LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, 23 September 1924, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

In connection with the forthcoming municipal by-election in New Plymouth a large and enthusiastic meeting of Mr. W. W. Thomson’s supporters was held at the West End School gymnasium last night. After Mr. Thomson had addressed the meeting, a strong committee was set up to further his candidature and hopes were expressed that he would be returned at the head of the poll.

A cablegram has been received from the Argentine to the effect that of the shipment of ten animals which were specially selected in New Zealand and taken to the Argentine by Mr. C. E. Robertson to compete at the International Show at Paloma seven have contracted foot and mouth disease and have had to be destroyed. Among the number was Mr. H. B. Lepper’s well-known Jersey cow Maori Pearl.

A collision between a motor cycle and a bicycle on the Main South Road, near Pungarehu, on Saturday night, resulted in th e rider of the motor cycle, Claude Snow, being conveyed to the New Plymouth public hospital. Snow, who is a factory assistant at Pungarehu, managed to ride his machine home, but collapsed on the road when he arrived there. Inquiries made at the hospital last night showed that Snow is suffering from injuries to the head, but is making satisfactory progress.

Touching on the question of daylight saving during his address to members of the Auckland branch of the Sports Protection League, Mr. R. B. Lusk, the chairman, said that there did not appear any chance of its introduction to the Dominion for some time to come. “Mr. Massey is the stumbling block to the Bill,” said Mr. Lusk. “He seems to have got it into his head that it would be detrimental to the farmers, yet I notice that some farmers are favourable to it.”

At a sitting of the Magistrate’s Court at Carterton, Mr. Coleman Phillips mentioned that, following, a judgment of the Court, he had endeavoured to distrain upon the property of a returned soldier, but found the process inoperative without the consent of the Attorney-General. His clients were both returned soldiers, and felt that the law was lopsided when they could not utilise the full machinery against other returned soldiers. The magistrate remarked that this special law towards returned soldiers was a shield and not a weapon, and he possessed no jurisdiction.

Fairly heavy importations, chiefly of new season’s drapery goods, by the lonic, have had the effect of sending the amount received in Customs duties at Christchurch during the second period of the present month, September 8 to 15, to a figure that constitutes a record for any single period since 1921. For the second period of this month the Customs duties collected at Christchurch totalled in round figures, £39,000. The previous record for any single period was collected in the third period of September, 1921, just prior to the introduction of the new tariff, when there were large clearances, and when the total Customs duties amounted in round figures to £52,000.

For the past fortnight (says the Dominion) supplies of Japanese onions have been reaching thie market via Australia, and they have arrived in splendid condition, with the crates quite intact after lheir long journey from Japan. New Zealand merchants have been loth to import direct in the past, owing to the fact that supplies have not arrived in the best condition. Inspection of these onions readily dispels any doubt this season on this head, and furthermore the onions, which are the brown variety, are not so thick in the skin as those which have been arriving from Australia. These latter also are now very late in the season, and therefore do not show the same keeping qualities, added to which they are packed in bags.

A remit from Te Kuiti for consideration at the meeting of the Primary School Committees’ Association urges the need of a Government grant for the purchase of gramophone records for school purposes. In forwarding the remit, the Te Kuiti committee contends that the association would be justified in asking the department to reconsider its decision in connection with the matter, os the gramophone is now being used extensively in schools for educational purposes, and has a distinct educational value.

The Oamaru woollen mills are very slack at present, the falling off in trade being attributed to th© imported article being preferred to that made in New Zealand. In one department of the Oamaru mills it is reported that only nineteen weavers are working where thirty-five were previously employed. Other departments are said to be working short time. Tho folly of tampering with electric light wires was illustrated in Palmerston North when a window dresser in one of the large drapery establishments in Palmerston North, Mr. R. Dredge, received a rather sudden jar to his nerves. He had been arranging the wire to suit the position of the materials he was arranging, and instead of tying the cord up, he pierced the insulation with several pins, thereby causing a short circuit to the steel fittings. The shock so upset Mr. Dredge that he lost consciousness for some little time, though beyond a slight burn, he was not injured. The current which passes through the wires is 230 volts, which is capable of shaking a man severely if he is not expecting the connection. Our home buyers in London have excelled themselves this season with their splendid buying and in consequence McGruer’s have a better range than ever waiting your inspection. Novelty lines are to the front from Paris, London and New York, also Swiss and English lace goods. A call will 1 convince you of this, and remember McGruer’s give you the value and sell at popular orices, which make it easy to buy. The Melbourne Ltd. are showing some great values in men’s fancy cashmere sooks in new and attractive designs. Prices 3/6, 3/11 and 4/6. Also some very smart designs in tricoline and fuji silk neglige shirts at 17/6 to 21/-. New fashionable Broadway soft collars with vertical stripes, 1/6 each.

Spring goods are now showing in great variety; every department having its full share of newest creations direct from the leading markets of Great Britain and Europe. That C. C. Ward, Ltd. are out to maintain their reputation for low prices is quite evident by the moderate prices being asked for these lovely goods. Call and inspect.

Sports day at the New Plymouth Girls’ High School has been fixed for Saturday, October 18.