LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, 13 February 1922, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The Supplementary Estimates include an additional £7OOO for Patea post office. Good patronage was extended to the open-air concert held in Pukekura Park on Saturday night under the of the Park Board and R.S.A. An enjoyable programme of vocal and instrumental items was contributed. The receipts amounted to about £l2.

The Wellington band contest opens this morning. The 4th Battalion (New Plymouth) band, which will be among the competitors, left for Wellington by Saturday’s mail train. Archdeacon Evans (president) and Mr. R. H. Cattley (secretary) accompany the band.

This week will be a busy one as regards outdoor fixtures in New Plymouth. The Taranaki croquet tournament opens to-morrow, and will continue till Saturday. Thursday and the two following days will be occupied by the provincial tennis tournament, and the Taranaki Jlifle Association's meeting also opens on Thursday, continuing on Friday. The Waimea County Council wrote to the Eltham County Council asking for the council’s support in urging the Government to amend the Bating Act by inserting a clause enabling local bod* ies to make a rebate of 5 per cent, to all persons paying general rates within thirty days from the date upon which rates fall due. The letter was considered by the Eltham Council on Saturday. and it was decided on the motion of Cr. Carter, to support the Waimea Council.

As the result of a complaint made to the New Plymouth police a young man named Sydney C. Ross was arrested by Constable Butler in Brougham Street on Saturday afternoon on charges of drunkenness and using obscene language. The accused was brought to the police station in a motor car, but it is stated lie proved a troublesome charge. The police report that on arrival at the station the accused struck the constable a heavy blow on the back of the neck and started to run down the street. The constable overtook Ross, who was handcuffed with the aid of help and taken into custody. As the result of this escapade Ross will have to answer a further charge of assaulting the police. He will appear before the court to-day.

-Charges under the gaming laws arise out of a police visit to a private house in Courtenay Street on Saturday evening, the occupier, Herbert T. Allen, being arrested on informations alleging (1) the carrying on of the business of a bookmaker, and (2) the keeping of a betting house. The premises were visited at 6.30 p.m. by Detective-Sergeant Cooney, Senior-Sergeant McCrone, and two constables, and a search warrant was executed. Allen was subsequently arrested and brought before Mr. T. Furlong, J.P., and was remanded to Thursday. Bail was allowed in one surety of' £5OO and accused's recognisance for a similar amount. It i.s probable tlmt a further remand to the 23rd or 24th inst. will be applied for, as the Supreme Court will be in session next week.

At the usual monthly meeting of the executive of the Fitzroy Ratepayers’ Association held on Friday evening it was decided to erect a notice board near the ladies’ bathing shed warning bathers to exercise due caution, particularly while the tide was ebbing. The consensus of opinion among the members was that the beach was as safe a= other open roadsteads, hut that it waa unwise for bathers to enter the water unless someone was in the vicinity in case accidents occurred. If was decided to finish the inside of the shed as soon as possible and to procure iron to cover in the framework of the men’s shed. 'General satisfaction was expressed ct the result of the recent beach carnival. Votes of thanks were passed to ail those who assisted in any way to make it such a success. It was decided to hold the annual meeting on the third Thursday in Mardi, when matters affecting* the welfare of the district will be brought up for discussion. The old stately life of the country house, which for many centuries has been a feature of English society, has been killed by the determination of the British democracy to throw the whole tremendous burden of the war on the shoulders of the few, writes Doan Inge. “The forty pages of Country Life which every week offer mansions for sale represent only a small part of the collapse of a whole class. The larger houses can only be sold at a derisory price, and the owners often do not think it worth while to employ an •agent. Are we to regret ‘the vanished pomps of yesterday’ or not? There is much to be said on both sides. The custom of keeping troops of unnecessary servants was a bad one. The post of third or fourth footman is not a worthy occupation for an able-bodied man. . . ‘The old order changeth, giving place to new, lest one good custom should corrupt the world.’ And yet so much that is gracious .and beautiful is bound up with the old families that we may hope that they will survive the rising flood of democracy, though shorn, as they will be, of their wealth and privileges. In some other countries an impoverished nobility still preserves the fine manners of the old regime, and it may be so with us. If not, one of the best features of an imperfect but not base civilisation may be swept away, and the country will be poorer for the loss.”

Tn washing woollens use “Fairy Wonder” Dry Soap, and so avoid any risk of shrinking the garments. ‘-Fairy” removes grease and dirt from the clothes like magic without rubbing or boiling or the use of extra soap. It is therefore the cheapest and best washing powder on the market.

Members of the Equitable Building Society of New Plymouth (Second and Third ’ Groups) are notified that subscriptions will be due and payable today, Monday, Feb. 13, at the Secretary’s Office, Currie Street, from 9 a.m. to 12.30 p.m., from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., and 7 p.m. to 8 p.m.—Advt. To-morrow, at the mart, L. A. Nolan and Co. are selling by auction a quantity of useful household furniture.

