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Taranaki Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 144854, 4 December 1915, Page 2

A Brisbane cable says that there is a scarcity of potatoes there. The price is now 24s a hundredweight, the highest ’price for 2o years. On the motion of Mr. Billing (Messrs. ’Weston and Weston) probate of the will of the late Mr. James Grant was on November 30 granted by Mr. Justice Cooper to the executrix named in the will. Mr. Arthur B. Gibson, the lion, recruiting officer, will be at his office. Brougham Street, from 7 to 9 to-night, for the purpose of enrolling recruit* who wish to respond to the urgent appeal for men. On tho motion of Mr. Billing (Messrs. Weston and Woion) probate of the will of the late Mrs. M. Klennor was on November 30 granted by Mr. Justice Cooper to tho executor named in tho will.

The butter shipped by the Rimutaka is reported in a commercial cablegram to be selling at from 166 s to .-d’lVs per cwt. This is equivalent u> Is lid per lb. 'wholesale. New Zealand cheese is also bringing 70s per cwt., nr nearly 9pl per ib. At a meeting of the Patriotic Society ai Palmer-don North un f nday it was unanimously decided that, see-

ing tlmi the Minister oi Defence declines to meet me wishes of parent* ami relations, they approach the’’\.M.C..V. with the object ol inducing that body to arrange to act in the capacity oi civil agents at the front. A final reminder is given of the sacred concert to be held at “Aotea" io-inur-row afternoon in aid of the Belgians and Wounded Soldiers. The gates will be open from 1.3 D, and afternoon tea will bo obtainable after 3 p.m. Busses hud motor-cars will run from the centre of the town. The Citizens* Band has -imlly ollered it* scmce.s, and will render u number of selections. Returned froopers are specially invited. The grounds at “Aotea” are now in perfect order, and it is to be hoped there will ■i© a largo attendance of tho public. Visitors are specially asked not to bring dogs, as they destroy the delicate ferns and plants.

Tho guide at the North Egmont House writes: “On November 29 Mr. Plimsoll (Christchurch) made the trip to Dawson Falls, accompanied by the guide. Rain descended in torrents, making many very pretty waterfalls. A change into dry clothes (kindly lent by tho manager), hicakfnst, a visit to the millraco and other scenes, and homo again. On December 1 Air. Plimsoll again dared tho elements to do their wofst. tins time, with the guide, reaching tb© summit. Tho winds raged round the snow-clad top; rain, hail, and snow fell; lingers froze, ropes and clothes covered with ice; but the party enjoyed it nil and will long remember one of tiio wildest days on* tho moun-

A .shortage of shearers is reported in the Poverty Bay district, although the position is not considered serious. In several instances farmers have had difficulty in securing ft full board. The present- position - i.s largely duo to Maori reinforcements leaving for the front. It is expected that when the shearing season is over there will be a big rush to the colours by the natives, A number of shearers wore in Gisborne last week, inquiring about the prospect of a largo number getting away early in the New Year, Tbo area officer (Limit. Moltzen) gave all the information possible, as did Sir James Carroll, who was-also waited on. Sir James, who is gratified at the patriotic spirit displayed by the natives, believes it will be passible to get 1000 Maoris together in January with a view to their leaving for the front in March. Applicatioiis aro invited for ranger for tno Public Trust Department, Hawera, at a salary of £3OO per annum.

History is being made every day. Our hoys arc taking part at the Dardanelles, Their letters give us a slight idea of what is going on just now, so that we long to know more. Just think, if vour friend or relative had a on morn 'which, while small and compart enough to be carried anywhere without the slightest inconvenience, would take perfect postcard pictures. Wouldn’t those pictures he interesting. Present your friend with a soldier’s camera, to be had from Fraser’s at 27s 6d, 32s 6d, 3?s 6d, and 455,- and wouldn’t ho appreciate pictures of homo when he is awav! Get a camera yourself. Our guaranteed cameras from 6s to £l2. Fraser’s Photographic Pharmacy, Devon Street.*

Lieutenant Marconi, who has been with the Italian troops at the front, thinks it premature, to say the least, to discuss the possibility of ammunition being exploded 6y electric waves sent out by wireless instruments. The scientist is cautious enough to say that ho doesn’t say it is impossible. A farmer who takes a keen interest in land transactions in the Ashburton County informed a Guardian reporter that land is selling fairly freely m tho district at satisfactory prices. A number of farmers have recently acquired land for their sons, which is a particularly noticeable feature during the last 12 months.

