LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, 5 April 1918, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

A Sydney cable message states that the first day of Tank Week realised £173,080. The following further donations*!? the Bush Fire Relief Fund have been bandog in: H. Newland £l, .T, H. Fowler £1 Is, Mr. and Mrs- Chas. Hoskin £2, Mrs. Robb Wells, Brixton, £2. The name of Mrs F, H. Sampson, 6e, was inadvertently omitted from the list of I«p----perton contributors. The Kawaroa Park Society wish to acknowledge the following further donations towards their Easter picnic:—H. ferookman £2 2s, J. M'Kean £1 Is, Mrs. Howling £l. The society has established a fresh record for their Easter picnic, the total amount raised bein" £302 18s. An interesting feature of a case at Patea in which a Native was fined £5 for being drunk and disorderly, afid £lO for using obßcene language, was the evidence of a Native witness who stilted that another Native who had taken part in the disturbaance had been summarily dealt with by the womenfolk on his return to the pa "(says the Press). The spokeswoman, he said, had pointed out to the accused that the people of Patea had always treated the Natives well, and it ill became any of them to return this kindness by disturbing the people. At the conclusion of the speech the Native women, it is stated, danced a haka of derision and contempt before the offender and followed this up with a sound flogging. Similar treatment, the witness declared, would be meted out to the prisoner when he returned to the pa.

Mr. Charles Thompson, formerly a storekeeper in Napier, but wJio left for Britain shortly before war broke out, writes to a friend in Napier as follows, under date January 9, 1918:—Since I wrote to you last I have boon in Russia again, for seven months this time. The steamer I travelled on was torpedoed. Fortunately, I was saved, with all others on board except one. The ship was only four and a-half minutes from being struck to going out of sight. We were very soon picked up, but the experience was such that I should not care for a repetition. I was in Petrograd during the July revolution, and in Moscow during the October one. The latter was a bloody affair, and the damage to property was very large. It will take years to put Moscow into the state it was before the war. As for the people, they have simply gone mad. They were given liberty, but not understanding the meaning of the word, they have taken it as a "license." Everyone is doing as he or she likes, both morally and socially. Murder is taking place every day, and no steps are taken to punish the offenders. Of course, such a state of things cannot last long, but it is awful to be there while it is going on. Sooner or later the people will come to their senses. Then, again, someone will have to pay. I think it will be the Jews, wlio have been taking a very prominent Bart in tli» revolution*.

An Auckland boy, writing from France to a relative, mentions that when the Germans made a surprise attack on the trench he was in they did it under cover of sheets carried in advance, which look white the same as the snow, and hid the operations until the rush was made. The rabbit industry is proving a profitable source of revenue to those engaged in it in Central Otago. The canning factories at Cromwell and Alexandra handle about 10,000 each daily, and the freezer at Alexandra, is said to be getting close on 15,000 daily. Some of the trappers are earning £2 per day. The other day a Maori at Tangoio, busily employed in a paddock presenting to the eye an unbroken evpanse of weeds, was asked what he was doing. "Digging potatoes," was the reply "Why don't you cut the weeds?" queried the settler. "Kapai te weed," explained the Maori, "he cover the potato; te - blight he .no go down; he stay up." A dastardly act, meriting condign punishment, was • perpetrated some weeks ago in a local refreshment room (states the Wanganui Herald), where some strong chemical was placed on a chair. The result was that a lady had her dress ruined, and also other garments damaged, and she herself suffered from serious burns, necessitating medical attention. damages were met to-day by the proprietor, and the offender is now threatened with legal proceedings.

Constables McHolm and McGregor, of Carterton, paid a surprise visit to a station about ten miles south of Te Wharau recently They were sighted by a scrub-cutters' camp, and about half a dozen men made ioff through the scrub with slashers in hand. The constables went, in pursuit, but only succeeded m running down one man, who proved to be a military deserter. This man was brought m to Masterton, and he will be handed over to the military authorities. —Age. More than 1900 years ago Julius Caesar defeated an invading horde of Germans in France. When they came asking for terms he said to them:' "Go back whence you came;.repair the damages you have done; and give hostages to keep peace for the future." The foregoing paragraph, an extract from a leading magazine, gives one an idea of the value of German promises without hostages. Permanent disarmament and permanent political control of Germany by representatives of the great Allies is the only means of permanently restraining Germany. No German should be permitted to hold any position of authority or influence in any country that desires permanent liberty.

