NEWS OF THE DAY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXXXV, Issue 251, 20 November 1903, Page 2

NEWS OF THE DAY.

The Harbour Board meets this morning at eleven o'clock.

The atroet-sweeper will be landed in New Plymouth in about a fortnight. Still we progress. An* Orchestral Society has been formed in Manaia, with Mr D. J. Jones as conductor.

The Mokau River Trust Bill w&s put through its final stage by the Council yesterday afternoon.

Melbourne mails via Naples despatched on the 14th October arrived in London on the evening of the 14th Inst.

Mr Collis suggests that boards to indicate the depth of water at various points bo erected in tha baths. A capital idea.

The Works Committee decided on Thursday night to give notice to a resident to remove a barb-wire fence in Courtney Street, the fence being considered dangerous to the public.

We acknowledge with thanks a copy of the Christmas number of the New Zealand Graphic. The number is unusually interesting ami well got up. Copies of the journal may be obtained from Mr Hodder. *

The nautical enquiry into the wreck of the Northern Monarch near Opunake will bo opened at the New Plymouth Courthouse this morning, "before Mr R. L. Stanford, S.M., and Captains North and Post, assessors. Mr Burgess drew attention at last night's Works Committee meeting to the dangerous practice of bathers diving from the top of the bathing sheds. This will probably be forbidden when the Council assumes control of the property.

There was ft record attendance in the House when the division was taken an the amendment proposed to the Tariff Dill by the Leader oi the Opposition. There were seventy members in the House, including the Speaker. Including' pairs, seventyseven votes were recorded, leaving only Messrs Witheford and Fisher unaccounted lor.

On tlie committal of the Maori Councils Act Amendment Bill in the Council Mflhuta made his maiden speech, and expressed pleasure that the Bill had reached the Council, but he desired that further eonpideraition should be postponed till next session, as lie had been taken quite by surprise at the suddenness with which the measure had come before the Council.

The Opunake Racing Club is in a, splendid iinancial position. It has assets to the value of £1,382 7s Id, the liabilities only amounting to £2O Is lid. At the annual meeting held on Monday the balance-sheet for the year was read, showing a credit balance of £lO3 18s 2d.

The Wanganui Chronicle says : Mr F. H. Haseldcn, ex-M.H.I{. for Patea, has sold bis farm, and proposes, we understand, to make a trip to South Africa next Januarv, Mr Haselden's daughter has for some time not been in the best of health, which affords 1 one reason for the voyage. Also Mr Haseldcn has two sons sottled in the Transvaal somewhere. Should any opportunity present itself in South Africa, it h quite possible that Mr Haseldcn himself might remain there, though His present J»ten¥ion is to return to I },he colony after a few jncrntha,

A deputation of l'ulinerston citizens recently Waited on the Borough Council to urge the erection of a Town Hall in ttoat town.

A servant, in the Old Country, aged 14, has been charged with attempting to murder uu 11 months old child by administering carbolic acid. She gave the child the poiron with a spoon. Questioned as to her reason for the deed, sho said her head troubled her and she did not know what had been done.

The secretary of the New Plymouth Swimming Club has received .several enquiries from Wangamil for programmes of the carnival at the opening of the swimming baths. A suggestion, has been made •that if the New Plymouth Club holds a meeting in Christmas week the Wang'anui Club will send the polo team which won the championship.

Yet another instance is g'lven ol the danger incurred by allowing boys to use pea rifles. The Eltlmm Argus reports that the young son oj Mr Barr was yesterday struck in the leg by a bullet from one of these weapons. The bullet struck the house first, and glancing off hit the child in the leg. Luckily the bull«t was nearly spent, and no wound was inflicted, but the accident serves to give further warning as to what may happen if some steps are not taken to suppress this growing evil. Some years ago lads were ijuicklv deprived of the comparatively harmless " cattie," but nowadays they appear to have ■ free use of a much more deadly weapon. The Juvenile Smoking Suppression Bill seeks to stop cigarette smoking, and it is a pity it does not also prohibit the sale of pea rifles to irresponsible youths.

