LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XXX, Issue XXX, 16 March 1920, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Up to the present no arrest has been made in connection with the Ponsonby murder, states an Auckland message. It is unlikely that the inquest will 6e resumed for some days.

A Ne'.son butcher reduces his prices of meat by one penny per pound conditionally that patrons bring alonw their own wrapping paper. °

A controversy, motor 'buses v. electric trams, is creating a good deal of interest in Palmerston North just now among ratepayers.

Mr O. Hawken, M.P. for Egmont, has received word that the Public Trustee has authorised a loan of £"7000 for the Opunalw Towa Board's electric lighting scheme.

A branch of the Public Trust office .is about to be opened at Stratford, and it is understood that Mr Robins, at present of the Hawera Office, will beoome local manager.

A number of schools in Wanganui education district, including Patea, Alton, Manutahi and Kakaramea, have been closed .for a time owing to the influenza.

A skipper of a Gisborne trawler, speaking with reference to the increased price of fish in Gisborne, incidentally touched on the price of coal. He pointed out that prior to the war bunker coal was being. retailed at 19s per ton, against 70s per ton to-day.

The train which will convey the Prince of Wales and his party on their tour of the North Island will consist of three day coaches, three sleepers, one Ministerial car, the- Vice-Regal car, and at the end of the train the Royal car. Besides these the usual guard's van and engine will be attached. At the present time the Royal car is being prepared at the Petone workshops.

There was a strange happening on Mr Bardens farm at Okauia (writes a a Matamata correspondent). Whilst drawing a load of firewood a horse belonging to Mr Barden dropped dead. He procured another horse to drag the dead one away, and this also expired. Both animals appeared healthy, and Mr Barden is unable to account for the death of either. The Wellington Gas Company, the New Zealand Times states, has been forced Owing to the coal shortage, to lower the pressure by about 40 per cent, between the hours of 4.0 p.m. and 7 p.m. For a time the company has been in desperate straits, and has only been able to on with the aid of a supply from a nuik and the scrapings of its own bins. The lowering of the pressure was the a.ternative to cutting off gether.According to a leading provision merchant in Napier, there is going to fee a big Tise in the price of eggs in the near future. At present supplies are available, but the hi e h cost of feed is causing many breeders to go out of the business. It is stated that eggs will be retailing at Easter *t between 4a el ?nd 5s per dozen and will likely brinmore in June. Last year the highest retail price was 4s, but this will easily be exceeded m the near future. mLJ^^a t?le? ram says that the Minister for Agriculture (Mr Nosworthy) has announced that Cabinet has agreed to the blowing minimum prices for wheat for the season ifiaSST Tuscan 7s 3d a bushel, Hunter's 7s 6d 4<l increment per month from May 1 the increment being to cover storage! The Government had fixed the price for abfp T S°*r Oni y ' iTi the h °Pe «f te*Z time market the end of that With regard to an advertisement m to-days issue regarding the swimming carnival, the reference to the proposed annual meetings to b e held ? A B N°u 8 Taranaki Group refew to the scheme outlined by Captain Dallmgr at the opening of the carnival held locally a few days ago, when it was proposed that a group athletic meeW would be held this year at rt li l J f mT th>, a mili^y gymkhana at fctratford, and a boxing tournament wilft' 1? ra-i The fifSt Of these meetings Y lll..tate # place at New Plymouth on Aw- V n ?°?i vnctMm with the visit w i E^ yal Hl Shness the Prinoe of wf les- Events will be open to senior cadets, territorials, returned soldiers -Legion of Frontiersmen, members of rifle clubs, and boy scout© residing in • +OU?i A prize list running well into three figures has been arranged tor this meeting. Arrangements are wen m hand to supply/ programmes in all centres within the next few days. 'Holders of New Zealand Government 4 per cent, stock (1943-63) will nncl it of more than sentimental interest to study the yield given on that stock m relation to the returns offered on trustee investments of a similar character," says the London Times. Ike anomaly that exists is best shown by a comparison with another 4 per cent, stock of the New Zealand Government, the issue' that is redeemable at par in 1829. The 1943-63 loan is quoted at 77,}. the flat yield being £5 3s per cent., and the total yield including profit on redemption £5 6s The 1929 4's stand at 84£, and, while the flat yield is only 4| per cent., the rull return, allowing for repayment nine years hence, is £6 2s 6d. 'Moreover, the quotation for the 1943-63 issue is ex dividend due in February, whereas the price of the 1929 loan carries two months' accrued interest, the next half-yearly payment being due in May. The position seems to cry aloud to holders of the 1943-63 loan to bake advantage of the anomaly by making an exchange. If they do not fancy the 1929 loan because of its short-dated character,' they could .still increase their income by exchanging into, say, the British 5 per cent, war loan (1929-47), .vhich at the current price of 91J oives m interest yield of £5 9s 6d, and a ;otal return, allowing for redemption it the latest date of £5 12q 6d." A HOLIDAY. ."Washing day drnc!?,o,ry is A thing of be pnst. No need of any woman to go hrough an unpleasant day, with its ack-breaking, nerve-torturing toil : nined, bruised, disfigured hands, achig, tired muscles and nerves. "Winfeart washes clothes marvellously ■hite and clean without blueing, rubing or soaking—"only boil." Five trpre washings, 1/-. All stores.—-Advt.

