LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, 10 April 1919, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The number of bona 154b ratepayers who signed the petition to the New Plymouth Borough Council demanding n poll on the question of ratmg on unimproved values Was 370 The members required to rualce the petition effective was 293. It has been decided that the poll be taken on April 30, the aame day as the Municipal election.

The following school holidays for the year were Axed by the Education Board yesterday :-~Easter: From the evening •of Thursday, April 17, till the morning of Wedqnesday, April 23. Winter: June 6to June IT. Spring: August 2,9 to September 0. Summer: December 19 to February 3, 1920. The Hon. H. D. Guthrie announced at Whangatnomona on Tuesday night that Cabinet had agreed that in future all new blocks of land opened up for settlement were to be connected with the telephone service before being disposed of. This will do much to overcome the isolation experienced by settlers in the backblocks.

At yesterday's meeting of the Taranaki Education Board expressions of appreciation were given on the manner in which the overseer and his staff had carried out the work of erecting the new school at Normanby. The chairinan mentioned that it was the first concretee school built by the board, who, with the residents of the district, were much gratified at the result.

In connection with the dalav in landing bananas owing to the quarantine regulations Dr Valintine informed Mr Fraser, representing the Tropical Fruit Co., Auckland, that he would telegraph the health authorities to allow bananas from Fiji to be landed on arrival, so lone aa Fiji is a clean port—Press Association. .

In a Vote of thanks to Mrs Rankin fey her address in favor of prohibition last night, a prominent local citizen stated he had earlier in the evening assisted home two voung men, in khaki, who wore not able to find their own way homo, and when the mother of the "boys" took them in she remarked: "It is to be faopfd this won't be possible much longer after to-morrow,"' (Applause.) The question of the failure of the Government td provide as is done in other departments, for the payment of salary during a reasonable leave of absence upon retirement, of teachers after long years of service, came ill for some sharp criticism by members of the Education Board yesterday- All agreed that the teachers should be placed upon the same footing as other branches of the Public Service. It was resolved to make representation to the Department on the matter.

There was a moderate attendance at the Empire Theatre last night when Mrs Rankin, a Queensland journalist, gave a very forceful address in connection" with the prohibition campaign, The chair was taken by Mr C. E Bellringer. Mrs 'Rankin dealt with the points made by the liquor party in a very effective manner, and answered them, statement for statement, very convincingly. She made a strong appeal to jthe women, and also on behalf of the children. The address was listened to very attentively and at the conclusion the speaker was accorded a hearty vote of thanks, and at her suggestion the JXixology was sung in anticipation of the sruccess of the poll.

The Borough Council's electric bus was stated last night to have earned £23 in 20 days for a mileage run of CIC miles on the Vogeltown route and £ W in the same time on a mileage run oj, 556 miles on the West&wn The fieures were w-ed by Cr. Clarke in support of an argument that the council should do the most necessary work first in the districts in which there was the greatest population and where the hardships were the most severe. Cr Browne questioned the mileage figures, as the Westown route was 30 chains longer than the Yosreltown. Cr Clarke replied that Vogeltown had two more ti ills per day than Westown.

When the four seamen who left the Thrasher recently came before the court again yesterday, Mr A. H- Johnstone stated that as the men alleged that the vessel was not sea-worthy, a survey had been arranged and was being made by Lloyd's surveyor (Captain Waller, harbormaster), and he suggested that the hearing be allowed to stand down until the report was completed. Mr .T. TI, On illin m. for the master of the vessel, said that if anything was required to he done it would he carried out The cases were allowed to stand down un,til afternoon, and when heard then the surveyor's report did state there were some matters requiring attention on th« vessel. After hearing the evidence the Magistrate sentenced three of them to 14 days and the other to a month's imprisonment. No order as to placing the men on board was made. Ah apnlieation in that respect will be heard on Fi'iflav.

"Tt is n pitv that so manv returned soldiers g?t into trouble throupli drink." remarked Mr F. V Grazer, S.M, at the Afntriafrate's rv>nrt Wellington, on Monday last. "The matter lift? propped nr> often enough before tbe Court here. The trouble seems to lie that ft man who lias gone throiisli the? experiences of active serviop is unable to drink the same miantitv of liquor that he was n,ble to drink before h 6 went invar -without it "rodueili,? more or less disastrous effects" , For the sake of those returned soldiers who are not so strong as many "t their mates, rote for the nation tomorrow. and be sure you record your vote earl?.—Advt

To prevent a rapid increase of rates the Egmont County Council has decided to lay 'before the ratepayers proposals for raising a loan to tar-seal the main roade. :

In the course of his report to the Education Board yesterday the Director of Agricultural Instruction (Mr. R. A. S. Browne) stated in 'reference to the attention given to the care primary schools grounds,' that increasing keenness is being shown by committees, teachers and children, and a very great improvement in the future is confidently anticipated.

