LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, 25 July 1921, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The Hawera Borough Council is to pay casual labor 14s per day. Permanent wages are to remain as at present meantime.

An exhibition of war trophies is to be made at Hawera and New Plymouth in September. The exhibitions will include a German, Turkish, and Greek section, a German aeroplane, shells, foreign uniforms, war photographs, etc. After being laid up in the Thames for several months, the Discovery, the ship built for Captain Scott’s Antarctic expedition, was being refitted last month, and is believed to be going to the Kara Sea in search of furs.

A gentleman who has recently arrived in New Zeali nd from Honolulu informed a Wairarapa Ag*e reporter that quite recently 35,000 United States troops were sent to Hawaii, where a strong army base has bee'n established. Sittings of the Conciliation Council Will bo held at New Plymouth to-day to deal with the dairy-, factory employees’ dispute, qnd the .hide, grain and manure workers’ dispute. The Conciliation Commissioner (Mr. ’ T. Harle Giles) will preside.

The continued absence of rain is causing agriculturalists and pastoralists anxiety (says a telegram from Gamaru). The weather has been cold and threatening, but very little rain has fallen. The winter is the mildest for years, and willow trees are already bursting into leaf. Archdeacon Evans is entertaining members of the New Zealand Veterans’ Association to afternoon tea in the Victoria League Booms on Friday next, 2!)th inst., at 2 p.m. It is hoped that as many as possible will avail themselves of their vice-president’s kind invitation.

An important judgment concerning the adjustment of accounts between the Taranaki and Inglewood County Councils has been .delivered by Mr. Justice Reed in favor of the Inglewood County Council. The judgment, which was read by the registrar of the Supreme Court at New Plymouth on Saturday morning, appears on page 6. Evidence from local bodies in Taranaki on the question of erecting toll-

gates will be heard this week, by the committee of engineers of the Public Works Department which has been set up by the Government to prepare a report on the question. The committee, which is comprised of Messrs. G. T. Murray, *C. J. McKenzie, and 11. H. Sharp, will sit at the New Plymouth Borough Council Chambers -to-morrow, at the Stratford Courthouse on Wednesday, at the Hawera Borough Council Chambers on Thursday, and,, at Wanganui on Friday. The sittings will commence at 10 .a.m.

Passengers who landed in New York recently from the Cunard liner Caronia gave a vivid description of a battle in the forecastle between the ship’s carpenter and a giant octopus. In a gale off the coast of Ireland the vessel took a heavy sea. and the carpenter went forward to see if any damage had been done. He. found an octopus wedged between two winches. It ‘‘made a long arm” and endeavored to gather the carpenter to its bosom.. The carpenter, resisting strenuously, belabored, the creature with an iron bar. The octopus spouted an inky fluid in large quantities, and fastened several more tentacles around the carpenter. It took the carpenter 15 minutes to kill the creature and free himself from its clutches. The octopus weighed 401 b, and one of its tentacles was over sft in length. It is destined for Liverpool Museum. Of pearl stories this is little known: Louis Batthyany, who was executed for his share in the Hungarian rising of 1849, owned a’ large black pearl which he had had set in a scarf-pin. On the morning of his execution he gave the pin tb his valet, who attended him to the last, a souvenir. ’ The valet bequeathed it to his son; and the son finding himself hard up, resolved to sell it. The country jeweller to whom he offered it sent it to Budapest to be valued. There is was exhibited in a shop window, and its magnificence aroused the suspicion of the authorities. Inquiries were instituted, and it was established that the pearl had been stolen from the British Crown one hundred and fifty years before. How Batthyany had got hold of it could not be ascertained; but Great Britain bought it back for £2500. As au example of the degree to which motoring in Great Britain has been organised—wholly by private enterprise —the “sentry boxes” instituted at various points along main country roads by the Automobile Association are very striking. The sentries on duty at these boxes provide information on routes, road conditions, hotels, and so on, to motorists, and , they are also available to assist in repairing breakdowns or in securing relief cars with the utmost promptitude. The boxes are provided with telephones. A short time ago the members of the Association were provided with keys to enable them to open the boxes and use the telephones during the hours when- the sentries were not on duty. The latest development to illuminate each box so that its position may readily be discovered after dark.

