LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXXVII, Issue LXXVII, 1 August 1918, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

Private J. S. Tosland, of Pihama, now a soldier on service, has kindly sent us an interesting account of a recent visit made to the Garden City of Hampstead by a party of convalescent New Zealanders. The first instalment appears in another column. "A farmer would not be happy without a mortgage," said Mr McLeod at the last meeting of the Waikato County Council (reports the Times). Later Mr McLeod said he had never met a farmer whose property was not worth £5 an acre more than that of his neighbor. The recent snowstorm at Lyttelton made the water in the harbor very muddy, and this had a wonderful effect on the fish, which were seen in great numbers swimming with their heads and backs out of the water. Large catches of cod, conger eels, and moki were made by the waterside workers merely by dropping a basket into the water or killing the conger eels with sticks. One conger eel taken measured 7ft. in length. Figured out, according to mathematics, if every shipyard in America building steel ships could launch a vessel in each shipway as speedily as the New York Shipbuilding Corporation launched the Tuckahoe (twenty-seven days) America would turn out 4565 ships a year. That is figured on the basis of 404 ways for steel ships and 300 working days a year. If each ship were the same size as the Tuckahoe (approximately 5550 tons) the total tonnage would be 25,107,500. With the opening of the eighteenth session of the Tongan Parliament a new reform is to be introduced, says an exchange. For the first time in its history the Parliament will b e held with open doors. Hitherto the sessions have been closed to the general public, but reform is in the air, and the habits and customs of years past are passing away, drawn into line with the world outside her own reef-girdled islets-. As there is a good deal of legislation about which sharp differences of opinion exist, the throiving open of the Legislative Chamber to the people is expected to have a good effect. An important and useful movement has been initiated in Auckland, remarked the president of the New Zealand Automobile Association at its annual meeting last week, namely, the formation of the Good Roads Association. The scheme of the new association included all who were concerned in the improvement in th e roads of the Dominion, and would therefore bring to bear on those responsible for our roads a more general influence than could issue from a less comprehensive association. It was proposed to take the Australian organisation as an example.

A suggestion as to how to make our prisoners self-sui>porting was made by Sir Robert Stout in the course of an address in Wellington on Sunday (says the Post). "There is," h e said, "another reform to be undertaken, so that industry and thrift —two of the things Avhich prisoners usually lack—should be encouraged. Our prisons are not at present self-supnorting. Why should they not be self-supporting? Prisoners ought to be able to make the farms pay. Suppose Ave gave them a moderate rent for the farm proper, and credited them with, the Avork done in improvements, and with some share of the profits on the sale of the produce, if there was a profit after all expenses were paid they should get credit for it. Were they made ---articinatr-rs in the profits there would be a great incentive to work, to become efficient, and to he thrifty. Prisoners require to learn the industrial spirit and th c habit of thrift. They need educating: they need discipline; they need industrial training; but they are human beings and we must give them hope, and their lives should be made pleasant, so long as discipline and training are not neglected." Sir J. Madden. K.C.M G.. etc., TJeu-tennnt-GovprnoT and Chief Justice of Victoria, when delivering judgment in a ease in which an inferior'substitute had been pushed as "iust as good" as the genuine Sander Eucalypti Extract, said : "Whenever an article is commended to the public bv reason of its good nuality, it is not nermissible to imitate ariv of its fcatures." and he prohibited ['mh'v*-- s!*!*vi.in-i inn. Wh<m usinjj a medicine it is "*.-<-(*•! rmnlity" that vou ".nit. a *■'■ ■-•n-**''-r,s Extract is alwavs l-.-.tir-r.f-il. A f.i:a! wil! at once convince vou thai1 thpi-r* is tio "just as good." ! because Sander's Extract is tho onlv j eucalpytus preparation prepared ex- ■;**,■••■ irom '.i... W.-ave-s ;-it is sr-eeiali v refined bv Sender'.-*- •••■■<-• .--.s".s ;• :*-.; c<,*ir;,.M. no b-T"-**f*:l I-.- f ..-,vli-^- ; Ti* ..,„, nee °:iii'Vr's Extract Wl ll have good and lasting effects —Advt.

