LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, 13 March 1919, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

A Gazette Extraordinary lifts been issued fixing the price of flour at £ls per ton, instead of £ls 10s as formerly.

The annual election of school committees will take place in the Taranaki district on Monday, April 14, at 7.30 p.m.

Mr. Fraser, M.P., addressed a meeting of 150 workers at the Smart Road Freezingl Works at mid-day yesterday, and had an attentive hearing. He urged the men to organise in order to put their own representatives on the Borough Council and Hospital and Harbor Boards. The Taranaki Jockey Club is comm»ncing grazing on the course in order to improve the pasture. The secretary reported to a meeting of the committee on Tuesday that the first line of sheep had been purchased during the month.

The girl named Daele Romance Khaerae, who was remanded in the Magistrate's Court on Tuesday on a charge of vagrancy, wa9 yesterday morning further remanded, pending receipt of a reply as to whether th* Salvation Army would undertake her care. A circular was received from the Education Department by the Taranaki Education Board yesterday, relative to providing school children with hot lunches, more particularly in the winter time. It was resolved to reply to the department that the system was already in vogne in some schools in this district, and that the other schools had been circularised in connection with the matter.

As the Taranaki express was travelling between Palmereton and Feilding on Saturday, at a, high rate of speed, one of the Westiaghouse brake-hose couplings suddenly snapped. The brakes (the Manawatu Standard relates) went on automatically, bringing the train to « standstill within its own length. A new coupling was fitted after a few minutes' delay, which was made up before reaching Palmer*ton,

_ At yesterday's meeting of the Education Board, Mr. Buchanan, who was absent from the previous meeting of the board, said lie desired to place his opinion alongside those of other members of the board, against distributing the circulars forwarded by the British Empire Union, relative to the Oerman atrocities at sea. He said he was not one of the "forgive and forget" kind, but he saw no good purpose in circulating such leaflets.

What might have been a serious accident occurred at the Patea Heads on Sunday, when a small fishing launch which waj ontori-.il. tie mer, suddenly broached to owing )o the engine anil steering gear both failing at n critical time. As a resiil; the little eraft wag thrown on to the pell-mell work at the breakwater, where it seesawed for soma time with the waves breaking over it. Three, of the occupants managed to scramble ashore, but a fourth who was unable to swim, was reseued after some fliilicuitv bv members of Mr. Pulley's staff. The boat, though knocked about, was not seriously rt/fnagt<l—Press. Heartburn and sick headache is relieved by SHARLAND'S MAGNESIA. Is 3d per Bottle everywhere. 8

The secretary G.P.0., Wellington, advises that the mails which left New Zealand on 30th January arrived in London on 10th instant.

"Wellington is so cold when our soldiers come back that we would think they were a portion of a defeated army rather than conquering heroes," said a councillor at a meeting of the Wellington City Council last week.

A scheme for a war memorial at Patea iueludes the formation of a nctv road to the sea from the town, and to provide an obelisk, a memorial gateway and a children's playground, at a cost of about £ISOO.

"The one foodstuff you don't grow which you could and should," said Mr A. W. Porter, the San Francisco millionaire packer, "is sweet corn, the dish that appears on nearly every table right through the year in America.

You could grow it all right in New Zealand, and as it is nutritious and a thoroughly delightful dish which can be palatably served, in many ways, I wonder it is not taken up. Sweet com is a special kind of corn, not the variety you raise here as maize, but it is a foodstuff you can hardly afford to do without, as it is cheap and satisfying."

The financial and numerical tables to be submitted to the annual district meeting of the Taranaki Branch of the 1.0.0. F., M.U., at New Plymouth to-day disclose a satisfactory state of affairs on the year's working. The nick and funeral fund shows a balance of £36,62 C 7s Sd, an increase of £I2OO 7s. Sick pay, £1330 Is 2d and funeral benefits £640 were disbursed. Interest on mortgages amounted to £1756 19s sd. The progress made financially is in a large measure due to the voluntarily levying of members to meet the conditions brought about by the war. During the year 21 members died, and 26 left by clearances and arrears, the number on the roll at the end of the year being 1093.

At a meeting of directors of the Patea Farmers' Co-op. Freezing Company on Saturday last it was decided to further increase the cool storage capacity of the works by another 25,000 carcases. This will provide a total cool storage for 210,000 cut carcasea. It was also decided to erect a new engine room and instal a new engine and selfcontained electric generator combined. This will cost approximately £IO,OOO. When these improvements are completed the works will be a great acquisition to the district, designed and constructed on the most modern and approved lines, and a tribute to the progressive spirit of the men now controlling them.—Star.

Large numbers of people are making trips to the luglewood district to gather blackberries, which are reported to be very plentiful. A Hawera person who set out to find berries for jam-making remarked to a Star representative: "If everybody in Hawera put in a day among the blackberries, I don't believe you could tell the difference, the berries are so plentiful." A very pleasant report no doubt for ladies who desire to make jam, but what a task lies ahead for the fanners in the district where the pest is thriving! Still there is some consolation in the knowledge that this district has no monopoly over blackberries, for a correspondent in the Waikato Times indicates that the pest is thriving in that district. "Jammakers in (Hamilton lire particularly fortunate," he wrote, "as they can pick blackberries on many of the roads in the borough. This morning on my Way to work, I even secured a handful in j Victoria street." !