The scheelite deposits of Lake Wakatipu now afford employment for very few men. There is no demand, for that mineral. Old miners are still, however, looking for gold, and some have found it. A returned sbldier is supposed to have struck a good patch of coarse alluvial in abandoned workings at Skippers; another prospector in the same region is believed to be making a living, and there are reports of successful, or at least promising, prospectors searching at Upper Shotover, Arthur’s Point, and the Bucklerburn. But the most rosy accounts of these finds, says the Dunedin Star, do not amount to anything warranting a rush, not even a mild rush. t .

The New Plymouth races were brought to a successful conclusion on Saturday in fine weather and before a large attendance. Indeed, the attendance on both days more than exceeded expectations. The totalisator handled £28,308 10s, a drop of £5958 10s as compared with the second day of last year. The receipts for the two days totalled £54,134 10s, as compared with £(n>,lo7 last year, a decrease of £ll,972 10s for the meeting. This, in view of the financial stress, ■ is considered quite satisfactory. Racing was interesting. Gloaming had no difficulty in again annexing the Taranaki Stakes, the other contestants being Silver Link and Awake. The distance event, the Paul Memorial Handicap, also went to Mr. Greenwood, Vespucci winning in good style. It is certain that the world at large does not realise what an enormous and difficult task it was to clear the seas of mines after the conclusion of the war. Round the British coasts alone 73,000 mines had been laid as a submarine barrier; and that area represented no more than a fraction of the total where mines had been sown freely. The British forces engaged in this work of clearance have swept an area about equal to the whole of. England and Wales; the work was done ~ioroughly, but with so much scientific care for the men employed that the loss of life has been less than 1 per cent, of the number o-f hands engaged. In this benefleient kind of the seas” Great Britain has proved as efficient as in the warlike form for which the Navy was designed. Emerald, a rising township on the main central line, 167 miles from Rockhampton (Queensland), was struck by a cyclone from the south-west last week. The storm burst without warning, and was accompanied- by torrents of rain. Houses were unroofed, verandahs torn away, outhouses turned over in scores, and trees blown down in all directions. The rain searched the houses through and through, and much damage was done by the contents being drenched. It was a terrifying experience, and with every roof in town lifted, it looked the whole place would be wrecked. Fortunately the wind only lasted twenty minutes, but it seemed an eternity. The damage runs into very big figures.

An American efficiency engineer has discovered, with the aid of a pedometer and a plain cook, that 2093 steps are taken in the preparation of three normal meals. Breakfast, 446 steps; lunch 651; dinner, 996 This appalling discovery may still further complicate liousekeeping. Cooks will insist on a wage based on step energy per day. ‘‘l am very sorry, madam, but if you will have a 1000-step dinner I roust ask another 10s a week.” 1 Picture the housewife cutting down breakfast to bring the step ratio within trade union regulations; “No, John, you cannot possibly have sausages and bacon. Our step allowance scarcely allows us two boiled eggs.” Will nobody rid us of these turbulent engineers? Dr. Herbert’s statement that cancer was probably the most frequent cause of death in New Zealand to-day, is borne out by the mortality statistics for the year 1921, published in the Gazette. Out‘of a total of 5445 deaths recorded, with causes, in urban areas last year, no fewer than 562 were attributed to cancer in various parts of the .body or more than 16 per cent, of the total deaths. To tuberculosis in its variotis forms were assigned 419 cases of death, pneumonia accounted for 324 (including broncho-pneumonia) and Bright’s disease 190. Organic diseases of the heart were responsible for 752 deaths.

Under the auspices of the Women Teachers’ Association, Mr. Valentine (senior inspector) gave a most interesting and instructive address at New Plymouth on Saturday morning on number work, as applied chiefly to the early years of a child’s school career. In introducing the subject Mr. Valentine explained that he made no pretensions towards opening up some golden to success, for that could be achieved only by hard work. He considered that to teach the value of numbers was even more difficult than to teach reading. Concrete experiences must precede the acquirement of general and abstract notions; therefore real numbers, not names and symbols, should be dealt with. He showed how counting and the •four fundamental rules could be developed along educational lines, what apparatus could be utilised, and how suitable number games could be made the medium of much assistance. So much, however, depended upon the skill in application; mere learning by rate was of little value; the child should learn by doing. Mr. Valentine illustrate<l his remarks with practical demonstrations, and at the conclusion was accorded an enthusiastic vote of appreciation.

The New Zealand Meat Packing and Bacon Curing, Company announce that they have raised the price of bacon pigs to 5d per lb. The Rev. Howard Elliott, who speaks at the Empire Tlieatre on Thursday night, has recently been in Australia. There he met many leading men interested in the same work as that m which he is engaged. He had the privilege of an interview with Sister Ligouri, some of whose experiences he will relate.

Men in need of strong working trousers cannot do better than invest in a pair of the Melbourne’s strong famous dark grey saddle tweed trousers at 29/6. These goods are made of the extra strono- °<lousle twisted yarn, and will give double service of ordinary soft woollen tveeds. All sizes in stock, including stout sizes.