LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue LXXIV, 7 November 1919, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

To-day is the fifty-first anniversary of the attack on Moturoa (near Waverley), when the Colonial forces were repulsed with severe loss by the Maoris.

In the Christchurch Magistrate's Court the charge against Henry Eugene street of wilfully breaking a contract under the war regulations was concluded, judgment being reserved.

A Wanganui message' states that the Serjeant Gallery loan exhibition has been so successful that it is to remain open another month. Over ten thousand have already visited it and numerous saies have been effected. The Council intends to hold another exhibition next year, to which contributions are being invited from art centres throughout the world.

The Oddfellows' Lodge, Manaia, have formed a social club in connection with tne ledge for the benefit of the young members. They wili have rooms for cards and other games, and be a place where they can always, spend their leisure time. Most of"the young Members are returned soldiers.

A butchers' strike appears to be imminent in Auckland, me journeymen, it is alleged, have refused to accept the Arbitration Court's award on tne ground that it is insufficient, and the masters have refused the additional demands made by the journeymen. The secretary of the union says the matter would have to be fought, and unless the masters grant the concessions asked for there would be no alternative but to call the men out next week.

The late Mr Arthur W r. Morse, says a writer in the Greymouth Star, was a keen follower of ail kinds of sport, playing cricket against tiie first English eleven that visited New Zealand. He also took an interest in the "'sport of Kings," owning the gallopers Martonian, Tyrant and Surrey, and the well-known Canterbury pacer Tamarisk. In the field with the gun he was a; crack shot and few ■ were his equal.

That rents are soaring in Wellington and surrounding districts is generally recognised. It was proved bSyond doubt the other day when, it is said, an almost distracted house-hunter journeyed to a suburb and was shown a plainlybuilt five-roomed house, deficient of several conveniences, for which £2 10s per week rent was asked. His next e«_ay was through a house and property agent, who offered a six-roomed noute (certainly newly-built) for which £4 pur week, payable monthly i n advance, was quoted. Both houses were unfurnished.

A .sub-committee of the Taranaki Trotting Club met on Wednesday evening to go into the question of the programme for the forthcoming meeting. The draft programme agreed upon is as follows: Maiden Trotftng Handicap (harness), B miles, £25; Waitara Handicap (saddle), If miles, £35; Taranaki Cup (harness), 2 miles, £100; Farmers' Plate (saddle), amateur riders), l-_ miles, £25; Inglewood Handicap (saddle),. li miles, £40; Okato Handicap, (harness), 1 mile, £50.

There have been several cases of pilfering from stalls at the Industrial Fair, but nothing of much value has been removed, states the Christchurch Press. The sneak-thieves who "lift" goods attractively displayed as part of exhibits, must often suffer keen remorse for their larceny. For instance,' on Saturday night, when the Fair was crowded, a young woman was observed to be taking a keen interest in a tea exhibit, and as she shuffled off in and out of the busy scene towards an exit door, it was noticed a lib packet was missing. The attendant did not bother to follow and upbraid the young woman for her delinquency, but smilingly remarked: "She'll see the folly of her way when she gets home. The packet only contains sawdust!''

In connection with the visit of the New South .Wales Orchestra to Christchurch January, Mr Raphael states that on Saturday £1600 had been guaranteed .in Christchurch, or £100 more than the minimum amount required. Mr H. Gladstone Hill, who returned to Christchurch from the South, on Saturday,' i s enthusiastic as to the support accorded both in Invercargill and Dunedin. The £SQO necessary had been guaranteed in the former town and there was no doubt that the citizens ot Dunedm would guarantee £2000 Summing up the position for the South Island, he said: "W e have ££000 definite, and most likely this amount will reach £5000 before we are finished. We do not want to stop at £5000, the more we can get, the easier it will be for every guarantor if there is a loss on tne tour. The latest tentative itinerary provides for the orchestra arriving in Christchurch on Thursday, January 29 5? amin S thfere until February 5."' Mr Hill is expected to visit Hawera next week.

It will be interesting to note how the methods lately adopted by the new *ood Controller in France for the suppression of profiteering achieve their desired object. M. Noullens has created i# the chief towns of every department in the country special committees whose business it is to fix a scale of reasonable retail values for food articles, after allowing a profit of 15 per cent to the merchants. Th c Minister has also increased the number of Government huts for the sale of food, has taken the duty off sugar and is increasing, as far as possible, the imports of that commodity as well as of meat, wine, etc. The prices fixed by the committee referred to are not compulsory—they only serve as an indication for retailers and consumers of what more or less expert thin?'' %hf?T ' cons.ider a "fair £* -_i- • llsts of Prices «re given much publicity, S o that everyone has an opportunity of knowing what they are. iney are printed in the papers and posted up in towns and villages and in all shops whose proprietors ask for wl?' +l .an arrangement which enables both the .authorities and the public to know which shopkeepers do not wish to comply with the scale. Public opinion, it is expected, will do the rest.

rfrf™ 2 kn?- f ladies' and children's drapery at Miss Hamilton's, in High street, must be cleared because the piemises have been sold and she has l^ gfi °UtJ A, U S°ods are marked at greatly reduced figures.

