NEWS OF THE DAY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVI, Issue 285, 6 December 1904, Page 2

NEWS OF THE DAY.

The 1904 volume of New Zealand Statutes is to hand from the Government Printer. The Auckland-San Francisco des-' patch of November 4th arrived in London on the 4th inst.

A meeting of the exhibition committee will bo held in the borough Chambers this evening. Hospital Sunday contributions at Ujb Basin Reserve, Wellington, and in the streets totalled £2OB. The jubilee of tile Eureka, stockade affair was celebrated at Ballarat and other mining centres of the Commonweal th.

In the Divorce Court at Wellington on Monday a decree nisa was granted in the case Elizabeth Summarsell v. Harry Suinmarscll, on ulie ground of desertion.

The fame of the exhibition has extended even to Sydney, as one of the largest jewellery firms in business there—the Chicago Jewellery Company—have engaged space. At Okaiawa on Saturday night the promises of Messrs- Chi vers, Jones and Co. were burglariously entered, ■a safe blown open, and the contents (£27) stolen. There is no clue.

The Christmas number of the Observer is as usual a bright and cheery production, containing) a large and varied assortment of matter suited to the season, and should command a ready sale in the realm of lighter literature.

An -Adelaide cable states that a woman, with a child in her arms, stopped the Melbourne express, und told the driver she had received a divi»e order to stop all Sunday trains. She forcibly resisted removal till the police arrived. The Farmers' Union Mamgatoinoka 'branch has decided to ask the Minister for Agriculture to take steps to prevent the distribution of diseased potatoes in that district, and has suggested that the Health Department could assist in the matter.

Tho niuar approach of the festive season becomes apparent by tho arrival of the usual budget of Christmas greeting cards, etc. Among these a novel postcard comes from the musical members of Mr J. C. Williamson's Royal Comic Opera Company.

A cable has been received to the effect that E. R. Terry, the world's champion axeman, and A. Clark, J. Deegmnj, and G, A. Goold, champion sawyers, leave Tasmania on Friday for New Zealand to represent the Commonwealth at the New Z«uland Axemen's Carnival at Eltham on the 26th and 27th December, lihuic, Chellis, and McCarthy were unublo to obtain the necessary leave.

The alwiition of the " bona iide traveller" is affecting the Wellington train traffic on Sunday. Since the new liodnsiiag law oamo into operaWon traffic to the Hutt Valley on Sundays has dropped to comparatively sinaM dimensions, though only two years tago it was growing, go fast' that two cxfcra trains had to be put on in the afternoon. The opening of the new lines of tramway has probably affected It to some oxtent as well-.

At Folding on Monday three lads, theft- ages ranging fron 17 to 19 yours Vtfre charged with breaking and entering tho premise!* of Mr Hill (schoolmaster) and stealing casjh and jewellery to the value of £2B. Two lada, one of whom was concerned in the previous case, were also changed with breaking and entering the premises of Mr Wheeler, and stealing goods valued at £2l 15s. They were remanded. Other charges are pending, The quidnuncs are busy at work prognosticating concerning Mr Seddon and the High Commissionership. Some are absolutely certain that he is going to fill the position ; the Lyttclton Times, professing to gather inspiration from recent remarks of Mr Seddon, is now quite satisfied that he is to be the first High Commissioner. The speeches made by the t'remier, however, have such a strong likeness to the utterances of the Delphic Oracle that people are afforded an opportunity of drawing those inferences that best suit their own wishes. We (Eltham Argus) are now going to open out u new line of conjecture for those who are interested in the matter. Why should not Mr Seddon retire into private life in New Zealand ? To a man who has hold supreme power for so long the subordinate position of High Commissioner cannot have very extraordinary attractions. Even in private life Mr Seddon would' be a power in this country, though we must admit it is a bit difficult to conceive him resting quietly. But it is possible that he might assume the role of a/ modern Cincinnatus and after his strenuous public life retire to the privacy of a farm. .1 ust fancy our Premier, one of the foremost men of his diiy, joining the noble army of cow-spankers, in other words running a dairy farm ! He would make the occupation fashionable at once, and hundreds of people who are too darned lazy to work now, and prefer loafing around towns agitating for more holidays, shorter hours and longer pay might not then be ashamed to work. What a wonderful effect it might have if the Premier were to start farming. The thing is not impossible. A Taranaki land agent is on the lookout for a farm property, ostensibly for one of tho Premier's family, "but," says our Informant, "I believe it is for the 'Old Man' himself."

The Taranaki Guards aro notified of the muster parade to-night at 7 p.m. sharp. Members must note that the fall in is half an hour earlier than usual,*

On Incumber 26th, the first day of the Tarunnki Jockey Club's ruces, trains trains will leave New Plymouth for llawera at 5.45 p.m. and 6.20 p.m., and on the 27th at 6.20 p.m.

Tho custodian of tibe Old People's Home (Mr Farrur) wishes to thank the Christian Endeavour Society for the concert recently given to the inmates, who much appreciated it ; ulso Mr Heard for parcel of clothing ; Sergeant H«ddrell, plants for grounds ; Mrs O'Driscoll, books and magazines ; and Mrs D. 0' Brien, books and magazines.

