LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, 28 April 1921, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The mail train was about half an hour late in arriving at New Plymouth last night, the delay being caused by a breakdown of the engine south of Wanganui.

A considerable number of Maoris have been encamped on the chores of Lake Wairarapa, near Turanganui, of late, for the purpose of obtaining their annual Supplies of eels. The rector of St. Bede’s College has received a cheque for £lOOO from Mrs. Miher, of Hokitika, for the purpose of founding a scholarship to he held at the college. The scholarship is for boys of the West Coast.

The disposal of the haul of whiskey seized by the police in connection with the recent Mokau sly-grog case, has now been decided on, and 131 bottles of the confiscated liquor will be offered by public auction by Messrs. Webster Bros, in New Plymouth on Saturday. There has been a substantial drop In the price of cement in Wellington. The price recently quoted was £9 13s 6d per ton, but about the end of last week it fell to £7 19s. The Labor Department obtained a quantity at £8 per ton, this price including a certain amount of cartage. Supplies of cement are stated to be fairly plentiful at present.

It is hoped that there will be a good attendance at the opening lecture on Economics in connection with the Workers’ Educational Association on Friday evening. These classes are very popular throughout the Dominion, because they not only allow students to hear addresses by competent lecturers, but also permit free discussions (from all points of view.

James Patrick Flinn, rate clerk for the Hastings Borough Council, was arrested on Saturday afternoon, and charged at the Magistrate’s Court that, on March 11th, he did steal £34 12s 4d, the property of the Council. Accused was remanded for a week on bail, self in £4OO and two cureties in £2OO eacn. Bail was forthcoming. It is understood that the alleged defalcations amount to the vicinity of £460.

At the auction sales of fresh meat in New Plymouth yesterday the offering of one hundred and twelve lots was all disposed of at prices a little easier than at the previous mid-week sale. Legs of mutton brought approximately from 6d to BAd per lb, shoulders from 3d to sid, loins fid to 7d, forequarters of lamb 5d to 7d, hindquarters 6%d to 7d, sirloin of beef fid, ribs 5d to Gd, top-side 7d, rump steak 5d to B£d. Ox tails were sold for Is each, and kidneys for Gd. Colvin Harris was charged at the Hawera Magistrate’s Court yesterday before Mr. C. O. Ekdahl, J.P., with having, on April 25, unlawfully used, without color of right, a motor-car, valued at £2OO, the property of Arthur George Bailey. The accused was remanded till Tuesday, May 3. Leo Matthew Rogers and Eric Dadwell Rogers were charged with having stolen, on April 26, 181 b of butter, valued at £1 7s fid, the property of the Meremere Dairy Company. Both accused had been arrested by Constables Andrews and Mullen on Tuesday with the butter in their possession. A remand was granted till Tuesday next. —Star. Mr. G. Shirteliffe, a member of the Hospitals Commission, at Friday’s sitting of that body in Christchurch, commented on the fact that, although only the necessitous poor are admitted to the Christchurch Hospital, between 26 and 30 per cent, of the fees due are collected. He said that there was something in the Christchurch system that might be copied in other places. “It shows that even the necessitous poor, if properly handled, are able to pay quite a fair proportion of the fees,” he added. Mr. W. S. Wharton said that the fee was 8s a day, but it had to be altered in accordance with the patient’s circumstances. Some patients said that they should be charged no fees, but other patients wished to pay something.—Press.

Mr. W. S. Wharton informed the Hospitals Commission at Christchurch on Friday that some tirhe ago he entered into arrangements with an English merchant to buy £4OOO worth of cotton goods for the Christchurch Hospital. The goods were supplied and were placed in the Hospital Board’s stores for less than half what the board would have paid if it had bought the goods in Christchurch. They were received in Christchurch at an advance of 1 l / 2 per cent, on the manufacturer's invoice. He explained that the goods bore no duty. He gave the following comparison of prices of certain drugs locally and imported direct: —os 3d and 3s 9d, 8s Gd and Gs IOAd, 2s 9d and Is 3d, 27s fid and 21s 3d, and pills 10s fid per thousand and 2s per thousand.—Press, i

“The scheme of the homestead system is well adapted for the development and settlement of the large areas of secondclass land in the Auckland district,” sard Mr. Greville, North Auckland Land Commissioner, to a reporter on Friday, -when plans were submitted of an area of 11,000 acres between Riverhead and Kaukapakapa for the initial settlement under the scheme. “The regulations necessary to bring the Act into operation are almost ready for issue,” added the Commissioner, “and the block should be thrown open for selection shortly.”The Commissioner explained that the land was national endowment, and he understood that the board had no power to dispose of it unless provision was made for the* reimbursing of the national fund to the extent of the unimproved value of the land. A valuation had, by his decree, been made on a conservative basis, and it would not press heavily on the purchaser. It would be treated simply as an advance which would have to be repaid. The Commissioner went onto say that this condition would not apply in the case of Crown land which was not national endowment. The selector of such land will only be required to repay the amount of advances made for the development of the land.

The dried milk factory which is being erected near the railway station at Te Awamutu is progressing satisfactorily. Although the difficulties in obtaining supplies are not entirely absent, the completion of the building is advancing fast enough to ensure that it should he finished ahead of next season’s needs. The subdivision of Mr. D. Carmichael’s property, situated Devon Street, Fitzroy, into handy building sites, affords a splendid opportunity to anyone requiring a section for a home site. The sections will be offered by auction on Saturday, 30th inst., by L. A. Nolan and Co., on easy terms. Woods’ Great Peppermint Cure Comdis and Cojdff*. fails. 3