LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LX, Issue 17078, 4 September 1917, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

New Plymouth investments in the cto tota"ed £24,000 on Satur-

1 !G> W°erengaaluka Hotel and Colebrook s Store were destroyed by fire on Saturday night. About £500 worth .01 stock from the store was saved

Ihe Matron of the Wanganui Hospital desires to acknowledge with thanks tie following donations: Sweets, Mrs Alan, Miss Stevenson; jellies and cakes, Swankers' Club; cakes, Mrs. Ueland; flowers, Victoria League. An arrangement was entered into between Mr A Thorns (Road Inspector toi the Rangitikei County) and Mr E H f to placing about two hundred cubic yards of gravel on the Wangaehu Station Road, and as a result the work is now in progress. T? Mr-A vd.u^y Mair ' engineer for the RangitikeL County Council, lias arranged with the Railway Department to haul a limited supply o f ballast from Uhmgaybi pit by goods train, and delivery is now being made at HunterMile station. . ■

As the result of1 a concert held at Wangaehu, organised by ths teacher (Miss Mclntyre), and Miss Pl etc Ser to the Education Board for transmission to Mr. C. J Wray, in London for the purchase 01 comforts for the'men at

Alter meeting with many delays and difficulties l«ie directors of the New Zealand Iron Ore Smelting Company are now confident of success. During the last eighteen hours the furnaces have been tapped seven times, and the condit!ons are improving all the lime, assuring a continuity which hitherto had never been secured.

f J f. becoll <1 Dlvlsion League has decided to carry out a series ox campaigns fj nf SX burbß tf Waasanui, and She JuOt^ hese wlll' be t{"s eveninom the OronviUe Town Hall, commencing at 8 0 clock. Considering the vital importance of the work the League is doing, a full house should be assured Anyone who is opposed to the League's platform, either wholly or in part is invited to be present, "and vtil be'aflorded an opportunity of taking the platform and debating the matter with any of the speakers. Ladies are especially requested to be present, as it is desired to form a ladies' working committee ior Gonville at the conclusion or the meeting.

One candle, price twopence, and a pound of flour at threepence, is. often the order at some of tlie shops in the poorer parts of our city," said Sister fl\ ,> vvhen sPeaklnS to an Auckland •btar reporter on the underworld ci the Queen City of the North. Many .people, she said, would not believe tiiis, but it is so. Tneso poor people have often only threepence to spend. In one case three-quarters of a pound of flour was asked for. There was only twopence to spend. How many people reahse that such poverty exists in our midst.'' let, thmk of it. A man earns two pounds a week. He'pays 12s\6d a week rent. On the rest ho keeps live growing children and prepares for the sixth. How much preparation can he make.'' This is but one of many instances which come under the notice of the workers in the lower stratas of our city life. This winter has been very hard on outside labourers. There has been so much broken weather Another man earns £2 18s., and pays '3s 6d for rent. With the rest lie aiid the poor mother keep six children at the present high cost of food and clothing. Tf this is bad for the poor families, what are the conditions of the oldage pensioners? The pension is beinoraised by five shillings, and it is needed" Hitherto they have lived on ten shillings a week, the majority paying four shillings for a little room, which leaves six shillings a week to buy food and clothes. How much clothes and boots especially boots, will it buy?

Speaking at the Opera House last night. Air. L. M. Lsitt M.P., said the km Parliament in New Zealand sat for twelve weeks, and the only legislation it passed was a Bill for 'the"" sale of Jjqnor to the members of both Houses. ■Hie session ended up in a fight with lists and umbrellas. He regarded Bellamy's as a nuisance and a curse to the Parliament of the country.

_ In the early hours of yesterday morning tempestuous weather conditions ruled, followed by heavy rain. There ""'as an extremely" high tide and rou^h sea outside, with the result that one pi- the bathing sheds on the Castlecliff l>eac-h was damaged. The lean-to portion of the Surf Club's building-was lifted bodily and deposited about 20ft. iugner up the beach. There was also a wasn-dut on the Castlecliff Railway

At the meeting of the Chamber of Commerce last night the President (Mr 1. ±5. Williams) said that; war or no Avar, the feeling was that the Government should go on with the proposed Mangahao hydro-electric power installation # within a, reasonable period Speaking of tjhe recent deputation br members of local bodies on the coast to Wellington, Mr Williams said a pleasing feature was the unanimity of the- delegates With s the exception of Wellington, there was no parochialism shown. A vote of thanks was passed to the delegates/Messrs. T. B Williams and A. Harris. '

At the meeting of the Chamber of Commerce last night, Mr. G. P. Brown pomtedoiit that the land tax legislation provided that a man serving in the Expeditionary Forces was 110 c deemed to be an absentee, but the same provision was not made in regard to income tax. Me knew of an instance of a soldier with £150 per year who had been gassed, and' if lie stayed at Home to convalesce he would be penalised. The speaker did not know why a man in such a case should b e treated as an absentee. A great many officers had had to pay income tax on their military V*y> but that had now been put right. The Chamber decided to make representation on the matter in th c right quar-