LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, 23 September 1920, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Mr. W. A. Veitch asked in the House of Representatives if the Prime Minister was aware that the general public in Wanganui was having great difficulty in securing supplies of butter for household, use. Apparently the butter was bring held over for a 'higher price. A return was presented to Parliament to show the approximate area of unsettled Crown lands within the Dominion, and the classification of such lands. It runs: First-class, 155,072 acres; second, 1,280,048; third, 1,700,403; barren add worthless, 2,508,828; t0ta1,'5,774,011. The Levin correspondent of the Wellington Times states that there are now only 57 boys at the Weraroa Training Farm, the smallest number yet recorded. The average is usually from 90 to 100. The gross return for last year's work at the farm totalled £4OOO, while this year if is expected .to be higher. On Sunday evening, at Holy Trinity Church, Christchurch, after "the first lenson had been read, the lights failed, leaving the church jn total darkness. The rest of the service had to be contiiimed in. the dark, only hymns well known to the congregation being sung. For the sermon a solitary candle was requisitioned, and in its dim, religious lijdit, the service was brought to a conclusion. Thus the Waihi correspondent of the Auckland Herald:—"A few years ago practically the whole of the unimproved iand within a radius of Ave. or six miles of Waihi could have been procured at from £2 to £4 or £5 per acre. Today, with an expenditure of from £6 to i'S per acre, including buildings, the same lands are being sought after by experienced agriculturists from-other parts of the Dominion at prices ranging from £2O to £3O per acre, and where holdings have been bought under full cultivation mainly for dairying purposes upwards of £4O per acre has ieen offered without business being done,"

There is a serious outbreak of Mp-' sis. in cows in many parts of South Auckland and the King Country. A new use. has been discovered for tho refined grease which is imported from Sumatra for the lubricating of motor-cars. The grease, it is said, lias valuable healing qualities, and in Australia, especially, it is used as a salve for cracked lips with beneficial results. Telegraphic advice was received from Mr. S. 6: Smith, M.P., yesterday that Mr. McVilly, General Manager of the New Zealand Railways, would be unable to visit Tarnnaki' this week end. He informed the deputation that waited upon him' lust week' that if 'unable to visit Taranaki this week end he would endeavor to do so next week end. There is < considerable business and mining activity at Thames. Several industrial concerns have been brought into being entirely, by local capital (says a correspondent of the Auckland Star), : and other companies are now in course of successful formation. Mining' is evidently on the up grade. Seven companies are working claims in'and around Thames, and a number of private claims are being developed. The British people are now buying as many German toys as they bought before the war. This fact was disclosed at a meeting of the Incorporated Association of British Toy Manufacturers and Wholesalers. The figures of the Statistical Department of the Board of Trade show that from January to the end of May—four months—£4s7,ooo worth of toys have been imported from Germany, as compared with about £f!00,000 worth other countries. Mr. Veitch (Wanganui) lias asked the Minister for Labor whether he. will, with a view to establishing and maintaining more settled industrial conditions, set up during the recess a Royal Commission with wide powers to investigate and make recommendations for the amendment of all the labor" laws, more particularly the Workers' Compensation for Accidents Act, the Industrial' Conciliation and Arbitration Act, and the Simps and Offices Act?

The encroachment of Chinese in the fruit trade in Auckland was referred to at the Arbitration Court at Auckland as a reason why conditions .01 employment should not be nt'ade to boar too heavily on the employers in the fruit trade. It was suggested by the union representative that the Chinese employers could be cited as parties to the avrard. The employers' representative said that probably little would be gained by citing iliem. Mrt Justice Stringer remarked that he understood the Chinese who were engaged carrying on the fruit business were-,always represented as partners when any question regarding, their status as workers were asked. < A Palmerston North firm received an unpleasant surprise a few days when they unpacked a consignment of twelve cases supposed to contain gramophones, from a prominent American manufacturing concern, and found that but thre ( e machines had come to hand, and Hi at the remaining cases contained an assortment of sacking, wood chips, and rubbish, and one of them a copy of the Xcw York Times of fairly recent date. The cases are of particular design, and are not easily opened, and when received showed no signs of having, been tampered with. The sacks bear American brandings, and the wood chips are plainly, of American origin—and the whole of the appearances point to the fact that cither the machines were never placed; in the cases or that they were removed before they readied thee shipper's hands. The weather experienced'in England during this year's summer season was by all accounts very trying, A well-known Ancklander on a visit to Britain, in writing to a friend, remarks:—"We have had awful weather since I have been here, raining, and fearfully cold—colder than Auckland winter, and this in the middle of summer. I have really only hod two fine days since T have been in England. -.1 have taken my return passage by an early steamer, and I. would not be sorry if I was leaving to-morrow. Everything is very expensive here, and prices are still going up. ' Railway fares are going up about SO per cent from August 5. Steamer fares have also gone up tremendously since I arrived in England, and 1 have had to pay £172 for my passage from London to Auckland. I can assure you England is a good place to live out of at present, and the man who christened New Zealand 'God's own country knew what he was talking about."

A glimpse into the secret history of t!ic war was afforded by Sir Edmund Chaytor' in his speech at a celebration in Wellington of the fourth- anniversary of 1 the New Zealand Division's entry into the Battle of the Somme. General Chaytor, who was the commander of the Anzac Mounted Division in • Palestine, said that toward the end of the war he received a confidential' letter informing him that, he was to take command of the Kew Zealand Division in France, in succession to Major-General Sir Andrew Russell, who wag to receive a higher appointment. "As a matter of fact, I did not want to take it on," he continued. "The division appeared to be at a 'dead end' in France, and we appeared' to be on the verge of big operations in the East. We, in fact, were under orders to be ready to proceed to help the Serbs, and hoped to get to Berlin that wav first." The committee of the Old Girls' dance will be at the East End pavilion all day to-morrow to receive dishes. Members of the Star Football Club are requested to attend at the East End pavilion this afternoon to assist the committee with the deeorations, etc The Loan and Mercantile wish to draw clients' attention to their Tarata sale which they are holding in their Tarata yards to-morrow (Friday), 24th inst., at 1 p.m. Full particulars will be found on page 8 of this issue. The High School Old Girls' Association's room over the Union Steamship Company's office will be opened for work every evening this week, except, Friday, from 7.30 p.m. to fl p.m. Members of the committee will be in charge, and anyone wishing to leave goods for the forthcoming Old Girls' mart, which is to be held on October 9, may do so. The Melbourne, Ltd., have full stocks of men's cashmere, socks, all wool, at 55,0il to 10s (id per pair; men's heavy and light weight Shirley President braces, (is lid pair; police braces, 4s lid pair; boys' and youths' braces, Is tld and Is 9d; also a good stock of men's pure Irish lawn handkerchiefs at Is Cd each. To-morrow (Friday) Messrs. ■L. A. Kolan and Co. will submit to auction at the Workers' Social Hall the household furniture and effects of Mr. C. E. Roebuck, and also of Mr. J. C. Yorke. The sale commences at 1.30 p.m. At this sale, a number of steel engravings and a grandfather cluck will also be auctioned on flceoua* of Miss Aimer, {