LOCAL & GENERAL NEWS

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue LXVIII, 23 October 1914, Page 4

LOCAL & GENERAL NEWS

_ -—-♦—- j We give a reminder that the annual meeting of members of. Hawera Chamber of Commerce is convened to be held this evening. This is a body whichdoes useful work in the interests of the town and district, and therefore ! deserves the support and interest of the people generally. The committee . will present its statement relating to ' the activities of the past year, and it will be the duty of members to appoint officers and committee for the ensuing ■ year. ■ . The Timaru Borough Council has cleeided to gi-ant the local police compji- j mentary tickets for the bathing season at Caroline Bay. j It is not Mr J. W. Hay ward who ! has obtained the first contract for the Opunake railway, but Mr George Wil- : liarn Hayward, of Kaponga. j The lambing season promises to put i?p sever?.* individual records (says the ' Oamaru Mail). The Lincoln flock at Moeraki Station has been tailed with the remarkable tally, of 160 per rent, and the hill flock, not yet maike.l, promises to yield well over 120 per cent. ':

It was publicly stated "in Adelaide recently 'that beef would be 50s a hundred pounds by Christmas. A large squatter promptly offered to sell the person responsible for the statement 10,000 head of cattle at 40s per hundred, to be delivered before Christmas. The offer was not taken. A Sefton correspondent of the Christchurch Press writes: —"Mr. R. Helson, o? Saltwater Creek, has three ducks which lay fiye and six eggs per day. This is quite"-correct, s^ ther» are no other ducks near, and different parties have seen Mr. Helson gathering in. the eggs daily." Members of the British Medical Association in Auckla id have informed the Patriotic League that they will be pleased to assist in the alleviation of distress by" attending deserving cases free of charge during the currency of the . war. This decision refers to dependents of the Expeditionary Force who may fall sick. American trade has not materially suffered through the war, according to Mr P. E. Quin,^ Acting-Commissioner for New South Wales at San Francisco. As a matter of fact, he said, the "United States expects to benefit in several respects. _ Enormous orders have been placed in America, for instance, for blankets for both the British and the German armies. Foodstuffs for export are also in great demand. Besides, America expects to inherit a good deal of Germany's trade. It is reported that owing to the movement to get a new award increasing the wages of borough workers 1 from 8s to 10s per day, the Palmerston Borough Council has arranged a conference with other local bodies to consider joint resistance to such a demand. It is considered by the council that the present time of war and local distress is inopportune for increasing wages to an extent which would mean an extra £1000 from the borough funds. John Forster, in his ''Life of Dickens," makes a curious reference to the Franco-Prussian war. Bismarck and Jules Favre were holding a consultation under the walls, of Paris. Bismarck was waiting to open fire on the city; Favre was striving to show how wise it would be not to do so. And while the two statesmen were seeking a basis of negotiation, the grim old warrior Moltke was fitting quietly in a corner of the^room reading "Little Dorrit." This was not. four months after Dickens's death. Some enterprising reader cf a Swiss journal, which has been regularly publishing Wolff Agency reports since the war began, has discovered that if the fictions of this German news factory had been fact, the French had up to Monday last lost 880,000 men in killed, wounded and prisoners, that the Allies had lost 11,982 cannon, that 177 generals and 1213 flags had been captured by the Germans, and that there must be at last 800,000 Russian prisoners of war in Berlin; Also, the British Expeditionary Force had up to the same date suffered complete "annihilation" twice. The devices used by some people as a means to beat the totalizator are surprising. At the Hawke's Bay spring meeting (says the Tribune) one person produced at the pay-out window a ticket that had been issued at the Napier Park meeting. * The ticket resembled the winning ticket in the particular race, bat' the' code word was different. In another case, although the ticket was known not to be correct, the money was paid out. It appears this particular ticket was issued at a former meeting, and it was a replica of those sold in the race for which the dividend was claimed.. The person who tendered it must have had it in his possession for some considerable time, and have awaited his opportunity until the same number and code word were re-used. Many other instances occurred at the mee'ting of attempts to fleece the officials at the pay-out windows. The I\ew York Board of Health has issued a circular warning the public of the increasing danger from cancer. From this it appears that at the present time one man in every fourteen and one woman in every eight over the age of 40 die of cancer. Cancer claims 75,000 victims every year in the TJnited States. The Board of Health gives some excellent suggestions as to the best way to avoid cancer. The most important of these are not to permit any irritation of the tongue by contact with broken or decayed teeth, and not to neglect any swelling of the skin, lips, tongue, etc. A wart on a. child is rarely anything but a wart; on an' adult it is likely to be the beginning of a cancerous growth. In its earliest stages cancer can generally be cured by a simple operation; in its later stages it is generally incurable, though some forms of it in some parts of the body have been eradicated by the radium treatment. Hermanus Maritz, the Boer rebel, who has caused such a stir in South Africa; is spoken of as a man full of energy and resource. He fought through-; the South African war ond was (Jne of the principal lieutenants in General Smuts' commando - Maritz was m the Boer column which in 1902 went, right through Cape Colony and' besieged the town of Ookisp. 'He was regarded as one of the most irreconcilable of the Boers, but after he had taken the oath? of allegiance he was placed in charge of the region close to the German South-West African border, which he knows thoroughly from end to end. When the Herrerbs rose against the Germans, Maritz assisted in crushing them. A thick-set man, full of determination, Maritz is said to be rather cruel. Although not an old man, he belongs to the old type of Boers, and always carries a sjambok to flog natives. The men he has gathered round him in his rebellion are all old comrades of his, the majority ot them haying been in the same commando during the Boer, war. Buyers or apparel should make a point of attending the , Melbourne's Great slaughter Sale to-morrow. The bargains offered are of a startlinecharacter, and will go a long way toyards offsetW^the lately increased price of foodstuffs.—Advt.

