LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVIII, Issue 81914, 8 January 1907, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

A lawyer at the District Court at Ashburton last week was beginning a cross-examination question to a wit ness with "You say," when .imlge Ilasclden rapped out, "No, lie did not 'say.' .[ have to watch vou gentlemen like all umpire at a football match." In consequence of a refusal of four German and Austriiin insurance companies to pay lire losses caused by the earthquake at San t'raneisco, two attorneys have left for Europe to lay the matter before the proper authorities. The amount in dispute totals £2,300,001).

Writing to his parents from Kiuherley, youth Africa, a young New Zcalaiulcr, who is an engineer there, says that the excitement in the town was high on account of the South African footballers' tour in England. On the night of the Scottish international match, the entire police had to be out to quell the disturbance that followed "lie receipt of the result.

A cable has been received at YV'anganui from Sydney asking whether Webb, who recently defeated Stanbury in a sculling match on the Wanganui river, would go to Sydney to join the stable of Durnan, the Canadian, who is to row Towns for the world's championship in March. It is improbable that Webb will go. it is also rumored that he is to be challenged by Napier, a well-known oarsman.

The South Africans are apparently eclipsing the New Zoaianders. in the matter of "gates" in Wales. The takings at the game between the Glamorgan and the youth Africans amounted to a little over £IOOO. The attendance, therefore, must have approximated 40,000, which far exceeds all previous records for county matches in Wales, and probably anvwhere throughout the kingdom'. The receipts at the New Zealand-Glamorgan match totalled £IOOO.

Thu vital statistics for the Wellington registration district for the year just closing constitute a record, the ligures never having been readied before. Compared with the year 1905, both births and marriages show a substantial increase, and the deaths a slight decrease. Following are the ligures for I'MO, those for I'JOS appearing in parenthesis for comparative purposes:—Births, 185i3 (1831), increase 24; deaths, 700 (703), decrease 3; marriages, 1004 (000), increase 104. government is negotiating for the Orepuki shale works, with the object of utilising them as creosote works, the Southland Times has the best authority for denying the report. The (Jovernineiit, it says, never thought of purchasing the works. Tim result obtained from 500 tons of shale sent Home were extremely satisfactory, the product being sunerior to the best Scoten shale. It is probable that the works, on which £OO,OOO was spent, will be again a going concern. C'hristehurch Truth says: Lionel Terry's last chance of "freedom has been squandered recklessly. As long as he stuck to Ins "Yellow Peril" theory, and behaved himself there was a possibility that influences might have operated favorably towards his ultimate release. Jiut the temptation to get into the limelight has been strong for him, Ilm l | )( . in „. 1)0m[ to death by the prosaic environment of ■Sunnyside, lie has taken it into his head .to "protest" some more. On the former occasion lie ••protested" at the expense of a senile Mongolian, to whom death was probably a happy release but now that Terry wishes to extend lus attentions to the Sumivsjile attendants, it must be admitted that, like the Shakespearian lady he ■Moth protest too much." He'neetorth, the rigorous regime of Lvttcltoii gaol will leave him less scope for "lotting tin, life of those responsible tor his safe keeping, and the Simnye'lsilv™ * W " " ICCP U litUe lUoro

The Auckland City Council has entered upon schemes which will menu the expenditure shortly of .ll.VkljOO and the extensions proposed bv the Harbour Hoard will entail an outlay he ore til™ end of the year of about -C400.00U. '!•!,„ •<| l cral,i." i„ n review <>' the year, states that next month the Lily Council expects to bring in U.e Waitakere, water supply, wllidl «■'" .veld live and a ha'f million gal-''-us of pure water a day. The complete scheme, including the Mhotanu rose!-™..,, is estimated to cost SHOO,- <««. then a £IO,OOO loan has been authorised for the first instalment of ii sewerage scheme which is estimated to cost .C(J.>O,(JOO, and surrounding loca. bodies are contemplating huge expenditure in the same direction. During the year the ratepayers carried proposals involving £BO 000 for the town Hull, £30,000 f or a terra con crete bridge across Cemetary Gullv, £2,5,000 for an electric 'jightiii" scheme, and iiSUOO to complcts the destructor.

In the opinion of the London papers ■iml uko the Pubfe Accounts Commit. Ll-U * V ' H ' 1 / ™ I «»J (writes a London correspondent) made at anv rate "on? good deal" during the South African Hur. According to the fourth repoit of the committee, issued on the L-nd -November Xew Zealand got the Ivtterof heAlarOmeetotlietuneof some .t40,(IOO out of £45,000 1„ - t case of this kind both s ' ifl( , s c . nmo ' t ww and in the instance under notice the imperial War Ollice lo.es the'odd .C4(),000. Alii the subject of the transaction was oats. It appears that.145,0110 worth of oats was bought ;>y ~n, V '"', oliit ' ,J fj ' olll New Zealand in 1 102, and was found damaged and unfit for use in the following year when it was sold for £SOOO. "The "•I>»rt goes on to say "the .New Zealand authorities assert that these oats were fair average quality and in good conditio,, when shipped; and although ■ e Arm.y Conned are „ 0 t prepared I ' TO ' PC lU " rfatl '" IP,lt W "Entirety u.m are o| opinion that no good .>,,,"■_ I>»»«' »■■ 1 he served by pursuing this nutter nirther with the -New Zealand ''"'■niincnt. and in this yj MV the iieasury concur."

