LOCAL & GENERAL NEWS

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXIX, Issue LXIX, 4 November 1915, Page 4

LOCAL & GENERAL NEWS

The Minister for Internal Affairs has informed the Lower Hutt Borough Council that the censorship of kinematograph films is under consideration.

A shearer from Australia says that he finds shearing not easy to obtain. He says he is one of about 600 who have come over from Australia, having been attracted by the reported shortage of labor. About 300 of them have returned home already, finding, as he has, that shearing work is not easily obtainable.

With regard to the notice inserted yesterday by the New Plymouth Harbor Board in regard to the Board's loan, the secretary advises that the notice to strike a rate is merely a formal matter, the Board having no intention of striking a rate at present.

At Wellington on Monday night, Commissioner Hodder, oi: the "Salvation Army, announced a Dominion increase of £3296 this year, which brought the total amount raised to £22,392. Additional Taranaki contributions to the grand total were: Ins;lewood £110. Stratford £200, Elthanf £260, Hawera £120, and Patea £43.

A resident of Gisborne received through the post the other day a white feather, with a footnote to the effect that he t should be ashamed of himself for not 'going to the front (says the Times). He immediately went to the Garrison Hall, and would have got through easily but for his age, which was given as 98!

A Dunedin lady has received word that her brother, Lieutenant Charles Warr, has done something worth while. He was a corporal in the British Field Artillery, and while on service in France he stuck to his gun, when all the other men with him were shot down until reinforcements arrived. For this he received the D.5.0., and was promoted to the rank of lieutenant. Since then he has had the Cross of St. George, third class, sent to him from the Czar.

The Napier Motor Cycle Club held a special meeting for the purpose of considering what action should be taken regarding a member of the club who was alleged to have used a false petrol tank at the reliability trials held on Saturday, October 16. After a full discussion, the member was disqualified for life from taking part in any competition conducted by the club. Anotner complaint against the same member— that of using insulting; language towards the secretary and executive—was also heard. It was reported that the language in question was very bad, and that although a written apology had been asked for none was forthcoming. The club decided that, in the face of the evidence, it could not retain the member in question, and .expelled him "for gross discourtesy to the secretary, and executive."

"I have in the isolation hospital at the present time a child only one year and 10 months old, who frequently asks the nurse for beer to drink, thus showing the conditions with which this child is surrounded," says the medical officer of health for East Ham, Dr IW. Benton. "It would be interesting," he continues in his annual report, "to know the number of deaths of infants caused indirectly by a common and distressing sight in this borough—that of children in the care of their mothers outside public-houses at all hours of the day being exposed to varying conditons of weather, thus causing bronchitis and other respiratory diseases. Prosecution under the Children's Act in a few cases would be a protection to these children. "In three cases out of four, the illness of infants in poor districts," an East End doctor states, "is due to unsuitable diet. Cheese, tea, and fried fish are only a few of the foods which many East End mothers, particularly the younger ones, seem to regard as suitable substitutes for milk. Cases in which beer or stout is given in the hope of quieting babies are occasionally met with, but luckily they are rare."

Soon after the pass'~i~ of the Defence Act, which broug •' with it the birth of the Territorial s stcn, a family by the name of Stella gained extensive notoriety (says the Auckland Star) by its generally obstinate attitude towards the Territorials, and in consequence members of the family were summoned for failing to attend parades. One boy went to gaol rather than pay the fine inflicted. The family is still against the military system. Alexander Stella was charged at Ohakune with failing to make application for registration in the Territorials. Constable Annison. who prosecuted, stated that the fault was the father's, who \vould not allow his sons to render personal service. Mr Hewitt. S.M., adjourned the case for a month, and informed accused he \vould have to register, and would be fined for past non-compliance, but the fine would be in accord with his conduct in the interim. John Stella, who absojutely refused to register, was fined £5. and was assured that the fine would be repeated each court day till he registered.

Money cannot buy a more effective remedy for coughs and colds than "NAZOL." Wise mothers give it to their children. Is 6d buvsa 60 doses. — Advt. ■ . •

Th© General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, of New Zealand meets in Auckland on the 16th instant. The re* tiring Moderator is the Rev. Alexander Grant, of Dannevirke, and the Assembly comprises about 250 members. The new Moderate:* is the Rev. WScorgie, of Morhington, who was nominated last year at Christchurch.

At the recent meeting of the Patea Borough Council strong protests were raised against allowing native tangis to be held in the town. The Mayor stated that he had asked the borough solicitor to frame a by-law to meet the matter (says the Press). s

The disabilities under which teachers of household schools sometimes labored were referred to during a discussion at the last meeting of the Nelson Education Board (says the Colonist). It was stated that such teachers were expected to do all manner of things, even,to minding the baby, whilst one speaker shocked the members by declaring that in one instance a teacher had actually been asked to feed the pigs. However, it was agreed that such expediences were not general.

