LOCAL AND GENERAL

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXXXV, Issue 79, 1 April 1903, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Interesting reading matter will be found on page four of this issue.

To-day, Ist April, ia '• April Fool's Day." A last key is f jr. Melbiurne-Brindisi mails despatched oil 27th Bebruary arrived in London on 28th instant.

8. Draffio, R. H. Davis, and J. Irvin have be-n reinstated as ama eur wheelmen.

The new army rifla, it appears, is not to ba confined to the exclusive use of infantry, but it is to bj issued generally to all cavalry regiments, and from the s'oppage of any! further issue of the Lee-Knfleld weapon, it is significant that the new arm has been now officially approved of, the difficulty of fixing th i bayonet having been overcome. None the loss, it is regarded by many as a very clumsy weapon for holding. In another column will be found particulars relating to the examinations in music by the Associated Board of the Royal Ac idem v of Mnsic, and the Kcyal College of Music, London. Mr IT. W. Richmond, thß local secretary, will receive entries up to May Ist. ( The Paritutu Royal Arch Chapter meats on Thursday evening at 7.30.

An extraordinary elopement was the cause of a scene at Ualais. A couple arrived from Bo'ilou >e, and stopped at an bote). A man and two women arrived later, and words between these and the previous arrivals ran i-o high that the police were called in. It transpired that the first pair were a railway employee at Boulogne and his mother-in-law,) with whom he had eloped. The others were j his father-in-law sad relatives. The Sonoma arrived at Auckland with the iaward Frisco mail at 3 p.m. on Tuesday. The season for trout fiahiog has been extended until April 30th. The Acclimatisation Society notify that any person shooting native or imported game! before May Ist, will be prosecuted. | A meetiag of shareholders of the River- 1 dale Factory Company was held on Tues-, day, to consider the question of joining the j proposed Colonial Imparting and Distribut- j ing Company. It was decided to join, pro-; vided the factory pnduoe has not beeu set' through the company to the United King- j dom for sale, j

Mr Guinness, in the course of a few | moments' conversation with an Auckland Star representative, said that he intended to ' be a candidate for the Speakership against ' all comers, and he thought fchit his p,st l service as Chairman of Committees and I Deputy-Speaker gave him a strong claim to the position. He was in complete ignorance o£ what attitude the Government intended \ to adopt on this question. There had bean no communications pissing between himself and Mr Seddon arising oat of the; Speakership, nor bad the matter been' broached by either party during their con- i veraitions. After Sir William Kussell's re- ■ cent declaration, it is thought in local political circles that Mr Gainness's elevation i to the Speakership is a matter of tolerable' certainty. j Yesterday, 81st March, was the anniver- j sary of the Province of Taranaki. but no public observance of the day took place. The Ban its and some of the Government! offices were closed, while others remainedl

open. Mrs J. Rollo, of New Plymouth, was amongst the list of callers at the Tourist Department in Wellington last week. Mr Stanford, H.M., and Mr Holmes were ia Str itfor i on Tuesday in connection with the VVo'dhead cases. The trial was exported to last two days, but the p'ei of guilty gave the proceedings a purely formal character. The C mrt was densely packed during the hearing. A Chinaman named Ah Ohee wss fined £2O at Wellington on Tuesday for having seven tins of opium in hin possession. The defence was that he had purchased it before the passing of the Act of 1902, but the Court disbelieved this. Tho Agent-General cables tha'; the Argentine prohibition on tha importation of New Zealand cattle applies equally to sheep.