LOCAL AND GENERAL

Taranaki Daily News, 4 September 1915, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

The final for the Hawera club's handicap championship was played off between Turner (3) and o'Callaglian(4 , and produced some very fine golf. O'Callaghan won by 3 up and 2. The President of the Taranaki Chamber of Commerce reported at last night's meeting that the slot telephone to be erected in Brougham Street had arrived, and would be erected shortly.

In the Legislative Council yesterday the Marriage Amendment Bill oiid Settled Land's Amendment Bill were read a third time and passed, and the Council adjourned until next Wednesday. The police in Wellington on Thursday seized' £2Ol in gold which a Chinaman was attempting to smuggle out of the country on board the Moeraki. The War Pensions Board on Thursday night granted the first pension under the Act passed on August 5. The amount of the pension was £7B per annum, to a partially disabled soldier. Yesterday morning, under the guidance of Messrs Sandford and Ellis, a batch of boys from the Stratford school erected the first pair of gates on the experimental farm plot in Broadway south. It may be mentioned that the gates were made by the boys.

The proposal to duplicate the telephone line between New Plymouth and Opunakc h&3 not taken definite fonn yet. In reporting this to tihe Taranaki Chamber of Commerce last night the president said the work would cost about £3OOO.

An anonymous letter, enclosing a tin cross for the engineer, was received at the meeting of the' Clifton County Council yesterday. The clerk (Mr. If. E, Vaughan). promptly handed the diairman the waste-paper basket, where the contents were deposited without comment.

"Wandering stock have been, a nuisance in the Mutau district for the last year," said Cr. C. J. Kcnuington at the meeting rf the Clifton County Council Teslerday. 'The uhairmaft reuioaked that it was ao use trying to prevent the practice. It wns dc'/ided ,to threaten the offender* with legal action unless the nuisance abated.

Our Straftord correspondent writes:— People have great ideas as to time. Today, at the hearing of a motor ear collision one, a witness said it would take from 2 to I! minutes for the car to run a distance which was admitted by botli sides to be about 140 feet. His Worship pulled out his watch and said he intended to test the witness as to what he considered half a minute was, and asked the witness to say when lie considered the time was up. 'This he did, and the time was found to he exactly nine seconds.

The following bulletin of patients in military 'hospitals was issued yesterday:—Trentham Racecourse: Admissions 17, discharges 22, remaining 113, serious cases 12. S of which are improving. Izard's: Measles 7. Tauhcrenikaii: Admissions 1, discharges 5, remaining 20. none serious, (ireytown: Admissions nil, discharged 1, remaining i), none serious. Mastei'ton: ■ One only, not serious. Palmerston North: Admissions 1, discharges nil, remaining 41, one serious case. Auckland: Admissions nil, discharges nil. remaining 14, no serious cases. Wellington: 10.

The ladies of New Plymouth have decided to start a Red Cross market, with a view to augmenting the Wounded Soldiers' Fund. A strong committee, consisting of Mesdames Newton King, Blundell, F. Blundell, Matthews, R. Cock, E. Dockrdll, and Addenbrooke, with Mrs. J. Wilson as secretary, has been formed. It is intended to open the market eacih Saturday, commencing from next Saturday, from !) a.m. till (i p.in., in the liui'ding formerly occupied by 1 fauna's studio. Donations of produce, cakes, etc., from country people or townspeople will he thankfully received, and will he. disposed of at the market. In other centres a considerable sum has been raised by this means, and it is hoped to do likewise locally. The New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Co.. Ltd., and Messrs Webster, Dobson and Co., draw the attention of the public to their fortnightly sale, which they are holding in their Stratford yards on Tuesday, 7th September. The annual mcctiug of thq, Taranaki A. and P. Association will be held on Saturday, October 2nd, at 1 p.m.

The new term at the Technical School opens oil Monday next, when both day and night classes will resume work.

