TOWN EDTION

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 13269, 3 January 1914, Page 8

TOWN EDTION

While ;m employe " of the TaruhtJii Freezing works was walking towards town on Now Year's Day, without any hat on. ho received a sunstroko m l\iliniTston Koad. which brought on an epileptic seizure. Ho was attended by Dr. Cole, and removed to the hospital m a cab. Enquiries to-day elicited tho iac/ that the patient is progressing favorably. la niosi towns the health ot" women and children concerns the community, but the contrary is the case at New Plymouth. So little interest has been show.ii m tho work lately that the local branch of the Society for the Health of Women and Children lias decided to disband, owing to the lack of public support. Tho balance of its funds lias been handed to the Taranaki Hospital Hoard as •«• donation to the Uriti Hospital fund. i -•Vs an incident displaying the ignorenee regarding New Zealand, even m Australia, it is reported that one of the steamers which went to Newcastle during the recent strike, was hailed on her entry to the harbor, "Where do you come from?" The answer given was "Wellington, New Zealand." The question was then asked : "Is that the North of the South Island., because if the North you are subject to quarantine regulations?" "South Island!" was shouted back*, and the boat was cleared. Tho craze for motoring has reached a.a extraordinary pitch m America. Inmate,?, of the Federal or State prisons are allowed to send one letter a month to the outside world. Naturally enough, they generally take advantage of the opportunity to communicate with a relative 1 or friend, but cases have occurred recently m which they have used this one letter to ask motor car companies to send their latest catalogues. These men cannot bear to think that they ar-i out of touch with the latest motor car improvements. In many instances, the manufacturers sent the catalogues. According to Mr H. E. Glass, a Melbourne merchant, who recently returned after a trip round the world, rubber is being put to uses which are increasing year by year. This, he thinks, will cause the produce to maintain present prices fof a, few years at any rate. One use to which he believes* rubber will be put is m the construction of pavements, and, later on, roadways. Mr Glass found rubber tiling becoming popular, and he thinks this will be the material used for streets. In both America and Hngland trials have proved successful. Plantation rubber is fast supplanting wild rubber. Ex-President Roosevelt, m his autobiography, says : "I have, as every American ought to have, a hearty admiration and fellow feeling for Australia. I believe that America should be ready to stand at the back of Australia m any serious emergency. The reception accorded the American fleet by Australia was wonderful, and showed thfe fundamental community of feeling between ourselves and the great Commonwealth of the South iSeas. The most noteworthy incident of the cruise was the reception given our fleet *by Japan. In courtesy and good breeding the Japanese can certainly teach much to the nations of tho western world." An unpaid doctor's bill for attending on a former Queen ot* .Servia came before the Paris courts, (says a recent Daily Mail). In 1901, Dr.' Caubet, of Paris, was summoned to attend Queen Draga, who was afterwards assassinated, together with King Alexander of Servia. The Queen's hopes were disappointed, and the doctor, returning to Paris, sent m a bill for £1209, at the rate of £40 a day, for the time he was m attendance. The King of Servia refused to. pay' on the ground that this fee was too high. Both he and the doctor have since died, and now the doctor's heirs are suing Queen Natalie of Servia, the mother and heiress of King Alexander, for the amount. Mt G. E. Foster, the Canadian Minister for Trade and Commerce, who recently visited the Commonwealth, has written an article on "Australia Today," and. according to a cable message to the Sydney Sun, a resident of Minnesota, a Mr .Hamilton, having read the article, suggests that Australia should' adopt an Australian Monroo Doctrine applicable to Java and Papua, and m this way "awaken a bond of sympathy on the part of the United States." He continues.: "Your national population is a little less \than ours was when Monroe proclaimed our doctrine. The future power of Australia will be so vast that, your stand once taken as a nation, no Power m Europe would dare to arouse your enmity by attempting the annexation of the islands mentioned." Mr Hamilton has submitted his proposition to Mr Foster. Terror ever lurks m the unknown. A Japanese clerk, so the story m a London paper goes, applied for a situation m a London merchant's office. He was told that he might come on trial, and, if 1 'm tho course of a week' he could do anything to justify it, he would receive a permanent appointment. Aa a tost ho was instructed to write polite but firm letters to twenty of the most notoriously "long-winded" customers on the nrm ? 3 booksA That was on the Monday. On the Wednesday came a reply to each letter. In each letter was enclosed a cheque and an abject apology for the delay m the settlement of the overdue account. The young Japanese, on- being interrogated by the principal of the- firm, replied that -he had obeyed his instructions. - He had written politely and firmly. The letter sent to tho customers x-ead : "Dear Sir, — It is with great regret that we find you have not paid your honorable account. We have carefully regarded the ,case, and are pained to inform you that, unless you send us a remittance by Wednesday morning, we shall have to take a course of action that will cause you the utmost astonishment." Tho narrator of the story expresses the belief that it was the horrible uncertainty as to what might be the consequences of non-pay-ment that produced those 20 -„ remittances. In this case, at any rate, the politeness and firmness worked together with the, best results.