LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, 11 January 1918, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The Education Board yesterday decided to make a grant of £5, out of the swimming and life-savirig capitation, towards the cost of erecting dressing sheds at Lepperton. The Matapu correspondent of the Hawera Star states that, owing to the war, all work lias been stopped on the Te Roti —Opunake line, and the staff and men have either been paid off or transferred to other work. The man who puts off advertising until the need for business is acutely felt is in the same fix as the nation that puts off military preparation until war is declared. The chairman of the Education Board (Mr. R. Masters) has been appointed to represent the board on a deputation of representatives from Stratford local bodies, which is waiting on the Minister of Education regarding the disestablishment of the present Stratford "District High School and the- establishment of a technical high school there. It is quite evident that the teaching profession does not appeal to the young men of Taranaki, for out of forty-five applications received by the Education Board for positions as pupil teachers or probationers, only two were from young men. The board, at a special meeting yesterday, made twenty-three appointments, including one of the male applicants. It is probable that additional appointments will be made later. 1 At a sitting of the Appeal Court on Tuesday (reports the New Zealand Times) it was intimated by Mr. Justice Chapman that the'judgment of the full court had been prepared in the case of Samuel T. Cox, of Opunake, v. the Public Trustee, and would be filed as soon as it was typed. The judgmeht, will fix the lines on which valuations are to be made for substantial improvements under the West Coast Settlement Reserves Act, '1872.

Rain sot in Into on Ww'.i'ps-kr. '>"< l continued yesterday moi'mu;; with intermittent showers in the altonioou f lie full was general throughout the province, and will do an immense amount of good. Picture patrons arc reminded that, toll ijrlit is positively the last occasion that, th--. latest Chaplin comedy 'iOasy Street.'' can be screened in New Plymouth. "Easy Street" is showing at Everybody's wit the Greater YitagrapU feature, "The Stolen Treaty." A curious story is told of a parrot that passed through an air raid oil London. The bird had learned (o say *' tho Germans,'' and just before a recent raid was particularly emphatic in liis shout in.L<. When the bomb exploded a piece of woodwork piniv.'d Polly and his cape to the table, and he was found shrieking "Serve me right!" The following officers have been selected to constitute a court of enquiry to investigate the cases of Colonel Patterson and Mnjor Osborne Lilly, in connection with the escape of the Germans from Motuihi: Colonel Potter, Camp Commandant, Trentham; Lieut-Colonel Fletcher, of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force, returned from active service; Major Cooper, an Imperial officer, who has .seen service in this war, and lias been doing staff duties in Otago. While complaints have been made in several districts that the Railway Department makes no attempt to save the seed of cocksfoot grasses that grow by the permanent way, this apparent indifference does not prevail in all districts. Between L'ppcr Hutt and Haywards the track-inen frequently spend Sunday in cutting the grass anil thrashing the seed. This is done with Hails and sacking laid on a, convenient flat place. In this way, grass-seed of a quality and quantity that make it well worth the trouble, has been obtained, and at the same time the risk of fires in the summer has been minimised.

'Hie conferment of the Victoria Cross lias appeared to be such a frtequcnt occurrence in these days that fear has heen expressed that its value has depreeiatd. That this is not the ease will be realised (says the London Evening Standard) when it is understood that in sixty-odd years since Queen Victoria instituted the decoration to reward heroes of the Crimea, Jess than a thousand V.C.'s have been awarded. Probably the total will have reached four figures before peace Arrives, but up to the present it stands I at 839. Before the campaign started 522 had been bestowed, and 317 have now been won in the last three years, a num- ' ber which exceeds those given in the 'fifties, when both the Russian operations »«d the Mutiny provided many occasions for heroism. j Mr. Joynson Hicks, M.P., a political authority on aviation, emphasises the fact that we can outdo the Germans in any air development. "What the Germans had done we could do. Our men were better than theirs, and our engineers were as good as theirs. The Gotha machine was only a copy of one of ours. Three years ago we had about fifty machines which could fly at 00 or 65 njiles an hour and could climb 5000 feet in half «n hour. Now we have machines which could fly 150 miles an 1,1 our, climb 20,000 feet, and carry' considerable loads of bombs. Before another year is out it will be 250 miles an hour. The only limit to the height to fighting and raiding is the human limit imposed by the difficulty of breathing. To-day our men and theirs go up to 22,000 feet. In another year's time, by scientific means, they will be able to go considerably higher still, out of reach of any anti-aircraft guns you have at the present time." An Auckland pressman wlio was taken for a trial aerial flight on Saturday found the experience a most exhilirp-ting one. One has vague ideas that flying is attended by all sorts of discomforts and dangers, but, as a matter of fact (says the Star) the flying machines liave now been brought to a state of efficiency that makes a flight, as far as comfort and safety are concerned, comparable to a ride in a very well built motor-car. It is the great speed and the peculiarly exhilirating effect of jaunt in the air that make the chief difference between this and ordinary means of .locomotion. There is absolutely no sense of nausea or dizziness, and one can enjoy to the full the unique experience of looking down on the earth. The flight took in the whole of the harbor, the Rangitoto channel, the eastern arm of the harbor, Devonport and the city wharves. The speed throughout the trip averaged something like eighty miles an hour. On Friday, Daily Times) Mr. F. J. Williams, engineer to the Cromwell Development Party, will conduct an interesting proceeding in the ICawarau Gorge, where two pillars have been constructed for the purpose of damning back the water. The pillars are 50ft high and 10ft square. They are each a mass of reinforced concrete, but owing to the configuration of the river the pillar on the right bank is heavier than that on the left. The larger pillar weighs 715 tons; the other 513 tons. At the point where the pillars are constructed the river is ltft in depth at its deepest point, and 100 ft. wide. It is anticipated that when an explosive is placed urnler the pillars and the charges are fired by electricity, the columns will topple over practically intact and meet top-to-top across the river bed. Even if they do not exactly meet they will serve as a dam, and raise the water about 15ft. The river being thus raised, the (luming which is built for a distance of thirty chains on the right bank will be available to carry the water to the turbines, which are to force the water from the river to a height of 180 ft. through 2240 ft of 30-iflch piping. Thence the water will ■be led along a race at the foothills abutting on the Cromwell Flat to irrigate the extensive plantation of trees on the company's Ripponvale fruit farm and the Cromwell Flat. A great deal of interest is being taken in the proceedings, and a number of people in Dunedin intend to journey to the ICawarau to see the actual fall. It is understood that there is a probability that the Government would send a kinematograph photographer to take a series of pictures of the operation. Gloves and Hosiery.—Two items of attire which constantly need replenishing. Let the good reputation earned bv Mbrcy's be yourf guide to line values --Morey's for gloves and hosiery. See their, announcement in this paper.

