LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, 23 January 1920, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The Normanby Town Board, on Tuesday, fixed Saturday for the weekly halfholiday in the town district. At the annual meeting of the Sydney Rifle Association, it was announced that a British team was visiting Australia this year. At the half-yearly meeting of the Eltham Lodge, A.0.F., on Wednesday, the election of officers resulted as follows: C.R., Bro. R. Andrews; S.C.R., Ero. H. E. Rogers; S.W., Bro. D. Nees; J.W., Bro. A. Hedgman; 5.8., Bro. R. Overington; J. 8., Bro. W. Pollard; secretary, Bro. A. H. Andrews; treasurer, Bro. W. Hodgson; auditors, Bros. A. Rogers and F. Casey. . At a meeting of the committee of the New Plymouth Horticultural Society, a statement of receipts and expenditure in connection with the December Show was submitted, and showed a small surplus. It was decided to hold a chrysanthemum show, the date of which will be notified later. It was decided to get the schedule printed immediately, and distributed amongst chrysanthemum growers and members generally. Eltham tradesmen are not likely to close on Saturday unless Hawera does the same; in faot it would be suicidal for Eltham to close while Hawera is open (says the Eltham Argus). Hawera, as the result of a poll, declared for a Wednesday half-holiday, and Wednesday it will have to remain for the next fifteen months unless some voluntary arrangements are made for a change of the day, and such voluntary arrangements are quite possible. Until there is a change in Hawera's day for the half holiday there will be no change to Saturday iu Eltham.

The death took place on Wednesday of Warwick Winston, twelve-year-old son of Mr. J. Foy, of Hawera, under very distressing;, circumstances. It appears that the little fellow was spending a holiday on Mr. R. CampTjell's farm at Pihama, and in the afternoon he was driving a hay rake during haymaking operations. The horse became frightened through some hay falling, and bolted. The boy received very serious injuries, and in the forlorn hope that an operation might save his life he was brought into the Hawera Hospital. He was admitted late in the afternoon, and died at about 5.30 o'clock.

About twenty representatives of the Borough Council, Chamber of Commerce, Hawera County •Council, and the Townplanning Association, with others interested, met on Wednesday afternoon at the Turutilru road railway crossing, and discussed several points arising out of the Government's plans for the new railway station and yards. The meeting, which was informal in character, gave those present a very good idea of the comprehensive nature of the new work, and though many views were given, there appeared to be a consensus of opinion that the Department desires to provide Hawera with a thoroughly up-to-dfite station.—Star.

At the meeting of the Patea Harbor Board on Monday, the Engineer (Mr. R. S. Thompson) reported as follows: "Breakwater Extension Contract—During last month good progress was made with the above contract on the Eastern breakwater; two caissons, 56 and 54, were deposited and consolidated, completing this wall to the length arranged for. On the Western breakwater two caissons, Nos. 33 and 34, were deposited and consolidated, and two caissons, Nos. 39 and 40, manufactured in the yard. Six caissons require to be placed in position to complete this breakwater. The eastern breakwater at present overlaps the western breakwater a length of 157 feet G inches.—Star.

Speaking to a Post reporter, Councillor Cox, of Petone, who has been on a visit to Australia, said the co9t of living rose rapidly during his visit. He was absent from Sydney for three months, and during that period cab fares rose from 2s to 3s 6d, and hotel tariff from 6s 6d per diem to 14s. Melbourne prices are, on the whole, lower than in Sydney. In Melbourne, first-class hotel accommodation could be procured for £2 5s per week. The housing problem he found to be far more acute than in New' Zealand. House property was much cheaper than in the Dominion, £7OO value here being equal to £3OO there; but prices were rapidly rising. Mr. Cox had nothing but praise for the fine parks to be seen everywhere, and he especially noted the entire absence of vandalism and thefts from public 'property. Apparently the N.S.W. State Orchestra did not have a tumultuous reception at Wanganui, and Mr. Yerbrugghen showed himself an adept in humorous sarcasm as well as in music, for, replying to some remarks by the Mayor, he said: They were enjoying tremendously their progress through the Dominion. The natural beauties which met them everywhere delighted them at every turn, whilst the very warm welcome which they had received in every town which they had visited hitherto, together with the splendid preparations made for their entertainment, had been quite touching. He heard that in Wellington they were preparing to receive them in an even larger and more lavish manner. So that the members of the Orchestra felt it as a relief that they had been allowed to depend on their own devices in Wanganui.

'Speaking at the meeting of the Liberal Party in Wellington on Wednesday, Sir Joseph Ward, in the course of his address, said he hoped those who differed from him in matters of religion would realise that he had never once attempted to appoint anyone to the public service on account of his religion. He had the records in his possession, and he challenged his opponents to attack him on that matter, and he would show that they were most infamous liars in traducing a public man in the way they had. (Applause.) He was not going to allow the people to remain under the wrong impression which had been deliberately circulated for political purposes, without giving them proof to enable them to judge the socalled Christians who had visited his electorate, some working there for 2i years, not on public questions, but making lying statements with a view to putting him out of public life. (Applause). He accepted the result of the elections; but he held that he was entitled to criticise the courses adopted by his opponents and to take such action in regard to it as he would take later on. (Applause 1 (

