LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 81899, 4 December 1906, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

On the motion of Mr Fii Herbert, probate of the will of the late Walter Ooker, deceased, has been grunted by Mr Justice Edwards to Mrs Ooker, the executrix named in the will.

From the Taranaki representative of Arthur Nathan, Auckland, we have received eopies of calendars for the new year. The calendars are artistic in design and about as well got-up as any we have seen. According to Mr 0. W. Palmer, the local Government weather observer. inches of rain fell on 111 days of last month, the maximum fall (IPU) beins on the sth. The rainfall for November of last year was IH!20 oil 22 days.

"Oliver Twist" writes" In your issue of this morning I notice a paragraph copied from Christchurch lriilh re Bill Sykes. Apparently 'he writer is unfamiliar with his Hickc'i--. I'.lse nhy spell Bikes with a ■,-: j iheken's burglar was Sikcs. Sykes is the well-known drench manufacturer."

A lonvcraii/.ioiic lo celebrate the <>2 innivcisary of Si Mary's Church, will lie held this evening, the -Ith inst., ii: St. Mary's schoolroom, commencing al 8 p.iii, Admission Is.—Advt.

From now 011 to Christmas the Melbourne Chilling Company are making a special daily outside demonstration of their famous tailormade suits, ready to wear. Buyers should make a point of seeing thilii ill's disp'ay, as the goods are quite cut of the ordinary and compare favourably with five guinea to measure suits fit absut half the price,—Advt.

Little details such as the lengths of dog collars cause friction at times. AI Monday's County Council meeting i; was pointed out that some of the collar.' supplied were too short, otlieh too long. Cr. Steyens. thought that was entirely the fault of tho dogs. The following letters rec ived from places beyond the colony are lying unclaimed at the Chief Post Office, New Plymouth:— James Dnyidson and Co , Miss Ethel Elson, Harry Evans, XV. W, Gibbon, Mary Larkin, Mrs Mann, J. Mutaties, Dr. Muhlliauscn, Co John Stapp.

County Councillors were not at all perturbed by the arrival of the Oakum ratepayers' resolution concerning the County engineering. Eeforence was made to the paucity of attendance at the ratepayers' meeting, and the letter ordered to lie on the table. It w»s still lying when the Council rose. The results of the amateur judging competitions, in connection with the recent Taranaki Show, for cattle, horses and sheep are as follows: —Cattle: C. tfoskin 1, H. Linn, F, W, Oldham and W. Ambury 2, She ep : W. Hoskin 1 : 1:1 Salway 2, C. Hoskin 3. Horses: fo lie deeirlfd by the committee at the next meeting. The Eltham" Argus" states that Mr H. G. Gibson contemplates entering upon the methodical planting and cultivating of flax on some of his land on the Ngairß swamp. Other landholders are also taking the matter into consideration, and we think it is likely that in a very few year's time ther* will be several flax mills running in the neighbourhood of Eltham. All over the colony it is now being recognised that there is good money in flaxgrowing.

In discussing the collection of the dog-tax on Monday, the Taranaki County Councillors seemed anything but pleased with the manner in which the work was completed last year. Mr Tate attributed this to the system of calling tenders and accepting the •lowest tenderer, who might not understand or bo fitted for the work. He suggested fixing the rate per dog to be paid to the collector at eightpence for stock dogs and a shilling each for sporting dogs. Haying fixed that, applications could be called, and the best man selected. The Council, however, dtd not favour the proposal, and decided to call tenders as usual, reserving the right to decline, if necessary, the lowest or any tender. The County clerk will at once communicate with the Clifton, Stratford, and Egrnont County Councils and the New Plymouth, Inglewood, and Waitara Borough Councils, with a view to arranging a uniform rate of dog-tax.

Mr Turner, a dairy Tanner in the Tauranga district, states that witli

Irs 011 c milking machine a man can put through fifty cows in an hour and a half.

Says the Wairarapa Daily Times; —The Minister of Lands has hinted at the possibility of a dissolution next year. We have our misfortunes in New Zealand. Last year recorded a potato blight and this year a polit'r,|l land blight. If next year wo get that intolerable nuisance, a general election, New Zealand will indeed be unfortunate.