There is a good deal of liohse property changing hands in Hawera just now, particularly in four and live-roomed cottages (says the Star). A four-roomed cottage in Victoria street was bought last week for £IOOO, while another five or six-roomed place in the same street was sold for something like £ISOO. In reply to an enquiry at the Railway Department, a Wellington Post reporter was informed that it would be impossible to grant excursion fares for Easter. Notwithstanding the suggestion of the correspondent, the staffing problem was the obstacle. It was not a question of providing one or two extra trains, but of being prepared for the great increase of traffic which would inevitably be experienced if fares were lowered for the holidays. Mr. McMillan pointed out to the Minister for Public Works at Stratford on Monday that the progress made in railway construction in Taranaki in the past amounted to about three miles per year; it was a di&grace to every Parliament that had been in power since it was commenced, and now that the war was over there was no longer any excuse for further delay. If there" was a shortage of labor Taranaki could possibly come to the assistance of the Government.

"No town or State in American can now take a vote on the liquor question," said Mrs. Rankin in her address at Eltham the other night. "Prohibition is part of the constitution, 44 out of 48 States having voted for it. In Chicago every second person you meet Is a Hun, and it is the centre and hotbed of the German-American spy system, lumbers of them were caught and they fire no longer interested in what takes place in this world."

Tiie Auckland Star says:—Although the knowledge that the Niagara ha 3 arrived in our waters with influenza on board sends a certain nervous thrill through people, who have yet vivid memories of the horrors that stalked amongst us a few months ago, and is the sort of thing likely to let rumor loose, Auckland is at the present time comparatively free of influenza in its noxious form. Of the half-dozen eases which have been reported in the city and suburbs in the past week, all save one, Were of a very mild type. The Taranaki roads were amongst the best in New Zealand (writes an engineer who has been on {our to the Wellington Dominion). With the expansion of the dairy industry during the last ten or twenty years it was found that the ordinary methods of laying broken stone or macadamising roads, owing to the damp, unstable nature of the subsoil constituting the foundation of the roadway, would not "stand up" to what was required for heavy traffic. Therefore the method of cementing the stones together by some of the various preparations of coal tar .had to be resorted to. This treatment, as it were, formed a bridge work over the soft and yielding earth, and distributed the load over a large area, and also provided a smooth 1-esilient surface to travel upon. These tar macadam roads have cost large sums of money raised by loan over each sebarAte district. The interest of these loans was met by special rates; in some, cases from 5s to Cs per'acre. The maintenance charges were borne by the ordinary rates and in some parts by toll-gates. Ihe argument was that those using the roads most should pay most directly for their upkeep , J

When an application for some formation work to be done on George Street, \ ogeltown, was before the Borough council last night a discussion took place or. the question of the council's policy, or lack of policy, in regard to unformed roads in the borough. Cr Short moved that the work be dons' against which Cr. Clarke protested, on the ground that there were other portions of the Borough which were in n worse condition, and he considered that the worst .places should he done first He instanced the condition of the footpath on Tukapa road and the fact that there were no footpaths on the whole of the Dartmooi estate, where there were far more residences, than at George Street Tha Mayor said that what the council wanted was a policr in regard to the unformed roads. He reminded the council that £2OOO of the £lO 000 win was sit aside for footpaths but that it had not yet been allocated. Cr Hayden suggested that the question of the policy in the matter should he decided by the new council at the earliest opportunity. Cr\ Griffiths .aid j„ t i l( > absence of a policy he thought the work should bo done. There were nine residences on the road and he was surprised tnat the residents had been patient over the matter for such a long tirue. J< was agreed in the end not to do the lyork at George Street; in the meantime, that the engineer prepare approximate estimates of the oost of forming all 1111-made streets in the borough which ho considers should receive earlv a+tention, such streets to bo listed in the order of urgency.

The New Zealand Sooiotv of accountants notifies tliat the complete Examination Syllabus for lftlfl is now available, ant! may be obtained from Mr T'rnest w! Hunt, secretary. fi/P.O. box ]ii27, Wo!linaton, or from local branch sepretarie*. Tlw Melbourne, Ltd., is showing an extra fine quality worsted sock foremen which for value is far in advance of anything' now being imported. The <wk is made by the Mosoiel Woollen Co., near Dnncdin. and fa snaranteed mire wool tlironshont. Colors are heather and dark !*rev and the price, 3/0 per pair. An ideal winter sock for the man accustomed to wearing cashmere half hose

The cup, presented by the Waihi district to the Kawaroa Park Society for competition ill the tug-o'-war event on Easter Monday, has to be won twice in succession, or three times at intervals Teams are already in training for this event, entries for which close with the secretary on Tuesday, April 15, The prizes in connection with the Rhyming Trades alphabet competitions for schools Will be presented at to-day's metinee performance at the Peoples' commencing at 2 p.m.

Many electors so far may not have made up their minds on which side to vote to-day. All such should read the advertisement on page 6 of this issue AOvt.'