LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, 14 July 1919, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The secretary to the New Plymouth Fire Board desires to acknowledge receipt of a donation of £2 2s from Miss B. A. Rennell.

Two children who were brought before Mr. S. E. McCarthy, S.M., on Saturday morning were committed under the Industrial Schools Act to the receiving home in Wellington. Regarding the paragraph appearing in Saturday's issue in which it was stated (vide the Eltham Argus) that Mr- Dan Barry had purchased Mr. S. Death's 300acre farm on the Fraser Road, and the price was believed to be £GO per acre, Mr. Barry desires us to state that the price was £G2 per acre.

Mr. R. Day reports .that the offer of cars for use in the children's joy ride is very pleasing to the committee, so far 80 cars of the 15(1 required having been promised. Several gentlemen who cannot provide their own cars have promised to pay for the hire of cars for the purpose. At Patea on Thursday W. Blyde was fined £SO and costs for betting with a person under the age of 21. Mr. Wyvern Wilson, S.M, said it was a notorious thing that bookmakers looked on fines as a license fee and went on with their calling. The fines had consequently to be very substantial. In connection with the distribution of Pierrot surprise packets on Saturday next, those who have promised donations of goods which have not yet been collected arc asked to kindly leave these at Messrs Webster Bros.' mart before Thursday. A meeting of ,the Pierrots will bo held on Monday evening at the old electric light station to sort and wrap surprise packets.

The resumption of racing in France on Monday, May fffwas a triumph. It is thought the crowd was as large as i,t used to be on the greatest day. The receipts were imposing—-30,000 francs admission and 1,003,405 francs at the Pari-Mutuel—says the Exchange's Paris correspondent. It was the fear of the diversion from war loan of such sums as this that prevented an earlier resumption of racing. "In many cases," stated t>r. Anderson, Director of Education, at the meeting of the Education Council in Wellington, "the building of schools or the making of additions, as with all building operations, now costs nearly twice as much as the same work would have cost a few years ago. This to some extent damps our ardor and prevents our asking for grants as freely as wo otherwise would. However, such buildings as are necessary will be provided in due time, whatever the cost."

A Masterton resident was strolling quietly up a street after dark recently when he suddenly came into collision with a block of hardwood. An earnest lady resident was at the other end of it. After the Mastertonian had been brought round and had his facial and head wounds dressed by a chemist it was explained to him that it was a case of mistaken identity. There had been a slight domestic disagreement, and the hardwood was intended for another gentleman!

An exciting incident occurred on the Wathi-Paeroa Road on Saturday afternoon, the , party concerned being a team of 24 golfers from Paeroa, who were being conveyed to Waihi in Mr., Merthurst's cliar-a-banc. It appears that the car, while travelling down Mackaytown Hill caught fire through friction on the brakes. A precipitate exit of the occupants followed, and for the moment it looked as if the vehicle would be destroyed. However, the golfers set to work and heaped sand on the flames and speedily extinguished them. At a meeting of the executive of the New Plymouth Astronomical Society, held on Friday evening, arrangements were , made for tho inspection of a suitable site for an observatory. Inquiries are being made with a view to the purchase of a good equatorial telescope and. if possible, this will bo secured from a private observatory within the Dominion. A popular lecture upon the subject of astronomy is to be given at an early date. The steady growth of membership in the society is of a very satisfactory nature. 1

The telephone is proving a great convenience to country settlers, but all good things are subject to abuse, and the ranger for the Eltham County Council frequently find his efforts to surprise the owners of wandering, stock defeated. by the handy telephone which is now installed in so jnany country homesteads, As he moves along the road to the spot where he expects a big coup his familiar figure is marked by a member of some household, who, having used the long acre freely himself, has a kindly feeling for his erring neighbor, and considerately gets tho telephone into action and gives his neighbor a timely warning. Consequently the ranger on arrival is disappointed to find that ,the cattle have been removed, or if on the roaff'the ditions are such that he is powerless to act.

