LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, 11 June 1920, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The New Plymouth branch of the P. and T. Officers' Association has a membership of 143. The Customs duties collected at New Plymouth last year amounted to £BO,231. Following the four chief ports came Napier with a total collection of £135,762 then InvercargiH £102,898, Waneanui £87,383, New Plymouth £80,231, Gisborne £63,478, Timaru £54,309, Nelson £32,283.

"I have ample evidence that there is profiteering going on in the sale of certain school books, and the Government should be urged to control the supply of school books and sell them at a uniform and reasonable price," remarked Mr. K. G Sage at yesterday's conference of Taranaki School Committees.

"If we* are not training farmers in Taranaki we are at least training farmers' wives," remarked a delegate, in supporting a vote of thanks being accorded the domestic science mistress and the pupils, who had provided afternoon tea for the delegates present at the Taranaki School Committees' Conference yesterday. Vnd that's far more important/ remarked another member, amidst laughter.

The lack of uniformity in the school books used in the different education districts was discussed at yesterday's conference of Taranaki School Committees. On behalf of the Tokaora School Comm"ttee. Vera, Mr. B. G. Sige moved: "That this conference re-afhrms the oesirability of establishing uniform school Zl throughout the The opinion was expressed that somej. ig should be done in the direction ot «eurnTttniformity, and a suggestion was Khat the 7 School Journal be enlarged and converted into a text book. The remit was adopted unanimously. The Melbourne are in receipt.of cable information that the price of women's Sr goods must g?ve up all inmuflt aw immediate drop

The hookworm is developing its hold in Queensland. This disease produces low mentality, dwarfted physique, and completely destroys sexual development. Of 17,000 people examined in Queensland, 25 per cent, were found to be infected.

A Ponsonby woman who omitted to lock the door of her residence when leaving it on a slopping expedition one day last week returned to find that some person or persons had entered and taken £ls from a handbag. Whilst rabbit shooting on his section at Mataikona, Wairarapa, a returned soldier named Harry Grant accidentally received a Charge of shot in his right arm. The limb was shattered so badly that when he was brought into the Maaterton Hospital, it had to be amputated. The Farmers' Co-op. Society offered for sale by auction, in the Hawera Winter Show buildings recently, on behalf of Mr. R. Lambie, senr., 345 acres, 'situated at Piharaa. The land was offered as a whole and also in three lots, but the bidding failed to reach reserves, and no sale was effected at auction.

It is stated that in Canada and the States the annual expenditure on patent medicines is £40,000,000, and on public health and disease prevention less than one million. It would be interesting to see the corresponding figures for New Zealand. No doubt they would be proportionately startling.

A somewhat sensational occurrence took place at Ashhurst a few days ago. A little lad, son of Mr. John Currie, was found hanging by the neck. The little chap had climbed a tree, and evidently had fallen. Having his school bag over his shoulder when he fell, it had caught in the tree and tightened round his neckHe was in this position for some considerable time before being found by his sister. He was then quite blue and almost strangled. A correspondent of the Gis'borne Timc3 writes:. "By the last trip of the s.s. Waimate from Home I had a bicycle sent to my boy as a present. The bicycle co-st £3 10s in Glasgow, freight and insurance to OJisborne were £5 17s 6d, and charges at this end were £2 lis, making the

landed cost £ll 8s Od for an article that cost £3 10s. Is it not time the tribunals commenced looking to the shipping companies to solve the problem of the high cost of living?" Speaking at Wellington on the growth of population, General Birdwood said that nothing pleased him more about Australia and New Zealand than the

large numbers of sturdy children. He mentioned that lie had met in, Tasmania a man who had no fewer than 170 grand-children. This man's sons had all been too old to take part in the war, but his descendants had provided a strong; contingent. He had met in Queensland a woman who could boast o£ having had five children in sixteen months, first a pair of twins and then triplets. The Rev. Charles Edmund Luton, Baptist minister at Crumlin, was at Pontypool committed for trial, without bail, charged with embezzlement from the Ministry for Pensions and forgery. Mr. Lyne, representing the Public 'Prosecutor, said Luton was a voluntary distributor of the Prince of Wales' and other war funds, and distributed supplementary separation allowances for the Ministry for Pensions. Defalcations discovered so far amounted to £2OOO. His remuneration as a Baptist minister was 27s 6d weekly. ' In his annual report to the Wellington City Licensing Committee, Police Inspector Mcllveny referred to increased drinking by women. He said: "There had been a marked increase in the number of women who were seen drinking in the

hotels of the city, some of the women being accompanied by children of tender years. In the course of his recent inspection, he saw several instances where males and females were allowed to congregate and .mix together, drink together, and remain together in side rooms much longer than was, in his opinion, necessary for the purpose of obtaining reasonable refreshment." When speaking at Marton recently, Mr. P. Pirani stated that this would be his last year as Chairman of the Wanganui Education • Board. One fact he said he was proud of, and that was that the Wanganui Education Board had the best school buildings and the best system in the Dominion. "Who should get tbo best support from the Treasury?" continued Mr. Pirani. "Some say the Pos; Office; some say the Defence Department with its nice big glass house in Wellington. I say emphatically the children should get .the best support. They are the hope of the future. What's the good of wasting your time with the old fellows? They have had their day, they are done for."

