LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, 31 May 1918, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The Egmont County Council lias purchased a concrete mixer for the Punehu Bridge. The North Island Dog Trial Championships, winch are to be held at Hawera next week, promise to be remarkably successful. The entries are particularly good, nea.rly 150 dogs having been nominated from all parts of the Dominion. The new dormitory block of the board-ing-'house of the New Plymouth Girls' High School has recently been completed. There is now accommodation for 50 boarders at "Strandon," and there are at present 45 girls in residence there. The lion, secretary of the Inglewood Ladies' Patriotic League wishes to acknowledge witlv thanks the sum of £9 for the Y.M.C'.A. Fund, from the Ratapiko Girls' Social Committee per Miss Stiellcr, also £1 for the Red Cross Fund, being fees for five jurymen, per Con-, stable Longfoottom. Many generous donations of lucky packets aie arriving at the depot for sale on "Soldiers' Day," Saturday, Juno 1. The shop in Devon Street, kindly lent by Messrs Hallenstein Bros., will open all day to-day (Friday) to receive gift* for making up. A little girl in New Plymouth ig very anxious to know where the Mayoress is going to keep the "White Elephants." Come and see them to-morrow at the shop lately occupied by May and Arrowsmith. A farmer named Robert Kilpatriek, who met with an accident at Durham Road, Inglewood, on May 23, While sawing a log, and was admitted to th 6 New Plymouth Hospital, died there yesterday morning at C o'clock. At the request of the Coroner, a post mortem examination Was made by Dr. Wade. An inquest yvas opened yesterday afternoon before the district coroner (Mr. A. Crooke 8.M.), when evidence of identification was given by Alfred Kilpatriclc, who said the body at the morgue was that of his brother, who was aged 30 years. Deceased had a wife and four children. The inquest was adjourned sine die. Mr. Harold Loekwood is known for the wholesomeness of his subjects and his latest picture, "The Square Deceiver," now showing at the Empire, like the preceding ones, is wholesomeness itself. Jt is the type of picture that appeals to young and old alike and provides them with real entertainment. The universal appeal of the subject is unique. A very pleasant gathering was held at May and Arrow&mith's tea rooms yesterday, when the local branch of the New Zealand Veterans' Association entertained the members of the New Plymouth Ladies' Patriotic Committee to afternoon tea. There was a large gathering, and Mr. G. F. Robinson presided. After the loyal toast had been honored, the chairman, in a fitting manner," proposed the health of the ladies, eulogising their splendid efforts on behalf of the soldiers at the front. The toast was enthusiastically received. Mrs. Burgess, who made a very effective reply, thanked the veteans for the compliment paid them, and said the ladies appreciated very much the little respite which the afternoon afforded. During the proceedings a number of songs were sung, and a party of vocalists also gave several solos and choruses. The function terminated with the singing of the National Anthem. A Wellington soldier writes:—Outside those places catering for colonial soldiers—and I pay special tribute to the New Zealand Soldiers' Club, the Shakespeare Hut, and the War Continental Association—London is a seething hotbed of profiteers and exploiters of the colonial soldier. A severe indictment, but I know what I'm saying, and that s one big reason why I don't like London and its folk. They bleed the soldier to death. And then there is the cursed tip system. You can't look round to have the slightest thing done without a tip is looked for. Anyhow, London sickened me and I got out' of it as quickly as I could. Scotland's the place for me!

The remarkable win of the !Preß3 Baby in the Baby Competition in Wellington, which resulted in £1124 being raised by the Press Committee, is a tribute to the power of newspaper advertising. The campaign was run without the aid of posters, leaflets, or any other form of publicity except in the advertising columns of' the Wellington press, and the use of their columns for discreet paragraphing. An ambitious series of entertainments was run, the theatrical and local amateur talent being readily placed at the service of the Press Baby Committee. There was no difficulty in obtaining help of this kind, for the generous givers told the pressmen that the newspapers had always been helping patriotic effort, and never seemed to want anything for themselves. Many of the Wellington and Nelson country newspapers assisted by sending large donations of produce, which the presswomen sold in the streets. The haby competition realised about -£Soflo, whicii goes in equal shares to the Red Cross and Bed Jersey. About twenty Dunedin men were present at the rooms of the Chamber of Commerce on Thursday afternoon for the purpose of hearing' Messrs Macky and Wilson, of Auckland, detail the principles of a movement which is being prosecuted through the Dominion in the interests of national efficiency, with particular reference to the abolition of the liquor trade. The two visitors (the Times reports) disclaimed any leanings to the traits which are said to be affected by "wowsers," but argued that, in the interests of business efficiency, it was time some steps were taken to wipe out the liquor trade. The lines favoured by the northern delegates were on those drawn up by the original Efficiency Board. The scheme put forward by the Board provided that a vote of the people should be taken on the basis of immediate prohibition, accompanied by reasonable compensation to the interests affected. The compensation, as estimated by the Board, would amount to about ;£4 500,000. It was stated at the meeting that a very considerable sum of money had already been gathered or promised to enable the campaign to be carried on and also to pay the interest on the money which the Government would have to borrow to meet the necessary compensation, if a vote for immediate compensation should be carried. The meeting appeared to be much impressed by the arguments put forward by the visitors, and a provisional committee for Dunedin of the new Efficiency League was then set up. FOR MORE! Russetta Cider's like that. The pure apple juice from which it is made is good for the system—most beneficial for Rheumatics and Gout. Try it! Ask &r Kusaetta Cider every tima &

