LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, 29 December 1921, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Letters received by the Australian mail state that five workmen at Christchurch drew £5OOO in Australian sweepstakes. An Invercargill womap drew £lBOO and a Wellington syndicate £l6OO.

W. A. Gustafson, who has been charged on several counts with theft from the Defence Department, appeared at the Hawera. Magistrate’s Court yesterday and was again remanded, until January

Two arrests for drunkenness were made by the New Plymouth police yesterdav afternoon, and the offenders will appear before the Court this morning. Outside of these delinquents there were no incidents in handling yesterdays rate crowd which called for particular attention on the part of the police. (It is understood that the Postal Department has arrived at a decision in regard to the eases of the officers who were dismissed ill connection with the charges arising out of the a.lleged _ 1 vulgbw of the contents of the Napier Springbok cablegram. Asked on Tuesday Sight whether the nature of the department’s decision could be made pub lie 1 Mr. Markman, first assistant secretary to the post office, indicated that the Postmaster-General would shortly make an announcement on the subject.

The Taranaki Jockey 'Club’s Christmas meeting was concluded yefterday. when there was a good attendance, though the dull weather and the postponement from Boxing Day prevented considerable number from a^ te " d ™®’ As was to be expected the totalisator figures showed a considerable shrinkage, Xgh owing to the fact that there was no racing on Boxing Day, the most popular holiday in the yesr, it » mnossible to state that the whole of the falling-off was due to the financial conw™. The figures yesterday were £•O5 646 10s. making a total of £ 57 >9?0 it lor the two days as compared with £82,052 last year, a decrease of £20,<»l 10s. ’ The president of the Taranaki Agricultural Society, Mr. W K < in<r on the suggestion of the Min -ter o Agriculture, is convening a meeting of members of A. and P. Societies. FarmUnion and bona fide Pricers to fee held at the Soldiers dub, he« Fly to-morrow afternoon at 1.30 to Sseuss the proposed meat poof and to elect a representative to attend a me ® fnv to be held in Wellington on June 10, 1920 An advertisement appears m this issue. Mr O. Hawken, M.P., who was of those responsible for drawing up t °he\cheme S wnlTe present at the ingYour soiled or faded suits, costumes, and. dresses can be successfully dry cleaned . r dyed and made equal to new at the cost of a few shillings, by J. lv. Hawkins and Co., dyers and dry cleaners Dev i Street. New Plymouth. alsi renovate felt hate, Panama hats, furs etc. Now. it does not matter where you’live; just post your goods to us, ana they will be returned in a few daye.

The Mangatoki main factory and two of the company’s three branches are now manufacturing cheese instead of butter. Eltham turned over to butter a few days before.

.Since he last visited the Old Country in 1911-12,. Dr. Mackin, of Wellington, told a reporter that lie had noted a wonderful advance in medical science.

“We have learned a lot from the war. In medicine, surgery and radiology the progress made has been enormous.” The effect of the proposed increased taxes on racing dividends, stakes, and gates will be to increase the contribution by the racing public and clubs to the revenue by 233 per cent, (says the Auckland Star).

The Feilding Star states that a farmer in the district who some time ago sold one of his farms, coming to the conclusion the other day that the present burden was too heavy for the purchasers to bear successfully, has now voluntarily reduced his former price by the snibstantia.l amount of £lO per acre, and also, as an apt Christmas box, returned to them the year’s interest, which they had already paid.

In reference to the price of meat ruling in England, Mr. C. H. Pickering, of Palmerston North, who recently returned from a. visit to the Old Country, told a Times representative yesterday that he purchased a joint of New Zealand lamb in the city of Worcester a few months ago, for which he paid 2s 8d per lb. Mr. Pickering produced the tag from the lamb, which bore the brand of the Hawke’s Bay Farmers’ Meat Company.

A stranger dropped into a little country store along this coast during the week and after the preliminary exchanges on the weather and the stringent times, the countryman asked the visitor how he found the times. “Brisk” was the reply. “I’ve just put on three more hands.” “Oh, what line are you in?” “Debt collecting” was the significant reply.— Patea Press.