A considerable amount of discussion took place at yesterday's conference of the Taranaki School Committees' Association on the question of making agriculture; a compulsory subject of primary education. Mrs. Cuthbert (Pembroke Road School) moved two remits urging the importance of agricultural training in primary schools, and asking that every boy or girl who sits for proficiency or competency examinations should be required to qualify to the extent of 00 per cent, for the former and 40 per cent, for the latter in agriculture. Mr. Cuthbert claimed that the land was deteriorating through lack of knowledge of the farmers. The remit met with opposition from practically all of the delegates, the general opinion being that training in specialised subjects should be confined to the secondary schools. Eventually, on the suggestion of the chairman, Mrs. Cuthbert agreed to hold the remits over until the next annual conference. At yesterday's conference of Taranaki School Committees, the president (Mr. S. G. Smith, M.P.) referred to the fact that Mr. A. J. Morton, senior inspector for the Taranaki education district, was retiring after 44 years' service with the Department, as teacher, master, board secretary, and latterly as senior inspector. On behalf of the Association, he wished to thank Mr. Morton for all ho had done in the past on behalf of education, and to wish him all success and happiness for their' future. A resolution to this effect was carried by acclamation, and Mr. Morton, in replying, remarked that the school committees ha.', been of very great assistance to him in hU work as inspector. ' Mr. Chas. Stuart, of Te Roti, is retiring from dairying, and will sell, on Monday, his splendid herd of 74 dairy cows, etc. Particulars appear on the auction page-

To make and keep clothes snow-white without rubbing or boiling, and without the aid of extra soap, use "Fairy Wonder" washing ' powder, the finest household help yet discovered. Ask your friends about this wonderful new household help. It is simply marvellous. All grocers stock if. For Influenza, take Woods' Great Pepuermint Cure, Is 8d and. 2s gd, I

A Gazette announcement shows the arrivals in New Zealand (luring May exceeded the departures by 353. The arrivals included 97 Chinese, and the departures 53 Chinese (says a telegram from Wellington).

At the householders' meeting, held in

the York fechool on June 7th, the following committee was elected:—A. Frost (chairman), A. Potroz, M. Ryan, F. Lane (secretary), and J. Potroz. Four of the outgoing committee did not seek re-election, viz., J. Dombroski, J. Newstrowski, B. Crosskey, and A. W. King, One of the oldest buildings in Auckland is now being removed from the situ on which it has stood for nearly 80 years. This is Acacia cottage in O'Connell Street, off Shortland Street, the first Auokland home of the late Sir John Logan Campbell. The building was erected in June, 1841, on a section purchased by Sir John (then Dr. Campbell) and his partner, Mr. W. Brown, at the first Crown sale of town allotments, which was held on April 19 in the same year. The upset price of the land offered was £ 100 an acre, but it realised about £550 an acre.

A Maori youth at Waihi, who posed as a "humorist," will probably stand in. tlie prisoners' dock charged with a somewhat serious offence. It appears that he secured some gunpowder, which he placed on a piece of paper, and then set fire to the paper and told two wondering companions to watch it go off. He then decamped. • The boys remained close to the gunpowder, which subsequently exploded right in their faces. The youth then returned and advised the boys to go to the beach and wash their faces iu salt water,

which they did, witlrdisastrous results. A proposal to induce the Government to remove the duty on children's footwear was embodied in a letter from the Hawera Borough Council, read at yesterday's meeting of the Clifton County Council. This suggestion was made with a view of affording some measure of relief to parents during the present abnormal times. If the duty of 6d per par and 15 par cent, additional were removed the comparative cost of footwear for a child of 12 would be equal to infant footwear, which is admitted into the country duty free. Clifton endorsed the proposal.

During the discussion on the question of agricultural training in primary schools at • yesterday's conference of Taranaki School Committees, the chairman (Mr. S. G. Smith, M.P.) said there was a good deal of misapprehension in regard to wha>t was being done in agriculture, but the Minister of Education, when he recently visited Taranaki, had been astounded to see so much being done in that subject in the Taranaki schools, ahd had admitted that the Taranaki Education Board was doing

more in that direction than any other

board in New Zealand. At the same time it was not the aim of the board to teach agriculture thoroughly in the primary schools, as 1 it was a matter iot the secondary schools.

A tribute to the work of the Salvation Army was made by Mr. M. Fraser, chairman of the Taranaki Hospital Borfrd, at yesterday's conference of contributing local bodies. He said the Board was un-

der a very deep obligation to the Salvation Army, which took a good number of difficult f'ftses out of the Board's hands. It was not generally known the extent of the Salvation Army's work in New Plymouth, and he wished to publicly express the Board's gratitude to them for their very great assistance. What can be done by patriotism and a

little self-help has been well exemplified during the building of a small school at Paraketu, near Waimiha, in the Ongarue district. Six 'settlers assisted with the work of carting timber, etc, and erecr.ing the building, their time in connection therewith totalling 59J hours. On the return in the ease of each man, as sent in to the Board, the charges due were marked "nil." Messrs. Webster Bros, are selling a big consignment of potatoes and onions at their Mart to-morrow.