LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXVI, Issue 17894, 14 June 1920, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

A London cable states that P. and O. deferred stock is quoted at buyers £440, sellers £460. We understand that Mrs C. E. Mackay has commenced proceedings to secure a divorce. Mr E. N. Armit, formerly of the New Zealand Times literary staff, has recently been appointed special correspondent at Melbourne for the Sydney Sun. The total loss on the New Plymouth tramways since they came into operation in 1916, after’allowing for depreciation and renewals, is £13,687. A passenger was being flted into the second seat of the de Haviland aeroplane at the Makaraka racecourse when a friend standing by remarked: “Keep your eyes open up there, George, and see if you can’t bring down the cost of living.” It is stated that the Government has acquired through the Public Trustee an area of 400 acres for the new railway department outside Palmerston North: also that £7OOO was yesterday refused for a hotel license likely to be affected by the proposed change in the railway route.— Manawatu Times. On Saturday night the members of Moore’s Orchestra, assisted byMiss Ruby Curran (piano) and several vocalists-—Misses Hulbert and Hall and Messrs T. Thomas and S. M. Brewer—entertained the inmates of the Jubilee Home to a first class programme, which was greatly appreciated by the old folks. Mr Heron, on behalf of Mr Stewart and inmates, thanked the performers, expressing a hope for a return visit. The visitors were thoughtfully provided with refreshments. Thanks are due to Messrs A. Bogle, E. O’Meara, H. Lee, Rowlings, and Walsh for the use of their cars.

The first Court since 1914 was held at Buckingham Palace last week. It was a brilliant spectacle, though the wearing of feathers and full court trains were not allowed. Princess Mary made her debut on this occasion. The Masterton Teaqhers’ Institute passed a resolution hoping that, upon review, the Department would revert to the main lines of the old grading scheme, which had now’ obtained wide acceptance. A To Kuiti message says that a case of pneumonic influenza is reported from Oparure. Inspector Milne has been sent to the district, the native school has been closed, and a tangi in progress dispersed. Hon. W. Nosworthy told a Taranaki deputation that the Government had in view schemes whereby the lime deposits of the Dominion could be developed to greater advantage. The Labour Conference at present sitting in Sydney decided that in view of the monopoly in production and distribution of woollen goods, the State lie requested to establish woollen mills, cr, alternately, empower municipalities to do so. It also instructed the Labour Party to repeal the soldiers’ preference legislation, as the underlying principle was iniquitous and impracticable. An interesting photograph was on view in the dairy produce section at the Winter Show at New Plymouth. It is a photo of four dairy cows, and the top one is the first pedigree Jer- ; sey cow to be brought to Taranaki. The animal belonged to the late W. K. Hulke. who led her by road from Feilding to Taranakin the days before the railways. Replying to a protest by Auckland 'shopkeepeits against Asiatic competition, Mr Massey says the question of amending the Immigration Restriction Act will have consideration in the legislation for the coming session. He asks for further particulars with regard to the suggestion that the Government should legislate to buy out Asiatic shops under the same heading as those, of Europeans. Consumers of kerosene and motor spirits will be interested in the arrival of the four-masted schooner William E. Burnham, which turned up at Wellington on Friday with a cargo of case oil after a lengthy passage of 72 days from gan Francisco. The cargo comprises 15,000 cases of kerosene and 10,000 cases of motor spirits. The schooner will berth this morning to discharge. Ladies are always credited with the gift of rapidly arriving at a conclusion without delay in logical deduction. An instance of this occurred in connection with the stoppage of the Auckland tram service (says the Star). "All you want,” remarkj ed one of the fair sex, when discussing the trouble, “is to replace the men who are out with women. You could be quite certain women could never agree sufficiently to all go out together.” The latest Issue of the returned soldiers’ monthly, “Quick March,” is quite on a par in point of "readableness” with previous numbers. It contains nearly a hundred pages of fact and fiction, and on every sheet one finds something of interest. The outside cover bears a striking i holograph of “Our Latest Honoured Guest,” General Sir William Birdwood, and there are number of other photographic plates illustrating incidents in connection with the visit of he “Digger Prince.” New Plymouth ratepayers have recently received their rate cards for the current year, when the rates are levied on the unimproved value, and not, as heretofore, on the rental value. Many holding land in the suburbs have received something of a shock, whilst those occupying houses on small sections have been relieved to find a substantial reduction in their rates. This year the aggregate amount of rates is heavier than last, year, which makes it harder for the suburbanite. Some of the former big ratepayers owning valuable buildings now figure among the smaller payers. Just how the change will work out is not yet apparent, but not a few of the bigger holders of land who voted for the new system are not now so enthusiastic as they were. Some interesting information regarding the timber industry was given to the Stratford Post by Mr J. W. Boon. He had visied a large number of sawmills on the Main Trunk line, and found that orders are booked for many months ahead. Some mills are asking 7/- per 100 ft in advance of the March catalogue prices. There is very little dry timber at any of the mills, and what there is is drying to fill-orders whtMl have been waiting for long periods. Wellington yard prices are 4/- per 100 ft in advance of the Stratford yard prices, although the railage, cartage, and handling are approximately the There is a yreat demand for red pine and matai, which no doubt will become more acute each year as the bush is felled and the land sown in grass. The millers say that if the export of white pine is stopped most of the timber now being cut for export would be left standing and the red pine and matai taken. Thus it would be destroyed by fire, and lost to the country. One of the historical incidents concerned with the early life of Wanganui was the massacre of some of the members of the Gilfillan family at Matarawa many years ago. The incident, which created much excitement at the time, was brought under the notice of the members of the Wanganui County Council last Friday by a communication from Mr. T. Allison, who offered to present the site of the massacre to the people if the Council would accept the trusteeship. The reserve, an area of approximately one acre or an acre and a-half, was, Mr. Allison desired, to be used as a recreation ground, or as the site for a memorial, or in any other appropriate manner that would commemorate the event which happened there. The Council accepted the trusteeship with thanks, and members expressed their appreciation of the public spiritedness which prompted Mr. Allison to make the gift, a member remarking that it was seldom anyone made such a public-spiirted offer.

