LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, 26 October 1922, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

New Zealand’s war debt per head of population at the end of the last financial year was, according to a return tabled in the House of Representatives, £62 15s Bld. The total debt was £81,625.673, and the population, exclusive of Maoris, 1,300,967. A country magistrate lias made the disoovery that “reformative detention” in New Zealand differs not at all from “hard labour.” In each case the prisoners do the same work, eat the same food, observe the same hours, and occupy the same kind of cells in the same building. The prison tunic, in deference to the feeling of visiting friends, is of a different colour.

The native kiekie, usually ripe in late November, is already being gathered by boys in the vicinity of lowlying or swamp bush lands' where it thrives. To old New Zealanders, Maori or white, it was a. familiar food, but is becoming scarcer as the bush is,cleared. It is perhaps peculiar among all the fruits of the earth, in that one appears to be eating a deliciously sweet flower. The fruit portion, or more correctly speaking, the flower-stalk, which is also sweet, appears some six months later, but the flower itself formed a choice article of diet to the Maori and the early colonists, It is a creeper with flax-like leaves about four feet long. 'Rats and birds feed upon the white edible portions, which are sometimes protected by tying the leaves across until they ripen.— Manawatu Times. “Chairmanship” formed the subject of an instructive address given before the New Plymouth Sheldon Luncheon Club by Mr. G. Champion yesterday. After pointing out that chairmanship was mainly developed from the legislative procedure in different countries, the speaker explained Parliamentary procedure for a day. Procedure for societies ind meetings rot governed by any fixed rules was demonstrated. A chairman was entrusted with great power and authority, said- the speaker, and he should command the respect of the meeting and let it discover its own will and express it. A meeting assumed the tone of the chairman, if lie was languid so was the meeting, if lie encouraged quickness of thought the meeting responded. Summarised, a chairman must be absolutely impartial, be clear in thought and clear in speech, must exercise firmness tempered with kindness, must be of imperturbable, temper, exercise tact and possess good humor. Motions and notices of motion were dealt with, the chairman’s discretionary power in accepting these or not depending on their relevancy. Commenting on a chairman’s casting vote the speaker asserted that a chairman should always exercise his vote at the same time as others were voting and, if his casting vote were necessary, should vote status quo. Mr. Champion was accorded a hearty vote of thanks for his interesting address. See the splendid range of dap. Fuji and China silks at Morey’s. Beautiful shades abound, and prices are very moderate far there ideal lumiaer fabfiee.

A collie dog of extraordinary intelligence is owned by Mr. J. Ireland, at Okehu near Wanganui. The dog has only to be in a 'herd of twenty, and he will go out into the paddocks and bring the right animal up to the stockyard. Several tests have been made for the benefit of more or less incredulous visitors, but the sagacious collie is never at fault. Recently Mr. J. McL. Blair and other members of the Wanganui Agricultural Association saw the dog at work and were greatly impressed. —Chronicle.

A striking instance of the evil effects of prolonged Labour troubles is to be found in the present state of affairs at Port Darwin, in the Northern Territory of Australia. Mr. G. J. Black, who returned recently from Australia, stated in t'he course of an interview, that, as a. result of the intolerable demands of the workers in the freezing works at that place, Vesty Bros.’ works, the largest in the world, had been closed down, and the firm, which owned large cattle stations in the Territory, were shipping cattle away alive to Manila to supply the American troops there. Other producers, lacking this outlet for their stack, were now practically without a market.

A County Council over Gisborne way encountered a. strange experience recently, when a Maori woman armed with a stick advanced upon the assembled councillors, and thumping the table with her shillelagh enquired what they meant by demanding from her £l9 in rates upon a ten-acre section. “Don’t make it too hot” was the burden of her complaint, which on the face of it seemed not unreasonable. In point of fact, rates had accumulated upon a block of land for five years, and upon its sub-division a claim was made upon individual owners for their share of the accumulated arrears., As a thank offering for escape from bodily harm the councillors will doubtless allow the lady all the time possible to pay up in.

