LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, 18 June 1919, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The Dominion reports that the oldestablished business of Godbers, Ltd., Wellington, has been bought by Mr. W. S. Dustin, of Wanganui.

The Petone Borough Council has decided to close down its motor "bus service, which has resulted in a deficiency of about £3OOO after two years' working. ■Two misprints occurred in the report of the Westown deputation to the Borough Council on Monday night. The tramway extension urged was to Wallath Road, not Wallace Place, and one of the additional streets lamps asked for was wanted at the corner of Wallath Road, and not Wallace Road.

The parishioners of St. Mary's are taking steps towards raising a further sum of £IOOO, which is required before the Peace Memorial Sunday School and Parish Hall can be built. A meeting of the church workers was held on Monday night, and it wag decided to hold a mart in order to help the fund on Saturday, August 30th, The management of this effort was entrusted to Mrs Walker and Mrs Hugh Baily. The mart will probably be held in the Good Templar Hall, and in the capable hands of the ladies mentioned should prove a big success.

A proposal put forward by Mr. Oswald Hawken was discussed ta the meeting of the general committee of the Egmonfc A. and P. Association on Saturday that that body should consider the advisable* ness of inaugurating a one-day dairy show in the spring in conjunction with a pedigree stock sale. Mr. Hawken considers that in a strong dairying district as that which surrounds Hawera there is no reason why the association should not be able to hold "the premier one-day show of the Dominion." The meeting considered that the scheme wa sa feasible one, and unanimously carried a motion that it be gone into thoroughly by the executive committee, which will bring down a report in a month's time.—Star.

On Monday night Mr. P. E. Cheal, chairman of the Auckland Railway League, who in the early days worked as a surveyor in Taranaki, was chatting with some Stratford residents, and happened to say: "Why, I surveyed this town!" "Oh," said one of his hearers, "did you? You're the man we're looking for." "Why are you looking for me?" inquired Mr. Cheal. "Quite a lot of people," Mr. Cheal was told, "are looking for the man who ran the railway right through the centre of the town, designed big, clumsy blocks in the business quarter, and made handysized in the residential quarter, where they are not wanted, with a design to murder him." Mr. Cheal hastily denied responsibility for the plan of the town, smilingly remarking, "Oh, I had to do as I was told. I didn't lay out the place." The gentleman who had spoked to Mr. Cheal was palpably disappointed —Post.

Speaking about America's big pending "dry-up," Mr. Albert Goldie, on emissary from the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, now in Wellington, relates an amusing incident concerning the delicate differentiation between a "wet" and a "dry" district in California. Longbeach, a suburb of Los Angeles, is "wet" and San Monica, which adjoins Longbeach, is "dry." A resident was found to have stored a quantity of "joy juice" in bis house, and when apprehended declared that he lived in Longbeach and not in San Monica. A survey of the premises was made, when it was discovered that the border line between the two places ran through the offender's house. As it was admitted in evidence that the liquor had been taken in through the back door, and the door was just on the San Monica (the "dry") side of the line, he was lined. Since then he has had a new aoorway constructed on the Longbeach side of hig house. Mr, Goldie states that in view of the coming "drought" many people in California spent thousands of dollars in laying in stocks of wines and spirits, and there was consternation everywhere when, a few months ago, an edict was issued to the effect that the authorities were given the right to search private residences in such cases where it was suspected that stocks of liquor were held in contravention of the pending law.

We are reminded that sowing time will soon be with us again by a copy of the Seed Guide of P. Cooper, Ltd., the renowned seed growers of Wellington. Although the war. is now over it will be foolish indeed if the efforts made in all countries to produce good foodstuffs cheaply by war gardening are relaxed. The firm of Cooper's Limited, are the largest and most prominent growers of vegetable and farm seeds (exclusive of grasses) in the Southern Hemisphere. Mr A. H. Cockayne of the N.Z. Department of Agriculture, says: "As to the good qualities of Hew Zealand grown seeds, no doubts need bo entertained—providing, of course, the finest stock seed is used." Messrs Cooper's registered trade mark (the head of a Maori) and the trade slogan, "Cooper's Seeds, the Seeds of Success," are known from one end of New Zealand to the other. Their splendid reputation has been built up by nearly 60 years of faithful service to their clients, and by their own practical research into plant breeding and selection in their own trial grounds and farms. The directors of Cooper's Limited are well known by the seed trade to have travelled farther in all parts of the world in order to study plant breeding and seed selection than any other persona or firms in Australasia. As the firm rightly points out: "When you buy Cooper's seeds you also buy the results of 60 years' experience" Every parcel of Cooper's seeds is tested, for growth by both the Department of Agriculture and themselves before sending out, and open ground trials are also made of all seeds sold. Nothing is left undone to secure the best in seeds. The motto of the firm being:—"Grown up to a standard, not down to a price list."

Owing to sickness, Mr T\ N. Whitcombe, dentist, will be absent from his rooms for the next three weeks, but advises that any messages or work left at the rooms will receive prompt attention.

The annual meeting of th« New Plymouth Bowling Club will be held at the pavilion to-morrow evening,

The population of New Zealand in March of this year was 1,124,630, males numbering 665,887 and females 668,743. The excess of immigration over emigration for the first four months of the year (excluding troops of the Expeditionary Force) was 1409. In the Magistrate's Court yesterday, judgment was given by Mr J. W. Poynton, SJM., for plaintiff by default in the case of the New Plymouth High Schools Board of Governors (Mr A- A, Bennett) v. Mrs L. F. Hunter, £25 2a 2d (costs £2 14s).

