LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 81864, 13 October 1906, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Mrs Iveunmgton, of the "Old Curiosity idiop," New Plymouth, will forward £1801) worth of Maori curios to the International Exhibition.

Mr W. T. Jennings, M.U.8., writing to the Taranaki County Council, states that he is on the special committee of the House to consider the Local Authorities Subsidies Bill. He docs not think the measure will be put on the Statute Book this session.

At the Han-era l'olice C'oui't yesterday, Harold Bay, alias Smith, was committed for trial at the next sitting of the Supremo at New Plymouth on a charge of obtaining money under false pretences from Mr E. K Hutchison, proprietor ot the Railway Hotel, Hawcra. Kepresenting himself as the proprietor of the Trocadero, Stratford, lie borrowed two blank cheques and tilled tliem in for t'l each. They were to be drawn on the Napier Bank, which returned them i}i*Loiiored.

Bathers will bo interested to learn that the temperature of the water in the municipal saltwater liaihs has •iicen better during the past three weeks than in the whole of last summer. The temperature now is (i;i degrees, which was only reached three times last season, and only excelled once, when (j 1 deg. was registered, The result of the calm spell recently has been to render the wider beautifully clear, and swimmers are in luck's way just now. As a matter of course, the attendance at t he baths is rapidly increasing, both sexes appreciating the luxury, or the necessity, of a good splash and tumble iu the water on these sultry afternoons. .Swimming club members are becoming ycrv regular attendants. At Whiteley Memorial Church tomorrow morning the T./<. Brooke will continue his series of itdiifcss.es on] the Lord's Prayer, the special topic! being " Keierence." At the evening! service the same preacher will deliver a sermon ou ' Love aid Tears in Despair." FEEDING CALVES.

Mr. G. R. Redhead, Kaponga, writes:— "Last season I reared 2(1 calves on "Gihuth'' Ca'f Food. The total ainrma! "J fund was 300 lbs. or about n! lbs tier i.Jt, >,ustii)i> 2:5 per calf for the season. 1 .consider the "Gilrutir Calf Fro J is the sji:|njnji:,j ~'Pfsn Mini j jssq from J. B. MaeEwan it C"-, New Plymouth.

The " calf monstrosity" recently found on Mr Bishop's farm oil the lijjmont road, and afterwards exhibited in .New Plymouth, was purchased by Mr G. A. iNisbet, who is liaviui; ll preserved and moun'ed. This, along with a pig's head freak, will be exhibited at the next laranaki Show. Alterations have been made in the dale of the induction services 01. the liev. Fislier to the Okato parish. Mr Fisher will be introduced by Archdeacon Cole on Sunday next, 11th rnst Special services will be held in the Okato Church at 7 a.m (li.C.), 11 a.m. and 7.30 p.m. The Wanganui Herald publishes ill'* following:—Counsel in a case at the Court this morning v;as rather disinclined to believe the Matements ol a witness he was cross-examining, and reminded her ''that she was there D speak the truth, 11 to which the witness retorted, "1 know, and its sellom spoken in here ' (meaning the vitness box). Govcnor Hock tells a story that always snikcs the right spot with the I'ai.mcrs. One time a _ shopkeeper put up a blackboard in his shop and

