LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, 27 May 1919, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The Boys' High School re-opened yesterday after the terms holidays.

The flag waa flying at the post office yesterday in honor of Queen Mary's birthday in 1807. The Labor Depjartment intends taking action against the Green Island coal miners for striking whilst an industrial agreement was in force. —Press Assn. The New Plymouth Fire Brigade desires to acknowledge with thanks a donation of £3 3s from Miss Stanford, and £1 ! - from Miss Cant, for services; rendered at a fire which recently occurred in Devon Street. i

Sir James Allen states that, owing to labor troubles, two troopships that were to have left Home in June have been detained till July; otherwise, the arrangements made for returning soldiers will be carried out.—Presa Assn.

There was quite a good attendance at the first of the local Employers' Associhunches! yesterday, and, after discussion, it was decided that members should lunch together weekly rather than fortnightly. Next Monday the lunch will be at one o'clock at Messrs May and Arrowsmith'a.

, The possibilities of the New Plymouth hydro-electric lighting scheme is shown by this year's net profits, which amount ,t'o £5201, or £3OOO more than hut year. Ample depreciation has been allowed, as well as provision made for sinking fund, interest,, etc. This fine result has been achieved, not by increasing prices, but by liberalising terms, 1 and developing the business. Rangitikei County's financial year 191S-19, just ended, has been one of the most unsatisfactory experiences in the county from a road construction standpoint. During practically ten months of the year an abnormal rainfall obtained, and, owing to scarcity of labor, the greates.t difficulty was experienced in keeping even the main road lines open for traffic. The new school which has been erected at Vogeltown is to be officially opened on Thursday afternoon. Ladies' committees representing the Vogeltown and I'rainkleigh jjark Districts liave been appointed to make all necessary arrangementy for providing afternoon tea, and other committees have charge of the arrangements for the children's sports. The provision of a modern day school for the combined districts of Vogeltown and Frankleigh Park will mark an important step in the progress of thet/e two suburbs, and it is anticipated that there will be a very large attendance at Thursday's ceremony.

The tale advertised in Saturday's issue tc be held on Wednesday next at Mangorei will be conducted by Mr. Newton King on account of Mr. Woisen, and will bo held on Thursday, not Wednesday. Buyers are requested to note the alteration.

It was proved at the Supreme Court of Victoria, at Melbourne, that (1) SANDER'S EXTRACT is much more powerfully healing and antiseptic than ordinary eucalvptus preparations; (2) SANDKR'S EXTRACT does not depress the heart like the so-called "extracts" and crude oils; (3) SANDER'S EXTRACT i 3 highly commended by many authorities as a safe, reliable and effective household remedy. Get th» genuine—insist if you have to —and be safe-

The mails which left New Zealand on April 19 arrived in London on tie 24th inst.

A poll on the Piako County proposal to borrow £IO,OOO for a concrete road from Te Aroha to Te Aroha West, four and a-half miles, -was carried by 102 votes to 41.

By an Order-in-Couneil, gazetted laat week, the Egmont County Council is given authority to raise a loan of £SOOO. The Auckland City Council ie authorised to raise a loan of £165,000.

Prior to the annual meeting of the Citizens' Band at the Soldiers' Club Kooms to-night, . the band will play several selections outside the building, commencing at 7.30 o'clock. Owing to this the junior class will not be held this* evening.

An idea of the force of the impact in the recent Main Trunk train smash may be gathered from the fact that a horse in a van five trucks behind the engine was found thrown 100 feet over it. The van in which the animal was being conveyed was also thrown right over the engine, and the latter was embedded 42 feet in the bank it ran into.

As a set-off to the traditional schoolboy, creeping like a snail unwillingly to school, we have an Otago boy (hit 1 name is John Kerr), who has been daily riding 14 miles each way in order to attend the Middlemareh School, and it is only by taking cross-country cuts that he keeps his ride to 28 miles (tays the Dunedin Star).

Among the persons affected by the defaulters' list, and who ,therefore, are deprived of their civil rights and privileges for ten years is Mr. Webb, formerly member for Grey, So that Mr. Holland, who declared he would hold the teat only till Mr. Wobb was again eligible, has no occasion to. think he made a rash promise.

A practically new Buick car from Kaupokonui was badly smashed near Waitoitoi on Thursday, and the occupants had a narrow escape, one of them having a gath on the forehead. In order to avoid colliding with a horse and gig, the driver of the car • swerved to one side, and struck an iron telegraph pole.

The Minister of Defence (Sir James Allen) told the friendly societies deputation at Wellington that at the present time New Zealand's war pensions bill amounted to £1,700,000 a year. He supposed that it would go up to £2,000,000 i year, and then he hoped it would gradually fall. The pensions were the highest in the world—higher than Australia, Canada, the United States of America, or any country he knew of. Says. the Napier Telegraph: "It is.' reported that at a certain station recently a well known railway official secreted liimself in a carriage over-night in order to discover a little scheme that was alleged to be worked every night jn the station yard. A party of jokers, hearing of the brilliant scheme, got busy, and turned a high-presture hose on through a window, and the official afterwards admitted that he had the coldest and most unpleasant bath that it had been his bad fortune to experience. The experiment was not repeated.

