LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, 26 September 1917, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The Education Board lias ordered a return of teachers liable to be called up in the Second Division, giving the ages, number' in families, and present positions. The New 'Plymouth Boy Souls desire to acknowledge with thanks gifts of plants for their patriotic garden from Messrs W. Beale, J. R. Duncan and 1.. Blanchard. The Waitara Road Dairy Factory Co. is at present manufacturing 28 boxes ot butter daily, as compared with 31 boxes at this period last year. The decrease is due to some suppliers having gone out of milking, and others having reduced their herds on account of the shortage of labor. The majority of factories also show a decrease from the same cause, and it is e.vpected that the season's output for Taranaki will show a decrease as compared with last season. Yesterday Messrs J. C. O'Rorke (chairman), Jas. Young, R. P. Malcolm and 0. Cross (directors), of the Oaonui Dairy Company, visited the freezing works at Moturoa, and interviewed Mr. A. Morton (chairman of directo-s of tlit Taranaki Producers' Freezing Workb Company). The visit was in furtherance of a resolution passed at the annua! meeting of the Oaonui Dairy Compinv, that application should be made for shares in the freezing works company. Rifleman W. F. Seamark, of the 13th Reinforcements, writing to his parents at Fitzroy, cays he had been in hospital ior six weeks. He was in the lighting at Messines. He was hit three times and once buried in the same day. "It was," he says, "a fine sight to see the way our fellows advanced, and the mines explode. We saw some terrible sight") on both sides." Ho expects to be h England for six months, and, is not sorry for the spell after a year's hard goin? in the trenches and fighting in. France.

A little mild excitement attended Hie departure of a. steamer from LyttePoi* on Wednesday afternoon. A young lad's who had evidently been too tardy in the saying of her farewell, rushed to the rail only to discover that the ship was already on the move, and well down the wharf. An officer, however, rose to the occasion, and hoisted her up and over the rail, when she was deftly caught by two men on the whurf. Two of the ship's complement also arrived just in time to be able to clamber over the. side.

Sweet, wholesome and thoroughly delightful in f.ny part she attempts, June Caprice is widely acknowledged the latest and most popular "World's Sweetheart" of the movies. Unknown to pic-ture-goers a few months back this popular young laly has now easily displaced earlier favorites for first place in the public favor. Her latest success under the William Fox banner is "The Mischief Maker," which will commence a twonight season at Everybody's to-morrow.

At the Xew Plymouth Magistrate's Court yesterday, before Mr. '\. Crooke, S.M., plaintiffs secured judgments in the following undefended civil cases: Xow Plymouth High School Board (Mr. A. A. Bennett) v. Alfred Herbert Goss, £2B 10s ]od (costs £2 Us); P. J. Plannagan (Mr. V. E. Wilson) v. George Page, Raglan, £1 17s (id (15s). In a judgment summons case, Claude Barney Stroud v. D. llcid, defendant, who made no earns . for non-appearance, was ordered to pay the amount of judgment debt and costs, £sl 0s Rd, on or before October 2, 1917, in default one month's imprisonment in the Xew 'Plymouth prison. ■Shortly after 5 p.m. yesterday an alarm was sounded on the central lire bell, the cause being an outbreak in the kitchen_of a house at the corner of Lemon and Eliot streets, owned by Mr. Stephen Avann, and occupied by Mr. G. Lambert. It appears that kerosene was being used for lighting the kitchen fire, when, a little too much being used, a blaze resulted, some articles close t> the fireplace catching fire. The brigade was speedily on the scene, but before its arrival the flames had been extinguished by the occupants of the home, assisted by some passers-by. The damage was of a trifling nature. The Opunake Dairy Company is considering the question of manufacturing casein at the main factory, an.l two ot the branches. With the object of obtaining all information, on the a number of the directors, comprising Messrs M. Hickey (chairman), Luckin. B. Hammond and D. Markham (secretary), yesterday visited the Waitara Road factory, where casein has been manufactured for the past four seasons. They were shown over the plant by Mr. Limmor (manager), and afterwards visited Waitara, where they were met by Mr. J. IT. Smith (chairman of directors), and T. Buchanan (secretary) of the Waitara Road Dairy Company, who Brave them all available information on the subject.

Rather n serious motor accident happened 911 the Main road to Patea on Friday moraine (reports the Hawern Stir) It appears that Mr. 0. J. Bran! 7 (-.lanas'er for Messrs B. J. Tiddy an<l Co., milking machine agents) and Mr. S. Richards (also one of the firm's staff), were motoring to Wlieniinkura, and when doscending the "Devil's Elbow," near.Mantitahi, the car commenced-to iii".rea.-.e in speed. Mr. Richards,- who wa •. put the brake on, but it refused to work. He next tried the reverse sear-, this also failed to act. He. than turned the car towards the bank, where it struck a culvert and capsized, ihiwiti;:' the occupants heavily to the "round Mr. Bradley received a severe slinking and cracked his shoulder, which had toai »"e----viously dislocated four years ".go, «>•»!' lie also .was badly bruised on the arm. Mr. Richards was more fortunate, and escaped injury. Miss Wills, of Maimtahi, conveyed Mr. Bradley to Hawera, where he was attended to by T)r. Thomson. It will probably be a weik before he will be able to resume his duties The car was considerably damagcl. Mr. J. C. Cooper, managing director of the Wellington Farmers' Meat Company. Mast.erton, will address a meeting of farmers, and all interested, at Mr. Newton King's sale, Rahotu, on Friday, on the question of the shortage of shipping and the need for providing means whereby additional cool storage may be erected. The announcement that freight from Home has just been increased to 200s a ton, equal to a rise of 50 per cent., should act as a stimulant to the public to purchase all they possibly can before present stocks are affected. Drapery such as that so reasonably offered by the Melbourne, 'Ltd., should be snapped up at once.