For using abusive language to a fellow workman, saying: “You are a rotten society man for working too fast and spoiling the job for others,” Robert Percy Hatton, a Jarrow fitter, was lined 2Lh> at a Munitions Court at Newcastle on October o. The workman who was abused for doing his best has three sons at the front.

A potato grown at Nonhwood, Kent, has “done its bit” to increase tno supply of homo produce. Having a remarkable number of spores, it was cut into 23 pieces and planted on April 21. Each piece grow, and when the crop was dug up it was found that the single tuner had produced as many as 267 potatoes, or about 30Jb. in weight. Everybody is growing potatoes this year, and the increased yield throughout the Dominion will, it is anticipated, have tho effect of reducing prices. Although growers on the Peninsula (says tho Star) have obtained good prices for new potatoes, the tendency is towards a sharp decline, as supplies daily increase. Already Auckland growers are quoting as low as 12s per cwt., and it is expected that prices will recode for the Christmas trade.

Tho Minister for Railways (Hon. W. H. Homes) mentioned on Saturday last that the usual holiday concessions would be made on the . railways at Christmas and New Year, though the rates would reflect the tariff alterations. The excursion fare this year would be one and one-third tho single fare, plus the extra 10 per cent, which has been imposed as a war tax on ail railway fares. Previously the excursion rate was the ordinary single fare. Arrangements have been made for tile re-enlistment of meu who have been rejected on account ot minor ailments. A considerable number of medical papers arc returned by recruits marked “temporarily unfit, ' and this debars the reiiuituig officer from accepting the candidate. In order that those m-ruiu may be given an opportunity of carrying out their desires, provision has been made that they are to have a prior "claim of going into camp, upon cause of their minor ailment being removed and their rc-eulisiment papers bing accepted. The old speeches of a politician will bob up m the most improper places, says lac Bujjeun. Now that Andrew rrdior is sale m a billet ot six or seven thousand a year (all told) ins Gympie friends recall a speech ho made on August 25, 1893, when Bam Griffiths was hoisted into the Queensland Chief Justiceship of £3500 a year. Said Andrew; “\\hon wo consider that £3600 is more than the average man earns from the time ho begins work till tho muienakoy takes charge of him, it seems 100 big a sura to pay every year to any man.”

The Trine© of Brabant, the young son of King Albert of Belgium, who is at the front, is undergoing a very severe’apprenticeship to the soldier’s life. He goes into the trenches just as much exposed as his fellow soldiers, shares their hard work, and lakes his meals with them. Whue l*e was once taking over temporarily th© duties of a noncommissioned olßcov. ho had occasion to order a soldier to throw away a cigarette he was smoking contrary to orders. Tho soldier obeyed The sumo evening ns tho prince was about to enter the royal automobile, he came across the man, and, going up to him, handed him his case lull of cigarettes, with the remaik ; ’Take these for yourSriit now that you are permitted to smoke.”

By tho English mail which arrived in New Plymouth last night we received a letter lrom‘ -Mr. A. M. Goode, hon. secretary of the National Committee for Relief in Belgium, who writes under date October 22;—“Our committee* desire to express their sincere thanks lor your hind editorial, ’How Belgium is Fed. “ The editorial in question dealt with the work and system of the National Committee, of which the Lord Mayor oi London is chairman. 4 It is gratifying to receive a word of appreciation, but wo mention the matter only as a peg upon which to hang a further appeal to our readers not to forget,the poor Belgians, millions of whom will have the greatest difficulty in surviving the winter which is now upon them. The National Committee has a very fin© organisation for the dispensation oi relief at a remarkably low administrative cast.