- It would be well if the supporters of the Land Bill couid contrive to say the same thing about the advantages ti the tenant who has paid off go per cent of the value of his holding. Mr McNab, speaking at Onehunga, said "The tenant would be able to do as he liked with the iand—to se'l it to whomsoever lie liked for whatsoever price he could." The Nt'.v Zealand Times, on the other hand, tells us that "save for the inability of the .cssee to sell his land, he w 11 bo in the portion of a freeholder."

Tlie harvest this season, in both New Zealand ami Australia, is of an unprecedented scale and fulness. Never before lias eo much golden grain ripened in a sing'e year under Australian skies. The living gold of the harvest will exceed in value a!, tin- literal gold dug out. of Austraian mines during the tame period. But tlie harvest over the whole world s this year exceptiona'lv rich. It is authoritative.y estimated that the wleat growing countries will have a surplu i of 84 000,000 quarters of wheat available for export. The wheat importing countries only need 6i,000,0c0 mii'ion .quarters, so that the world's wheat crop exceeds the world's hunger by some 23,000.000 quarters.—Life.

''Surveys cannot be hurried; they take time." This remark, made by the Minister of Pub ic Works to a Ch"iitchurch "Press" reporter, tie Minister exemplified from Wellington experience. "Take tlio case of the Rimutaka incline, near Wellington. TL'ore you have a costly incline over which ue railway runs. A route has since been found which would have saved tsix and a half miles in the distance between tho Upper Hutt and Woodsido, and where no incline would be required at all. Had they examined the country more carefully at the time, I have little doubt they would have adopted what is now seen to be the better route, and the colony would have been saved a great many thousands of pounds." The art of 'leg-puling" is eyidently well understood in Wairarapa. it is not often that an angler ,bag£ an editor and a fish with th e same cast. This happened recently with the Carterton News, which reports A magnificent trout weighing 6]lb was bai-kc'.ed yesterday in the Maungatatei'e river by Mr J. O'iVleai'a, Mr o'Meat a had a difficulty in getting his fish, which for some time lay upon the bed of the river, wouldn't come up at the f y. and even appeared tj wink knowingly at the zealous angler. The fisherman thought of disguising himself, and going a short distance away transformed himself, and reappeared from another direc tion, and at the first cast of the fly bagged his jnajesty, There is more than one way of catching ti trout.

The "Daily Telegraph" gives an interesting summary of the work of 'the Waihi mine. It says: "The Waihi, in New Zealand, is probably one of the finest gold mines in the world, and since the company was formed it has paid dividends amounting to over £2,000,000 on a capital of slightly under £500,0011. The mine commenced paying dividends in 1 Bij3, with a distribution of 15 per cent ; in tho following year It paid 2d per cent; from lSys to 1599, inclusive. it paid 40 per cent; during the next thief? years th e dividend was 50 per cent, in 1903 and 1904 it was 60 per cent, vhi e in 1905 the total i distribution was n, tier ' ' ; ' . or 05 per cent. At present the company is paying 3; per quarter, and it is expected that there will be an additional bo'nus of 3/ paid this year, making the total return 15/, or 75 per cent In the last report the Mine Superintendent stated that the tonnage of ore crushed, the lotal value of bu lion recovered, and the total ore reseives i„ sight, V. re all greater til .I'll those of any previous year in the company's history. Actually, there arc about 10 years' ore reserves in sight, the company has £250,000 cash 111 hand, and the plant and machinery have been written down practically to the price, of scrap-iron."

WHAT A WELL KNOWN BREEDER THINKS OK SYKES'S DRENCII.

