LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, 5 March 1920, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The Stratford election petition, will be .heard on March 15 by 4he Chief Justice and Mr. Justice Chapman. It k probable, states the Star, that the Hawera veterans will accept the invitation to join their New Plymouth comrades in welcoming the Prince of Wales. The quarterly meeting of the Taranaki Licensing Committee, summoned for noon yesterday, dispersed without transacting any business, the only matter for consideration- being held over until the annual meeting ill June. The Phmkei Fete at Hawera on Wednesday proved a great success, the gross takings amounting to over £IOO, for Which the Society will receive £IOO from the Government. The chief attractionwas an exhibition of. Swedish drill given by boys from the Salvation, Army Orphanage. • ,- „. The sale is reported of premises be- 1 longing to. the National Bank of New. Zealand, at the corner of Queen aim Wyndham streets, Auokland, to tluSank of Australasia. The purchase pricfe is £122,500. The present building isf-ot: brick with three stories, and has a front-: age of 133 feet to Queen Street and 103 feet to Wyndham Street, Regarding the record price of wool at Fcilding, the manager of the Hawke's Bay Farmers' Meat Works says he bought three hales of half-bred lamb wool in New Zealand for 24fd a pound which sold in London last November for He also bought four bales of half-bred sheep wool which sold in London on the same date for Sfti/gd. The report of Mr. Justice Stringer ou behalf of the Board which recently inquired into the salaries, wages, and conditions of employees in the Railways Dei partment is now in the hands of the General Manager of Railways. Mr. Mas£ey stated yesterday that it would probably go before Cabinet to-day, and after that lie intended to release it for publication.—Press Association. At a meeting of the Patea Borough Council this week (the Press reports), a. letter was received from the Minister of Internal Affairs, suggesting that a combined reception be tendered the Prince of Wales at Hawera instead of ljaving 10 minutes' stop at Patea and have 25 minutes at Hawera. This was treated by the chairman as an impertinent suggestion, and was voted out unanimously. A man, who was charged in the New Plymouth Magistrate's Court yesterday with being unlawfully on licensed premises after hours, gave his occupation as that of an engineer, but in reply to the Sub-Inspector of Police, said he had not worked for about three years. When asked if lie was not a bookmaker, he demurred at answering the question at first, and then said he did not know thare was such a profession as that of bookmaker. The Magistrate said he was fortunate to be able to live without working, to which the witness replied he was an independent gentleman. Three transports, bringing home what is understood to be the last men of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force aboard, are now on the water. The Athenie, with draft No. 303, comprising 30 officers, one nurse, and 230 other ranks, is due at Wellington this afternoon. The nest vessel will be the Tainui, which is due at Auckland about April 2. She is bringing draft No. 304, comprising eight officers and 1 00 other ranks. The Corinthic, with draft No. 305, is due at Wellington about April 0. Her draft is a small one, consisting of four officers, one nurse, and 47 other ranks.

I ■ The Auckland Hotel and Restaurant J Employers' Union has filed a claim for [ increases in wages totalling over one hundred per cent, in some instances. At present waitresses get 24s per week and meals. Under the new claim 27s Od is asked, with an extra 7s 6d for lodgings and 4s for washing, making £2 9s per week. Another 12s is wanted if meals are not supplied by the employer. Head waiters want £3 per week, ordinary waiters £2 15s. A manageress wants £3 and head waitress £2 10s. Three pounds per week is asked for oyster-openers.

The Prince of YW.es Will not have time to distribute the 18,000 1914-1915 stars, which hays' been earned by New Zealanders, was the statement made by the general officer in charge of administration, General ({. S. Richaa-dson, at a meeting of the Auckland Returned Soldiers' Association. These decorations, he added, will probably be in the hands of the men before the Prince arrives. The secretary, Mr. K. I'. Andrews, commented on the poor quality of the stamping on the stars, remarking that the work was similar to that on identification discs. General Richardson agreed that engraving would be better than stamping, but he declared that the latter would delay the distribution for years. A new version of an old proverb was given at the New Plymouth Magistrate's Court yesterday, when Mr. T. A. B. Bailey remarked that it was evidently "the early bird that catches the horse,'! The remark was prompted during the hearing of some oases in which a number of settlers were charged with allowing horses to wander on the roads in the County of Taranaki. The county ranger (Mr. Ben. Tippins) said, on the particular day, lie had found twelve horses on one road, and counsel suggested that the ranger had got out there too early, to which Mr. Tippins replied that the only time lie could get them was the early morning. The Whiteley Church Young Ladies' Bible Class held a garden party at the residence of Mr. and Mrs. Percy White, Mangorei Road, yesterday afternoon, for the purpose of raising funds for the support of a native teacher'in one of the foreign mission stations. There was a nice gathering, and from the stalls and competitions the sum of about £lO was raised. A number of those present took advantage of the tennis court, which afforded a. groat deal of pleasure. Others were entertained with musical items, and altogether a very enjoyable time was spent. Before the visitors dispersed, Mrs. .). T. Griffin, leader of the class, expressed the thanks of the members to Air and Mrs. White for placing the grounds at their disposal. The Melbourne, Ltd., have a nice display of ladies' new silk and crepe de chine blouses, also a fine range nf ladies' longcloth knickers and . camisoles, of splendid quality, and prettily embroidered. Prices, as is usual with-ibis firm, arc well under competitors—quality for quality. In connection with the FarmSS* Cooperative Society's Puniwhaknu £&£& Fair and Cattle Sale to-day, cars WHI leave the auctioneers' offices, Regan Street, Stratford, between, 2$ «ad 10.S0 this morning.

