LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, 16 May 1922, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

At the meeting of the New Plymouth High Schools' Board last nigh I Mr. F. Atkinson gave notice to _ move at the next meeting in the direction of reducing the boarding fees by £1 per term as from the commencement of next A meeting of the North Taranaki Methodist Ministers’ Association was held at Eltham yesterday, the Bev. W. J. Elliott (New Plymouth) presiding over a good attendance. Mr. Elliott was re-eleeted president and the Rev. E. B. Chambers (Inglewood) was appointed secretary and treasurer. The president extended a welcome to the new ministers in the district. A good deal of business was transacted, coverin" centenary matters, foreign missions and the young people’s department. Votes of sympathy were passed with the families of the late Revs. Lewis Hudson and William Oliver, who labored in Taranaki in past years.

A miraculous escape from serious inJuries occurred when the Rev. R. E. Fordyce (Methodist minister at Manual, who was riding a motor cycle, collided with a motor car between Haw era and Eltham yesterday morning. Mr. Fordyce was proceeding to Eltham and it is stated that at the time of the accident he was looking down to adjust his machine and did not see the approach of the car in front of him. The impact was a severe one, but Mr. Fordyce escaped with bruises ana a severe shaking, while the motor cycle was smashed and the car damaged. No news has been received by the Auckland police concerning the yacht Raata, which was stolen on the evening of Wednesday, May 3, from its anchorage in Auckland. The whereabouts of the yacht are at present not known, but the opinion is prevalent that the men aboard are making for Tonga. Questioned as to the intention of the police should this theory prove correct, Inspector Eales said he had no opinion to offer, as any communications regarding the yacht* sent beyond New Zealand were being attended to by the commissioner’s office. In the event of the Raata putting in at Tonga, some difficulty may be experienced in apprehending the men aboard her, as there is at present no extradition treaty between New Zealand and the island kingdom. This may, however, be overcome by virtue of the fact that Tonga is a British protectorate. There was an alarm of burglary in a large drapery establishment •in Wellington a few nights ago, which ended an comedy except for the unfortunate victim. * During the afternoon a woman fell asleep in a fitting room, and as a joke was locked in by an employee, who forgot all about her. Late in the evening there was a sound of scrambling in the upper part of the building, and the woman appeared on the roof, having «ot out of the fitting room through a fanlight above the door. She tlien found her way down to the ground floor of the shop. There she was apparently securely locked in, but her ingenuity enabled her to unfasten the front door, and she got out, only to be confronted, with a high iron gate. But that presented no difficulty to the adventurous one; she secured a chair from the shop, climbed to the top of the gate, and at the risk of being impaled, made a desperate leap, and landed on the pavement, apparently unharmed. The Pearson Memorial Fund, initiated principally by blind soldiers, to provide adequate training and supervision of the 550 civilian blind of the Dominion, is making splendid progress in Canterbury, which is well on the way towards the completion of its quota of £7OOO. Timaru, in ten days, has secured £7OO of its quota of £BOO. Temuka and Geraldine have nearly completed their quotas, and matters are well under way in Waimate, Fairlie, Ashburton, Peeston, and other centres. In Christchurch an extensive programme of entertainments, sporting events, and collections has been arranged, and the City Council has expressed its desire to make a contribution of £lOOO towards the fund.

The New Plymouth High Schools’ Board met last night. Present: Messrs. E. P. Webster. S. G. Smith, M.P., A. Washer, F. W. Atkinson and A. E. Washer. In the absence of Mr. J. S. Fox, Mr. E. P. Webster was voted to the chair. Leave of absence was granted to Messrs. J. S. Fox, H. Trimble, L. A. Nolan, L, C. Sladden and Dr. Fookes. The use of the board’s room was granted the Taranaki District Law Society for the purpose of lectures to law students during the coining winter months. The -board’s architect (Mr. T. H. Bates) and the principal of the Boys' School (Mr. Moyes) forwarded letters regarding there was a sound, of scrambling in larly over the room used by form VI., and* also regarding drains. —Referred to Messrs. Nolan and Sladden with power to act. The principal reported a gift of books to the school from the late Hon. T. Kelly, through Mr. F. Kelly. It was decided to forward a vote of thanks acknowledging the same. A vote of thanks was passed to the chairman for a gift of posts to the farm.

Le Roy’s famous oiled canvas coats are stocked by the Melbourne, Ltd., at competitive prices. For instance: Men’s light weight, shoulder lined, 79/6; men’s double lined, best quality, 96/6; boys’ coats also kept in stockSome women find a day’s washing, particularly during cold, frosty weather, very trying on account of chilblains, chapping and roughening of the hands. All this can be avoided by using ‘‘Fairy Wonder” Dry Soap to do the washing vrith. This w’onderful lavor-savtf-r i® highly emollient and leaves the hands soft and smooth after the hardest day’s Wftfliing. Try it.

The New Zealand tour of the Sistine Choir has been cancelled. Advice to this effect has been received by Mr. M. J. .Sheahan from Wellington. The telegram gave no reason for the change in the original arrangements. “We buy very little stationery outside,” said the New Plymouth borough manager last night in response to a query by Cr. V. Griffiths, who thought that trade should be kept in the town as far as practicable.

