LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XL, Issue 9146, 31 October 1919, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

. The following is the river report: — Rangitata, fishable; Rakaia, clear; Opihi,- clear; Waitaki, fishable; Ashburton, clear.

The following transports are due to arrive ■in ' the Dominion shortly: — Paparoa, left/United Kingdom September' 13 with 248 troops, 187 women, and 68 children; due Wellington about November 6. Arawa, left United Kingdom October 5 with 594 troops, 47 women, and 14 children; due Auckland about November 14.

A certain British Guardsman, one of the "Old Contemptibles," recently received a letter from his sister in New York describing enthusiastically how all the women there were wearing small buttons with "We did it" inscribed upon them. With quite legitimate curiosity he just replied to the letter in the following terse words: "Did what ?" -

to Mr Nash, who, on behalf; of the Farmers' Union, urged the removal of tho embargo on the expert of hides, the Prime Ministsr stated thati.tho subject was much more complicated than many ', people imagined. He proposed looking into the matter .after the session personally, as he was not satisfied with w\bat was going on, though he was hot prepared , to say it was in the wrong direction; '..".'

The next skin valuation will be one of the- largest held in Ashburton for some considerable time, as the farmers, before the busy season starts, have brought in a large number of skins. The. local butchers also contribute over 1000 on/this-, occasion, including some of, the first lambs of the season. In another few weeks. time the skins will not require so. much store room, as it will be" mostly pelts that will be handled:

The-pupils of Standards IV., V., and VI. of the Borough School assembled in St. Stephen's Schoolroom last evening, where they provided a farewell ! entertainment to Miss I. Rapley, who relinquishes teaching this week. The gathering took the form of a social, with games and vocal items by the children; Mr W. G Hillier, chairman of the committee, on behalf of the pupils, addressed a few words of farewell to Miss Rapley, who received a presentation at the school this ..afternoon. .'* . ■

The following Ashburton County exhibitors were included in the prizelist at Timaru show yesterday: — Shorthorn bull, any age, D. G. Wright 2; yearling bull, D. G. Wright 1 and 3; three draught horses not exceeding five years,.P. Shearer 1; entire, D. G. Wright 1/P. Shearer 3; three-year-old entire, P. Shearer 1; best walking stallion, D. G. Wright 1; pair draught mares, P: Shearer 3; single-harness pony, P_ L. Donald 1; pony stallion, P. L. Donald 1; pony not exceeding 14.2 hands, P. L. Donald 2; three-year-old saddle horse, P. L. Donald 1.

"All's well; I'll stay with you, Mary." i With these words William F. Tanner, a cashier in the offices of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in Chicago, closed, his eyes, embraced his wife, whose/Foot was caught in a railroad frog, "".^ and' was killed with her, w-hen a limited train of the Chicago and North-western • Railroad crashed into them./ John Miller, a flagman, in attempting to rescue the couple, lost his left leg/and sustained a fracture of the right arm. Three little children are orphans because of the fateful decision of Tanner to die with his wife.

. The management committee of the New Zealand Cricket Council were called 'upon, at their meeting last night to decide a somewhat novel point. A, H. Osorne, of New Plymouth, wrote stating that a bowler delivered a ball, and it went rather wjde of the wicket. The umpire called "wide," but the batsman stepped out to it in an attempt to strike it, missed the ball, and hit the bails off his wicket. An appeal being made, the decision "not out" was given. The council's ruling was asked. It was decided to rule that the player was out.

One of our latest Knights, who amassed ' a considerable fortune during the war, has discovered a new way of valuing pictures (says a London paper). He had a few friends down to dinner recently, and was showing them round the, premises with a pride that his waistcoat could hardly contain. Presently he called their attention to a small picture which he told them with bated breath had cost him "nigh upon three hundred pounds." One of the guests, who happened to be hither an authority upon art, ventured ;to remark that he thought it was rather si high price. "Oh! dear no, sir/I'assure you," came the reply. "Here, feel the weight of it," and he lifted it down from its hook and pressed it into the hands of his astonished guest.

