LOCAL AND GENERAL

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 8029, 16 January 1906, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL

"A Romance of Tort Arthur," a ale of the KnssoJapaiiese War, ap>ears on the fourth page to-day.

Fcar» arc entertained regarding the safety of the steamer Scot, overdue at Oeeau Island from Japan.

The coal aboard the itata at Sydney is still burning. There is now only the shell left.

Mr A. M. Couroy, secretary of the Band Contest, was in New Plymouth last evening on contest business, aud will return to Huwera at mid-day.

Auckland advises that owing'to the failure of the French cable which connects with the Venezuelan general system, communication with the latter country is interrupted.

The charge to k made by the New Plymouth Borough Council for electricity for lighting purposes lias been tixed at eightpenee per unit, subject to a discount of twopence, making the net price sixpence per unit,

Mr'Lepper, secretary of the Taranaki Hospital and Charitable Aid Board was on Monday v«ted an increase in salary of £26 per annum, to -help defray the cost of clerical assistance required by Mr Lepper in his office, al present paid wholly out of his salary.

The recently erected nurses' cottage, consumptive annexes, and morgue at the New Plymouth Hospital having had the necessary wiring for electric lighting installed, the Board authorised the chairman on Monday to have the work completed and the necessary lamps fitted.

A will, scratched on a piece of rusty iron with a uail, by a Frenchman named Devie, who hanged himself some time ago in Ardenne, has been upheld by the court at llethel. .Devie left everything of which he was possessed to the village of Adon, "on condition that £l2 be given to the lire brigade to have such a carousal as was never seen before."

The motor garnge is now an established feature of British warships. In the flat between the boiler-room bulkhead and the cook's galley there is plenty of room in most warships to stack bicycles and several nto:or-cars. The boat derrick, which hoists out the steam pinnace weighing fifteen ions, makes it easy to land and resliip the cars.

At the Tamnaki Hospital andCharitabic Aid Bo d meet' ig on Mom' yit t was resolved to increase the salary of ( the manager of the Old People's' Home ( by £"2 j, making it £175. Members expressed their sense of satisfaction with the control exercised by Mr and Mrs Farrar, alike in conserving the Board's ] inlcests and in ministering to the j needs of the old people "l their charge. ( Out of 55,000 babies born in Manhattan Borough, New York, during the past eleven months, only thirteen births took plane in the fashionable Fifth-Avenue, which is four and n half miles long. Tins figures of other fashionable thoroughfares show a similar low birth-rate. In the buildings in which Mr ltockfeller's residence is situated only one birth is recorded. Mr J. Goodman, who is achieving a colonial.rcputation as a healer, and is at present practising for a short time at New Plymouth, gave a lecture at the Whiteley Hall last evening on "The Liw of Mental Healing," or, "The Power of the Mind in the Cause and Cure of Disease," There was a good an 1 appreciative attendance. Our report will appear in to-morrow's issue. For the month of December 19 patients were admitted to the New Plymouth Hospital, 21 were discharged and 3 died, 22 rem lining at the end of - the year. Commenting on this at the , Board meeting on Monday Mr Cock , pointed out that the comparatively small number at present in the institution was a matter for congratulation, ■ as evidencing the general healthy cou- , dition of the district. At the end of April last there were in the Hospital 1 receiving treatment 40" patients, in May ' 10, June 32, July 38, August 15, Sep- . tember 3(5, Oclflbpr 30, November 20, and as already stated at the end of December there were only 22 inmates. At the New Plymouth S.M. Court ou Monday, Misapplication for maini tciiiiuce brought by Isabella Belinda , Davies against her husband, William . B. Davies, of Cnrrington-road, was refused. The evidence showed that the ' parties had not co-habited for six years, • and that the applicant left home voliini tarily, admitting also that her husband had not been unkind to her.

An outbreak of fire on the premises occupied by the Loudon Dental Company in Devon-street, was discovered about noon on Monday, and extinguished before any serious damage had been done. The outbreak was evidently caused through something going wrong with the vulcaniscr, and the flame from the gas jet coming into contact with the wall of the workroom, which was partially burned through when discovered by the manager, Mr Kcston. The Brigade arrived promptly, but their services fortunately were not required.