The following extract from a- letter from a member of the Main Expeditionary Force who, with seventeen others, was left in Egypt with the horses, shows (says the Lyttelton Times) the spirit of the men who have left these shores. It should also point the moral to shirkers. He writes to his X>eople in Christchurch: —"As you see, 1 am still here, although it is hard to stay here when every New Zealand paper we read tells of an old chum wounded or gone. Really, some of us don't go into Alexandra much. We are ashamed to be seen in there, meeting hundreds of men bandaged up."

Mr Pirani announced at Mangatoki yesterday that a cheque for £50 had that day been handed to the secretary of the Board. This was a second donation, making £100 in all, which the committee of the Mangatoki school had raised towards the cost of the drainage system at their school. He paid a

warm tribute to the public-spintedness

of the people of that district, and said that he only wished that people in other districts'were as good to their children as the people in the Wanganui Education Board district.

Speaking to the Minister of Educa-

tion at Mangatoki yesterday. Mr -Ta^f) Marx emphasised the necessity for th« Government retaining some skilled labor in the country in order that the necessary productive industries could be efficiently carried on. He was not suggesting that the numbers of men being sent away with, the Expeditionary Forces should be in any way weakened, but merely that a somewhat similar course to that . followed at Home should be adopted here by retaining some skilled men for each important industry. The Wanganui Herald says : Commenting upon the habit of some business people in giving Maoris indiscriminate credit, Judge Jack, at the meeting of the Aotea Maori Land Board on Tuesday, said that apparently it was assumed that because a Maori spent freely for a Uttle while his wealth was inexhaustible. The facts, however, were different. The flushness of cash in nearly all cases arises, not from an-

nual income, but from sales which must end sooner or later. It was incumbent on business people in giving credit to be circumspect. The ability of a Maori to pay next month or next year is not to be judged alone from his swagger or his present flushness.

The Patea Press says: "We hay» been informed that four young men who have been employed in the town recently and who are all eligible for military service, intend leaving for America this week in order to evade compulsory military service. If this is so we can only state that New Zealand is well rid of such cold footed patriots. At the same time we tihink the authorities should see that they do go to America and do not sneak ott' to some other part of the British Empire and escape their obligations. The thought that thousands of men of the type of the late Colonel Malone and Major Elmslie have given their lives that patriots such as these might enjoy their freedom makes one regret that conscription was not enforced months ago." The Native Land Purchase Board has finally completed the purchase of three large blocks between "Napier and Gisborne, on the route of the proposed railway line. These blocks are Te Kuta. Awatotara, and Purota-ngihia, [ consisting of about 44,710 acres alto- | gether. This area will be gazetted i Crown land this week, and will then be j in the hands of the Crown Lands Board of the district. These blocks are part !of a group known as the "Waikare Mohaka lands, which have been the subject of much litigation and legislation, and have been inquired into by more than one commission. The vexed question of | the titles to the blocks now purchased was finally settled by legislation in 1914. At meetings of the assembled owners which y.-ere held, an agreement Ito sell was arrived at, and the land is | now available for .settlement. "With the object in view of releasing as many men as possible from borough works, the borough engineer supply the Council with a list of the number of men who could possibly be released duriug sninmfir months, or say two or thre« months during harvest season.'' The foregoing resolution was moved at the Borough CounciF meeting on Tuesday evening by Cr Harkness^ but was negatived, only three voting for it (says the Wanganui Herald). The necessity of borough works going on, and the impossibility of sparing more than a very few, if any, were stressed by several councillors, and also by the engineer, one speaker pertinently remarking that, if the farmers wanted labor, the offer of wages sufficient to tempt the men ought to secure them. "How are you going to compel the men to g o harvesting?" asked another, while one councillor, a builderremarked that, what with the newfreezing works and other building proposals, any man with any acquaintance with the building trade, or work connected with it, was sure of employment in town for another two years.' Finally the Council adopted an amendment by Cr Spriggins to the effect that the engineer be instructed to inform any man who, bona fide, wished to go harvesting, that he would be taken on again on returning to town.

The Wellington Post of Saturday says: A citizen gives a credible chronicle of a sturdy young bachelor who had resisted various invitations to Trenthain. He was engaged to be married, and his people, as well as the relatives of his liancee, were opposed to enlistment. When the national registration schedules were about to be issued, the brawny single man was told by several friends (acting in concert) that after the first Saturday (to-day) of the registration period no marriage licenses would be issued to men, of military age, capable of bearing arms, lhe allegation was believed wholly by the parties concerned, and the marriage preliminaries were <?peeded up. The date had been fixed for some months hence, but the calendar was beaten by the dread of a stern decree, the prohibition of marriage for stalwarts eligible for military duty. Preparations which would ordinarily have taken weeks mcnths, wore cmpressed into days, and the wedding happened well in advance of to-day.

