LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue LXXIV, 4 March 1919, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

Ninety-eight applications for runs were received at the Otago Lands Office on Friday from returned soldiers (says the Otago Daily Times).

With the exception of one or two of the Balkan States Russia is the most illiterate country in Europe, over 60 per cent, of the inhabitants being unable to read or write.

In the Moa Road District <a poll is to be taken on, a proposal to rate on unimproved values.

A rise of 2s per ton has been made in the freights from Onehunga to Waitara (says the Waitara correspondent of the Taranaki. Herald) and a similar amount, he understands, has been added to New Plymouth freights.

A Masterton hoiticulturiist told an Affe reporter that the burr known as "biddy-biddy, 5' which is such a curse to Wairarapa sneepowners, is at present catalogued by a firm of English seedsmen.

The Minister of Customs states the amount of Customs revenue collected throughout the Dominion for February was £336,789, and the excise beer duty £24,721. The figures for February 1918 were £257,515 and £19,014 respectively.

xvl'^'l^?^ 1"1^ P°mmittee is still in the fcouth Island, and just now is "carefully considering the development of shale deposits.

Since the advent of Murphy, the alert rat-catcher, who appears to 'r«rel in the slaughter of rodents, the peete have had a busy time avoiding the clutches of death (says the N.Z. Times). Murphy has many splendid achievement© to his credit but all these we're probably eclipsed recently when he set sail on an oversea vessel going ; south. A practised nose smelt considerable prey within the confines of the steamer, and, with his four dogs, all keen for grim battle, the redoubtable Murphy soon had the enemy forces hors de combat. No mercy was shown the rats; and when the battle had ended the proud generalissimo counted a bag of 280. The only mishap on the eventful trip was when one of Murphy's clever dogs peered too deeply into an open hatch, and ended what: the fond master would term a promising career. : An -accident involving the total destruction of a motor car and a narrow escape from fatal disaster befel a party travelling over Mount Messenger on Saturday. The facts reported (says the Stratford Post) are that Mr E Heal left Stratford on Saturday morning on a trip conveying two men, J. Lavm and G. Hall, over Mount Messenger in connection with Public Works business and their return to Uruti. On the return journey, while at the foot of Mount Messenger, the epokes of the left front wheel collapsed, and at the same time the tyre on the right-hand wheel came off, the car immediately capsizing into a depression covered with fern and other growth'; where the occupants were pinned down, but eventually escaped, all being bruised about the legs and body. The car having taken, fire after being capsized, their 1 precarious predicament may beimaginIn his address at Palmers-ton, Mr Parry detailed the big hydro-electric scheme for the North Island. There would be three principal power stations, 1421 miles of transmission lines, and 29 sub-stations at which power would, be transformed for general distribution The main transmission line would go from Shannon to Wellington, from Wellington through the Wairarapa to Woodville, thence to Palmerston North, and down;to Shannon, up to Taranaki, and through to Hawke's Bay. The metnod of distribution was explained by illustration of what is being done at LaVe Coleridge. Sufficient iiower could be generated to supply all the local authorities in the province. Reticulation was not a function of the State but rather of municipal bodies, who must do the retail work. "W e sell the power in bulk, as it were," gaid Mr Parry, and there our work ends. "Our object is to enable electricity to bo supplied to every householder, every industry,;* the coal mines, the railways, at any point whatsoever, and when the scheme is completed the North Island will be covered with a network of lines." As regards the Mangahao scheme, tihere would be sub-stations at Otaki, Welineton Featherston, Masterton, Bunnythorpe (a very big sub-station), Marton DanT nevirfce, and so on. It was estimate*!' that at the beginning 160,000 horsepower would b© required for the North Island, andof that Mangahao would provide 24^00 horse-power. The estimate for the whole island did not provide sufficient power to warrant the commencement of special new industries which it was hoped would be started, but ultimately there would be surplus power available: from Awapuni and Waikairerroana.

Pig iron from the New Plymouth iron ore works has been used regularly and continuously for a considerable tune at Mr J Hopkirk's foundry in Hawera. lh e foreman stated to a Star representative that the iron has been eminently satisfactory, that it has given excellent results, and that it is also very economical I t is understood that rlie company have been able to secure ample stocks of coke, and expects to be able to keep the furnace going continuously.