A meeting of the New Plymouth Repatriation Board was held last evening, there being present: Colonel C. H. Weston (chairman), W. J. Chaney, T. Furlong, F. W. Okey, R. J. Clarke, T. C. List, .T. R. Rowlands, E. Wilson, and A. S. Allen (secretary). Applications.' for loans for furniture, for purchasing a business, and for stock and dairy cows were held over till next meeting. Two other applications were approved. The secretary reported that employment had been found for a returned soldier, and there were three others still on the unemployment list, for whom work was being sought. Pensions had been secured for an ex-soldier in hospital and for a soldier's! child. Two applicants for houses" and seven for land had been furnished with information, and referred to the Crown Lands Commission.

"I have always felt rather worried about these cases," remarked Mr Frazer, S.M., at the Wellington Court in heaving a claim for possession of a house at Island Bay occupied by a fisherman with nine children, "and particularly when it is a case of a person buying a house over some other unfortunate's head. I know people are sometimes forced to rjuv houses because they cannot'get them in any other way. But it is unfortunate for a person who cannot buy a house because he has not the money to put down as a deposit. If the house he lives in is sold lie is the one who has to go out. It seems to me that he is the person who deserves protection." Later, in hearing another claim, Mr Frazer said: "I know what it is; I have gone through the mill. I can tell you, I don't like taking these cases. I always feel sore about ordering a man to get out of a place, because I know it is very hard to get another." The great demand for coal at the present time, and the difficulty experienced in securing a sufficient quantity to-meet the requirements of the Dominion, have caused expert attention to be drawn to very large untapped supplies in the King Country. Mr Lockie Gannon." civil engineer, of Auckland, Mr W. Duncan, alio of Auckland, and Mr Robert Young were in Te Kuiti recently on behalf of a syndicate, which proppses to exploit the new field, which is located on. the Tahaia property of Mr Young, formerly a settler of Otorohanga, but now a resident of Waharoa (states the Te Kuiti correspondent of the New Zealand Herald). Mr Young stated that he made the discovery five or six.' years ago, but did not. then attach very great importance to it. Mr Gannon said that the coal out-crop-ped in a number of places, and the discovery was an exceedingly promising one. The syndicate has had men on the site for the past three weeks eng.iged in sinking bores in various parts of the field, and the depths reached varied from 40ft to 60ft. In ■ every instance the bores revealed the presence of coal. Part of the coalfield is on a sloping "hill, hut the greater portion is on the flat, and in all respects the site lends itself to convenient and economic working. Surveys and levels in connection" -with ii proposed tramway have already been made . The precise locality of the find is at Mangamutu, near Tahaia, approximately halfway between Otorohanga and Hangatiki, and the tramway is to run along eight miles of perfectly level country to Hangatiki station.

To-morrow Messrs L. A. Nolnn Rnd Co. will submit to auction the furniture and effects of Chetwode School, Devon Street west. The sale will commence at 1 p.m. and will be held at the Chetwode School.

Workingmen are not buying denims bo freely since prices have advanced. The most popular trouser now-a-days is a line of dark striped cotton tweed, strona wearing but in a soft finish, retailed b'v the Melbourne Clothing stores at 10s 6d per pair.

The mails which left New Zealand on 7th April arrived in London on the 20th' inst.

The N.Z. Times say a: "It is understood that a legal action which was expected to arouse considerable interest in Wellington has been settled out of court by the payment of a sum approaching £IOOO and a certain regular payment to follow."

"The home is not in the grandeur of the building, but in the spirit of the people who live in it," observed a woman at the Town-planning Conference recently. "Yes," said Mr H. E. Holland, M.P.,"a little later, "but the spirit is determined by the economic environment of the people." "There is an old idea that everyone has to have a fence," remarked Dr. A. K. Newman, M.P., at the Town-planning Conference in Wellington on Tuesday. 'That is an abominable, antiquated idea. Pull down the fences and let the gardens and the shrubs be open to the view- of the public."

The Orepuki shale produced a good quantity of paraffln-wax, which was a valuable product (stated Dr McLaurin, Government Analyst, to tlu. Industries Committee on Friday), but there was too much sulphur in the oil. He understood that that was one' of the main reasons why the works, were not carried on. Experiments were now being made with a view to finding commercial methods of eliminating sulphur. Before anything was done by way of subsidy, ie thought that research investigation was necessary. '

It is not improbable that women may take the field at the next general elections in the Dominion. Speaking at the recent annual convention of the W.C.T.U., Miss Henderson declared that the Bill making women eligible for seats in Parliament was thrown oat in the Upper House through the influence of Parliamentary leaders. "If, as is quite probable," she contended, "the Bill was passed next session, it would be necessary to put up women candidates for the next general elections. If any doubted the wisdom of this, lot them remember that no woman would be elected except by a majority vote of the electors."

"We already recognise in our by-lawß the necessity of protecting from annoyance the senses of hearing and smell of the community, but is it not time that we equally protected the sens«t]of sightt* asked Mr C. E. Pond, of Waiigamii, »t the Town-Wanning Conference (the Post reports.) ' "Should a parsimonious' or vulgar owner be permitted to destroy the amenities of a city or suburb by the erection of a cheap and nasty, or a vulgar and ostentatious building?" '