LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, 4 September 1920, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

What has been looked upon as a landmark p.t Fitzroy—the old pound—has been demolished and will be re-built at a site near the intersection of Normanby Street and Clemow Road, on the banks of the river. A further rise in the price of tobacco is recorded in New Plymouth. An advance, has been made in Capstan of roughly 2d a tin, and in Yellow Three Castles of about 3d a packet. That other standard brands of tobacco and cigarettes will also bo affected seems a foregone conclusion. An increase in the Northern Steamship Co.'s freights was reported iu yesterday's Daily News, and the advance affecting New Plymouth is now .announced. From September lan advance will operate in the freight from Onehunga of 4s a ton. The breakwater charges have been increased by the new railway tariff to fls 4d per ton for town goods. About twenty permits for the erection of houses are being taken out in New Plymouth monthly. In tho opinion of the Building Inspector, this number about keeps pace with the normal expansion of the town, and in no way relieves the shortage caused by the practical suspension of building of dwellings during the war. The loading of the Home liner Otarama at Waitara is proceeding apace, the work being favored with excellent weather (writes our correspondent). It is expected she will get away to-morrow. Tiie next liner to arrive in the Waitara roadstead will be the Leitrim, which is due about the end of September. The spring flower show in St. Mary's Hall, New Plymouth,-was brought to a conclusion yesterday "afternoon, when satisfactory patronage was accorded the function. • The tastefully displayed exhibits made a sight appreciated by all visitors. Further displays were made by Mr. Besley (narcissi), Mrs. Wade (anemones), Mrs. Owen (camellias), and Mr. R. Cock (assorted bulbs).

Spring holidays for th« primary schools in the Taranaki district commenced yesterday afternoon, and they will resume on the mtfrning of Tuesday, September 14t)i. The New Plymouth High Schools' second term vacation commenced last week and the pupils will assemble again on 20th inst. (boys) and 21st. inst, (girls' school). Private schools also closed yesterday for their vacation. 1 There will be two overseas vessels coming to New Plymouth towards the end of next week. The C. and D liner Port Alma will leave Sydney today for New Plymouth direct, being due here about next Thursday to commence loading produce for Home. The West Camargo, which recently arrived at Auckland with case oil from San Francisco, is due at Wellington on Monday, and from there will come on to New Plymouth, but the exact date of her arrival is not yet known. The question of the transference of properties between the Cliftou County Council and the Whangamomona County Council was before the Clifton Council yesterday, when the clerk of the Whangamomona Council notified that lie had been instructed to arrange a conference between delegates of the counties to discuss details in connection with the arrangement of boundaries, and he suggested that the conference should be held in Stratford. The chairman and Cr. Kenningion were appointed to meet representatives of the Whangamomona County Council at Stratford on September ,14th. Mr. D. C. Bates, Director of the Meteorological Office, is visiting New Plymouth on business connected with a proposed extension of the weather-fore-casting service. During the war, the work of the office was Restricted for reasons of economy, but there are now so many demands upon it —in connection with hydro-electric development, shipping, agriculture, forestry, etc.—that a forward move is to be made. A shortage of instruments has to be made good, and the work throughout the country generally has to be co-ordinated. After his visit to Taranaki, Mr. Bates will go to other parts of the North Island. Further results of the Trinity College of Musie examinations held at New Plymouth are: —Rudiments: Miss Muriel A. Pearson (Convent), and Miss Nellie L. Wilson (Convent). Grammar of music, division one: Miss Mavis , A. Weston (Inglewood), and Miss Tui , £, Weston (Inglewood). There are NORTH BRITISH 501.2 D TRUCK TYKES for every Truck. Form-a-trucks, Ford one-trucks and every kind j of runabout. Giving the world's best ;

The new automobile telephone installation in Hamilton was brought into public use on Sunday morning, when everything wqjfked satisfactorily. September Oth. is the tercentenary of the sailing of the Mayflower from Plymouth for America.

"What New Zealand requires are more trained nurses, not more inspectors to prowl round baelc yards," was the comment of the Mayor of Cambridge at a meeting of the Council of tlie Borough during a discussion on the proposed amendments to the Health Bill. A Wauganui resident states that a few days ago he; received a letter from a friend in Manchester, and the latter stated that at the time of writing fresh meat was being retailed at 3s per lb., and there was every possibility of it being increased to 4s. Another departure into industrial enterprise is contemplated at VVanga.nui. At the last meeting of the Council the Works Committee reported that the Borough Engineer had been given instructions to at once proceed with the making and burning of a trial kiln of 50,000 bricks with a view to demonstrating' the advisability and practicability of municipal brick-making.