NO DESIRE FOR UQUOR. "I have now no desire for liquor. I was cured with three boxes of Drinko and wilt recommend it to my friends." Thus writes a grateful patient from Trcnthaw. We have 'hundreds of similar letters on file. Read the evidence for yourself in booklet which will be posted 011 request in plain sealed envelope. Write to-day for 'full particulars of this remarkable cure for the drink habit. Drinko is a tasteless and harmless powder which can be given secretly if desired in anv liquid or food. Address me in confidence, statins if .Mr., Mr;., or Miss. Lady Manager, Brinko Proprietary, 212 .A.C., tauabton Quay, Wellington, 4

A few years ago the "l!eecc-o!i" In a shearing shod was ulnd to receive S»* a and found. Tl>)- veur in J lie Wuirarapa this class of work lias commanded. 1< liil an hour, which equivalent to £4 His a week. with several meals a day given in. The teaching profession will be inti'r-e-ted to learn thai regulations have been recently issued making improvements in the Dominion grading st 'hem«, and that, inter alia, teachers will in ft!* live be fur"eishod on application with'their individual ma rks, but this information must be treated by them confidential. "The time lias arrived when tile teachers of New Zeaiand should form a union in order to place them upon an equality With other organisalionß."-rThip„ was 'among the motions set down to >ls discussed 'by tin; teachers' conference last week". However, the; matter was not touched by the conference, but referred to the executive. J According to th Berlin lageblatt, the speciSl committee of the Reichstag I which is dealing with "population afr fairs" has received "very disquieting reports about the state of the health of the army." 'Die reports speak of (lie urgent necessity of better protection of women and children a'rainst venereal disease "iti | districts occupied .by German troops, l and call for generous allowances of coal for the same regions in 'the interest of the health of tlio general community. The Queensland Governor in Council commuted to two years' hard labor the sentence of death against Agnes Dorothy Baker for the murder of her father in a canelield in the Proserpine district, the girl to be released on entering into recognisances for £IOO to ;be of good behaviour for two years. The girl, who is only lfi, shot her father with a rifle and hid the 'body in a cano tract and wont off to a dance. She alleged that her father had 'been very cruel to her.

The Krupp works contain within their immediate neighborhood 50 miles »f railroad, 100 miles of telegraph wires, and 200 miles of telephone wires. Linked up with the works, in all parts of Germany, are hundreds of mines, chiefly coal and iron, besides innumerable quarries. A fleet of steamers, too, plied for the supply of material. A woman is the virtual head of tbis vast concern—Frau Bertha Krupp von Bohlen und-Halhach, and the Kaiser himself has shares in the concern, showing that even war has been commercialised. Passengers by the tram ear which left the Coffee Palace corner at 3.58 yesterday, for Moturoa, experienced a thrill when, at a point on the South road, just beyond Morley street, the motorman suddenly applied the brakes, just in time to avert a disastrous collision with a motor car which flashed by on the wrong side of the road, at a place where the way between the tram line and the curbing is very narrow. It is said that only the prompt action of the motorman prevented a smash-up, and probably a fatality. The driver of the car did 'not wait to exchange compliments. An unusual incident occurred at Takapuna on Friday morning (states the New Zealand Herald). A man, clothed in a blanket and a sheet, was found walking in Hurstmere road, about to board a tram-car. Ifyon inquiry it was found that lie had been missed from his heme in Birkenhead at about four o'clock in the morning. The matter was reported to the police, and the man was traced along the East Coast road, past Milford, and eventually found at Takapima. lie showed no resistance to the police, and was in an exhausted state. On Wednesday night he was found wandering in, the vicinity of the sugar works at Ghfilsea, and had to be taken home by the residents. Prophetic by nearly 20 years of the great war, and placing the onus of linte engendered by it clearly on Germany, are the following comments on the Venezuelan situation, written by an English: man for 50 years a resident of Germany. Under date of February 8, 1898, he wrote to an American friend: "So I suppose there is going to be war between the cousins in respect to a miserable bit of country in Venezuela. . That would be a bit of dire stupidity, though I suspect that Germany would be delighted to see that or anything that would embroil England with any State. There seems to be the most implacable hatred ■ of England here, and for what other reason than envy and jealousy—if there is any reason in it at all—l cannot tell They cannot bear to think that Great Britain should have command of the seas, even though they themselves benefit from it."