LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Wanganui Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15189, 9 April 1917, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

A poll on the question of raising a loan of .£7200 for the purpose of drainage extension in the borough of Picton was taken recently, and resulted in the proposal being carried by a 5 to 1 majority. It has been notified for general information that in consequence of the excessive number of lance-corporals anti acting-bombardiers in various units, in future n.c.o.’s who arrive with reinforcement drafts holding appointments as lance-corporals or acting-bombardiera will relinquish' their appointments on arrival in the United Kingdom or Egypt. “Have yon any objection to home service?” was the question put to a farmer appellant by th© chairman of the Military Service Board recently. “What does it mean?” asked the appellant. “I don’t know,” replied the chairman. “Ton won’t have to go in the trenches. Farmers are required next to fighting men, and you might be sent to look after a bigger plaoo than your own.”

An accident occurred at Onepuhi on Thursday by which a well-known and highly-respected Native named Hui was killed instantly. Death was caused by a dray loaded with timber capsizing on top of him. A resident of Inglewood has received a letter from his sister, who resides in Sweden, stating that there is a considerable shortage of food there, and tickets are being issued for bread, etc. The allowance of sugar is a kilo (about 2Jlb) per month. The hon. secretary of the Wanganui sub-centre of the N.Z. branch of the Red Cross Association will be -obliged if all those who gave bids for the patriotic pig, in connection with Red Cross Day, will kindly send in their cheques to her at their earliest convenience.

The great success which attended tbs “Barracks” at Wanganui Collegiate School a couple of years ago, so commended itself to the Defence Department that “Barracks” arc to be held at the College this year. The boys, as well as the masters, are looking forward to the “Barracks” with keen anticipation.

‘T know for a. fact—l have heard it from one of the doctors—that adenoids and nasal troubles have greatly decreased of late among the children attending the schools in Wellington,” stated a speaker at a recent meeting of the Women Teachers’ Association. She thought that the organised deepbreathing exercises and physical instruction were responsible, and that the teachers could take some of the credit.

Two Palmerston sportsmen have just returned from a successful visit to the Nelson deer country, where they each secured six heads, the full number allowed by their licences, reports the' Daily limes. In anticipation of the opening of the stalking season in the Tararas at the beginning of next week, a large umber of stalkers intend visiting the range, some of whom left for the high country on Saturday. Compliments were flying at a recent meeting of the Stratford County Council, judging fre. i the following from a local paper there: “Our engineer tells untruths,” said Cr. Smith. The engineer replied; “If .you were even half a man you would not dare to say that.” Cr. Smith; “You abused me at our last meeting.” The engineer: “You will get a good deal more before I have done with you, you miserable old skunk.” Explosive pencils have been a popular feature of the German Secret Service for some time. They are made like ordinary lead pencils, and graphite is used in the ends. But when the lead has been worn down a certain distance a detonator is released, exploding a highly concentrated form of tri-nitro-toluol contained in a chamber which occupies the greater part of the middle of the pencil. The result is an explosion of sufficient force to kill the unfortunate user, while fires sometimes follow.

Handwriting in the public schools is at present most unsatisfactory—at least this was the opinion of a delegaion from the Kilbimie School Committee which waited upon the School Committees’ Association at Wellington. On© speaker stated that the writing of the majority of the children leaving school nowadays was simply awful. Thi was an essential subject, and might well receive some of the time devoted to less essential studies. The a.-wociac-tion decided to refer the matters to the .school committees for their consideration.

a typical instance of the neighhourlircfs and goodwill of the tillers of the soil towards one of their number proceeding in active service was outlined by the secretary at a meeting of th* expert advisers to the National Efficyiene Board at Dunedin. He stated that, in the case of an Awamoko farmer called up. the residents of the district, so as to facilitate his entry into camp, undertook to plough his land and permit of sowing operations before his departure. The speaker stated that no fewer than twelve team were engaged on the land.

