LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, 16 June 1921, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The Auckland Presbytery approved the recommendations of the Assembly’s committee favoring a union with the Congregational Church. It is anticipated that fully a dozen farmers’ KJonferences will be held in Palmerston North during winter show week this month.

Wellington is shortly to have a Chinese newspaper. The paper will be called the Man Sing Times. The first number is to appear on July 11, and the paper will contain news of affairs in the East and also a record of events elsewhere.

Decision was given at the Hawera Magistrate’s Court, on Tuesday in the case of J. F. Condon (Te Roti) v. the Egmont Racing Club claim for the value of an overcoat stolen from the club’s, cloak room. Mr. Orr Walker, S.M., held the club to be liable, and gave judgment for £6 6s, plus costs. The cost to the Taranaki Hospital Board during the year ended March <3l, 1921, for district nurses was as follows: Egmont Nursing Association, £211; Uruti Nursing Association, £l9l. The number of cases attended by the Opunake nurse was 219, of w.h'ich 6 were, maternity; and by the Uruti nurse 72, of which 3 were maternity. “It is a notorious fact that the children of this town are liable to sickness,” said Mr. M. Fraser, the chairman of the Taranaki Hospital Board, in the course of a discussion at yesterday’s meeting. Mr. Fraser added that there were forty children in hospital at present, and there were, seldom less than this number.

Newton King, Ltd., invite entries for a sale of dairy heifers at Urenui on Monday. July 11.

Reporting to the Taranaki Hospital Board on. the working of the public hospital in May, the medical superintendent (Dr. E. A. Walker) stated that six cases of diphtheria and eight of scarlet fever were under treatment during the month. He was glad to say all were of a mild type. Amongst the articles taken from the bed of the harbor in Auckland by the suction dredge is a cannon ball 61 lb in weight, which was drawn through 800 feet of pipe to a height of 37 feet. Other articles obtained were 13 florins rusted together, a silver coin of the reign of William IV., and some Martini Henry cartridges, which were placed in a fire and exploded. Application was made to the Taranaki Hospital Board by the secretary of the United Friendly Societies (Mr. H. R. C'attley) asking that the board reduce its charge for children under 14 years of age from 6s <id per day to 4s 6d. It was decided to refer the revision of the friendly societies’ scale to the finance committee, who will present their report to the next meeting of the board. '

The Taranaki Rugby Union, at its meeting last night, decided to ask the borough councils in Taranaki to observe Saturday, July 23, as a half-holiday, on the occasion of the Taranaki—South Africa match at New Plymouth, in view of its importance as an international fixture. The matter of special trains was also discussed, the opinion being expressed that there would be fully 10,000 present at the match.

The newly-discovered goldfield on the Alexander River, in the Inangahua district, continues to excite great interest. It is interesting to note that it is called after a cattle dog named "Bull”, owned by the prospectors, one of whom, Mr. McVicar, was hunting cattle one day at the foot, of the ridge where the gold reef was discovered, and “Bull” had a few animals bailed up against the bank. When his owner went in after the dog he picked up a quartz specimen containing gold, and it was from this beginning that the reef was eventually traced to its position on the ridge hundreds of feet above.

In pointing out at a conference at Wellington regarding the city’s milk supplies, that the farmer had his labor troubles, Mr. F. J. Ryder (Otaki) said that the sharemilkers—four men and a boy—on his property last year drew between £l2OO and £l5OO as their share of the milk cheques. This year, however, they had turned the proposition down as not offering sufficient inducement to stay on. They were not required to milk by hand, but used maShines, which he himself had installed. Another farmer present said that in the Kairanga district one family milking on shares drew £l5OO for the year, and then refused to renew the contract on the same basis.

The distribution and sale of electrical energy was referred to by Mr. R. H. Bartley (New Plymouth borough electrical engineer) during his address to the Employers’ Association last night. He said the commodity sold or distributed was made and delivered at the moment of use, and it was the users only who controlled the rate of manufacture. The charges for electrical energy were based on a “load factor”, ■which was simply the ratio of the maximum load to the actual output of the system in a given time. The number of horse-power on which a lighting account is based is the highest reached during the quarter, and which has remained so for a period of twenty minutes or longer at any one time. Th* larger the consumption the less the cost per unit. This system was fair to the bulk consumer, and emphasised the principle of a consumption of a minimum amount of power over a maximum number of hours.

An interesting and instructive 'paper on the principles underlying the generation, transmission and distribution of electric current was read to a meeting of the Taranaki Employers’ Association •last night by Mr. R. H. Bartley, electrical engineer to the New Plymouth Borough Council. In the course of his remarks, Mr. Bartley said every engineer who is called upon to advise as to the feasibility of a proposed hydro-electric project must carefully consider, not only the engineering problem involved, but also all financial aspects of the scheme, for the entire commercial success depended on its financial feasibility. It appeared to be fairly common belief that any water-power development would be or should be profitable, as the undeveloped water is a waste of energy. This was not necessarily correct, and it was often discovered by engineers after large expenditure that their scheme could not be developed at a profit, as unforeseen expenses often arose in hydro schemes. It was often the case that a steam-driven electrical plant of a certain capacity could be installed at a lower cost than a hydro scheme. On most rivers it was almost as expensive to develop a small amount of power as to develop the full capacity of the stream. At the conclusion of his address Mr. Bartley was accorded a vote of thanks.

