ITEMS OF INTEREST.

Te Aroha News, Volume XXVI, Issue 43100, 4 June 1907, Page 1

ITEMS OF INTEREST.

The first ' pu’blia message conveyed ibytha modem telephone Avas on February 12th, 1887, betAveen Boston and Salem, U.S.A'. In Dunedin and Christchurch the price of the 41b loaf has been advanced to <6|d. In 1895 there AVer© 170 ‘butter and cheese factories in the colony, in 1 900 247, and !at the time of the last census 204. - One of the players in a, football match at Leicester recently was a young man Avitli one leg. He was able, with .fhe aid of a crutch, to run as fast as most of the other players. Actuated by the most humane motives the Taranaki Education Board recently decided to supply, a rest, or stool,- for lady teachers, in addition to- the chairs provided,-- the idea being that the rest- should be constructed so as to take some of the Aveight, of the body, long standing being very tiresome. Sample stools have been sent to some schools. One mistress has replied that she considers the stool an “unnecessary piece of furniture.” and she says‘the lady members of her staff prefer to use the chairs. On the other hand, Mr Kennedy stated that teachers in one school, are highly pleased with the innovation. Our Waiihi correspondent Avrites: “Advice from the private hospital indicates that Mr Bayer’s condition is practically unchanged from that of yesterday. He has not made a.nv improvement since last reported. Whilst this information, is nrofered there is some reticence in disclosing the intentions of the doctors with regard to their patient further operations or treatment.”

“You surely do not attach any importance to a prisoner making ai misstatement as to his age?” queried his Honor Judge Haselden, in the Masterton District Court, of counsel for the Crown l . “How man a-- women are there who give a truthful an saver to their age, even on oath,” His Honor commented, “and yet no' notice is taken of it.” Counsel smiled and dropped the point. Speaking at a large gathering of school children at Ashburton on Empire Day. Mr T. H. Bace, the Canadian Commissioner at the late Exhibition, in reply to an interjection “What about beer?” remarked, “Now you want to make me say more than I intended to say. I never look for beer, and it never struck me that J Avas in a prohibition toAvn. I Avill say. this. hoAvever. that during mv sta" in NeAV Zealand I have seen less drunkenness than in any other country I have visited.”

Ai correspondent writes 1 : “The old- . est postmaster in the Waikato both ..few a pel and service, is Mr J. H Thompson, who has kept the Hnrapepe Post Office 'for forty years, having taken, it over from the militarv when they left Te Pore. Hei has just resigned, having 1 sold his farm, and is leaving the district.” The proportion of the Maori population to that of European descent was in the years, 1896, 1901, and 1906.. one Maori to even- nineteen. Europeans. It is in the North Island that the proportion of Maoris to European l is by far the highest, being one in every eleven, against one in one him dred and sevenf-'-five for the Soutl and Stewart Islands. The total Ma-or population in April, 1906. was esfl runted to be -17.731. inclusive of 393 c half-castes,. 172 Chatham Islands j Maoris, and 211 Maori wives living with European husbands. The London correspondent of the Argus, writing on the Navigation Conference. says ; The methods of discus si on adopted by Sir Joseph Ward and Sir William Lvne are a stronsr contrast, —the one persuasive, diplomatic not unwilling to compromise ovei what is not absolutely essential; tinother tempestuous, intolerant, and in sistent upon obtaining what he considers, desirable, regardless of every other interest. There was a little breeze at the Conference between the two, but the New Zealand Prime Minister passed it-off. Mir Dugald Thomson also came into collision with some of Sir William’s favourite theories* but- he, too, is not a Quarrelsome man, and Sir William cannot be east' l -- suppressed. The stomach of the people should be the State’s first consideration, says the Taranaki Daily News. To see tinned salmon from British Columbia, tinned tomatoes from, the south ol Prance, tinned peaches from Califor nia, raisins from- Smyrna, olive oil from Italy, bottled peas from Heaver alone knows where, and nicely col ored ( up with Paris green in New iZear land, is a disgrace to any country that has the facilities for growing them all as- New Zealand has. Re the half-holiday Question, the Hon. J. A. Millar recently expressed himself ias follows: “Whether a. distinction Could be made between a work room' attached to a shoo and ,a facItory proper is a matter for considers - tion, and if this can be don© without jeopardising the ‘Saturday half-holi-day which has 'been observed for years -under the Factories Act, I will not. object » but I will be no party to permit anything which will tend to take laway the Saturday half-holiday proy&dfe*! factori#*.’'