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Though blankets are dear hot water is cheap. Get a North British Rubber C'o.'s serviceable rubber bottle made with a "Unique" stopper—the brand that spells satisfaction} flkcofluneiidcd bv &U retailers. " ' w fa

Tlia Wellington Citv Council is increasing the prices of electricity by -}d per unit, owing to the increased cost of generating.

The Wanganui Harbor Board have decided to purchase two heavy cranes, the total cost being in the neighborhood of £7OOO. The chairman of ihe Board said they had been fooling away too long with tools not suitable for their purpose.

It is stated by a Canadian paper of 10th May that "there are hundreds of families in the poorer districts of Montreal who have not been able to buy either butter or meat for months, owing to the high cost of living. Numerout complaints of the excessive prices are being received at the City Hall." A representative meeting at Palmerston North on Friday, urged the Government to take immediate steps to snag the Mokau River in order to permit a large deposit of coal to bo taken out to" BUpply the ports between New Plymouth and Foxton. It was also decided to urgo that the imposition of the extra 3s freight on Newcastle coal on the railways be removed. The coal shortage is increasing the difficulties of the Canterbury Repatriation Board. The chairman of the Employment Committee (Mr. C. H. Hewlett) stated on Wednesday at a meeting of the board, that on recount oi the difficulty of getting coal, various industries were affected and meit were being put off work and were coming back to the board seeking other employment.

The Waimate Witness states that a returned soldier who brought from a distance five ciill cowb to thd sale on Tuesday last called and expressed his appreciation of the act of a well-known local farmer, who, taking into consideration that the cows belonged to a soldier, raised the bid by a pound, when other buyers were talking in shillings, and thus gave the vendor a good price for his stock.

The fame of the roads in the Eltli&m County has travelled far, and at every meeting of the council of late a request is received from some local body for particulars as 16 the system adopted in tar sealing roads and the cost. There is an unwritten law, observed very B.trictly by local bodies, that any information which will assist another local body shall, upon request, be given, and when an application for information abont tar sealed roads came before the Eltham County Council on Saturday it was, as usual, handed over to the engineer for a reply. As the Eltham County Council has created a standard for New Zealand and is now regarded as a high authority on road making, a suggestion by the. chairman (Mr, Belcher) that a fee Bhould be charged, though made in a spirit of levity, was not altogether unreasonable. To answer these inquiries means a good deal of work, and they are now getting so numerous that they almost need an extra clerk jto deal with them.

On the occasion of the breaking up of the Hew Zealand Military Hospital at Brockenhurst, Colonel Fenwick wrote a letter to the Vicar of the place, in which he said: "The New Zealanders are anxious to make some memorial of their stay, in the neighborhood. We have been stationed here sine* 1916, and during this period 21,100 New Zealand soldiers have been nursed in our hospital. Our sick and wounded have received great kindness and lospitality from the residents of Brockenhurst, and we wish t«i express our gratefuT thanks t» our iiiends herei Furthermore, we cannot forget that nearly 100 of our comrade.! have h.'en laid to lest in the shadow of your beautiful chinch. We therefore ask that you will permit the flag o f oiu Dominion to hang in your churi'j, to remind the people of Brockenhurst of the gratitude of their N T « Zea >nd cousins, and to bo an honorable memorial tc tlwse who came from the other sido of the world to die for all tha't is nearest and dearest to the Brlttoh Empire • '

