LOCAL AND GENERAL

Taranaki Daily News, 12 August 1921, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Mr. J. Blair Mason, consulting engineer to the Wanganui Harbor Board, is preparing a comprehensive report on all harbor works, and it will be presented to the board at its next meeting.

The steamer Rar aw a will be replaced by the Rimu in the service between New Plymouth and Onehunga about the middle of this month. The Rarawa makes her last trip from New Plymouth on Tuesday, the 17th inst., and is expected to be away for about four weeks. The Rimu will leave New Plymouth at 4.30 p.m. A Southlander who has been engaged in the dairying industry for some years mentioned to a News reporter, as an illustration of the value of herd-testing, that in the Waikato as high a test as 7.2 per cent, of butter-fat was not uncommon, while the average would probably run to 5.5 against, say, 4 per cent, in Southland.

A message from New York to the Australian papers says that Lord Northcliffe plays golf daily between interviews. “Give lots of sport news,” he told a party of journalists. “It should be plentifully exchanged between the nations, as it helps to create goodfellowship.” When asked his opinion of prohibition, Lord Northcliffe &aid, “Take me to a place where there is prohibition, and then I’ll give my opinion!” In a letter received by the New Plymouth Harbor Board yesterday from the Taranaki Workers’ Council attention was directed to the number of unemployed in the town, and the suggestion was made that if any breastworks had to be attended to along the foreshore as the result of the recent storm, or on any other work done, local unemployed should have preference. The board decided to reply, stating that, if the occasion arose for the employment of extra men, the represenations of the council would be taken into consideration. A case, which was before the New Plymouth Magistrate’s Court yesterday, in .which a man was charged with driving a motor-lorry without having the required registration marks thereon, prompted the Magistrate (Mr. A. W. Mowlem) to comment in strong terms upon the apparent negligence of motorists in the district in regard to obeying the regulations and bylaws. He instanced a case in which two cars, both driving at night without lights, had collided, and one of the drivers had been injured to such an extent as to irequire a month’s hospital treatment. In regard to the present case, the Magistrate said it was absolutely essential that motor drivers should have identification marks attached to their vehicles, and ignorance of the requirements of the law in this respect was no excuse.

A. sale of old New Zealand*books was held at Auckland on Monday evening. There was a good attendance of collectors, and -bidding was very brisk. Among the prices paid were the following:—‘‘Manners and Customs in New Zealand” (T. S. Ploack), £2; “Old New Zealand, £1 Ite; “Memories of His Life,” by J. F. IL Wohlers, £1 ss; “An Account of the Settlement of New Plymouth” (C. Hursthouse), £1 3s; “Ancient History of the Maori,” 6 volumes (.John White), £8 ss; “Voyages and Discoveries Round the World,” £1 16s.

At Baines’ Terrace on Saturday last, good work was done on the hillside connecting Fulford Street with the lower path. There was a great clearance of weeds and debris of various kinds, and the dangerous gutter that served as a path has been filled up, widened and graded. The committee are indebted to Mrs. Harry Fookes and Mrs. Lee for providing afternoon tea. Work will be continued to-morrow.

Farmers, how can you expect your (factory manager to secure Highest grade pointe for butter or cheese when the milk supplies arc not absolutely pure? Pure milk can only be supplied by the

strictest, observance of cleanliness, and cleanliness can only he absolutely assured by the regular use of “Sirius,” the champion milking machine cleanser, obtainable in bags from L. A. Nolan and Co., Now Plymouth.

In these days of disease and epidemics, sanitary shaving is essential. Business and professional men require to be shaved daily or on alternate days. To the particular mail a. saloon where every instrument used is sterilised is a boon. Preece’s hairdressing saloon is specially fitted up with all sterilising appliances. Five chairs, skilled craftsmen, and no delay, at Preece’s, Devon Street Central;

Mr. D. Gibson, of Marton, has informed the Rangitikei Advocate that the cable information that Drummond Castle, famous in Scottish warfare and poetry, has been destroyed by fire, is incorrect. He has received information stating that it is Blair Drummond Castle, some 20 miles further away, which was destroyed. The planting of New. Zealand trees over the graves of New Zealand’s dead on Gallipoli is a task to be undertaken in the future. Many the native trees of this country have been suggested as suitable for the climatic conditions to be encountered on the Peninsula, but a selection has not yet been made.

A well-known business firm in Hamilton the other day advertised for a typiste and received no fewer than 22 replies, including several from married women. Does this indicate tliat women are finding it necessary, owing to the financial stringency, to help in the upkeep of the home, or that they are becoming tired of home life? Mr. A. D. McLeod, M.P., is evidently not impressed with the conditions obtaining in Australia. Writing from Sydney, he says • —“Sydney is a large city chiefly b)- 'reason of outrageous expenditure of borrowed money,. If the day arrived that New- South Wales cannot borrow, then * there will be a crash in Sydney that will be heard for some considerable distance. 1 may be wrong (I hope I am), but this is my own personal opinion. The large cities have not as yet felt the full effect of the enormous fall in wool, meat, and metal export values. Hardly a mine of any consequence is working to-day in Australia, by reason of the fact that metal values have fallen roughly 50 per cent. Wages will need to come down or metal prices go up, or the mines will remain permanently closed. As in New Zealand the cry of Australian employers is not against high wages so much as it is against unproductive labor. Six hours a day, and five days a week, is the cry of the labor extremists. It is an El Dorado that we could all subscribe to, if by so doing we could pay our way, and avoid starvation But such is not the ease, and if saner methods are not early adopted in Australia, the future, I feel sure, is not strewn with roses. ’