LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, 14 September 1921, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

There is likely to be a large output of butter in the Dominion this season. The output of the Manawatu factory for last August showed an increase of 112 pet cent, as compared with that of August, 1920. The output from the land is all that is going to keep the Dominion pot boiling during the slack times that are now being faced. A sitting of the Native Land Court, under the presidency of Judge Aicheson, opened at the Foresters’ Hall, New Plymouth, yesterday morning. It is expected the court will be occupied here for some time, the list of cases set down for hearing numbering 387. A man named Arenid Henry Herman Seekamp, who Was arrested in Devon Street on Monday evening, was brought before Messrs. F. E. Wilson and J. S. S. Medley, J.P.s, yesterday on charges of being drunk and with using obscene language in a public place. In the first charge he was convicted, but no penalty was imposed, and on the second he was fined 40s.

When members’ expenses were being paid out at the meeting of the Egmont County Council yesterday, Crs. Tosland, Green, Chapman and Brophy returned the amount allowed for attending a committee meeting. They did so, it was stated, on principle, having voted against the resolution when the question of payment for committee meetings jvas before the council.

Tn view of the fact that the council had reduced wages, one of the Egmont County Council’s foremen wrote to the council yesterday asking that the council should reduce the rent of the house in Which he lived. The council recognised the fairness of this and accordingly reduced the rent by Is per week.

The question of joining the Taranaki Local Bodies’ Association was again discussed by the members of the Egmont County Council yesterday, when a letter was received from the secretary of the association notifying that Eltham, Hawera, Stratford. Clifton, Wannate West, Taranaki and Inglewood counties, and Eltham Drainage Board had agreed to join. The -feeling of the majority of members was that there was nothing to be gained from changing their original decision not to join the association, and no action was taken.

The annual plain and fancy-dress ball under the auspices of the New Plymouth Returned Soldiers’ Association takes place to-morrow night in the Coronation Hall. Patrons in -fancy-dress are asked to bring with them a card on which their name and the character they represent should be written, while to avoid mistakes they should place Mr., Mrs., or Miss (as the case may be) before their name. The card will be collected at the door, and thus an accurate record of the wearers of fancy costumes will be obtained. On Friday evening, children’s night, it is hoped parents will follow the same course, giving each child a card.

At the hide sales conducted by Messrs. L. A. Nolan and Co., at Now Plymouth yesterday, competition for nil classes of sound, good-conditioned lots of cow and ox hides and calfskins was particularly keen. Calfskins, as anticipated, appreciated cons idem u’y. Best lots sold at from 17]d to 17 5-Sd. indifferently flayed and poorly looked-af-ter lots from L3|d to 16d. There was a keener all-round demand for all classes of hides. Lights showed a. rise of fully Id per lb., and mediums and heavies showed a rise- of about a halfpenny. The tone of the sale generally showed" a keenness which gave the impression that this section of the producer?,’ bush a»ss is definitely on the up grade.

The North Taranaki Hunt pays £992 8s lOd by way of Government taxation in connection with its recent race meeting. The club itself nets about. £250. A sitting of the Conciliation Council will be held at New Plymouth tomorrow to consider an industrial dispute between the Taranaki Farmers’ Meat Company and the New Plymquth Freezing Workers’ Union, and the Waitara Freezing Works employees. Mr. W. ■Newton, Conciliation Commissioner (of Wellington), will preside.

The decision of Mr. Justice Adams in the case of G. W. Minter, Wellington, v. P. A- Hadley, Auckland, relating to certain borrowing and Taranaki oil share transactions, was delivered at Auckland on Friday last. The judge, after reviewing the facts exhaustively, held that the defendant had received credit for all the moneys to which he was at present entitled. Judgment was given for plaintiff -for the amount claimed ( £305), and for interest at the rate of 8 per cent, on £192, as from December last. The counter-claim (for £1231 and interest) was dismissed. The enthusiasm of Lord Northcliffe where sport is concerned is well-known, and when he passed through Hamilton last week, the secretary of t<he newlyformed Waikato Acclimatisation Society waited upon him and asked him to honor the society by accepting the office of patron. The visitor expressed his very great pleasure in accepting office. He said.he had his eyes opened at Rotorua ‘regarding the size of the trout. When told that last year some of the fry were malformed, and that it appeared as if new blood should be imported. Lord Northcliffe said it would give him great pleasure to present a consignment to the Waikato society from his own hatchery in Scotland. The offer was accepted with thanks, and Lord Northcliff? asked the local secretary to keep him informed as to the society’s progress.

