LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, 2 May 1917, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The Taranaki quota of the 20th Reinforcements leave for camp bv the mail train tills morning. They will be accorded a public farewell at the station.

At Christchureh yesterday Charles Isaacson was finod £5 for distributing an imitation of a voting paper in connection Willi the recent municipal elections. —Press Association. The Minister of Defence, has received advice that C, II and ,T Companies of the 22n<l Reinforcements lnvc reached their destination. The other sections have not 'vet arrived, but there is no cause for anxiety regarding them.—Press Association.

The following is the return of the number. of births, deaths and marriages for the Xew Plymouth district (Mr. ,7. f\ S. Medley, registrar), for the month of April, 1917, the figures for the corresponding month of 1016 being given in parentheses:—Births, 43 (30); deaths, 1 (18); marriages, 12 (IS). Members, of the Parikaka Road Board have in contemplation tlio installation of road-making machinery in the district, and, with the object of obtaining data on the subject, the members of the- board are visiting various Taranaki local bodies. Yisterday the parly, which consists of Messrs Jag. Young chairman), T. Harvey, S. Willoughby, M. O'Brien, M. Hickey, J. Harris (overseer), and A. O'Brien (clerk), inspected the Taraliaki County, Clifton County, and Mo:i Road Board. To-da,y the plants the Stratford, 3illthn.ni, Havvera and Waimato Counties will be inspected. A case, involving the sum of'32s occupied the time of the New Plymouth Magistrate's Court yesterday for over two hours. Edward Cossie' Mr. F. C. Lawry) sued Mrs. Clara Ainslie (Mr. J. V. Anderson) for 325, being four days' work at Bs. Plaintiff's case was that he was engaged, to fall two blue gums, for which lie was paid Bs. Later lie was asked to cut up the trees, and place- the wood in a shed. This he did, taking four days. Defendant counter-claimed ,CJ 1/is for. damages to hedge and fence caused by 'the alleged negligence of plaintiff, who allowed the trees to fall across a hedge, instead of in a paddock, as contracted. After hearing the evidence on both sides, the magistrate (Mr. A. Crooke), in dismissing the counterclaim, said he was not satisfied that the damage was due to plaintiff's negligence. On the claim he gave judgment for plaintiff for Ss and costs 18s.

Shortly before 6 p.m. yesterday a runaway caused some excitement in Devon street. A horse attached to an express, near tho Empire Theatre, attempted to take charge of its driver, and galloped madly down the hill. The driver kept the animal straight, and the street, fortunately, being clear of vehicular traffic, the animal had an unchallenged right of way, of which it made full use, until the strain told on it goitig up tho post office hill, and it was steadied down. A small boy, tho only other occupant of the vehicle, clung tenaciously 1,0 his seat.

An expert's* opinion regarding the Taranaki oil fields was disclosed by Mr. H. H. Ostler, counsel for plaintiff in tlie ease P. A. Hadley v. the Te Hinu Oil Company, board at thfc Auckland Supremo Court on Friday last before His Honor Mr. Justice. Sims. Addressing the Court, 'in opening the ease for the plaintiff, Mr. Ostler quoted the concluding paragraphs of a lengthy report on the Taranaki oil fields made recently by Mr. F. C. Grebin, M.M.M.E., late petroleum expert and general adviser to tlie Commonwealth Government. Mr. Grebin expressed the opinion tlmt the geological and economical conditions existing on the field offered sufficient justification and a good inducement for the investment of a large capital for its development. There were good reasons to believe that if conducted on strictly scientific and business lines, success would be achieved. To those who considered the Taranaki oil fields had not come up to expectations he, could only say that the responsibility for such ! a state of affairs did not rest with tha field, which had so fur received only casunl attention, and still remained undeveloped, though the importance of Taranaki oil for the whole of Australia and New Zealand could hardly be. exaggerated.

The New Zealand Loan awl Mercantile draw attention to their sale in their Tarata yards on Friday, 4th instant, at 1 p.m. Full particulars will bo found on>page 8 of this issue.

i At the® front of all the carrying concerns in the Dominion is the New Zealand Express Co. The company is the only one of the kind, with offices of its own right through New Zealand. This indicates not only its- size, Tjut also its dependability in all work it specialises in—viz., customs, carrying, forwarding, storing, furniture-removing. ItSi this factor which accounts for its wonderful orowth. '■

A number of officers and meii arrived at Auckland: on Monday, some oil leavo and others wounded. They wore accorded the usual reception. Tile soldiere are all convalescent, and in moat casc3 tlio men benefited grefctly by tho weeks CD) the water. Lieut.-Colonel Curaming, who later goes' to Wellington, in charge of the soldiers.

A Witness before the Military Service Board at Auckland stated that since pre-war days men's footwear manufactured in England had advanced from 40 to 00 per cent, plus Is, and extra freight charges, etc. Women's footwear had advanced from 35 to 50 per cent., plus Od,. hind extra freight and other charge?. There was at present a world shortaga in leather, and this would result shortly in a further large increase in tho retail price of boots and shoes.

