LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, 13 March 1923, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

“Modern unionism is defeating its own ends, largely by seeking objects nutside its proper scope,” remarked th J Mayor (Mr. F. E. Wilson) at the Taranaki Master Builders’ dinner last night. “While that is so,” he added, “it is absolutely necessary for the parties with whom they deal to combine.’ A fire, involving the destruction of a seven-roomed house owned by Mr. J. Taylor, occurred at Lepperton on Sunday afternoon. The residence was very old and was quickly consumed. Mr. J. Bentley, who had been occupying the house, vacated it only ft few hours before the outbreak took place. The cause of the fire is unknown.

A loss of £50,421 on operations in the year ended December 31, 1922, is shown by the accounts of Messrs. Booth, Macdonald and Co,, manufacturers of agricultural implements, with works at Christchurch, Invercargill, and Penrose. Interim dividends were paid on the preference capital in September, but no further dividend is possible for the year.

“I’ll guarantee that there is no place in New Zealand where you can have your leg pulled longer and ofteper than in Parliament.” said Mr. S. G. Smith, M.P., last night at the dinner of the Taranaki Master Builders’ Association, as he proceeded to regale those present with anecdotes of the lighter side of Parliamentary life.

A deputation of eighteen ratepayers the majority of them business men, waited* on Mr. L. A. Bone at Hawera yesterday „and presented a requisition, containing 82 signatures, asking him to stand for the Mayoralty. The Mayor, Mr. E. Dixon, presided,, and therequisition was presented by Mr. F. Gillanders. After hearing the deputation Mr. Bone promised to give his decision to-day.

“The cost of building is now lower than at any time since the war,” stated a passage in the New Plymouth Master Builders’ Association's annual report. It was added, however. that owing to the burden of increased taxation Imposed during the past few years and higher rates of interest prevailing, building material and labor were still comparatively high in price, though there had been a big decline in cost since the building boom in 1920. That New Plymouth is now becoming known as one of the chief ports in the Dominion, which overseas vessels visit, is illustrated by advertisements or Home firms in the overseas supplement of t’,-e Daily Mail. announcing that their manufactures will be delivered. all charges paid, including wharfage and duty, at Auckland, Napier, New Plymouth and the other main ports of the Dominion.

A meeting of the Y.W.C.A. board of directors was held in the Clarke Memorial Hostel on Friday. There were present: Mesdames W. Blundell (chair), A. Ambury, Mac Diarmid, Mowlem, List, Alexander' and Miss Roughton. Apologies were received from Mrs. Campbell W. Ambury. C. H. Weston. A 'letter was received from Mrs. Mills tendering her resignation from the board. It was accepted with regret. The hostel report showed that the house had been practically full throughout the month. Miss Bought on crave an interesting report of the conference recently held in Wellington. The N.Z. Loan and Mercantile Agency Company. Ltd., wish to draw clients’ attention to their Tarata sale, which thev are holding in their Tarata yarcs. on 'Friday, 16th inst., at 1 p.m. lull particulars on page 8. An invitation is extended to all to visit Amesbury’s, Stratford and review the latest in autumn goods. •An advertisement to this effect appears on 8- Mnanwt the Stratfdrd items.

Thev writ for the Tauranga byeelection was issued on Saturday (says the Dominion). The election will be held on Wednesday, March 28, and nominations will close on Monday, March 19.

At the last Wanganui meeting of the Harbour Board, the chairman foreshadowed a loan of £200,000 to complete harbour works. He gave a cheering review of the harbour proposals. The secret of seasoning timber in a fortnight has been discovered, and a factory is now being erected in Paris for treating wood on a large scale. By treatment with nfyrm air and ozone in specially constructed chambers, the moisture in fresh wood, is evaporated, and by chemically turning the sap into oxidised resins, the wood, contracts without distortion.

Most New Zealanders will have heard of Miss Rosina Buck man’s purchase of a farm near Piopio (King Country). At present it is being run by her brother, and carries some Pedigree Jersey stock.

“Shall I tell you why I bought it?” asked the prima donna with a smile. “Well, it was so that I could feel that although I have to live so far away, I actually do own a bit of New Zealand! I may do some stock-raising there later on—l don’t know, the main thing is that I now have a real ‘stake’ in my own country.”