In view of the anticipated increase in railway fares in New Zealand, an announcement by the Imperial Board of Trade at the beginning of last month is interesting. The official statement was that it had been deckled that the increase, of 50 per cent, in railway passenger fares is not to apply to tickets issued to relatives desiring to visit wounded soldiers or sailors in hospital, and producing the hospital authority to do so. Such persons will be allowed to travel on the former terms, namely, single fare at the old rate for the double journey. An applicant for admission as a solicitor to the Supreme Court in Wellington failed to include a certificate of birth in the usual affidavit filed, but. instead stated that he had a clear recollection of happenings twenty-one years ago. The Chief Justice commented upon this as heing most -anusTia.l. “Could not the certificate he obtained?” he asked of counsel. *'A certificate cannot always be obtained,” replied counsel. ‘But was not the applicant, born in New Zealand?” “Yes, Your Honour.” His Honour: “Well, it is most unusual. I will admit the applicant on this occasion, but I hope it will not he taken as i precedent. In future I will not allow /t.” The Stratford correspondent of the Taranaki Herald writes; There is nothing the Government of this country is so afraid of as the spending of money on education facilities, and I am afraid the Government faithfully reflects the attitude of the majority of people. The spending of enormous sums upon luxuries and amusement is regarded with the greatest complacency, but we are easily alarmed at a prospect of having to find much smaller amounts for useful purposes. For instance, it will he found that a proposal to spend upon the improvements of the harbour another .£IOO,OOO, which is .£2 per Ihead of Taranaki’s population, will be opposed by men who think nothing of spending twice £2 on a day’s racing. They will give £3OO for a motor car and lie awake of nights worrying over the cost of school books.

At the A.N.A. Conference recently held in Melbourne, reports the Ago, Sir Alexander Peacock made the statement that Australia can. at the present juncture best assist th© Empire by the production of foodstuffs rather than by sending men to the front. The Direct-or-General of Recruiting, on his return from the Wimmera a day or so later, took early opportunity to express his total disagreement with such a mischievous contention. He stated that from what he could gather the opinion expressed by certain politicians that the growing of wheat in Australia, was more valuable to the Allies than the sending to the front of th© best soldiers in the Empire was not generally shared in the parts of the Wimmera. which lie had just visited. The only effect of such sort of talk as that was to make the unpatriotic farmers who had not done their duty more confident that they had don© th© right thing, and to canee chagrin to those farmers who had alleged their sons to go to the front.

To those who have not already procured them a reminder is given that tomorrow is the last day for the sale of tickets in the Red Cross A*t Union (1000 sheep for a shilling) in Wanganui. The Levin Presbyterians recently enlarged their church at a cost of .£636, all of which, save .£l5O, has been contributed. The first services in the enlarged building were held on Sunday last, and were conducted by tue modera-tor-elect, the Hon. J. G. W. Aitken. Some little time ago an Australian girl came across to New Zealand, and in a wnile became engaged to a young New Zealander. With the arrival of her 21st birthday she became entitled to the handling of an inheritance running into five figures (says the Dominion). The pair were amrricd, and in the next ballot the man was drawn to serve at the front.

Japan is pushing her trade tremendously in many lines, and is getting a big “look in” amongst Dominion traders The drapers’ shops abound in Japanese made men’s underclothing, and Japanese made toys figure prominently in all fancy goods shops. ‘Even fountain pens made in Japan are purchaseablo in Eltham at very low prices. Wo wonder (says the Eltham Argus) what Japan is doing in the way of stationery manufacture, British made stationery is still soaring heavenwards in price, and the difficulties of securing shipping space are increasing. There is now a great field open to Japan in the manuafeture of stationery. The native constable Keppa certainly inherits some of the jxjetical tenqierament of his ancestors, judging by the evidence of a Maori witness given during the perjury charges at the Supreme Court in Hamilton last week. He credited Keppa with saying, “Sleep: sleep! and dream; dream if you cannot see your way clear to make a different statement when it somee to 1 the question of the Court,” but the only answer he got to this appeal was the abrupt reert, “You go and sleep.” It is evident that the ways of the Pakeha are easily assimilated by this dying race, but its poetic instincts still hold fast. The same native was also said to have used such words as these, “This constable, because of his great love and Affection for you, desires you to shape your evidence thus.”

