LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, 14 January 1918, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The Rev. J. Palgrave Davy held services on the Ngamotu beach on Saturday and yesterday afternoon, and on each day gathered about him a good number of children and adults. The mission will be continued throughout the week. In addition to the, addresses .and singing, there will be all sorts of novel attractions and competitions for the children, including sports, riddle-guessing and treasure-hunting. Mr. G. Kirk, a schoolmaster of the Otaki district, who is at present in New Plymouth, cycled on a pusTi-bike first from Otaki to Wellington, "and then from Wellington over the 250 miles to New Plymouth, making the journey by easy stages. Outside the towns Mr. Kirk said he did not meet another cyclist on a push-bike, the motor being everywhere in use for distance travelling. He intends cycling round the mountain and returning to his home by the way that he came. It does not appear to be fully realised yet that tea and sugar must not be sent from New Zealand to civilians in Great Britain. Mr. H. Okey, M.P., recently addressed the Minister of Customs (Hon. A. M. Myers) on the question, and has received a reply informing him that both tea and sugar, whether by parcel post or otherwise, are prohibited from importation into Great Britain, excepting only in the case of gift parcels sent for overseas soldiers in England or France. There are ghouls in New Zealand as well as in Germany, One variety is the memoriiun card dealer who searches the casualty lists daily, and sends along immediately a soliciting circular, and samples of the work done, to the bereaved relatives. We were recently shown one of these circulars. It contained verses of doggerel that would insult the memory of any soldier. Attached was a portrait of some poor soldier whose relatives had succumbed to the importunities of the pushful card vendor. It is too much to expect a display of fine feeling or decency from this class of people, but surely even they could postpone their v.nwelcome obtrusion until the bereaved ones had a little time to recover from their blows. Local residents seeking a night's entertainment, and holiday makers enjoying the beauties of New Plymouth, should not overlook the Empire Theatre this evening where Douglas Fairbanks is appearing in one of ,his five-reel whirlwind comedy pictures entitled "The Habit of Happiness." Judging from the picture Doug, has solved the "habit" and will pass along the solution to every patron at this cosy theatre to-night. Try Hayward's FLAG BRAND PICKLES for flagging appetites—the condiment of the period. Pure, fresh, economical Ask your grocer.

Application is to bo made to the Publie Trustee by the Palmerston North Hospital Board for a loan of £55,000, to enable considerable additions and alterations to be made to the local hospital. "This is simply a case of a man trying to be funny and falling in over it," said Senior-Sergeant Wohlmaim at the Christchurch Magistrate's Court on Wednesday. "The aise lias been brought as a warning to others." The case referred to was a charge .against William Watson of stealing a bicycle valve, valued at Is, the property of Peter Feron. The accused denied having interfered with Feron's bicycle at all. He was lined 10s. Mr. D. Sell loss, preaching at the Christchurch Synagogue on Sunday, said it had recently come to light that there was a movement on foot in Germany to hand over Palestine to the Jews under German suzerainty. This, doubtless, was in view of the British declaration, in order to raise the drooping spirits of those Jews who were in power in Germany. The entry of General Allenby into Jerusalem had put a stop to that latest piece of German guile, and it was creditable to read that the Jewry of Germany had made this entry a cause for rejoicing. In a letter received in Manaia from Lieutenant A. Ti. Byrne, he remarks on the subject of "wrong addresses": "There is no occasion whatever for the people on your side to worry about wrong addresses. You must remember there is a huge concern in London known as the N.Z. Army Post Office—one all for ourselves, and untainted by civilian correspondence. So it is pretty hard if they don't run you down, 110 matter where you are. They know all changes of addresses. That's their business, and they quickly get on the track of a fellow if he's anywhere on the top of the earth. And if he's not, why, it can't matter much." ■ At Saturday's sitting of the Military Service Board at Hawern, the military representative (Captain Walker) phasised that reservists who appealed on the ground that they were in the wrong class of the Second Division should produce both their marriage certificates and the certificates of birth of tlieir children in order to satisfy the board of the correctness of their statements. The chairman (Mr. Cooper, S.M.) endorsed the remarks of Captain Walker, and said the board had to be thoroughly satisfied that an appellant, who appealed on the ground that he was in ihe Second Division, was married. Second Division reservists should therefore be particularly careful to bring proof of their marriage before the board.

