LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXXIII, Issue 8530, 9 April 1913, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

—^. I The Public Trust Commission has drawn up its report. The document is now being typed, and will be presented to the Governor shortly. ; ; Tho Gisborne-Napier ferry service,! which has proved a great boon to business people in Gisborne, will be continued by the Takapuna till the end ; of May. j Tho Zealpndia, which arrived atj Auckland yesterday morning from Vancouver, received a wireless -message from the Ventura reporting that she was hove to in a cyclone 50 miles off Lord Howe Island. A deputation from the British Medical Association requested the Gisborno Hospital Board yesterday to appoint an honorary staff at the hospital (says a Press Association message). Considera« lion of the request was deferred. • David! Irwin was arrested at Wellington early yesterday on a charge of. breaking and entering: and stealing fur goods from a, local shop to the value of £50. At the Police Court later he was renianded. , ! At the Grcymouth Magistrate's Court yesterday, William Honry Frank- p pitt was charged with having obtained, by means of false pretences 17 bales of wool; ■ valued at £196, from William Clayton, of Ahoura, by representing himfeelf to b© an agent of Murray, Roberts and Co., of Wellington, with which firm he alleged he had an account in credit for £200., Accused was committed for trial. Charles Gilbert Moreland was charged at the Auckland Police Court yesterday with the theft at Napier of £3 8s 9d, the property of the Liverpool and London and Globe Insurance Company. The police stated that accused had admitted peculations amounting to £50. Accused was remanded to; Napier, bail being allowed an one surety of'£loo and two of £50 each. ■; ■,•; ■ 'According to a Press Association tele,gra'hi; from Napier, the Hawke's Bay | FJsKeties' Company has withdrawn the j itraivler CJonritess from Wellington waters, owing to difficulty in discharging the catches and lack of ioe suitable for packing the fish,so that they may be sent to» inland towns. The Countess, will return to Napier and trawL along the East Coast.'; Th© manager. is .satisfied with the cajbches, but the obstacles j'in the way of disposal are too great.

A new aspect '<>? the, 1 abour> problem ,wss, touched on: by Mr Ben Hing, a witness -before 'tpe Royal Commission ori Food 1 Supply at Sydney la^t week. He said it was difficult to get Chinese j labour because so few of his countrymen were coming into the State. For this reason, too, wages had gone-up, I and a Chinese gardener now wanted) £2 59 a week, and he had to' be well i fed, too. If he could not get Chinese) labour, the witness.said, he would, give j up gardening, 'becja'use Europeans could j no.t work like Chinese. The difficulty) .might be got ov&r if water was on all over the gaVden; but Europeans j would not carry -water. In addition, while Chinese, who generally worked on the shares principle, were at it from sunrjse, till sunset. Europeans worked ■■obljc "some hours.'' He was depress-' ed,-niso, by the award rates for shop assistants, which were £2 12s 6d f. weelc. fHo. paid it to Chinese and Europeans alike. . ... „\-...-. ■ To hear the opponents of No4icense when they are mounted on their hobby on top of a barrel, the impression gained is that it: is only in a "dry",or prohibition area that the sly-grogger flourishes (says the Feilding ''Star"). In fact, the argument is, that sly grog-sell-ing is a,rank growth of the No-license movement. 1 Of course, that is an impression which, should not last. We are constantly being' told terrible tales of the illicit trading that goes on. for instance, in Masterton. The tale-bearers would have us believe that every other house in Masterton carries strong drink, which can be had "anywhere" for the asking-j-at a price, of course. "Even the police know all about.it!" we are assured. Well, now, her© 'we find in the latest issue of the "Australian Brewers'v Journal" a strong complaint against sly; grog-shops. ..Where—in; Ashburton? No —just "look:—"Do they exist in Melbourne? They do, and also prosper. A leading - hotel prosrietor£in -the city has, drawn, our attention to the fact that' it; is only a; few weeks back that a letter publishedby a contemporary called attention to the fact, that from one of these siygrog^cafes no less than 200 enipty champagne bottles were carted away in'broad daylight, and apparently the matter has since been allowed*•'.. to drop. „ . . From the .most reliable information, our informant saya that in the very heart of the city there are, or were a few Sundays back, no less than five restaurants, within a radius of 1000 yards, wherein one may openly call for and be served with—-well, anything frohi: plebeian beer to the highly ari'stocrjitic champagne." And; this in Melbourne, be it observed, ai-city .^hat practically has a hotel on every cpi-ner, with others. ' The recent reliability trial has proved beyond doubt that the, new 32 h.p. sseater " Hupmobile" is the cheapest arid most economical Car on th.c roads at the present time. Another feature of the new " Jlxip " is the graceful streamline torpedo body. This stylo of body is now being fitted to all the most expensive English Gai^j, costing from £500 to £1000. ■ Immediately delivery can. .be given of either the 20 liVp i RmiaboMt, or 5-Seater. 32 hip. ''Hups.'*' 1 ,—Ji. D. «Tohnston, Agent. .1 6C K«gent Cigarettes are famed for their purity and quality, and will please the inhaler.. Your tobacconist stocks them.; Forty beautiful presents to ohoos« from. • g F«r. 9,hro^ Chest Complaints, Woods's Great Peppermint Cure, Is 6d,

