NEWS OF THE DAY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVI, Issue 107, 10 May 1904, Page 2

NEWS OF THE DAY.

Including boxes, the Sydney hospital collection!? totalled £4673,beatmg the previous record by £UU7. In the various shops in .the borough there aix* stored 85U0 cartridges, lOolbs of gunpowder, GOguls. spirits, lOlbs dynamite, and 259 cases of kerosene. "You understand plain English, don't you 7" asked M.r i\ L. iloll— 1 ings, of a Maori witness, in the Alasterton tt.M. Court. "i don't know" was the reply, "I can't understand this jawbreakers !" •• A slander suit has been commenced in London by Mr K. ttievier, the well-known sportsman, against Duke, a racehorse-trainer. S'ievier was severely cross-examined regarding his winnings at cards and his Austra- . lian experiences. Valuation rolls for the Paiihuka ' road ■district, Opunake town district, and Oeo riding of the i'lgmont County have now l>een completed, and are deposited for inspection at the Egmont County office, .Opunake, from to-day until 17th inst. A London cable announces that the second-class cruiser Challenger sails to join (he Australian squadron today. The Challenger was built in 1902, and is a vessel of 5800 tons, 12,500 h.p., with a speed of 21 knots, and carries eleven guns. Last year the estimated revenue of the borough of New Plymouth was £9314. The amount actually received was £9737 2s Id. For the same period the estimated expenditure was £9314, but t lie amount actually disbursed was £9583 Is sd, which left a credit balance of £152 os3d on the year's transactions.

Before Mr Hutchison, S.M., yesterday \Y. Oakley was charged, with disobedience of orders under the Destitute Persons Act, fo.>* the maintenance of his wife and children, and was sentenced to seu-n days' imprisonment, commitment to be suspended for seven days to allow of an effort at paynnnt

Arrangements for the annual bail of the Taranaki Rifles are now reported to be well in hand, and it is expected the result will be one of the most successful functions the corps has promoted. It is probable the proceeds will be devoted to the improvement of the miniature range in the hull, for the encouragement of Morris tube shooting.

On Friday next poultry-keepers will be afforded an unusually good oi>portunity of adding to their runs, as a special sale of purebred poultry will be held by Messrs llewley an r d GriO'ths. The names of the vendors, as set out in the advertisement of the pale, should l>e a sufficient guarantee of the quality of the birds offered, and will no doubt induce spirited competition.

The fire at T. and S. Morrin and Co.'s warehouse was responsible for the death of a male patient at the Auckland Hospital named G. lher, a middle-aged man, in a rather peculiar manner. Dyer was sleeping out on the hospital verandah. The glare of the conflagration awoke him, and he sat up suddenly in bed, which had the effect of bringing on haemorrhage of the lungs. He died in three minutes after the occurrence.

The borough estimates submitted by the Mayor last night show a probable revenue for the current year of £lo,<i2:t. The principal items are : General rate at is i)d, £<l4oo ; special rate at lOd, £2IOO ; water rate at (id, £7OO ; extraordinary supplies, £OOO ; publicahs' licenses. £335 ; other licenses, £4OO ; rents, £390 ; baths', £250 ; abattoirs, £SOO. The annual rateable value of the borough is £50,758. The estimated expenditure is £10,625, but all the items will com# under r«vi#w at a meeting to be held on Mondav next.

Extensive orders during the. past 12 months have been placed in Great Britain for rolling stock for the Central South African Railways. So fewer than 1,750 large steel wagons have been contracted for, included in this number being several wagons of a capacity of over 35 tons. These last are being built by the Leeds l'orge Company, and a number have recently been shipped to South Africa. They are 39ft. 3in. in length, 7ft. 5-Jin. wide, and 9tf. Bin. in height above the rail level, with a cubic capacity of 1,428 ft. The wagons are titted with patent steel underframes and bogies, and' are provided with longitudinal doors, which can bo automatically opened or closed. Before being shipped' to South Africa the wagons were submitted to a test load of 210,0001b, of pig iron

A correspondent writes that tilings around Stratford continue to improve. Land is constantly changing hands ; one farm 1(3 miles from .Stratford East was sold last week at £l3 ,I.os per acre. It is hoped that the technical school will be ia full swing early in June. The papa metalling contracts are linishul at Whangamomona, but tiie (lovcrnmciii is continuing the work. The majority of the settlers are well pleased with their farms, and as the roadw are keeping good they do not growl much, it is sincerely to bo hoped that the Uovermiieivt will spend a lot of its surplus on tht,* road anu railway, in which case it is bound to reap the benefit. The whole of the district must 'be of immense value to New Plymouth as a feeder to the harbour in the near future. Tin. State school at Stratford numbers ■ 'oil on the roll, so the population is increasing, and tin# udvisableness of erecting a separate high school to copo with the* increased attendance is being considered.

