NEWS OF THE DAY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVI, Issue 116, 20 May 1904, Page 2

NEWS OF THE DAY.

The metalling of Devon Street is to be commenced on Monday morning. The Melbourne—Naples despatch of mails on April 13 arrived in London 011 the afternoon of the 16th inst. The salvage of the Northern Monarch wreck id to be the subject of litigation in the Now Plymouth court. The Vivian-street footpath between Brougham-street and the Carrington lioad is now in process of formation. This will be a great convenience to church-goers and others. "Dead. Present address unknown." Such was the endorsement of a jury summons returned to the Court Officials by a constable stationed not many miles from Wanganui. Mr Gibbons has now received the necessary tracings from Mr Mestayer, the consulting engineer, through Mr Sladtlen, and is prepared to peg out the reservoir site in connection with the new borough water-supply. The borough engineer is to be authorised to purchase the necessary articles required for the manager's office at the abattoirs, the question of purchasing a safe being referred to the Mayor and Cr. Ahier.

The attempt to start a new dairying company at Otakeho has not been attended with success. Mr T. L. J oil haa now been approached by the promoters to erect a creamery there, and it is likely that the inducements necessary for the latter to do so will be forthcoming. A colloquy. Place, Manaia ; time, a day or two ago. Exicited individual on the door step : " Come 'ere you (expletive) dog !'• Woman, milking cow outside : " How can I, when I'm working ?" Husband :"I don't mean you, you blankety blank ; I mean the dog!" Woman: "Well how do you think I'm to know who you mean—me or the doe i t _ Witness. Thu old military hospital building, now under the control of the Borough Council, is in u dirt.v stato at present, being used by ail sorts of people. The council's engineer recently examined it thoroughly and l'ound the timber sound with the exception of the ground plates. He recommends the council to expend a sum of money on the place, making it into a comfortable und neat residence for letting purposes. The complaint made the other day by the South Dunedin town clerk that he had " to work ten, eleven, and even thirteen hours a day, and nearly every Sunday," recalls' the story told by the clerk of the " model borough" at the north end. His Council had been in committee over the. Shop Assistants Bill, and had decided on the various recommendations they were to make to the .Municipal Conference, when, as a last thought, the mayor asked him if there was anything they had overlooked. No ' r V' l>lied the worn-out official, ' unless it be that town clerks be brought under, the operation of the Act, so that they be prevented from working more than eighteen hours a dayT'"''

Under the direction of the borough engineer the necessary protective works have been erected at the cast end bathing shed. At a meeting of the Colonial Mutual Life Company the report was adopted. It showed a satisfactory increase in business, increased receipts, and a decrease in death claims. A schedule of rates proposed to be levied in tire borough for the cur- ■ rent year, 1904-5. is advertised in another column. The borough estimates for the same period are also officially notified. A Gisborne press message states that Hon. J. Carroll yesterday turned the first sod for the foundation of tho Uawa bridge, at Tolago Bay. In tho cours# of "a. speech the Minister referred to the fertility of thte district, and said It would be capable of carrying a large population. The total quantity of gold entered for exportation from tho colon,yup to March 31 last was 16,230,9040z, valued at £63,628,261. The quantity entered for exportation for last quarter was 125;0930z., valued at £479,1,14, arf against 1,17,95P0z., valued at £449,997 for the March quarter in 1903. The output from the State coalmine at Seddonville is now about ISOOtons per week, and the quantity could be increased at once to 2000 tons. It is expected that the yield from the mines of Greyniouth by tho end of the present month will be 1500 tons, so that there will be then ail output of 3000 tons from the State mines.

Counsel engaged in a case at the Supreme Court at Christchurch the other -day, explained with considerable eloquence to the jury that the prosecutor was himself a man of indill'eremit character,iand was animated by feelings of revenge against the accused. " The evidence of such a man," concluded the lawyer, "should not be sullicient to takeaway the character of a rat." Boring operations for petrolium were commenced at Momma on -Mr Honeyfield's property on Wednesday afternoon, and at the finish of the day's operations a depth of nine feet below tho well had been reached. The work was continued yesteixlny and good progress is reported, the plant working well and giving Mr Fair the greatest satisfaction. Taranaki people, and residents of New Plymouth ill particular wish him luck in his enterprise. The Argus says that in sending the unemployed to work in the country districts, the Premier of Victoria (Mr Bent)) has determined that they must sign an agreement to return half of their wages to their wives and families. He says -he does not sea why philanthropic societies in the city should be supporting the wives ami families of any of these men who may be inclined to spend the greater part of their wages in drink. Mr Bent is arranging to allow the men to have the use of all necessary too-ls free of charge for the first fortnight. After that they will have to pay a small sum weekly for their use.