“A constable is not bound to arrest every drunken man, otherwise the lock-up would not be large enough to hold them,” was the opinion expressed by a police sergeant when giving evidence at the Christchurch Magistrate’s Court. General Booth, the Salvation Army’s commander-in-chief, in conversation with a “New Zealand Times” reporter, stated that in very early days of the war he obtained from the British Government 10,000 suits of khaki at £1 per suit. When , the time came for payment the Chancellor of the Exchequer (Mr. Austen Chamberlain) himself handed a cheque for £lO,OOO to the general to pay the account. “Was not that a grateful act, which demonstrated that our services were being recognised?” said General Booth. Banker, doctors, lawyers, and other professional men in Birmingham, one of the principal towns in the cotton-growing districts of Alabama, have joined a workmen’s “Overalls Club” as a protest against the high price of clothing. The club has now a membership of .2500 men of all walks of life who wear blue dungaree overalls and smocks and declare that they will not buy conventional clothes at the existing high prices. At a luncheon given in honour of Senator Underwood guests and waiters appeared in overalls. The movement is spreading in various southern cities, where "overall parades” are being organised to gain recruits.

During the course of a lecture in Wellington by Professor Murphy on the currency question, the lecturer strongly deprecated an artificial currency, as created by an excessive note issue. He pointed out that when too much of a “managed” or artificial currency was issued, it remained in the channels of circulation, and kept pushing the price level up. Finally paper arrived at the supreme degree of worthlessness. Once a country got on to a paper money basis, it cut itself off from reality. The supply of paper money was within the power of any Government to increase, and once a country dropped on to a paper standard nobody knew what that standard would be worth in commodities six days, six months, or six years hence. The papers that will be placed be fore Parliament during the coming session will include the first report of the Government forestry officer, Captain Ellis. Since he arrived in New Zealand a few months ago, Captain Ellis has made a tour of the forest areas of the Dominion, and has been able to see for himself the possibilities of the remaining native forest from the point of view of scientific forestry. Some additional forest areas have to be provisionally reserved for forestry purposes oefore this part of the work of the Forestry Department will be complete. Maps of New Zealand, showing the forests and their classifications, are now being prepared.. They show vividly the extent to which the more valuable forests have been depleted, and emphasise the necessity for the conservation of the remaining sources of timber supply. “Lawyers and doctors have to pass their examinations, an accountant has to be certificated, and even a plumber cannot put up a bit of spouting without being licensed, but there is no bar to anyone calling himself a civil engineer, yet every work of any magnitude—a wharf, railway line, tunnel, bridge, dam, water and drainage schemes, depend on the brains of a civil engineer.” This was the statement of one of the foremost chief engineers in New Zealand to a"Dominion” representative, and was said in justification of a movement now on foot among civil engineers (by examination) to promote a Bill for the consideration of Parliament during the coming session, which will propose that a certain course be adopted (including rigid examination) which will ensure that a person calling himself a civil engineer will have the necessary qualifications to justify his inclusion in that profession. The publication of private correspondence extending over ten years between King Leopold of Belgium and August Marie Beerheart, onetime Prime Minister, shows clearly that the old monarch —one of the shrewdest men who ever sat on a throne—believed that the Germans, if they ever went to war again with France, would take the northern route to Paris through Belgian ter ritory. He warned his prime Minister. He tried to impress upon the French statesmen of the time that there were plans then being laid in Berlin to ensure that the next war would be a swift and bloody one. Hence, King Leopold started the Liege-Namur forts. But the pleadings of Leopold fell on apparently deaf ears, and he passed away grieved that so little consideration had been given to the proofs that he furnished. On the occasion of his last trip to London, England, he saw the late King Edward, to whom he divulged secrets that are not given in the correspondence referred to King Edward is said to have assured Leopold that, whether he would be alive or dead at the time : of the next war. England would ! stand by her treaty if the Empire j crashed under its performance. The j world knows the sequel. Some one invented a most com- i mendable plan for commemorating the glories of trees by establishing a pictorial Hall of Fame for them in the United States. The idea was born of the war. England slew her oak giants in self-defence. France also robbed herself of its forest monuments, and the suggestion is that in this Hall of Fame shall be found on eanvas pictures of the famous or curious trees of the world. Already nominations for consideration of the > jury have been received from all the continents. Three widely separated countries are represented by photographs, and the trees that they portray are characteristic of the types that have so far been entered. The Ram’s Horn cypress from California is a singularly picturesque example of this rare tree, whose only habitat is on a narrowly restricted strip of the Pacific Coast. The African entry shown is the sausage tree from north-eastern Rhodesia, with its huge seed pods, said to be not unlike those of our garden pea in texture, but twenty times as big. From Calcutta someone has sent the picture of a freak growth showing a tree, or a group of trees, of un-named species, within whose embrace stands the ruin of an ancient brick pagoda, an interesting subject owing to its singularity, but one hardly likely to win a niche in the hall of notables.