LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 81892, 22 November 1906, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Fearing- another "break-away'' ol oil from the Birthday oil well, the ciiK'ctors have decided to construe! big underground tanks to catch the escaping oil. It is reported llmt Messrs Brown and Co.'s exlcn sive sawmilling and timber (leasing nulls at Inglewoud iiad a very narrow escape from lilt a clay or two ago.. The raised portion of Devon-road a; Strandoii, will be ready for traflic by tne end of the year. Tin Railway Department is proceeding with tiie c nstiuciion of the subway at thai point. The custodian of Hie Town Hull lias made a hobby nl beau I lying the few spa;- squalc yaid- at die iiont and tear of trie building. The otherwise waste area is at present blight with a varie.y of spring blooms, which have Mr Diewiu's close attention. hi answer to an inquiry as to whether Russia, owing iu internal troubles, v.a- this year s<|,ding any biider into Hi-:: Engli-h maiket, Mi Cittickshaak, of Messrs ColleU and Co., inloiinrd us tha , contrary to tiie g-iner.il impiession with regard .o Russia's p.,-sable decline in d. 1.,y proiliici, iv.tuins ju-; to Hand slim? an in. iv.'si: if I,rally 5111x1 loiu j'.ci tin aiiiouin expi rti-.l to (ileal I'ritiiin. up a) the coriL'-noiiding dali' uf fast year. Tae Tiiiliape eoninuuiiiy i- getting a hi' of fun lor its m- ney just now. eu-epera,ive comiirn and taken ever .ine of llie in wspapcrs. The piopiietor of tin, other has rota lined by pn-iiite.ing a co-opi'iative store, and tills the inler--iic.es between patagiaphs "slating" the May ,r, llie, piitindkiip'i', iin;l (he laniplighlei (hli.i apr.ntir io be all m->rc or lc-s jiieiimiiia-ed i,> the loathsome con'•■nipciiaiy venture) with alluring- 10Icreiic.'s to die amount .if soup which i.e ha h sock and how pleased people ate will his At u-a. A )/!.,0 sal" ol bents, ,!,,„s ;,„,] -bppers, whi-h -liooM „e of special in!-; rest, is announC'd by the M Ibourne Clothing Co. The firm's boot department fa- bien c- nip'ulely reoiganised. and to c»\w wittli their fast growing bit-mss siwral alteration- in their pieiuises have been m.id<\ chief of which is a separate eriirauec irivhig' access from Devon -trcct. To ma'k the event a b:g reorganisation sale is being- held, commencing this morning. Buyers are pr.imised many sensational —Adyt,

Petroleum shares, fully paid up, | old on Wednesday at 14,9, and the '< pi ice new varies from 14/0 10 15/, ■'(> p cording to the prize of the parcel, j Oil. side sidles aie asking 15/j. M The New Plymouth High School], will close on December 20th, at 3 r p.m., for the Christmas vacation. At last night's meeting of the Board (f j Governors there was little business. Accounts amounting to £ll2 12/4 were passed for payment. When all-night lighting was advocated, a howl was -ei up concerning the waste of electric curicnt that must result. Current must be getting les.- valuable for the arc ligh'.s were kept burning in Devon-street till noon 011 Wednesday. Mr E.'P. Webster, secretary of 1 ,e Taranaki A. and P. snow, who was a visitor at the Hawera show yesierday, Hates that in the opinion of competent judges, the Clydesdales, | especially yearlings and two-year-olds, exnibited were superior as a class to those shown at the Exhibition snow in Chri'tchurch. All the

principal p Ize-takers are entered for ihe Taranaki show next week. The latest vagary of unionism is a protest from the Undertakers' Assistants' Unio'n in Sydney against t'nc practice of friend' of the "corpse'' acting as pallbearers without remuneration, thus depriving membes of the union of labor to which they consider themselves entitled. The Unionists' next demand will doubtless be that people be knocked on tnc head in order .0 give