The Melbourne Ltd. have opened out another • shipments of boys' and youths' Wack school hose, with white, blue and red bar turnover tops. Prices are as 1° °?%: o, 4>, 3/9> s's 3/11. 6's "4/3. 7's 4J 6, B's 4/9. 9's 4/11. These goods are best colonial all wool manufacture. —Advt.

Perfection," the famous blend that is all the name implies." Entirely free from that "bite" and crudence so pronounced in immature and unskilfully blended whiskies. It possesses a pleading smoothness that makes instant ap peal t© the discrimination palate, whilst its unvarying excellence makes it a revelation to even the connoisseur Bottled only by the proprietors, D. and J. McCallum, at their distilleries, Edinburgh, Scotland: Messrs A. Hatrick <fe Co., Ltd., wholesale distributors. Wanganui,

The gold medals ~and ae:-,;? I rcsev. fc'.-d i to the returned soldiers ax M.i.-ja.-i ii,&i I night were made by Mr P. T. Hammonds, of Manaia. He designed as well as made the seals, and received many complimentary remarks on the excellence of his work.

Pitman's shorthand certificates have been received for the below-named students at the Technical High School: Second class —Vera Slinger, Grace Wilkie, Ora Dow. Third classDorothea West, Janet Fryer, Olive M Tait, Ei.een._]. Rawcliffe, Constance L*. -—ey, Alice Shannon.

'A knowledge oi history is absolutely essential lor good citizenship," said Judge George D. Alden, of Boston, in the course of an address at a Chautauqua entertainment in Auckland. "It is,'-' he added, "a duty which." every man owes not only to himself but to his nation, and to generations yet to come."

Following is a schedule of the principal business transacted by the House during the session: Select committees on Bills 22, public Bil.s received royal assent 77, dropped or otherwise disposed of 50, private Bill received royal assent 1, petitions presented 373, divisions 27, days of meeting 47 hours of sitting before midnight 59, daily average 7.32, questions asked of Ministers bo 9, orders for papers 40, papers laid on table 244, report from select committees 313.

A Palmerston lady who is familiar with the conditions on Christmas island (says the Manawatu Times) is highly amused at the story cabled to New Zealand about the finding of starving castaways by H.M.S. New Zealand, and all the picturesque details connected therewith. Her idea is that some De Rougemont has given rein to his fantastic imagination and perpetrated something really worth, "telling to the marines." She says the mission at Christmas Island is we'll organised, and that a number of wellfed natives live there in idyllic content.

The importation (in pieces) of ready- I made houses may come before long. A > Wellington resident states that he has been in communication with an enterprising American firm which offers to shig quantities of material—complete houses in portions—which is being used in other parts of the world for the rapid construction of dwellings. The price is said to be reasonable, and if the shipments pan be made regularly, end there-is a steady demand for same, the^ firm intends to exploit the Australian and New Zealand markets. An exciting occurrence took place in Timaru one night last week. A young man about 19 years arrived home in a state /of intoxication, add as a result of a quarrel with his sister he lost control of himself. Picking up a carving knife he chased the girl along the street, threatening to "do for her." The pursued managed to elude the pursuer, but when she reached home the youth drew a revolver, again causing the girl to run for her life. Whether the young desperado would have shot her is not known, but at. any rate he cleared the houses of its occupants. It is under-

stood that the matter has been reported to the police, so that further developments may be expected later.

There have been several little occurrences in New Plymouth during the past few days and nights which bear an exceedingly suspicious complexion (the News states). An mcipent fire in a stable adjoining Mr A. E. Sykes' premises on Wednesday was fokowed late the same.night by an unexplainable outbreak at the residence of Mrs Paul, in Brougham street, and yesterday morning further signs of fire were discovered in premises in the lower end of Brougham street. Another wellknown Devon street business man declares his shop premises were entered some time during the early hours of Wednesday night, though he could not' say that he had missed? anything from the place. He went to the shop-about 10 o'clock and found the back doors open and signs that some, intruder had been paying a nocturnal visit. The occupants of the adjoining premises also stated that they had heard some one in the place during the time the entry is believed to have been made. The manager of lanother largp business house in. Devon street also told a reporter that his suspicions had been aroused by finding indications that someone had been about the rear of his firm's premises the night before. Some time before, incipient fires were discovered at the rear of two shops in different parts of Devon street, and the fire that occurred last week at Petty Bros.' shop may t have been started feloniously. '