LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, 4 May 1917, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Official advice has been received that the whole of the 22nd Reinforcements have arrived safely at thoir destination —lress Association. The Marine Department has decided to endeavor to acclimatise Stewart Island oysters at the mouth of the Awatero Kiver, South Blenheim, with a view to establishing oyster beds. If this bed is a success others will be planted. Press Association. At the conference of the Agricultural and Pastoral Workers' Union in Wellington a resolution was passed that no members of the organisation should make any engagement for employment until after the conference of sheepowners to be held on or about May 30. —Press Association. The rainfall at "Riversdale," Inglewood, as supplied by Miss N". Trimble, observer, shows that 11.32 inches fell during April, nineteen days recording moisture.. On the 15tli 5 inches fell, but only on two other days was over an inch recorded. Recently in the News coal miners' wages were mentioned, but share milking la equally remunerative, the milkers of two herds having received, besides free house, milk and wagefj earned, in liard cash alone last season. A splendid line of girls' and maids' allwool hose is being sold at the Melbourne for Is l'ld pair. These stockings are the kind known as two-one rib with sixfold knees and are guaranteed fast dye and pure wool. Sizes 5 and 6 only.

The voting on thd Sunday picture issue at Grey-mouth was 1995 for continuance and 904 against Sunday pictures. The Sunday picture referendum at Ohakune resulted in favor of the continuance of Sunday pictures by <i7 -votes.

>A : monster mushroom found on Mr. Chivers' farm, near Tuapeka, measured 37 inches in circumference, and the stalk, which was a'bout six inches in length, w:is quite a couple of inches through. It was in perfect condition. The Thames fishing industry is threatened with extinction. ' Owing to the present railway conditions ail the men are idle, and tho industry is losing thousands of pounds weekly, because the railways do not carry fish past Taiumarunui, where the market lies. A deputation waited on the Borough Council and explained the position, and urgent messages were sent to the Ministers for Railways and Marine. It would seem as if the butcher hawking cart will soon be a thing of the past, as far as Dun.edin is concerned (says the Star). While there were some 45 or 50 hawking carts in use hero a few years ' ago, there ore said to be fewer than a dozen now; in fact they have been disappearing from the road at tho rate of about one a month. This seems to be partly accounted for by the rapid growth of the cash-over-the-counter -system of purchasing moat,.

at the annual meeting of the New Zealand Investment, Mortgage, and Deposit Company, Mr, W. G. -Foster (chairman of directors) said, respecting the financial stability of tho Dominion, that the financial experts in the Old Country had turned the matter over, and had declared that we in New Zealand might be very hopeful. "In the future," sftid Mr. Foster, "'I think we shall see prices fairly steady, and we should not get into a funk." Wo would have to boar our share of the nation's burden in the future, but there was no need to be down-hearted on that score.

The probability of one of the party leaders returning to London in the not distant fut\iro is mentioned in political circles, writes our Wellington correspondent. The desirability of a representative of the ?few Zealand Ministry being in the United -Kingdom when peace terms are being discussed is obvious. Mr. Massey and Sir Joseph >. ard will have placed their views before tho Imperial Ministry, but a hundred important points may arise when the final settlement with Germany is being made, and fcw Zealand's interests appear to demand that a responsible Minister should 1 be on the spot at that time. The returning 'Ministers may- have something to say on that point when they meet Parliament. A frozen produce industry which is newly getting established is that of frozen fish, 500,0001b -of which is being served out. as a weekly ration to the British troop? in camp in Great Britain (writes a London correspondent). This is an important outlet for the big Canadian lake and sea fisheries, which suffered a big check in demand at the start of tho war, and the industry, once on its feet, may extend and become a. regular one after the war io consumers in different parts of Europe. It is a striking fact iliat whereas there is a freight charge of Id per lb 011 halibut and salmon between -Prince -Rupert, on the Pacific coast, and Liverpool, it takps %d or more per lb to take fish from Grimsby to London.

Speaking at the Esperanto Hall the other evening, Sir Robert Stout observed that though he had passed the age of seventy lie had not experienced the slightest difficulty in learning to read Esperanto. "I venture to say," continued Sir Eo'lwirt, "that if any young fellow would set his mind to Esperanto, in two or three months he would be able to read the language quite -fluently." "For God's sake, don't have a citizens' ball in Christchureh," appealed Bishop Julius when preaching at the Cathedral on Sunday morning. "You li.xve no right to 'triumph' over the other side," he add : ed, "and no right to be adversaries." The Bishop deplored the bitterness and distrust shown by the different classes of the people to each other, and said that each was struggling .to do what they thought was the right thing.

In a recent London cable it was statel that tlie British Government had ordered 36 cargo steamers of 9000 tons each, and nil built to a common standard. Though there have been tentative efforts in the direction of standardising during the last tv/o or three years, nothing on this scale has been attempted, and it marks a new development; for, though engineers have jin instinctive distaste for rutf, rightly feeling that they tend to hinder progress because they check initiative, still the most conservative of the profession might be inclined to waive their objections in this respeet to standardised steamers of moderate tonnage and power. To-day, indeed, one might pick out hundreds of tramps almost identical as regards design, tonnage, and power. But it is th) 9 "almost" that makes all the difference in the cost of construction, not so much of the hulls), for there is a good deal of standardisation here already, but in the cost of maintenance. As iti is, spares must be specially made for each ship, and renewals, therefore, may entail considerable delay, as well as high first cost, as compared with that of standarised parts. Of course, there would not 'he one standard; there might he fifteen or twenty standards; but even so, this would mark a great advance in economic shipbuilding, and apart from the direct benefits of standardisation, such control would make for the development of more econoinioal ships than those over-ornate, overpowered. and perhaps over-grown craft that have become fashionable, especially on the Atlantic, during the last decade or so.