The liakaia River was reported to bo dirty 'to-day, the Ashburton clear, and tho Kangitata fishablo. The picture entertainment given at His Majesty's Theatre some time ago in aid of the "Scott Memorial lumd " ' resulted in a profit of £10, which amount has boon handed over to the Town Clerk for transmission to tho sacrotiiry of the committee controlling tho fund in Christchurch. Considering that «m the night of the entertainment there was a heavy counter attraction" in the shape of a circus the result must be considered highly 'satisfactory, i As a matter of fact the profits did not j reach £10, but the shortage was' made up by Mr G. Martinengo out of his ov.n pocket. At the recent biennial session of the Loyal Orange Grand Council of Australasia, held in Adelaide, the following resolution was passed:—"That this Grand Council desires, in connection • with mixed marriages, to express its (satisfaction with the assurances given i by tho State authorities that tho civil ' or religious marriage ceremony of any j (-cognised Church is wholly sufficient • for every purpose, and this council is ialso gratified with the promisee given j that legal prosecution will speedily folj low any reported interferences by any 1 Church .or priesb with tho harmony of family life in such cases; and the Orange institutions of the various Slates hereby pledge themsolvcs to afford every protection and assistance that may -be desired by persons affected by the persistent attempts being made f throughout Australia by the Roman Church to enforce- the cruel and relentless No Tenure decree, which has > already de>troyi-d ."-o many homes." - - Sheepiarmers in England (says ,'The; Field") are complaining of the in-j , fluenees of the wet winter upon the flocks, especially the owes and lambs. Lambing is now fairly general in the southern counties, and except that the j fall of lan.bs is below the average in j nuinbor everything,has goiio well. The ; death-rate has been low of ewes and of lamb*. The latter are strong and j healthy, and tha former in god condi- j tion^and milking well. Ine continuous, rainfall, however, is beginning to tell . on thu health of the flocks, and in a few oases udder troubles have resulted, it i.-» believed, from the water-logged; ■ state of the land. Flockmastors take a : hopeful view of their prospects. There appear to hn good jrrounds for their optiiiii >^ . Markets for all kinds of • sheep ;-<-\ '.till brisk and priors liberal, 1 and a.- •'<< supplies, both at Home and ' abroad. wi> below the normal there is ever> v->i.>ii for anticipating a continu.Tr' I.'- L.hvT».<y:n>ut the year of pre- ■ sent vf.f".. In addition, the wrol trade is lik"!y J, > favour producers, as there is gonci-nl prarcitv in this commodity J 1 also. It is expected that the trade will bo in need of the new clip by the time it is av.ojlable, and. as far as can be 1 seen nothing is likely to arise to pre- " I vent the fulfilment of the sanguine ex-, '/pectatious regarding the wool markets. Tho Colonial' Consignment and Dis- » tributing Company, dealing with the ' j future prospects of, the frozen meat | ij trade in their annual report, say: — | ; In attempting to forecast the prospects | • of th» market ff>r frozen meat in tiio - year now opening, it is 'necessary, to bear in mind the relative increase in population as compared with stock throughout the world, the possible on- 1 largoj.ii-.ur vi the area of consumption i and t-ho *\spect«>d condition of trade 1 and I'CMv^j.ioiil- resources of the indus-! trial <'l«s'-' p. The tendency appears to be in th« ijirrotion of the demand in-1 , creasing o.:t r.i jiroportion to the sup- J ply in respect to- most of the products J of th© doiue.it;c animal, siwh as wool, » skins, hidas, tallow, etc.. and it only . seems to bo a- matter of time for meat ■ to be in Ihe same position.- Great-and populous ' manufacturing countries, such a& the United States and Ger- ) many, arc on the verge of importing > j meat on a large scale. Such a diver- . sion of .supplies from Great Britain would inevitably affect prices in England. Dealing, however, with matters as thoy are, it appears reasonable to i expect a year of satisfactory trade nationally, leading to a fair demand for imported meat. The output from Australasia is not likely to be excessive, and Home-grown supplies will : probably *.how %he> effect of the condi- , tions exj>erienced during the past year. , Ti, therefore, the export from South America is kept within reasonable bounds, there is no special cause for anxiety with rqgard to prices, which » should show a satisfactory average over the year, but it is necessary to remember that the increase in the capacity of freezing; works and the necessary en- ■ gagement or" tonnage may lead to congested supplies should there be no other ::nportant outlet in addition to Great ■ Lritain. If such is the case, prices must suffer li^re,' in spite of tho prob- ■ able hitrh i>n«.t of tho meat in the countries of origin. - • \