Discussing the toll-gate question at the \vaikato County Council meeting f the other day. one speaker expressed .9 the view that though the system was regarded as obsolete, it would help to , improve matters in regard to roads \ until some other less cumbersome 1 method could lie evolved. Sneaking to a \\ aikato Times representative on^the i matter subsequently, the chairman of an adjacent county council stated that ] he was convinced that toll-gates would not only be generally installed in the 1 near future, but that thev would be i permanent institutions. j . .-Physical training and the open-air i life in camp plays a verv important i part in the preparation of a recruit for ( war service (says the Melbourne Age). < The doughty deeds that are being daily performed by Australian soldiers at the front could not be accomplished except by men "trained to the hour" and in the pink of physical condition. ' The fighting man who" can stand the strain of a 48 hours' spell in the trenches is a different person from the pale-faced clerk who has just joined j up with the colors; but fresh air, j plain food, and plenty of exercise soon • change the clerk into the soldier. Three months at Broadmeadows camp, or any other military training depot, efEects a surprising improvement in the ' physique of a man. Profiting by this knowledge, the military authorities are now accepting for war service men who_ do not quite come up to the re- ; quisite physical standard of the A.I.F. ; Such volunteers are to be given a special course of physical instruction, j and if at the end of three months < they have sufficiently improved in physique, they will be drafted into reinforcement units and eventually sent oversea. | Prices of commodities in England under war conditions have undergone remarkable increases. Lloyd's Bank Monthly Financial Review for May last, the accuracy of whose figures is beyond question, mentions that, as compared with July, 1914, imported meat had in April shown an increase of nearly 150 per cent., and bacon 140 per cent. Eggs and fish were more than three times, • and sugar nearly three times as dear . as they were before the war. Milk, j butter and cheese were, roughly, double the pre-war prices, while tea, despite a decrease of 2d per lb due to the introduction of national control, was, at 2s 8d per lb, nearly 80 per cent. ■ higher than in July, 1914. Margarine ! showed an increase of about 70 per cent., ' and flour and bread 50 per cent, over the pre-war figures. When great in-' nation has taken place in th© prices of foodstuffs in Australia, one of the most important- sources of supply (says a Melbourne paper) it is hardly surprising to read of such advances in the place of consumption, which the enemy is trying to isolate. i

"We must have what is termed a ! State or a public conscience,'' said Sir i Robert Stout in an address delivered ■ by him in Wellington on Sunday even- I 'ing. "We have heard much of'late of 'private consciences.' It is well to have a conscience of some kind: it is I well to be guided b-*- moral considerations; but if a man or a woman sets , his or her conscience above the die- • tates of the public conscience, it does ' not bespeak an exalted moral attitude. . I am not referring to those who are called 'conscientious objectors' to our j laws. Some of them, as the Quakers, ■ having a heredity and a history be- , hind them, are honest. The Quakers have ever been forward in public ser- , vices. There are some, not Quakers, ; 'whose 'conscientious' objections are but i disloyalty to our State, and thinly- j veiled treason. If in the peril which ! besets the State some of her citizens do not rise to help her to maintain her existence, they certainly should not be allowed to take "art in the goverance , of the community, nor allowed the '' liberty, privilege and freedom that loyal citizens possess. Fortunately | there are not many such among ns, but i there are a few. They are just as criminal as the men who do not recog- ; nise th P right of liberty and the claims j of property." There is a remarkable article in the Deutsche Zeitung, the leading organ . of the profiteering warmongers, which ■ throws an amazing light on the weak- ] ness of the German situation: "What \ would be the effect on the German people were our Government to conchide peace now with our Western enemies? We should find ourselves \ bent beneath such a formidable burden i of debt that to pay the crushing taxes j we should be forced to practise the | most rigid economy in every department of life. The only course left to us would be to abandon marriage and stop the increase in the population, for children cost money. Economy in this ; respect would assume gigantic proportions, but with what results? It would , be the beginning of the end. Think for ' a moment how very grave is our situa- i tion already. Think of it—a monstrous j burden of debt and an irreparable loss j of the best, the healthiest, and most vigorous of the people through the war! No children. No future. The ! beginning of the end. That would be ! the effect of the peace that is to-day ; demanded in such a loud voice by so i many of the thoughtless and the un- , scrupulous." j What Germany's morale is just now is unwittingly revealed by Captain \ Brich von iSalzmann, writing in the Vossische Zeitung, under the headline, "Nurses' Tales." "It is. remarkable : how susceptible people are to hallucin- J ations in this war," he says. "In ! Berlin such talk as this is widespread: j 'In the Reichstag people say our losses | are formidable.' 'In the Reichstag ; people say' that the Western offensive is getting out of control, the enemy ; is much stronger than the higher com- ; mand believed; we have no horses to continue the fight; the whole country ' round Ypres is a lake that cannot be ' passed. 'In the Reichstag people say' that the territory between our Amiens ' front and Paris is mined and will blow up one morning. This is what 'people \ say in the Reichstag,' and everybody ■ believes it outside. People are beginning to lose their nerves. One certainly wonders why General von Stein ; referred to our losses the other day in * the House, but the next day one : Deputy, speaking to his constituents, ' translated the War Minister's words as follows: 'The War Minister said our losses are so heavy that we shall be forced to give up the offensive.' It is strange that these rumors always spread in the Reichstag when operations pause. Do Reichstag mem- , Tiers forget what they owe to the ' Fatherland? How dare one be pes- ! simistic? Berlin's talk is an open at'- ! front to our brethren at the front, i Let us not allow ourselves to be frightened at nursery tales. Let us : at least learn to have faith in ourselves. Once we do that we shall believe in our victory. Our soldiers believe in it, otherwise they could not '• do what they do. They believe in Germany. Let us believe in it, too. ' Only with that faith in our hearts can we Avin this war." , SHELL WOTJND-S. ' For dressing lacerated wounds Field Ambulances in France largely use a di- ■ i--< ion of loaf oil of cinnamon. The samo high-grade oil forms part of "Fluenzol," hence tho rapid healing properties of the latter when applied on a bandage. Also use "Fluenzol" and hot water as an injection for soothing internal inflammation.—Advt. Progandra cures Corns ouicklv — Advt,

