The Taranaki Herald. (DAILY EVENING.) THURSDAY, APRIL 29, 1915. WEDNESDAY’S POLLS.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 144667, 29 April 1915, Page 2

The Taranaki Herald. (DAILY EVENING.) THURSDAY, APRIL 29, 1915. WEDNESDAY’S POLLS.

Tlir* (.■lectors of New Plymouth made ;i wise choice yesterday in each of the three questions submitted to llieir judgment. Tho retiring Mayor was re-elected by a substantial majority; the Thursday half-holiday was retained: and the only change made in the borough's representation on the Hospital Board was the substitution of -Mr. Sykes for Mr. Browne: and we think that the Burgesses. as well as the successful candidates, are to lie heartily eonprratulatcd upon tin- result. With respect to the Mayoralty it is not at nil surprising that a majority of tho electors, after turning down Mr. Browne twelve months ago in favour of Mr. W ilson, have decided in give the latter the fuller opportunity to which he is entitled Of leaving his mark upon the conduct of municipal affairs. Eight or nine months (for that is practically all the lime Mr. Wilson has had) is not a long enough period for any man to institute and carry out the reforms which have long been required. The municipal business is now a very large and important one, and changes cannot be effected in a day. Mr. Wilson has now a ■period of two years of office to look forward to: lie has a good council to assist him: and apparently, from his own remarks, there will be an early opportunity of making a new appointment to the office of borough engineer: so that everything is now in his favour and we do not cloulii that two years hence he will be able to present a good account of his stewardship. Tho position of borough engineer is of great importance, and the council will be wise when the time, comes for a change to offer a salary which will attract a first-class man, who would save his salary over and over again by careful and efficient administration of public works. On the halfholiday question the verdict was pronounced enough to show that public opinion is not ripe yet for a change, the effect of which is doubtful. New Plymouth is not the important business centre of Taranaki that it should be, and just, at the time when there is every appearance of more rapid progress setting in it would probably have had a disastrous effect if tho town had decided to close up on Saturday afternoons. Possibly Parliament may in tho not distant future legislate for a compulsory universal Saturday halfholiday; that is the only way to secure uniformity, and there must he uniformity among the various towns. The third poll was for the election of representatives on the Hospital Board. It was a foregone conclusion that Mr. .Fred. Bellringer would he re-elected, for lie has made an excellent chairman for many years and has possessed the full confidence of the members. That Mrs. Dockrill would ho again returned was also to lie expected, for in an unobtrusive way she has done excellent service and shown good sound sense in the part she has taken in the administration of hospital and charitable aid matters. Mr. Sykes has special qualifications for a seat on the board, and bis advocacy of a dental surgery in connection with the hospital and the appointment of a resident medical officer evidently commended his candidature to a large-uumbeiypf electors*

Opinion in Britain is somewhat divided on the subject of the captured crews of German submarines. There is no divergence of view as to the treatment men deserve who have sunk merchant vessels and stood jeering at the efforts of passengers and crew to escape. * But the question of expediency has to be considered. Britain has selected these men for loss favourable treatment than Other prisoners of war are receiving. Probably the men from the submarines are far more comfortably off than most of the British prisoners in Germany, but the fact that a discrimination has been made against them gives Germany an opportunity for reprisals, and it is certain that the Germans will go much further than would be considered right in Britain. Most people will think it preferable that the G erman prisoners should receive better treatment than they deserve rather than that blameless British officers should lie subjected to the unmitigated brutality of the Germans. Mr. Churchill lias taken the opposite view, for which strong arguments can be adduced, but in this case the* claims of justice and righteous indignation ought to be postponed, because of tho sufferings that will be caused to the innocent.

A little friction seems to be arising between the two political parties in Britain as to the conduct of the tear, especially witii regard to the supply of mnnitions. Both parties are equally patriotic, but the Conservatives naturally think that if they were in power they womd manage things belter than the Liberals are doing. Mr. Asquith, in his speech at Newcastle, said that hitherto there had hecn no shortage of ammunition at tile trout. This, no doubt, was strict,y accurate, as there had been a comparatively small force in Franco and Belgium, hut it seemed to conflict with other statements by Lord Kitchener and Mr. Lloyd George that tho supply of munitions was not equal to the demand. Lord Derby, in a cablegram to-aay, quotes Lord Kitchener as saying that tho demand for munitions is absolutely unlimited. This is, no doubt, absolutely true, and merely shows that the pressure to produce as much as possible must bo energetically kept up. A military correspondent also complains that there are still too few British troops in Franco, and says if the operations are not successful the British Cabinet will be to blame. In this country wo are not interested in the party conflicts in Britain at the present time. We believe that Lord Kitchener is conducting the campaign, so far as the armies are concerned, and have perfect confidence in him. If ho wanted more men at the front than are there at present he would say so plainly and see that they went. Tho correspondent's allegation that men who should he in Belgium aro being kept in England by tho British Cabinet seems absolutely unreasonable.

