LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 8002, 13 December 1905, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The appointment of Mr W, D. M. (ilaisler. as Registrar of Marriages, etc., at Eltham, vice Mr Ci. P. Wake, is gazetted.

The stall at the petroleum boring works will to-day commence the lilting of a new packer. Pumping .should be resumed at the end of the week.

An area of 2,770 acres, bring section 223 Pepcpe Parish in I lie Newcastle .Survey Histrict, Auckland, lias been permanently set apart as a scenic reserve.

The next meeting of the New l'ly. mouth Borough Council will be held on Thursday, 21st inst., the usual meeting night fallingou the2slh, Christmas Day. The next shipiiH-iil of but tor from IW Mut uroa freezing works will be made per s.s. Cnrinna 011 .Monday next, and will probably comprise over 11,000 boxes. The Coriuna will bring about H,<KK) boxes from Auckland ports.

A well-known Mcthoeist lady in llobart has donated £2,000 l<i the Melhi'disl Foreign .Mission Society. The money «ill be invested so thai it will bring £IOO a year interest to the funds.

I Parents and friends of pupils attending Cornwall's School of Music are invited lo attend the pupils' recital at St, .Mary's schoolroom 011 Thursday evening. The children, from seven years of age upward;, will furnish a programme of violin duets and M|^uiUr

The avoragc attendance at the Stratford school during the past quarter whs 295, and the school is now entitled to another teacher. Bewlcy and Griffiths, of New Plymouth, liad a record entry of fowls, &c., on Saturday last, the whole of their hens and space being taxed to the utmost. The Taranaki Athletic and Caledonian Association has approved of the North Taranaki Caledonian Society's sports being held at Waitara on February the 10th next. The , llifle Union match, Rifles v. Guards, takes place on Thursday. The Killes will he represented by Capt. Okey, Sergt. McKeown, Corporal Arinitagc, Privates Humphries, A. Marett, T. Marett, Okey and Bruce.

From the " Post" we lenrn that the Stratford school children are to have their annual seaside picnic at New Plymouth on January 25th, if the authorities can provide a train on that date. ;

The "Elthiun Avgus" urges the formation of a new electoral district, on the ground that there is little or no community of interest between the north and south ends of the Patea electorate as al present defined.

Mr J. Clark, delegate of the Star Sports Club, New Plymouth, has been appointed to represent the Taranaki Athletic and Caledonian Association at an Athletic Conference proposed to be held in Wellington during the Christmas holidays. Beckoning butter at an average price of IOJd per pound, the 14,000 odd boxes of butter to be sent south from New Plymouth next Monday is worth about £33,500. Not a bad total for a portion of Taranaki's dairy factories. In preparing the "flash" for photographs in the Theatre Royal last night the pan was rested on the ledgo fronting the dress circle. The fierce heat emitted was responsible for a fierce scorching of the upholstering, but no great harm wis done.

The Fitzroy School Committee had a pleasant surprise the other day in the nature of a donation of a guinea, towards the expenses of a breaking up entertainment for the children. Mr P. S. Murtagh was the public spirited donor.

The ladies interested in the Taranaki Rifles have collected funds and purchased for tlio orderly room a number of chairs and other articles of furniture. At the parade last night it was decided to forward to Mrs George Cock, for the committee, a very hearty vote of thanks. Another lady has presented the Company with a set of ping-pong requisites. There was a poor muster of the Taranaki Guards und a comparatively small attendance of the Taranaki Rilles at the battalion parade last night. The whole evening was devoted to the examination of officers in practical work. J Lieut.-Colonel Okey and Capt.-Adjut-aut Weston being the Examining Board. The " White Cow Brand " butter of the Eltham Dairy Factory is obtaining a good hold on the London market in its race against the Danish " Red Cow " article. Eacli box of the Eltham butter contains a sheet of white parchment paper bearing tlie name of the make, the trade mark, and the locality iu blue ink. The idea is a good one. This is the sort of drivel we are at times inflicted with. It is telegraphed from Christchjirch by the Press Association : —" To-day is about the hottest day Christchurch has experienced this summer, as is evidenced by the . thermometer, which at 2.30 o'clock this afternoon registered 82 degrees in the shade. Temperature in sun was about 120. The other diy a couple of cyclists, perhaps about eight years old, were riding along a New Plymouth footpath when the Mayor met them. He warned them that the Inspector would have them. They were not easily scared. "Oh, we know him," came the laughing reply, which suggests the expediency of Mr Kendall donning disguises in order to catch the side-track scorchers.

Tlie full dress rehearsal last night of the Catholic Christinas Fete programme was very successful, and the privileged public who witnessed it were loud in their praises of the very handsome and costly dressing, effective posing, and clever dancing shown. There wore, of course, a few minor defects, but Mrs Conuop and the other ladies in charge will have these remedied long before the date of the Fete arrives. At the close of the programme flashlight photographs of the group performers vrcre secured, four cameras operating. The Fete promises to be a huge success, and not the least popular portion'of it will be the fine spectacular programme submitted for the first time last night.

Tuesday was a busy day at the Moturoa Freezing Works, about 2000 boxes of dairy and creamery butter coming forward for grading. The weather of the past week or two has been very trying for private concerns without proper refrigerating appliances, their produce coming forward in an almost liquid condition. Messrs Johnstone and Hanson, the Government graders, informed us that the quality of the butter this season has been very good, though somewhat affected by the very warm weather experienced of late. Some of tho brands contained the tallowy flavor that is merely the forerunner of " fishiness" on the Home market, but on the whole there was little to complain of in the manufacture. It most cases the defects could be traced to the quality of the rawarticle supplied to the factories.

Mr F. Simpson, Commissioner of Crown Lauds, who returned from a trip into the Iwckblocks of northern Taranaki on Tuesday morning, states that_ the country in that direction is looking exceedingly well. His journeyings took him up the Okau ami Tonga-porutu-Managrou roads, right through the Tongoaorutn A'alley, After leaving the road he had to take a walking track for some distance through very rough country. In one place the traveller ascended 1100 feet lu a few chains, the track scaling a height almost perpendicular. This track is in almost daily use, the surveyors having to obtain their provisions by this route. The road has now been formed to within about six or eight miles of Mangaroa, and selectors arc getting the bush down in all directions. The tenants are described as a likely lot of men, who are of the right stamp.