The Germans are reported to be putting a heavy tax on bachelors. There was a time (says an English exchange) when this country did the same thing. In the year 1C94 an Act was passed "for carrying on the war against France with vigor," whereby every bachelor above the age of fivc-and-twenty paid yearly la, and an additional sum varying with his rank.

It is understood that another fall in the price of flour is imminent (.says the Dominion). The Canadian harvest of wheat is said to have been a very good one, and it is stated that about two months from now it will be possible to ■land flour in New Zealand from Vancouver at a price considerably below the present selling price— £ls per ton f.o.b. in the South.

A tax on bachelors who are not going to the front was advocated l>y Mr. G. Witty (Riccarton) wlien speaking on the Budget proposals. There were many bachelors, and wealthy bachelors, who had not attempted to go. They were shirking their responsibilities to their country, and shirking family responsibilities. It was not a laughing matter, said Mr. Witty, and if those men would not go they should be taxed. (Applause.) At a meeting of -the Whangarei Dairy Company, it was stated by shareholders that contributing to tho war fund meaait reducing the taxation on the men having much more money than dairymen, \it. t the biggest laJid and property owners in the Dominion. No objection was made to the diroitore having the power to donate to the local sick ajid wolinded fund.. The ihaliman (Mr. Henry Wakeliu) declared that the iii<jh prices for batter-fat Vfe»e like blood money. They knew what was the cause of the iigh prices to theiy sorrow. He hoped the shareholders would show their gratitude.

Even yet New Zealand is not so well known as some New Zealanders imagine. A day or two ago the Hon. James Allen received from the office of the Minister of Defence at Ottawa a letter addressed, "The Honorable the Minister for Defence, Commonwealth of Australia, Wellington, Australia." And the letter was intended for Mr. Allea! As a matter of fact it was in reply to an inquiry as to the rate of war pension payable in the Dominion of Canada to totally disabled soldiers. A press cablegram published here said that the amount was £97 per. year, but the fact, as shown by the badly directed letter, is that the amount is £7O per year.

According to the return received by the Government Statistician up to August 18, the total threshings of wheat and oats were 6,632,087 bushels of wheat and 0,785,401 bushels of qats. The ascertained stocks of wheat oats and flour in the Dominion as on June 30, according to a census, the results of which are just published, were:—Wheat, 4,134,273 bushels (including 72,288 bushels, estimated quantity of wheat still in stack); oats, 3,720,173 bushels; flour, 10,441 tons. In addition, returns were received showing that there were approximately 441,630 bushels of oats in stacks intended for threshing, and 2,301,361 bushels in stacks intended for charting.

The following men have passed the medical examination as fit for service:— Messrs R Aitkenhead, Fitzroy; Jas. Stringer, New Plymouth, W. 1). Wadsworth, New Plymouth; J. C. Sumner, New Plymouth; H. J. Schroder, Waitara; G. M Richardson, Umti; A. J. Canton, Waitara; H. D. Hooker, New (Plymouth; C/ A. Scrivener, New Plymouth; W. B. Hosking, New Plymouth; W. P. Douglas, Bell Block; A. If, Flower, New Plymouth; N. K. Austin, Omata; G. W. Murray,' Uruti; C. H. Thomas, Waitara; B. K. Gardiner, Waitara; J. B. C. MoDonald, Waitara; N. Nicholson, Waitara; L. G. Bennett, New Plymouth; A. B. Fulton, Waitara. '•I have become a fatalist since 1 have been up there," is the remark made by a soldier in reviewing his experiences in a letter written from a Cairo hospital. "The majority of the men arc, too, and one simply cannot help it. You will see one man expose himself all day long, and bullets seem unable to hit him, yet another mau will show his head for just an instant and it is the finish. One shell will kill a couple of men and leave another man standing between them untouched. I know fellows who We come out of several lights and then been hit by btray bullets while wandering round their bivouacs. If you are to be hit, you will be hit, is the way most of them put it."