The fact that gold is the one metal which has not increased in value was commented upon at Auckland last week at the annual meeting of the Talisman Consolidated, Ltd., by the chairman of directors, Mr A. W. Blanchard. He said that everything connected with the production of gold hud increased in cost, but the price of the gold itself was a fixed one. This subject was agitating the minds of a great many people today—mining investors especially—and, if some means were not devised whereby relief to the mine-owners could be obtained, there was nothing more certain than that the annual output of gold would very speedily diminish. Indeed, the output for Australia alone was over £3,000,000 less in the year just closed than it was in 1913. Yet gold could have been sold at £5 15s per ounce in America during 1918 if free sale of it had been permitted.

The Presbytery of Taranaki met in Hawera on Tuesday, the Rev. T. Tait presiding. Hev. H. B. Gray, of Hawera, was elected Moderator for the ensuing year. The clerk reported that the fol-io-wing missionaries had been appointed to the Presbytery: Mr. Boyd, Whangaranmona; Mr. Murray, Xoroianby; Mr. Campbell, Eltham. Mr. Campbell, heing present, was introduced to the court. Mr Gray handed in a report of the jro greiis of the proposed co-operation with the Methodist Church in meetings for spiritual strengthening and mission services. It was resolved that thee regular day of meeting be the second'"Tuesday of the month. The clerk read a letter from Br. Gibb on the question of Church Union, urging that the committee appointed in the Presbytery giv« diligence to their task The committee was authorised to secure leaflet literature on the matter. It was asrreod to set up a committee to consider the establishing of a Lay Preachers' Associa tion.

On Saturday next—Plunket Day—there will be a good supply of cakes, home-made bread, jams, pickles and general produce. Further gifts of produce will be gratefully received nt'th» Plunket Rooms on Friday and at the .will on Saturday morning. Come and buy your Sunday supplies, and thus assist the purchase of a motor-car for the Plunket nurse.

The talk of Waitara at present is Labor and Peter Fraser from Wellington. He (Mr Fraser) is speaking in Clifton Hall on Friday night. If there are any children father should stay at home and send mother to hear the message of freedom. —Advt,

A choice Ngaere dairy farm for sale as a going concern, is advertised on page one, by W. H. and A. McGarry, Eltham. J PROFITEERING. Sixteen pubs make more profit than sixty ordinary business ventures, and that is how they rob us. A traveller, whose veracity and experience are unquestioned, says that the increased volume of business since six o'clock closing has convinced almost every businessman that to close the hotels.altogether would mean vastly-improved conditions for industry, labor, a.id commerce. The business man's vote for prohibition will be solid, and Labor has its eyes wide open. So, too, has the harrassed employer. GARDEN HOSE that does not burst or crack is the NORTH BRTISH RUBBER CO.'S—famed for its long service. Sold by all dealer*- m,

Mr. and Mrs. H. Skelton and family, of Smart Road, mat with a motor accident a day or two ago on the lower Egmoui Road, when returning. from tlid mountain. A tyro burst at the party rounded a bend on the road, with the result that the car capsized. Mr. and Miss Skelton had a severe shakiny, besides some bruises »■■■] abrasions. Mi-». Skelton suffered an injury to her collar bou'j and shoulder, while her son, who von pinned under the car, had one of his logs badly crushed and broken, and was Inker-, to the hospital '

Three lads (6, 7 and 10 years) essayed what they called a "joy ride" on Moriday. They proceeded as far as Fiteroy in t he train, then secured a lift in a cart' to Hell Block. Here the bare-footed lads hoarded an empty waggon and proceeded by* the south train. At Lepperton n railway ollieial noticed the door ahr, and on proceeding to lock it discovered the "three- "passengers." The boys wera not in the least disturbed, and when questioned stated that they were "out for a joy ride but did not know where they were going" They relished the outing, and home again where they were reported to the stationmaster It was lucky for the that they w.-ra discovered, as the particular truck they honored with their patronage was to he shunted off at Waitera Road, and that would have meant being "locked up" until the following morning.

Speaking at Normanby, on Tuesday, Mr. G. Pearce, M.P, said he bad given the National Government his loyal support in regard to its action in connection with the war. Nearly everybody had something against the National Government, and he for one objected *o many of its actions He did not believe ta the policy of the Minister of Public Works (a Reform member of the Cabinet* when he placed one man on the Opunake railway, and another to watch him work, and yet about 100 men on a railway in the South bland. On the other hand he did not believe Tn the action of tiie Liberal Minister of Agriculture he introduced the iniquitous butter tax. But the National Government had done excellent work in cob. flection with the war, and although some blunders had been made they were very small compared with some made in other* countries. Their soldier boys were said to be the best men in the British Empire, and that wa« saying a good deal, sr.,l something which the Government" had to its credit.

The quarterly meeting of the Taxanaki Chamber of Commerce will be held to-morrow evening.