LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 8121, 28 May 1906, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

_Tc Rangi Pai. Song recital in the theatre Koyal on Tuesday evening. Che box plan is now opened at the Dresden.

A number of South Taranaki farmers iiad wool aboard the sailing ship, Pit,:airn Island, recently burned at sea.

A reward is offered for a pure-bred |)«g pup, which was lost in New Plymouth late on Friday afternoon. It is rumoured that the New Plynouth High School Board has ascerLaised that it has no power to vote any money towards the New Plymouth Technical School building fund,

As an instance of the great strength and power of the shock of lightning that flashed round Opunake on Tuesday, observes the local paper, it is reported by more than one lady that it so irompressed their jaws that they could not open them for some time. The

writer is evidently a benedict,

Or. Monteath has given notice to nove at the meeting of the Borough Council, to rescind the resolution which authorised tho expendi'ure of LIOO towards assisting the Education Board in erecting the New Plymouth Technical School.

It is stated that a meeting of school teachers, now acting as ofliceis of cadcl companies in the Taranaki Education District, will be held at the end of the •veck, and that several of these gentlemen intend resigning their commission, in consequence of the strictures passed an them by the Education Board.

A settler in Otago, who reports that he has discovered a few small diamonds of a beautiful shape and lustre, and inquired if a reward is available for such a discovery, has been informed i hat' : tho Government has not offered t reward for the discoyery of diamonds.

Speaking of the relative values of land as between dairying and (laxmilling, a Shannon ilaxiniller told a representative of a Levin paper that he last year mado the sum of £2500 from '2OO acres of swampy laud. A friend of liis who owns 800 acres of good dairying land made the sum of £ISOO in the samo period. j There was a touch of pathos in the leath of a labourer at Horsham (Vic.) station. When the train had started lie rushed up and tried to board it. Me was handicapped by a parcel, and the door swung back and knocked him down between the carriages, where he was instantly killed. The parcel contained a wooden toy engine, which he was taking home to his child.

Mr Griffiths, of the New Plymouth firm of Bewley and Griffiths, lms been on a visit to Christchurch, whore ho witnessed a practical demonstration of the Hutchison milking machine, the invention of Mr George Hutchison, formerly a master of tho Wellington College. Air Griffiths is of opinion that the machine is as near perfection as human ingenuity can devise. Tho plant was working at Mr Savilie's placo at Styx, near Christchurch, and that gentleman had informed him that the machine had met every test, and he was delighted with it. The first public tost of the Hutchison milker is to to take place at the Palmerston North show on the lHlh and 19th prox.

Members of the Equitable Building Society of Now Plymouth (First and Second Groups) are notified that subscriptions will be due and payable on Monday, at the Secretary's Office, Curric-strcot, from 0 a.m. to 12.30, from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., and 7 p.m, to !' p.m,—Advt.

Messrs 15. •!. Carthew and Company, have instructions to sell Mr Wcbsters charming property, opposite the Golf Links, in quarter acre sections. Price, [cash, L 125 each; terms LliO, 10 per cent. cash. Those who buy early will secure the best sections. Apply at once.—Advt. Out on the deep the storm blew wild, Hut (he man at the wheel stood firm. He swallowed some 0. T. PUNCH and smiled, For the cold couldn't make him squirm

The wife of Mr Wm. Swadling. chairman of the Kaponga Town Board, died at Kaponga early on Saturday morning. Much sympathy is felt, for Mr Swadling in his bereavement. The funeral will take place this afternoon. A redaction of twopence in every shilling, or 3s 4d in ovcry & spent, is an item that immediately arrests the attention of people who use common sense in their buying. It is an astounding offer, though not altogether unusual with "Hawke's," who is now allowing this astonishing discount off .ill their stock, except ordinary cups and saucers. Hawke's two New Plymouth shops, in Devon street contral and in Egmont street, near tho railway station, are now busy with the usual " sale rush," Poople have been waiting for the sale, Now it is here, and , books, fancy goods, stationery, brush- • ware, leather goods etc., are soiling ai ; the stated reduction fi'om the marked prices.

