LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, 9 September 1918, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The Canterbury shareholders of the Dominion Portland Cement Company, Ltd. (in liquidation), decided on Saturday to take all necessary steps to oppose the validation of the sale of the company's assets.—Press Assoc. Subject to the appeal having he.cn approved by tlio Minister in charge, the Hawera Dairy Company on Saturday decided to vote £SO in response to an appeal to provide comforts for British prisoners of war. Tn Kaponga there are numerous complaints, deep, if not loud, that married men with children should he sent to the front, whilst a certain well-to-do farmer with no "responsibilities," as children are calbd nowadays, get "sine die." —- Eltham .Argus. The case C. IT. Arden v. W. H. Hawkins, a claim for £9O damages for alleged libel, which was called on at the Stratford Magistrate's Court 1 on Friday, was adjourned sine die, on account of the defendant not yet being able to obtain leave from tlib" military authorities. The cost of good hay is now so excessive that straw is being fed to cattle in this district instead of hay (says the Eltham Argus). Farmers are glad to ■he able to get the straw, no matter how inferior the quality. Horses are going short, of chaff because of the famine prices—lis per bag. Inoni the Opunake Times:—Crayfish have been caught in large hauls this week olf the jetty and around the harbor. Traffic down to the jetty has li"cn impeded I>v the number of crayfish that shuffled from the jetty to the vondwav. As the fish were haulofl up the jetty, the rear one tickled the front; <>ne«, and the "flocks" moved forward to the roadway until small boys and V."i !•;< came along with barrows and bags and cleared the roadway for the, busy traffickers. Mr. J. W. M'Millan, Mayor of Stratford, writes as follows to the local paper:—''l am sorry to say that one or two of the business people ignore Ay request, to close down once a month for less than half an hour, when our men are leaving for camp, and in one case, 1 am told, the employer forbids his assistants leaving the premises, .jiich. mennppirited men who call themselves (Britishers are we.rse, in my opinion, than the aliens we condemn. lam not going to beg these people to close, but I will <--i>ric>uslv consider publicly naming them." In aid of the Red Cross funds, the '■filar" Minstrel Troupe propose to give an entertainment at the Good Templar Hall on September IP

A London cable states that shipping shares declined slightly on Lord Inchcajiu'n denial ut' thu amalgamation I'limur. Tim mails fur ilic United Kingdom which left New Zealand on 10th July arrived ut destination .safely. There was a heavy fall of show at the Mountain Iloiifio on Saturday morning, tins trees being covered with a white iiiaiiLlo. The rainfall recorded at Pukekura Park meteorological station for the 24 hours ended at !) a.m. on Saturday was 1.057 inches, making the total since the beginning of the month 11019 inches. There are still Borne returns to come in for tickets sold for last Thursday's fancy costume football match, but it is assured that the net return will be about £l2O. Investors in the rocking horse competition are advised that the winner will not be drawn for a few days yet. The takings at the Red Cross Mart on Saturday, which was in charge of section C of the committee, amounted to ! £4l 17s, of which £2O was earned by the khaki soldier who was placed outside the Criterion Hotel. Prizes for the best fancy dresses at the Pierrots' burlesque football match on Thursday were awarded for the "Roosters" team to Mr. and Miss Doughty (cock and hen), and for the second .team to Mr. B. Johnstone (Maori). A number of good, reasons why Germany will bo defeated in the end are advanced, but the main one is that tlicro is a God in Heaven.—Ohio State Journal. Sergeant K. F. Moore, well known in Auckland as a civil engineer, has been promoted to lieutenant. He left New Zealand about 18 months ago as a sapper in the Tunnelling Corps. Lieutenant Moore was engineer for the building of Grafton bridge, Mahgere bridge, the Panmure bridge and others in the Auckland district. New Zealand has 79 meat works, 600 dairy factories, and 700,000 dairy cows. Mr. A. H. Tocker, M.A., who left as a sergeant in the 29th Reinforcements, lias been selected for service in connection with the educational scheme for New Zealand soldiers in England. Mr. Tocker, who graduated at Victoria College, has been appointed one of the instructors in Economics and History at Homciurch. The quarterly meeting of the Taranaki Licensing Committee was held at the Courthouse, New Plymouth, on Saturday. The only business brought forward was the transfer of the license of tho Inglewood Hotel from Andrew Laing to David M. Wilson, and, everything being in orer, this was approved. The members of the committee present were: Mr. A. Crooke, S.M. (chairman), and MessM F. P. Corkill, W. Ambury, R. Cock, and J. B. Connett. Mr. D. hj! McDonald was unable to be present owing to indisposition. The Argils states that the continuous and heavy rain had caused quite a considerable flood in the Mangamingi. The M.mgaraingi Ridge Road is also again in a bad condition. There were three slips on Friday, and travellers had to remove logs and other obstructions 'before being able to* get through to the valley. Tn Eltham, during Sfi hours, ■the rain measurement was 4.39 in. As the rain was accompanied by cold weather, the stock, already in poor condition, has suffered considerably, and some of the farmers are going to bo very heavy losers. In connection with the proposed harbor development scheme, the chairman and members of tho Now Plymouth Harbor 'Board will address a meeting of ratepayers at Rahotu to-morrow evening at S o'clock. As the matter is one of vital importance to the whole province, and particularly to the coast, it is hoped that there will bo a large attendance. Meetings will also be addressed at Pungarclm on Wednesday and Warea on Thursday, the meetings in each case commencing at 8 p.m. A meeting will also be held in the Newall Road School on Monday evening next. Great interest is centred round the coming Whiteley Show, and from the numerous inquiries for space the public may look forward to a display this year that will be in advance of previous shows. Intending exhibitors are reminded that entries for the best display of daffodils by amateurs, and for the silver vase for best decorated basket, bowl, or vase, close to-day (Monday), at C. Carter's shop, Devon Street. "Such a display of wickedness, naked yet not ashamed, such cool, judicious, scientific atrocity, seemed rather to belong to a fiend than to the most depraved of men. Principles which the most hardened ruffian would scarcely hint to his most trusted accomplice, or avow, without the disguise of some palliating sophism, even to his own mind, are professed without the slightest circumlocution, and assumed as the fundamental axioms of all politcal science." See "The Spy System" at Everybody's to-morrow. The Empire Theatre is showing a programme of exceptional brilliance to-night and to-morrow. Francis X. Bushman and Beverley Bayne star in the eagerly awaited picture novel, "The Great Secret," and Irene Castle in a gorgeous Pathe production, "Stranded in Arcady," a picture that is said to have more excitement, action, and thrill to the inch than any other drama for many months. The. musical programme at the theatre is in the capable hands of Mr. T. Shone. This evening, in St. Andrew's Hall, New Plymouth, a grand concert is to be held in aid of the fund for Christmas Comforts for Soldiers. An excellent programme has been arranged, and this, together with the deserving object of tho entertainment, should ensure a large attendance.