The following ar© the vital statistics or Hawera for July:—Births 29, deaths ij marriages 2. A London cable states that the NewZealand journalists are visiting the Draining camps at Salisbury Plain. The Standard states that old settlers m the Manawatu say that the present winter is the severest they have experienced. There are 20,000 bales of wool in the Wellington Harbor Board's sheds at present. A four-rink bowling green is being formed in the Auckland hospital grounds for the use of returned soldiers. A green for similar use was laid down at Randwick (Sydney) recenHy. According to a London cable, the Covent Garden Company has-purchased the Duke of Bedford's Covent Garden estate of IS acres, including the market, the Opera House, four theatres, a police court, and 25 streets. It is understood that the price was about two millions sterling. Many and various are the ways of the petty pilferer. On a recent Sabbath evening (says the Southland Times), during divine service, some sneak thief or thieves entered the vestibules of three focal churches, including the First Church, and systematically rifled the pockets of all th© garments hanging therein. Not only was everything of value removed from them, but in oile or two cases top coats themselves were commandeered. At the inquest on H. O. Kettelty, who died recently at Patea as the result of an accident, the Coroner's jury brought in the following verdict: 'That the deceased, Harold Oscar Kettelty, came by lids ■-•ath on Tuesday, July 23, 1918, through shock, following upon rupture of the bladder and crushing ot the left kidney, the injuries being sustained out of and in the course of the deceased's employment through his being crushed between the travelling cage and a gantry, on the eastern side of the Patea. river, the injuries being caused in a purely accidental manner, no blame being attachable to anyone." —Press. The Kolnische Volkszeitung stated recently that Grand Admiral von Tirpitz, speaking at a meeting of the Fatherland Party in Cologne, said: "We are faced by the fateful question whether we shall be a ruling or a ruled people. An unfavorable peace would ; bring a fresh war upon Germany. It seems very doubtful whether there could be any neutrals in a new European war. Holland, as well as Norway, would probably hav© to side against us, and in regard to naval and military affairs we could not hold our Heligoland corner or carry out a U-boat war j without Flanders. The addition of the