A big selection of new fiction has been placed on the shelves of the New Plymouth Public Library recently. Among these books are the following: “The Portygee and Shavings” (J. C. Lincoln), “Guile” (Headon Hill), “A Reckless Puritan” (Mrs. Rickard), “Oh! Joshua” (Taff rail), “This Marrying” (M. C. Banning), • Joan and Co.” (F. O. Bartlett), “Parnassus on Wheels” and “The Haunted Book Shop” (C. Morley), “The House With the Golden Windows” (J. E. Buckrose), “The Heart of Cherry Mcßain” (D. Durkin), “The Green Bough” (lE. Temple Thurston), “Tatterdemalion” (John Galsworthy), “Prairie Flowers” (J. H. Hendry). “The Breathless Moment” (Muriel Hine), “The Thread of Flame” (Basil King), “Color Blind” (S. P. B. Mais), “The Eye of Zeitoon” (Talbot Mundy), “A Case in Camera” (O. -Onions), “Adam of Dublin” (C. O’Riordan), “Imprudence” (F. E. M. Young), “'Glen of the High North” (H. A. Cody), “Heroes in Homespun” (J. L. Waugh), “The Mesa Trail” (H. Bedford-Jones), “Dead Man’s Gold” (J. L. Dunn), “The Foaming Foreshore (S. A. White), “Paradise Bend” (W. P. White), “Leave it ■to Doris” (E. Hueston), "Australian Tales of the Border” (W. McGuflin), “A Man for the Ages” (Irving Bacheller), ••Johnny Kelly” (W. S. Boyer), “Hidden Creek” (K. Burt), “Puritan and Pagan” (E. F. Corbett), “The Valley of Silent Men” (Curwood), “Spendthrift Town” (H. Hudson), "Mary Marie” (E. H. Porter), “The Eve of Pascua” (R. Dehan), “The Old Man’s Youth” (Wm. De Morgan), “The Root of All Evil” (J. S. Fletcher), “Three Bears” (Carpenter), “Swamp Breath” (R. Simpson), and “The Purple Heights” (Marie C. Oemler). Ladies in need of corsets cannot do better than inspect the fine stock of D. and A. Corsets at the Melbourne, Ltd. There, is a fine range to choose from in models to fit all figures. Pricey range from 13/6 to 25/-. ...zes 20 to 34

An epidemic of boils seems to be prevalent in Palmerston North at present. A sufferer from this painful malady informed a Times reporter that he had cured himself of the complaint by taking a table-spoonful of yeast night and morning. Yeast “net” is not a pleasant beverage but like many another useful remedy, the taste is the worst part of it, and it performs valuable service.

Referring to the disbursement of charitable aid, the annual report of the Taranaki Hospital Board states: Outdoor relief has cost the board £928 during the year, being £74 more than last year. This increase is made up by increases in rent and amounts paid to other boards for relief granted to a Tariki family. It is pleasing to record that provisions show a substantial decrease, which means that relief which is actually under the control of the board has been less.

With a revenue of £28,650,496 last year, the Storey (Labor) Government ended with a deficit of £1,659,517. They blamed their predecessors (the Holman Government) for that. But, in April last, after collecting a revenue of £24.627,290 (a million more than their predecessors collected in 1919, their last complete year of office, when they closed with a surplus of £214,768) the Labor Government had a debit of £4,592,148, and, as already stated, its prospective deficit at the end of this month is certain to be not less than three millions and probably four millions.

There is a threat of price-cutting from an unsuspected source. An Auckland writer says: “In some departments the position is somewhat demoralised by offers from Australia at low rates. * The Dominion is inundated by travellers from Australia, -who are offering Bri-tish-manufactured goods at prices far below cost. It is more profitable to do this in New Zealand than in their own country, as they can take advantage of two tariffs. When once they have decided to cut thehr loss they export to New Zealand, getting the full drawback of duty originally paid when the goods arrived, perhaps a year ago. When the goods arrive here they do not pay the same duty as New Zealand importations, which pay advalorem on the cost in England, but they get in at the lower rate on the price ruling in Australia.” How three kittens have been receiving a musical education is described by a Daily Mail correspondent. "These three kittens,” he says, "were born in a room where a grama-phone is played almost daily, having lived in this room ever since, they have grown up in an atmosphere of musical comedy, Liszt and Chopin. When about six weeks old the kittens began to show a distinct interest in what was being played. When the gramophone was silent they sometimes climbed to the top and looked into the" doors. The effect of the different records is very interesting. If a tune with a strong rhythm is started one or more of the kittens will make obvious efforts to keep in time. There are a few tunes which they seem to like so much that they will climb up to the instrument and sit as near as possible to it. “Is it possible,” asks the correspondent, “to train animals further in musical education?”

It is scarcely a fair thing (says the New Zealand Times) to carry the campaign in search of income tax revenue into the cemeteries. A demand has been shown to us which suggests that this is actually being done. The demand in question is upon a . man who has been in his grave for ten years. The Department has been content for nine years to leave him unmolested, but in face of the financial emergency that has arisen, it has now been moved to exemplary activity. The Department requires from the man who has been dead ten years the .sum of £7 10s for tax payable and £ll 5s for special war tax, making £lB 15s in all. But this is not all. There is a penalty clause which is being strictly enforced upon the individual in the cemetery notwithstanding that he has hitherto had no demand served upon him. He is commanded, in addition to the £lB 15s already mentioned, to forward an additional 18s 9d by way of fine, because he did not pay up on the due date. The document is convincing proof of the searching efficiency of the Income Tax Department, what bothers us is just how the Department contrived to discover that the man who passed to another world ten years ago earned an income of £6OO in the last twelve months.