LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, 28 April 1920, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Permission to erect stalls in Devon Street on May Bth., "Apple Day," was granted to the Pukekura Park Board by the Borough Council last night. The necessity for repairs being made to the footbridge across 1 the Huatoki River, between Oarrington .Road and Brougham Street, was brought before the Borough Council last night. The engineer : ..'ported that the bridge had been repaired two or three times during the last nine months. Instructions had been issued to make the bridge as 'safe as possible, but he suggested that it should be replaced by a concrete culvert. In the meantime, repairs will bo made. It is the intention to give the visiting children tea at the Park on Friday on the occasion of the visit of the Prince; flnd the Park Board has made an appeal by advertisement for the loan of coppers for the purpose. There has, however, been no response, six or eight are wanted, and Mrs. Burgess asks us to_ make a special appeal to the public. Wi.l those who can loan their coppers for the day please get into touch with Mrs Burgess or Mr. Stainton, the Board's hon. secretary? Mr. G. H. Bullard, Commissioner of Crown Lands, desires us to explain that in speaking to our reporter on the question of the temporary curtailment of advances to soldiers for the purchase of land and houses, that he was only offering his own private opinion on the possibilities of the meeting of Parliament and the making of new appropriations. Naturally he had no authority to speak officially on the matter, nor liad he any knowledge of the date of the meeting of Parliament. In yesterday's issue a paragraph in the "local" column of the News made Mr. S. G. Smith, M.P., appear to have said at Inglewood on Friday night that lack of unity among the Taranaki members of Parliament had hindered the progress of the province. Mr- Smith states that what he said was that lack of unity and a spirit of parochialism among the different communities had militated against progress, and that un- i til this sort of thilig was sunk in the common interest of the people of the whole province there would not be the progress that should take place. The question of municipal councils being empowered to undertake commercial enterprises for the purpose of reducing the cost of living was brought before the New Plymouth Borough Council last night by the Gisborne Borough Council, which asked for support for the following resolution: "That the Government be written to asking them to have the necessary legislation passed this coining session of Parliament giving municipal councils the power to deal in commercial enterprises for the purpose of allowing the' publio to obtain goods at a reasonable price in order to reduce the cost of living." The letter was received. A good story is told by a New Plymouth police constable in connection with the collection of agricultural statistics. When the occupier of a farm is absent at the time the officer calls, a form is left to be filled in and called for at a later date. In one of the columns a reply is asked to the questions "Is the occupier a full-blooded, three-quarter-caste, half-caste or quart-er-caste Maori?" One of these forms was left by the officer concerned at a certain farmhouse, and when he called for it, he found written in the column above referred to just the word "Irish." Amongst the speakers announced to speak at the opening ceremony of the Workers' Social. Hall, New Plymouth, to-night, the name of Mr. Robert Masters, chairman of the Taranaki Education Board, is mentioned. Mr. Masters states that there was evidently Some mistake, as he had been advertised to speak previously to getting the invitation to attend. His time was fully occupied at present speaking at two meetings each evening, and he had advised the Workers' Council that he could not give an address. A small Ngaere dairy farm for sale 011 very easy terms is advertised on page one by W. H. and A- McGarrv, Eltham. An urgent meeting of the Vogeltown Progressive Association is called for 7.30 this evening. Men, wear an English hat on the occasion of the Prince's visit. The Melbourne has a good line of pure felt hats all British make in King brown, nutria, nickel, and black shades at 29a 6d. They are stunning value. The N.Z. Loan and Mercantile draw attention to their Matau sale to-mor-row (Thursday). Full particulars of entries will be found on page 8 of this issue. Old residents of New Plymouth, Stratford, Elthain, and Inglewood, wilt remember McKenzie's Safe Cloth Cleaner when it was on the market many years ago. The preparation is now again obtainable at New Plymouth, Stratford, Elthain, and Inglewood stores, and will no doubt meet with a ready sale. Over twenty years ago McKehzie's Cloth Cleaner was a household word, and the thrifty housewife of to-day cannot do better than emulate her sisters or bygone days by using it, An announce, oient with reference te this pveparayon appears elsewhere. i'\>r bronchial Coughs, tafos 6m* Gw, \{% a/9.

The cement shortage is ftcute in Wan-' ganui, where several building contracts are held up and many men rendered Idle in consequence (says a. Press telegram), At a meeting of master builders last night, it was pointed out that Wanganui liad been treated unfairly by the Board of Tra.de in the matter of cement allocated to the district, the last consignment having come to hand on March 7. "We are right up against it," was the remark of Mrs. C. H. Burgess when asked by a News representative yesterday as to the arrangements for the feeding of the children at the Park on Friday, Mrs. Burgess went on to say she had not had any response whatever to her appeal for coppers in which to boil water and make tea. Several portable coppers are required for this purpose, and unless they are forthcoming immediately it looks as though the effort to provide this convenience for "the children and adults in the Park will have to be abandoned. Speaking at the Wellington Regiment re-union at Palmerston North, on Saturday evening, Brigadier-General Hart said that it was very fitting that the reunion should have been held at Palmerston North, as it was there that the Regiment had mobilised in 1914 at the camp at Awapuni. Here it received its first lessons in discipline, sanitation, and the other essential things that a soldier should learn, under Colonel Malone, its first commander. It was Colonel Malone who had done so much to show them the way that they should go, and It was largely owing to his influence and guidance that they were able to do so well later on. Referring to the great fights in which the Regiment had participated, the speaker said he did not think any troops during the war had had to stand what the Wellington Regiment did on August S and 9 during the Gailipoli campaign. They went into the light 770 strong and came out with a roll call of 70. Of the casualties 388 were either killed or missing. This would be a terrible blow to any regiment, and it showed what a grounding they ha 4 in the early days of the war, that afterwards the regiment was able to pull together again without being utterly demoralised. An apple and chrysanthemum day is the latest proposal for the £IOOO Pukekura Park fund, and contributions of apples far this effort are earnestly solicited and may be left at Mrs. Burgess' rooms, in the H.B. building, Devon Street Central.