At a sitting of the New Plymouth Magistrate's Court yesterday, before M>. A. ('rooke, B.M. Judgment was given by default for plaintiff in the following undefended eases: Jpeeph Bond (Mr. A. 0. Lavvry), v. Harold Bennett, £3 !)s 8d • (13*); F. a l'lumtreo (Mr. T. P. Anderson) v. Victor .Tames Burroughs, £1 (Is (ss); A. L. Collins (Mr. F. E. Wilson) v. A. Whittington, £;! l'2s (Us); Nixon and Nixon Mr. T. P. Anderson) v. <-!<;o. Becre £1 5s (jg). In a judgment summons ease, Percy tllennie, who did not appear, was ordered to pay Adeline Allen on or before Aluy sih the sum of £8 0s 2d in default seven days imprisonment. In the course of a case at the New Plymouth Magistrate's Court yesterday, C. A. iS. Breach, a farmer, gave some interesting evidence relative to falling of pine trees. He explained that the Australian gum hud a corkscrew grain. If tho grain turned round the falling tree had a tendency to turn round also. When the wedges were .put in, as the tree tipped it had a tendency to screw and fall at right angles to the direction wanted. A fixed rope would be no use. In a case of the sort in question the only precaution that could be taken would be to use wedges to compel the tree to fall against the grain.

Tn tlic course of some remarks on Wednesday last at the returned soldiers' re-union in Masterton, Captain Furby mentioned tlio names of two Maslerton men wlio had come prominently under his; notice at Gollipoli. One of these was Pvivato Arthur Ward, a sniper, wlui was or,» of the best shots in the company. Private Ward was shot in the eye, and when in the hospital declared tluit he would return to do better shooting with the aid of his remaining eye. fie died at sea. The other was Corporal Cyril S'ykes. who had deliberately marched in front of him 'Captain Fnrby) in order that he might not bo wounded a second time. Corporal Sykes met his death on Oallipoii. The London correspondent, of The Post (writing on 13th March) tells us that Mr. Herbert Hoover, who has been administering the relief funds in Belgium on behalf of America, describes the American contributions as "pitifully inadequate." Ho says the United States has made a clear profit of £0,50(1,000 out of supplying food, etc., for Belsinm, but !ms subscribed only £I',SOO,OOO to the Relief Fund. 'The subscriptions of tlio world amount to £ 150,0(K».'y00, of which £30,000.000 has been sent, to the folates. Tasmania Ims sent to Belgium O.fWi dollars per head of population. Xew Zealand 1.1)8 dollars, Australia '1.25 dollars, Canada 28 cents, Britain l'S cents, the United States under 9 cents per bead.

Many who have visited Lyali Bay, Wellington, recently, have been surprised to see the beach littered with paper. The explanation is a most unusual one. A short while a,r;o a wellknown firm sent out a number of sacks of receipts and invoices to lie "(lumped" in deep water. Kadi sack. vas weighted with a pieoe of street paving, which evidently was not heavy enough for the purpose for which it was intended. Tim consequence Vas that the sacks refused to become inmates of Davy Jones's locker, aiul floated ashore between Island and Lyal! Bays.' It was not long before inquisitive visitors had ripped some of them open, and their contents wore quickly scatteredialong the seashore. As a sequel,, youngsters have had a stampcollecting saturnalia, SQme of the stamps being old and out-of-date. The firm eoncernod lias sent out a vehicle to collect the unruly bundles that lie scattered about.

The man who wants a raincoat, tweed topcoat or light weight oily canvas coat at a reasonable price cannot aiford to overlook the offerings at the Melbourne. Ltd. Read these prices: Oily canvas coats, 355; raincoats, 355, 49s Gd, and Dos; warm tweed overcoats, 3135, 49s 6d and 85s. Best values in the province. Handkerchiefs, gloves and umbrellas—three very necessary items which simply must be bought, should be bought at Morey's. There's an advertisement elsewhere in these columns which deserves your close scrutiny. Turn to it straightway.

When sending tobacco to our boys at the front it should be remembered that any ordinary tobacco is liable to become mildewed on its way out, as a result of the humid atmospheric conditions, tot when sending Gold Pouch you run no such risk because New Zealand grown tobacco will stand any change of climate and keep in perfect condition for any lengtli of time. And Ito other tobacco will remind our boys so much <)f home, for Gold Pouch is grown in the land they are fighting for—'tis the .pride of Hawko's Bay. Gold Pouch Aromatic is essentially a soldier's tobacco, in that it wntains but 1J per : cent, of nicotine and can be smoked all day without af- [ footing the heart or producing dimness nor nausea. Send y.our soldier a big, •bulging 2}oz bag—only one Shilling. If he's a cigarette smoker, send him tho New Zealand grown Tlpe Diamonds tobacco, which leaves no sharp and bitter Uftertaste like foreign tobaccos. 12a