| March 31 will be the 79th anniversary or the province of Taranaki. j Inspector Gray reported to the Hawera Hospital Board yesterday that iive samples of milk were purchased in Hawera Borough and forwarded to the J>ominion analyst for analysis. i Dr Fitt, in conversation with a Palmerston Times reporter, said: "I have returned to find that New Zealand is absolutely 'the' country of the present aay, and it is certainly going to be the country of the future."

A Press message states that the W.C.T.U. Convention at Wellington yesterday carried a resolution that in the interests of children who would be travelling in trains, and in order to avoid unseemly exhibitions of the evil effects of drink, it was desirable that hote s should be closed on the occasion of the Princ§ of Wales' visit to any locality.

A Gisborne telegram reports that at a special meeting of the Gisborne Harbor Board yesterday, a commission of engineers was appointed to gather data in connection with an outer harbor scheme. The engineers appointed, and willing to meet in Gisborne this month are Messrs W. Ferguson (Wellington), J. Blair Mason (New Plymouth), and Cyrus J. R. Williams (engineer to the' Lyttelton Harbor Board).

Recently two persons of alleged "water divining proclivities'' visited Hastings, and publicly announced their willingness to locate water. In answ.er to their advertisements, several local residents, who no doubt had their mind's eye centred on the prospects of a drought, at once availed themselves of the offer, and paid a fee of £3. Up to the present, however, there has been no appearance of the "water diviners," and their victims (says the Hawke's Bay Tribune) are now endeavoring to divine their whereabouts.

A Dargaville message states that at a meeting of the A.b.R.S. on Saturday night, it was decided to support the executive in whatever action it> sees fit to take to secure a substantial increase in wages. The following resolution was also passed: rfWe heartily condemn the action of the Railway Department in keeping the funds of members who ordered clothing from the defence stores for two months and then returning same without comment."

The walnuts are again badly affected by blight (states a southern paper). Great trees are dropping shoals of nuts prematurely, the blight evidently having attacked the stalk of the nut as well. So far one has not heard of any definite specific having been tried as a preventive. That 6eems, indeed, a pity, for a well-grown healthy tree in past years has produced anything between £12 and £15 worth of nuts, when the price was 6d per lb or even less. Threshing has not yet commenced. From general appearances, however, the yield of clean nuts will be barely an average one.

It is a very oommon thing to accuse women of exhibiting selfishness and want of consideration for others on public occasions; But the observant person notices quite a number of times when the other sex fails lamentably to exhibit the virtue of unselfishness (says the Wellington Post). On Thursday afternoon the trams were held up so long that there grew to be a great concourse of people at Courtenay place, and jseats were, at a premium. The heat wa® great, and the two cars which were held up there were crowded to suffocation, which, in conjunction with the hot sun beating on the windows, only partially opened caused a lady to have to get out of the car, feeling faint with the general stuffiness. She looked along the seat under the shelter, where, among the womenkind, sat a youngish and quite able-bodied man; he, however, "sat tight" and she leaned against a post looking so ill that an elderly lady sitting next to the man in question gave up her place, which, was gratefully accepted. Soon after tkis a lady came along carrying twin babies of about tbt*e months old, and with another little girl of about four years. With the help of the small girl Bhe managed to close up her gocart—then she also looked round for a resting place for herself and infants. Again the male person sat firmly, while the lady who had been faint, but who had recovered somewhat in the fresh air. gave up her palce. The philosophical reflection that "it takes all sorts of people to make a world" is the only one that fits in. Probably the selfish ones have their uses, if only to give others the opportunity to see what extreme selfishness and want of courtesy looks like.