ITEMS OF INTEREST.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXIII, Issue 215, 18 September 1901, Page 4

ITEMS OF INTEREST.

Some 13 years ago, daring a debate in the Home of Represent ativ«s on the Ougo Railway, the late Vincsut Pyke, bben the mos< popular member of tbt: Houss, waxed forvd in eopportof the proposed rente. He was bo iloqusnb about the rolling plains, fertiU valleys, etc , *tc., which the line would opsn up. that he » most , wept. Afte* aSO minutes' oratioi he r; ,at down, vewpi.ing. Then William Pember Kesves, the present Agent-1 General, rose up with that devilish cadaverous smile about bis month and .poke. From a book he read of the wondrous towering mounttiae of Central Otago, the vasty deep canyons; the »ie»* boulderf d hills rising to the ■ties, and the utter precip.tonaness of P,Ws Pronvs-d La«d. ' Authority! Namef cried the House. " Ojrtainly, •aid Reeve', with the sm^ .of a lean Sin on his month. "The book, . •Wild WiH Eod«b,' ly Vmoent P#ke." And then the House roar, i till tk. dust roe in cloods from the roten fashions. v .. The Cgar««e Smoking by prohibition Bill. int.od«pJ »ro the LM i,l»twe wouncil n, Colonel Pitt, bas ISdn-tiop'ovWon. It unpo.es « penalty for ewy person wbe «»«.«";•«. prsuppli™* o-g«elt- to any you b nUwlGyeviof a,.. *>*' £■* wkotmoke. » cigarette or portio, there--3s to be deemed gail.y ™ •*»£ &rt cffcnw, 10 ■ f * the .tcond, and £1 «* the third. A whipping a.»ybe SeredbytVeCoart .fW tlr third Some yer« aj» ( 'ys the Dv.xedin &tar)*n ic-pir>iiou »c zsd »ho City . Conncit tb»t it would be a fco d plan = to obtain a t amway hearsr, which Mold be roo along tb* line thut pis>- b within a few yard* of the pu>lic ceaetory. Accordingly » b ß *™ 9 WM Prcemred. I» was aa e egatt vehicle, and OOSt £250. But sonr.e'iow the pallisgnHL never be peran«ded to use it, and altar rtprsip* >n tie y«dc far lomething »>k* 18 yaw, duing , whisk peri id it fa filled tte cs fol f notion of a fowlbous*. it h»s jast been Hid for £3 It i« estimued that, ■ together wbich tbe expense of layiag a branch line t> the cemetery, and interest on the moiey io fxp»»led, the boarse cost tbe ci y £717 *nd it never Jnd so much as a ccrjss inside it. Speaking of 'he ear'vertary of the battle of Te Ngato-o ta-manu (which j nous Beak of che Bird), the Watiganui Herald saye: -It was there that Fat! »r Holland, a Ronun Catholic piie»t, went with tie forces into batt'e. So soon as a man dropped, m d the storm < f bullets from the unseen emeny, the gocd priest was by his side. No questions were asked as to his cecd or sect, but kneeling by the dying man In prayed with him till his eyes gl*z d in death. « Who cod 1 have felt fear," ■wrota a chronicler of the engagement, "with Father Ro"and at bis side, smiling atde»th.—a living personification—a fulfilment of miny a text preached."