LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, 31 May 1921, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

This year’s annua] collection in New Plymouth for Dr. Barnardo’s Homes amounted to £136 12s 9(1. Mrs. Dock rill (lion, secretary) wishes to thank all the ladies who kindly assisted her with the collecting. Nominations for the vacancy on the New Plymouth Borough Council close to-morrow. So far the only nomination is that of Mr. R. A. Large, who retired through a technical disqualification, but who is now eligible for re-election. There will be no late night for shopping in New Plymouth this week. At a meeting of employers yesterday it was decided that the King’s Birthday be observed on Friday, and premises will close at the usual hour on Thursday. At last night’s practice of the New Plymouth Citizens’ Band it was decided that the band attend the Thames contest in October next. Some twelve or fourteen solo players handed in their names as contestants, and also two quartettes and a trombone trio. Apparently there is no shortage of cement at the present time, as 1000 tons of Golden Bay cement will be arriving at New rlymouth shortly, and another 500 tons at Patea. The first shipment of 500 tons will arrive by the steamer Opua.

So great has been the decrease in the supply of cream to the factories in this district during the past few weeks (says the Feilding Star) that it is feared there will be a shortage of butter in the winter. It is not expected, in this district at any rate, that the milk flow will commence to increase again til] early in August, so that, unless the Government can purchase from the Imperial stocks in the Dominion, butter may be scarce for a pouple of months. The much-discussed question of protection as against free trade was exhaustively treated by Mr. J. A. Fros- . tick, of Canterbury, in an address to the Dunedin Manufacturers’ Association. Touching on the present financial stringency, Mr. Frostick said it was brought about, not so much by the fall in the value of wool as by the fact that we had imported £40,000,000 of goods more than we needed, and. money being locked up in bonded goods and not available for development. He strongly advocated ‘home industry, pointing out thkt in the case of New Zealand-made articles the country retained both the purchased article and the money that had been expended in its making, whereas, if such an article were imported, the money was lost to the country and went to build up other nations. A further drop in prices of British linoleums, floorcloths, and passage runners is announced this week by the Big Store, Waitara. These reductions are temporary, as prices may rise again. I Save while you may. See page 4

Retail booksellers in New Zealand are said to be alarmed at the proposed establishment by education, boards of stores for the supply of school requisites.

Whangarei is to enjoy indoor sports of an unusual kind. The Town Hall has been let for an evening carnival at which chopping and sawing contests are to take place.

It is reported that the native ngaio tree has been blooming in profusion in the Hawera district—an infallible indication, according to the Maoris, of mild weather.

The Mercantile Gazette points out that there have been several further declines in prices in Wellington, some of which have been of a substantial character.

The Now Plymouth Harbor Board’s dredge Paritutu sailed for Wellington yesterday afternoon, where she will undergo her annual inspection and overhaul. Mr. G. B. Lowson, the board’s engineer, proceeds to Wellington by the mail train this morning to supervise the work. There are 315 miles of formed roads in the county of Patea, but owing to the scarcity of good metal in the county, practically all the metal has to be railed from outside the county, and as a result there are only about 70 miles of road, including the main road, that have been metalled.

The prices of sheep vary in different districts. At Hawke’s Bay a line of sheep was sold at, 5s fid per head. At Feilding one man who last year paid 26s per head for a line of good twotooth wethers, last week bought a fairly large pen in the same district for 9s. At Pahiatua sale, fat wethers averaged 14s 6d; in Taranaki, 12s; and nearer Wellington, IGs.

Sunday was the seventh anniversary of the wreck of the Canadian Pacific Railway Company’s steamer Empress of Ireland, which was sunk in the St. Lawrence River shortly after starting on a voyage from Quebec to Liverpool. The liner .collided with the Norwegian collier Storatad at night in a dense fog, and sank in fourteen minutes. The disaster resulted in the loss of 1032 lives, only 432 of the passengers being saved.

The liner Waimate, now loading produce for overseas at New Plymouth, is expected to be ready to sail to-morroAV afternoon, and heri berth, will be taken by.the Tregarthen, which has been lying off the harbor since early on Sunday morning awaiting a berth. It is hoped to have the Tregarthen’s cargo of 500 tons of phosphates discharged in time to allow of the immediate berthing of the Port Victor, which is due from Melbourne on Sunday to take in 31,000 freight carcases of frozen meat. Following closely on the Port Victor will be the Waitomo, a vessel of 4214 tons gross register, with a cargo of coal from Newcastle to discharge.

“In my opinion,” said a station manager to a Napier reporter, “we are now entering on one of the worst winters that has been experienced for the last twenty years. There is no growth for the winter, the country is very baje and stock are very poor all through the district. Frosts are coming pretty regularly now, and there will be no more growth unless we get a warm "Qin, which ifj rather unlikely now. This has been the third dry season in succession, and it is the worst, because it has come at the most inopportune time of the year.”

“The present depression is probably one of the best things that could happen to New Zealand at the present time,” said Mr. R. F. Bollard, M.P.. speaking at the opening of the Raglan Winter Show. The country, he added, had lost its seif.reliance, and had been leaning on the Government for every little thing it needed. The people were now being forced by necessity to help themselves, and the sooner they were made to stand on their own responsibilities the better for everyone concerned, and Lhe sooner would normal conditions be restored. A meeting of the Park Tennis and. Croquet Club (New Plymouth) was held last night, about a dozen members, presided over by Mr. A. Ambury, being present. The matter of laying down new courts and lawns was considered, and after discussion it was decided to proceed with the laying down of a new court, and also a new croquet lawn on the club’s grounds. The matter of holding a tennis , and croquet ball was also considered, and it was definitely decided that a ball lie held some time in July., and a strong committee of about 33 members was set up, with Mr. L. Williams as secretary, to make the preliminary arrangements. Members were of the opinion that the date of the annual meeting in October was too late in the season, and the next annual meeting wa's fixed to take place during the last week in September.