A very candid opinion of the man who sees in the war a means for personal profit was expressed by Colonel Chaffey, O.C. Canterbury Military District, at Christcliurch 011 Friday night. Any man, said the Colonel, who made money during the war, who would have move when it ended than when it began, was not doing his duty. New Zealand was safe because of the Navy. There was no real provision made for those boys in blue who were keeping ceaseless vigil in the North Sea, and it was up to New Zealand to help them. A former Wellington newspaper reporter, writing from "Somewhere in .France," under date of April 4th last, says: "I ran across Dr Tolhurst the other day, running a regimentiu aid post. The place was shelled solidly for an hour by Fritz, and one shell struck the corner of it. If it had been a direct hit everyone inside would have been blown to smithereens. One could not but admire the quiet way Dr Tolhurst went about his work, dressing the wounded, in full knowledge that the next moment might he everyone's last. And his case is but t.ypical of all the rest of the doctors here. A fellow can't say enough for them, and they get very little of the limelight which they so richly deserve.'' Unfortunately the bad news has come that the gallant doctor 'his death. Some interesting remarks On the subject of foreign exchange were made to a New Zealand Times reporter by a gentleman well versed in financial matters. "It was indicated'the other day in a cable massage," said the gentleman in question, "that foreign exchange between Germany and Sweden had gone very much against the Germans, although there was a rise on March 21st. Seeing that the money market is so very sensitive, and that the great financiers have wonderful sources of information, we may take heart from this financial barometer. It is evident that Swedish business men do ngt expect that Germany will have any further successes. The basis of the money market is confidence, and this is amply demonstrated in the case of Russia. In July, 1914, the foreign exchange between Petrograd and London was that £lO equalled 95% roubles, Russian money. To-day, owing to the lack of confidence due to the Revolution and the general chaotic condition of the country, financiers have lost all confidence in Russia, and £lO in English money will now buy 365 roubles in Russian tnonev. For instance, a Russian merchant owing a British merchant £lO in July, 1914, could have discharged the debt with 95% roubles, but to-day the same merchant with the same debt would have to find 365 roubles to square up his accounts. Cologne, the town recently "strafed" by British airmen, is the gateway and social and industrial centre of an industrial area that is the economic heart of Germany. The district is a nest of towns—-Essen. Dortmund, Barmen, ElberfSeld, etc. —comparable to those of the great industrial area ot, Lancashire-Yorkshire, some actually touching, and all close together. The total population of the larger incorporated towns of this area, apart from smaller groups is over three millions, or if we include Cologne, three millions and a half. "If you stand in Barmen (says a recent writer) you have within a radius of a long day's walk upon every side . an extraordinarily packed industrial centre, any considerable disturbance of which would hamstring modern Germany." "You know, captain, that although appellant is in the First Division, he has a wife and nine children," said Mr J. W. Poynton, S.M., to Captain Beale ot the sitting of the Military Service Board at Masterton, when the captain was questioning an appellant. Mr Poynton further explained that the man had married a widow with nine children since the Military Service Act was passed. The information evidently convinced the captain of the man's courage, as he remarked: "I think, then, he is just the class of man who is wanted at the front!" The Board allowed appellant to stay at home with his family for the present.

Young Father: "I am amazed, shocked, my dear, to hear you say you Intend to give the baby Bome paregoric. Don't you know paregoric is opium, and opium stunts the growth, enfeebles the constitution, weakens the brain, destroys the nerves, and produces rickets, consumption, insanity, and death?" Young Mother: "Horrors! I never heard a word about that. I won't give the little darling a drop, no, indeed. But something must be done to stop his yelling. You carry him awhile." Father (after an hour's steady stamping with the squalling infant): "Where in thunder is that paregoric ?" There is an illuminating sentence in the "New Statesman" which is worth italicising in these clays of margarine queues and empty butchers' windows:"lt is literally true that there were at all times more hungry people in England in the years of peace and prosperity that preceded the war than there are now in the fourth year of unrestricted conflict and expenditure. The lesseued death rate points the same encouraging moral." The Germans have now (writes Mr Hilaire Belloc) buried (killed, prematurely dead from disease, and from wounds) something like three million of those drawing military rations; perhaps somewhat more. They have lost much more than three million male dead, over and above the average rate in peace time. And there are other factors in the position which are sometimes forgotten. The German military system depended upon a caste of officers. That caßte has been half destroyed by the war, and the gaps have been supplemented in various ways; by temporary commissions only granted after expressed limitations of rank and authority; by giving non-com-missioned officers commissioned duties; by reducing the proportion of command to rank and file, etc. With all these supplementary methods rather grudgingly used, the handicap from which Germany suffers in a long war remains. The jealous regard of the military caste for its position has prevented in Germany what France has done naturally for a century, and what. England has successfully, though experimentally, done in the last three years —the creation of a body of officers chosen and promoted almost without regard to social rank in peace. There is only one SANDER EXTRACT, and that is why the people reject the many inferior and harmful substitutes and just as goods. SANDER'S EXTRACT is free from the objectionable qualities of the common eucalyptus. Sander's Extract cures all infectious diseases, all winter ailments, ulcers, burns, sprains, eczema, etc. Insist on the GENUINE SANDER'S EXTRACT. When you feel a cold coming on, don't wait until it has gripped you, but take NAZOL At ones