LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, 28 December 1920, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The Manuka, with 120 passengers anil mails any'ed at Wellington .esterdny from Svdnev.

A Pre- i .', suciatiuii message from Tiinani rujjiii'i.-i splendid rain lor nearly 24 Hours from raid-day on Sunday till yesterday morning. farmers wiil rejoice over T/ie rain, as saving the late corn and the root crops. A happy feature of tin- holiday season in Taranaki haw been the absence of accidents. The superintendent of the New Plymouth public hospital (Dr. E. A. Walker) stated last night that there had been no casualty admittances over the Christmas period, the district being remarkably free from mishaps. During the festive season the patients in the New Plymouth Hospital, and inmates of the liangiatea Home, were not forgotten, the people in both institutions being treated to a share of cheer as is customary, and other efforts were devoted towards brightening Christmas of 1920 for them.

The steamer Arawa, which berthed at Auckland on .Sunday from Southampton, brought ,'JOO immigrants to New Zealand, including 2(1 domestic servants. The newcomers all seem to be a line type. During the voyage Captain R. I-I. Bell, a retired army officer, died from bronchitis, aged 59 years.—Press Association.

Major Burton, who has just returned to Wellington, states that the roads between Urenui and Te Kuiti are rough in places. Mount Messenger, formerly a terror to the motorists, is now being metalled, and should be finished this summer on both sides. The Tauraatamaire hill, north of Awakino, is also exceedingly rough in spots, especially on the Auckland side, but in the AVaitomo country, Major Burton found the main road excellent. Ecally the worst part of the whole journey was the Rangiriri Hills, near Auckland.

• On Friday, just after midday, an elderly Native, Tamati Nopera,' met his death as the result of a fall from a load hay, which he was parting on the farm of 'Mr. W. A. Jennings, at Henwood Road, Bell Block. He was seen to fall from the top of the load, and he expired in a few minutes. Others "engaged in the vicinity immediately investigated, hut the deceased had evidently sustained a broken nec-k as the result of the fall. An inquest was held nn Saturday before Mr. 11. R. Cattley, .J.l'., and a'jury of five, the finding being- that death 'was due to an accident, no blame being attachable to anyone. Xopera, who was a laborer, was about sixty years of age.

"The discharged convict should receive what aid and encouragement we can give him to obtain suitable employment, ete., and redeem his character," says Commissioner O'Donovan in his address to the Police Force of the Dominion, just, promulgated. At the very least the police should place no obstacle in his way A delicate and difficult question arises, however, when there is conflict between the interest of the man and the interest of the public Such a question may arise, for instance, when a convicted thief obtains employment, say, in a hotel where many travellers are'aecommodaled. V\'haf should the police do? Should a hint of his character be given to his employer? The result would be instant loss of employment. The' action of !he poiiee, often falsely alleged, in suoli cr:=cs has been so unequivocally condemned that it is deemed to be best to let things take their own course."

A gig accident, in which the Rev. W. J. Gow, of Remuera, had a remarkable escape, occurred in the Maungaturoto Gorge last Sunday. Mr. Gow, who is a retired Presbyterian minister, accompanied by Mr. McMillan, was driving from AVaipu to fulfil a preaching engagement at Maungaturoto, when the. horse, shying luully, hacked the vehicle over a steep cliff some JSOft high. Mr. Gow was unable to jump clear, and went over with the gig,' which apparently remained in an upright, position un-1 til near the thrown out. but scrflb broke his fall, and he escaped with a few bruises. The horse and gig landed in a few' feet of mud and water, and sustained little damage. Mr. Massey, whose sense of duty compels him to spend many weary hours in the Houses listening to.,uninteresting and often unimportant debates, will learn with envy of the means adopted by his brother Prime Minister, Mr. \Y. M. Hughes, to know what goes on in the Federal House of Representatives ['without being actually present (says an exchange). In brief, something like a magnified dictaphone is being lixed up to enable him to sit at ease in his private room and hear nil the hard things his opponents may say of him—or not hear them, if he so chooses. In the Houso a voice receiver, resembling a gramophone horn, will be installed, which will be connected by wires with a '•voice amplifier" in the Prime Minister's room. Mr. Hughes will not have to listen as one does at a telephone—the sounds will be sufficiently intensified as to be audible throughout'the room. The chief charm of the arrangement is that it can be made uudi'ble or dumb at the will of the listener, a priceless advantage when one of the recognised bores of the House is on his legs

"Cold-hearted, unemotional science ims condemned Father Christmas," states the Age. He is pronounced a. menace to public health, not because of his whiskers, hut because of Ins playful hab : ts. Small boys and girls, who are making their annual excursions through the won" tiers of fairyland, will hotly contest the point, but, if they are to save their beneficent patron, they will have to educate him in the (dements of modem approved sanitation, At present he 's a grave otiender, and the cold, inquisitorial eye that is always on the look.mt for germs, sees in him and his doinas gvave danger to the youngsters who delight in his antics. 'The question was raised recently by Dr. Cumpston, Commonwealth Director of Quarantine, who si.id it had been noticed that K.ither U'ristmnscs as a class and street pedlars who trad., in whistles and other i oise-producers, are in the habit o» -\- ir,t: a demonstration of the capae ; :/of thiir war:'s ly blowing them themselves, and then handing them immediately to the juvenile purchases to "hpve a try.'' He said ho could not conceive of a more dangerous practice .Many forms of disease could be communicated in this way, the vendors being innocent carriers, who had no means of knowing what germs fhev might be passing on. He expressed the I opinion Ihat the State health authorities should insist on the abandonment of the practice.

Artificial aids are unknown in the production of Camroc—a Dry Ginger Ale made from an original Belfast formula. It is made from the finest ginger root and pure water—one trial will convince. Test Camroc Dry (iinger Ale—it's the bust All Hotels and Stores.