The Punjab Indians on the Hauraki Plains (<says the Gazette) are good friends to the farmers, for they eat on an average lib of butter a day. A millowner had occasion recently to visit one of their camps, and saw the making of a curry for the meal of five mon Three pounds of butter were used. The mill-owner has to pay the store accounts for the different gangs in his employ, and whereas an average month's bill for seven white men is £lB, that of the Indians usually comes to £3O.

The instinct of self-preservation is strong even in flies. Mr. W. H. Taylor, of the Horticultural Department, related in Wellington how he once fumigated a room with sulphur. After the job was done he went in to find all the flies congregated on the floor in the lowest corner where there was the least sulphur, and they were only partially stupefied. He had to sweep them up and destroy them.

Further circumstantial evidence, if such were needed, regarding the sheepkilling propensities of the kea came under notice at Hammer Springs, when Air. -T. Bidelph succeeded in shooting one on the wing. On examination a quantity of wool was found tangled iii the * bird’s claws. Thpre was also stains on the beak, which had every appearance of being bloodstains, making it evident that the bird had attacked a sheep that morning.

An extra ordinary act of vandalism was perpetrated at Wellington the other day. Under the direction of Mr. Pat Ward, youngest son of Sir Joseph Ward, a very successful revue, in which well-known Wellington amateurs were engaged, was being played for a charity. Two dresses used by one of the gjrl members of the company, one of which was lent, and an antique rug lent by a Wellington lady, were found to have been deliberately cut to pieces. The dresses had been left in the dress-ing-room of the concert chamber of the Town Hall, and someone did the damage during the afternoon. We think that the Post and Telegraph Department may be told that some of jts methods are unenterprising, and that more business could be obtained if it were sought, remarks the Lyttelton Times. The possibilities of advertising the facilities available for quick communication seem never to have entered the departmental mind. The cost of sending cable messages to different parts of the world is not ever to be discovered in the Official Yealr Book. The Department makes no attempt to secure traffic for the radio branch of its telegraphic service, which could be done by simply bringing these facilities under the daily notice of the public. We hope thgt the proposal to put up telephone charges will be either dropped or substantially modified, for wo fear that if the Department’s ideas are adopted the whole of the public will suffer through the penalties placed upon quick communications, while the revenue of the Department will fall through the loss of customers.

A movement in America which had met with considerable success, said Mr. H. P. Kissling, of Auckland, who has just returned from ft trip abroad, and who was addressing the Auckland Rotary Club, was the community chest, the purpose of which war, to raise money for patriotic or charitable ends and distribute it to philantropic organisations. Its plan was to prevent citizens being interviewed at all times and seasons by canvassers. Careful statistics showed that during the war prior to the adoption of the plan the total contributors to charity in all the cities combined was 109,655, whereas, during the year after the plan was adopted the number of givers had increased to 870,078. The amount collected for that period increased under the chest plan from 6,301,702 to 10,599,855 dollars, and in one town reduced the cost of raising funds .from 20- and 30 per cent, to, 4 per cent. Writes our Inglewood correspondent: —Amongst other things T have been asked, as your correspondent, what has become of the mortal remains of the Inglewood Horticultural Society If still extant, is it beyond the reach of resuscitation? If not, how best could that much to be desired condition be brought abouf.? If hopelessly beyond recall to life, what has become of the credit balance of the society ? That such a balance exists seems to be quite certain, and it is thought to be a pity r>uch a fund, originally the property of the public, should be lying idle when there arc plenty of deserving caises that might be appreciably benefitted by it. The reply to 'such a query is, generally, to call a meeting of those interested. But who are they ? Who .is to convene the meeting? Anyhow, that js one of the things people want to know, and possibly some reader of rhe News can supply the desired information. .

“Velvet for Autumn”—a saying that’s almost hackneyed now, through the widespread acknowledgment of its usefulness and extreme adaptability as a dress and millinery fabric for the colder months. Make a point of seeing Morey’s splendid velvet values and keen prices. Entries for the , beauty competition being arranged by the picture proprietors of Stratford, Eltham and Hawera, will shortly be called. Substantia! prizes are being offered and the entrants will be photographed and screened in each town.

The members of the New Plymouth Choral Society are notified that the annual meeting will be held in Whiteley Hall, at 8 o’clock to-night (Tuesday). A full attendance is desired, and any desirous of joining the society are urged to be present.