"Paradise Garden." is the story of a man who lias never seen a girl. Then one day pretty Una Habberton wanders across his vision. She is a good girl—the right sort. But then comes Mareia Van Wyek, like a young Satan in petticoats, and she teaches the hitherto spotless young man the knowledge of good and evil. The theme presents great possibilities, of which full advantage is taken in the picture. Harold Lockwood is the hero of this fine Metro super-feature which is showing at the Empire to-night.

A former pupil of Newton West public school, Auckland, has written to his parents from Switzerland. He had been a prisoner of war in Germany, but was amongst those sent to Switzerland at the end of last year. He writes most eulogistically of the warm reception of the prisoners in Switzerland. They were met at the station by people with'flags, chocolate, cigarettes, who cheered the men to the echo. "Some of the chaps nearly broke down at the warm reception." At the time of writing the Auckland boy was in an hotel at a place 5500 feet above sea-level, within sight of Jungfrau. He also mentions how the representatives of the Y.M.C.A. met. the men upon arrival in Switzerland and advanced each of them a few pounds. In the extreme north of the Auckland province there is a tract of country unique as far as New Zealand is concerned. Parallel with the Ninety Mile Beach extends an absolutely desert area, stretching across the island for an aver ffge depth of about three miles and a probable length of 40 or 50 miles, consisting of sand blown in from the west coast (states the Auckland Herald). This sand is constantly shifting under the influence of the prevailing winds, and wayfarers traversing it could easily persuade themselves they were in the middle of a veritable Sahara, nothing but vcl.tow sand being visible for miles around. The principal land approach to Houhora is through the desert, and the route can only be kept by following a series of guide posts. Similarly, on the opposite coast, soutli of the, entrance to Parengarenga Harbor, there is another Btretch of sand, in this case dazzingly white in color and extremely fine.

One more tangible and conclusive proof of the food shortage in Germany has •come to light. From time to time cable messages have proclaimed that this state really existed, but on account of the unreliability of war correspondents as a body, New Zealanders have received this information gingerly. Karl Wilke, the seventeen-year-old schoolboy, who robbed the Kaiser's castle at Wilhelmshoe in October and November, 1917, has been sentenced to only nine months' imprisonment. Amusing testimony was given at the trial. His defence was that he needed money to pay a £!) 10s restaurant bill incurred at a celebration of his seventeenth birthday. He thereupon committed seven (liferent burglaries at the Imperial castle, obtaining altogether art objects, pictures, and other valuables worth between £4OOO and £!)000, which he stole from the private apartments of the Kaiser, the Kaiserin, the Duchess of Brunswick (their daughter), and Prince Joachim of Prussia, If food were plentiful in the German prisons it is certain that such a crime against the Kaiser and the Kaiserin would have been punished by a longer sentence. The remarkable experience of seeing his own photograph published amongst those of men officially reported as wounded and missing has been the lot of at least one Gisbornite. The story, as related by one who returned to Gisborne recently, was that whilst in hospital at Alexandria during the Gallipoli campaign, a comrade from Gisborne made the above startling discovery. On recovering from his wounds he returned to the Peninsula to the astonishment of tlie authorities, who declared that he was "off the list." However, the Gisbornite persisted in re-establishing his identity. It appeared that when injured he was carVied into a dressing station or advanced hospital, when a shell landed in the place blowing him out of the roof of the marquee. He was picked up by Australians unconscious, but otherwise none the worse for his sudden exit, and was conveyed to Egypt and thus lost sight of. On proceeding to France the Gisbornite was unfortunate enough to have his leg blown off. Miss Hunt, instructress of millinery and dress-making, Devon street east, draws attention to her classes in our advertising columns.