The total number of overseas liners which have berthed at New Plymouth since the regular inauguration 6f this class of trade was brought up to 41 by the arrival of the Dorset with English cargo yesterday. Overseas vessels which have not been included in this total arc colliers and sailing ships, of which there have been a fair number at intervals. The increase in the trade is shown by the fact that in 1917 six' liners were berthed, and while there was only one in 1918, the arrivals in 1919 were seven, and in 1920 eleven. For the eight months of this year the number has been fourteen, and for September there will be four closely following each other. The Dorset (now in port) with cargo from England and to load produce, the Easterner, with cargo from New York, the Port Lyttelton, to load produce, and the Waikawa. with cargo from Vancouover and San Francisco.

In yesterday’s issue a correspondent wrote disparagingly o-f the work of the borough inspector, who, he said, would bo better employed in attending to the control of street traffic than in giving help at exhibitions of war trophies. It is only fair to the borough’s inspectors to say that they discharge their inevitably unpleasant duties conscientiously And efficiently, and are a credit to the. town. Inspector Day is a tireless and resourceful officer who is always rendering the town some service outside his strictly official duties. Take his work at the recent war trophies exhibition. He interested himself 'in the and obtained all the information concerning them, and thus was in a position to impart it to others, which he did in a way that was greatly appreciated by those fortunate enough to obtain his assistance. Ho is a real “handy man” about the town, and deserves, as he has earned, the gratitude of the public for his many acts of thoughtfulness and consideration for the public’s welfare. The policy of magistrates and the Government of sending into the country men whom the hospital boards had to provide for was the subject of protest by Mr. C. D. Sole (chairman of the Stratford Hospital Board), at yesterday’s meeting. He said it was a mistake if people thought they could travel round the country and receive charitable aid from the different hospital boards without difficulty. The policy of some city magistrates of sending men into the country instead of punishing them was a bad one, as such men lived on the hospital boards. The Government’s policy of sending unsuitable men to Government relief works in the country was just as bad. In one case a man on relief work had cost the board £l5 to £2O for treatment, and some men on relief works stayed in hospital a,nd said they were sick in bad weather, and when the weather got better they got well again. Ho thought the board should make the district from which those who received aid came responsible for their upkeep.

Returning to the subject of Ratana’s healing, the Church Gazette says there appears to be a good deal of haziness abroad as regards the meaning of faithhealing. What do we mean by it? Do we mean healing by suggestion, that is. by the. suggestive power of the prayer of faith acting on the mind of the patient, or do we mean healing by the direct action of God in answer to prayer? There is no doubt that some functional disorders can be healed by suggestion, but not organic diseases or physical deformities. Has there been one scientifically authenticated cure of an absolutely blind person by Ratana’s agency? Can one. scientifically authenticated case of the cure of cancer or of some physical deformity be produced? But whether the cures are the result of suggestion or other forms of medical skill, they are all ultimately due to the Divine activity. It is a serious mistake to imagine that God’s agency is more real in extraordinary. events, such as miraculous cures, than in ordinary happenings, such as cures by suggestion, or by medicine, or surgery. In order that no one may mistake our attitude to th> work of Katana, we want to make it quite clear that, we do not deny that remarkable cures may have taken place. We think that Ratana’s work is worthy of thorough scientific investigation; that all > the'’ evidence should be carefully sifted and examined by experts; that the actual facts should be sorted out from the indefinite mass of rumors and reports. Until these facts have been collected and classified, the task of explaining and in- . I ’rpreting them cannot be rationally un- ■ dertaken.

RftsidiMits of Inglewood and district are reminded of the Spring Flower Show, to bo held at the Town Hall. Inglewood, tomorrow and Friday. Particulars are advertised in this issue.

In this issue,Newton King, Ltd., arc advertising for sale by auction a really good dairy farm, situated near Waitara. It is in a good locality, and the property is absolutely worth inspection.

For Bronchial Coughs, take Woods’ Great Peppermint Cure.