experienced trout fishers who viewed it. Its lenght was 31 inches and depth !) inches. The fish was the largest of a bag of seven secured ih the Waitaki river by Mr. Alien Low ,of Oamaru, and party. The quinnat is said to be a splendid game fish, and a great acquisition to the sporting fish of this country. The Otago Acclimatisation Society is moving in the matter of getting the quinnat introduced to the rivers,of Otago, and before many years anglers may have a chance of testing tlieir skill <r.i a real salmon in the Molyneux. The diii'erenee between the quinnat and a brown trout i-- not noticeable at a casual glance, but a. closer inspection reveals some well-m.-irked differences, notably the "stream line" fron tip to tail on both flanks ni the quinnat, the fluked tail, and the eyes set near the tip of the nose.

"Cabiria" shows for the last time tonight at 'The Empire," Marguerite Clark and Robert Warwick appear tomorrow, eacli in a five-reel master-play, There is a double programme showing to-night at Everybody's, Theda Bara in

"Carmen" (Imix, five reels) and "Hero of Submarine D2'' (Vitagrnph Blue l!ibbon feature). For men's working shirts the Melbourne's the place par excellence. For :, i=tniiLe: Men's striped graiulrill shirts, tU; pale blue grandrill shirts, 3s lid, I; 1 Id, os fid, according to weight; plain navy "Advance" drill shirts, 4s lid; dark union shirts, strong and warm, 4s lid; striped leather shirts, 4s lid.

MELBOURNE, LTD. ]S T cw season's shipments of English an 4 Colonial hosiery have opened out, and we lmvc pleasure in quoting the following prices (dyes are guaranteed fast color in every instance) Ladies' plain cashmere hose 1/11; ribbed, ditto plain ca«hincre soft Llama linMi -/ll; genuine Llama hose, extra good quality, 3/Ci; ribbed eashmerc hose with six fold knees, sizes five and six, 1/11 pair; Lisle thread iiose with cashmere feet and tops, ".Jason" make, '2/11 pair; fine ribbed cashmere hose, extra quality, 3/3 pair; men's Mosgiel fine knitted socks, 1,/fi pair; men's "Flviii",' t'ox" cashmere socks 1/11 pair; men's "Melbourne' l ' cashmere socks, navy or blask, good quality, 2/- pair; hoys' school and college black golf hose, with red. blue or white bar turnover tops, size 4, 2/|); 8, 2/M; sizes <3 and 7 3/3; size 3,'S/G; size 9 3/9 i ■ ; / iV-*' V; * f' \

A statement was made in the Ilouse of Lords by the Archbishop of Canterbury that there were 2000 Church of England chaplains at the front. Ont would lie sent out daily in 1917 to replace the wastiigc. Bishops were ar» ranged to relax the existing church obligations in order to provide the clergy with additional opportunities for national service.

Live fish have been found in the bottom of a Transvaal gold mine, in a vertical shaft 3800 ft. deep. They were barbel, from Bin to 12in long, and up to jib in weight. They must have been merely spawn when they fell (says a correspondent of the "Fishing Gazette"), hi exceptionally dry weather, adds the writer, small bull-frogs have been seen to extend themselves and deliberately jump down the shaft, apparently in search of water. How they ever reached the bottom alive is a mystery.

There is a man in Ohio whose chief hoby is a collection of newspaper titles. Of course there are plenty of Couriers, Journals and Heralds scattered over the country, and there are headlights, Flashlights, Bees, Eagles, Owls, Mirrows and Newsletters, but when it comes to Derricks, Meddlers, Telescopes, Flags and Sunbeams, the class is more limited. In Hot Springs there is published the Arkansas Thomas Cat and other titles justi as usual are the Sledge Hammer, The Irrepressible, The Silent Worker and Call.