LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, 24 April 1917, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The Hon. A. T. Ngata a few weeks ago launched a scheme of raising; money for wounded Maori soldiers, and a number of Maori chiefs agreed to assist, says a Napier paper. Mr. Xgata suggested the scheme, which was agreed to bv the East Coast natives, to collect a few thousand pounds and then utilise the money tor fanning purposes, as the committee might see fit.

The rabbit pest has become a very serious one 111 South Canterbury, rabbits being now more plentiful there than ever they have been before Some people*, however, say.? a Timara paper, are turning them to good account, in that they are makingfa living by trapping inid shooting, the skins, or the rabbit--, unekinned, fetching a good price. The legal profession in Auckland proposes to make a contribution to the country's war work in the form of gratuitous assistance to the Boards of Trustees for the management of soldiers' property. Such boards will frequently require advice as to the, mode in which a document in connection with a. soldier trust, should be executed, or a proper form of power o£ sal,e or of leasing to be inserted in a power of attorney or other deed of the kind. The necessary work should be done free of charge.

Two prominent young Xew Plymouth business men got into a heated argument last night regarding the -stocking and sale of Herman goods, and as the outcome it is understood that an agreement was entered into 'between the two, and duly .signed and sealed, to the effect that any goods of German origin found In their respective shops are to be placed in a public plae.e' on Thursday nexh together with an elligy of the Kaiser, and duly burnt Both are convinced that their shops comprise nothing of enemy origin.

Speaking at Dunedin Dr. A. K. NewM.P. for Wellington, stated that the nation is anxious about its food supply. The Asquith Government, with their sick, procrastinating policy, had never .warned England. The Germans had been planting .food crops in their parks and gardens for two years; we were two years behind them in our preparation. "The food iienace is very, very serious. Many people believe the world is on the verge of a universal famine. All the continents were at war. The Canadian wheat crop had had to be left, the world's work of preparing the world's provender had been neglected."

Mr. Jennings, M.P., at the Anzao celebrations at Waitara yesterday, depreciated the grumbling and whining that was going on in ivew Zealand to-day over vaiious mattery and asked what was the inconvenience of workers and men on the. land compared with the horrible tragedy our New Zealand boys had gone through in Gallipoli. when hunger, thirst, and death was their lot for flfi hours on a stretch. Money a: convictions were not to be compared with the sufferings and misery our boys went through at Gallipoli. He hoped the rising generation which he saw that day would never forget in the futur» what our soidiers had done in this great war. Maoris have a way of their own of Bottling domestic infolicities, and seldom trouble the general public with their! marital affairs, but Mr. Justice Edwards last week was tailed upon to hear divorce proceedings between a couple of Wsipiro natives, this beinp the first native divorce case heard in Gis))orne (says the Times). The wife, who was the petitioner, made no secret of the fact that for some years past she .has lived with a pakeha, and she gave as her reason for seeking the divorce that she wanted to "protect the interests of her halfcasto children." She alleged misconduct against the respondent, who took no trouble to defend the action. His Honor granted a decree nisi, remarking that proof of misconduct by petitioner did not necessarily constitute grounds for refusing divorce.

Some idea of Hit- slackness of the building trade is aiforded by an illustration given an Auckland Star reporter by Mr. Moslon, oliicer in charge of the Labour Department. He mentioned that he mas recently waited upon by a builder, whq, before the war, regularly employed forty hands. The man's object in interviewing Mr. Moston was to ascertain what ho could do with,four apprentices, for whom lie could not find building employers. "The position is," said Mr. Moston, 'that owing to the conditions, high pricos of materials, and: dullness of Ihe tr.'.de, many employers have closed down." '

Says the Wanganui correspondent of the Dominion: —The cutting oil' of the trains for Ttiranaki and the Main Trunk, with the exception of three days per week, ia going to dislocate trade to a very serious extent, and the attitude of one section of workers driving another section into a state or unemployment has caused bitter feeling throughout the country. Two men in tho British Empire always pleased to meet arc General Smuts :tnd Winston Churchill. They became acquainted in the Soutli African war. and the occasion is one which they both enjoy recalling. General Smuts, in describing an attack on a certain armoured train, savs that he noticed a fieryheaded youth whoso energetic defence was particularly conspicuous. He adds that he was the more amazed to see the same young man conio up, after he had been taken prisoner, and claim the privileges of a' war correspondent. The London Imperial Conference will give General Smuts and Mr. Churchill the opportunity of meeting and of talking of days before ''the deluge." Private W. 11. Loveridge, son of Mr 11. Loveridgo, Hurford road, writes to the Omata Sewing Guild as follows: "I have great honor in writing to you and thanking you on behalf of other Omata boys here who have also had the pleasure of receiving a parcel from you. They were very pleased with the careful way in which it was packed and sent to them, and which is of great use, especially to those who are wounded and in hospital here. Thanks to the excellent sisters and nurses New Zealand has sent over to attend to them, the boys are well on the way to recovery, and the very lucky ones are looking forward to the day when they will be able to return to their dear homes, as unfit for any more active service., but I do not thin., I will be one of these. Well, the boys here who have been well enough have had a very enjoyable week, for v,-h*t with snow every day for a while, it has frozen u lake over, which is right alongside this hospital, and the boys are allowed to go there skating. The pepple of this country are very good indeed to all New Zealand's sons who' have come here to fight for King and Country, but nevertheless we are all longing for the day when we will be returned to Now Zealand to live a peaceful life again. 1 am very pleased to be able to say that 1 am doing very well, and providing all goes well, I ought to bo out on leave before very long now, when I hope to have a very enjoyable time. Well, once again, I must thank you for all you have done for us all, and hoping that by the time this rcitches you, the war will be just about over, ending with a final victory for us."