The recent decision of the Clifton Comity Council with respect to the White Cliffs tunnel, practically to lot it go to complete ruin, has aroused considerable comment up the coast. For a great number of years the tunnel has formed a means of communication between tho White Cliff’s and the Mokau; indeed, until quite recent times it was tho main route of traffic between Taranaki and the coast to tho north.. Tile opening of the road over Mount Messenger and down the Tongaporutu Valley diverted most of the traffic, except of slock, which has continued to be sent chiefly hy way of tho tunnel. But tho tunnel has hecn neglected and now stands urgently in need of repairs, which the' Clifton County Council is not disposed to carry out, preferring apparently to let it become quite impassable and drive all tho stock traffic over Mount Messenger. Not only will this course add greatly to the wear and tear of the main road, but it will also prove a great obstruction to other traffic over .Mount Messenger, where for several miles the roadway is so narrow that a big mob of cattle or sheep would hold up other traffic for quite a long time. His Majesty’s mails aro supposed to have tho right of way, but when the mail coach has to pass a few thousand shoop on a sixteen-foot track there ik nothing for it but to wait until the sheep have passed. Tho Clifton County Council might well reconsider its decision and undertake tho comparatively small outlay required to place the tunnel in good order and keep it so.

At the mooting of the Education Board on Wednesday, permission was granted to Mr. J. U. Ellis, agricultural instructor, to make arrangements for those teachers taking agriculture to visit the Moumalinki State Farm. “Children should not bo kept in during the dinner-hour on any account,'' said Air. F. Mackay at the Education Board meeting on Wednesday. “It is not a fair thing to the pupils that they should bo deprived of any part of the time allowed thorn for lunch.’’ At the end of March, 1914, the capital value of the Kaitangata Relief Fund was £3743, which earned £164 during the your just ended. The allowances to beneficiaries during the year totalled £242 and the capital value at the end of March, 1915, was £3665. We have to acknowledge receipt from Mr. C. Roebuck, per the East End Bathing Reserve Committee, the sum of £1 os, on account of the recent street auction by the Merry Pierrots. As the committee is now anxious to get this matter wound up, the several small amounts still outstanding may he left at this office or paid to Mr. ,W, Roch.

At the meeting of the Taranaki Education Board on Wednesday, on the motion of Messrs. Masters and Halconibe, it was decided that the board take.steps to bring into operation clause 124-of the Education Act, IDI4. as requested by the Central School Committee, and as recommended by the director of technical education, and that the director be requested to submit to the board at its next meeting a draft of the necessary regulations. “We all want to be- something we arc not: If we are tall we want to be short. If we are short we want to be tall. If we tare fair we want to be dark. ' If we are dark we want to bo fair. If we are comic we want to be tragic. If we are tragic we want to be comic. If we are writers we want to be painters. If we are painters we want to be we want to be parlour maids. If we are parlour maids we want to be ladies. If wo are ladies wo want to be working women. If wo are wise we are contented to stay where we arc and Just move on a step nearer perfection year by year.”—From Women the World Over, by Mrs. Alec Tweedie. One of the surprises of the war was the appearance in the Dardanelles of the new super-Drcadnought. the Queen Elizabeth, quite the latest thing in battleships, carrying loin, guns capable of throwing a projectile weighing a ton some eighteen miles. According to a circular letter sent to their clients by Messrs. J. Edwin Wall and Son. a Birmingham firm of merchants, it was reported in England early in March that two of these ships had been , bombarding the Dardanelles at a range of 21,000 yards, and that they had been able to break the backs of the forts without getting within their range. It was known, of course, that three or more vessels of the same class wore nearing completion, and it may be that a second was ready to assist the Queen Elizabeth.

A correspondent who recently visited the trendies in Flanders, where tho men nightly have to prevent the' widening caused by the sides falling in owing to the water at the bottom, says;—The men do not pretend to like it. but they nevertheless have a cheery philosophy that has carried thorn through what they are undergoing at present, and wilt support them and give them stout hearts when the word comes down that they aro to go for a decision. This philosophy 1 heard expressed in an undertone in a trench cast of Armenlieres. when one dim khaki figure gazing over tho parapet, said to his neighbour who was feeling after his third day “in" a trifle despondent, “It will ho all right; I’ve always 'erd as ’ow it’s the first seven years of war is the worst.”

