LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, 4 December 1919, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Work was resumed at the Kai'tangata mine yesterday, but the mine manager was informed* that at the meeting on Tuesday it was resolved to "go slow" (says a telegram from Dunedin). it is stated that no reason is assigned by the men for their latest resolution. Regulations have been gazetted that soldierj still absent on active ;ervi:e on December 17th will vote on ihe national licmsing issue only, as yr.t'iticuble arrangements could not be made fur them to vote ait the Parliamentary .elections and on the local option question in the existing no-license uigtrii't?. The regulations provide that the votes of soldiers on transports at sea shall be taken on December ICth and sealed until the arrival of the vessels, when the count will be mado in Wellington. For the week ending on Monday, the following cases of infectious diseases were reported in the various hospital districts of Taranaki: Taranaki, diphtheria 4) influenza 5; Stratford, influenza 1; Hawera, diphtheria 1, influenza 9, measles 2; Patea, tuberculosis I, influenza 2, pneumonia 4. The localities in which influenza occurred were: Inglewood, one mild and one pneumonic; Waitara, one pneumonic; New Plymouth two mild; Stratford, one mild; Kaponga, one mild; Hawera, two mild; Manaia, four mild; Eltham, two mild; and Patea, two mild,

Only four cases of influenza in the Auckland health district were notified yesterday and one case of pneumonia. All the cases were in the city (says an Auckland telegram). "Your wife is a foreigner, too, is she not?" asked counsel of a witness in the Wellington Magistrate's Court on Friday. The witness replied: "Yes, I think she is; her parents are Irish, and she was born in Nelson." A patent has boon taken out in America for the manufacture of "pearls" from the crystalline lensc3 of the eyes of fishes and sea animals, which are said to be almost indistinguishable from genuine pearls. So great are the entries already of sheep ai;d cattle for thcwstock sale's to be held in. the Feilding yards next Friday that the staff is now busily engaged erecting more pens for sheep. It is expected that there will be from 3000 to 4000 head of cattle in the sale yards and fully 10,000 sheep. "Prices: D.C. Is Cd', stalls Is (plus tax")—this line appeared at the foot of Mr. Masters' political advertisement yesterday. Of course it was a printer's mistake, for all political meetings, even Mr. Masters', are free. Some people aver that Mr. Masters is worth Is 6d to hear at any time, especially when he takes off the gloves and deals with the "dry bones." At the meeting of the Labor Party at Hawera on Tuesday night the advisableness of running a candidate for the municipal by-election on the 19th was mentioned. The feeling of ijjie. meeting was favorable to the proposal, but it was thought that for the present the party should concentrate its efforts on the Parliamentary campaign. At the same meeting, a speaker counselled the members to vote official Labor, "Vote official Labor every time; there is nothing else, for it. See nothing else but Red," he added, amidst applause.—Star. Six new- postage stamps, commemorating the victory of the Allies and the coming of peace, will be issued by. the New Zealand Post and Telegraph Department shortly. The hail-penny stamp is green, and represents a recumbent lion, upon which is sitting a rlgure emblematic of peace, while the penny is a carmine, with the same two figures standing. The lid stamp is a light brown, and has the tatooed head of a Maori on the right half and fern fronds on the left. On the 3d stamp, which is dark brown, the lion again appears in a recumbent attitude, but this time the female figure is absent, and the ri>B of the rising sun are in the background. The 6d stamp has a device representing the Angel of Peace with outspread wings. On the Is stamp, which i> orange, is l the King's, head, flanked by heads of lions', with Maori carvings in the top corner. All the new stamps are double the size of the present issue. During a debate in the House Mr. Massey was asked why there was not more subdivision for land settlement in Hawke's Bay, to which he replied that a great part of Hawke's Bay was fit only to carry sheep, and was not suitable for dairying. The Napier Telegraph says lhat the Hawke's Bay land district runs more cattle than the famous dairying district of Tarannki. It gives the figures as follows:—Taranaki land district, .154,083 cattle, including 147,010 dairv cows; Hawke's Bav land district, 42S)',Slfi cattle, including' 43.257 dairy cows. "Hawke's Bay," the Telegraph continues, "has far fewer dairy cows, but that is merely a question of [ large and small settlement, not of quality of land and climate, for land and climate that will run, even under present aggregation conditions. 420.815 cattle, of which only 43,287 are dairy cows, will run as large a proportion of dairy cows to cattle generally as will Taranaki." Our Napier contemporary ignores a salient fact that upsets its calculations. Hawke's Bay lias 4,570,223 acres of land in occupation, whilst Taranaki has only 1,701.397 acres.

At the dinner at Winton recently, Sir Joseph Ward, in the course of his speech, told an amusing story of an experience he had on a train travelling into London. He was illustrating the happy, heroic spirits of the men of the naval and merchant marine services, and he said that, prior to retiring for the night, ho had gone to his secretary's compartment for a box of matches. He was standing in the doorway, when he felt someone tickling liia legs, and on turning round he discovered that a naval officer, who appeared to be very merry, was the offender. The joker appeared to thoroughly enjoy his joke, and said that he would be obliged to receive a cigarette and a match to light it. Sir Joseph Ward was amused, and supplied both. When he had left the young officer, a second lieutenant, asked of the secretary who the gentleman was who had supplied the cigarette, and he got a shock when he learned that he had been tickling the legs of a member of the British War Cabinet, and that he had rendered himself liable to serious trouble, (Laughter). "Later," continued Sir Joseph, "he came to me and had a chat, and I learned from him that he was one of two survivors from a destroyer sunk that day in the Channel while fighting submarines. His comrade he had left in hospital, while he went on to London to forget his troubles. And to encourage this state of mind he amused himself by tickling a man's legs, whom he had never seen before, by way of a joke. That will show you/' concluded the speaker, amid laughter, "the spirit of the men." All returned soldiers should be present at their own benefit concert this evening, in aid of a man injured in assisting at their annual ball. Housewives replenishing for Christmas are reminded t)iat the Melbourne's great salvage sale ends on Saturday next. As<'many Manchester lines are on sale purchasers should not neglect this last opportunity of securing useful goods at favorable prices. Great interest is beim; taken in the first appearance of "Pasha Kick Up A Dusto," before a New Plymouth audience at the Good Templar" Kail to-night; p. very successful rehearsal tn Hie playette, "Snowed up with a Duchess" took place on Tuesday evening.