“If you interfere with Nature fhc'll tnko her revenge,' 1 says a writer in tin l Bulletin. “Yet it is ’hard to say what else you can do sometimes. Of late years Victorian fruitgrowers have been ’mystified hv the irregularity of their crops —gaudy shows of blossom producing but little fruit; heavy '.settings' failing to mature ; half-grown fruit and blossom showing simultaneously on the same trees and to forth. The chief reason is that tho bee is the orchardist’s best friend, and ho has been killed by poisonous sprays. Yet tho orchardist must spray, and do it while tho blossom is on, or Tie will got no fruit. Ho doesn’t as yet. need to spray plums or quinces, but the heo didn’t learn to confine himself to those blossoms, so he is dead. And if ho had riniip v so- he couldn’t fertilise the poisoned blossoms; so there it is. and the fruitgrower danno where lie are. Anyone know, a poison-proof substitute tor bees?” Tho natives of the New Hebrides are following tho progress of too war with tho keenest possible interest. The liev. T. Macmillan, one ol tile i’resoytcnau missionaries on the island of lamia, wno is at present on a visit to Sydney, states that on that island, after a man arrived bringing news from tno great outside world, the natives flocked in hundreds to the mission house to hear the stories of the war. They listened with rapt attention to his recital of the principal occurrences, and they were the subject of animated discussion for days. Their sentiments were strongly pro-British. On account of the war the price of copra had fallen, and the prices of many lines of trade goods had risen, and as tho Germans started tho war they wore, tho natives argued, responsible ior the soro straits to which tho Now Hebrideans had been reduced; and for this reason, apart from all other considerations, the name of Germany was anathema in the islands, and was synonymous with that of robber, and worse. An interesting circurtstance mentioned by Mr. Macmillan was that the Christianised natives of Tanna, though they had very little money, had, through the British Commissioner, remitted £7e to England for the relief of distress among the widows and orphans of soldiers and sailors.

Mrs. Walker has received in donations the sum of £4O for St. Mary’s Homes, Otahuhu, including a Waitara cheque of £5, which was sent direct to Auckland. Mrs. John Brown, Upper Mangorei, recorded 20.65 inches of rain for November—a record for over three years. There were 26 wet days. The maximum fall was 3.92 in. on tho 11th. In our report of the Central School Carnival, the names were omitted of Nurse Blanchard and Sister Wallace, who assisted Mrs. Blackley in judging the baby’ show. What is undoubtedly the largest billiard saloon in the Dominion has recently been opened in Wellington—in tho eastern end of the city. The saloon contains over forty tables, and is luxuriously appointed. •

In our report of the Carnival w© omitted to mention the following, who rendered valuable services on Thursday:—Mrs. Hoffhaisn was in charge of the soft drink stall; Messrs. S. J. Smith and Roebuck had the cutting of tho ham-string under their control, and Mr. Findlay of the Hygienic, ran the clock golf competition. The prizes for finding the papers containing the words ‘’Berlin” and “Allies” were donaCixl by Mr.'Gray, Technical College. A sitting of the Supremo Court will bo' opened at the Courthouse, New Plymouth, on Monday morning. Tho’Chief Justice (Sir Robert Stout) will preside and will arrive in New Plymouth from Wellington to-night. The AttorneyGeneral (the Hon. A, L. Herdman) will also arrive here to-night. He will appear with tho Crown Prosecutor (Mr. H. R. Billing) for the King in the case William P. Doeg v. tho King, a petition for damages.

Pretty good record for the Royal Flying Corps in September, remarks London Opinion. Eighty-four combats in the air officially logged, and only one British machine known to be defeated. The Gormans claim to have bagged four British aeroplanes" in fights in the air, so perhaps*, three were brought down without their fate being known—they are probably accounted for as “missing.” Even so, if our people have only lost four fights out of 87, it looks rather as if tho R.F.C. can fairly claim the “mastery of the air.” And it is all the more creditable when one remembers the song the Bodies have been making about their “battle-aeroplanes,” which are. in reality, very fine machines if only they had the pilots to fly them.