Birmingham is having a very heavy time on account of the war. In no other district in the world, perhaps, is there such a miscellany of industries as in tho neighbourhood of that city. During tho last six months Birmingham factories are said to have produced millions of pounds’ worth of brass fittings for military uniforms alone, whilst tho amount of ammunition turned out cannot even bo guessed at. Not only the British, but the French and Russian Governments are also being supplied. In this connection it may be recalled that at tho time of the outbreak of the Francc-Prussiau war a Birmingham linn. Kynoch and Co., was said to have had a very largo consignment of ammunition rejected by the Russian Government. This was on its way back to .England when the war broke out, and the whole lot was sold at a handsome price to tho Prussian Government.

“Ono of the war novelties in England,” said an officer of the steamer Beltana, which arrived in Sydney front London last week, “is the presence of week-ending soldiers from the front. In London there were hundreds of them in the streets. They showed plainly_ the strain of the campaign, hut it w.as wonderful how the short holiday bucked them up. They are the idols of the people, but their memories are too stern to allow them to he spoilt. Nothing could bring the war home to the people more than tho fact that soldiers from tho trenches in the fighting line cifn spend week-ends in England. Every man of them,” he added, “admits that it is almost impossible to exaggerate tho severity oi the campaign, but there was not one who was reluctant to fulfil his duty and return to the trenches after a taste of leather beds, and the comforts ol domestic conditions at home.” Kitchener’s Army, he declared, was a splendid body of men. It had been estimated by responsible persons that 3.000,000 men had been enrolled, and the result was that now it was almost the exception and not the rule to find men in civilian clothes in the streets.

Tho English football season has boon followed with the keenest interest by the men at the front. Several of the newspapers whieli formerly criticised the action of tho football authorities for carrying out tho full season’s programme as usual have been so struck by "Tommy’s” devotion to the game that they have busied themselves to collect footballs to send to the front, so that the men in tho trenches may have the opportunity of playing their favourite game between the spoils of fighting. Tho keenness of tho British soldior for a game of football is thus described by "Eye-witness,” the official war correspondent with the British forces at the front. "The fondness of our soldiers for kicking about a football whenever they have a spare momo.nt has often been noted.” ho says.' "Tho men of an ammunition column halted by tho roadside generally amuse themselves this way, and tho troops in reserve close to the lighting line sometimes while away the time in this manner even when under fire. Our Allies occasionally join in tho game with groat zest, and it is not an uncommon sight to sou a crowd of Ercnoh and British soldiers-, struggling madly round two sticks representing a goal, not so very far from the firing line.” The Agency’s Paris correspondent says that a lieutenant and a sergeant, the latter being a pilot, wore ordered to locate a German concealed battery in Flanders by aeroplane. The pilot, in the course of his story of tho feat, says: Wo wore greeted with a storm of shellfire above the German lines. Wo located three batteries, and then turned for home. Shells burst above our heads, and there, was one terrific crash. I believed my brain had hurst. A dense fog then -shut everything from view. , I asked the lieutenant it he was all right, but received no answer. 1 repeated the question, and, opening my eyes, saw only blackness. I. was alone in space, BOOOft. above tho earth, and was afraid. Guided by noises below, I turned in that direction. Suddenly somoono shouted, "kook out. man, go up.” 1 twisted the’ machine and shot up, tearing away the weather vane of a steeple. The lieutenant, who was seriously wounded, directed me, and I eventually. vol-planed gently. I heard no more until I was lifted out of the machine. Bystanders were horrified to see tho pilot blind and the body of the lieutenant, who had just breathed his last. Tho pilot, turning on them his sightless eyeballs, said’: "All I regret is I cannot do it again.”—Reuter’s Spe-cial-War Service.

The children’s practices, in connection with the New Plymouth Fire Brigade s thirty-third annual ball will commence in the Good Templar. Hall on Saturday next, May 1, at 2.30 p.m.

The New Zealand flag was hoisted on the Post Office tower to-day in honour of the gallant conduct of the New Zealand force in the Dardanelles. Local Government offices were also closed this afternon to celebrate the occasion.

Mr. Barclay Hector, registrar of the University ot New Zealand, was arrested on Wednesday afternoon bn a charge of embezzling a sum of over £IOOO received by him on account of the university funds from city financial institutions.