The Dominion shearers and shed hands' award has been filed at the Christchurch Supreme Court. The main features of the award provide that the hours of work shall be from 5 or 5.30 a.m. to 5 or 5.30 p.m., with the usual "smoke oh's." On Saturday shearing is to stop at 4 p.m. unless 48 hours has already been worked during the week,, when an earlier stop can be agreed upon. The rates of pay are as follow: —Shearing 30s per 100, hogget rams 1-J- rates, stud rams at a rate to be agreed upon. Shearers who find themselves are to be paid 4s per day in lieu of board. Pressers are to be paid not less than £3 10s per week, or 2s per hour; all other shed hands £3 ss, or. Is lOd per hour. Youths over 16-or-under .18.are. to-be paid £2 10s per week, or Is 6d per hour. Cooks, for_ 12 meu, or under, £4 per week; assistants £3 10s per week. The wages for cooks cooking for over 12 men are to ibe the subject of agreement, but not lees than £4 per week is to be paid. The employers have the right to do work by contract if they prefer this method. The award will remain in-force until February, 1921.

No motor enthusiast should fail to inspect the new 5-H.P. Spoi-ts Model Harfey Davidson.Motor Cycle, as it is something different, containing as it does- so many new and exclusive features. The "makers claim that it-rep-resents the lightest motor cycle -it- is possible to build, which will; render satisfactory .cross country service. It will- do 50 miles per hour on a good road, and will throttle down to a pace as slow as it is possible to ride at. Opposed, cylinders and combined gear and crankcase obviate all jerks and vibrations so prevalent in motor cycles. The weight, of the machine, is in .itself assurance of low upkeep and-operating; cost. F. Potter, Burnett Street, is now booking up orders. 10 597

The Auckland Grammar School Board has resolved to' revert to the pre-war system of having only male teachers.

The Otago Education Board, decided yesterday to support the protest by the Wanganui Borough Council against the reinstatement of Mr yon Zedlitz as - professor of modern languages at Victorian College. '>■ "' . '

A* Press Association message" from Auckland states that 60 divorce cases are set down for hearing at the next sitting of tho Supreme Court, 51 new cases having been filed since the last sitting of the Court. '■ '

Mr D. Moore, secretary of the War. Relief Society, has beeii advised that Mr Shipley's property will be balloted for on November 21, and Mr R,uddenklau's durin" December. The ballot for Mr Drummond's farm will also take place soon.

Deposits in the Post Office Savings Bank during the quarter ended September 30 amounted to £7,084,959, and withdrawals to £7,146,243, an excess of withdrawals over deposits of £61,283. In the corresponding quarter last year the deposits exceeded the withdrawals by £916;855.

■ Some of the local retailers are now asking the substantial'siim of 24s pc? sack for table potatoes. ?Fqrtunately for the consumers, the spring in the North Island was early this year and the crops' prolific, so that consignments from that quarter of new potatoes should soon be available.

- During the latter stages of the war the sale of agricultural implements in this County . was practically a dead letter in the. market, and it. was only in cases of absolute necessity that farmere were inclined to speculate in new equipment -„-' of that description. Throughout. the year there has been a steady demand for new , implements, both imported and New Zealand manufactured, and. more particularly has this applied to ploughs.

Steel helmets, now being sold in England by the thousand by the Government, are becoming familiar objects in houses up and down the country as wash-basins, flower-pots, cakestands, ornamental ash-trays.t fishbowls, and "souvenirs." Many a thrilling story of the great war is now being narrated by the less scrupulous purchasers, and the "tin hat" is used to "point the moral."

At the Auckland Police Court today Samuel Nelson was fined £20, with costs, on a charge of publication of information concerning race dividends. Other charges were withdrawn. Detective McMahon stated that accused was evidently operating in a big way, and received all results and dividends. He was evidently in the habit of handing out the information by means of marked cards and race programmes.— Press Association. -

Mr R; W. Dalton, in his report of the trade of the Fiji Islands, says:— "Shirts are gradually gaining in popularity among .the Fijians. All kinds of soft tennis shirts with collar and pocket or collar and two pockets sell freely. These shirts are usually worn for dressy occasions, when the natives are generally clothed in white or cream. There'is an increasing demand for khaki shirts and trousers. The shorts are either plain or with buckle knees and are being .worn by Fiji men beneath or 'instead of a loin cloth. There is also a large sale for umbrellas.

