LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, 9 July 1921, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The supply of school books and stationery to school children at cost price, as proposed by the Education Department, was supported by the Canterbury Education Board yesterday, and it was decided to compliment the Minister of Education on the stand he had taken. —Press Association.

A shortage of sugar exists in Taranaki at present and nd supplies arrived by the Rarawa from Onehunga yesterday. The New Plymouth agents for the Colonial Sugar Company have received advice, however, that a quantity sufficient to meet requirements will be brought by the Rarawa on Tuesday. A consignment of 75,060 particularly good eyed rainbow trout ova arrived in New Plymouth by the mail train last night. The ova comes from the Government hatcheries at Rotorua for the Taranaki Acclimatisation Society, and will be placed in the hatcheries in Pukekura Perk to-day. A consignment of 200,000 eyed brown trout ova from the Hakataramea hatcheries will come to hand in a week’s time.

The Otago Labor Council passed a resolution protesting at the Government inaction in not preventing the monopoly exercised by the Colonial Sugar Company. The resolution adds; “In spite of the official disclaimer the effect of the Government negotiations is that the Dominion distributors, if they imported the Java product, incidentally reducing the price of sugar £l2 per ton, would be boycotted, which is tantamount to the prohibition of the import of Java sugar by a recognised distributor.

Mr. Ellicott, of Hamilton, who has just returned from a visit ; to England, said that he obtained a good deal of information re the handling and distributing of our meat. He went to the wholesale city market, and through Armour’s, Swift’s, Vesty’s and other exporters’ warehouses. Our mutton, said Mr. Ellicott, was at that time retailing in the shops at Is 4d, lamb was Bd, New Zealand butter 3s Od, while eggs were bringing 6s a dozen. English-killed meat was extremely high. He saw fat cows sell at £65 per head. Scotch lambs £5 15s, and wethers £6 ss. Most of the New Zealand lamb had a good appearance, though Australian looked very inferior to ours. Old stocks held in store for nearly two years, however, somewht blemished the reputation we held for good meat. As regards beef, he did not see anything to equal the Argentine. Irish cattle were shipped alive to England very freely, and Canadian cattle were also coming over alive and being killed at the Birkenhead abattoirs *on arrival.

Particular interest attaches to the road from Kawhia to Pirongia on account of a story relating to Sir William Fraser four years ago, and greatly cherished by the Pirongia Chamber of Com* merce (says the Auckland Herald). It is authentically recorded that when in a happy moment Sir William trusted himself in that locality, the driver of the vehicle received explicit orders to give the Minister all the bumps and twists possible at every gully crossed. It was a severe ordeal, and when speakers at a subsequent dinner appealed to Sir William for pity owing to the shocking state of their main road, he granted it, together with a £4OOO loan, without hesitation, and the road was metalled two months later.

A vivid glimpse of conditions in the famine-stricken provinces of China is given by an Aucklander, Mr. Gerald Wordsworth, writing to his relatives. Writing from Shan Hsien, Shansi Province, he says:—‘Tt is all famine-strick-en through here. People have died, by thousands, but we are keeping them alive now, though you can notice the whole population sinking through undernourishment. Dreadful things happen in China in normal times, but in famine it is awful; all the young girls have been sold, for instance, and all girl babies have been, and are still, being killed. We are making all the able-bodied men work building roads, and in return they get food for themselves and their families.” A little later he says:—“At Pingting Chau we stopped two days with the American Methodist Mission, which is superintending the famine relief work, and it is a fact that without them and their knowledge of the language and locality there would be but very few Chinese alive to-day in the Shansi famine districts. This is the third year that they have had crop failures.”

Governor Gordon, who ruled over New Zealand in the later ’seventies, was credited with being austere, domineering, and unapproachable by ordinary humanity. Shortly after his arrival in New Zealand he commandeered the Government steamer, under the command of the late Captain Fairchild, for a trip round the coast. The first morning out from port the Governor came on to the upper deck, when he was saluted by the captain (who had a pronounced North American accent) in his usual free and easy style by remarking, “Good morning, your Excellency,” and followed up with some comments respecting a foreland a short distance ahead. Ilia 'Excellency replied, “Sir, when you have any communications to make to me, be so good as to do so through my aide-de-camp.” No further exchange of compliments followed that day. On tue following day, however, his Excellency ventured ito ask a question of the captain, who was not slow to retaliate with the remark, “If your Excellency has any communications to make to me, be so good as to do so through my chief mate,” Needless to say, no further communications passed between his Excellency and the captain during that voyage. The report of the Maori Mission Committee for the year ended March 31, presented to the Anglican Synod at Wellington, says: “In reviewing the work of the Diocesan Maori Mission during the past year the first event which seems to call for notice is the resignation of the Rev. A. O. Williams, who for thirty-six years superintended the work, for the first part of the time in the Taranaki, Wanganui, Rangiti-kei and Wairarapa districts, and for the past 17 years in the whole diocese. It is not for the present superintendent to give an estimate of the value of his work. Suffice it to say that when the late superintendent began his work the mission was still suffering from what seemed almost like the death-blow of the Maori wars. In the whole district lying between Palmerston and New Plymouth there were only four places where the natives would tolerate a Christian service; and it is not too much to say that the fact that for the past twenty or twenty-five years regular services have been maintained, and the Lord’s Supper administered to companies of confirmed communicants, in the thirty different settlements lying between Patea and Palmerston, is mainly the result of his work. The extraordinary mana which he acquired amongst the Maoris throughout the diocese has helped to make up for many deficiencies on the part of the present superintendent.”

The charge for admission to the intercollegiate match at Hawera to-day will be Is, stands Is extra, and ladies and boys half price. All players and supporters of the soccer game are notified to attend a practice match at the show grounds to-day at 1.45 p.m. sharp. Railway arrangements in connection with the international football match on Saturday, 16th instant, are advertised in this issue.

The demand for good grade Jersey cows is shown by the fact that a herd of 35 advertised in the Daily News promptly changed hands at £25 per head.

For the convenience of country people coming to New Plymouth by motor car for the Springboks—Taranaki match on Saturday next the Taranaki Jockey Club lias consented to the use of the New Plymouth racecourse for the parking of cars on that day. A coastal correspondent writes stating that there is no truth in the statement referred to in our Pungarehu correspondence that xne Newall Road dancers were being closed owing to hooliganism at these functions.