LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue LXXIV, 27 August 1917, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

Returned soldiers are reminded that an important business meeting will be held in the club room on Friday next, August 31, commencing at 7.30 p.m.

A Dunedin message states that information has been received that steamer communication from New Zealand to Sydney will be reopened this week.

A London cablegram says that the excessive rain has beaten down corn m many parts of England, seriously affecting the harvest prospects.

A casualty list issued' on Friday included the following:—Killed in action, T. Harvie (Mrs A. E. Harvie. Manutahi,' wife) ; wounded1, H. E. Coffin (Mrs S. Coffin, Opunake. mother).

In connection with the Wairongomai tragedy, a Gisborne message states that the youth Inkster, charged with the murder of two men, Anderson and Bradley, on July 22, reserved his defence, and was committed for trial at the Supreme Court on September 13.

In America there is in operation an Anti-Hoarding Act. This measure was quoted by Mr Wilford in the House of Representatives. He said it gave inspectors extraordinary powers as regards entering warehouses to see whether the proprietors were hoarding stocks with a view to exploiting' the public.

Mr W. Hudson, the organising secretary of the Sheldon Institute of Business Science for the Dominion, was in town yesterday, and arranged for a lecture, "The Science of Business," to be given by Mr Andrew Deer, of Sydney^ governing director of the Sheldon Institute of Australasia, on September 4th, under the auspices of the Hawera Chamber of Commerce.

A Christchurch man, who takes a* very keen interest in military mat- / ters, estimates that, owing to the absence of local camps, South Island soldiers or leave have spent about £90,000 for steamer fares uo to the present. The expenditure" involved by relations going to Wellington to farewell South Islanders leaving for the front has approximated £250,000.

In the series of simple answers to simple questions for people of limited means published, in the Star on Thursday last, taken from the Wellington Post, it is stated that "You can paydown £38 for a £50 certificate, and receive £50 back in. five years' time." The abridged prospectus published states that for 16s you can buy a £1 certificate, and for £80 a £100 certificate. The cost of a £50 certificate wouid therefore he £40. Apparently a slight error has been made in printing the article, or in taking the text from the Minister. A soldier at the front who has a wife and children in Dunedin, writes: "Again let me emphasise the fact that the argument that married men are selfish and shirking their tome duties by coming to the war is rotten. Excuse the word, but no other will express what I think on the subject. Every married man I know here would give anything to be able to go back to his home duties and be away from the hellish life here, but this war must be fought to a victorious finish. It is hard—very hard— for our wives and. families, but war is hard. Wives give their husbands, mothers their sons, and children their fathers, and fathers, husbands and sons give their lives. Greater love hath no man than this: that a man lay down his life for his friend." A good story is told (says the New Zealand Times) of a wealthy Wanganui farmer who enlisted and went into camp. He had only been in Featherston a few days, when one of his hands also came into camp, and passing the cook shop one day he saw his boss peeling potatoes. Looking somewhat astonished, the newcomer addressed his employer thus: "Hello. Harry, how did you get the job?" "Oh, influence, my boy, influence," replied the wealthy recruit. (Very good—hut is it not a resurrection of the story told long be- \ fore conscription came 'in concerning I a well-known Wairarapa runholder r) > At the Wellington Hospital Board" meeting, the chairman ("Rev. IT. Vnn Staveren) said that Tjv Watts. District Health Officer, assured them that they need not fear the diphtheria epidemic, because as a rule following a dry season diphtheria increased "everywhere. The reason for this was not given, hut it was a fact. It may be added that the Star drew attention to this point some weeks ago, when the outbreak here was first reported. Progandra cures Corns quickly.— Advfc. i