“I breed thoroughbreds purely as an industry, and have only raced one horse in thirty years. I very seldom bet on a race, and do not attend race meetings,” said a witness at the Military Appeal Board at To Aroha last week. “You can’t teach me anything about horse-breeding. There’s "nothing like losing money to teach you a knowledge of horse-breeding,” replied a member of the Board who added that he had been a director of a stud company. “If you or anyone else want a sympathetic hearing and favourable judgment from this Board, you must come before us as a dairy farmer, not as a thoroughbred horse-breeder. The very best time to sell young thoroughbreds is the very first opportunity. Don’t lose any chances, either!” Witness retorted that he certainly did not advance horse-breed-ing as a reason for exemption.

A New Zealand business man, writing from Chicago to a Christchurch contemporary, comments as follows on the cost of living in the United States: “T am sending you to-day’s Tribune. You will find a good deal therein about food prices. They are fierce. The people in New Zealand have no room to talk about food prices when you compare prices in the two countries. Here are a few: Beef 211 d per lb, potatoes per lb, cabbages IQd per lb, onions lOd, butter 2s 4d per lb, and everything else in proportion. Bents for flats and honses within twenty miles of New York are very high. A nine-roomed house, unfurnished, and a very ordinary house at that, with a very small section, would cost 100 dollars per month—equal to £4 14s a week. To heat tnat house it would cost about .£SO per annum. We arc very well off in New Zealand, and we don’t know it.”

Mr Horatio Bottonmley writes in the Sunday Pictorial, of London, an article on “How the Dominions Helped to Save the Empire,” from which we make the following extract concerning conscription:—“ Then it spread to New Zealand; the Government demanded conscription and the leaders of the various labour unions replied: ‘Let us have the opinion of the people. Let us have a referendum, and if the people vote in favour of compulsion, we will have it, but not otherwise.’ The Government would not listen; they forced a compulsion Bill through Parliament, and the day the first call was made all the men in the most important mines on the West Coast struck work, and a cry went up for a general strike in the whole of New Zealand—with Australia ready to follow within forty-eight hours. Thereupon the New Zealand Government quashed the compulsion act and withdrew the order for forced service; but much mischief lia<t been done; the fine spirit of patriotism in both young countries had been cheeked.” If this is the sort of information editors and ex-mem-bers of Parliament obtained during the visit of our two leading statesmen to England, it would seem that Mr Massey and Sir Joseph Ward are not disseminating much knowledge about their own country.

American manufacturers of munitions, and more particularly the financial firms promoting the sale of war stocks in the stock market, were furiously indignant recently because of another statement by ,itr Daniels, Secretary of the Navy, paying a glowing tribute to the British firm of Hadfiolds, and denouncing the American shell-makers “who put profits before patriotism.” In answer to the critics of the award to Hadfiolds, Mr Daniels made a sweeping arraignment, applauding British workmanship, prices, and all-round efficiency, and referring to the domestic output as colossally inferior. Mr Daniels attributed the low quality of American shells and the exorbitant prices to the politicians’ idea that the American Admiralty would have to take what they could get in the United States or none at all. Ho said, that the local men had not kept pace with England in quality or’ in promptness of manufacture, and that their prices were from 25 to 50 per cent above Hadfields. Mr Daniels stated that fervent appeals made to -American firms, for the sake of the Navy and national efficiency, to deliver good ’ells at reasonable prices were to little or no purpose, with the result that Washington now felt constrained to establish its own plant for the army and navy. He says that out of thirty-four 14-inch shells submitted by the Bethlehem Steel Company for test, three passed, a percentage of 8.8. The Crucible Steel Company managed to get 37.7 per cent of the sample of shells submitted passed, and the Midvale Company, which apparently showed more enterprise and real desire to oring up the standard than the others, passed 73 per cent. Of the shells submitted by Hadfields (Ltd.) not a single one failed to meet all the requirements. As the result of Mr Daniel’s statement, the question was raised if an English firm oouW compete with America during the war what sort of time awaits the United States when the European wax is ended and competition is once again in force-?

The municipal authorities in several districts of France have taken, control of the theatres and picture palaces, and are sending part of the profits to the local war funds.

A witness in. the Hamilton Supreme Court this week said, when questioned about certain Court proceedings at Rotorua: “Yes, he threw more than hints, he threw mud.” (Laughter.)

