LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 7997, 7 December 1905, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The record payment of JCIrjH IHs Id. old a;;e pensions was made at Christchurch oii Monday. When t ln* lust k'nglish mail left no I less than nine members of the New I Zealand team were on the sick list. I his reduced the playing member* available to 18. Two well-dressi-d young men, K. V. ince and .Fames Mclntyre, for siealing jewellery valued at £:t(i l(>s to 4; 10 from v the lieeiisee of the Caledeman Hotel, A offend, have beetl Iried. Th« fotgwjßttt lS£nH»ttU»,s* hard, and acquitted. The Mataura doctoral roll gives an idea of. the extoat to which the übiquitous "Mac" has peopled that part of the colony, remarks the Gore Standard. He and she are 650 strong, no f«wer than 108 being " .Macdonalds," ; ",Mcl>onald," or "JlacPonalds." the door o' one of l>r. "Barnafdftj| Hoys llotnes was a mat with OprVonls "Wipe your feel" inscribed upon it as a gentle hint. As l>r. Harnardo was entering he saw a new boy removing his shoes and stockings—both quite strange clothing to him—and wiping his bare feet on the mat. The potato blight has wrought havoc amongst the crops throughout the Kaukapakapa district (writes the correspondent of the 'Now Zealand Herald). An unusually largv area was planted, but the blight has everywhere made its appearance in n very bad form, to the great loss of the .set t lers. We hear a great deal about the secrecy of the •ItoH'ot,. No a liltle story touching on this should,no4p btout of place. At a polling-bocth in this electorate last election a lady elector fo!lowv:l the direct ions on th« ballot paper; u.ud then.l.io theA astonishment of the returning otlicer ami scrutineers, .demanded to know which * Wtis Mr -Smith's box. She si etuc# lest her vot A should miscarry;-. -Such is secrecy.

The giniit negress who has Invn the "draw" in a show in unvii for a I few dnvs| was passing down one of j the principal streets oif Tuesday morning. A local gentleman, whoso sobriquet denotes' a somewhat tthhrovialod stature, wan recommended liy ft iiibmineivt citizen to "go nm\ stand alongside h<*." rTlw- remark was overheard 'by the coloured lady, yrtio smiled serenely from her lofty height and passed oil. The people in' wore sorry that the conji not eventuate. ' J