:■ Garman manufacturers cannot cops I with foreign orders for motor cara. The fruit crop in the Auckland district this season is expected to be the heaviest recorded for some years. _ According to American Red Cross statistics, the devastated regions of France : have lost more than a million inhabitants. Instancing the high cost of building, it is stated that tenders for a plain fourroomed cottage in the country, about 40 miles from Gisborne, amounted to over £I2OO. Reduction of the high cost of living seems only a "remote possibility" to William A. Day, president of the Equitable Life Assurance Society of New York. Mr. Day describes the present situation as betraying a "passion for expenditure in the pursuit of pleasure and costly non-essentials which has no parallel in history." Several important oil wells in the Tepetate district of Tampico are exhausted. The Texas Oil Company's largest oil-producing well is now only yielding salt water. Two smaller wells are in the same condition. The daily loss to the company is 80,000 barrels. The Mexican Gulf Oil Company reports the total loss of a well producing 60,000 barrels. The news is causing alarm. The great Abraham Lincoln once said: "That some people should be rich shows that others may become rich, and hence it-is just encouragement to industry and enterprise. Let not him who is houseless pull down the house of another, but let him labor diligently and build one for himself, thus by example assuring that his own shall be safe from violence when built." "And do the Americans still, believe that they won the war ?" was asked Mr. J. C, Ward, who returned to Wellington from the United States on Monday. "No; only do they believe they won the war oil land, but on the sea, and then afterwards they performed the incredible feat of clearing the North Sea of mines in a miraculous period of time. I was reading of the 'incredible' feat in a paper, and noticed on the same page a cablegram where a captain of a steamer reported having sighted about a thousand mines off the Danish coast, which kind of threw doubt on the thoroughness with which they performed the 'incredible' feat. A correspondent writes: Fifty or more years ago, when the price of tobacco was fairly reasonable in New Zealand, the Maoris in Taranaki and elsewhere in tJhe Dominion cultivated the tobacco plant and manufactured their own supplies of the weed. "Rau-rau," as it was called, varied in quality considerably—some of it being excellent smoking, whilst other samples were—well, the less said about it the better. However, the fact remains that a palatable smoke could be manufactured locally; and such being the case, one wonders why the Maori has lost sight of this industry. Totiacco is now about double the price it was at the time rau-rau was manufactured, and it seems that a spiendid opportunity is afforded somebody (Maori or otherwise) of reaping a good harvest—not at the expense of the smoker. It is up to the smoker to do something to protect himself. "All my experience in the Old Country and in America," said Dr. Trubv King to a Christchurch pressman, "has simply gone to confirm and accentuate the New Zealand position with regard to the welfare of women and children, and its relationship to national fitness and prosperity. I am more than ever impressed with the paramount need of recognising that mother and child should be inseparable—that they should be regarded as an indivisible unit —during the first year or so of the dhild's life." The worst thing that could happen to any nation is the abandonment of home life in order that married women may earn their living in industrial and other pursuits at the time when the first requirements of the child are not only that it should be fed with breast milk, but that it should be nurtured at the mother's own breast. It is not only the duty, but' it is the privilege of the mother, as essential for herself as for the thild, that this natural relationship should be retained. Any other course is the broad road to economic inefficiency and the injury and decadence of the race, not only from the bodily point of view, but from the mental and moral standpoint."

Queensland, like other States and other countries of the -world, is just awakening to the value of timber and tho need for a sound forestry policy. In his annual report the Queensland Director of Forests states that timber is an elemental necessity of life from the cradle to the coffin, and it is the imperative duty of the State to assume the function of maintaining a sufficient supply for the use of the community in the present and future. The unfortunate obsession tfliat. forests stand, in the way of settlement, the Director states, lias brought Queensland within measurable distance of forestry disaster. The rapid dissolution of the original timber resources, however, combined with the increasing cost of timber for building, was bringing about a change of front. The most arduous task of the Queenland forest service was not that of securing added reservations, but of resisting persistent and pressing aggression by private and public bodies upon the remnant timber lands of the State. The Director makes numerous recommendations to the Ministry with the object of establishing a vigorous forest policy, and re-establishing its valuable timber lands.

"Fairy-Wonder" Cleanser contains no deleterious substance such as paraffin wax, which rots clothes. Neither does it create a nasty scum, necessitating endless rinsings. "Fairy Wonder" is pure, sweet and wholesome; bleaches clothes snow-white, and leaves the hands soft and white. You must use it. AH grocers stock it. The Melbourne have full stocks of men's Cashmere all wool socks at 5s Cd a pair; men's heavy or light weight genuine Shirley President braces, 4s Cd a pair; Police braces 2s lid a pair; boys' and youths' braces Is 6d and Is 9d; also a good stock of men's pure Irish lawn handkerchiefs at Is each. Summer dress fabrics in most charming designs are offered ladies at very low prices by Morey and Son. The end of the season "special week" commenced at the New Zealand Clothing Factory on the 19th instant. At this event many bargains in clothing, mercery and boots can be secured by the thrifty parents fitting their "boys" out for the new school term, and they will be able to make substantial savings.— New Zealand Clothing Factory.

Imperfect digestion of food produces acidity, flatulence, and sick headache, Sharland's Magnesia corrects tho acidity, relieves the flatulence, and removes the headache. Sold everywhere. A profitable butchery business is advertised fon sale on page 1 by Messrs W, E. and J. McGarry, iSltham.