It is now quite easy to quit the drink habit. With Drinko, a harmless powder which is given secretly if desired, hundreds of patients J.iavQ been cured. Treatment is inexpensive and can be given at home. Write for free particulars. Sent in plain sealed, letter. Address in confidence, Lady Manager, Drinko Proprietary, 212J Lambton Chambers,. Wellington,

It was announced at a meeting of the Auckland Presbytery that the military authorities had intimated 'that in future chaplains appointed to the forces would not take military titles, A peculiar accident happened on the. Rotorua golf links last week. Mr. 11. 11. Smceton, of Auckland, while making a, drive, slipped on a tuft of grass, sustaining a double fracture of the bones of the right leg, just above the ankle.

The indications for success at the Chertsey oil' wells, says the Chrietchurch Sun, are now very bright, and every evening's pumping of the sludge from the bottom of the casing bring? to light further evidence that the material which .is-being bored is impregnated with oil and gases usually found with oleaginous deposits. The well is •''now- .sunk tOsj a depth of over 1400 ft. ' •■"'"■ *■ ' According to a special telegram re ceived in San Francisco from Calgary, Alberta (states a San Francisco correspondent of the Christenurcli Press), the highest prices ever recorded were paid for wool . at the Oalgary Association's sale which closefi on August 8. Fine clothing wool brought the top price of 74 cents per lb. A total of loO.OOOlbs was soM at an average of 00 cents a pound. Last year's average was 29.2 ceuts.

A rattling good picture of the operations of illicit diamond buyers, and their wonderful devices for smuggling the precious stones is shown in the "Mutual" feature, "The Diamond Runners," screening at the Empire to-night. The picture includes some rapid changes of scene from New York to South Africa and a wonderful shipboard romance crammed with plots and counter-plots. On the same programme there is a Gold Rooster star, ''When Love Was Blind," with Florence La Badie in the (chief role.

Mr. T. B. Slipper, of Wanganui, stated at Palmerstan the other day that a certain percentage of blunders must liemade by a big department like that of Defence in times like these, but when they attempted to call up a man who had been dead for twenty years it would take a lot of. explaining. Again, men had been posted as defaulters, who had been on acUve service in France for over two years; and yet again, men had been called up under Section 35 wjio had volunteered and been turned du\vn. Mr Slipper mentioned another case. A married man volunteered and went to camp, yet the Wife was thunderstruck on reading in the press that her Imsbanej had been drawn in the ballot. ■''We will overlook these last cases," 'aid Mr.Slipper, "but what I can't get over U this man who has been 20 years dead." "There i= more double-distilled, concentrated, triple-expansion, dered humbug over relief work by society women than is to be found elsewhere under the canopy of heaven (gays the San Francisco Argonaut). Nine times out of ten it is a mere excuse for selfdisplay, for pleasure, and for vanity. Women who could draw cheques that would relieve the unbearable misery of a thousand families, and who would never even know that they hud spent the money, are found knitting unwearablo stockings, cultivating i\<iiculous garden patches at immense expense, organising elaborate devices for extracting nickels and dimes from poor people, for which they and not the poor people will get the credit, and screaming their activities to high heaven. They arcspread like a miasma over civilisation."

Referring recently to the wovk of the British Navy, Rear-Admiral Licncl Halsny, Third Sea Lord, said the great increase in the Navy during the war haa been obtained almost entirely from tin mercantile marine, which bad provided 10,031 officers and 05,000 men, while the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve had supplied and trained 4528 officers and 25.000 men. As a naval officer, he Miild say without hesitation that these men after three year*; of war, were the same as though they had always been officers airl men of tke Royal Navy. They had the same feelings and traditions and in every way showed the great worth of the service from which they came Admiral Halscy said that at the start of the war the enemy had placed raiders all over the world, but all the raiders, with two exceptions, had been accounted for. The fleet had always been ready and anxious to meet the Germans in battle Only once had the enemy dared to enter the main thoroughfare to the outer seal —on May 31, 191G—and there had not been a single German raid that had not been followed by a blow from the British Fleet. If the Navy should be defeated the British Isles would be starved out in a month, but with the Fleet remaining intact and the ceaseless \igilance of the thousands of small merchant craft that kept the highways free how. mines, there was no need for 'fear The enemy might raid Englan:'., but he would guarantee that the Army and the Navy together could prevent' any raid from proving successful.

A New Yovk genius lias developed a plover idea for automatically sounding the alarm at railway crossings whereby the alarm is controlled by the thistle of the approaching train itself. The inventor proposes to mount a number of large-size horns along the crossing approaches, each horn being fitted with a supersensitive electrical microphone, such as, that used in the dictatgraph. When the train whistle sound* for the crossing, these microphones pick up the sounds and are caused to control a sensitive relay device operating on the tuned reed principle. The relay will thus respond with maximum efficiency to a certain whistle tone. When the approaching train's whistle has actuated the microphone and in turn the sensitive reed relay, the latter closes t!.e proper circuits to a powerful electric siren installed at the top of the signal tower at the railway crossing, "for night requirements the alarm may .jonsist of the electric siren and a powerful beam of light, both of which are proj-jeted out of the signal horn.