LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, 24 May 1918, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

A motion adopted at the meeting of the Agricultural and Pastoral Workers' Association conference read as follows: —"That the action of the National Government be condemned for sending men to the front without first making "ample provision for their dependents, and that all members who supported! the National Government be also condemned." We have recvelved from the Postal and Telegraph Department a copy of the official telephone directory for New Ply. mouth postal district, which is Issued every six months. The directory is again very compact and complete! its arrangement reflecting great credit on the compiler. It shows continued progress in the telephonic communication of the district. New Plymouth numbers have increased from 025 to 055, whilst all the other towns show a gratifying increase. A new sub-exchange has been added—viz., Awakino—whero formerly there were a number of private wire owners.

At a meeting of the Hawera Keturnod Soldiers' Association on Wednesday, it was decided to forward a number of remits to the annual conference of the association, including one suggestiii" tiiat a standard pension of not less than 30a per week be give n to men attending schools, and, in addition, £1 per week from the D.S.I. Department, to be paid during the whole course, holidays included. Mr. W. V. Patterson is to represent the local association at the conference. "The Financial Assistance Board is the finest camouliagc body ever invented," said Mr. Harry (Ohakune), at the Second Division League Conference. The board says one thing and does another. People are led to expect assistance, and then it is refused. This sort of thing i s what is causing men to be disloyal and to utter sedition." Another delegate remarked that, the Government v.-as "trading on the ignorance of the people-" Mr. Lionel Rignold, at the Actors' lienevolent Fund meeting in London recently, told the story of an actress who was unable to play Juliet because she had lost four front teeth. She could only say "Womeo." The fund provided her with some new teeth, and she played the part splendidly— at least, she wrote and said so. Later she wanted another set, the original having become wobbly. If the association, she wrote would provide her with another, she would let them have the first set back at half-price. A hundred couples, a jaw band of coloured musicians, real food and lavish silver and glassware make •- ''- ghnt cabaret set which is seen "Vnsof a Woman." the Triangle . JC; ler now screening at Everybody .'a.

The publcaton of Tuesday's Gazette makes the total number of reservists called up under the Military Service Act I L:), 707. The first ballot was taken in November, l!)l(i, and the first call upon the Second Division was made a year later. Of the men already called,'si,,">o.'» have been members of the First Division and 32,174 members of the Second J )i vision.

Mr. Williams, a South Island delegate at the Second Division League conference) yesterday, declared that this country was being starved of labor, and if it were not for food supplies from Australia it would soon be in a dire position. As to wheat-growing, lie stated that for want of labor tho next crop would be (10 per cent, less than it was last year. A good story is related regarding the late General. Davies. ft appears that lh;> present King, when visiting New Zealand as Duke of Cornwall, became acquainted with the then Colonel Davies. After Colonel Davies was stationed at Alderehot, the King frequently had a chat with him when visiting the camp. On one occasion his Majesty was riding a new horse, and he asked the General his opinion of the steed, remarking that it was from New Zealand. The <leneral said: "It would cost about. £SO out. there, but I presume your Majeaety hnri to pay £2OO or ' £3OO for' it hare." "That was albout the. cost," replied King George, with a smile. A. pie'.e oi good luck is (says the Post) reported by Mr. D. Watkin, of Eaton Farm, Huiroa, in connection with an incident, on Tuesday night. He says a large rimr, tree (trunk) in his paddock Was struck and shattered to pieces by lightning, being split doirn nearly to the ground The lightning cut the railway fence in two or three places, cut the fence, between his neighbor's property and his ow», and scattered pieces of v'»e timber for over SO yards. The luck ecmes i n in the fact that two nights before lie had had ten pedigree Jersey cows t-amped close round the tree, but iliey weie not in the paddock on Tuesdayevening. A hare was found killed, lying ?bou,t 30 yar,i« from the tree.

Many strange and picturesque places in the war area have been selected as sites for Church Army recreation huts. There is one in the prison vault of a well-known city (now in ruins) in Flanders, one has rt>een sot up on a barge plying on the Flembh Canal, another is on Mount Olivet, in Palestine. A special point is made of the work among the mine-sweepers. In some lonelv places Church Army huts are the only available centres for recreation and companionship to which the sailors have access. Huts are also in operation on erery battlefront. and in all training camps. Tn New Zealand the Church Army's operations are conducted through the Miliary Affairs Committee of the Church of Kngland. Our soldier boys are thus helped not only in camp, but also on the troopships and hospitals and wherever they may be sent on active service. An appeal is being made for funds to extend these patriotic endeavours in New Zealand and elsewhere. A startling announcement in respect to the depredation of rabbits in parts of the King Country and Waikato is contained in a remit" drawn up by the Mihiihi branch of the Farmers' 'tTnior. for consideration at the forthcoming annual provincial conference in Auckland. The remit states that in the district under review the nuisance has reached such a stage that if special legislation be not enacted to meet the trouble the rabbits will put many farmers entirely out of business. This has been brought about by the large number of sections left vacant or neglected owing to war difficult- '** having become breeding grounds for (he vermin, and exaggerated a situation already intolerable. As a means of combating the evil it is askeci that Government be approached with a view to geting legislation passed, empowering local bodies to borrow money for the purpose of supplying settlers with the netting necessary to fence their sections, rating the sections to pay interest and sinking fund.

According to the New York correspondent of the Times, a statement made by Mr Henry Ford occupies the foreground of the discussion of the railway problem in America. He makes the following criticism of the rai'nvay service: ''The freight car weighs as much as the load it generally carries. It travels two-thirds full and comes back empty. Passenger trains weigh 50 to 150 times as much as the passengers in them. A Pullman car weighing 30 to 40 tons averages less than a ton of passenger load. Four-fifths of the work of a railway to-day is hauling the deadweight of its own wastefully heavy engines and coaches. This is why railway presidents have such a hard time to figure out the freight and passenger rates high enough on 20 per cent of the live load to cover the cost of hauling this enormous 80 per cent of deadweight around, Nature has distributed alloy materials which, with heat treatment, make steel of 75 or 100 tons tensile strength instead of 25 tons. And then the weight can be cut clown proportionately. Alloy steels of high tensile strength cut down the weight of truck and automobile. This criticism (says the Electrical Review) applies also to electrical vehicles of all kinds, and calls attention to a matter of great importance.

Visitors who are interested in education could not do better than pay a visit to the Wanganui Infant School where they will see the Montessori system of education carried out in its entirety (says the Patea 'Press). On see in» the school one does not wonder at being told that children ory when unable tp no W school each morning. The school can best be described as a Children's Paradise. On Wednesday a visit was paid to the school by members of the Education Board who were loud in" their praise of the school. One room in particular which took their fancy was the children's playroom, in which the little mites are allowed to play as a reward of good work. This room is rendered attractive by pictures illustrating wellknown nursery rhymes on the wall and by a large number of toys of every description. In one corner was a gigantic dolls house beautifully furnished from floor Si ceiling. In the downstairs portion as a kitchen with large stove, pots and pans and other kitchen utensils, whilst upstairs was a bedroom with beds, clipboards, wardrobes and everything complete. In another part of the room was some splendid model furniture consisting of a wooden bedstead about eighteen inches in length with chairs and tables to match. In another corner was a dresser fitted up with minis and plates which were used by the children daily. The bright and happy fives of the children showed that they enjoyed every minute of the day. For Influenza take Woods' Great Peppermint Cure. Never fails. I/O, 2/0.