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Manawatu Standard, Volume XLIII, Issue 1711, 30 December 1919, Page 4

Silver is now quoted hi Loudon at 6s s|d per ounce..

Mr T. E. Y Seddon, M.P., offered to resign his scat for Sir Joseph Ward. Ihc Wanganui Herald states that during the past few Jays several owners of canaries have had their birds stolen.

The sum of £lB5 hi bank notes was lost in a fire which took place at Auckland during tho holidays. /

On Sunday afternoon a youth coolly appropriated a motor car which was left outside an Auckland city hotel and had an afternoon's drive before being arrested by the police at Ofcahuhu at 6 o’clock in the evening.

Tho London Times’ correspondent m Paris stall's that Georges Garpontier gave £IOOO of his profits from the fight with Beckett, the English boxer, towards a Merry Christmas Fund for the poor of Paris.

An unfortunate motorist who bad the bad luck to enter the Manawatn Gorge from the Woodvillo end just as the procession of cars from tho Palmerston races reached tho opposite end on Saturday was hold up on the road for nearly two hours. He counted over 31 cars passing him before ho got under way again.

Despite the heat of tho last few days, particularly yesterday, there was not a single offender against tho laws of sobriety recorded at tho Police Court this morning. With tho huge influx of visitors and three days’ racing in. progress, the holidays have passed .in a manner which should not fail to give satisfaction to all.

The Riccaitoji Borough Council had an unexpected windfall at its meeting last week, when a cheque for £5 5s was received from the Canterbury Automobile Association, in appreciation of the action of the council in improving the corners of the West Belt and Clarence Road. The council decided to thank the association for showing its appreciation in so tangible a manner. Speaking at Fremantle recently with regard to the qualities of the Australian soldier, General Monash said: : —When the final scenes wore being enacted the Australian soldier was the finest fighting machine on the battlefield, and the longer lie stopped there the better ho was becoming. His morale and spirit were undiminishable, and ho (General Monash) was proud of being an Australian in the company of Australians. A few days ago a well-known Pahiatua resident became possessed of a motor car. lie learned to drive it, and contemplated a tour during the holidays. On Boxing Day, however, the car refused to move, and no efforts on its new owner’s part had any effect (says the Herald). On Saturday,_ lie got in touch with a mechanic, and received the Suggestion that perhaps the car needed benzine with relief. However, the car still refused to go. The mechanic on investigating found that the new owner had poured hit benzine into the radiator. In the statement regarding Dominion finance published on Wednesday, Sir James Allen was made to say that in eight months the expenditure exceeded the revenue by £330,405. In actual fact the expenditure exceeded the revenue by some three millions more than this sum. What Sir James Allen said wad that the increase in expenditure in the first eight months of the financial year had exceeded the increase in revenue by £330,405, but the Finance Minister considers it not at all impossible that the deficit of £3,300,000 will bo overtaken before the end of the year. At a welcome borne dinner given by the Commercial Travellers’ Association at Brisbane in December to returned soldier members the Governor of the State said that ho knew a lieutenant-colonel who had loft Australia as a private, and had risen to the position of transport officer under General Chauvel in Palestine He had charge of the transport of 50,000 troops, had won the D.5.0., and been created a U.M.G. lie was now employed as a common labourer filling gas cylinders at £3 a week. He could not understand how such things were allowed.

Nobody can say definitely whether it was lost, stolen, or strayed, but the Defence authorities have declared that somebody has captured a German machine gun in Me|bourno (says the Sydney Sun). Frantic liaste has not been observed in the search for it, as the gun disappeared on July 19, when the Peace Day procession was held. A collection of guns captured by the Australians from the Huns attracted much attention, and the soldiers of the 58th Battalion, and their relatives and friends looked with particular pride on machine gun 10129. It had been taken in battle by the 58th from the Germans, and was one of 24 that had been on loan from the Australian War Museum for display in the peace celebrations.

One notable feature in the shops this Christmas .(says the Dominion) was the marked difference in the quality of' the toys that wore being displayed and freely sold. The difference was all in favour of the buyer, for if the prices wore appreciably dearer the quality of the toys was not comparable with that of the rubbish stamped “Made in Germany” which formerly constituted 80 per cent bf the toys sold in this country at Christmas-tide. The Americans, not remarkable always for durability in their manufactures, believe in that quality as applied to toys, and most of the high-grade toys disposed of this year came from across the Pacific. There wore also a few solidly-made toys from England, whilst quite a lot wore actually made in Now Zealand, and, it is understood, amply repaid their makers. The Japanese toys of the cheaper class are cf extremely poor quality, and not ifiade to last, but in articles of bric-a-brac and highclass ornaments, the Japanese display an artistry that cannot bo denied-

It’s not too late to select that New Year gift; the “Rosco” kind always meets with ready appreciation. Buyers invited to inspect our special Now Year gift, displays. The C. M. Ross Co., Ltd.—Advt. i Croquet is the ideal game for'young and old; for the enjoyment of this game we have landed some good English croquet sets, complete with _ all mallets, hoops, balls, etc.; best quality and finish; prices, £5 19s fid to £8 10s per set.—Collinson and Son, 11 Broadway and King street, Palmerston Npith,—Advt,

