LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Wairarapa Age, 15 June 1920, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Kerosene is at present being sold in Auckland at 23s per case. The Fernridge School has now 91 pupils on its roll. According to a London cable there has been a recovery in the price of tin.

A London message received this morning announced the arrival at Panama of the Tainui and the Kent. A new State school at Foxton is being opened to-day by the Minister of Education.

One Auckland firm lias announced a reduction in the price of all brands ol ! tea of sixpence per pound. Five claims for temporary assistance were dealt with at yesterday's meeting' in Masterton of the Claims Board of the Wairarapa Patriotic Association.

The second annual "Diggers" plain and fancy dress ball will be held in Masterton on July 15.

It is expected that 379,000 acres of Crown lands in the North Auckland district will be thrown open for settlement at an early date. A dredge belonging to a Masterton company, which was recently operating on the West Coast, is being sold for the Malay States.

A man and woman who were married only a week ago made their appearance before the Magistrate in Wellington on Saturday on a charge of drunkenness.

A company is being formed for the purpose of establishing a woollen mill in the Hastings district.

Wanganui is again much agitated over a scandal involving a highly placed individual. The birth of twins to a single girl let daylight into an unsavoury position. Several members of the Masterton Progress League will journey to Featherston to-morrow evening, and address a meeting in connection with the inauguration of a League in that town.

A London cablo states that tho hemp market is inactive.

Tho case of Denis Gunn, sentenced to death for murder, was before Cabinet yesterday, but the decision will not be made known until to-day. A deputation from the Cameron Park and Soldiers' Memorial Committer will wait upon tlje Masterton Borough Council this evening, and solicit a donation towards its funds. The Claims Board of the Wairarapa Patriotic Association, at its meeting in Masterton yesterday decided to pay tho first half-year's rent of a returned soldier, who intends taking up Government land.

There was a good attendance at tho Val Trigge mission in the Methodist Church in Masterton Jast night. The address delivered by the missioner made a deep impression upon the, congregation.

A man named Brown was fined £2 at Groytowii' yesterday lor going through the pockets of the guests at a local hotel, and for appropriating whisky. He was also ordered to restore. the stolen money and to submit to a prohibition order. A fire occurred early 011 Saturday morning at Mr H. Rotter's house on Moroa plain, adjoining the fruit orchard company's property. The building and contents were completely destroyed. There was an insurance of £IOO on the furniture.

The Foresters met the Druids in a friendly euchre Hourney in Masterton on one evening last week, and were defeated by thirteen games to eleven. At a meeting of the committee on Saturday evening, it was decided that tho Foresters meet the Oddfellows on Wednesday evening next, the 2-1 th inst., in the Foresters' Hall. An application for assistance from tho dependent of a returned soldier was received at the meeting of the Claims Board of the Wairarapa Patriotic Association in Masterton yesterday. After some discussion, it was decided to refer tho applicant to tho Mayor's Local Relief Fund.

The beekeepers' conference passed a resolution asking the Government to remove the duty on beeswax, and for a lax of £1 on beekeepers. The venue of' the next conference was left to the executive. Mr. W. Watson was elected president.

Three applications for loans to purchase stock were refused at yester day's meeting in Masterton of the Claims Board of the Wairarapa Patriotic Association. The Board considered that the applicants would have no difficulty in arranging their finances elsewhere on the security offered, namely, tfieir personal guarantees.

The Wairarapa Farmers Co-operative Association, Ltd., has donated the sum of £25 towards the fund for establishing a girls' hostel in Masterton under the auspices of the Y.W.C.A. As the provisional committee has made no direct appeal the gift is much appreciated.

A Dunedin resident, who is interested in rubber-growing in the Malay States, and who has recently returned from the East, states that. the rice crop in both Java and Siam has been a comparative failure for the past two years, and that many rubber-growers .have been compelled to reduce their labour force, not being able to obtain sufficient rice to feed the natives usually employed. This is having a serious effect on the rubber-growing industry. The Mayor of Mastcrton (Mr. W. H. Jackson) has been' requested to convene a meeting of parents and others interested to make arrangements to suitably recognise the long service rendered to the cause of education in Masterton by Mr. Richard Brown, who has just retired from the chairmanship of the Masterton. District High School Committee. Accordingly the Mayor invites those interested in the movement to meet in the lecture room at the Municipal Buildings to-morrow night at 7.30 o'clock to discuss the matter.

The soldiers who took up the Ahiaruhe estate, in the Wairarapa, are already hard at work fencing and preparing for the coming season. They are busy from daylight till dark, and the half-holiday has no concern from them. A difficulty is being experienced in regard to housing, but it is hoped that this will shortly be overcome.

According to a Press Association message from Christchurch, John Reid McLeod, a married man, aged about forty-five years, was found dead yesterday at his home at Merivale with his throat cut. He had been living with his wife and daughter up to a fortnight ago, when they left owing to his drinking habits, and the wife had instituted proceedings for a judicial separation.

Recently an old man died in Auckland who haft passed by a year or two the allotted span of life of threescore years and ten. His life had been a very full one, and he left many children and grandchildren to mourn his loss, but a very remarkable and almost unprecedented event at the funeral was that his aged father of over 90 years of age was one of his chief mourners.

| So great is the southern apple crop this year that in many places the trees are almost unable to stand up beneath the great weight of fruit (states the Marlborough Express). There will be nearly 100,000 cases of apples for export, and then plenty left for home use. The crops are good almost everywhere in the Dominion. So far as export goes shipping will be the difficulty, and if any are exported probably they will go to England. A Press Association message from Christchurch yesterday stated that in a reply to Mr. Sheath (secretary of the Jockeys' Association) Sir George Clifford informed him that they have resigned from the Association. As far as he knows, no individual jockeys were threatened with severe or any punishment in this connection. He never said, as stated by Mr. Sheath, that, he' would not recognise nor confer with any association of jockpys; in fact, he had already conferred, but an association so constituted as the New Zealand Jockeys' Association, and adopting its arbitrary methods, can, in his opinion, only be injurious to, all concerned. I

Tho Mastcrton Railway Social Club will hold a grand masquerade plain and fancy dress dance in the Municipal Hall on Thursday, July 1. The music will be supplied by McKenzie's orchestra. Prizes are to be given for the most original costume. Those attending without masks must one at tho door before entering hall. To-d:iy is gas discount day.