Increased prices for women's clothing, forecast by the clothing trade for the winter, probably will be combated by the manufacture, under Government supervision, of a half-million standard costumes and coat frocks, such as were manufactured during 1918 (stated a recent cablegram from London to an American paper). Leeds firms have upward of 2,000,000 yards of, material available for the manufacture of these standardised garments, but announce that increased costs of production probably will bring the cost to £3 10s or £4. Similar garments last year were retailed for £2 15s to £3 ss.

An Argentine doctor. in a Spanish medical review. states that there are many articles of diet in hot weather, which, although sound and nutritious in themselves, are positively dangerous when taken with other foods. Everybody to-day recognises the harm of drinking tea with a meat meal, the tannin of the tea rendering the meat as indigestible as leather. let/in days of summer dishes, one is not aware perhaps of the fact that vinegar retards the digestion of rood, and that the smallest quantity will lengthen digestion by thirty minutes st least. Milk and cherries, are reld to be angularly harmful, ,and were said to have ; caused the death of Franklin Pierce, a former President of the United States.

The New. Zealand Employers' Federation yesterday passed the following motion:—" That, in the opinion of this Federation, the time has now arrived when the employers of this Dominion must recognise, that a new order of relationship between particular employers and their workers must bo established, and to this end it is advisable that each centre should elect representatives to constitute a committee to elaborate a scheme which will have for its object the promotion of industrial peace in the Dominion, this committee to report to a special meeting of this Federation within six months." The Federation also resolved that employers of waterside labour should be urged to adopt a system of permanent employment on the wharves of the Dominion. .

The proposed four months' training in camps for youths was referred to by the Rev. W. Bullock, organising secretary of tho Church of England Men's Society, during the course of an address in the Auckland Town Hall concert chamber on Sunday. " I havo nothing to say about the criticism." he said, "or about the advantages or the disadvantages of the scheme of training as judged from the military standpoint. But what Ido protest against is tho suggestion that a young man of Christian principles cannot go into camp without being damned for life. Is tlie language of the camp worso than that of any other place where men foregather ?" he asked. " Is the Christianity which a ( boy receives in a Christian home of such a sort that it will shrink up in the fiory breath of the first" sergeant-major with a gift for language ?"

The Dominion Meteorologist's forecast to-day is as- follows:—The indications are for freshening, northerly winds, strong to gale, and backing by north to west. The weather will probably prove squally a.nd changeable. Barometer unsteady, with a falling tendency. *

There were .some anxious citizens in Masterton the other afternoon. A rumour got abroad that tied to some broken jars of beer, distributed by a runaway delivery cart, were labels giving the names of those who had ordered the beverages. Prominent residents whoso friends would never suspect them of ordering beer soon appeared upon the scene to make sure their labels were not exposed to the view of a shocked public.

A great deal was often heard about non-efficient mothers, said Dr. Ada Paterson, Medical Inspector of Schools, at the meeting of the Society for the Protection of Women and Children (Wellington), but much credit should be given to many harcl-working mothers for the way they looked after their children. One could see their care and attention in many ways, and that it was not light work was often obvious in the neatly-patched garments the little ones wore to school. These were hard ' times for many mothers.

With reference to the opinion expressed that illuminations viewed from Napier towards the Kidnappers, and also in other parts of the dominion some weeks ago, was the Aurora Australis, Mr Clement Wragge declares that this was not as ' supposed. It is his opinion that the time is approaching when we might expect more volcanic and seismic disturbances in the southern hemisphere, and he suggests that Mounts Erebus and Terror in the Antartic may have been in' eruption, and were tho source of the brilliant il luminations.

After an.-.inspection.;'of- the oyster beds at Whitstable recently, Dr Kemp, a well-known authority on oysters, re- | marked that the industry at Whitstable was the oldest organised industry and commercial interest in the world. Oysters were supplied to Rome from Whitstable before the Cliristian era, and-Rome was probably the Billingsgate of Whitstable in the days of the Caesars. The Whitstable oyster had a flavour that was unique, and it was regarded as the finest. So keen was the universal demand for it that attempts had been made to transplant it in New Zealand, Australia, Africa, and America, but it had been found impossible to retain the distinctive AVhitstable flavour that was so pleasing to the palate. I