LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, 7 February 1920, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Areas of land have ibeen gazetted for selection as follow:—Taranaki district, 1003 acres, 974 acres, and 7204 acres, total, 9181 acres; Hawke's Bay, 15,066 acres.

The Taranaki Education Board has received word that the primary schools will not be opened before February 16. The New Plymouth High Schools will not re-open until the 17th inst.

The first shipment of dairy produce from New Plymouth this year will be taken by the Mapourika on Monday. The shipment consists .of 7998 crates of cheese, and will be taken Home by the Waimana.. A large shipment of butter will ibe made next month.

At the meeting of the Clifton County Council the engineer remarked that there had been some hooliganism on the Kiore Road, in the Matau'district, some largo pipes having been rolled into a gully. Apparently, lie said, the young fellows there worked all the week, and had to find something to do with themselves on Sunday.

A meeting of the Taranaki Workers' Council was held in the Workers' Social Hall last night, Mr. W. H. Fitzpatrick presiding. The first debenture in connection with the purchase of the hall was purchased by the Council and presented to Mr. Fitzpatrick as a mark of appreciation of his work. It, was reported that steps had been taken to register the Council. .It is proposed to hold a function to celebrate the acquisition of the hall.

Large quantities of fruit (states the Herald) are being received at the wholesale markets in Auckland. Pears particularly are coming forward in exceptionally heavy supply. It is expected that the season for stone fruit will be over in a fortnight. Burbank plum? are practically finished, but Satsumas are coming forward. A good many Gravenstein apples are being received, the quality generally being very good. There are not as many tomatoes on the market as in former years. Many nectarines, peaches, and some plums, particularly English plums, are affected by the disease known as "ripe rot."

London at the present time is not a very pleasant place in which to reside (states Mr. H. D. Robertson, of Auckland). The cost of living is enormous. There complaints of high cost in New Zealand, but people out here can have no conception of the prices ruling in England. It is an ugly fact that profiteering is rampant, the cost of manufactured goods being out of all proportion to the prices paid for raw materials. Shopkeepers in London must be having a wonderful time. The people generally have lots of money, and are spending it very freely. The exclusive trade of the West End establishments is, I was informed,, a thing of the past. The shops are now frequented ; by quite a new type of customer, whose daily idea is to buy, and who does not seem to care how much is paid for anything. "Fruit was at pheenonicnal prices, while we were in London. Peaches were fetching 3s to 4s each, and pineapples 20s apiece."

There is distinct evidence that thieves of an enterprising description are operating in some parts of New" Zealand (says the Wellington Post). At the Wellington races on Thursday, a man who went to the totalisator found that he was short of £45, which he had carried in a back pocket. Not so long ago a returned soldier had in his possession quite a fair sum of money in gold. He also had a cheque, and was successful in persuading the bank teller to give him gold for the amount. For purposes of greater safety, he obtained the seivices of a bank official, who put a safety pin into the top of the hip pocket that contained the gold. He boarded the train to Auckland, but loner before he got there he discovered that the safety pin and the gold had disappeared. In another case a man went to a Wellington bank to pay in the sum of about £6O. Most of it'was in notes, and there was also an open cheque on another bank. Before he could reach the teller he looked down at his consignment, and found that all that was left of it was his deposit slip He raced to the bank on which the open cheque had been drawn, only to find that it had been cashed a minute or so previously.

The Citizens' Band will give a municipal recital at Kawaroa Park to-morrow (Sunday) afternoon, at 3 p.m. The band will be under the baton of Mr Method, he having returned to town from Ins holidays, and an attractive programme of music will be submitted. A collection will be taken up for the 'band tunas.

The services in South Boad Methodist Uiurcji to-morrow will be conducted by the IRev. 11. L. Richards in the morning at li, and in the evening at 7 by the Eev. John Nixon. All seats free. The annual picnic in connection with the Puniho School is to be held in Mr. Bell's bush, Puniho Road; on Wednesday next. This is an ideal picnic spot, and as the people of the district r.re noted for their hospitality all who attend can be assured of an enjoyable time. A cordial invitatioil is extended t,o all, ladies being asked to provide a basket! In the evening a fitting wind up to the day's pleasure will be provided in the form of a dance in the Puniho School, the music being in the hands of Mr. Pearson, and the supper arrangements in tho hands of the Puniho ladies, both guarantees that they will be of the test. The New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency, Ltd., and Newton King wish to tidvise clients that the lamfbs they are offering; on account of Wilfred Perry Esq., at the Douglas sale on Monday, have been dipped.