A correspondent in an English paper describes the care of soldiers' cemeteries in France. During the past two years a great deal of planting has been done, he says, and uiany of the cemeteries are now remarkably beautiful. Some in which it is not possible to put out permanent plants are a gorgeous mass of color, formed by long stretches of annuals, bordered by a strip of well-kept grass. Each kind of annual has been sown separately in stretches of some 30ft to 40ft; the color scheme has been carefully arranged, and there are not many gardens at home where such a noble display of color can be seen. Those cemeteries which have been made in old apple orchards are perhaps the most beautiful of all, and there is one of these in particular, commanding an open view on one side, ablaze witli flowers, and faultlessly kept, which is the most lovely spot that can be imagined. A roll of honor, saya the Auckland Herald, bearing the names of many of the actors and employees of the firni of J. C. Williamson, Ltd., who have gone to the front, was unveiled by Major Sir Robert Walker, G. 5.0., Auckland, on the stage of His Majesty's Theatre on Tuesday at the clos? of the Musical Comedy Company's season in "So Long, Letty." Sir Robert said no profession had done more in the war than the theatrical profession. The roll of honor already contained the names of 140 of the actors and employees of the J. C. "Williamson firm in Australasia, and 50 names had still to foe added. (Applause). Of 300 members of the Australasian Actors' Association—which included ladies—no fewer than 105 had joined the forces (Applause). He mentioned that the first actor to win the Victoria Cross was an Australian —Lieutenant Dartnell—and the first actor to win the D.C.M. a New Zealander. He paid a glowing tribute to the fine work "being done by the ladies of the profession. Sir Robert then called on Miss Maude Fane to assist him in unveiling tile roll, which was draped with flags. This ceremony concluded, the audience rose and joined the company in tliS singing of the 'National Anthem The roll of honor is to be placed in the vesti bule of the theatre, at the inner end of llie arcade. "New Zealand has come into possession of something more valuabj* tha|i the biggest gold mine,'' remarked the captain of an American liner the other day when sampling some of our local tobacco. "And I predict," ho went on, "that in years to come tohacco growing here will be just as flourishing as in Virginia, my native' country, where the introduction of the tobacco industry has made a transformation as great and almost as quick, and certainly as profitable, as would the discovery of gold mines." It is gratifying to see that the people of this Dominion have not been slow in realising the huge possibilites of the tobacco industry, but even the most sanguine were surprised when ttold Pouch, our locally grown tobacco made its first appearance. Such was the success that the manfacturers could hardly cope with the rapidly increasing demand. And no wonder, because Gold Pouch reresents quite a new type of tobacco jtfith a distinctive flavor of its own of which tho palate never tires. But its greatest virtue is its small percentage of nicotine which makes it a. healthier smoke than any foreign tobacco. And that is why Cold Pouoh has become so popular. 108 The returning officer of the Mokau Harbor Board notifies that nominations will be received up to noon on Tuesday, January 2!) for candidates to fill the two vacancies in the Awakino riding. In this issue the New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Company, Ltd., advertise entries for their Tarata sale on l'riday next. Details appear on page

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War continues to destroy life's pleasant little foibles, says a London paper. The railway companies have announced that in future they will not accept for transmission luggage labelled with relics of bygone journeys. This in a sad blow to the traveller who, in tiie quiet of a winter's evining, found a melancholy pleasure in musing over the railway and hotel labels plastered all over his battered trunks. Gone for ever are the days when the traveller, with a semblance of conscious pride, shows to an admiring friend the labels which betoken the cosmopolitan. And, worse still, the action of the railway companies has put a check on the bogus international traveller, the gentleman who made a hobby of collecting luggage labels and bespattering his trunks with them, in the fond delusion that his fellow-creatures mistook tym for a frequenter of famous foreign watering places. ■ Mr. C. M. Terry, a Sydney merchant, who returned from America a few days ago, says there are no words to describe the manner in which America has plunged into the war. "It's sojijetJiiirfg staggering," he states, "and has to fin seen before believed. The whole country is 'Hooverified.' Mr. Hoover, the Food Controller, has the whole land absolutely in his grip. He (or, rather, his orders) follow you from the breakfast table to bed. The Government has taksn pvpr the control of things in wholesale fashion. Only recently they took over the whole of the railway systems east of Chicago. What that means perhaps only an American can realise, and then there | is the way they have handled the Ger- ' man-American element. At first it was a, : case of 'Keep your mouth shut and we'll let you alone.' Now they are bundling ■ them