Two million acres of Great Britain are, in course of time, to be planted with trees and converted into forest. A beginning has been made, and at Butley, in Suffolk, 2500 acres o-f barren land, bought a year or two ago by the Forestry Commissioners, are now being planted. A thousand acres have already been covered, and very soon there will be two million seedling conifers planted on this site. The aim of the Forestry Commission is eventually to convert 2,000,000 acres into forest. Britain was, in olden times, famous for its forests. As the country grew civilised under the Roman invasion, many of the forests were being cut down; but with tho advent of the Saxons, who were a race of hunters, and, the Normans, who also loved the chase, not only was the destruction of the forests and woods prohibited but new forests were planted.

A detailed advertisement of Mr. Rhue Rangitaawa’s clearing sale, to be held at Oaonui on Tuesday next, appears in this iseue. ■> The cattle, implements, etc., are good, and buyers can attend the sale with confidence. ‘ An advertisement in regard to recruits for the N.Z. Division of the Royal Navy appears in this issue. Success was assured from the start. Messrs - Morey and Son are now holding their great Mark-down Sale, and it is a “mark-down” both in name and effect. The reductions throughout constitute a record for this old-established house. Call and see the goods and note the prices—at. Morey’s-

Drmng a 450 h.p. 12 cylinder “Sunbeam” racing car on “Brooklands” (England), K. Lee Guinness recently negotiated a circuit of the track miles in 83 seconds. Tliis is a speed of nearly 102 J miles per hour. This well-known English sportsman will drive a “Talbot ’ (English) in the French Grand Prix motor car contest next month. This event is the premier road race of the world. The distance is 32] miles over nearly 30 circuits of the Le Mans course.

Two thousand pounds expenditure and £2O receipts! Such approximately is the surprising balance-sheet covering the operations of the Auckland-\Vl»an-garei aerial mail service initiated under contract some months ago, says the Star. The service bears the Departmental appellation of an experiment, and another month has yet to run before the contracted period has expired, when the authorities will proclaim whether a ven hire that is resulting in a daily dead loss to the Post and Telegraph Department of over £4O is justifiable.

A peculiar story of the Maori’s credulity was told in the Wairoa Magistrate’s Court, where a Maori was charged with false pretences. It was alleged that accused claimed that “Wa,” a high power, had revealed to him that gold was to be procured at tho Mahia. He had built an immense basket a chain long, and where the basket was the gold would come. The evidence was to the effect that the other Maoris had been appealed to for money for a share of the gold, which one native, said would go on -for ever. Several of the Maorib put money on Ihe floor, but there was no evidence that accused had taken it up. The Magistrate dismissed the case. The substantial increase already realised in prices for dairy produce, said Mr. Nathan, nt Palmerston North, was due (1) to the drought which has .curtailed production, (2) to the stronger demand for butter, which has followed the settlement of the coal strike in England and the resumption of many industries which had been closed up owing to the coal strike. Mr. Nathan said that during the last few weeks he had interviewed many of the dairy factory company directorates in and around Manawatu, and had recommended them to follow the well established practice of shipping their butter to the English market on consignment, and he still thought that the consigning policy would ’be the best.

Milk recording in Scotland hae had a remarkable effect on the prices of good milk record cows and their progeny at both public and private sales. Auction sales of young bulls and other milk record stock, at the instance of well-known breeders, have now become common, either at the farms of the owners or at special sales at market centres, when the milk records or the milking pedigrees of the animals are stated in the catalogue of sale. Something still depends on the appearance of the animal; btit if in addition to good appearance there is a good milk record for the animal, or for the dam and grand-dams, the prices now obtained are almost fabulous compared with pre-record daye. The prohibitionists of the electorate are urged by advertisement to attend a meeting at the Baptist Tabernacle tonight at 7.30, when an address on the Dominion’s need will be delivered by Mr. H. Grimstead, the divisional secretary. During the evening the officers’ executive will be elected.

An important clearing sale, to be held at Pukearuhe on Thursday next, ia that on account of Mr. A. Sorrenson. The eowis are a very good line, showing plenty of .Jersey, young, in splendid condition, and early .calvera.

Messrs. Messenger, Griffiths and Taylor invite tenders In thia issue for the erection of two residences.

The saddle tweed trousers showing at the Melbourne, Ltd., at 20/6 are creating quite a stir. These trousers are identical with those sold by this firm before the Great War, and are quite the best value ever offered. Wear is absolutely guaranteed. Color dark grey only. “Prevention is better than cure.” Dadry farmers about to commence the season will find it to their advantage to lay in a stock of “Sinus,” the champion milking machine cleanser, and so avoid the risk of having their milk rejected b .V factory managers. The use of “Sinus” ensures the absolute cleanliness of machines, tubing and cups.