It is not often that a mere m:u> is palled upon to decide whether a lajy's costume fits or not (says tlie Dominion) but the lot fell to Mr W. G. Riddell, S.M., in -Wellington, when a claim came before him regarding an evening dress. Counsel for plaintiff suggested that the plaintiff should put on tlie dress and let his Worship judge for himself. On thie being done considerable amusement was caused through the request of the plaintiff for some-one to go out and "do up the back." The girl subsequently appeared in the evening dress, and strange to say, was followed by one of the officials of the court!

"A great deal has been heard with regard to profiteering: during the past .year or two," Mr. ,T. G. Herdman, president of the Canterbury Chamber of Commerce said 011 Friday night. "I cannot see tba,t any good has resulted or is likely to result from prosecuting in the case of sales of one individual article. The only fair way to ascertain where the profiteering has been going on is to take the net result of a business concern for a term of, say, twelve months. Now that the war is over, let us {ret back to normal conditions as quickly as possible, and let the law of supply and demand prevail. No permanent good will result now from too much Government interference, although while the war- was in progress, we must admit, in the interests of the country, Government control in some . cases was desirable." A correspondent of the Ilawera Star writes: -«■"[ do not often write to the press, but I 1 bought it may inteiest your readers to know why there are so many strikes, or stop-work meetings: (as the waterside workers call them). I happened to be on the Wellington wharves a few weeks back, when oil 3 of the men produced a small pocket microscope and examined a crate of cheese 011 which he discovered some tiny mites. All hands were told about it, and they decided there and then to strike work and stop everything until another sixpence per hour was given them. I know one of the men and asked him why thov were always holding up the work of the port like that, and he told me that if they worked right 011 steady their wagos would get too hig. They had to stop two or three times each week or they may be called 011 to pay income tax. Now, what do you think of that?"

"Another busy day was experienced at the port of New Plymouth yesterday. The Kittawa and the Atsuta Maru No. 2, were discharging their carg&es of eoal, and the Rimu, which arrived at 7 a.m. from Onehunga with passengers and 100 tons of general cargo, sailed again in the afternoon on her return to Onehunga. The Arapawa was expected to arrive yesterday with a shipment of explosives, but word was received that she had been delayed at Onehunga, and should noiy, reach here early this morning. The Kittawa may get away late ta-night and the . Arapawa may also sail this evening for Wangaimi. The Japanese steamer will be in port over the week-end. An example of street beautifying is now under way on a vacant piece of ground on Carrington Road, at the junction with Courtenav Street. On a spotadjoining the Workers' Hall a number of shrubs have been planted and some tree ferns and cabbage trees will also be put in, adding considerably to ' the' appearance of'the surroundings. The work has been under tTie direction of the New Plymouth borough engineer (Mr. VV. 11. Cook). A similar undertaking will be carried out on the section at the corner of Egmont and St. Aubjp streets, opposite the railway station, and the carting of earth, as a preliminary to the planting of the shrubs, has been commenced there.

"Wharf Labour," writing to the Dominion, says: ''For many years I was a free man, but. now I am a slave—body and soul. Like the spider and the fly,' in the first instance 1 was hypnotised into the union web, a web that has now become shackles, and has completely deprived me of all my former liberty. Knowing that the tlnions are swarming with spies, one has to keep one's mouth closed, for if any man were so foolish as to openly complain of the slavery of unionism, he would be regarded by the 'bosses' as a traitor, and, sooner or later, he would suffer as such. Our law, by compelling us to join the unions, has handed us over to the tender mercies of the extremists, and as we are compelled to obey orders, we do many things that we are heartily ashamed of. Do we want to go siow? Do we want to strike'/ Certainly not. All this miserable state of affairs can be altered at once, and if the Government would take a ballot to-morrow 'and ascertain our views with regard to compulsory unionism they would find that two men out of every three of us would thank God, and immediately free ourselves from slavery." »' The N.Z. Loan and Mercantile Agency Co., Ltd., and Newton King., Ltd., draw attention to their Kohuratalu sale on Wednesday next, Bth September, at 1 p.m. Full particulars on page 8. The Stony River horse fair, advertised for 15th inst., has been cancelled, The Waiwakaiho horse fair has been postponed until Thursday, 16th inst. We would draw the attention of dairymen to the sale of Mr. J. Atkinson's herd by the Farmers' Co-op., on Friday next, the 10th inst. The cow? are a splendid lot of young Jersey and Jersey-Shorthorn cross cows with very high average test. The horses are in splendid fettle and are a credit to their owner and the breeding sows are very valuable. Now that the grass is making a start, farmers should seize this splendid opportunity to procure a few top-notehers to improve their herds. The implements are in first-class order, as iB jywxtWsK «k?. -