LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXXVII, Issue LXXVII, 23 May 1919, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

Cauliflowers are being retailed at as high as 3s apiece in Masterton at the present time*. ». -S e» Chi'ist^-«irch market was. r6= portea on Tuesday to be practically bare of good coal. Of the consignment of the Ngakuta, now in Lyttelton, the Coal Distribution Committee has been able to spare only 50 tons for the general trade. The Koromiko is presumed to have left Newcastle with a ( coal cargo, but no definite advice has i yet been received that she has sailed. Mr H. V. Keeling, an English mechanic, who has been in Russia throughout the Revolution, writes:—"lt is; terrible to live in Russia: in these times. 'As you walk about Petrograd you never i see anyone laugh or smile, men and wo-! men are like shadows, and little children so wasted that they seem to be I all eyes. And all the time people are/ disappearing and nobody knows Avhat becomes of them." Referring to the difficulties of transport, during the course of his reply to the Arthur's Pass Tunnel League's deputation on Saturday, the Hon. W. D. S. MacDonaid said that iron for the Public Works Department was1 held up in Australia, also 40,000 telegraph poles. For the transport of 2,000,000 bushels of wheat bought by his Department th&re was only one ship available at present.—Lyttelton Times. A writer in the Scarbox-ough Mercury is responsible for the assertion that a Yorkshireman, who went out to New Zealand before the war, declared that when war bro;k c out he had conscientious objections to fighting, "but the colonists are a rough and ready lot, and with ropes they dragged the Yorkshireman to thej docks and put him on board ship, bound for the front. They respected his convictions so far that they made him a stretcher-bearer. However, he caught the war fever, and proved himself quite a hero, so that he was awarded the Military Medal."

A lecture was given by Mr E. Moulton, representative of the Sheldon Institute of Business Science, in the Foresters' Hall last evening under the auspices of the Chamber of Commerce. There was a fair attendance of men and a few ladies, and all were much interested in the remarks of the speaker. Mr F. G. Magnusson, who occupied the chair, briefly introduced the lecturer. In opening his address Mr Moulton said that the aim of the Institute throughout its work was to develop the good qualities inherent in every man so that he would be able to employ his powers to the best for the benefit of himself and his fellowmen. To do this it was essential that he should know and understand himself, and this was a foundation of the Institute's work. Their system developed initiative, taught a man to think, to remember and to act promptly and to the best advantage of all, and to overcome any weakness in his character. A number of those present remained to discuss the question of becoming students of the Institute and founding a circle in Hawera.

A delicious dish. —C.M.C Tongues. They are now low in cost and high in quality. Recently C.M.C. Tongues were considerably reduced in price, but the saitt e high, nutritious quality has been maintained. C.M.C. Tongues require no cooking and take but a minute to serve; they are tasty and delicious for lunches, picnics and teas. Try them! —Advt.

When Influenza is raging, take "NAZOL." Best safeguard against attack. Swiftest reliever to sufferers from colds, catarrh, and Rore throat.— Advt.

"There is an old idea that everyone has to have a fence,'' remarked Dr A K. Newman, M.P., at the Townplanning Conference in Wellington on Tuesday. "That is an abominable, antiquated idea. Pull down the fences and let the gardens and the shrubs be open to the view of the public." The Whangarei Harbor Board has adopted wholiy a scheme drafted by Mr Blair Mason for general harbor improvements, including extended wharfage, dredging, etc., involving an outlay approximately of £116,000. The engineer's report also anticipates a bold movement in reclamation of the extensive foreshore flats. The Red Cross Committee wishes to thank the settlers of Ararata and Turuturu road for £28 16s 3d, the proceeds of;their social in the Ararata -Hall last Friday evening. This money was raised for parcels for local returned soldiers in various hospitals in JNew Zealand; also for soldiers in the Hawera Hospital. It may nere be mentioned that the Red Cross Society send parcels each month to soldiers of this •uistrict in Now Zealand hospitals. Addressing the Westland Miners' Conference ut iiokitika last week, the Hon. W. D. iS. MacDonaid, Muuster of Mines, promised that the Department would render greater assistance to the gold-mining industry than hitherto., and to this end he was gathering all the data he could so that he could bring a ±sill before Parliament which would he the most progressive Mining Bill brought forward for many years. If it did not succeed in getting through the House, it would be on record that he attempted it. He promised greater assistance to prospectors and ruining enterprises, He also hinted at a Bill to enable the Government to lend money for assisting other industries He ! wanted to get th c Bilk through' before the general election, after . which he i might be among the missing. j