During the last week over £600,000 has °us race rnark will bo New Year’s Day will bo celebrated by the Chinese as that is the great o the vear with the Orientals. Santa Uuus in China is represented b, a to brines trays with presents for the children. In Japan the children are looked after by Hotei, P who is a groat Japanese priest, and who is very fond of children. The demand for a magical inquiry into tho poll, preferred bythoHon. Mr zealous partisans of his successful opponent. A bad feature of this election lias Been the heavy betting, a vicious indulgence of which each side has of course been equal y guilty. People would do well to confine their wagering to the orthodox four-footed mediums of speculation and let; thc btpi d competitors for Parliament stakes run unbacked.

The London Times’ Dublin correspondent says that strange proceedings occurred in the Burnfoot Court (Ireland) on Friday, December 19. Four of the leading residents were charged with having collected funds for the Dad Lirann (the Sinn Fein organ). A clamorous crowd disturbed the court, laughing and^ shouting, “That’s the medicine for them, when it was stated that the Crown’s witnesses were unable to give evidence because they had boon shot and badly wounded Two of tho justices of the peace excitedly resigned their commissions when the accused were sent to gaol. One justice was removed by the police. An innovation which should prove a boon to ladies and children travelling J has been instituted by the Rai way Department. At the' mam stations along the lino where the trains stop for refreshments small and very neat “wagons” have beep, put to use which are provided with mns‘confining hot tea and coffee'-ns well as a supply of eatables. When a train comes m those are wheeled along the platterm to carriages, and ladies and cmldren can obtain refreshments without leaving their scats. Just before tho horses were saddled up for the first event of the second days racing of the Taranaki Jockey Clubs Chnstmas meeting on Saturday, a. fire occurred m a corner of the outside stand, and fanned b, a strong wind, the flames soon began to get a hold of the structure. The fin. brigade was called, but in the meantime a bucket brigade, led by Constable O Noil, of Rahotu succeeded in extinguishing-the outbreak, very little damage being done. Some very scathing remarks we.re made a few weeks ago by tho Magistrate (Lieu tenant II J. Hamilton) at Prospering Queensland) in sentencing a man named Thomas, Smith, of Melbourne. Smith was found guilty of assaulting a man employed at a hotel which had been declared black The Magistrate said: “This is a town which is made the dumping ground for the very dregs of humanity like you who flow in like a wave of poison gas by every tram from all parts of the earth, preaching sabotage, direct action, and revolution. You endeavoured to dominate the district, paralysing 1 industry, and only that tn£ro aro splendid police here you would have gone further. I am not going to give you the option of a lino,'as it would be immediately paid by your brother dregs now , watching these proceedings,’ and your cowardly assault merits no mercy. You are sentenced to two months’ imprisonment, with hum labour, in Stewart’s Creek Gaol'. Townsville —the extreme penalty the law allows and let it be a lesson, to deter from coming hero men of your kidney, who are ever ready with a club up their sleeves to bellow around with tho word ‘scab’ on their bps at every honest man.” Tho wholesale price of eggs last month in tho American citv of Seattle was from 2s 6d to 3s 6d per dozen. Butter was costing wholesale 2s 6d to 2s 9d per pound. For tho purposes of comparison, the dollar has been converted to English money at the normal rate of exchange. Cheese was costing about Is 4d a pound wholesale and Is 6d to Is 7d retail. The Americans reported a reduction in the cost of living last month, and attention was drawn officially to the fact that the decline in prices synchronised closely with a reduction in the quantity ot money in circulation. . r (

For tlio farming- community the present season appears to have varied greatly according to locality. A visitor from the Bay of Plenty who motored through to Wellington during the holidays was much impressed by the contrasts in the aspect of the country through which she travelled. Hawke’s Day looked particularly dry and burnt up, but north and south the freshness of the grass was noticeable, especially in the Wairarapa. On the whole, however, the season has not been us good as might have been expected anywhere. In tlio Hawke’s Bay district there have been losses of stock, and hardly anywhere has the lambing been up to the average. Tlio benefits of passing showers have largely been counteracted by high winds following.—Post.

Big ropes and small pulleys nearly accounted for the lives of three men between Sumner and Lyttelton on Boxing Day. In the afternoon the three men set out in a 29ft yacht from Sumner for Lyttelton. During the trip much difficulty was experienced in controlling the boat, as tlio ropes would not run in the pulley blocks. One of the men had become sea-sick, and was lying helpless in the bottom of the boat, leaving only two , to cope with the situation. When oft Port Cooper a sudden gust of wind struck the mainsail, capsizing the yacht, and throwing its three occupants into the water. They managed to cling on, however, to the upturned craft until picked up by the motor launch Toi Toi, then on its way to Lyttelton.