The “movie” microbe has penetrated its way into Java, a fact which was observed by Dr. Mackin, of Wellington, when he visited the Dutch eastern possession last year. “The natives on the plains and in the cities of Java have changed greatly since the advent of picture shows,” he told a Post reporter. “They had gone daft on them.” Since the picture shows had been established the natives would not do half the work they performed in former days, preferring to spend the rest of their time in the cinema theatres. The whole mannerism of the natives of the plains and cities was quite a contrast to that of the natives of the hill stations where there were no picture shows.

, Maori heads still continue to change hands at auction rooms (says our London correspondent, writing on November 3). Recently Messrs. Stevens, of Covent Garden, offered what was obviously a head of a young man, when decapitated. The face was fully tatooed, but not so elaborately and carefully as one would expect in' the ease of a noted chief. Bidding went up to £35, but the head was withdrawn, as the owner had set a reserve of £4O upon his property. Some weeks ago a head of undoubted value was disposed of at the same auction rooms. The tattooing was beautifully executed, and the face was an imposing one with beard and moustache still visFble. This was sold for £59.’

It is anticipated that the erection or two new blocks of buildings, to cost over £200,000, will be commericed in Queen Street, Auckland, early next year. The Herald states that the Auckland Savings Bank has acquired the adjoining property, this making a frontage of 58ft. extending through to Lome Street. The trustees have instructed the bank’s architect, Mr. D. B. Patterson, to prepare sketch plans of a new building to occupy the available space and partially include the present bank, the accommodation of which is inadequate. The property adjoining the section secured by the bank has been acquired by the Coliseum Proprietor y, the block having a frontage of 77ft. to Queen Street and a lesser extent where it connects with Lome Street. The proposal is to build a theatre block on this site.

A correspondent to an Auckland paper in reference to' the severe remarks concerning women’s dress at present, compares it favorably with the old crinoline days, also those of tightlyboned bodices, high, stiff collars, and foolish, trailing skirts. These are, indeed, fortunately things of the past, and long may they remain so, is the feeling of most women and girls. All that is needed in the sensible, artistic fashion of to-day (when properly carried out) is the true sense of modesty, common-sense, and decency. Modesty and decency would provide that bodices and skirts should be not over-short or X-ray-like, while common-sense would prevent their scanty clothes in cold summer, and an avoidance of the “mutton dressed as lamb” failing.

The following telegram from Broken Hill appeared in a recent issue of the Sydney Sun:—Many directors of the mining companies are expected here. It is expected that an attempt will be made to get a resumption of mining operations on conditions which will pay the companies. A letter from the New Zealand Waterside Workers’ Federation states that the delegate who visited New Zealand during the strike arranged for loans aggregating £400; and that unions who subscribed to the loan were beginning to ask when repayments would begin. Mr. George Kerr, who was the president during the strike, states that members of the union thought all the money that came from New Zealand was a gift. Some members are now wondering how many chickens may come home to roost.

There were some amusing hitches in a wedding at one of the suburban churches last week (states the Auckland Star). A few hours before the ceremony was timed to begin, one of the bride’s friends casually asked the bridegroom if he had the licence. “Licence!” he exclaimed, “I thought the minister got that!” When the position was explained to him, the omission was hurriedly rectified, and all was well until ten minutes before time, when the clergyman, on glancing at the recently procured licence., discovered it was an ordinary one, granting permission to marry in three days’ time. The arriving guests, therefore, were amazed to see the bridegroom disappear out of the church and speed off in a motor-car, not even having seen the bride there, for she. had not yet come on the scene. The poor man got back in half an hour, flustered but triumphant,, bearing a special licence. The motor-car was next dispatched for the bride and her party. But they say that when one mishap occurs the,re will be three altogether, and therefore it was only to be expected | that the motor should break down on the return trip, with the result that the people at the church had nearly another half-hour to wait before the couple were joined in holy matrimony. Afterwards an Irish friend tried to’smooth matters over by remarking that.the bridegroom would not make the same mistake the next time.

In Chicago 5000 automobiles were stolen in a single year. Once murder was an infrequent and abnormal crime in the United States. To-day in the large cities it is of almost daily occurrence. In New York, in 1917, there werfi 236 murders and only sixty-seven convictions; in 1918, 221; and seventy-seven convictions. In Chicago, in 1919, there were 336, and forty-four convictions.