them employment at maximum \ wages. The manager of Messrs Rowe, and . Co., New Plymouth, wi-hes us to in- , timaie to 'the correspondent who yesterday complained of the vegetation bed on tiie stairs leading to die Registrar of Births and Inspector oi Factories' apanmeuts, that his firm, as owners of the building alluded to, attend every morning to the cleaning of the stairs, and would be happy to provide the seed gratis if the aforesaid correspondent can collect sufficient earth on the stairs any time to make a bed. The contractor for the removal of the spoil from the site of Messrs Giiffiths and Co. a now pernises had a discouraging start. The first load, which was being tipped over the bank into the old bed of the Huatoki below- the Vivian-street bridge, took charge, and horse, driver, and day were precipitated into ihe creek. The driver retained his presence of mind, and immediately caught the hor-es' head and held it abovo water till help arrived. Mr John Mynott had seen the mishap, and soon summoned assistance. Little damage

was done. Mr Grace Palolta, the popular | Gaiety actios, snortly to appear here, speaks thus on the inutpJladence of our girls :"Don't you dunk independence is the gieatesi ble sing of ail? Oh, if only every girl knew the beauty of it. To be independent, earning our own bread, knowing that wnat we spend is due to your own worth! To me it has always been an ambition. What is the feeling when you spend a pound earned by your own exertions ? is'n't it a thousand times morn enjoyable than spending money Someone else has earned for you?" Since the popular actress is a very big wageearner, she can thus speak feelingly. A touching story comes from New York. Theodore Roosevelt, the son of President Roosevelt, earned his liberty on September 28th by his frankness. He was arrested the previous night wit-n three others after a riotous outbreak by Harvard students on Boston Common, in which a policeman was seriously injured. All the students fled except young Roosevelt and his companions, who were taken to the police station in a patrol wagon. "1 did not escape, becaue I was innocent," young Roosevc-lt told the magistrate in the morning. "Your father's son would not lie," the magistrate replied, and young Roosevelt was discharged. One wonders what the police would have said in the case of the son of plain John Smith. Clause 14 of tne new- Public Health Aia provide-: "No person shall manufacture, or, after June 30th, lqo?, sell any toy or wall paper, or'othei decorative paper, or paper serviette, or paper used in the enclosure of any ■ article of food in or upon which there. ' is any paint, color, daring, dressing, size, or varnish containing arscnicum or lead or antimony in any form 01 compound, or any specified sub--tance, exceeding such allowance at ; may be prescribed by regulation.' 1 This will have the effect of preventing the use of arsenic, lead and antimony in connection with the articles 1 mentioned, especially in the form ol 1 dyes. One of the brightest of green 1 is arsenious, and very ill effects have • followed the sucking of colored toys by children. Enougn arsenic has ! been rubbed off a wall paper to send several people to the other world.— Exchange. Private Stewart, a member of the Taranaki Rifles, had a practical experience of the dry-rot state' of the rifle range appointments the other day. He was climbing the pale on the hill at the reur of the butts in order to hoist the "danger flag" for the benefit of the public, when crack went the pole, and he measured his length an the grass. Such is the state of our mock defences. At the butts on Saturday the high wind played havoc with the targets and other arrangements, one target being blown over as a marker was in the middle of his work. The trench offered uo protection from ihe wind. There seems a consensus of opinion, too, that the mcund is not sufficient protection against bullets, for several have recently been found in the trench. The range is showing the results of continued neglect. Up till a few months d.go Colour-Ser-geant Armiiage, of the Rifles, use.d to keep the place in order, but as there was no pecuniary reward attached, he decided to discontinue his regular attendance and hard wotk. In the interests of life and limb, and of our citizen soldiers, we would strongly urge the authorities to make an effort to secure his advice— and pay for them. Mr Hugh Huglison, of VVcstown, writes: —"I notice in a recent issue of your paper particulars of the death of Donald Mephie, aged 79, who was on the Victoria diggings at tne time of the Eurfka Stockade at Ballarat. This brings those times and scenes so vivid to my romembiancje. I was then at Cucswick Creek, 10 miles out from liallarai. I was only a new chum at the lime. It was Mr Lawlor who thought it better to put a tux of 6d per ounce oi gold than in-titute a heavy digger's license, he holding that those who got the gold could afford to pay as much as those who get little or no gold and who were not able to pay a stiff license. It was the right way. 1 knew Mr Lawlor's father and family in ( l )wl)ec | and this Lawlor wis nearjy finishing l|is education as "a priest, but he went off t> die diggings, where he lost our arm in the Stockade. He however won the tax in g:ild, and after that i'ney placed dim in the Upper House in Melbourne, wne,c he was for three years .u a time when murders ai(d robbeiies were rile. 1 can'remember, too, it was at that lime that Kelly fought Smith, of Sydney, for ,£SOO a side, and lots of ni'iiev'were taken outside ihe ring. The weekly e-cort W «t)ld from Ballarat was 14,000 1 ounces."