At a meeting of the Opunake Caledonian Society on Saturday evening it was decided to hold the sports on Boxing Day (Saturday) as it was considered a more beneficial holiday than the Monday following. A letter was read asking if the Eire Brigade events were open competitions, as the writer believed he could get an outside team to compete. It was decided to hold the matter over pending further enquiries. The following concert committee were .elected to work up a programme for the annual concert : llessrs Armstrong, Peyton, Fred Colling, Wallace and Ross.—Times.

Two men in Westminster tried a smart swindle on a bookie recently. One of the men gave the bookie a paper which had apparently but one entrie on *t, relative to a horse named Mixed Powder. Very soon afterwards the very faint outline of another writing appeared. The document was at once taken to Rochester Row police station, and it developed into accumulative bets making witness liable to pay £5 Bs. The document had been written with invisible ink.

A novel method of paying church debts is described by a resident of Cape Colony :— '* The people at Home, satiated with bazaars, might like to hear of a now plan adopted by the Kaffirs of Indwe, Cape Colony, for clearing off a small dejL)t on their church there. A social was arranged, and the Wesleyan minister was asked to take the chair. Great was his astonishment when, on the first speaker being announced, a man in the room rose up and said that he would gave a shilling if that man were not allowed to speak, whoreupon another man cried out he would give two shillings if he were Ulowed to proceed, so the speaker got a hearing 1 . The next speaker and the next were dealt with in the same way, being, in fact, put up for auction, bids of as much as live shillings and six and upwards being given for and against the various speakers, until, amid much merriment, the 'debt was paid." Some of the sword-swallowers, strong men, and musical artists had a bad time while vis-iting the show in Carterton (remarks the Wairarapa Loader). One pedlar assumed an indignant meiu because he was not patronised at one house, and alter commenting upon the stupidity of the people walked away without shutting the gate. The householder asked the itinerant to recognise tho rights of property, and the would-be purveyor of alleged note-paper wav. Ed his s'tick and bag derisively. A five minutes' argument ended in the purveyor being ig'nominiously drugged across the road and placed in the gutter, and his property was confiscated till he closed the gate. A strong man also tried his hand upon a Jppa} athlete and received two black eyes, aw'd in the succeeding ifew seconds the athlete polished off two of Samson's satellites, The sideshow tourists who visited the exhibition were a particularly shady lot. Colonel Gudgeon, the Resident Commissioner in the Cook Group, has been making enquiries from fruit shippers and traders as to whether they would be in favour of a 14 days' service from Rarotonga alternately to Wellington and Auckland. The opinion generally expressed is that a monthly service is sufficient for the present needs of the islands with Auckland as the sole port. If, however, a protective duty in favour of Cook Island fruit were imposed by the New Zealand Government, within twelve months' time sufficient bananas could be grown to supply a fortnightly service with Wellington as one of the ports of call. So longi as the fruit-growers have to compete with Fiji, so long do they feel indisposed to increase their output.

An elderly gentleman applied to Mr Fordham at North London Police Court on Wednesday for advice. He said he lived next door to some stables, and the noise of the horses interfered with his sleep. Mr Fordham : "What noise do they make?" The Applicant : "They stamp and bump about the whole night." Mr Fordham consulted the statute, and said : "It becomes a question as to whether the horse is a noisy animal within the .meaning of the Act." The Applicant : "1 am afraid the poor horses are not able to rest themselves." Mr Fordham : " I cannot see that you have any remedy here. It is different to the barking of a dog oi- the crowing of a cock for these cannot be said to be necessary for business, but the horse is a necessary animal. Perhaps the owner of the animals may be able to remedy matters, but there is no law against the stamping of horses."

Mr Newton King, agent for the McCormick harvest machines, has just received the following telegram from Messrs Morrow, Bassett and Co., the New Zealand representatives :—"McCormick for third year wins highest award for binders, Ohristchurch Show, silver medal."*

Engagement Rings, Wedding Rings and Keepers, certainly the finest stock on the West Coast of New Zealand. A good present with eaph wedding ring at J. H. Parker's, Jeweller, next Railway Crossing, Devonstreet, New Plymouth.—Advt.

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