“It strikes me,” writes Mr Spencer Leigh Hughes in a London paper, “that at least half the public teachers and preachers would do well at present to take a rest. It is evident that not much would be lost if there was a Fool Controller who could limit the amount of rot that men may utter. At present the rule seems to be for the authorities to find out what the public likes to do. and then to forbid anything of the sort being done.” Mr Hughes wonders “how many people there are being paid to-day to poke their official noses into the affairs of people more useful than themselves.”

The National Efficiency Commission for the Auckland military district has had prepared a large number of posters for display at the various railway stations, says the Auckland Herald, These urge farmer-reservists to consult the trustee boards when they are called up for active service, in case they have any difficulty in arranging to have their farms properly looked after when they are away. It is pointed out that the Boards have been carefully selected, and have been appointed in the interests of the farmer-reservists to help them in every way they can. The posters give the names of the members of the various trustee boards.

The executive of tire New Zealand Returned Soldiers’ Association considered the celebration of Anzac Day, and decided that: “While deeply regretting that it should be necessary to hold the celebration on any other day than April 25th, having consulted legal opinion, we are convinced that th© Government has no power to alter the date of the municipal elections. Consequently it was decided that while such steps should bo taken for the future that nothing be allowed to interfere with the celebration of Ansae Day on April 25th, the executive recommend to associations that teach should make such arrangements for observing the day as may best suit the local conditions.”

A few weeks ago a number of celebrated Americans were entertaining President Wilson at dinner, and one of their number—a political opponent of the President—who is known for his public speeches, told the following story to the company: “I was travelling in the train the other day, when I entered into conversation with a man in the same car. The talk turned ou American, literature, and I was struck by my companions’ lack of knowledge of our famous characters in American fiction. At last, after mentioning many, I was driven to desperation. ‘Ever heard of Mark Twain?’ I asked. ‘No,’ said he. ‘Ever heard of Tom Sawyer?’ ‘Never.’ ‘Do you remember Huckleberry Finn?’ I asked. ‘I don’t,’ he replied. ' ‘Well, you must have beard of Puddcn Head Wilson?’ ‘Oh, yes,* he said, T voted for him last election.’ ”

The Hon. J. D. Ormond, speaking at a meeting of the Napier Chamber of Commerce, stated that the falling. off of skilled labour was Incoming very apparent. In Great Britain it had been recognised that the production of food should be provided for before sending men to the front. A cable message bad been received from Mr Massey urging f j th© farmers to largely increase their / sowing of grain so as to increase the exports. But there was not enough labour for this, so the request could not be acceded to. Men of this class should not be called up for the reinforcements. This matter concerned not only th« farming community but also commercial firms who were equally instrumental in exporting the produce.

An interesting shipping seace was tried in the Supreme Court at Invercargill on the 12th inst. Armour, Johnston, Ltd., sued the Shaw, Savill, and Albion Company, Ltd., for damage for short delivery of part of a cargo of iron carried in the s.s. Pakeha from, Glasgow to New Zealand, The hills of lading provided that the iron was to be carried from Dunedin to invercargilll (by transhipment) “at ship’s expense but at shipper’s risk.’’ The iron in question was duly discharged from the Pakeha at Dunedin and delivered to the Southern Steamship Co. for transhipment to Invercargill,_hut the plaintiffs claimed that a considerable portion of it was not delivered to them taere. On the 19th inst., Mr Justice Sim gave judgment in favour of the defendant company v holding in effect that the liability of the defendants came to an end when they made a contract with the Souther Steamship Co to carry the iron to Invercargill for delivery to the plaintiff at, that port. The learned Judge accordingly non-suited the plaintiff company, with costs, according to scale. “As far as uniforms go, the New Zealand troops axe the least smartly dressed of all the British drafts taking part in the war,” says an officer who recently returned from England and France to New Zealand. He might have qualified this assertion by adding “as far as . the rank and file are concerned.” The smartest looking men on furlough arc the Australians. Hence, about "a year ago many New Zealanders when in London furbished up their kits to .such a degree that it was almost impossible to tell a private from an officer. The men with the moans went in for all kinds of fanoy riding breeches and shiny leggings. Then their officers, who are the greatest sticklers and monopolisers of swank on the face of the earth, put in an appeal. They claimed that the men were departing from the regulations. Of course the one and only God ley said “That was so,” The Australians, not being so amenable as our men to discipline, swank just as much as their officers—and the latter being more in sympathy with their men, don't mind it a little* bit.