A. welcome social to the Taratiakl Mmwters'-Council will be held in Wesley Jlall, Hawera, on Monday, at 7 45 Pf\'' Vj|leil»addl^ ss^ s »iJI be delivered by the Rev. T. G. Hammond, actHer. C. H. Olds, 8.A., o f New Plymouth. Special music will also be rendered. Some time ago a report was circulated, and published in the Bay of Plenty Times, that Major-General Robley (a Maori war veteran living in England) was dead. Mr J C. Adam's or Tauranga, was therefore much surprised to receive a letter recently from the General, which indicated that as late as August 20 he was hale' and hearty. Complaints have reached this office of quite a number of instances in which wmdows of workshops and other buildings have been broken by stones thrown by boys. Such occurrences have been so numerous lately as to leave no doubt that they are due to wanton rnischief, and not accident, and to be brought before a magistrate to answer for their misdeeds would dc no harm to the young scamps who are responsible for the damage. Enquiries have been made of the Minister of Defence as to whether the Territorials mobilised for active service in New Zealand, doing duty at the coast defence forts and elsewhere, will be entitled to the war ribbon and war medal. Mr. iUlen informed a questioner in the House that this would be a iratt Qr for the Imperial authorities t« decide. He would, however, brine;, the matter under their notice at the proper 'ime. The arrangements for the- annun 1 wool sales in Auckland me not to be affp-sted by t^e outbreak of war. Advirws from the South indicate that the sales there will be gone on with as tho"" 1! nothing untowanl had occurred. Reni'esenta^ tires of English, American and Continental houses are' "expected to be present in large numbers, and H is nntioinatfed that" the Ne'" e'in will find clearance ft satisfactory prices. ■"Mr F. W. Thome, of Auckland, who was in England when hostilities broke out, says that in Loridpn, after the first panic had died away, the people were almost entirely Undemonstrative, and except for the promenading of small bands of enthusiasts, there was little to indicate that the great European conflict had commenced. Th© children, however, were completely caught by the war fever, and one of the most amusing sights of the London streets was that provided by a band of urchins, who arrayed themselves in gay helmets and uniforms of tissuepaper, and fought desperate battles with wooden swords.A Holstein Friesian heifer, Netherlands Jt^rincess IV, the property of Mr. John Donald, of Wanganui, has just put up a unique performance. In the sami-final Government test she produced in twelve months 19,621 lb of milk containing 805.77 lb of butterfat. It is believed that tin's is a world's record under the conditions of the test. "When it iff remembered that the average yield of the crvvs of New Zealand is .160 lb of. butter-fat, per year, the scops for the improvement of herds will be recognised. We have received a copy of New Zealand Illustrated, the fine Christmas number of the Weekly Press. To tlie New Zea-lander it forms an excellent Christmas greeting to his friends and relations across the sea, as it gives, in picture and story, a vivid idea of the country he lives in, and the beautiful scenery with which it abounds. It is New Zealand from cover to cover, and its supplement, which is by a New Zealand artist, charmingly portrays a New Zealand subject, reminiscent of earlier days—"A Pioneer's Homestead." All through, the paper shows exceptionally good work in selection, arrangement, engraving and artistic printing. The Minister of Defence (says the Dominion) made a statement to the House of Representatives on Wednesday regarding the pay of Territorials mobilised for active service in harbour defences and guard duty in New Zealand. He said that Cabinet had considered the matter, and had decided.that the men in the forts and the men on guard at Somes Island and Motuihi should receive the same rates of pay as the men serving with the Expeditionary Force. The increased rate would be as from Septemebr I. Also the uniforms and boots would be replaced from the Defence Stores as they were worn out. Arrangements would also be made to alow a certain number of the men now mobilised for service here to volunteer for service at the front. t Referring to tne . resolution passed at the recent Dominion Conference of the New Zealand Farmers' Union urging that the attention of the Stock Department be drawn to the law compelling owners to have all sheep dipped prior to May 1 in each year, with a view to having the said" law given effect to, the. Minister for Agriculture has forwarded the following reply—"The Department has always been keenly alive to the necessity for carrying out this section. Except in cases where a fancier applies for a short extension as provided under the Act, it has been the rule to prosecute any oerson who ™ay have failed to dip nis sheep within the prescribed dipping season. I i.ave again brought it under the notiee of my officers, and issued instructions that strict compliance, with the law regarding dipping must be mssited upon. Miss Haselden, who has for some years had a private school in Hawera has now removed to the residence formerly occupied by Mr C. E. Major, at th© corner of Princes street and South road. Ihere she has.much better accommodation, including a large schoolroom with, a lofty'ceiling, in every way mfe suitable for the purposes of a school. There is also an excellent playground for the children, a fine asset to any school Miss Haselden intends after the New Year to take in boarders if there is sufficient inducement. In this connection she can offer good'accommodation. With her will be associated Mrs King, who will take pupils tor music. Mrs King has good testimonials as a teacher of music. Miss Haselden asks anyone interested to interview her any afternoon or evening. Dr Van Slyke, Eye, Ear, Throat, and Nose. Address: Central Hotel Hawera. # .