! Mr. Charles Williams, a South Island I boy who went to the South Polo with Captain Scott, and who subsequently joined the Navy, writes as follows to relatives; “I have been afloat now since June 22 along with my old commander. whom I served under in the Antarctic. I am quite contented with my ship. I may say that I had my first experience of being in action—never mind where. Movements of ships, places of action, and so on, are never divulged. Any way, we came through the ordeal well and without casualties. The Germans did not fare so well. According to accounts, 600 went to Heaven in a bit of a hurry, to say nothing of the disabled we have in hospital.” A Masterton lady will bo sorry she spoke when she discovers the real facts in connection with a young man she admonished on Tuesday for not being at the front. Entering a local hardware establishment, the lady was being attended to by a sturdy young fellow. "Why aren't yon at the frontasked the lady in a rather severe tone. "Oh. they don't want chaps like me there,” was the mild reply “Vcs, they do, and it is your duty to enlist,” said the ultra-loyai customer. “But the doctor will not pass me,” said the young fellow. The lady gave him a soornful_ look of disbelief and walked out, not Being aware of the fact that the young man spoken to was recently invalided home from the Dardanelles, where he participated in the thickest of the lighting until he "stopped a ballot.”- Although he now looks a picture of health, the icturned soldier has received his discharge. as it will bo a long time before he will thoroughly recover from the wound he received. Though the tasks ahead of the new Beard u! Trade are extremely difficult (says the Wellington correspondent of rue Lyttelton Times), there is no lack | of talent at the Government’s disposal. Three members are to be .appointed; one of them will receive TIOJU per annum and preside over the board, and the oilier two will receive £6OO each. It is hoped llmt the board will manage to control exorbitant profits on the necessaries of life, a task which the Government failed to accomplish during the flint 15 months of the war. The applications for the Board of Trade amount to nearly 200. Politicians and cxpnliticiaus are said to be in strong force, .so lower than 32 applications came in on the date of closing, and a dozen more were in the post at xhc time, and will be considered. The classification process will take several days, and Cabinet is not likely to make an appointment for a fortnight. The first public intimation that the Allies had used gases on the west front was allowed by the censor in a recent German communique (wrote the London correspondent of the Sydney Sun early in October), One would think it would have been a mure dignified course for the War Office to issue the truth to the people, but the. authorities prefer the British public to learn the tacts from the Germans. The communique used the words “intoxicating gases,” which were obviously a mistranslation of "toxic gases”—that is, poisonous gases* The truth is that we used no poisonous gases. TVhat wo did was to precede i our infantry attack with a light cloud | of transparent vapour which led to ; prolonged, weakening weeping. Thed ninmeuvre was successful. The gases were harmless: They merely disarmed the enemy by making hint temporarily | unable to do anything but weep out i his strength in copious tears. Ho could not see for weeping., tie could scarcely stand for weeping. Tens of thousands of ihe flower of the Kaiser's army became as helpless as new-born babes. And they did not know- what had assailed them. A novel ease of interest to commercial men, relating to the subject of stamping receipts, came before Mr. F. V. Fraser. S-M., at Auckland last week,, when two employees of the Ocean Fish Company were prosecuted for signing unstamped receipts. It was the practice for another employee of the company, who had charge of a sales department, and received money from customers, giving receipts to them, to enter these takings in a book, and at the end of each day to hand over his collection to one 'or other of the defendants, who signed the book in acknowledgment. It was contended for the defence that, as this was merely an intcniar arrangement of a business concern for the protection of both employer and employee, the acknowledgments were not liable to stamp duty. After considering cases cited by counsel, the magistrate held that the acknowledgments came within "the very wide wording of the Act.” The case, being the first of its kind, and involving no intent to defraud, he merely imposed fines sufficient to cover the unpaid duty on a rather lengthy series of acknowledgments, covering the time during which the system had been, in vogue.

. The disturbances of the war, coupled with the very greatly increased circulation of tho leading papers, threatened a paper famine a little time ago in Australia and New Zealand, as well as in England. Special measures had to be taken to avert it, and the Australian and New Zealand Governments facilitated the getting of shipping and securing the dispatch on the Canadian side. Leading newspapers in England combined to secure a special steamer to supplement supplies, and the same course was adopted in Australia. The result is that there arrived at Sydney on the 16th ult. the steamer Cycle, with a record consignment of paper, comprising 3000 tons, loaded at the Powell River, in British Columbia. While there Captain Egan saw the timber used for the paper-making arrive, and within 12 hours, he says, it had passed through different processes in three mills, and was finally turned out in bales of paper ready for shipment to Australia. The Cycle was tl)e first Australian-owned steamer to visit the Powell River, and her advent occasioned . much interest. Tho New Zealand proprietors also chartered an Australian steamer, the Werribee, of the Burns-Philp Line. She is now approaching the New Zealand coast direct from the Powell River with another record shipment. In an article headed “Heroes from the Dardanelles,” the Daily News (London), of recent date, gives the following account of the arrival of Australasian wounded:—“Two loug trains of wounded soldiers reached London .yesterday, and never did trains carry a braver load. They were men from the Dardanelles, Australians and New Zealanders, and they had taken part, -many .of them, in the fighting as iat© us August 8. The date is significant. It was the day when the landing was made at Suvla Bay. the importance of which in the Gallipoli operations will be more fully realised before many days. On the first train there were no fewer than 60 cot cases—that is, cases where the wound was of such a kind that the patient had to recline in the ambulance cot or on a stretcher. The remainder were able to sit, or stand, or walk. Many of the cases meant the loss of entire limbs, legs or arms blown away or so mulitated that the surgeon’s knife had had to complete .the work of the shell or ballet. A touching sight—a sight for tears even if it were not for the magnificent spirit of the injured men. Typical Australians and New Zealanders these, long of limb and tali of body, thin indeed but wiry and supple and muscular, with keen humorous eyes and a pleasant drawl, and a certain picturesqueness of speech.”