Writing to a friend in Christehureh, a member of the <tov.' of IUI.R. Key Zeals ml states that the ship was not hit at p.ll during b'ue two engagements she litis been in. The sailor believes they all bear charmed lives, or owe their immunity to the charm of the Maori tiki they IJiave on board. The mascot Pelorus Jack, a bulldog, came to an untimely death by fulling down the funnel casing and being burnt to death. Hi* loss is mourned hy the men, who had become very attached to the dog, as he was on deck barking at the shells all through the two engagement, and he was to have been presented with a medal. It is believed that the New Zealanders in England are going to present the ship with another mascot, as a little black kitten is the only pet they have now. In lias first despatches describing the landing of the Expeditionary Force at the Dardanelles, General Sir lan Hamilton said it involved difficulties for which no precedent >.s forthcoming in military history, except possibly in the sinister legends of Xerxes. It will be remembered that Xerxes constructed a bridge of boats for the passage of the Hellespont (Dardanelles) close tipon fifteen hundred years ago. The bridge was destroyed iu a storm, and SOU lashes having been given to the rebellions sea, a second structure was built, on which the Persian army of two million and adialf men marched across. The passage of the hosts occupied seven days and seven nights. After reaching Athens, Xerxes stood upon an eminence on shore and witnessed the defeat of his fleet at the battle of Salamis, which resulted iu the cutting of his communications by sea and sealed the fate of the expedition. On Saturday, September Ht'h Messrs Webster Broa. will sell a practically new L.M.C. motor evele, in good running order.

Mr. New ton Kin;,' reminds readers of he land sa'n at the mart, New Plymouth, on Saturday next. Inspection of the property is invited.

Another name for Morey's great squeezed-out sale would be the "Can't Help it Sale." New goods juat arrived and still arriving must go at sale prii-os—in some eases at "throw-away" prices. Turn to Mercys' advertisement in another column..

Not for many a Ion;; day will there he BUeh opportunities for making savings on woollen goods as those presented at the Melbourne's semi-annual reduction Bale. Every buyer of staple commodities! must know how priees have advanced, and as further rises are threatened it behoves everyone to take advantage of every sale offering.

It is an extremely uncommon tiling for a vessel of the size oi the R.M.S. Taiaui to leave these shores without a largo quantity of butter and cheese In her holds for the Home market, but (says the Post) when the Talnui sailed from Wellington last Thursday afternoon for London slie had no choose aboard, and only two boxes of butter for the London show.

The main road 'at FiUroy has now become almost dmipassablo for traffic. Yesterday a block was caused for some time owing to the failure of a motor lorry, laden with bricks, to negotiate Paynter's T.anc, which has now to bear the diverted traffic, but is inches deep in mud. As the Mayor and Or. Burgess were amongst those held up, perhaps some remedial measures will be adopted, as is being done near the Waiwliaiho bridge, where another slough was created. The sorry port of the bungle is that it could all have ffeen avoided if proper methods liad been adopted. At last night's meeting of the Taranaki Chamber of Commerce a letter was read from tihe General Manager of Railways in regard to the Chamber's request that the arrival time at New Plymouth of the morning train from Ha-! wera be made earlier than at present, and that if this could not be arranged daily it be arranged at least en Saturdays. The letter said that if the train ware, altered to reach New Plymouth at 930 a.m. it would necessitate a mudh earlier start from Hawera; The opinion of the 'public of the southern area served by t'hia train was entirely opposed to an earlier start, and under these oirciimntan«e» (lie Department regretted the reqiiKst nt the ttwiiibur tmiM nut be complied with. The president remarked thai the. Chamber was faced with "the same old* trouble."

Rehearsals of-"The Mikado" are proceeding on lines which indicate that the production (.pencilled Yor, October) will reach Mgb-water mark for amateur work. At the next practice, on Monday, the dialogue will be taken, and all members are asked to remember that "amtain" is 7.30 sharp. In this isaue'we insert particular* of, town properties '-wife*, ate to be offered by public auction, by Mr. Newton King at New Plymouth on Saturday next, the I ton insfc. Inspection of these propertfee is invited.