LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, 9 November 1921, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Plums are already on the market at Auckland.

A record butter output for the season in the Auckland district is now joractieally assured.

Friday is the anniversary of the aeroplane disaster at Now Plymouth by which the then Mayor (Mr. Jas. Clarke), the pilot (Captain .Russell) and Miss Warnock lost their lives.

Thp Egmont County Council yesterday resolved to ask residents of the county to observe two minutes’ silence at 11 a.m. on Armistice Day (Friday).

A year’s leave of absence to a Taranaki teacher, a lady, who is exchanging positions with a Canadian teacher, was granted by the Education Board at yesterday’s meeting.

By the will of the late Miss Hardey, of Western Australia, a sum of £30,000 will be received by the trustees, and the proceeds applied to the equalisation of the stipends of ministers in the State.

The costs of the election of the first Opunake Power Board, amounting to £l5, have to be met by the Egmont County Council. This caused some surprise to several members of the council at yesterday’s meeting. Cr. Green considered that the council should have been informed of this before.

About twenty-five applications have been received by the Taranaki Education Board for the position of director of the new technical high school at Stratford. The number has been reduced to four, who will be asked to meet the board next week, when the final selection will be made.

The New Zealand Returned Soldiers’ Association has sent the following cable replying to a message from FieldMarshal Lord Haig that he was placing a wreath on the cenotaph in London in memory of hie New Zealand comrades: “New Zealand soldiers thank you and join in silent tribute to the Empire’s glorious dead. —General Russell, president.”—Press Association.

The railway freight on benzine was ’ discussed at yesterday’s meeting of the ‘ ?Cgmont County Council. The Manawatu County Council asked the council’s support in approaching the Government with a view to having the tariff on benzine reduced. They pointed out that the excessive tariff’ was causing benzine to be carted in motor wagons to the detriment of roads. No action was taken.

In reply to an enquiry made by Mr. R. Masters, M.P., at yesterday’s meeting of the Taranaki Education Board, as to the progress of the new Techni-

• col School at Stratford, the architect i (Mr. C. H. Moore) stated that the ; building should be completed within ' three weeks or a month. The plaster- • ers were proceeding steadily 'with the ■ work. The inside work had been com : pleted. first, so that by the time the re- ■ mainder of the plastering was done the j inside furnishings would be practically I completed. Mr. Massey holds an optimistic view ; regarding the supplies in the New Zea- ■ land coal measures. Speaking at the ! opening of the Industries Exhibition at Wellington, he said that there should be no need to import coal at all. “I believe there is coal enough in New Zealand. - he said, “to keep the largest population New Zealand will ever carry for the next thousand years.” He hoped that they would be able to mine in New Zealand all the coal the country needed; and there were indications pointing in that direction.

The question of absorbing unemployed on the Te Roti-Opunake railway was before the Egmont County Council yesterday. Mr. O. Hawken, M.P., notified that he had forwarded the resolution passed by the council relative to the employment of the unemployed on the Te Roti railway to the proper quarterl He found that there were 48 men employed on the Te xvoti line on relief work and 47 on regular work, 95 in all. There was no likelihood of men receiving unemployment pay from the Government at the present time. So far there were only a limited number of unemployed suited to this class of work, and as the summer was now on it was to be hoped that unemployment would cease. Armistice Day will be observed throughout the Empire on Friday by a two minutes’ silence at eleven o’clock in the morning. At New Plymouth arrangements will be made for the horns at the Sash and Door factory and Brown’s mill to sound immediately prior to 11 a.m. and again at two minutes past eleven. At the first sounding of the horns all vehicles should stop, and all persons stand in silence for two minutes as requested.

The New Plymouth Beautifying Society are now at work cleaning up the locality at the curve of the Carrington Road, near Courtenay Street. The land has been placed in their charge by the owners, the Co-op., who are not likely to build on it for some time. Already a great improvement has been effected by the cutting down and removal of the acacia jungle, thus opening up to view this part of the Huatoki valley. The afternoon tea was provided by Mrs. Pope* assisted by Miss Pope and Miss Farmer.

The cost of the collection of the dog tax was touched ou at .the meeting of the Egmont County Council yeserday by Cr. Greeii, who wished to know whether it paid for the cost of dog collars, collection, etc. If it did not pay the council should not trouble to collect it. Cr. O’Brien pointed out that the dog tax was not introduced to provide revenue for local bodies, but to keep dogs in check. It was subsequently ascertained that there had been a profit of £3l on the dog tax last year. One , .councillor considered that the tax should be increased, but it was considered that farmers were taxed sufficiently at present. and it was finally resolved that the pri(*e for cattle and 'sheep dogs rema’n , as at present (2/6), but the fee for sporting dogs be increased from 10/- to 12/6.

The proposal to charge an annual fee of £2 in connection with the rural delivery of mails was the subject of some discussion at the meeting of the Egmont County Council yesterday. The subiect was introduced by a resolution from the Woodville County Council protesting against the imposition of this fee. 'the chairman (Cr. Campbell) did not think i it was fair to impose a delivery fee of £2 on country people, whilst townspeople had their mail delivered free twice dailv. Cr. Green pointed out. that at present many country people had no delivejy, but obtained their letters from the nearest post office, and even if the proposal were brought into force it would still be optional whether a settler paid the £2 or had hi/i mail left at the nearest post office. No action was takea

Over seven hundred entries have already been received -for the Wanganui .musical and elocutionary competitions.

