LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, 1 March 1918, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

. A Sydney message states that the Mutual Life and Citizens' Assurance Co. is subscribing £2,000,000 to the war loan.

The following members of the sixth CI draft will entrain at New Plymouth for camp on March 13: L. I!. Richardson, V, H. Vickers and B. G. Wildennoth. The Minister of Defence has received advice that the JS'ew Zealand hospital ship which left the Dominion some weeks ago has reached a port of call, all well Press Association.

His Majesty's Trade. Commissioner in New Zealand (Mr. R. W. Dalton) has received instructions from the Imperial Government to proceed to the Pacific Islands for the purpose of making investigation regarding their present commercial position and future trade prospects. He expects to leave for Suva early in-April.—Press Association.

In connection with to-morrow's Bed Cross mart, a, special appeal is being made to Welsh citizens to assist, the day being the festival of St. David, the patron saint of the principality. What the Welshmen have done in the war should be sufficient to ensure a generous response to the appeal, to say nothing of what the Welsh leader of the nation"has done to promote universal service and sacrifice. The mart will be open to-day from 2.110 to 5 and from 7 to 8 p.m., to receive contributions.

A meeting of the New Plymouth Pie* rots was held on Wednesday night, for the purpose of making arrangements for assisting the patriotic carnival to be held at Inglewood on Thursday next. There were about fourteen members present, and practically all intimated their willingness to assist. It was reported that Inglewood workers had secured a number of articles and animals to be raffled or sold, and that 500 parcels would bo for sale. It was decided to send a company of singing pierrots and others to sell the parcels and conduct the; raffles. Messrs. ,1. N. Morey and J. Abbott were appointed to meet and make the necessary arrangements with the Inglewood committee.

"The Pendleton Round-Up" and a Metro play, "The Lifted Veil," starring Ethel Barrymore, arc the attractions at The Empire to-night. No more interesting and entertaining programme has ever been presented locally. A special treat for the kiddies has been arranged at the matinee to-morrow afternoon. "The Pendleton Round-Up" will be shown, also a screaming Fatty Arbuckle comedy, "The Toll-Tale Light.'" Amongst the other matinee pictures will be a Keystone comedy and a Christie comedy. The question of raising money for the Red Cross Mart, by means of raffles, cropped up at a meeting of the New Plymouth Pierrots on Wednesday night. A letter was read from the mart committee, asking if the Pierrots would arrange a day to assist the Red Cross, as they had done last year. A copy of the rules of the mart was enclosed, which indicated that there must be no rallies and no canvassing of tradespeople for gifts of money or goods in connection with the mart. It was stated that the rules would deprive the Pierrots from working along their customary lines, and it was eventually decided to organise a day during the year, provided they were allowed to work along tlieir'own lines.

A hundred men belonging to the crew of the Aragon, the transport which was sunk in the Mediterranean on December 27 with the loss of 010 lives, have reach-, ed Southampton. They unite in paying a tribute to the courage of the' 010 nurses who were on the Aragon. The torpedo crashed into the bowels of the ship, and shattered the shaft. She only floated for 17 minutes. Some of the crew were up fo their waists in water while launching the boats, and it was impossible to launch others because of the heavy list. The final act lasted for a minute and a-half. It was the ship's death spasm. Captain Bateman was on the bridge, and shouted, "Now then, every man for himself, and may God help you all." Two minutes later the great ship was below the water, and those on board were sucked down with it.

Some of the prison reforms that have been effected in New Zealand were referred to by the Minister of Justice (Hon T. M. Wilford) when replying to a deputation at Napier, the Hawkes Bay Tribune reports. We have a prison at Waikeria, he said, working on the honors system. Every morning five men start out with three-horse teams road-making. They take their billy and lunch, and they are away from the time they leave eamp until they return with their teams. They go two miles from the prison, an* if they do their work fairly they get so many good conduct marks. Twelve marks is a day off their sentence. So far that had gone on for some weeks, and it was wording all right. America boasted of its honors system, and lie was telling them what we could do here.