'I have always felt rather worried about these cases," remarked Mr grazer, S.M., at the Wellington Court m hearing a claim for possession of a house at Island Bay occupied by a fisherman with nine children, "and particularly when it is a case of a person buying a house over some other unfortunate's head. I know people are sometimes forced to buy houses because they cannot get them in any other way. But it is unfortunate for a person who cannot buy a house because he has not the money to put down as a deposit. If the house he lives in is sold he is the one who has to go out. It seems to me that he is the person who deserves protection." Later, in hearing another claim, Mr Frazer said: "I know what it is; I have gone through the mill. I can tell you, I don't like taking these cases. I always feel sore about ordering a man to get out of a place, because I know it is very hard to get another."

A taxicab driver, who was engaged by the police in Christchurch to drive a prisoner to the police station recently, was found on arrival there to be so drunk that he had to be locked up. He was charged before Mr S. E. McCarthy ; S.M., with having been drunk while m charge of , a taxicab. He pleaded guilty. Sub-Inspector Mullany said that, as the accused was driving into the gates towards the lock-up, he ran into a fence. It was then found that he was very drunk, and he had to be put in the cells. There had been enfragh motor car accidents of late with sober men driving cars without having drunken men driving. He asked that the full penalty should be inflicted in the way of a fine. Mr Cassidy, for defendant, pointed out that probably the City Council would take action with regard to accused's driving j license. The Magistrate said that if he j dealt lightly with accused the City j Council might regard the offence as j trivial. The Magistrate pointed out the seriousness of the offence. A man j even slightly affected with alcohol was , not fit to drive a car. A fine of £3, in j default seven days' imprisonment, was imposfid. The increased wages and other inducements that are being offered^ to office girls form the chief explanation Otj the dearth of probationers offering just, now to learn hospital nursing. It is i found on enquiry (says the Otago Daily j Times) that many girls who had sent in j their names, as desiring employment as nursing probationers have since entered offices, and now have no inten- j tion of learning nursing. It is likely that retrenchment in Government services, involving the discharge of hundreds of girls taken on during war time, may take place shortly, and that should relieve the situation to some extent for the hospital authorities. In the meantime the shortage of staff at the Duncdin Hospital is so acute that thu j medical superintendent announces that j only the most urgent cases can be accepted uutil the staff has been strengthened. One obvious solution that readily occurs of course is offer higher wages to probationers, but that there are serious objections to this is sufficiently indicated by the fact that the Technical Nurses' Association itself opposes such an increase. It is felt, for one thing, that it is distinctly undesirable that anyone should be attracted from purely mercenary motives into such an unselfish profession as nursing. It appears there is little danger of this happening at present. The experience of the woollen mill proprietors throughout the whole of New Zealand is, the Otago Daily Times is informed, that the demand for their production of suitings exceeds their ability to supply. The demand!, which is exceptional, is explained by the need of civilian clothes by the returned soldiers as they are demobilised, the shortage of British tweed in the market, and the renewed demand for suits by civilians who practised economy in clothing while the war was in progress. In order to meet this demand the woollen mill companies are disposing of their •supplies as rapidly as they are produced. Indeed, it has become necessary for them to adopt a1 system of distribution to their customers that may be described as "rationing." The absence of supplies from Great Britain is due principally to the demand in that country for clothing for demobilised men. It was recently stated by the authorities that there were 80,000 men who were suit-less in the Mother Country, whilst men were being released in still greater numbers. One effect of the demand at Home is that British tweed has advanced in price to such an extent | that it is impossible to import it into New Zealand at a rate that will admit of competition with the local product, and it seems likely that this state of things, which is one of the factors in the increased demand for New Zealand tweed, will continue for a considerable time.