The largest salary in the world is paid to the solicitor of the Standard Oil Company of New York, who for years has drawn £50,000 per annum. A number of persons in the United States receive a salary of £20,0110, and the President of the great Yanderbilt system of r:.ilroads, controlling over 20,000 miles of track, with 100,000 employees, has been granted a salary of. £21,000 and a palatial residence in New York, while at least two oilier presidents draw £15,000 a year each.

Is the well-dressed man dying out? The "Outfitter" say's Ire'is." The decline of the silk hat, we are told, hiis long been'a,, source. Of anxiety to hatters in gau,ef.iil, but this.is by. no means the only. evidence of deterioration in the matter of men's attire/- It has become quite a common thing to see men who were patterns of" good taste attired in lounge suits, with soft flannel or cellular collars, and even with knickers and caps at all times and seasons; and it has even come ! to be regarded in some quarters as quite correct to appear at church in a lounge suit, with brown boots, double collar, and bowler. " The remedy," says the journal, lies in the education of the public on the subject of correct wear, and this must be taken in hand' without delay by every enterprising outfitter who wishes to keep his returns up to the mark." In an article in the " Monthly Ker view" for November on "The Decay of Self-control," Mr Basil Tozer asserts that there can be no doubt—and this opinion is shared by the majority of'our leading judge.;, scholars, .statesmen, and divines—that at the present time, not only in England, but also in ce lain other European countries, (he ambition of a very large section of j the community is to gratify its eery! appetite, satisfy its every whim, and obtain pleasure, and as much of it as possible, at any price, and irrespective of all else. In order io do this, restraint of every sort must, of course, be set aside. The warnings of philosophers, of the press, of religion, of physicians, must be disregarded. The whole system of Christianity in particular must, of course,, be forced into the background, and in As place an image must be set up that, is already being worshipped by very many thousands of our countrymen, and by a proportion of other civilised races—the idol Pleasure. Indeed, the determination to indulge in selt'-gralilicatiou of every kind so far as ever it can be indulged our leading thinkers are agreed in pro. nouncmg (o he now little short of a vice that threatens to take England by storm."

Men who shave themselves should lie infoimod of the excellence and suiooth-cut-ting qualities of the. "Kiwi" razors. Have an even temper, extraordinary keenness of edge, do not vibrate, when cutting into an extraordinary hcavv beard, and give yon a clean, luxurious sliave. even if you have the touchiest skin. Make me prove these statements. 1 will change your razor as often as you like until yon are satisfied. KIWI is the name. Got it at J. Avery's, the place for men's sundry needs, Devon street.—Adyt.

A wholly unexpected hit was miule with an amateur dramatic performance n a Victorian provincial town somewhat recently. A young man and young woman sat in a conspicuous iplace in the stalls, livery time the

tall picturesque hero on the stage embraced the pert heroine, th-i young man in the front stalls embraced the girl alongside him and kissed her with a noise like the report of a lioyal Commission. Home people recognised the young man in the stalls as the husband of the pert heroine on the boards, and imparted their informal inn to their neighbours, with llie result that the whole audience learnt the facts, and the manner in which the pair in the stalls went two better than the couple on the stage provoked thunders of applause, and took all the stiffening out of the drama. The pert heroine broke

down in. the most affecting love scene in the third act as a consequence of the nefarious going-on of her husband" The latter, it appeared, strongly objected to his wife's weakness for nma-

teur acting, and tliis was his protest. The greatest trouble the manager of the Old People's Homo at New Plymouth has to contend with is drink among the men allowed out on leave. Stopping the leave of offenders and taking out prohibition orders against them has not proved a sufficient check. The inmates in this Home arc more liberally I treated in the matter of pocket money than at any similar institution in the

colony, the Old Age Pension inmates having 10s per mouth returned to) them. The conduct of the inmates , during the Christmas and New Year season was on this occasion altogether exemplary, ascribed by the mnnager to the fact that the old fellows were short of cash, their pensions not having been paid in time. The Board has now resolved to stop the cash allowance to those who do not observe the rules and bylaws.