Mr. D. G. Riddiford, Rangitikei, was a visitor to Hawera on Monday, and while here purchased, through R, Morrissey and Co., Mr. Alex Mitchell's wellknown hunter Hassan. It is stated that the price was the highest paid for a liorse of this description in the district for a considerable time (says the Star).

Since Mr Joliffe comeirnced work as Government Film Censor in September, 1910, he has had under review 11,248,730 feet of film. For the year ending March 31st, 1919, he censored 3,479,860 feet. The year's pictures would be sufficient to reach, in air-line distance, from Dunedin to Auckland, and the total output could be stretched from Wellington to Adelaide.

"The best horse always wins' asserted Mr A. I. Rattray, the well-known secretary of trotting clubs, in giving evidence in a case concerning the sale of a trotting horse, in the Supreme Court at Christ church. His Honor, Mr Justice Herdman, asked incredulously, "Is that so!" Mr M. J. Gresson, counsel for the defence, "He shows a touching faith in racing, sir. I don't share it."

"Practically every business man in Christchurch will tell you that the city is alive with rats," said Councillor A. Williams, amid a chorus of "Hear, hear!" at the last meeting of the Christchurch City Council. The remark was made subsequent to the reading of a letter from the District Health Officer drawing attention to regulations passed with reference to the systematic destruction of rats, and asking the council to instruct its officers to put the regulations into operation within the city. The matter was referred to the sanitation committee with power to act.

An extraordinary incident occurred at an inquest held in Wellington on Monday in the Magistrate's Court in connection with the death of David Armstrong, who committed suicide on Saturday evening last. One named Farton, a relative, asked the reporters not to take any notes of the case, and later, whilst the pencillers were temporarily absent from their seats, Parton liad hold of their notes and bolted outside, where he was followed by the reporters, who, despite physical pressure, were unable to regain their notes. The reporters, however, got what was needed for their purposes from the court records, and it is stated that the police are taking action against Farton.

A matter that has engaged the attention of the Minister for Lands has been the assistance of soldiers to obtain houses. Up to April 30th the number of applications for houses granted was 720, and there are 381 applications under consideration. Some of the dwellings are new, and some are readybuilt housed, which the soldiers are helped to purchase. The Wellington land district furnished the greatest number of'applications: 237 granted and 95 under consideration. The respective totals for other districts are as follow: Marlborough, 9,14; Nelson, 25,1; Westland, 1, 0; Canterbury, 158, 90; Otago, 95, 62; Southland, 32, 19; North Auckland, 91, 57; Auckland, 20, 15; Hawke's Bay, 27, 15 j Taranaki, 25, 14. "Any man who says it is not necessary for the nation to be prepared in the future Bhould be put into a mental hospital," said Brigadier-General G. S. Richardson at the Auckland Orphans' Club on Saturday evening. The general was discussing the lessons taught by the war, and he said that, nationally, the chief lesson was to be prepared. If Great Britain wished to maintain her present place among the democracies of the world, and to retain the Empire which the men of New Zealand had helped to defend, she must be prepared. If the Empire had been in a state of preparedness probably the late war would not have been prevented, but the struggle at the commencement might not have been so markedly one-sided. The annual foreign missionary meeting in connection with the Whiteley Church was held last night. Mr. H. T. H. Grave, circuit secretary for missions, presided. In his opening remarks he stated that the amount subscribed in the New Plymouth circuit for missions last year was £245, of which £lB4 had been contributed by -the Whiteley congregation. For the coming year it was hoped to initiate a movement whereby the cooperation of all the young people in the circuit would be secured in the interests of foreign missions. The Rev. A. Liversedge (Hawera), who was the special | deputation for the occasion, spoke of the Church in regard to missionary undertakings, and also to the workers in the foreign, fields, and showed that the churches which had the greatest missionary enthusiasm were the churches which made the greatest advances in home work. At the conclusion of the meeting a, vote of thanks was. accorded Mr. Liversedge for his visit and his addresses. A leading builder gave the Arbitration Court of Auckland some interesting evidence about the high cost of building. Five five-roomed brick cottages lately erected at the Matangi dried milk factory, he said, cost nearly £llOO eacn, on account of the very high prices of materials and labor. Mr- Julian went on to say that concrete cottages would be very much cheaper than those built. He had lately been asked to consider a contract for fifty concrete cottages at New Plymouth, and was now investigating the offer. One form of concrete construction seemed to him to have a future 1 because it required no exterior finish. This involved the use of reinforced concrete wall slabs, consisting of two parrallel slabs connected by short reinforcing wires only. In this form of construction damp could not come through the wall, because the latter was double, with nothing but metal bridging the gap within it.—Star.

FAIRY WONDER, the scientific washing powder, although new to New Zealand, is well known in England, where it has teen used under another name for many years, especially in the Lancashire mills for bleaching cotton goods without injuring the fabrics. Try it. You'll be surprised and delighted. All grocers and wholesalers. Small packets 2y 2 d. Large la lOd.

Bargains for men at the Melbourne Ltd. Fashionable tweed hats at 8s fld and 9s 6d. Cotton tweed working trousers 10s 6d; Colonial all-wool flannel undershirts Cs lid; heavy khaki Petone flannel undershirts 9s 6d; tweed trousers 13s 6d and 14s 6d; strong working shirts 5s lid, 0s lid, 7s Od, and 8s 6d: splendid pypHM gg lid to 17 b 6d>