LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, 8 March 1922, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The mail train last night was a crowded one. Among the passengers were the judges at the Taranaki A. and P. Show, which opens to-day, and a number of exhibitors and others interested in the show.

An Auckland message says that bequests made by the late Thomas Peacock include: Presbyterian church institutions £2050. Salvation Army social work £4OO, Auckland social service association £4OO, Knox Home £350, Y.M.C.A. £350; Y.W.C.A. £3OO, Door of Hope £l5O.

The Supreme Court at New Plymouth concluded a lengthy session yesterday. The Court sat on nineteen days, during which seven criminal charges and a re trial, four civil actions, two divorce petitions, and four appeals wore dealt with, in addition to other business. Today His Honor Mr. Justice Chapman will be occupied with business in chambers, and he returns to Wanganui tomorrow morning to resume the session in that town.

The Inglewood Courtty Council decided yesterday to embark on a modern scheme of road-making by commencing to tar-seal a length of the main road. The chairman, Cr. Hair and the engineer were deputed to procure a tarsprayer, road broom and a quantity of tar. The council has secured a Government grant of £1 for £1 up to £3OO for permanent road work, and it is with a view to taking full advantage of this subsidy that the decision was arrived at. The chairman stated that the public was beginning to demand that the council should adopt modern methods of road-making.

A busy scene was witnessed in the New Plymouth harbor last evening. The big over Seas collier City of Corinth sailed for Australia shortly before five o’clock and as she went out the Shaw, Savill liner Kia Ora weighed anchor and came in to the wharf. Behind the Kia Ora came the Rarawa, and as the Rarawa was steaming faster she caught up with the Kia Ora and the two steamers entered -port close together.

The Rarawa, which was due at New Plymouth yesterday morning, did not arrive until 5.30 yesterday afternoon. The delay was due to the steamer being bar-bound at Onehunga on Monday night, and the bar was not crossed till early yesterday morning. There was an exceptionally large number of passengers on board and a somewhat rough trip was experienced. The Rarawa returned to Onehunga last night, sailing at 10.20 o’clock.

The clerk of the Inglewood County Council reported at yesterday’s meeting that of a total of *£14,400 payable in rates to the council, £4OOO was at present outstanding. This position was commented upon by councillors as satisfactory. A number of letters were received from ratepayers regretting inability to meet their rate demands for various reasons. One settler stated that the Land Board took the whole of his cheques and he advised the council to apply to the Commissioner for payment. ’ The clerk had made an application for payment to the Commissioner, who had replied that he was waitin" for his position in the matter to be defined by the Minister. The council decided to forward a resolution to the Minister pointing out the urgency of the matter.

At the Hawera Magistrate’s Court yesterday the Magistrate, Mr. A. M. Mowlem, S.M., delivered judgment in the case in which Stuart Evan Macdonald sued the Normariby Co-operative Dairy Factory Co., Ltd., for £6 15s, the amount deducted 'by the company from payments due to plaintiff on butterfat at the rate of Ad per >b. in payment for additional shares issued to plaintiff without his consent. There was a counter-claim for the same amount. Judgment was recorded against the plaintiff on the claim with costs, and judgment given for the company, the defendant, on the counter-claim with costs. Mr. F. C. Spratt (for Macdonald) asked for leave to appeal, in view of the fact that the amount of money involved was less than £2O. His Worship said t>hat he would be pleased to facilitate any question of appeal. His Worship later remarked that the case was one on which Supreme Court judges might disagree, and it was his opinion that the matter should never have come before the Magistrate’s Court.

Sneezing, running at the nose, watery eyes, with headache, are caused by Catarrh or Influenza Germs lodging in the mucous membrane of the nose and throat. Immediately these symptoms are noticed inhale Nazol very freely—it penetrates the mucous membrane and destroys the power of the obnoxious i germs,

Dairy farmers in the Manawatu district have been making green feed for cows of willow leaves, whilst those in the Forty-mile Bush district have been feeding theirs on the leaves of whiteywood.

It <?ame as a shock to some of the members of the Wanganui Harbor Board recently when it was stated that the cost of putting the dredge Rubi Seddon on the slip at Wellington recently, and the necessary repairs, was £1749.

A start will shortly be made on the erection of a block of flats, in Victoria Street, Hamilton. The flat« will each be self-contained and are to the design of the most modern block in Sydney, where flats are the favorite form of residence.

Mr. A. E. Fear, organiser to the New Zealand Dairy Farmers’ Union, stated recently that as a result of the Union’s efforts between financially embarrassed farmers and the mortgagees, mortgages in the Waikato district had been reduced •by £32,000. In addition interest had been wiped off to the extent of £lOOO in amounts of £5O, £9O, £lOO and £2OO. Mr. Fear remarked that many mortgagees had shown a fine spirit in helping distressed farmers, afid were to be congratulated on the consideration shown the unfortunate men.

The bicycle thief has been in evidence in Patea of late, two cases having been brought under the notice of the Press last week. It is a pity (comments that paper) that the owners of the bicycles are not allowed to punish *the offenders when caught without having the trouble of taking them to court, w'hen as a rule the parent has to pay the fine. A good dose of supplejack judiciously administered —externally —would do more good than the parent paying half a dozen fines.

“Almost 5000, or one in 250 of our population, are in mental hospitals,” stated Dr. W. Young, president of the New Zealand branch of the British Medical Association, in his presidential address in Wellington. “Insanity is on the increase, not only in total numbers, but also proportionately in relation to the general population. Unfortunately the cost of maintenance is steadily increasing, the cost pw head in 1920 being double what it was in 1910. The total cost in 1920 was approximately a quarter of a million pounds. But whatever the cost, the State must treat mental i patients humanely un<i in such a way as to give them the 'best chance of recovery. Our mental hospitals are, and always have been, overcrowded; even the Inspector-General in his last report admits over-crowding to the extent of 250. Looking back though the reports one finds constantly the same tale of inadequate and insufficient accommodation.

In the recent teachers’ examinations W. G. George (Uruti) obtained a pass in three groups for class D, with special mention for geography.

In this issue the Australian Provincial Association have an advertisement inviting applications for field representatives, positions which, should appeal to live men.