j U-boat to our naval arms does not give j the requisite freedom of the sea. Our ', desire not to abandon the Flanders I coast to Great Britain by no means threatens the independence of Holland." ! Aerated waters would be about the last thing anyone could expect to help | the reaction against caste in India, but : apparently they are an important fac--1 tor. The Rev. J. W. Burton, in a . lecture in Auckland last week, said that in Southern India the people had • developed an amazing thirst for bottled ! drinks. These were doubtless chemi- ' cally pure, but in a land where every caste had its own water supply, and all liquids handled by another caste • were considered unclean, the ordinary j aerated waters of commerce were deI cidedly impure from the caste point !of view. The drinks had come to be sold by the roadsides for imniediate consumption, and the glasses were wa«hed after use in a bucket of water under the stall. The priests de- • nounced bottled drinks at first, but there was no result, and now the , priests themselves had got the habit ! like the rest. It all went to show that the fulminations of ecclesiasticism , were vain the world over, said Mr Bur- ; ton. j When Count von Luckner was captured (says the Suva correspondent of the Auckland Star) there was a sum '' of money found on the Cecilie, which I was'the name of the boat an which he '• was taken prisoner. At a sitting of ! the Supreme Court of Fiji, in Prize, ; the motor launch and the money were ! disposed of and condemned as a good i and lawful prize. If von Luckner had j been reasonable he might have been j much better off. When he first sur- | rendered to Sub-Inspector Hills he said j that part of the money was his and • part of it belonged to the ship. In ! an application or claim he made later ■ he claimed the whole of the money. i In a still later claim he claimed the | whole of the money and a roll of notes ! which he said was on the launch, but ! wh'ch was not found by Sub-Inspector i Hills or anybody else. The sum of j money was -_489, i n Bank of England ! notes and gold, so that it was worth ■ putting up a fight for. "There would '. have been^ no application to the i Court," said the Attorney-General . (Hon. A. K. Young, K.C.), "if it had j not been that an application had been ; made by Count von Luckner, claiming t the whole of the sum." His Honor Sir j Charles Davison rules as above, so I that the launch and money go to' the ; Crown. The launch is to be used by j one of the district commissioners. j Captain Goulut (French Army), one : of a mission to study the British raJ tioning system, said, in an interview i in England: "What we have seen ap- ! pears to me to be quite marvellous. I I knew the English people and had _ • thought it .rjossible even for them to make the effort represented by the : meat rationing system we have seen in i operation in the midst of a great war. I It is a real tour de force, which speaks , volumes for the discipline of the British ' people. And it is just there that I am obliged to note a difference in tem--1 perament between Englishmen and . Frenchmen. No one loves France more ■ than I do. but I am bound to admit ■ that your people are more amenable, more willing to submit to necessary ; control, than are ours. In that rer speet the French are not so well disciplined. Prices in France have risen j continuously, and the cost of living is considerably higher than in England. The meat rationing system you have 1 put into operation is marvellous, and a striking testimoney to your moral fibre ' and resisting power as a nation. In France we have meatless days, but no rations." , Playing cards of superior quality are j a splendid investment. In this direc- ■ tion you can rest assured that yon will obtain tho best value for your money if you come to us. All kinds of card games in stock.—F. J. Boase and Co., Booksellers and Stationers^ Hawera — Ad-t. i ! Ci-epo de Chine, that beautiful silk . fabric now so popular for ladies' wear, is again in full .supply at the Melbourne, Ltd., headquarters, stocks hav- | ing just arrived from Japan Orders ' now taken for blouses in tho above material, in the following shades: White, ■ shell pink. n:-]e blur- and golden brown,' price 2-5/-. — Ad-.-i. For Toothache Barraclou/ili'-s Ma^lc Nervine—an in.-tant '.r.re. —Advt. NAZOL is 7-oT a ;..ixturr, or svrup— but a breathable remedy. Tackles coughs and colds by direct'action. Is T 0 cold is Nazol-p'oof. GO doses 1/6 — Advt.

The Farmers' Union conference on Tuesday resolved to endorse th e attitude of New Zealand's representatives at the Imperial Conference respecting the captured German colonies. The decision is to be cabled to the New Zealand representatives.

During June the total of cases of diphtheria reported to the Health Department throughout New Zealand was 687 (a decrease of 83 against the May figures). From Ist January to 30th June the aggregate was 3199 for the Dominion, an increase of Go9 on the number for the same period last year.