An old sea captain who can talk of the days when he was mate of a ship trading between London and New York as long as 184-8, was asked by an Auckland Star representative what kind of treatment steerage passengers got in those days. He replied that there was no .Seamen Act in the early days providing for the provisioning of passengers. The ship was fitted up with bunks and rough tables, and passengers had to find all the rest with the exception of lib of flour or some other meal per head each day, which was served out. Some of the passengers were very poor, and had not been able to bring much on board, and if the voyage was a long one, some of them fared pretty badly towards the end of the voyage and the sailors shared biscuits ' and salt beef with them. Passengers were huddled together with far too little air space. Some of the pioneers suffered a good deal of privation on the voyage to New Zealand, but they fared better than those who cross, cd to America, because arrangements were made to supply the New Zealand passengers with food from the ship.

If defections from the trades union movement in Great Britain continue at the present rapid rate the job of the professional agitator will soon lose its attractiveness. One reason given for the 624,000 resignations' from ten British unions last year was the excessive cost of management, which in one instance amounted to more than 75 per cent, of the total income. No doubt the misuse of union funds by greedy officials has inspired resentment, but the real cause goes much deeper. The balance-sheets of the Seamen’s, Union and other industrial organisations in Australia show that the ratio of management expenses to income (which is made up almost entirely by dues .and levies paid by members) is Extremely high, yet it has not led to wholesale resignations. Probably the explanation of the defections from British unions is that the creed of vengeance and cheating preached by many industrial “bosses’ is offensive to the great majority of honest workmen. Evidence of this was furnished in Sydney recently, when a number of large unions indignantly repudiated the “Go-slow” policy formulated ‘by the Trades and Labor Council. Unfortunately they lacked the determination to give the knock-out ■blow to the gang of extremists who have gained control of the movement.

“Extinction is not the Maori’s fate; absorption by the pakeha is his destiny,” declared Dr.' P. H. Buck (Te Rangihiroa) in a 'lecture at Auckland. There were at present slightly over 50,000 Maoris in New Zealand, he said. Although the decrease of the Maori had been arrested it was not possible that the two races could exist separately side by side. What was happening was that the Maori race was gradually being absorbed by the white race. In the Maori Pioneer ’Battalion during the late war in Europe the percentage of Natives with white blood in them was about 40, and it might be taken that those young men were typical of the rest of the people. In the Maori schools of to-day there were just over 4000 pupils, and a careful analysis of their parentage showed that a little over 59 per cent, of those children had white blood in their veins. Those figures spoke for themselves. Dr. Buck thought that the Maori could bring to the “family” some traits that would bo| of real value, his splendid physique, his art, and other things, and as it was his destiny.to be absorbed into the white race it behoved us to study his history and his past, which were full of interesting problems.

With the advent of the warmer days comes the question as to what is most suitable and comfortable in the way of head-dress. Ever ready with the right suggestion at the right time, N. B. Howell, Devon Street East, advises that full stocks of gents’ Panamas have now been opened out. The prices for these goods are moderate in the extreme, whilst the quality has in no way suffered because of the low cost. You are well advised to visit this store early and see the values in Panamas offering to-day. Don t forget it is N. B. Howell’s for hats.

We have now installed an up-to-date steam pressing machine, and we are able to execute all orders in the course of a few days (morning orders done in 48 hours). We have tin; most up-to-date plant in Taranaki for renovating all classes of suits, dresses, gloves, hats, etc. Post your goons to us, and we will return them in a few days equal to new.—At J. K. Hawkins and Co.'s, Steam Dyers and Dry Cleaners, Devon Street, New Plymouth.

To-morrow morning the Melbourne, Ltd., start their Great Turn of the Tide Sale punctually at 9 o’clock. The sale is to run for 21 days only, and is being held in order to reduce stocks and make room for a large direct shipment ex Port Denison, due at New Plymouth breakwater about the middle of November. A few particulars are advertised on page 8 of this iesue. Complete sale list posted on application.