LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, 6 February 1920, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

To-day is the anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi. The Treaty was signed on February (i, 1840-

The yearly toll exacted by the kea throughout Canterbury is estimated to be close upon 20,000 sheep. During the past season one farmer estimated that he lost 2000 as the result of the kea's depredations.

An inquest concerning the deatli of James McAllister, who dropped dead on the racecourse on Wednesday, was held yesterday before Mr. T. A.' B. Bailey, S-M., the district coroner. SeniorSerai McCrorie represented the police. 'Medical testimony was given by Dr. D. Blackley, who said deceased had been attended by his partner (Dr. Walker) for some heart trouble, and his death was evidently due to heart, failure. A verdict in accordance with the medical evidence was given. The autumn meeting of the Tarnnaki Jockey Club concluded yesterday, but racing enthusiasts will be provided with another day's sport to-morrow, when the inaugural meeting of the Taranaki Trotting Club will be held at New Plymouth. The totalisator investments for the two days of the Jockey's Club's meeting amounted to £64,128 as compared with £59,471 10s last year, an increase of £4,056 10s. The chief witness in a slander action in the Supreme Court yesterday developed some volubility in the course of giving his evidence. His "explanations" were sometimes lengthy, and he persistently addressed the judge as "Your Worship." . Subsequently his Honor spoke somewhat sharply to witness, asking him to confine himself to answering the questions, "And don't be continually calling me 'your Worship,"' said the judge. It is proposed to hold a meeting of the advisory board of the New Zealand War Relief Association towards the end of February for the purpose of considering the question of assistance to totally and partially disabled soldiers, and also to endeavor to adopt a uniform scheme of assistance that will be applicable to all patriotic societies throughout the Dominion. The Wellington association has established a sub-committee which is considering a basis of assistance with the primary consideration of restoring economic loss, and secondarily of giving whatever other assistance the soldier may require. The association, by courtesy of Brigadier-General McGavin, Dir-ector-General of Medical Services, is obtaining a complete list of all men discharged or undischarged who are suffering partial or total disability.

The American orators whose addresses are so pungent a part of the Chautauqua entertainment, have to perfection (snys a Christchurch paper) the gift of becoming intimate with their audiences, and from the vantage point of such intimacy malting their discourses with a type of humor which the more staid English orator leaves to the province of the music hall. The heavy handed Englishman would lose authority if he assurneo the cap and bells in their, fashion; but, contrarywise, these Americans, with their racy, breezy, off-hand method, actually score their points by sudden descents from the sublime to the ridiculous. Dr. Alden spiced his illuminating address at a recent gathering, on "The Needs of the Hour" with a dozen or more puns and flippant paradoxes which, taken from context, sound incredible, but which, skilfully woven into his text, were ipposite and telling. Here are a few: A nation without woman would bo stag-nation; some people know so little of the Bible that they think the epistles were the wives of the apostles; too much prosperity amongst the rich, too -much posterity amongst the poof; people in America think that by divorce they become the cream of society*-—be-cause they have been through the separator, I suppose; et alia ad lib.