At a special meeting of the Palmer' stem North branch of the Women's Christian Temperance Union, preliminary arrangements were made lor holding a bazaar in March, for the purpose of raising £'looo to establish a home for destituto or homeless children, It is also intended that the home shall give temporary relief to families whose mothers, through sickness or other causes, are unable to attend to their children.

Some time ago a poultry farm. was established in connection with the Cashmere Military .Sanatorium for the purpose of training inmates, who desired to take up this brunch of farming upon thoir discharge from the institution isays the Lyt'telton Times). The farm, which is situated between the military sanatorium and the King George's Home, has proved a great success. At present twenty-one men are receiving training on it. The other, day a deputation from the Canterbury Repatriation Board waited on Major Aitken (officer in charge of the sanatorium), to inquire whether it would he possible to extend the farm so as to cover instruction in fruit, and beo farming and nursery gardening. There is plenty of land adjoining the poultry farm, and Major Aitken told the deputation that he thought the extensions could . be. made.

In these days' (says the Manawatu Times) when there is a tendency for everybody to lean on everybody, and the whole lot to lean on the Government, and when the, theory is being promulgated that it was only in the old days that grit and merit found adequate reward, there is room for shining examples of the other kind of thing. It is to be found right here, on the spot. Two Palmerston hoys are at Victoria College. They are the sons of fairly well-to-do parents, but they have decided that if the world's an oyster thoy will do the opening. So they have made a practice of filling their vacations in useful employment. They argue that a change of work is as good as a spell; and twice as healthy. For a time they were in the harvest fields, then they heard that good money was to be made cutting paper in the Times office, and they served a spell at that. With a few weeks to spare, and with accrued energy from their exertions, they have secured a job as bench loaders in a flaxmill. To do this it became necessary to join the Flaxworkers' Union. They did'that, too. One of these boys has earned £45 since the middle of November, and a lot of valuable experience has come to him ..with the coin, with a fair measure of "roughing it" thrown in. We don't know what the other has earned, but, like his mbte, he is bronzed and muscular, and full fit for all the tasks of life. These boys will .take back to the College arena added forces with which to excel in the battle of life.

Opossums have curious habits. Some years ago there was quite an outcry from fruitgrowers on the West Coast against the depredations caused by these pretty little animals,, and wherever they showed themselves to be a nuisance the Wellington Acclimatisation Society secured _ warrants authorising their. fa? struction in defined districts. Since then little has been heard of the. opossum as a destructive agent. Experience has proved them to be creatures of a peculiar habit. In an orchard, say, of a hundred trees, they may attack 10 per cent, of them, biit though the others are heavily laden with fruit they will not be touched. The animals will resort to the same trees every night. It is illegal to sell opossum skins In Wellington, yet there have been occasions when men have been paid so much per head by a Government Department to thin them out on Kapiti Islandwhere they are not protected. On one occasion a man who had been so employed actually called on the secretary of the Wellington Acclimatisation Society (Mr. C. I. Dasent> to inquire where he could dispose of the skins in his possession. Mr. Dasent said that he could probably inform him where such skins would be purchased, but warned him that if he sold them he would be prosecuted.

In regard to the present shortage of labor for construction of hydro-electric plants, a prominent Wellington engineer stated that the whole point was that it was well worth while to pay a good ■ man a good wage. So long as the capital cost showed that in a certain number of years, with energy supplied at a certain rate, the plant would pay for itself, wages were a minor factor. The thing was to keep the men on the job satisfied that they were getting a square deal. Moreover, there were a great many ex-Army and Navy men, trained it! the handling of materials, men, and machinery—proverbially handy men—who would help to form a team, who would put the job through in record time, provided they were given the chance to cam good money and had prospects of continued employment on other works of a similar nature. As energy became available, large opportunities would open up for the employment of men so trained on installation and maintenance work, and in carrying on various small industries themselves, wherever cheap and convenient power was available.

An important meeting of the executive of the Taranaki Agricultural Society is to be held in the secretary's office at eleven o'clock to-morrow morning.