LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, 18 February 1919, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

V.'ealher permitting, the Inglewood Defence Kifle Club will commence classliririg on the local range on Thursday next, Feb- 20th, at 1 p.m. Permission was given by the Council last night to the Kawaroa Park Committee to erect a new kitchen and cloak loom at the pavilion.

A message received in Wellington states that work has been resumed at the .State coal mines. It has been arranged that the medical officer in charge of the Greymor.th hospital shall attend to the needs of the district.—Press Assoc.

Constable ITadler left New Plymouth yesterday in charge of the boy who was committed on (Saturday to the Nelson Training Farm. Detective T. Fitzgibbon is in Auckland in connection with the Ancor.ia sheep dip case, which is coming before the Supreme Court.

Owing to the dates fixed for the New Zealand Town-Planning Conference and Kxhibition clashing with the installations and swearing-in ceremonies in connection with municipalities, the conference and exhibition will now he held from May 10 to 24- —Press Assoc. At last night's meeting of the Borough Council, on the motion of Cr Hayden, seconded by Cr Deare, a subcommittee consisting of Cra. Hayden, Clarke and Hill was set up to go into the mntter of electing workers' dwellings, and report to the Council. In a letter from the Town Clerk (Mr F. T. Bellringer) to the Borough Council, which wis read at last night's meeting, reference was made to the very satisfactory manner in which the traffic on race days (i 5 and 0 insts.) was handled by (he borough inspector and his assistants. A resolution expressing appreciation of* the inspector's services was passedThe report on the working of the New Plymouth Municipal Abattoir for the month of January gives the following particulars—Slaughterd for local consumption, IK cattle, 30 calves, 005 sheep, 210 lambs, 91 pigs. Compared with last January these figures show au increase of IS cattle, 81 slieep and 127 lambs, and a decrease of 13 calves and 11 pigs Two cattle and one pig were condemned.

Mr E. C. Jarrett, Government poultry instructor, is visiting this district at the request of the- Taranaki Kgg Circle and is busily engaged in inspecting the yards of local poultry keepers, culling Mocks Mid selecting breeding pens for the coming season and giving any necessary instruction. X°-iuorrow (Tuesday) evening Mr Jarrett will give a lecture at the Soldiers' Club under the auspices of the Egg Circle. The annual meeting of the Taranaki District I'ire Brigade Association ia to be held In Xew Plymouth, on Thursday evening (his week. The New Plymouth Central Brigade will be represented by Foreman J. Johnson- The conference of the United Fire Brigade Association is Uj commence at Invercargill on March 2, end Lieut. A. Boon will be the representative of the New Plymouth Brigade. Speaking at the meeting of the High Schools' Board last night, Mr Mojes slated that more boys at the school were Inking the commercial side than were taking the classical side. Parents definitely wanted their boys tc take com: merciitl work, and the Universityvwas now including an accountancy examination As an instance, he pointed out tlmt of 100 boys in form HI, 70 were Inking the commercial course and 30 the classical course-

The collections taken up at the services in 81. Mary's Anglienn Church on Sunday were veil towards tile Peace Memorial Sunday School Building r-'niu!, unci Hie amount given at the various services during the day. including about £(10 promised, came to just £3OO. A further promise of £SO was received yesterday. The total sum in hand towards the new building (including promises) is now about £IOBO, and this amount will be added to by a sale of work in the Vicarage garden on Thursday afternoon.

At last night's meeting of the New Plymouth Borough Council the report of Ihe Library Committee, which recommended the appointment of n. curator and librarian at, a salary of £3OO pel annum and an assistant at £BO per annum, was adopted. Messrs A. It Johnstone and W. H. Moves were appointed fo draw up the conditions of the appointments. The committee was also authorised to spend about £3O for cases in which to display some of the museum exhibits. Appreciation was expressed of the manner in which the committee iiad managed the institute up to the preWnt time, (