A child aged three years, a eon of Mr. A. Colson, of Bel! Block, sustained a fractured thigh in'an apparently simple manner on Monday. The little fellow was going across a level paddock to call his father to lunch, and a little later was found lying in the paddock injured.

At the request of the Stratford A. and P. Association the Taranaki Education Board, at yesterday’s meeting, decided to grant, a holiday to schools in the Stratford district on November 24, people’s daj’ at the Stratford Show. “They do with visitors to California as we do with our wool—cultivate them,” stated Mr. C. E. Daniell, in his address to the Masterton Chamber of Commerce. “Yes,” interjected a member, who appeared to speak feelingly, “they also shear them!” (Laughter.) A letter road at yesterday’s meeting of the Taranaki Education Board from the department intimated that the grant for the conversion of the gym- 1 nasium at Fitzroy into a class-room had been increased from £125 to £lB5. The chairman of the board (Mr. P. J. White) informed the meeting that the work was now in hand.

Leave of absence to school teachers wishing to attend examinations is to be granted only for the actual days on which examinations are held, according to advice received at yesterday’s meeting of the Taranaki Education Board from the Education Department. It was intimated that any extra leave, or time spent in travelling, would be without salary. A resolution of sympathy with the relatives of the late Miss Riordan, of Inglewood, was passed by the Taranaki Education Board at yesterday’s meeting. In moving the motion the chairman (Mr. P. J. H. White) said Miss Riordan had been a valued teacher at the Inglewood school, particularly in the infant department. The proposal by the Education Department to institute correspondence classes in primary school subjects for children in backblocks districts has drawn eight enquiries from Taranaki districts. At yesterday’s meeting of the Taranaki (Education Board a letter was received from the department thanking the board for their efforts in this matter, and intimating that it was proposed to appoint a teacher shortly to supervise the classes for the whole Dominion. About 100 applications had been received from various parts of New Zealand.

A young man named A. Bkximfield, assistant at the Kahui Road factory, whilst proceeding to Opunake on a motor cycle on Sunday evening, ran into an unlighted dray standing in the middle of the road at Oaonui. The dray; which was occupied by Maoris, was capsized, whilst the motor cyclist had his arm broken in two places, and also sustained injuries to his face that necessitated five stiteh.es. He was taken to the private hospital at Opunake. A young man named M. Fleming. who was riding behind on the motor cycle, also sustained slight injury. The machine was considerably smashed. In the Hamilton Police Court last week, Harold Francis O’Grady and Ferdinand Anderson pleaded guilty to converting to their own use without color of right but not so as to be guilty of theft within the meaning of the Act, two motor cars. The police said the accused, both young men, entered a car which ; was standing in the street at Hamilton, ana drove to Cambridge at a speed which O’Grady boasted was 60 miles an hour, colliding on the way with a mail car, which was seriously damaged. The borrowed car was also damaged. They abandoned the car and borrowed another, which they left standing in the road. The Bench admitted O’Grady to probation for three years, providing he prohibited himself for that period. Anderson was admitted to probation for two years on the same conditions. The accused were ordered to pay for the damage to the two cars, £55, and Court costa. The increase in the Customs duty (says the Christchurch Sun) means that the retail price of a bottle of whiskey will be increased from 12s to 14s 6d or 15s. But many hotelkeepers say tljat a corresponding advance cannot be made in the price of the “nip” without a serious diminution of trade. They point out that the slump and the hard times through which the Dominion is passing have very seriously affected the bar trade. The period is altogether unfavorable for increasing the price of glasses of spirits. Manifestly, (however, they must pass on the extra cost in some way, and the snggetion many of them make is that the “nip” will be regulated. In most parts of Australia this is now the rule. “We Should get 18 ‘nips’ from one bottle,” said one licensee, “but we consider ourselves very lucky if we get this. If we can get, say, 22 ‘nips’ from a bottle, the extra cost will be covered. I know, as a fact, that the proposal that the bartender should measure out the ‘nip’ to a customer is going to be strongly supported before the association.”

“I had a big surprise in Australia,” states a Wellington business man, who returned recently from a visit to the Common wealth. “1 knew that Australia had a high protective tariff, and I expected to find the selling priee of local manufactures would be figuring on a parity with similar imported goods on which duty had been paid, but I noticed that manufacturers were not abusing the tariff protection. I was particularly interested in hats. Really good quality hats, made in Australia, were selfing at prices much below those of the imported hats of similar quality. The tariff had encouraged local manufacturers to launch out into bigger business, and this expansion had reduced the ratio of overhead charges. With an increase of production they were able to lower their prices. There are now several big hatmaking firms; the output of the largest would be sufficient to supply, hats for the whole of the State of Victoria. I was informed thlit the tariff had put a spirit of enterprise into other manufacturers, and the result was a benefit to the general public.”

For afternoon wear and for seasonable skirts you will find the new taffetas and merve silk at Morey's ideal. Call and view this fine range of choice fabrics when you come to town to-day. A splendid line of ladies’ linen crash coats made up in the very latest style is being sold freely at the Melbourne. Limited, at 37/6 each. These coats are light and the fabric is genuine Government linen. These coats are very smart ind the wear is guaranteed.

“Fairy Wonder” Dry Soap forges ahead as the premier and household help. There is hardly a house now in Taranaki where the popular compound is not used. “Fairy” makes and keeps the clothes a good color and saves half the cost of time and labor of old methods. Don’t forget to order “Fairy” from your grocer pr storekeeper. They all stock it.