The limit lias been reached. Fullgrown men have foregathered at Palmerston Ncpth to decide tlie croquet championship. What manly exercise for robust Britishers! A champion marbleplayer will be the next innovation.— Wairarapa Times. Marriage, it is said, is a lottery. A female complainant, who appeared at tho Wellington Magistrate's Court recently, said she was married eighteen years ago, and her husband had never supported her fince they were married. She had not even heard of him for the last eißht cr nine years, and did not know whether he was alive or dead. All she wanted was a separation order. It was granted.

In ihe Syrney Daily Telegraph of 23rd January last appeared this news item:—"The jiew retail rates for Australian manufactured tobacco came into force yesterday. Neither cigars, cigarettes, nor imported manufactured tobacco are increased in price." This fact makes interesting reading for New Zealand smokers, who are now paying an extra three halfpence an ounce for tobacco.

The welcome announcement has been made in Christchurch "that the price of meat jn that city has been reduced a penny a pound.. This (says the Christchurch Star) is the outcome of an agreement come to by the master butchers at Adduigton saleyards, and it is warranted by the present prices of stock. Durmg the period when stock values ruled so high, said a prominent butcher, Is per lb wag being paid for mutton on the market, and the best parts were ulti™i y ,<£ tailed in the the same price. Forequarters of mutton," continued the master butcher, "are a drug with us just now, and necks and breasts qfAw SfiU ' Peo P le don't want tradiL i ßef ' too ' are not easy trading—as the term has it, they are neglected. The majority of people tothe best cut—they don't uant the cheaper meat."

The Waiaii correspondent of a Christchurch paper relates a thrilling adventure with a bull on a country road. The otW iff Etr 7 cd from a Mn >ber °f other cattle, and evidently had become obsessed with the idea that it was his duty to charge all and sundry of his august presence. His first attack was upon a horseman, who was perforce obliged to give way, and it was probably through his wisdom in parading the road serioT 6 7 S + and warnin S traffic that senous accidents were averted. Two men, With horses and drays/working on the roadside, were the next to be favored with the bull's attentions. One man found it incumbent to take refuge rath J ; TV and T ° f t,le horses for tL h f' T gored ;. Hatl not been tor the before-mentioned horseman rid- ' 3 "P ln " , elos< : Proximity to the bull, yi drawing him off, much more serious damage would probably have been done. The storeman, doing his h«T 7 /v un j s '. was warne d to turn back, ]>ut he decided to cpntinue. When next seen he had turned back, and was driving at a fairly rapid rate. So, for the time being, the bull was left in undisputed possession of the road. The Melbourne's annual stocktaking sale has opened to wonderfully brisk bminws. The recent increase in priced together with the falling rate of change have awakened people to the need of buying largely while present pnees are reduced. The sale will run foi twenty-one days only.

Vairy Wonder" Cleanser is a good friend to the woman who has to do the household washing these boiling St "V y - SO w mg , tl,e e,othes overnight with Ffiiry Wonder the washing can of the dlv if before the real heat the day. If you are not a user ask your friends about it, or better 'still ask your grocer for a trial packet. ?nitw bßerVant Tailwa y m nn : snys about 2000 passengers and an equal number of sheep paifs through the Palmerston rth railway station daily. There appears to be plenty of demand for land in spite of the high prices and moving about the district, one karnt of many instances of offers, which make one wonder if the limit Wm eve" be reached (says the Hawera Star). On If £2M We WWe , told of an offer ot £2OO per acre for a farm of 100 acres, with nearly a third in™ sh pay metit. The offer was refused. Another instance is related of land which 21, st £175 acrc al most double the price for which it was sold about eighteen months a"o The b ory i S a 1.,0 to!d of a farner V ho so! a his farm at a very good figure, returning a good profit, but he finds that he canhot secure another place at anything f«rm ."'fT - 6 gaVe for his P rev!ous W \ ; ' s , makin g strenuous efi ! ni ? uc ?. tlle purchaser to sell the i!aH n •'*, - The P ro P er ties mentioned are all within ten miles of Hawera.