Land searchers are invited to re* • W. H. and A. McGarry's column advertisement on page I.—Advt. DANGER! LOOK OUT FOR ALKALI. Free Alkali in toile^ soaps means skin ruination. No alkali in "Rexona" Soap, but the soothing, healing medications of "Rexona,'' the Rapid Healer. To ensure that one's complexion will come through the cold weather unharmed, and that the hands will be kept free from redness, roughness, and chapping, "Rexona" Soap should be used regularly for the Toilet. If you are already suffering from unsightly chapped or cracked hands, or chilblains, "Rexona." the rapid healer, will quickly banish these troubles.

When war was declared there were ' two German bands in New Zealand. The members of these bands were in- i terned, and the majority of them left !by the Willochra last week. Dozens of musical instruments were taken on the vessel, including a number of violins, and there should be no lack of music on the voyage. "I believe that on account of its fertility New Zealand is destined to be the dairy farm of the British Empire," said the Hon. G. W. Russell at the luncheon to General Russell on Saturday. Already the Dominion was sending half of the cheese imported by the Mother Country. By virtue of hydro-electric power it would advance to be the workshop of the Pacific and the dairy farm of the Empire. The New Zealand Helrald states: The only instance of a rainless month in tho hjstoi-y of Auckland is February 1909 At this period no rain fell from January 30 to March 11. The February of 1908 was also ;Temaa-kable in that the total rainfall of .54in. for the month represented only one-seventh of the average for 40 years. February of the present year also had a low rainfall. The tota-j registered was 0.84 in., which was 2.13 in. below the average over 60 years | February also has supplied the two highest monthly totala on record, that of 14.15 i«. in 1869, and that of 12.67 in in 1917.

Some examples of the cost of the influenza epidemic were, quoted at this week's meeting of the Auckland Hospital Board. The chairman stated that the Minister of Public Health declined to pay the epidemic food relief- accounts contracted by the Board. These aggregated'^bout £1000 and there seemed nothing for it but for the Boar-1 to foot the bill. The Minister had informed him recently that the Government had expended in connection with the epidemic in Aucklandaaloen c between £32,000 and £&>,OOO. In addition the Board was* paying O n behalf of the Government from £900 to £1000 per month in epidemic pensions.

"I am perfectly convinced that the decision to introduce rating on unimproved value was the biggest blunder ever perpetrated in Wellington," stated Councillor Martin Luckie at the annual meeting of the Greater Wellington Town-Planning Association. "The idea originated in America in order to induce absentee owners to build on vacant sections. It has had that effect in Wellington. That is why we have no gardens here. Rating on unimproved values is unsound in economics and bad in results. It secures the building of a city, but it places in jeopardy the health of the community."