asked his customers to write their names on it, and opposite tell what they were doing for humanity. A lawyer wrote, "I plead for all. an old farmer walked up, wrote his name, scratched his head awile, and then wrote, "I pay for all." A correspondent of a Masterton paper proposes to make a practical everyday use of the Agricultural Society. lie says:—lt would prove a gieat practical assistance to agriculturists and pastoralists in the Wairarapa to collect all doubtful plants occufing on their properties and bring them to the rooms of the Agricultural Society and have them all carefully dried and named for future reference. It serves as a good means of illustrating the form and growth of all objectionable plants. A return presented to the House on the motion of Mr H. G. LU shows that during 1905 the number of persons taken into custody or summoned on charges of drunkenness was 8790, of whom 7934 were males and 856 females. The number convicted, held to bail, etc., were 7875 males and 850 females . The number of persons against whom prohibition orders were issued was 2223, of whom 2041 were males and 182 females. The figures show the number of convictions, as the same person may be convicted on several occasions. A Dunedin commercial man, who has just returned from America, was particularly struck by the lack of reliable information about New Zealand met with in the Stales. Large establishments, for the advertising of the colony are kept up by the Government in Australia, where the need of them is questionable, but in America, there is nothing. At Vancouver the visitor found a few pamphlets. A f Boston lie had occasion to send several cable wires to New Zealand, and each time a different girl at the cable office had to be informed as to the whereabouts of the colony. A careful investigation has shown that the reconstruction of San Francisco will involve an expenditure oi" about £80,000,000, of which skilled and unskilled labour will reap a reward of £38,000,000. These figures aie based upon the cost of building material and the rate of wages ci> lent there. The general average o. wages for men of all crafts, as wc.i as the unskilled workmen, is at lea>t 30 per cent, higher than the rates prevailing elsewhere in the United States. The share of labour in the cost of reconstruction is apportioned a; follows: Bricklayers, £9,000,000; carpenters, £7.000,000; hod-carriers, mortar-men, and incidental labour, £3,000,000; clearing debris, £3,000000; plumbers, £2,100,000; plasterers, £960,000; labourer* (general), £2,400,000; teamster;:, £2,000,000, cement workers, £1,000.000: cement fin sher(, £i,odo,ooo; electricians, £800,000; ironworkers, £400,000; painters, £800,000; lathers, £200,000: tinsmiths, £200,000; foremen and superintendents, £3,000,000; other trades and crafts. £3,940,000. Total, £38.000,000.

In refeience to the New York cablegram published 011 Wednesday to the efleet lliat the Panama Canal is to be constructed by contract, il is interesting to note that th.' American undoitook the making of the canal in 'lie spirit of men 10 whom the doing oi gicat things was familiar. They set. to work away in 11)04, with the work of construction, but found that so many valuable lives were being |ost from disease that hygiene must precede blasting. Then it was decided that surveys and elaborate, plans were necessary. in the meantime a struggle was proceeding among" the engineers, the commissioners, and the politicians, as lo whether it should be a sea level or a -lock canal. Decisions were come to, and revoked on this point, and finallv the lock canal was recently decided upon. A commission was appointed to carry ou> the work, and this body has underreorganisation by" President Roosevelt. The final reorganisation took place in April of last year, and tli - salaries of the commlssiohers were fixed. Then new machinery was bought, and large (Todies of men were set to work. It was found that the labour available was not suitable, and a month ago a contract was accepted foi the supply of Chinese. The cutting of % c.-iijal hps fieen found to be a work upon which Ante'Hcan ''hustle" cannot be used with effect. Nearly two years has been occupied with preliminary discussion, whereas the time estimate for cutting- the canal was originally stated at 10 years,

The travelling liithviissef 1 -H-110 peddle s his wares and solicits lus ftl'dei's in every town, and generally manages to drive a prolilabls bumnese \yith people who can always he persuaded that the local storekeeper is piling up a fortune out of his overcharges for every-day lines of goods, contributes nothing to the public fund. It is impossible to asses his stock locally, for very often lie carries it in liis pocket, making it up as he goes along, or m the case of the canvasser for a city firm, it is stored 111 the big warehouse. At yarious times steps have been taken to circumvent this nuisance and loss io local tradespeople, aiul now tho Coromandel County Council enters the lisfs with the following resolution, which they are circulating among tkoothir county councils: " That in the opinion of this Council persons canvassing from house to house, exhibiting samples of their wares'and so'ietmg orders for same, should be compelled to pity a reasonable J'cpijse fee (not less liinu £lO per annum) for the privilege, on the following grounds : (1) That they I tiiivc no established business premises m the county they contribute 110 revenue to the county fund and thereby have an undue advantage over the tradespeople carrying on business within the county; (2) That the said license fee, if imposed, would prevent irresponsible persons from trading m the county, and Ihereby safeguard the mfeiestj of l!|e inhabitants.