Some little time ago Mr Wordell, tile Chief Locomotive Superintendent of the North Eastern Itailwuy, compiled some interesting facts'on the lives of locomotives, lie found that on English liiu\s the average length of time between repairs of engines was two years, while in America it was only a year and a quarter or a year and a half. The average life of a passenger express locomotive in England was twenty-live y.-ars ami ill America sixteen years ; and wheivr<if> n £> lis 'i engine ran from 700,000 to a million miles in that time, the American one ran up to two million miles in the shorter period Jn the case of freight locomotives the average life in England was twenty-six years, and in America sixteen years ; and whereas ill England the miles covered were from 300,000 to 800.000, in America t hetotal was much higher.

A display or grutisome wit was displaced in a railway carriage on Thursday, says the Waitara Mail. Amongst the passengers were three publicans, one of whom is a racoiiorse owner, one an ex-policeman, and other just tin ordinary publican. The latter was commenting on the protest that is being made against hotel keepers being compelled to house (lead bodies awaiting an inquest. The ex-policeman said that When u man was arrested for being- incapable, he was put into the lock up, ami as that is the state of u. dead until lie should be treated likewise. A well known sporting medico intiirjijc,('(l t hii| „fi the publican killed so many with bad liquor, should be compelled to have a morgue on tliu premises. ■■ What about the medicos' victims''" asked u quiet individual, who was 'an nterested listener. -Oh ! W e don't the ," X ' ""' y °" SU thl ' m H >" "I done !i i W ' Wn t,U! I»"'lican has with them, replied the doctor. <"• the tV«e. ' •'whv 1 '" W X^'t;ievt , l , " >]iC,m : "Vj'ilhM "ilw i'ntei^jector' 1 ' hope ,\oii do , i() t (o ,| d coloured feline," ch,pp t : ( , „ known Xew I'ly.nouih sport, nn ,| t' ■night have found publicity,' lnaVol' 1 ■nanby was reached and everyone Zl on studying the 'krect cart. For Bronchial Couf#ia take Woods' treat Peppermint Cure. Is 6d.«

Tho Mayor of Wellington's alloivanco for the next U'i'i i is to ba the same as that Vov !..st twin (£400.) Severe sentences of six months each to meted out, nt the Auckland Police Court to Frank I'lancey and George Jones, two criminals of the house-breaking order, described as "thoroughly bad." Evidence showed that Clancey had served long sentences in Wellington for assault and in Christehui'ch for housebreaking, while Jones was known as one of the former's gang and a man who had served sentences in Sydney for housebreaking and in Wellington for vag- | rancy. Another offender, Charles Cox, received a sentence of one month.

At an early date land near the native township at Otorohanga is to be thrown open for, settloment. This township is situated on the Main Trunk raifway, at a distance of about 114 miles from Auckland, and forms the centre of a large district. It has been subdivided into 330 seetionp, ranging in area from a quarter of an acre lo two acres, and will be offered under lease for a period of. 21 years, with the right of renewal. This is the second block in Auckland district to be dealt with under the Maori Lauds Administration Act. The steamer Wainui, which arrived in Wellington 011 Thursday from the South Island, had on hoard the embalmed corpses of threo Chinamen, ttl-.n 11 < 1 rct.n in Greymonth. 1 l>e boxes containing the corpses are six feet long,' two feet wide, and two foet deep, solidly made of plain wood, hound with iron and inscribed with Chinese characters. The export trade in Chinese bodies is said to be very brisk, the number of corpses despatched being about four a month. The bodies are. guaranteed to remain inoffensive 011 the voyage.

After a series of laborious experiments with the electroscope and various photographic apparatus, Dr. Montana, the well-know r n Italian scientist. has succeeded in discovering a large amount of radio-activity in the waters of ftalsoinaggiore, in i lie province of Parma. In connection with this phenomenon, ho Ims made the discovery that these rays passing through glass form two sides of a triangle, and have tho same property as Kontgen rays in their effect on a photographic plate. Many German and English scientists have signified their intention of visiting Salsomaggiore to examine this phenomenon.