“It becomes more patent every year that to provide sport throughout Taranaki one big acclimatisation 1 society for the whole province is essential, so that the importation of suitable game to the altered conditions pertaining to Taranaki could be carried out,” states the Stratford Acclimatisation Society’s annual report. “There is little hope of the small societies being able to do what is necessary in this direction, on account of the cost. Without going deeply into the matter, it would appear that the scarcity of quail and pheasants is mainly attributable to the want of cover on account of the felling of the bush, and it would 'seem necessary toimport such game that would thrive with little cover, and, in the swampy lands. Sportsmen with some knowledge of the matter hold the opinion that snipe and woodcock would be suitable birds for acclimatisation in Taranaki. Both these birds do best in swampy country. The importation of snipe has proved up to the present impossible, because of the fact that the birds do not well stand oversea journeys. Woodcock may possibly be better travellers, and enquiry in this direction is very desirable.”

The management committee of the Taranaki Rugby Union has apparently *liad a long-standing “grouch” against Eltham, from which it is only now recovering (says the Eltham Argus). Although Lliliam folks have always been keen followers and supporters of the game, t’.ie authorities have not seen fit, during the last fifteen years at least, to arrange a single representative match at Eltham. Quito recently, however, the Eltham Progress Committee took this matter up. and their efforts have seemingly met with some little success. A letter has been received from the management committee of the union stating that the matter will have its consideration, and if Hawke’s Bay visits Taranaki this season the fixture will probably be played nt Eltham, There is no better football ground in Taranaki than Taumata Park, and the union will be rewarded with a big gate on the occasion of this innovation, should it be decided upon.

Abram, “Shop by Post” Chemist, New Plymouth, will mail any Photographic goods. Our speciality is Developing and .Printing. Mail us your film.

A Hamilton gentleman, who is on a visit to France, writing from Paris, states that although £1 is worth about £2 6s in French money, it costs about £6 a day to have anything like a good time in Paris.

In future the whole of the fencing posts used by the Lower Hutt Borough Council are to be made of reinforced concrete. The engineer reported to a meeting that a small batch of eight which he had made had cost only each more than wooden posts could be purchased for. “The police in New Zealand are fo high honor and integrity,” said Mr. W. H. Bundle, S.M., when replying to a welcome extended him at the Grey mouth Magistrate's Court. They were at all times fearless in the execution of their duty, and without favor. To meet the greater portion of a certain part of its expenditure this year, the Auckland Hospital Board proposes to issue debentures to the amount of £20,000, and to offer them to the public in sums of from £2O to £lOOO.

“Fishing during the past season 'has been favorably commented upon by license holders, but there is nothing to be gained by the society shutting its eyes to the fact that poaching is very rife in the district,” states the annual report of the Stratford Acclimatisation Society. “Members of the society have from time to tifce reported cases of poaching which have come under their personal observation, but when asked to appear in Court in support of a prosecution by the society they have objected to give the necessary evidence to secure a conviction. The suggestion is made here that members of the society should pledge themselves to give information ofpoaehing cases observed and to further give evidence when such poachers are taken to Court by the society. Were it generally known that members pledged themselves to give evidence as suggested poaching would, in the opinion of your executive, decrease. Unfortunately poaching is not confined to fish, but extends also to game.” Judgment for plaintiff by default was given by Mr. C. R. Orr Walker, S.M., in the following cases in the New Plymouth Magistrate’s Court yesterday: William Seamark (Mr. Et'herington) v. Poi Wharepouri, £2 3s, costs £1 ’2s 6d; same v. Puhi Tamatea, £l2, costs £3 Is; CEgmont Boot and Shoe Co., Ltd. (Mr. A. Bennett) v. A. Schultz, £3l 2s 7d, costs £1 10s; Whites, Ltd. (Mr. Bennett) v. Arthur J. Hill, £6 10s, costs £1 10s fid.; Duncan and Davies, Ltd. (Mr. R. H. Quilliam) v. James Michie, £2 8s 3d, costs £1 13s 6d; George Hall (Mr. Bennett) v. Arthur Cooper, £lB, costs £2 16s; Whites, Ltd., v. B. L. Hamlin, £2 14s 2d, costs £1 7s Cd; W. C. and C. H. Weston (Mr. Billing) v. Taranaki Motors, Ltd., £33 5s 2d. costs £4 Is Cd; C. H. Furness and Co., Ltd. (Mr. Billing) v. Mrs. Jones, £3l 2s Sd, costs £4 Is Cd; Nixon and Nixon (Mr. Anderson) v. J. C. Rowe, £35 18s lid, costs £4 6s 6d. The New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Co., Ltd., wish to draw clients’ attention to their Matau sale, which they are holding in their Matau yards on Thursday, June 2, at 1 p.m Full particulars of entries will be found on page 8 of this issugr Those contemplating going for a trip long or short can be suitably equipped with proper travelling gear at the Melbourne, Ltd. Attache eases, week and suit cases, brief bagis, kit bags, motor trunks, cabin and overland trunks in fibre cane or leather, in stock at reduced prices.