LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, 12 April 1922, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Increases in the price of butter which have taken place within the last few weeks will mean an additional 24 or 3 million pounds to the dairy farmers of the country.

Three young men were fined 10/- each at Wanganui on Monday for being found on licensed premises during the hours that these premises were required to be closed. An Auckland dairy produce firm, which was £124,000 to the bad at the end of December, has wiped off that deficit and registered a profit of £lOO,000 as the result of increases in the price in which the January and February makes of butter participated. There is a movement on the part of drapers throughout the Dominion to eliminate the giving of discount to special sections of the community, and to establish a rule of allowing 5 per cent, for cash over the counter and 24 per cent, on credit accounts paid by a fixed date.

Five of the New Zealand students who went through the course of instruction at the Duntroon Military College, Victoria, have been .given commissions in the Imperial Army, and left for England by the R.M.S. Corinthic yesterday.

A smoke concert was held recently at Te Ktiiti, for which thirty gallons of beer were provided. The charge for admission to the concert was five shillings. The Magistrate has fined the two men who ordered ttfe beer a sum of £2 10s each, holding that it. was in effect a sale of beer to persons at the entertainment.

Apropos of the story of the eels at Marton responding to a whistle, we have been assured that eels, in migrating through the grass at night from one pond to another, give out a distinct whistling sound, and by this the Maori was enabled to capture them.

In the report published yesterday on an address given at the Victoria League rooms by Mr. M. Fraser, it was made to appear thaK the speaker had said New Caledonia was 700 miles from Borneo. The remarks were that kauri gum was found in New Caledonia and that tree was found on Lord Howe Island, 700 miles north and 250 miles west of New Zealand.'tracing the tree to the Malay Archipelago. Writing from Scotland, a correspondent says that the winter had been so very mild that there were no hard frosts, and consequently no frozen pipes, and that in February, the date of the letter, snowdrops and crocuses were already showing above ground. At yesterday’s meeting of the Egmont County Council the inspector of health (Mr. F. Swindells) advised that for the quarter ending March 31 five cases of infectious diseases were notified within the district, being 12.5 per cent, of the total eases within the district during that period. Adequate precautions were taken with regard to the cases, two of which were removed to the hospital. There were four cases of diptheria and one of influenza pneumonia. Taken on a papulation basis it was a rate of 1.83 per 1000. Fruit supplies have been coming forward so far this season in fairly large quantities. At yesterday’s sales at New Plymouth the best dessert apples (delicious) brought from 6s a half case to 14/6 a bushel, other desserts 3/3 to 5/-. Cookers are temporarily in short supply, and made up to 7/6 a bushel. Pears have been plentiful as far as the market is concerned. Best varieties 4s a half case to 9/3 a bushel; other varieties 3/- to 6/6. Best Hutt tomatoes 6/6.

The history of Noah and his ark might be considered by some people to be rather a tall story, but that from a botanical view it is marvellously accurate, was demonstrated by Mr. M. Fraser in the course of an address on plant life at a meeting of the New Plymouth branch of the Victoria League on Monday night. A dove was sent out of the ark $o spy out the land, if land there was, and the bird came back with an olive. The olive trees favored the mountain tops and were the first to show their heads above water, and a dove could take the largest olive into its crop. However, the olive put has a curious adventitious leaf on its foot stem, on which the dove would require to stand and break off in order to swallow the nut with comfort. The dove brought it back to Noah, for it found no rest for the sole of its foot. Now, had the writer said that Noah sent out a goose or a duck, bringing back an olive, Mr. Fraser said, the good old story would have been ruined from, a botanist’s viewpoint! The first indication -of plague in this country was in 1900, but it was entirely limited to rats, which were reported as dying in thousands in the rivers north of New Plymouth (said Dr. Valintine, Inspector-General of Hospitals, in the course of an address, to the Sanitary Inspectors’ Conference last week). At the instance of the Government, the speaker visited Mokau, and he found such to be the case, and some of the specimens were sent to Wellington, but the knowledge of plague bacteriology in those days was very vague. As a matter of fact, there had been twenty cases of plague in the Dominion since 1901. The largest number reported in any one year was in 1911, when eight cases occurred in Auckland. Personally, he had little fear of plague spreading to any extent in this country It was interestin0 ’ to note, in connection with the present plague scare, that before the speaker was connected with the department, plague hospitals had been erected at Berhampore, Wellington, and at Wanganui. He was glad to, say that there were now no hospitals in the Dominion that had not infectious diseases hospitals or isolation wards connected with them.

The honorary director of the New Plymouth observatory notifies that the institution will be closed to the public as from the 12th inst., pending important improvements to the telescope mount-

ingpounds can be saved by having your old or soiled garments renovated by J. K. Hawkins and Co., dry cleaners and steam dyers, Devon Street, New Plymouth. We have thp most up-to-date plant in Taranaki for doing this class of work. It does not matter how soiled or faded your garments we can renovate them like new. Our ’phone number is 685. Get busy.

The Wellington tramways last year returned a profit of £22,407, whilst the previous year they made a loss of £l2BO. The increase is due mostly to higher fares. The profit from the supply of electric current was A small outbreak of fire occurred near (Everybody’s Picture Theatre yesterday afternoon. Painters were burning paint off the adjoining buildings and some boxes and lumber had caught fire in the process. The outbreak was quickly quelled and no damage resulted. “It is surprising how long a man can be mixed up with law and how little of it he learns,” remarked a member of a deputation to y. county councillor at a meeting of the Egmont County Council yesterday.

At a meeting of the New Plymouth branch of the Labor Party last night, a resolution was carried congratulating the P. and T. Officers’ Association on their most definite decision to affiliate with the Alliance of Labor.

Here’s a chance for all men, old and young alike, to make this Easter season memorable, if only on account of one colossal saving effected on one purchase. Fancy the famous Duplex brace being obtainable at such a ridiculously low figure as 2/11 per pair. This is the latest announcement from that progressive clothing firm, Howell and How ell. You are well advised to get in early, for this remarkable money-saving bargain cannot last long. On Friday, April 21, at 2 p.m., Newton King, Ltd., will sell by auction at the Mart, Devon Street, a property of three acres with 6-roomed house and other outbuildings, situated at Record Street, Fitzroy. As it is being offered to wind up a deceased estate, the property should command keen attention, as it can no doubt be acquired at a reasonable figure. Particulars are advertised elsewhere in this paper.

The public should not overlook the fact that most of the shops in the town will be closed for the half-holiday on Wednesday, 12th inst., but will remain open until 9 a.m. on Easter Saturday, the 15th inst.

Men going away for Easter should provide themselves with “fixings” for changeable weather. For instance, these procurable at the Melbourne, Limited:— Warm knitted socks, 1/9 to 2/11; natural undershirts, 9/6; cashmere socks, ail wool, 2/11 to 3/11; smart caps, 5/11; nobby raincoats of pure wool gaberdine. £4 19a fid; and warm all wool tweed top coats for motoring or walking, 89/6. “Fairy Wonder” is unique for wash-ing-up. You will like its efficiency. Its abundant lather makes the washing easy. Its perfect rinsing prevents the formation of the soapy film that dulls the lustre of china and glass. Dishes shine like u the sun, and the hands are left nice and soft.

The Eltham retailers have decided to close on Good Friday and Easter Monday, but will be open as usual on Saturday.