LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXXVIII, Issue LXXVIII, 13 June 1919, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

The annual meeting of the proprietors of the Bank of New Zealand was held at Wellington to-day. A report of the proceedings appears on page 6; and on other pages there are extracts from the chairman's address relating to various subjects connected with the trade and finance of the Dominion.

Last night's mail train did not reach Hawera till 7.30, the cause of the delay being the blocking of the line at Shannon by the derailing of some trucks.

A meeting of Napier householders last night decided to form a Consumers' Association to protect their -interests, and called on the Government to take steps to reduce the cost of living.

Hot axle boxes on the Main Trunk line are becoming almost as frequent as accidents (says an exchange). Another one occurred to a truck carrying a load of coal last week. The truck was sidetracked, and the coal sold to a Taihape merchant.

The Manual and Technical Committee recommended to Wednesday's meeting of the Education Board that the Board is of opinion that the present staff of the Hawera Technical School is sufficient for th© present attendance, and further that the financial position does not warrant the appointment of an addition to the staff.

The new disease, lethargic encephalitis, states the Minister for Public Health, is clearly part of the aftermath of the influenza epidemic. Every case is now being carefully watched. The infectivity of the disease is low, but, at the same time, it is a serious one, as it practically means laying.the patient aside for at least six months. As the disease has been made reportable, the immediate effect may be to show more cases existing than we were previously aware of. This may give the impression that the disease is spreading whereas it will really be the effect of ordering all cases to be at once reported to the Department, which, of course, enables the health officers to see that every precaution, is, taken against its SDread.

At the meeting of the Taranaki War Relief Association in Stratford, Mr D. J. Willis, Hawera (Returned Soldiers' Association) brought up a subject in connection with the graves of soldiers buried in New Zealand. He said (the Stratford Post reports) that in some cases where relatives were not in very good circumstances the graves were not marked by any stone, and it was the opinion of his committee that in special instances a small headstone and concrete covering for each grave should be provided at a cost of about £10, a uniform system to be adopted. This would prevent some graves remaining nameless, and the concrete covering would keep them in order. It was resolved that a remit bo torwarded to the Advisory Board asking the Government to take the matter in hand.

Children like WADE'S WORM FIGS —sure and certain. Price, Is 6d.— Advt.

INFLUENZA BACILLI

The influenza microbe (Pfeiffer's Bacillus) takes two days to fully develop in the human system. A dbse of germ-destroying "Fluenzol" every second day is therefore necessary to insure immunity from the dread disease. A Is 6d bottle of "Fluenzol" contains 32 doses. Firmly refuse substitutes.— Advt.

"NAZOL" taken on lump sugar. Get "NAZOL" to-night. Sixty doses Is 6d. —Advt.

Tiie Lands Department has toomgleted the purchase of about 600 acres near Palmertston, to ba settled by returned soldiers.

A London message states that Park, the lawn tennis player, has been ordered -a, long rest. He is suffering from heart strain.

At a public meeting in the Napier Municipal Theatre the following resolution was carried, a Press message reports : That a vigorous programme of railway construction for the North Island* be urged upon the Government, and to this end we join with Auckland and Taranaki in insisting upon the immediate and vigorous prosecution of lines already authorised and commenced, more particularly the East Coast railway linking up Napier and Gisborne.

The Minister of Marine states to-day that he had received a letter from the Secretary of State for the Colonies stating that the French Government .proposes to hold an international conterence of Allied nations at Paris to discuss meteorological questions of common interest, and asks the Dominion to send a delegate. Cabinet has decided that New Zealand should be represented, but Mr Wilford could make no announcement as to who would be the Dominion representative. Interviewed in Auckland, the Hon. G. W. Russell said he recognised the need for making provision for incurable consumptives among soldiers. Institutes must be provided for these cases. There should be one in the North Island, where incurables could be segregated. When the money was found, he anticipated no difficulty in the ma£Eer.

During a discussion at the School Committees' Conference in New Plymouth yesterday on the introduction of a universal set of school books throughout the Dominion, so as to overcome the expense incurred by parents in purchasing books when moving from one district to another, Mr Morton, chief inspector, stated (reports the News) that whereas some boards allowed teachers the choice of a number of books the Taranaki Board had adopted a uniform set of books throughout its district, thus economising the cost to parents who moved from one district to another in Taranaki. Moreover, the Department supplied books free in the case of a child moving from one education district to another in the middle of a year. Some members expressed pleasure at hearing this, which was news to them.

The Waikato Times reports a mysterious occurrence. Last Saturday (states the paper) will long be remembered as a day of misfortune to the Waikato Hunt. Whilst jogging quietly to the meet some of the pack picked up poison on the roadside, and soon after they arrived at the meet (Mr Dingle's) six hounds died. Some members thought that the poison was wilfully laid1 to catch the hounds, but that is unthinkable. No doubt the poison has been laid by some thoughtless, careless person, has never blen secured, and j has been carried or dragged near the ioad by hawks or dogs. There was ( not a sign of warning anywhere. It moans a very serious loss to the Wai- , kato Hunt. The hounds that are dead j came from the imported strain that | brought fame to the Waikato pack in hunting circles throughout New Zealond. If such an incident happened in land. If such an incident happened in man who laid the poison (whether he was within his rights or otherwise) would be stamped as a criminal. It is by no means an unusual thing for persons to faint or to fall in a fit in : the Police Court, but an incident of the kind which occurred on Thursday was! different from the customary type (saysl the Auckland Star). A young man, who had just been fined a few shillings for a comparatively trifling by-law breach, ( suddenly fell senseless to the floor. In a moment a sympathetic policeman hastened to attend nim, but got a shock as the prostrate man flashed again to life, and with the tense, quick actions of the bayonet fighter sprang to his feet in a fierce fighting crouch that threatened the constable with instant annihilation. There was a tense moment of expectation, then the crouching man's fierceness faded, he looked round like a person waldng from a dream, and was guided to a chair, into which he sank in a fit of trembling weakness. He explained later to the ministering constable that when he was in France last year he got into a hot melee with the enemy, and was eventually knocked senseless'by a blow on the head from a German riflebutt. Since then, when he comes under exceptional mental stress, the memory re-enacts itself in his brain, and he lives the experience over again,' always coming round with the vivid feeling that he is still in the fight against the Germans.