The average cost of putting metal on Hie Masterton County roads' is Ha 8d per yard. Bicycle thieves are busy in Wanganui, several impudent cases of theft having been reported of late, says the Chronicle. The Mayor of Hawera is conferring With the Tradesmen's Association with a view to declaring Taranaki's Anniversary Day an annual holiday. The sum of £IB,OOO was received in rates at the Stratford County Council office in a period of four weeks recently. On the last day prior to the imposing of ten per cent penalty, over £8O0t( was paid in. At the meeting of the High Schools' Hoard last night, reference was made to the success achieved by the schools in (lie recent senior scholarship examinations, and a resolution was unanimously passed congratulating the principals of the schools. Nothing succeeds like success, in schools as in everything else. The New Plymouth High School has now 240 hoys iji the upper classes and SO in the preparatory. There are 140 boarders, 20 of whom sleep in the stewards' stand at the racecourse. There are many complications in the way of obtaining passports at present. An Auckland «Slar reporter was informed that quite a number are from men wishing to inquire into and establish commercial agencies in England, the 'United States nnd the Far East. Most of the women travelling are those who had been prevented from going away earlier owing to resirictions. Applicants for passports still have to comply with the regulations, which cannot be abolished in New Zealand yet, as without passports, no passengers are allowed to land. In connection with the opening of the new Boys' High School, it is suggested that the celebrations extend over two days. On the first day the school will be opened and a dinner and re-union of old hoys will take place. On the following day the school sports will be held followed by a dance in the evening. The committee to arrange the function will consist of members of the Board, the School Principal, the members of the Old Boys' Association and the Citizens' Committee. The chairman, Messrs Webster and Smith were appointed a committee with power to add. The first meeting of the New Plymouth Repatriation Committee was held hint evening, there being present: Messrs \V. J Chaney, J. Rowlands. O- Carter, 11. W. O. Robertson, T. Furlong, I?. W. Okev, W. J. Clarke, T. C. List, E. B. Ellerm, 'li. R. Catley, R. Masters and Lieut.-Col C It Weston, D.S.O. The latter was appointed chairman, and tlio business transacted was of a preliminary character. Mr A. S. Allen, the secretary, reported that an imprest account had been opened in New Plymouth, and that he had secured rooms in Nicol's building. Mi' Allen is to act as district secretary to the Repatriation Board, committees being'set up in Stratford, Eltham, Hawera and Patea with local secretaries. The cost of firing at the Waingawa Meat Works is £17,000 per annum, plus the cost of handling and storing 8000 tons of coal. Of this amount 5000 tons were used for the purpose of supplying electric power. The cost of power at the meat works, therefore, with coal at £2 2s Od per ton, is £10.025 per annum. It is considered by the directorate thajfcby harnessing the water power of the district the cost eventually would bo cut in half, though for the first year or two, till the whole of the Wairarapn was connected up and was utilising electric power, the cost might be increased. —Dominion. The Hawera Borough Council is in the unique position in Taranaki of owning the freehold of a valuable hotel, i.e., the Commercial. The Licensed Victuallers' Association sent the council a letter recently asking for a subscription of £ls towards fighting for the retention of licenses at the forthcoming poll. The application met with a mixed reception, eventually being turned down. It transpired that the rental obtained is £s9B' per annum, which the Mayor said would be larger if prohibition were carried. Cr. Goodwin suggested that when the lease was up the rental might be three times as much as it is at present. A Palmerston man who was a visitor to Wanganui describes the Crampton court-martial as something very spectacular, remarks an exchange. He says the tribunal itself is composed of seven heavily upholstered and hatted military potentates wearing swords. The attackers Captain Baldwin, strongly supported by Captain Hudson; the defenders are Mr Loughnan and another counsel, and Crampton is supported os his left by another military officer. The light-weight prisoner giving evidence is guarded by a heavy-weight warder aho in khaki, and there is a uniformed orderly in attendance, while two warders in uniform are guarding the prisonern outside the precincts—our informant reckons the show is probably costing £SO or £OO a day, "but as a spectacle it is worth the money, and Wanganui is enjoying it thoroughly." The man who is milking in the back-blocks to pay the taxes to keep the game going may think differently, but what does he matter? At Hawera on Friday Detective-Ser-geant Hollis arrested two men, George Basan and Henry Elley, upon charges of being rogues and vagabonds within the meaning the Police Offences Act, in that Basan consorted with reputed thieves, and in that Elley had insufficient lawful means of support. Both had been previously convicted as idle and disorderly persons. The accused, both young men, were brought before Mr W. K Wallace, ,T.P., in the Magistrate's Court on Saturday morning, when they pleaded guilty to the charges. Detective-Sergeant .Hollis said the accused were members*of an undesirable class, which frequented race meetings. He suggested that the accused be given another chance, as they stated that they had work to go to. It was bettor that they should go to work than to gaol. The accused each intimated that they had only recently left their work in order to come to Hawera to see the "great race." Accused were convicted and ordered to come up for sentence when called upon, conditionally upon their leaving the town —Star. Searchers for good farm properties are directed to W- 11. and A. McGarry's advertisement on page 1. At the Melbourne, groat sale: Ladies' fine lisle thread gloves, Is Od pair; pillojiv cases, 2s Gd pair; Horroekscs' 30inqh Al calico, Is 7d yard; fine 40-ineh maidapolam, Is 6d yard; crepe kimono dressing-jackets, 4s Gd; ladies' fancy collars, all reduced; "Ivy" mending wool (in) skeins), 2d skein; white tape, in bundles, Od bunch. (The too free indulgence in sweets, cakes, etc., s- on upsets the stomach. Tfje easiest and simplest corrective is SHARLAND'S MAGNESIA. Is 3d per Bottle everywhere, ' &