out of their homes, whole districts I at a time. The waterfronts are being j I absolutely swept clear of aliens, as are also certain prescribed zones. If you ask me how many men America has sent to France, I can only reply that the rumors range between 200,000 and 500,000. By the end of next June, however, thfey do hope to have 1,000,000 or more in the firing line." The problem of the farmer with regard to the question of grass seed becomes increasingly acute, and imported grass seeds, particularly, are steadily rising price. Locally-grown grass seeds (says the Auckland Star) are also increasing in price, and with the exception of New Zealand ryegrass the prospects are for higher prices this season than ever. Ryegrass should not show a very great increase, owing to the good crops in Canterbury and Hawkes Bay. Quotations for the new crop of cocksfoot, however, opened at Is 4d per lb f.0.b., 8.e., at Lyttelton recently, and these prices seem likely to be maintained. Iu the Auckland district the principal demand is for autumn sowing. The continued fine weather will probably mean earlier burns than usual, and so far as can be seen the new crops of rye and cocksfoot will be available for these sowings, a fact which will certainly not tend to lessen prices. It is estimated that] where a farmer could formerly sow his burn at about 23s per acre, it will now cost him something in the vicinity of 40s per acre. With regard to danthonia, which is praetieally the only locally-j grown crop, the indications are that it I will be very much smaller than usual, and consequently higher prices may bej expected for this also. ' j A minor sensation at Home (the Lon-1 don correspondent of the Sydney Morning Herald writes) is that attaching to Sir John Simon's return of his highly lucrative briefs, his acceptance of a commission, and his departure for the Western front. We do not know what it all means, but it is certainly very curious. Sir John Simon was opposed to the war from the beginning, gave up lii 3 seat in the Cabinet on the question of compulsory service, and all along has been strongly pacifist. He now, to the confusion of his Radical friends of that brand, and to the mystification of us all, enters the army, the only explanation vouchsafed being the wholly unbelievable one that he is to be consulted by the British Command as to which German towns may be raided by aeroplanes without involving Britain in a charge of making "reprisal" attacks upon an inoffensive enemy. Sir John Simon is undoubtedly one of the ablest men in British public life, with his brilliancy very strongly founded on intellectual weight. Returning to his practice at the Bar on giving up his Cabinet office, he at once took rank as its leading advocate, and his income from the high-figured briefs ho accepts is by way of boing fabulous. It is estimated, at any rate, as between £20,000 and £BO,OOO a year—as the imagination of the guesser varies, perhaps. Prior to the war a great deal of the rubber used in Australia came from the Malay States. Now practically all the available supplies are wanted by the British Government for distribution among the Allied nations, and, owing to the great shortage of shipping', supplies for Australia for ordinary commercial purposes are closely limited to those which have the endorsement of the Imperial authorities. But supplies are now available from the plantations in Papua and adjacent islands, and the Federal Government has taken the view that it is in the interests of the Allies that these should be used in Australia before demands are made on shipping space to bring rubber to Australia from Singapore. The rubber has been shipped direct to Sydney, where considerable stocks have accumulated. But the question of price led to a deadlock. The growers said they wanted only a fair price. The manufacturers said they would not pay the price asked. Neither side showing any sign of giving way, the Government called a conference, with the result that everything in dispute was amicably settled. The growers arc to send all their rubber to Australia, thus freeing Singapore supplies for the Allies; the manufacturers are to take all the rubber at the price fixed, which has not been disclosed; and the Government is to see that the shipping is available, and that freights are kept within limits.

The petrol shortage is' a problem which is seriously exercising the minds of motorists at the present time (says the Ilawkes Bay Herald). So acute is the situation said to be that the most rigid economy has to be exercised, while in some cases car owners in country districts are actually considering the advisability of laying up their cars until the situation again becomes normal, and falling back on the more modest motor cycle, and even the humble push-bike. Cine enterprising individual a day or two ago, however, solved the problem for the time being, to his own satisfaction, at any rate, in a decidedly ingenious manner. Happening along a country road not a hundred miles from Napier, he espied a lonely car drawn Up beside a roadside inn, the owner probably being within attending to the needs of the inner man. Pulling up beside the car, he quietly and expeditiously attached a tube or syphon device to its tank, and speedily ran off the whole of the contents, and went on his way rejoicing. It is said that the victim of the "joke" is still seeking for the perpetrator, with a smouldering in his, breast.