Incidentally remarking that "one touch of nature makes the whole world kin," the Wyndham "Farmer" tells the following story : —"A district dairyman happened on sorry times. First, some of his cattle and horses died, then came the irreparable loss ot a beloved child. The sincere sympaihy of the neighbours for the bereaved parents took practical shape in that little community. In an unobtrusive way it was suggested by one of their number that none of them would miss a morning's milk i&it were donated for a. certain purpose. The hint was cheerfully accepted, and tho aggrogate result was that 14001b of milk was placed by them next morning to their friend's account at the dairy factory." A good story is told by a cyclist. He hung his bicycle from the ceiling of his cellar, and not far from a swing shelf on which food was kept. A mouse jumped from the shelf upon the iyre of the front wheel, evidently thereby hoping to reach the floor. Tlip wheel started, and the mouse naturally anto the highest part of it. It was able to stay on the top of the tyre, bul wouldn't get enough foothold to jump to the wall. When found next morning, the mouse was very much exhausted, though still running. The cyclometer showed that he had run eightythree miles. A glaring case of evasion of the compulsory clauses of the Educatnn lei was brought before the meeting of iie Southland Teachers' Instiluto by a iountry teacher, who asked the Institute to take action in the matter. He stated that the chairman of the School

Committee had all this year—with the ■xception of a day or two—kept his ihiWren away, and to prcyent prose■ntion had issued to himself, in his capacity as chairman, certificates of exsmption, a proceeding never contemplated by the Act. A Sydney resident, who has been on i visit to Siam, thus speaks of its clinatc, according to the "Daily Tele;raph "It does not strike one as icing at all a dcsirable'place to livo in. The climate is such that you can hatch luck eggs in tho sun. That is no ronance, because I have seen the Chinee there engaged in this interesting iporation. Chinese, as you are awaro, lave a weakness for poultry, and they .-ear ducks in Siam for tho table. ] lave seen them put the eggs oat in the oiin. At night they cover them with a blanket, and tho next morning they urn the eggs, so as to expose the ither side to the sun's rays. Soon •lie ducklings burst through the shells. No; Siam is no place for a white man."

The fear expressed by many Europeans that the Maoris are dying out does not appear to be borne out by ihis year's census. The returns received up to the present show an increase in the native population in nearly every district, and there is reason to believe that when all tho figures ire to hund it will be found that the Vlaori race is numerically stronger than it ivas when tho census of 1901 svas taken. The sanitary conditions at the majority of the native villages are i vast improvement on t-hsse which ■rcvailed a few years ago,, and mainly )winK to that fact 110 doubt there have been no serious opidomics since 1901. All impressive example of American enterprise is furnished by the Oakland Herald oE 19th April, the day after the San Francisco earthquake. The jourlal is, of course, full of news about the catastrophe, set under staring head'ines, including one "Many People Killed." The large type lies under some paragraphs describing " HaVoe along Oakland Waterfront," and therefore the reader is prepared for a harrowing account of fatal accidents. He is soon disillusioned. " Many people killed," runs the advertisement, "in ilats and rooming houses but none in the suburbs. I haye several cottages in East Oakland and Fruitvale from 950 dol. to 3000 dol. Small payment down, balance like rent. —M.T.M." A letter to the Manchester " Guarlian" of February 27th last, signed "Zealand," writes a correspondent to 11 country newspaper, severely criticises the scheme to send navvies from Eng. land to New Zealand. The concluding paragraph is more than interesting :—" Let me say a word 011 the cost

of living, To quote a paragraph: ' Married men will receive every consideration ; the cost of living is, if anything, cheaper than in England.' Now, tlus is what I call a terrible statement. Why, even New Zealand mutton, sold in England at 4d to (id, is sold in New Zealand at (id to 8d; but everything besides has to be imported, with an average duty of 332 per cent, tariff upon it, and 10 per cent. Customs duty. When you remember merchants' pro lils have to bo put upon the total cost of articles, they are never retailed at less than (iO per cent, higher than in freetrade England. How dare anyone make such a statement P I call it playing upon an ignorance having 15,000 miles of sea to intensify it."

Mr T. E. Donne, the manager of the New Zealand Tourist Department, now visiting Sydney (says the "Telegraph") has travelled much, and is fond of telling travollors' tales. He relates that on a visit to Venice he paused one day at a bric-a-brac shop to price some of the waves, and finding his ayailablc slock of Italian-sounding phrases, " Ben Trovato," and " La Traviatu," of uo.avail, the buyer and seller were both worked up into u state o( mild frenzy to understand each other. Then Mr Donne thought lie would try Alaori on the shopkeeper. " Tenakoc!"he sternly said. " Macro mai! Kapai to totara ! Tarawera eruption !

Ylotu whareraupo I Homai to ringanuga! Haere-mai, hacrc-mai! Tcnakoe!" The Italian, instead of being bewildered, politely smiled, and, saying "Si Si«nor,'' led forward an assistant who came from Timaru, of all

places in tho world, and was working i'or this merchant of Venice, who recognised from Mr Donne's lips some of tho phrases his young assistant had often used m describing for the benefit of the Italian his life and adventures iu far distant New Zealand.