Schoolboys are supposed to pos sess plenty of assurance, but we doubt wheher anything extant can exec the case of three of the Wanganu -school cadets who went for a walk ir Palnierslon while the train in whicl they were en route to the Christchurci Exhibition was at the station 01 course, they -missed (ho 'bus." and

they wired to the headmaster'as fol lows:—".Missed train, i'alnierstoi Coming by slow train. Please dola' boat,-'!'.'' These three boys shouli feel ilatlered. Here, were 2-ld of thoi comrades, not to mention the captain officers, and crew of the (.iovernnien steamer Tutanokai, waiting from S 111 to H pan. .solely on account of thei: action in strobing uu the street ai I'aimerston Xortli w|, v n they shouh have been on Die railway 'olafform They paid for their Colly, however, foi the cook received their assistance whei others were on leave, and the trio be came expert potato-peelers clay shovellers, ".hewers of wood and drawer.of water;' in ihe mosl literal sense ol [lie words.

According )„,],„ ,_. , p,„ ~„,,, 'tenl ol the M-lliournc A-c Mr \rlhm Chamberlain (hrodicr o'f the cx-(!ol "iiml Secretary) Ims just made in honourable sneriliee wiiicli very few "hard-headed" business me,, ,',f t |„ type to which ),«. i s .said t „ ~„,„ '.vouhl he inclined jo hear--perhaps not one in a. thousand. Several years ago (explains the correspondent) 'he took char;-,, of Tubes Limited. „„ amalgamation of companies that had hi'ci, engaged in the cycle trade The '■apital was .C1;!5y,7.-,b. jle became managing and latest share"older. Soon there was over- pr„. duction in the cycle business. Prices declined steadily, and it has been loniid at length that Tubes Limited ••aniiot go on without a reconstruction, which would ,yu!,l sometime.- t„ the debenture holders but nofliino- to the creditors. Mr Cha,nl,crlai„° is the heaviest individual loser ye! lie has personally guaranteed payment of all creuitors claims, j„ addition to ■nee ting Ins responsibilities as a, sharci,"ll'l 'i-. anil he lias pluckilv decided to carry on tlic business as actively as ever when it is reconstructed. Many a sharp manager in similar circumstances has taken opportunities to igatcn his burden. Mr Chamberlain holds 43,0(10 ordinary shares, on which he has to pay a call of 1/ per shaVe: he has 43,000 preference shares for much he has lent the company in cash £4750. It has often been "suggested that the company could have saved itself by joining aj combine or ring, but llr Chamberlain 1 has steadily objected to any j) W h, (Wcg, ■ c, ~

A prolonged, though not severe, • earthquake was felt on Sunday morn-5 ing at Wellington. f Auckland-San Francisco despatch of Ist December arrived in London on Oth i January,

A visitor suggests that a copy of the Eailivay Guide might be placed in the New Plymouth Library for reference. The High Commissioner hits cabled Ito the Mines Department askiug what areas are available at Maharahara, near Woodville, as copper areas.

The visiting tennis players will be' guests of the local Association on Wednesday, when they will be taken on a trip to the North Egiuont MounI tain House.

A stingarec, weighing about half-a-hundredweight and measuring 'lft. 6m. by '.lft., was recently captured at the mouth of the Taikatu river, on the Waimate Plains.

The Minister for Agriculture states that the proposed new; regulations for the grading of ilax have generally met with approval, and will shortly bo brought into operation. A correspondent writes: —" It is to be hoped that the Irishmen in this town will give the distinguished visitor to-night a right royal Irish welcome and roll up vyell also. lam informed that Mr , Devlin is an excellent debater. Let me give you a good old Irish war cry. ' Billi aroon duce, mulla gluce, uikord wakara, bocker and doch!'"

An inquest on the bodyof William VV llson, who succumbed on Sunday to injuries received by being run over by a truck at the railway deviation works on Saturday, was opened before Mr H. F. Russell, J.P , acting-coroner, at 0.30 iast evening. Evidence of identifi-

cation was given by Frederick Gray, brother-in-law of deceased, and the inquest was adjourned until this evenI ing. Thecoroner gave an order for the burial t>day.

Tin) Taranaki County Council put through its business in record time at the monthly meeting held on Monday. "This is something like," remarked a member, " why cannot we get through in the same time every meeting F" '• So wo can if we leave out Tapuac discussions," rejoined another member, i and ho was not wide of the mark. The i'apuae affairs have provided sufficient data for a three volume novel. In tact the Tapuae horse has been ridden to a skeleton, and it is quite time it was turned out lor a spell.

The usual fortnightly meeting of the Loyal Eguiont Lodge, 1.0.0. F., M.U., vas held on Monday evening, K.G. Bro. A. Olivers presiding. Letters of recommendation were granted to two members, who are leaving the district to visit Lodges in other parts of the colony or elsewhere. The quarterly report and balance-sheet were read aud adopted, showing that notwithstanding tho large amount of £337 os paid for sick pay during the year, the Lodge increased in funds for the twelve months ending December 24th, 1900, by £287 2s 2d. The total worth of the Lodge is now £5977 as Id.

At Palmcrston North on Holiday \V. Wood was sentenced to two months' imurisonment on two charges for sell ing indecent pictures. A request for the imposition of a line was refused by .Mr Thomson, 5..M., who said that if ever there was a ease for imprisonment this was one. Accused sold seven pictures, and eight others, all of a grossly indecent nature, were in his possession when arrested.

What is called a very sensible sag-1 gestion has been made by Or. I'alon and Professor Garvie in a letter which appears in the London Christian World. They suggest that churches might utilise their schoolrooms on Sunday afternoons (after the Sunday school has been dismissed) for "at home" leas to the young people who about that hour of the day crowd the streets. The proposal practically is that churches should open social restaurants on Sunday afternoon, providing tea, with music and a congenial Of course, the frequenters would pay for their teas. ]t is stated that this branch of the work at Wliiletield's (London) has contributed largely to the success of (hat institutional church, and has also helped to swell the evening congregations.