A desperate thief named Bruseli, after being detected stealing a crate of eggs in Hew York early on a recent morning, had a running light with the police, killing one officer and mortally wounding another. A largecrowd pursued the thief, who fortified himself in the basement of his house, and with two revolvers kept the crowd at bay. The policemen opened a fusillade at the "fort," and the thief used,Ms lastipartridge in attempting to commit suicide by shooting himself in the forehead, but the wound is not considered fatal. The thief belongs to a gang which prefers suicide to prison,

" Our Own" writes from Oinata. regarding tho report of the concert published yesterday morning pointing out that either as a result of the hilitary evoked at the ioncert oi' 'Mindfulness induced afterwards his notes appeared to have been somewhat mixed. It was Mr lJinnington, whose comicalities pro-, voked unrestrained laughter in the item " To-inorrow," the Donning-ton-Browns having retired from tiie scene before his advent on the boards. In another part Mr Coates is stated to have appenred as "Madge" which of course should have been "Maria," as anyone who 'las rend of the experiences of the " Three Men in a iloat" will know.

Mr James Balfour, ex-manager oi a Canterbuty run, who is now in Hritain, said to the Lyttelton Times correspondent ; " I am surprised at the uneven quality of much of the Canterbury meat seen at Sniitliliehl. I find that prime ' Canterbury' is fast losing its name—so muck so that few 'buyers are now impressed by what were once reliable brawls. Buyers now purchase mutton itnd land) according to tlm quality it exhibits at Smithlield,entirely ignoring the brand. I need not remind Canterbury shippers of the reason of this. They know quite as well as I do, and they have the remedy in their own hands. I should like to advise them, however, to make an effort to I need a better class of siieep, and also, when they do freeze coarser sorts in see that they are not sent here i.s ' prime Canterbury.' "

A good deal of attention is being given at present to the question of improving- the flax industry, and it is suggested that the 1 foil us for the improved method of dressing flax should be reinstated, and that stripping should bo treated separately Irom bleaching, so that improvement in either method would carry a reward. " This colony's flax," says ail expert, "has a big future in front of it. It is unrivalled for binding twine. Nothing in the market can compete with it. There is just one point about the industry in the colony that wants some attention, and Unit is the fact that millers are onlv making, or practically only making, good average quality of hemp, it the Government would give a bonus of £2 per ton for one year it would result in millers turning out hemp Hint would be so spprovtd on the English market that the bonus would not be required al'teil the time 1 have stated." It is understood that a beginning will be made shortly with the manufacture of binder twine in the Wellington district. Already the company controlling the Makerua Estate, on the Munawntu line, is supplying live flax- mills with the raw article, and it is estimated that double the number of mills will lie able to be supplied in 18 months. The mills are consuming about (SO tons per day.

Dr. Van Slyke, of Wellington, spiv cialist, eyo, ear, nose and throat, may be consulted at White Hart Hotel, New Plymouth, May 10- and 11.*

For reliable Boots, Shoes and Slippers at a low price go to Dockrill's, Devon-street Central, where you will find tho largest assortment in the district of Colonial, English, American, and Continental Manufactured Boots, Shoes and Slippers.* Importers will effect a saving in time uii'd tnom>}' by handing their shipping docuiminls to the New Zealand Express Co.. Ltd., llrougl tnnstreet. All Customhouse business strictly confidential. 8

An industry that has made rapid strides in the colony is the manufacturing of gents' fine all-wool underwear. The celebrated Roslyn mills are now turning put a splendid class of goodti n>tUHlfai:twW Wiley (i special process Which matea them unshrinkable. New shipment just opened at Neal's, the cash clothier.* The best median.; icnosn is Saltier & Sorts' Eucalypti {Sxtract, and it 9 eminent powerful ejects in coughs, colds, and influenz# make reliet instantaneous. For serious cases, and accidents of all kinds, be they wounds, burns, scaldings, bruises, sprains, it is the safest remedy—no swelling, no inflammation. Like surprising effects produced In croup, diptheria, bronchitis, inflammation of lungs, swelling, etc., iiarrhoea, dysentry, diseases of the kidneys, and urjftßi-y qrggiia. Sander and Sons' eucalypti Extract ii In use at hospitals and medico, clinics all over the globe ; patronized by His Majesty the King of Italj; crowned with medals and diplomas at International Exhibition, Amsterdam. Trust in this approved and rw loct all others.—Advt.