A Wanganui borough councillor at a recent meeting objected to the present system of keeping the minutes of the Council's proceedings. The minutes were typed and then pasted into the minute book. By this means the minutes could be altered by the simple means of cutting out a page, re-typing it as required, and repasting it in the book again. And who was to tell ? The good old manuscript minute book could not be beaten, for wit'h it the minutes could not possibly be altered without detection, and he suggested that the system should lie changed- anil a propel- book provided. The mayor agreed with the councillor that there was nothing like the good old style. An English writer has been startling Gr,;at Britain by describing the actual conditions that exist in the large cities among the poorest people of the slums. He has shown that the rooms in which thousands of people live are as filthy -and crowded as pigsties. " I visited scores of houses in Manchester," he says,"and found that in all of them the father, mother and children sleep on a single mattress and cover themselves with rags. The comforts, even tho bare decencies of life ore entirely lacking in these homes. Many of the children are never washed. The mothers do not wash themselves. In a number of the houses I found the women with bruised faces -and blackened eyes. In one place I found the mother drunk in the coal-hole, with a baby in her arms." A witness at the Christchurch Supreme Court on Monday was very reluctant to explain why lie ha-d gone out to meet a friend about 7 o'clock in tiie morning. Counsel's questions elicited the statement- that witness was in the habit of meeting his friend -at an early hour of the morning, and that the friend was a prohibited person. Asked wether he carried beer to his friend, tile witness at first refused to answer, explaning that he might lay himself open !to a line, but at length he decided }to make a clean breast of if, and declared that he had "run the cutter" for his friends. The friend,when his turn came, cheerfully admitted that " two or three " persons situa- ! ted as unfortunately as himself were in the habit of joining these little gatherings.

The Irish peasant's pig has long been known as the mos-t useful of animals, but apparently its capabilities are not yet fully known. In an article on -a well-known philanthropist in a recent number of the Fortnightly lteview the following passage occurs : " he may be found visiting the congested districts, tramping day after day from one wi etched collection of cabins to another, stooping to enter at their low. doors into the dense reek of the turf smoke, sitting there among the hens and the children, while the pig if the family be rich enough to possess one, wanders in and out of his own sweet will, encouraging, advising, striving to give hope where there was only apathy and despair." CJood old piggy I A traveller by the outward train popularly known as "the. one o'clmk train," relates that its pi-ogress yesterday, at any rate as far as Inglewood, was - somewhat halting. No less than three stoppages were rendered necessary, on two occasions

"to clean out the coal box" and once to "lire up." How it got on after passing Inglewoud is not Fluted, but probably the bracing air of the higher altitudes had a beneficial effect on the "iron horse's" respiratory organs. At any rate, it is to be concluded the train ''got there" all right sooner or later, as no inquiries have yet been heard for a lost or wandering railway procession. Trains on the Taranaki section are not remarkable for an undue hastiness of movement : but yesterday's "slow express" performance, when something like ten miles an hour was registered, would perhaps be hard to beat anywhere outside of Andalusia, during the prevalence of one of its enervating solanos. <fc will comfort the women-folk who believe in the corset to hear the practice defended. A London corsetiere whose customers are among the best dressed women in society and on the stage, explains that slim waists were to be fashionable. "Hut," she avers, " the slenderness is offer more apparent than real. Englishwomen have naturally small waists : they hold themselves well, and that is bull the battle. The modern corset is not like tile straight jacket which their grandmothers wore. H is moulded to the wearer's shape, not made as a mould to which lh<> figure must adapt itself. Certainly, ladies- . waists will appear this season t„ be several inches less than last year but the corsets will he the same. We shall not alter them. The skilful modiste understands how to manoeuvre lolds and pleats so as to create the illusion of a dilTerence where the measurements remain unaltered. The waistline may be raised or lowered, allowed to dip in front or be straight all round, 'that is the dressmaker's aflnir. Hut. return to thu old aqee".t'jg method with its- unsightly hourglass effect ? Never ! '

A whalo about 35 foot long lias been been washed ashore at. Ocean Beach, Dunedin. Interesting developments are expected' in connection with a petition recently circulated and largely signed in the district near Rahotu in connection with the doings of a member of the body of the great unpaid. . Yesterday morning Mr E. M. Smith, M.11.R., who has been anyI thing but strong recently as the result of the severe burning accident, which was followed by a I very severe illness, fell in a fainting fit on t'ho footpath neail the Theatre Hoy al. He was immediately assisted by sonto friends and sent in a cab to his residence. We sincerely trust that this indisposition will only be temporary, and that the popular member for TiiranaUi will soon be about again. They are adopting the American word "to hustle" in England, and (writes an American paper) giving it a bad sense as standing for that brutal spirit of hurry wlrich is resulting in the commercial invasion on England. Thus an accident recently took place in England while an American steam pump company were carrying out a contract, and the coroner, after calling attention to the fact that the man had been working for twenty-five hours with only intervals for meals, said this seemed to be "ail example of hustling that ought not to be followed." It is easy to see how the English feel about it, and they are not without reason. It is the pace that kills, and the American pace, which is first-rate for a sprint, may get the world badly winded if it is maintained.

Mr Gibbon, borough engineer, reported last night on the new waterworks contract. lie says that McWilliams is progressing slowly with his contract. Since tile last report the distance driven in both directions from the shaft has been increased to 647 feet. The concrete lining has been brought up to within a very short distance from the side drive, although the invert still remains to be put, in. The worst portion of the tunnel, where the break-through occurred, has been very successfully treated, and is now safe and wateltight. The tunnel under the Mangamahoc has been completed for a length of 40 feel and the stone pitching will he complete in a few days. The cutting and tunnel from the Mangnmahoe to. the intake has been excavated a length of 270 feet and the excavation for the intake work has also been done to a depth of sixteen feet.

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