That the Best costs Least is literally true when you buy SHAKLAND'S Baking Powder. Ask your grocer.— Advfc.'

The annual meeting of the Manaiai Cricket Club will be held on Saturday at 8 £>.m. The Hawera Tennis and Croquet Club's courts will be opened on Saturday. A public meeting will be held in thej t Auroa Hall on Saturday, at 8 p.m., to consider desirability of forming a branch of the National Reserve. Some fine prices were realised at the Stratford stock sale on Tuesday, as high as £18 10s being bid for milch cows of no particular merit as far as pedigree j is «oncerned (says the Stratford Post), j The Meremere Dairy Factory Co., at a meeting of directors yesterday, decided to give one ton of cheese, valued /at £80, to the special Belgium Relief Fund, suggested by the National Dairy Associati«m. On the 26th ult., at Auckland, on the motion of Mr J. Foy, letters of administration in the estate of the late Sergeant Alan Squire, who was killed at Orallipoli on the 7th of August last, were granted by Judge Hosking to Mr R. J. Squire, the father of tke deceased

The Minister of Education was impressed with the i;act, during his visit to several schools in South Taranaki yesterday, that there was an entire absence of desire on the part of the children to take up town avocations. At each school he asked,the boys what they were going to be when they grew up, and farming easily claimed pride of place. At Matapu there was not a single child who evinced any desire for a" town occuoation.

The Minister for Finance (Sir Joseph Ward) when interviewed by a New Zealand Times reporter relative to tho public works lpan, said it was not pos^ sibla for him to speak fully regarding the.loan at that stage, as applications would not close until the end of the week. But he could give an assurance that the loan was being well subscribed for throughout the Dominion. It was usual for applications to be particularly numerous during the last few days of the term allowed, and he had no doubt at all that the issue would be a success.'

The quarterly meeting of the British Workman Lodge, No. 189, 1.0. G.T., was held last night in the Orange Hall. There was a good attendance, Bro. Hobbs, C.T., presiding. The following officers were elected and installed by Bro. Grindrod, Grand Lodge Deputy:— Bro. Hobbs, P.C.T.; Bro. Gumming, C.T.; Sis Hatcher, V.T.; Sis P. Hodren, Sec.; Bro. Sims, Chap.; Bro. Hodren. F.S.; Sis Drury, M.; Sis Adams, D.M. ; Sis. Roberts, Organist; Bro. L. Brough, G. The report of the F.S., Bro. Hodren, showed a gain of three members on the quarter's working, and the finances as thoroughly sound. It was reported from Grand Lodge that this temple was running second in the Shield Competition, and members were urged to do their utmost during the current auarter to gain first place. During; the past term the Juvenile Temple gave a concert in aid of the Wounded Soldiers, and the sum of £13 6s was the net result. The Lodge desires to thank all those who assisted the juveniles in their effort.

Mr Pirani took occasion whilst speaking at Mangatoki yesterday to pay a. tribute to the memory of the late Mr Braik, who was for some years chief inspector under the Wanganui Education Board. He felt that whilst he desired to give Mr Browne every credit for the excellent work lie was doing in regard to agricultural instruction, that gentleman himself would feel dissatisfied if the late Mr Braik, who had been the mainspring of this particular work, were not mentioned. As chairman of the Board, it had always been a pleasant experience to read the letters which passed between those two gentlemen. Instead of being strictly official communications of superintendent to instructor, they were written in the frank, open manner of a boy's letter to a boy, and it was due to the late Mr Braik's fine efforts and Mr Browne's added enthusiasm that such progress had been made. He (Mr Pirani) thought he should say at least this much out of respect to the memory of a great man, whose good work was still going on.

At the annual meeting of Waimate Horticultural Society (the Witness reports) the balance-sheet shelved a credit balance brought forward from last year of £29 13s Bd, receipts from subscriptions £32 ss, donation special prizes £16 15s 6d, total receipts £188 12s Bel. The expenditure included disbursements on prizes £47 4s 9d, the aggregate being £137 Is 7d, leaving a credit of £51 11s Id. The chairman (Mr Bridge) said the balance-sheet must be deemed to be very satisfactory. Adopted. The election of officers resulted: Patron, Mr Hair (reelected); president, Mr T. A. Bridge (re-elected); vice-presidents, Messrs Butler, J. Taylor, Long, HW and t>andy; secretary and treasurer, Mr Hobday; auditors, Messrs Bennett and laylor. A number of new members were elected. The date of next show 7«i fixed for Wednesday, Febmarv 9, t ™ w-iT as resolved on the motion of Mr Hill, seconded by Mr Butler, that the sympathy of the Society be conveyed by letter to Mrs Borne in her bereavement on the loss of her husband On the motion of Mr Candy seconded by Mr J. Tavlor, who as auditor spoke in complimentary terms of the work done by the secretary (Mr Hobday), a bonus of £10 was granted to him. This concluded the business