Mr. Oliver Haddon, son of the Rev. R. Haddon, of Norinanby, who has been some months in the States -with the Rev. H. N. Papakakura on a Chautauqua circuit, writes interestingly to his father, fn a recent letter he 'says: "It's real dandy over here. You would surely enjoy it. lam clear in the centre of the 0.5.A.; now travelling every day. In bin capital of California, Sacramento, there is a bridge that moves and takes three trains and goes across the river like a steamboat. Then I went to Ogden, in Utah, across the great Salt Lakes, Salt Lake City, Ogden Canyon; from there to Cheynne, in Wyoming (Cowboy Town), and' besides these other little towns with classy names—Molivista, Medicine Bow, Carpox, Green River—and through the States of Nebraska, Nevada, and across the Sierra Desert down to Denver, a lovely town. Then on the great Denver and Rio Grande railway line to Pueblo, Walnsburg, Blancha, La Veta, Alamosa, to Creed*, a mining camp. From there to Taos, in New Mexico, crossed the Eio Grande river and canyon in the Rocky Mountains. Talk about rocks and cliffs in the canyon. I felt like getting out of the car and walking, but when I saw lizards, chipmonks, and green-eyed anakes I thought 'l'll stick in the car and chance it'—rattle snakes in some of these places, big cinnamon bears, wolves, coyotes, and prairie dogs. It's the glassy-eyed snakes. When they give you the glad eye they up and kiss you. Once you get kissed by one it's goodnight. We perform in all the Wg towns in Opera Houses and auditoriums before hundreds of people. lam learning all the latest songs here, and I am joining Ellison White's smartest men after our season closes. The rest will be leaving here. in about twelve months' time. I have a good job still with the Ellison White Chautauqua system directing. It will mean toeing away from New Zealand for about rive years. I like America. The chances for a young chap to get on are good, far better than in New Zealand." A reminder is given that to-day marks the opening day of the Melbourne, Ltd.'s, annual stocktaking sale. This event is looked forward to by the whole of Taranaki as the greatest bargain feast of the year, and the sale commencing today will be quite equal to any of its predecessors. Users of "Fairy Wonder" Washing Powder may not know it, but a handful of this* wonderful compound, added to the bath, imparts a softness and smoothness to the water which, together with its pleasing perfume and wonderful cleansing properties, provides a bath, delightfully luxurious:, seldom experienced outside a sanatorium. Imperfect digestion of food produces acidity, flatulence, and sick headache. Sharland's Magnesia corrects tha acidity, relieves the flatulence, and removes the headache. Sold everywhere.

(Speaking \o a Press reporter on the question ot aviation, Sir James Allen, Minister of Defence, stated that the Government had not as yet decided on any definite policy. They had been offered 100 machines, but were not going to take liioiv than 3."> at present. Even for this number extra accommodation would have to be provided. It was probable that numbers of returned men, who had had experience in air work (and there are some- hundreds of these), would be brought together at intervals to refresh their knowledge. The training would be in connection with postal and other work, recruits being enrolled as the occasion demanded. The classes would probably be carried out in conjunction with the two companies (at Soekburn and Auckland) already in existence.

As illustrative of the. unconciliatory attitude of the rank and file of the Australian "Official" Labor Party, it is of interest to note that Mr. C. Dewhurst, president of the Port Keinbla branch of that party, addressed a "New Year Wish" to the press, pleading for a better understanding between capital and labor, which was promptly repudiated by Mr. Alfred Farrow, hon. secretary of the branch, who wrote to the Sydney Sun stating that "my branch dissociates itself from the sentiments expressed in the 'Wish,' which were purely the personal reflections of Mr. Dewhurst's mind." The "essential passage" of Mr. Dewhurst's letter is quoted by the Sun a's follows:—"I plead for a better understanding between capital and labor. The talk of the State controlling and employing all labor is utter rot. Let us get our fruitful country ready to receive the steady flow of immigration that will shortly look to Australia as their future home. Let us encourage private enterprise and give those people who invest their capital a good day's work for an equitable day's pay. Men, let us catch this 'go-slow' fiend and strangle him while he is yet an infant. A fair day's work in return for a decent day's pay and better living conditions is my motto. Damn the strikes." Housewives have discovered at last that the most effective way of bringing down prices is by boycott. The statement of the retailers that housekeepers had curtailed their purchases of potatoes, and that prices had fallen, is a repetition of the method used in Melbourne last month, stated the Sydney Sun. Some energetic women in. Prahran canvassed the district, from door to door, asking thi housewife to refrain from purchasing potatoes until prices were reduced. The effect, was electric. Potatoes were sold one day for 5d per lb—or, rather, were not sold, as cooks considered the price extortionate-r-were on the market the following day for 2d a lb., and the best new potatoes were sold at 3d r per lb., or i\ lbs for Is. It was in Melbourne that the bottom of tho market was knocked out by the refusal of the public to buy at high prices. In Sydney the boycott was not so systematic, although the request of the local Housewives' Association that housekeepers should leave potatoes severely alone for a while is apparently having some effect. Many cooks have introduced substitutes, like macaroni, vermicelli, pumpkin, or squash into the daily menu, and will continue doing so until the price of potatoes becomes more reasonable.

In this issue Mr. Newton King advertises some sections ior sale, by auction on behalf of the Railway Department. These sections are wej.l worth inspection, and thfl Railway Department are anxious to sell, as these are the only allotments now unsold. '