During a lecture at Invercargill recently the Hon. W. Earnshaw, M.L.C threw an interesting sidelight on that aspect of Parliamentary life which is mentioned by the "unco quid" with a knowing nod and a rueful smile. "In Bellamy's," he stated, "either whisky or tea may be procured, and I venture to assert that for every 'glass of whisky drunk there are 50 cups of tea consumed. One man used to say to another: 'Come and have a glass of whisky'; now he says, 'Come and have a cup of tea.' " It was an absolute lie, he declared, to say that members of the House were drunkards, for although some took more liquor than wa^s good for them, he thought that the average politician drank less than the average citizen in other walks of life. •

The Defence Department's help to soldiers' wives and dependents, through the Soldiers' Financial Assistance Board, includes the payment of grants in cases of confinements and surgical operations. During January, under this head, £337 was expended, so that the board distributed a large number of baby bonuses to soldiers' wives. The amount of the grant in these cases is £5, and the board has not refused a single application. Lodge fees paid for the soldier often run into several hundreds of pounds in one month. January was a light month for these payments, but the life insurance premiums totalled £3232. .

A pathetic sight as the seemingly never-ending stie&m of returned soldiea-s descended tne gangway from the Zealandic was the number of men wearing artificial limbs, says the Wellington Post. They comprised a hundred or more, being the largest contingent of men who have lost one or more limbs in their country's service who hav e yet returned to New Zealand. They were mostly men who had lost a leg or an arm, but one man had lost both legs below the knees- All having been fitted with special limbs in England, they were in most cases able to get abotat quite well, and in the most cheerful manner possible came bravely down th c gangway, carrying in many cases spare limbs over their shoulders. These men made a great impression on the crowd who cheered them heartily.

The congestion on the Wellington wharves is causing the harbor ofl&ciale a great deal of anxiety. The stores are overcrowded, cargoes are arriving more rapidly than they can be handled, and there are delays that are vexatious both to shipping companies and to consignees. The trouble is due directly to the war. If the Board had been able to complete the work® it has in Band, and in contemplation, the congestion would not have arisen in its present severe form. If the war had not brought about a shortage of shipping, coastal and oversea, the consignors of goods would not have adopted so generally a practice of consigning to Wellington agents' goods intended to reach xi j ?£r rtV -lTm 6 secretary of the Board (Mr Nicholls) « aye: «W e want shippers to reyer^ if possible, to the old practice of many years' standing, Ot booking cargo through". That does ft6t mean that we want one ton of cargo to pas® our doors, but w e want the cargo to be booked in the old way, so that it can be stacked according to port marks, and shipped according to these marks on open orders."

In support of a contention that the study of the German language should be encouraged among young Englishmen, Professor Segar, at the University Senate in Christchurch. last week, narrated an incident in connection with the German raider, Seeadler, commanded by Count Luckner, who was interned at Narrow Neck Camp, Auckland. Professor Segar said it had been ascertained that the Seeadler passed right through the blockade on leaving Germany by posing as a Norwegian craft. Of all those who interrogated them, not one knew any German, and in consequence these pure Germans were able to pass as Norwegians. It was more than ever necessary that Englishmen should know German, said the speaker. Referring to the question of modern languages generally. Professor Segar quoted an extract from a speech made by . the Right Hon. H. A. L. Fisher, Minister ot Education in Great Britain, in which he said that if there had been only 200 men who knew the Russian language the debacle on the Eastern front might have been prevented, as wherever Englishmen who spoke Russian went they got a good hearing, and all difficulties were smoothed away

Replying to his critics the Minister of Public Works, speaking at Shannon, stressed the fact that the plea of the shortage of labor was no bogey, but rather a serious deterrent to the prosecution of the hydro-electrical and other Government undertakings. Many thousands more , men were required. The trouble was that there were not sufficient men in the country. The "question was: Whatwweer c they goi»g to do* about it? There was only one remedy— —-increased population. Possessed as she was of enormous possibilities for expansion, New Zealand ought to be carryuig a population not of one million, but of two, three, or even five millionsAt the same time, it was essential for them to get the right class of settler here. He believed there was a good chance of the Dominion attracting immigrants to her shores. The cure for the present situation was assisted immigration "We want it," he remarked, •and there is room for it i n this country, and this country will not prosper T t!ir^ get more Peopfe-" Incidentally the Minister referred to the great possibilities of the hydro-eilectrio scheme in inducing closer settlement. They must give the setters something which will make their lives brighter and more comfortable, and in this connection nothing ■will be more beneficial than hydro-elec-tric development.

+ uOn XT Ja"?, ary 1 the total strength of the New Zealand force in Egypt was 142 officers and 3116 other ranks

The steamer Verdun, which left Port Chalmers for Hull a few days ago carried one of the largest consignments hLl™ ' 3 o5 fIT NeVV Zealand in one bottom. The shipment totalled 22 921 bales. '

A serious tussock fire started near Camp Bay, Lyttelton, yesterday, and m the course of a few hours had burnt some 200O t O r 3000 acres of tussock country. It was reported that nearly a thousand sheep, two-tooth ewes and wethers, belonging to Mr Candy, whose station is near Camp Bay, had been destroyed. The fire is said to have originated in the blocking operations of a number of Public Works men, wharf h toeCamp n Sg** ""^ **