Mr A. L. Campbell mentioned at yesterday afternoon's sitting of the Hospital Board that he had seen the chairman of the Tokaora School Committee with reference to the diphtheria outbreak in the district. The Tokaora i people were willing to assist the Board in any expense it might be put to, as they were desirous of preventing the spread of the diphtheria. Every time the school reopened the outbreak reappeared, which indicated that there must be a "carrier" in the locality. The chairman (Mr G. W. Tayler) believed that when Dr Buist had the swabs examined he would be able to locate the source of the trouble. The Board was doing its best in the matter. Mr Campbell said he had infoi'med the chairman of the School Committee of the action taken by the Board. Giving evidence before the Parlia- j mentary Industries Committee^ Mr W. M. Singleton, of the Dairy Division, said it was difficult to make the smaller farmers realise the necessity for attention to breeding. Some of the Shorthorn breeders, however, were realising the need for segregating dairy strains. The special purpose dairy cow was now coming more into favor. In 'Taranaki they had the greatest average yield per cow for any district in the Dominion. This might be due to a certain extent to the grass, but it was due also to the adoption of the special purpose cow. He quoted figures showing the decrease in Shorthorn breeds and the increase in Ayrshires, Friesians and Jerseysj. Taranaki was a district of high land values. The argument used in favor of the dual purpose animal was that the calf was worth more, and that the beef value of the cow when her dairy period was ended was higher, but witness' ■estimate was that the increased production of butter-fat in the life of the special purpose animal was worth more than the whole beef value at the end of her time as a dairy cow. To use labor most efficiently special purpose dairy cows must be adopted. Witness gave figures showing the good results obtained from the department's testing to assist farmers in the culling of their dairy herds. One man was now producing more butter-fat with 25 cows than with 54 previously. The testing of purebreds was1 going on very satisfactorily now, and the number of breed- I ers co-operating with the department had increased in the year from 118 to XoL». I The Foxton School Committee election, following on a rather excited controversy about the purchase of a German piano for the school, attracted an attendance of about 350 people instead of the usual bare quorum, and there' was a good deal of excitement and much discussion of everything except apparently the subject of education. As a result petitions were presented to the Wanganui Education Board on Wednesday night, one averring that the election was irregular and illegal, and the other contending that everything was as right as right could be. The petitioners for a new election rested their case on the fact that Mr Pirani, chairman of the Boai'd but not a householder in the school district, presided, and that he was improperly brought to the meeting as part of a "frame up" (whatever that may mean); that the meeting started before 8 o'clock as part of the scheme, and that voting'^papers were not properly taken care of, and that they were scrambled for and were to be seen lying abotit the floor. There was a good deal of verbal "scrapping" between the chairman of the Board and the deputation; but as to the merits of the matter the fact that 350 people were present at the meeting apparently satisfied the Board that even if the meeting did commence before 8 o'clock, which was absolutely denied, no one was injured thereby; while the other statements were mere assertions without any proof being offered. Mr Fraser, who. motored Mr Pirani to Foxton, explained that the purpose was to see the meeting was quiet and orderly, and it was a point of the coun-ter-petition that the meeting at its close thanked Mr Pirani for his conduct of affairs. So the Board unanimously decided there was no case for holding a new election; though one member of the Board, Mr Mclntyre, considered it was an error of judgment to take Mr Pirani to the meeting, and that if the meeting had exercised its strict right it could have' excluded all but householders in the district. MiHemingway said the Act was faulty, and that really all school committee election meetings were more or less informal.

There's nothing to equal "NAZOL" sore throats, and banishing influenza, for stopping coughs and colds, isoothing Good for old and young.—Advt.

We already recognise in our bylaws the necessity «i promoting from annoyance and senses of bearing and I smell of the community, but is it not time that we equally protected the sense of sight?" asked Mr C. R Pond, of Wanganui, at the TownPianmng Conference (the Post reports.) "Should a parsimonious or vulgar owner be permitted to destroy the amenities of a city or suburb by the erection of a cheap and nasty, or a vulgar and ostentatious building?" Mr E. Dixon, at the Town-planning Conference, referring to a complaint by a delegate concerning th e inactivity of local bodies in regard to the housing problem, said that the Hawera Borough Council had taken up the matter of housing the workers, but it found itself faced with very heavy expenditure which would place the rents at a figure that would press unduly upon the tenants (reports the Wellington Post). The borough had decided to cut up blocks of land for soldiers' and workers' houses, but unless tJbe Government came to its assistance by granting- loans at say, 4 per cent., the project could not be earned out. The directorate of the Eltham Dairy Company (the Taranaki Herald states) has decided to send Mr R. H. C. Bo.vle, their factory manager, to America,* for the purpose of obtaining data ooncerninor the latest methods adopted in the manufacture of cheese, and the machinery in use. Mr Boyle has been connected with the Eltham Company & r 2, early 18 years, and was under Mr V\. E Gwillim at thettiem c when butter was the product of the factory. Upon Mr Gwillim's resignation being received. Mr Boyle was appointed manager. His capabilities as a general manager and a cheese maker rank high in the estimation of those connected with the industry in New Zealand. The present up-to-date factory on the Mountain Road, Eltham, was designed and supervised by Mr Boyle. It is a flattering testimony to the confidence which the directors have in Mr Boyle, in sending hmi to America on such an important mission. He expects to- leave New Zealand by th e Moana, which leaves about June 3.