LOCAL AND GENERAL

Feilding Star, Volume XVIII, Issue 4593, 19 May 1922, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL

AGRICULTURAL BANE. Speaking at the Wanganui Conference, Mr Poison, Dominion President of tho Farmers.' Union, said that, in the matter of an Agricultural Bank, concerning which ttio farmers know very little of what was being done, he was in a position to say that the Government was now in communication with the Farmers' Union regarding any possible Bill which would be brought down. When an Agricultural Bank was an accomplished fact, few would realise, because of the quiet way the work' was clone, what part the union had -played in bringing it about. It would have done an enormous amount of work for which it would never be "fully thanked, by farmers in conference or by the public or by the press. BAND CONCERT. Tho Feilding Brass Band concert on Sunday night will be worth going to. Local and outside talent of very high order are assisting. GLIDING STOP CONTEST. At a meeting of the Feilding Motor Club held last night final arrangements were made for the holcjiiig of a gliding stop contest to-morrow afternoon. It was decided to divide the competitors into two classes, cars and side-car outfits to comprise one class, and solo motor-cycles tho other, a trophy to bo given the winner in each class. With a view to making the event still more sporting it was decided to have a second line marked, at some distance to be determined, on the start side of finish line. Competitors will have to have their vehicles in neutral on passing the first line and they will therefore have-to judge the speed at which they approach as well as .the gliding momentum. This alteration will no doubt be a sad 'blow to many who have been practising for this event, as it will upset their calculations considerably, but it will make the contest much more interesting and, from the club's point of view, more likely to stimulate interest in competitions to follow.

The fact that military jingoism was being eliminated from school books in Germany was referred to by Miss Margaret thorp in the course of her address on famine conditions in Europe in the Town Hall (Auckland) recently. The anti-war spirit, she said, was also strongly apparent throughout the country, and in Berlin large no-more-war meetings had been hold.

"In Switzerland I came across a grave of a New Zealander, a Taranaki boy in the Auckland regiment," said the Rev. Johu Dawson at his meeting at New Plymouth, "and it was as tenderly cared for as if it had boon the gravo of one of Switzerland's own sons." Mr Dawson said he had taken the oportunity of having a photograph of the grave taken, and this had been forwarded to the deceased soldier's brother in Taranaki. The Levin Dairy Co. is paying out Is 2d per lb. for its April supply of butter-fat. The Minister of Public Works has given instructions for 20 more men to be employed on the Stratford railway works. Out of a rate roll representing £36,000, the Palmerston North Borough Council has only £BO outstanding from the last financial year. The next provincial conference of the Farmers' Union is to be held at Palmerston North. By six votes to five, the Wanganui Hospital Board has ' increased the fees for hospital patients from 5s to 9s per day. The Forestry Department is commencing relief work at its experimental station, Oroua Downs. The first batch of men is being sent down on Monday. These were nominated by the Repatriation Department, Wellington, and will probably be put to work planting marram grass. For indulging in deer-stalking without a license, Frank Zillwood was fined £5 and costs at Carterton on Wednesday. ':

Two of the secretaries of the Levin Mardi Gras wore yesterday fined £2 each, with costs, for disposing of property by lottery, without a permit. The evidence showed that a permit was obtained from the. Under-Secre-tary of Internal Affairs to raffle certain articles, but other articles, as mentioned in the information, had been added to tho list of prizes.

In denouncing the system of. land tenure in New Zealand, Mr Holland stated, iii his address at Palmerston North, that in 1914, when the population was a little over a million, there were 150,000 adults, according to a Government return, who possessed land. Included in the total was ovcry man who owned a worker's dwelling. There were less than 50,000 who paid land tax. Of these, 0148 owned land of more than £SOOO in value, and they owned .£84,000,000 worth; 065 owned land worth more than £20,000, and 60 owned estates worth more than £60,000. Final practice for the children's fancy dross hall will ho held at the Parish Hall to-morrow at 3 p.m.