The shortage of cotton is causing on-iderable inconvenience to Lanca hire cotton spinners. The foundation stone of the nt>w Punitive AieiuodiSltJiii,rjh atl'itzroy, rhich is to take the place of the lir' t' P.'imitire Methodist Church erected n Australasia, is to be laid at 3 o'clocu his afternoon by Mss Jas. liellringer. The Harbour Board has arranged :o have the harbour and wharves lighted from the municipal electric lighting system, provided the borough loan for the electric light extension proposals is approved by the ratepayers. The figures arc not yet made public, but it l.s understood tho charge will be about .£2 a week. In connection with the proposed new morning Wellington daily paper, it is seated that a leading Op- I po-Jion ex-member of Parliament j has just succeeded in disposing of ,£35,000 worth of shares between the lower Wairarapa and Napier, mostly to big farm and station holders. The new daily is to be run l.n the Opposition j.iterests, and will fight tho new land proposals tooth and nail. A team of six men wlill represent the New Plymouth Fire Brigade at the demonstration in Christchurch next March. A record number have expressed their v.tillingness 10 go, and the selection comniittee (Captain Bellringer, Foreman Johnston,, and ex-Lieutenant Currington) will have to reduce the following to tho numbej- required :—A. Boon, J. Clark, J. Way, H. Inch, J. Sims, W. Way, J. Sadler, W. Sadler, H. Moon, I. Clow, W. Prior, \V. Rock, W. Hard wick and

H. Ford. The men will go into ' trailing at once for the local test .. competitions. The practice of "bleeding" kauri a trees has been severely condemned 1 by many people interested in the tim- j ber in the Auckland district, and is t prohibited on Crown lands. P.l.vate 1 owners of forests, however, who in- , tend to mill the limber in tne near t future, are making a good thing out J of the "bleeding." An instance is . noted by a North Auckland paper of a case in which a large number of ( men are employed lin lapping some ( 2000 trees, of. which some 600 nave j already yielded something over seven tons of pure white gum, valued at ; £65 per ton. The modus operandi is to puncture tho bark on from twenty to .lixty places, according to size and then to collect the gum wnich has flowed and hardened outside the bark. A tree's yield on the average is about 841b, but one has created a record wliih 2031b. The people of Great Britain are probably tliei worlds consumers of patent medicines. The pills which Englishmen aid Scotsmen swallow annually, and the odier secieu physics wnicn they patronise, add one-tnnd of a million .-u-i.l.ng to the (national income, and supply a s.riking page in the report of the Commissioners of Inland RevenueThe money comes to the State from ihe, stamps that are affixed to those articles of merchandise. During the year ended Marui 31st la-t this source brought in £324,112. The duty on a box of pills selling for 1/ is lid, and the duty on a halfcrown bottle of syrup is 3d. From these data it would seem that the pefjple- of England and Scotland spend something like £2,500,000 a year on patent medicines —a vast expenditure certainly, which suggests ■ that indigestion is a national cnarac- ! teristic.