Tho Public Works Department has accepted the tenders of Sanders Bros., at £9997, for additions to tho Government Printing Office at Wellington, and the tender of Pattison and Brookes (Auckland), at £2768, for additions to the Post Office at Hamilton. At the Crown Lands Office on Wednesday the Commissioner (Mr. G. H. Bullard) offered several small areas at auction in the Omona and Waitara survey districts. There was' a fair attendance of bidders, and ,tho result of the sale was as follows:—Section 14. block 11. Waitara S.D., 22 acres, £3O, Ernest H. Gibson, Urenui; lot 13, block 11, Omona S.D., 15 acres, £34, W. H. Sproull; lot 18, 12 acres. £’27, W. H. Sproull; lots 14. 15, 16, 77 acres, £179, N. U. Scott and H. R. Scott. .

On the question whether a school teacher could punish a child under seven years of age for non-attendance at school, there- was some discussion at the meeting of the Taranaki Education Board. A mother of a pupil at the Mimi School wrote stating that her child had been punished by her teacher for not attending school, but the parent pointed out that the child was under seven years of age and therefore could not be compelled to attend school. Members discussed what control a school teacher had with a pupil under sevsn years, and eventually the matter was left in the hands of the chairman.

In the village of Ohertsey, England, a woman town-crier walks through the streets, clanging a loud boll and announcing the village news to the public. Mrs. Blaker has the double distinction of being the only town-crier now left in England and the first woman to hold the office. ‘ Her husband, the official crior of Chortsoy, has been called to the front; and her son, too, is fighting for his country, and Mrs. Blaker has been appointed town-crior. In their absence .Mrs. Blaker intends not only to fill her husband’s duties, but to carry on th© family shoemaking business as well. In the good old days every English town boasted its town-crier. It was his duty to make known any village proclamation, and to announce auctions and lost property, sometimes even lost children.

The most important lighthouse at the present time, so far as actual war operations are concerned, is the light of Heligoland, the island which Germany has turned into a naval base. The Heligoland light is an electric one, and the most powerful in Germany, and is claimed by the Germans to he tire most powerful light in existence. The light consists of a cluster of three revolving lights, having a lighting power of 40,000,000 candles, a magnitude of light which from figures alone is hard and difficult to realise. The lights are on the searchlight principle, and the cluster ■is surmounted by a single light, of the same kind and size, that can be revolved independently and- three times as fast as the three lights. The single light is put into use in case of accident to the cluster of three. The electric power is generated by two steam-engines and boilers running belt-driven electric generators.“It seems to me that the problem is a very simple one,” remarked Mr. R. M. Beattie, when speaking on the question as to whether school study is detrimental to the health of girls, at a recent meeting of the Society for the Health of Women and Children at Auckland (States the New Zealand' Herald).

••'We have to face the fact that the whole .civilised' world is demanding a higher state of civilisation. The. man of to-day is bettor educated -than his brother of a generation ago, and he is going to be better educated in the future. Ko is, then, not going to be satisfied with a mere doll or a potscrubber for a wife. Ho will demand of the girl that she shall not only be able to take care of the kitchen, if necessary, but that she shall also be fit to become bis companion and his associate in his studies and his interests. The girl of the future much reach a higher standard- of education than the girl of today, and this. I maintain, can he done without, in any way impairing her health.”

A labour agitator discovered recently that most of the men digging the new subway in New York were foreigners. Thereupon he dug up an old and forgotten law which says only American citizens must bo employed in the construction of public, works. Immediately came the result that all work on the new subway for New York, with its badly congested traffic, has been clamouring for years, was stopped. The contractors, not daring to take chances, found they must wait until the law could be tested in the courts. The agitator who started all the trouble lias discovered, much to his surprise, that, instead of being hailed as a public benefactor, his bolt has proved to bo a boomerang. The Now York State LogisJaturo is now proceeding just as fast as it can to wipe the old law off the Statute Books. Even in the labour unions there is strong opposition to it, for it is contended that no American citizens, unless they arc brand new ones, can be found who are willing to work under ground with pick and shovel. Day labourers of American birth seem to have grown too fastidious for tha-. In this issue Air. J. Jenkinson notifies that he has commenced business as a motor car and vehicle painter in promises situated in (Jill Street opposite the Sash and Door Company. Alotor bicycles and side ears and motor tanks painted in any colour and design. Air. Jonkinson specialises in motor car painting and he" will forward prices on application. The Alclbourne Clothing Company's stock of colonial white blankets affords the finest selection and lowest prices obtainable on this const. All-wool three-quarter size blankets 18s 6d per pair, full double-bed size blankets 23s fid and 28s fid per pair; extra large blankets, finest quality, 28s fid and 34s fid per pair; all from the famous Bruce, Petone. aud South Canterbury woollen mills.*