1 One or two Germans in the Mastertou district have openly expressed their intention of returning to the Fatherland at the earliest date possible.—Age. The Dunediu .Star says that Oregon timber can now be bought for New Zealand at 40 per cent lc3s than the quoted price in October last. Potash, of which Germany claimed a monopoly, is being obtained in abundance in America as a by-product in the manufacture of Portland cement. A Palmerston iirm had the misfortune to lose a new motor car one evening this week under peculiar circumstances. While travelling down the Wangaehu hill the electric lights failed to light up properly, and the car was Btopped at the bottom of the hill. While the driver was making an investigation the engine by some means or other backfired, and the ear was totally destroyed. The machine was insured for £385. An important deputation is to wait upon the Minister for Public Works (the Hon. Eraser) at Waitara this evening, || to urge the metalling and improvement "" of the road over Mt. Messenger through to To Kuiti. The deputation will be representative of the towns of New Ply. mouth and Waitara and the country. districts affected. On Wednesday, in company with the Member (Mr. W. T. Jennings), the Minister will visit the localities. A large catch of trevalli was made at Port Chalmers recently in a very simple manner. When the trawler Express was being taken into tho dock she was followed in by many hundred trevalli, and as tho water was pumped out a very animated scene was witnessed, a large number of men and boys scooping the fish out with their hands or any other suitable article they could get hold of. One of the primitive fishermen stated that well over 1000 fish were taken from the dock. Reporting on concrete rgads to the Hawera Borough Council, Mr J. Sturrock, borough engineer, states: Some very beautiful concrete roads have been constructed in Auckland. The cost, I understand, was about lis Gd per square | yard, as against our cost of 5s per square yard for tar macadam. The dill'erence in a big loan is almost prohibitive in a small borough. The surface of these concrete roads appeared to be slippery, although I did not observe any accident to traffic. Observation of these towns brings we back to tho pinion that, considering the size, characteristics and traffic of this town, the materials and methods of street and footpath works have been quite well selected and are entirely suitable." Speaking at the Hawera Borough Council last week the Mayor (Mr E. Duton) said they did not expect employers to dismiss men in order to make room for soldiers, but they did ask that those firms, some of whose men hud gone to tho war, should make it possible for them to return to their old positions. He was sorry to say that there were some employers employing young men who bad not been to fight for their country, and that he knew of two or three soldiers who had applied for employment, all hough quite capable, had been' turned down. He felt so strongly on this matter that he was prepared to move in the direction of bringing it before, the Government if the business people failed to do their duty in this respect. Business firms-were showing a want of patriotism in employing young girls where returned soldiers could be employed. These sentiments were cordially supported by members of the council. The action of the Taranaki Education Board in declining to admit the literature of the Empire Union to the schools ' under its control is being vigorously commented upon by the outside press. Thus the Manawatu Standard: "The Taranaki Education Board has done the Empire and Humanity but ill service. The children whose fathers; uncles, elder brothers and friends have suffered, bled, and died to make the world safe for them and their children, should not be allowed to grow up in ignorance of the German character, nor of the Frightfulness for which it was responsible during the war. That Frightfulness was not a mere paseing phase, inspired by the madness of the war itself, but the outcome of lifelong training. The Trimbles who tell us wo must try and forget "the dreadful things" the Germans have done, and that "we must get over the feeling that everything the Germans did was bad," are not the wisest of men, and it is very unfortunate that, at this time, they are permitted to have any say in the" education of the people. They are at best but "blind leaders of the" blind," upon whom the lessons of the war appear to have been wholly thrown away. Mr Frank Reid, Inspecting Engineer of Mines, estimates "very approximately" £6 per ton as the cost of producing pig-iron from Pawpara ore, and £0 10s per ton for making it from Taranaki ore, and made provision for loss of working time owing to a furnace producing only one grade of ore at a time, whereas five grades were now in use in New Zealand. The capacity of the furnace at Taranaki, for example, was 30 tons a day, representing 11,000 tons of pig-iron per annum working time. But the demand for pig-iron W New Zealand, he told the Industries Committee, had never exceeded 11,500. tons a year; consequently it would be | necessary to produce five' grades of ore instead of one. Mr Luke had asked whether a furnace would not be justified if it could produce all steel rail? required i n New Zealand. In lull soma | 21,5(10 tons of steel rails were imported, , tho highest quantity on record. Therefore, if any New Zealand furnace could supply iron suitable for st"l rail manufacture and it obtained the whole of the New Zealand demand, then, provided the cost were satisfactory, a steel works would be warrantable to supply, say, 11,000 tons of pig-iron and 21,500 tons of steel rails per annum. He was I convinced, however, that we 'ould not [compete in this connection with imported iron and steel at ~.e-war rates. This week the big sale at Moray's finishes—hurry! While there are a few days in which to secure such splendid bargains, make the most of every minute. See advertisement in this isI sue. Webster Bros.' will submit to sucti«.!i 'this afternoon 1200 boxes of aw-ortcil ■ fruits. To-morrow Webster Bros. w,ll offer b» lauction at the Mart, Devon .(reel, it .quantity of furniture and ell'eots. Particulars arc advertised. The Loan and Merca;»ilc draw attention to their To Wera Sheep Fair on Friday 21. Full pa-ticrdars on puen S »t I this issue. One of the simplest and moM -r----feetnal of household remedies for xiw-,. ach troubles in younc. children i« PITM' I LAND'S MAGNESIA la 3d per Bottle I everywhere, *