The Taranaki Prohibition League was granted permission to hold open-air meetings on Friday evenings at the corner of Devon and Brougham Streets, at last night’s meeting of the New Plymouth Borough Council, subject to satisfactory arrangements being made with the Salvation Army.

A small live hedge is to be planted on the high ground in the south-east corner of the New Plymouth cemetery to protect flowers, etc., on the graves. The sexton will be authorised to take the fence back some distance to allow this to be done, but will be instructed not to sell any land included in the added area till further notice. This resolution was passed at last night’s meeting of the New Plymouth Borough Council, on the .motion of the Mayor. The five industrial disputes that have been heard before Mr. P. Hally at Auckland during the last few days have all been settled, except in one instance where a question was referred to the Arbitration Court. “In times like these,” said Mr. Hally, “the fact that the parties are able to adjust differences speaks exceedingly well for the good feeling existing between employers and employees in Auckland.” Mr. Massey has informed the Mayor of Christchurch that he will be willing to receive a deputation from the Christchurch City Council during the short stay he proposes to make in Christchurch on his return from Dunedin. The City Council intend to ask that authority be given to set off bunk credits on special loan accounts against the overdraft on the general account. As the law stands at present this cannot be done.

“There are those who say that the popular taste in amusements is not all it should be,” said Miss N. E. Coad, president of the Women Teachers’ Association, at a meeting of that body the other evening. “It is true that while ‘the pictures,’ dancing, billiards, may be anathema to some of us older people, they are, I regret to say, the breath of life to the younger people. ... I am afraid the present centres of interest and amusement cannot be abolished, so they will have to be utilised and improved.” The long flight of the Auckland yacht thieves recalls to the New Zealand Herald the attempt to escape from justice made by John Caffery, master, and Henry Penn, mate of the cutter Sovereign of the Seas, after the murder of a settler* named Robert Taylor, at Tryphena, Great Barrier, on June 19, 1886. The two men, accompanied by a woman, sailed in the cutter for Australia, the vessel being wrecked on that coast. They lived for some time in the bush, but were subsequently arrested and brought back to Auckland, where the extreme penalty of the law was paid.

Instructions in reference to the reduction in the bonus made by the recent award of the Arbitration Court were asked for at last night’s meeting of the New Plymojith Borough Council by the electrical engineer, so that he could notify the unions affected. It wae decided that the unions be notified that , the council will reduce the bonus in accordance with the Court’s pronouncement, end the necessary steps in this direction will be taken.

A suggestion has been made by the New Plymouth tramwaymen to the Mayor (Mr. F. E. Wilson) that the tram stops on either side of Calvert Road (on the breakwater service) be eliminated and one placed at Calvert Road instead, an arrangement which would also suit the people in that neighborhood much better. The electrical engineer (Mr. R. H. Bartley) was asked at last night’s meeting of the New Plymouth Borough Council to make a recommendation on the matter.

Authority was given to the New Plymouth borough inspector (Mr. R. Day) at last night’s meeting of the council to purchase some rat traps. During his recent visit to Christchurch the inspector reported that he had seen some traps priced-at 15s each, which would catch 12 rats at a time. Cr. Brown remarked that he hoped the rats would not cost 4s 9d each to catch as in Wellington. The inspector replied that most of the poisoning so far had been done on free samples. Thefts from the New Plymouth museum were reported to the Borough Council last night by the librarian. The articles stolen are three mounted tiger claws, a Japanese lacquer box, and a Japanese card case. The N.Z. Loan and Mercantile Agency Co., Ltd., wish to draw clients’ attention to their Tarata sale, which they are holding at 1 p.m. on Friday, 19th inst., in their Tarata saleyards. Full particulars of entries will be found on page 8. , Attention is drawn to Lamason s meat sale at Stratford at 2 o’clock today (Tuesday), when special value will be offered.

The s.s. Waverley will leave for Wellington direct to-morrow. The local agents, the Farmers’ Co-op. Society, advise that the vessel is now prepared to receive cargo.

The Moa Dairy Factory hfts decided not to install cheese plants at their various creameries, but will collect cream from both shareholders and non-share-holders. Farmers requiring separators or cans for the coming season are recommended to communicate at once with the secretary, box 29, Inglewood.

L. A. Nolan and Co. will submit to auction to-morrow (Wednesday) the household furniture and effects of Mr. G. B. Kyngdbn, Lemon Street. The sale commences at 1.30 p.m-

At the spiritualists’ room on Sunday evening, Mr. H. Howard, returned soldier, gave an address on “Spiritualism, the Divine Ideal.” There was a large and interested audience. Tests in the form of spirit messages followed the lecture. Mr. Howard speaks at Stratford on Thursday evening next, after which he will return to New Plymouth and continue his work here.

The annual meeting of the New Plymouth Motor Cycle Club, which was to have been held last night, lapsed, there being one short of the number necessary to form a quorum present. Money-savers at C. C. Ward’s three stores: —All wool Botany Cashmere stockings, suspender top, fast dye, only 2/11 pair, extra quality 3/6; fine weave heavy weight calico, 36in. wide, J/3 yd; single bed blankets, all wool, 29/6; threequarter bed size, 39/6; large double bed 45/-,