Mr 0. Cooper, manager of the Mangutoki batter factory, isi the inventor of a 1 remarkably clever automatic skim milk weigher, which he has patented. A model of the l»ateivt was amongst the New Zealand exhibits >at the St. Louis Exhibition and Sir .Joseph Ward has just communicated the news to Mr Cooper that a silver medal has 'been awarded him for it iby tho exhibition authorities. Mi' Cooper is to he heartily congratulated on his success. Stratford Posit. Tlie few whose duties called them out at an early hour on Monday morning were treated to l an unusual electric display. Just before four o'clock there was a heavy and persistent downpour of rain, and then came one blinding, rending flash of lightning! which seemed for an instant to (bum its way into the recesses of the wayfarer's visual faculties, and then to leave him in darkness startling in its comparative intensity. Next came an oarsplitting thunder-clap, and then—Hie deluge ; or, at least, a goodly portion of it. Strange to say no more lightning was seen or thunder heard.

An article which has been given the name of vegetable butter has recently been produced in France from cocoanut oil. It is claimed that this product is the nearest approach to butter made from cow's milk which we have yell known from vegetable oil. It will keep twenty-live to thirty days without showing! any acid reaction, and from a hygienic standpoint the experiments have shown that this vegetable butter is a far butter antiseptic than true butter, and artificial digestion carried out at the Central Hospital, Vienna, has given most satisfactory results, confinned by experiments in Swiss hospitals.

Tho man Selby referred to in Friday's cobles as having fired at Judge Hubbard when seated on the bench in San Francisco is not unknown in New Zealand. About the middle eighties he visited Wellington and tho other cities of the colony as a free thought lecturer. The Lyceum Theatre (now Messrs Thomson and Lewis' cordial factory), in Tory Street, was at that time leased 'by the sect which Selby represented, and many and animated were the oilatorSctal battlas therein decided. After Selby had bsen in Wellington for some time his marriage to un Auckland , woman of diverse religious views was tho subject of some comment. He afterwards forsook free thought, and became a preacher in tho Church of Christ. Ho Wad a large following in Melbourne in 1891.

A fire & always an opportonity Tor the descriptive reporter, and ho is no* generally slow to take advantage ol' it. But rarely cam a chance have been so eagerly seized as that afforded by the burning of two rooms at Uatley—a surgery with kitchen underneath. Half a column is given in a local paper to an account of the "splendid light with the raging element." "Gallon after gallon of water" was pouted from the hose, v e are told. This is not hard to believe, but wo are only being prepared for the worst : "The wind blew strongly, and .whisked huge tongues of fire through the window frames. There wus a heat worse than the burning of a desert sun. The Biblical furnace that was seven times hotter than it was wont to bo, seemed to pale into but moderate warinth compared with the immeasurable torridity of the leaping roaring cataract of flames that was engulfing everything combustible—and, indeed, everything thought not combustible, in its progress. Soon the tornado had a veritable saturnalia." And all this at a total cost of hardly £2OO ! We tremble to think what language would have been evoked by a really good big conflagration. The Brisbane police have received a report from lleenleigh that the residence of Frederick Dobbin, farmer, Yatulu, was destroyed by fire on Saturday night, November 19th, and three of Dobbin's children, Martha nine years, Albert seven years, and Frederick four years, were burn>d to death. It appears that Dobbin went into Bcenleigh the previous night, leaving his wife and six children at home. From what can be gathered of the circumstances, it is believed that the children wore going to bed, when ono of them; when playing about, knocked over a lighted candle, which, set lire to the curtains. The house being an old wooden structure was soon in flames, and, before assistance could be obtained, Albert, aged seven, was burned to death. The other two children, who were sleeping ,in the same room, were taken out of the house, but not before they were nearly roasted alive. Although! medical aid was speedily summoned they died shortly alterwards in fearful agony, fhe charred remains of the boy Albert were recovered by the police. Three of the children oscaped without injury, but Mrs Dobbin was badly burnt about the upper part of the body, ami she is in a weak nervous state.

An old man named George Holl committed suicide by shooting himself at his liouro at St. Peter's, near Sydney, last week. It appears that he was much tormented by boys, who throw stones on the roof of his house, and annoyed him in various ways. He left letters to the effect tkat ho w«s worried to death, and thut he intended to shoot himself in order to find peace. One letter read: —"I am in a death trap, and see no escape from it. Tho best thing is to shoot myself—that relieves me of all trouble, for troublo is staring, me in the face everywhere. I deserved a better ending. If you can possibly sell this place, sell it, or else the larrikins will drivo you out." Alluding to the stone-th."uv\' img he wrote :—"I havo stood this far eighteen months, and my nerves have become qu.o'j irritable, so thut the least thing makes me jump. Sometimes 1 wake at night in hotror, thinking the boys are bombarding the roof with stones. Ono Sunday night as I ncared my homo, there were twenty, or thirty larrikins on tits footpath. As I passed them they threw' a cat on my tmck. I got several times so annoyed that I could have shot some of thorn, but on reflection I thought I would be hung for it, and that would be the greatest disgrace that could befall me. 1 cannot' survive such indignities."