The practice was denounced in strong terms at the meeting of the Borough Council on Thursday night.
Councillor B. J. Cooke, who brought the matter up, characterised the proceeding as a cowardly and idiotic one, promoted in some cases by downright foolishness, and in others by feelings of personal jealousy and spite.
The practice was becoming quite a scandal, and he thought it ought to be publicly deprecated.
The Mayor said he was very glad that the matter had been mentioned.
Those who had been sending the feathers were guilty of a most obnoxious and senseless act, and they richly deserved punishment.
They had addressed their cowardly communications to some men whose shoes they were not fit to lace, and unfortunately they had caused in some quarters keen distress.
He had in mind particularly one gentleman - a public-spirited citizen, whose patriotic work this community could never repay - who had volunteered several times to go to the front and upon whom he (the Mayor) had repeatedly urged that his duty to his country was in his present sphere of activity.
He only wished that the miserable offenders could be identified.
• In the course of a lecture on electricity to the Christchurch Workers' Education Association, Mr L. Birks dealt with the domestic application of electricity on Monday night.
There was a large attendance.
In his introductory remarks Mr Birks reviewed the course of house-design as it was affected by the heating apparatus of the home, and he demonstrated how by the elimination of chimneys and kitchen ranges, the capital cost of dwellings could be decreased by the introduction of electrical cooking apparatus.
Other points in house-design which would result in decreased expenditure by the use of electricity were explained and then, with the aid of a lot of appliances, the lecturer was able to show the various ways in which electricity could be used in the home.
One gentleman, in whose home all cooking was done by electricity, related his experiences and said that by refraining from using his current from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. he was able to do cooking for a family of six at a cost of 3s 2d per week.
• The virtues of the Central Otago climate are extolled in a letter published in the Dominion by a correspondent, who writes that he went there in a very advanced stage of consumption, so that even the doctor in charge and the nurse considered his case as all but hopeless.
Yet in three months he was not only cured of all active disease, but had put on about 17lb in weight, and was once more able to resume his professional duties.
He recommends those suffering from the white plague to save the expense of trips to the Old Country and such expedients, which often prove fruitless, and pin their faith to a stay in Central Otago.
• The tailoring trade is one that is feeling the effects of the war rather severely owing to many customers having enlisted.
It is thought that some relief would be given if the work of making Territorial uniforms were distributed through the dominion.
At present these uniforms are being made by one or two contractors.
All departments of the bespoke tailoring trade in the chief centres have joined in making representations to the Government on the subject, and the tailoring trade unions are backing them up. - ODT, 5.7.1915
• COPIES OF PICTURE AVAILABLE FROM ODT FRONT OFFICE, LOWER STUART ST, OR WWW.OTAGOIMAGES.CO.NZ