Mr. G. \V. Heslop, manager of Mr Newton King's Wi'low Vale Stud I-arm writes on June 30th, igo6: "Dear Sir, —For the past three years we have used SYKES'S DRENCH extensively for the farm animals with <at>sfact«ry re-ults. _ In one particular case the results, were surprising, that of a valuable pure-bred Frisian Ilols'ein hcifor which aborted. SN KES S DRENCH was adminislere l. and the animal washed with gratifying re-ults. Health and natural cond 1 ons immediately fo'lowecl." (signed) Geo. W. Heslop, Manager. Newton King, esq., the owner 0 f Willow-vale Stud Farm, is an importer of pure bred Frisian Holstein dairy stock of making- strain, and has already had many pr ; zes placed to his '■red't; gaining at various shows throughout the colony, five championlr'ps twenty-four firsts, and eight seconds, with stock from above farm SYKES'S DRENCH is used by nearly all the stud farms in New Zea : 'and, price 1/6 per packet, 16/ per dozen ffora All Storekeeper*,. *

Tlie Taranaln County Council will meet, as heretofore, on the first day in e .eh month.

At last night's meeting Oapiain Mace said that one of the first men kil'.ed in the war was buried in Courtenay-stieet, where the boy.* now played leap frog. Mr Strong, a Chinese missionary, at present oil a visit to Christchurcl), is of opinion liiat the Chin<s.b Empire is rapidly changing. Every town has now those in it who press for radical reform. Mr Strong mentioned that some time prior to his depart ure from China the official of his district celebrated a birthday, and about 200 of the local gentry were presea, at a social gathering. The central topic of conversation was the reform qu(fction.

An Austrian youth who failed to pass the education test upon arriving at Auckland fiom Sydney a week ago upon the steamer Manuka .was ordered by the magistrate to be deported to Sydney, and kept in gaol until the time of leaving. The youth was detained 011 the steamer, but es caped, and war. arrested. The Collector of Customs said he would probably learn to write after spending a few weeks in Sydney, and could then be admitted to the colony.

Early on th e morning of March 31, IS4&, the Niagara Falls suddenly fan dr ■ and continued in this state until early the next morning. People in tun neighbourhood were waked up by the stillness, and all day sightseers wandered dryshod out in the bed of 'ho river and along the edges of the bare piecipices of rock, over whicn on'ly small streams were trickling!. The previous .winter had been very severe, causing ice of unusal thickness to form 011 Lake Erie, and when e s P nn £ break-up came, a great gale first piled the ice-floe s on th e top of one another into hugh walls, and then drove them into Niagara River with such force that they foime.d 1 mighty dam, which stopped the flow of water into the river until the enormous pressure from the lake broke it down.

Mr Belcher, Kawhitiroa road, ha. amongst his htrd of tows one that lie bi ought up with hi ra w i, en j le came '"-re from the Wairarapa district. Sue \vajs sired by what is believed to be the first Hulstem bull brought to the iNurth Island, and has tome 16 or 17 calves. Notwithstanding her ago she 1* 111 good condition and is milked >-e----gularly every day, giving a gojd y of mi Jk. We have heaid people say tiiat a cow is not worth keeping after I 0 years of age, but tlrat is not Mr Belches experience, ilie secret probably lies in tlie matter of what attention a c ow receives, lr *he is allowed to starve during the winter, exposed to all sorts of weather, probably 10 yeais or le. ; « sees them a long way past their best 'ays, but with proper care and attention hey may be profitable for a much longer period— Eltham Argui.

Who was the most redoubtable and successful forger of modern times. It would not be easy to beat the record and achievements of the American, Edwin Johnson, who, in 1880 flooded the United States and Canada with ''the most dangerous counterfeit bil.s ever put in circulation." Banks took the "stuff" over their counters, and officials >,vhos e signatures had been imitated could not tell ' t r ue from the false ones. But Edwin, like., most geniuses, had his weakness. He went periodically on a haul drink, and it was during one pt these bouis that the great- Amerlean detective Murray (a Scot, by the way) ran him down and arrested him. ihe old forger had two pretty gir!s and five boys, and was bringing them a". "P 10 the trade. "I am the best," said he to Murray, "and one of my girls lias become better than I.'' The daughters .had been trained in forging signatures since childhood, and would work at one name for a montn writing it thousands of times. Edwin is supposed to have died in prison.