That it necessitates a journey abroad -■ to realise that our railway system is j not so bad after all is confirmed by a ■ remark made at Auckland on Thure- - day by Mr H. E. Pacey, managing director of the New Zealand Dairy Association. After referring to the railway system in Queensland, of which there is 5500 miles, Mr Pacey (states the Star) went on to say "that some people criticise and 'poke borax' at our own railways. The Queensland system, he averred, 'was something better than the tales told of the New Zealand railways.' " A judgment debtor who appeared in the Christchurch Magistrate's Court on Saturday complamed that his straitened circumstances were very largely brought about by the increased cost of living (states the Press). "Yes," responded the Magistrate, Mr T. A. B. Bailey, "but working men are receiving more wages now." "I'm not," was the sudden and emphatic retort. Whatever feelings the judgment debtor previously had towards the Magistrate he must surely have felt united with him in a bond of sympathy when his Worship replied, with a rueful smile, "Neither am I." A sprited declaration of his willing- i ness to serve his country was made at the Auckland Military Service Board last week by the father of an appellant, himself a veteran and ex-non-commissioned officer of the Life Guards (says an exchange). "Yes," he exclaimed, "my youngest boy enlisted as soon as war broke out, and I did my best to follow him! I shaved off my beard and moustache, and told them a lie—yes. your Worship, I lied to them!—and told them I was 45 instead of 65, I was so anxious to go. But it wasn't any use," he added sadly; "they wouldn't take me." In proof of his statement he exhibited a document, stating that He had vol- i unteered, but had been rejected as be- j ing over age. j In order to test the relative merits j of telegraph poles, the Telegraph De- j partment suspended its wires from j Rangiora northwards on alternate ironbark and reinforced concrete supports, it was found that the reinforced concrete poles in the area severely affected by the storm had all broken up and lay about the ground in twisted ruins, whereas the ironbark poles stood the strain without a break. There were places, it was discovered, where the wooden poles had been pulled wholly or partly out of the ground by the enormous strain put upon them, which strain would not have been nearly so great had the concrete poles held firm. The test could scarcely have been more severe, and the'result has proved that, under the conditions experienced, the ironbark poles are certainly superior in every respect. Some misunderstanding evidently exists with regard to the action the Government is likely to take in connection with butter at present in store manufactured since loth April last, the date of the Order-in-Council issued fixing the maximum price of butter (says the Tost). This quantity amounts to api proximately 5y,000 boxes, a portion of which is undoubtedly required for supplying the local market. When the i local market's requirements have been i met, arrangements will be made where- ' by the balance may 'be disposed of through the Department of imperial Government Supplies to the Imperial Government, under the terms of purchase contained in the proclamation of February 2 last. This will be the ; only means available of disposing of the butter for export, except under 1 permit. It has been stated that the L moment the butter goes into store it \ becomes part of the imperial supplies. : This is not so. The butter does not i become this until the Minister for Sup- [ plies declares it exportable surplus [ butter, and then it can be shipped 1 out.

"A few Avords" on the new Farmers' Union buildings were said by Sir James Wilson at the Farmers' Union Confer- | ence in Wellington on Tuesday (says ! the Dominion). Those who startedlthe f movement for the erection of the build--1 ing had no desire to interfere Avith the / business' of other people or to create anything in the nature of a monopoly. They wanted to strengthen the position of the farmers. Among the things which they had in view Avas the arranging of lectures, which would give townspeople a better idea than they have of the tvork done by the farmers. The farmers had never had an opportunity of putting their case before the people in the towns. They had to realise that there was a kind of antagonism growing against the farmers. The originator of the idea to erect the Farmers' Institute Avas Mr A. Leigh Hunt, and one Avho had done a great deal in bringing the scheme to a head was Mr E. C. Jack (Dominion secretary of the union). Almost the Avhole of the needed capital had been secured, but they now wanted to get the smaller farmers interested. Practically th e Avhole of the offices had lieen let, and a whole flat might he let for wool storage. Some space would be taken by the Defence Department, and as there would be a large number of girls on the staff, tea would, no doubt, be required, so (as the hotel Avas not vet finished) a tea room might be arranged. Sir James Wilson thought that the Farmers' Union should be congratulated on the fact that they Avere now sitting in conference in their OAvn freehold property.