LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, 19 July 1920, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The deaths of 24- persons who succumbed to influenza were registered in New Zealand last month, and of these 23 were five years and over, and only one under Ave years of age. Sir Francis Bell, Commissioner of State Forests, stated in Christchurcli on Saturday that the Government has under consideration a school of forestry for the Dominion at Canterbury College. The fixed dates of the Waiwakaiho 'bull fair and a special sale of Jersey female cattle at Waiwakaiho sale-yards appear in our advertising columns under Mr. Newton King's heading. It is three years to-day—July 19, 1017 —since the Bussians collapsed under the weight of the German attack, aifd the whole aspect of the great war was changed.

Nearly £12,000,000 has already be>n spent in purchasing private land for soldiers, and' repatriation in its various forms has absorbed over £18,000,000. According to last Thursday's Gazett:, the population of the Borough of Ne-.v Plymouth for the month of June w.xs estimated at 9,820, and for the remainder of the suburban area 1231, making a total of 11,051, the proportion of deaths being 1.36 per thousand. At Lyttelton at midnight on Saturday, Albert Steele, of Auckland, completed one hundred hours' continuous piano playing, thus breaking the world's record made by Albert Baker, at Sydney recently, by one hour.—Press Association. There was a big <-!\rding of pigs at Mr. Newton Kins' 'aymarket, New Plymouth, on Sa'timi;',/. 'Weaners made 265, small stores 28s (Id, 31s, 335, 35s (id, 3*fe (id, 39s Cd; good stores, £2 7s, £2 7s Od, £2 8s 6d. A sow in pig realised £9 10s. Some produce mershants in Timam, in view of the plentiful supply of cheap potatoes and the certain shortage of wheat before the next harvest reaches the mills, suggest people should at once begin taking more potatoes and less bread to economise in wheat.—Press Association. The waterfront at Moturoa presented a very busy appearance yesterday, there being an unusually large number of people there, taking advantage of the touch of spring winch provided a pleasing week-end. Interest was evinced in the liner Kumara, and two interesting sailing vessels now berthed at the wharf, and large numbers inspected the vessels. The housing difficulty in New Plymouth was placed before the authorities in Wellington last week by Mr. S. G. Smith, M.P., who urged greater speed in the construction of homes under the Government scheme. Mr. Smith told a Daily News reporter last night that fresh tenders will be called under new conditions, which are "likely to induce contractors to tender," but these conditions cannot be revealed yet. The whole of the leasehold properties of the D.H. and P.G. (in liquidation) a Tonga, were sold by public auction in Nukualofa on Wednesday. The properties consist o? leaseholds from the Government of Tonga, upon which the German firm had established its trading stations.j Advice has been received from the auctioneer that the properties realised £71,000.

It is reported that there is at present a big conference of bookmakers in Wellington devising means of counte.'aeting the political plans for their extinction. They have gathered a mass of information in reference to racing matters generally, and it is rumored that they propose publishing a statement which will be read with avidity by patrons of the turf from one end of New Zealand to the other.

The total births registered for the four metropolitan areas amounted in June to SC3, as against 703 in May, an increase of 127. The deaths in June were 403, a decrease of 23 as compared with the previous month. Of the total deaths .males contributed 221 and females 182. Sixty-six of the deaths were pf children under five years of age, being 16.38 per cent, of the whole number. Fifty-seven. of these were under one one year of age. . At a meeting of the Elthara Public Library Committee on Friday, Mr. K. Gibbings was .appointed librarian and secretary. It was decided to open a subscription list on behalf of the library, the opening of the circulating library being fixed for August 3. Mrs. Symes, with Messrs Tiplady and Bridger, were appointed a selection committee, and Mrs. O. J. Hawken was elected to the library committee. At Saturday's meeting of the Stratford County Council the ranger reported that a bullock belonging to a firm of contractors had died on one of the roads, and had had to be buried by a surfaceman. The Council decided to make a charge of £1 for doing this work, and also authorised tho engineer to instruct'*the ranger to impound any horses, bullocks, or other stock found on the road, which were a nuisance to the public. , Several councillors cited instances of contractors' bullocks being a nuisance on the roads, and the opinion was cxpresesd that the contractors were taking advantage of the Councils' leniency in this regard.

In a circular to New Zealand customers a leading firm of British manufacturers and warehousemen says: Tlie position re the supply of goods is unchanged; prices show no weakening whatever, and latest reports confirm the opinion now generally held that they must soon remain stable for some co.isiderable time, and when they do recede, the decline will be almost unnoticeable. The demand is insatiable, cotton is in short supply, wool has declined approximately 20 per cent., but makers' supplies remain unaltered, machinery is very short of requirements, while the hours of labor have been shortened with no corresponding decrease in wages. The American Government's estimate of the cotton crop is that it is only 62.4 per cent .of normal. It is feared that a serious shortage of labor will interfere with the gathering of the crop.