At a civic reception accorded hint by the Fremantle Municipal Council, the Hon. J. Jensen, Commonwealth Minister for the Navy, was in a retrospective mood. He made no secret of the fact that ho was proud of the important position he occupies, if for no other reason than that he is, on his own admission, an entirely self-made man. “I never attended school after I was ten years of age,” he informed the gathering, “and, although X think 1 can claim to have been fairly successful, both in a commercial and political sense, I don’t mind admitting that during my career I have occupied some of the most humble positions on this wide earth. I started out in life as a stable-boy. There is a gentleman present who remembers me when I followed the calling of a rabbit-hawkor. Only recently I had the honour of conducting the Governor-General over my orchard in Tasmania, from,which, by the way, we last year picked over 50,000 cases of fruit. As wo approached-the little town of Beaeonsfield, I informed his Excellency that some years before 1 had hawked rabbits in that little township, two for a bob, and fat ones at that. His Excellency was considerably astonished at. this confession, and whin lie had recovered somewhat he very kindly complimented me on the success which had attended my career.” At the Coronation Ceremony of the Carnival Queen in Auckland, with due ceremonial, and not a little to the entertainment of the audience, the Mayor (Mr. J. H. Gunson) and the following Consuls were invested with coronation honours, tho Lord High Chamberlain investing them:—Mr. Gunson was rewarded with the Most Noble Order—all were “most noble” Orders—of tho Grand Consolidator of Patriotic Interests; Mous. J. Rigoreau, French Consul, with tho Order of the Star of 'Waitemata; Mr. James Paterson. Russian Consul, with the Order of the Great Bear and the Companion of th Steam Roller; Mr. J. C. Burns, Belgian Consul, was made a Knight of the Golf Club; Mr. Charles Rhodes, Italian Consul, a Companion of Gold Minors and Guardian of Silver Ingots; and Mr. IV. A. Beddoe, Canada’s representative, a Knight of Takapuna and Canada’s Progressive Representative. ■The recipients of these, honours, who had been occupying seats in the gallery, were escorted to tho Throne Room bv'the master of ceremonies, made the obeisance, were tappd on tho shoulder by a sword held by the Queen, and had crimson ribbons and medallions placed around their necks hv the mistress .of tho robes. The onlookers watched with amusement the unrehearsed feat performed by each ''knight” of walking backwards off the platform.

Captain Bean writes: —Every photograph of trenches in France shows us tlio counterpart of some trench in Gallipoli. Every description of trench fighting there might have been written in the Dardanelles. And when you find that a vast proportion of the stories of events said to have happened in the Dardanelles were pure fiction you cannot help the impression that a- great part of the stories of other parts of the war is almost fiction, too. Indeed, probably, this campaign is different to the rest in that, owing to the authorities allowing war correspondents on to the actual battlefield, the proportion of true news is probably higher than in any other theatre of the war. But even from here there has passed into the British or Australian press the Queenslander who tell in grip vrith a Turk into the sea over a cliff which does not exist. There are plenty of cliffs at Anzac, but none within 100 yards of the sea; there is the utterly fictitious Gennan-Austrn'ian who shot his officers from behind; there are ‘‘swarms” of spies from our beaches, who, I believe, reduce themselves in the case of Anzac to a single doubtful instance; them is the Gorman officer who shot a stretcher bearer who was dressing his wounds. There is so numb real heroism outstanding, and self-, sacrificing in the history of Anzac, and so much true drama, that it goes against everyone’s grain to see so much that is purely imaginary pass, as I suppose it stands a good chance of doing, into the nation’s history.