A Taranaki man just returned from the front, who is an Authority on New Zealand flora, says that after seeing all there is to be seen in England, France and Germany nothing comes up to the New Zealand bush, with its wonderful tree ferns, graceful rimus, stately puriris, and other fine specimens, not to speak of the wealth of ferns. New Zeaj landers who had been away only yiow realised the beauty of their bush, and especially of the tree ferns. They saw some of the latter at Kew Gardens, under glass, and, ragged and imperfect as they were, owing to the conditions under which ,they were growing, they appealed very much to the New Zealanders, reminding them, as they did, of their own j far-away land. Here, too, were seen j many of the smaller ferns for whichNew Zealand is noted, as well as a rimu i tree which was somewhat spindley in form. Kew Gardens were the finest in the world; everything of interest and j value was to be found tfyere, and it was a rare treat for one interested in horticulture and botany to spend a few days there; In one Blench village he saw offered for sale in the gtreetn some New Zealand veromcqsi-commonly known as golden akeake—which seemed to be much priced in France;. Ladies are again reminded of the beautiful new range of silk and crepe de chine blouses on sale at the Melbourne. Recent cable advices from Japan indicate a serious rise in the prices of all silks, so that customers would be well advised to make their purchases at once. There is not the slightest doubt abont the wonderful washing properties of the new washing powder "Fairy Wonder" Cleanser. Thoso using it are unanimous in their praise as to its economy and efficacy, and it positively reduces labor and fuel to one-half. Every wide-awake housewife uses it, Ask your neighbors about it: Shocked by ail grocers and wholesalers. To smokers of State Express Cigarettes, 333! Don't throw away vour refl paper wrappers! The Ardath'Tobacco Company, Ltd., of London, are offering prizes amounting to £2OO for the largest number of red paper wrappers i collected on ,or before 31st August, Smoke up! You can.'t.,have a cigarette of l more delicate flavor than the all round popular "333!" Remember thu competition closes on August 31st. A sudden chill may give you cold in° the head, inflamed throat or bronchitis. Remember! If you should take a chill, don't wait until you are laid up, but use "NAZOL" freely right away. Thousands know its value. Ask distinctly for SANDER'S ftUCALYPTI EXTRACT, or else you may receive owe of the many substitutes. The GENUINE SANDER EXTRACT cures colds, fevers, indigestion; prevents infectious diseases and heals ulcers, poisoned woundß, skin diseases, burns, sprains, etc. It is much more powerfully antiseptic than the common eucalyptus and does not depress or irritate like the latter. Mot Chronic Chest Complaints \U~ - Woods' Qregt Peppermint Cujq,

Eactilii must be a prosperous plac« at the present time. It j a stated that* the building trade in that township is booming mid thjt there are doublo the amount of buildings under erection or in contemplation than in my other township of its size In the dominion. There is also a proposal to furm a lacing club in the district. As a result of the war tie merchant shipping of the world is 4,000,000 ton* short of what it was in 1014. At the bflifinning of the war the world's merchant tonnage totalled about 80,000,000 tons Tlie war, chiefly through mbm*. rine piracy, destroyed 15,000,000 ton*, while the new shipping ppntfructei amounted to about 11,000,000 tons.

Like Taumarunui, Wanganui, it experiencing a difficulty in accommodating the number of people who have to wait there overnight on the trip to New Plymouth, and some people find it almost impossible to get lodgings. One elderly mini, unable to secure a bed went to the police station and asked to be locked up. He wa9 brought before the Court on Monday and charged with drunkenness. The Magistrate refused to treat him as a first offender. His Worship said the State could not provide free board and lodgings. The cost of hotel accommodation had gone \ip, and one could not get anything under 10s a day; defendant must therefore pay for inviting himself as « guest. A fine of 10s or 24 hours' imprisonment in default was imposed. Another theory is given by Southern newspaper# for Ui* curtailment of the railway service. Although the department in its advertisement attribute* the curtailment in the to the scarcity of coal, it is 'alleged in..BQJpe circles 'that one of th<* reasons lor tjie curtailment is that quite a number at engines and vehicles are in such a stftte that until they go through the repair shops they are not safe for traffic, and therefore they must be withdrawn fot repairs. An additional reason is Stated tg bo that a large number of engineers and firemen who have been working at high pressure during the Bhortage bf staff, are demanding hol'days which are long overdue, and that the only way to comply with their request* ig to reduce the number of train* lor a time.

Says the Wanganui Chronicle: In it gard to the restrictions in connwUon with the carriage of stock by the raDways, some of the breeders in tin district view the situation with ftpprelwbsioi), as only live stock for ctetghtCT will be carried, At the recent pedigree sale in the Taranaki district, • animal* were disposed of at high prices and for places as widely apart as Bay of Plenty and Canterbury, and sWlar salts, vita buyers from all over the Dominion, an constantly taking place along the Qttst At present some local farmery «4e look* ing towards Taranaki for dairy and it will mean overland driving, U & the olden days, to shift thai clua «cf animal round ,the country. /