‘■When yoT ,} ve got a weak case, slang the other side,” interjected counsel in the Invercargill Magistrate’s Court the other dry when a brother solicitor was vigorously denouncing arguments culled from numerous books of reference by the former. “And quote a lot of law that has nothing to do with the case,” was the rejoinder. A Shannon resident who has just returned from a visit to the Homeland says that things arc far from bright there at present. The cost of living is very high. A meal that was far from satisfying cost 6s, and for bed and breakfast at an ordinary hotel 17/6 was charged. He was struck by the number of poorly-clad, pale-faced men who walked the streets in search of work, how to exist being a problem to hundreds. Apricots and peaches were marked in the shops at 1/- to 1/6 each. A retired Scottish lawyer had built himself a house, and was at a loss to suggest an appropriate name for it. He consulted a friend with whom he was well acquainted, stating he had given up the practice of his profession, and desired to end his days in the seclusion of his new home; the name must, beyond anything else, be a Scotch one. “That being the case,” replied his friend, “I think ‘Dunrobin’ as a name could not be improved upon!”

A claim for a number of new hats is likely to be made upon the Minister “for Health, the Hon. C. J. Parr. When he concluded his inspection of the city during a recent visit to Auckland, the Minister remarked to those who accompanied him that he would give a new hat for every person convicted for failing to clean ap his premises. He was asked by one of the inspectors present if that was a bargain. Mr. Parr replied: “Oh, yes; I mean it,, and I think it will be money well spent if we succeed in bringing the people to realise that they must keep their premises clean.” On Thursday six persons were fined £1 and costs in the Police Court under the city sanitary by-laws, and another was fined yesterday. It would appear, therefore, that the equivalent of the amount thus collected, and possibly a little more, will be required to meet the cost of the hats whioh may be claimed.

An impudent suggestion was put forward in an article in a recent issue of the New York Herald. The writer suggests that Japan’s long-standing problem of superfluous population could be solved by buying Australia, allowing the Japs to have it and sending the five million white people in Australia to New Zealand and Canada. The writer, who signs himself “Pro Bono Publico,’ says: “There are abfcut 5,000,000 whitemen ini habiting the continent of Australia, which is large enough to support and contain 50 or more millions of people. It is a continent far and remote from the white men of Europe and America. Why should not the 5,000,000 white men move to Canada, which has room for many more millions of increased population, and sell Australia to the Japanese? The white men would be amply compensated and given new land in Canada or New Zealand. The Japanese would be remote and happy. California -free from the Japanese question, and Canada rejoicing in a much-needed addition to her population. The Japanese could cultivate the interior of Australia, so long untouched by the whites. “The banking institutions have been criticised in some quarters for not lending more freely/’ said Mr. Harold Beauchamp at the half-yearly meeting of the Bank of New Zealand the other day. “Generally speaking, however, it has been admitted that the banks have done their utmost to meet the heavy demands made upon them during these very difficult times. Banks, as is well known, deal in credit—that is, they receive the savings of the people, either for fixed periods or repayable at call. This credit is lent to those who need accommodation, but the banks must at all times maintain an adequate proportion of liquid resources to meet deposits. Thus it will be seen that the lending facilities of the banks or the credits at their disposal are restricted, and in times like the present the restriction is accentuated by the demand from depositors tor the return of their funds. Notwithstanding this, the bank has used its resources to the fullest extent m assisting the primary industries and the traders of the country to carry on. Mr. Beauchamp quoted the banking returns to show that for the September qun -r the deposits of the bank were £20823,388 and the advances £22.075,696, an excess of advances of £1,202308. For the six banks doing business in.. .New Zealand the deposits for the same quarter were £43,445,663, advances £4B 039,609 giving an excess of the latter of £4,59.3,,946.

Mr C. H. Johnston, of Waitara, has been engaged by the Post Telegraph Department to carry marts between Waitara and Awakmo daily du in» tne summer months, and tri-wee j during the winter. A tri-weekly service throughout the year was at first proposed, but happily this retrograde step is, averted so far as the s> mmel is concerned. With the road be tween Mount Messenger and Awakmo, .1 daily service in winter can be. arranged Under uresent conditions it is a most difficult matter to get the mails throug.i at all.