LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVIII, Issue 81917, 28 January 1907, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

During December the estates of thirty deceased persons were placed under the charge of the Public Trustee for management. Big crowds visited the Mountain House on Sunday. For a few moments the Sngarloavcs were visible, but otherwise the view was obscured by ike haze.

Cabinet has decided that there shall be only two members on the Native Land Commissiou. Sir Robert Stout and Mr A. T. Ngata will thircfore constitute the Commission. Some seventeen Chinese came to New Zealand in December; fifteen [landed at Wellington and two U [ Invercargill. There were two deparI tares, both from Wellington. A reliable Ciiristchurch paper states that on the la-t day of the shearing at Mr K Short's I'ararangi shed eight shearers shore llilil) sheep, .he top tally, that of S. Jiichardson, being 2!>l.

Mrs Reddon has given a bed to the Ruinaia Hospital. It is to be placed in the recently added wing, and is to be known as the "Soddon lied, in memory of your laic. lnembgr, who lived among yon for bo many years, and entered into your joys and sorrows."

following is an extract from a letter received from a former New Zealand resident, who recently went to Port fairy, Victoria,, to take up his residence:—"The cost of living here is ridiculously cneap after New Zealand —meat about half Wellington prices and of much better quality, almost equal to best British; eggs Od per dozen. Splendid supplies of a.ll kinds of fruit at about I'/al per lb by the case."

Australia keeps steadily on its course of importing five slock front Luropc, says a Sydney paper, but siie fills far short of her Argentine rivals. Kcfcreuce has recently been made 1o big sales of betf Shorthorns for the South American State, and since then sonic further purchases of note have been recorded. The exports to the Argentine have lately averaged .dull a head for !>0 young bulls, and .CIOOO nas been paid fur a single animal, iiy and-bye we shall doubtless lind this quality talking on tiie London meat markets.

.Speaking of the Native Land Commission, the Wellington Post says: The Cummis.-ioiuTs may reasonably he expected in have arrived witiiin six months at curtain partial results which will lie worth reporting and possibly suflicicut to justify Parliamentary aciion. The fear that the appointment of the Commission is. like that of the Land Commission, mainly for the purpose of gaining time-that it is, in fuel, lint another instalment nl' ilic policy of "taihoa which, is the bane m' our unlive land adniinistia. tinn—is dispuseil of. Kofcrring to the Izard cases, the N'a pier Tclcgrup'll savs: One of the charges to whieli he has pleaded guilty i, I hat he misappropriated, partly or wholly. .Uti.ooo entrusted to him by an order of the Supreme Court in ISIf) with the direction that the money should he invested by him., on behalf of another person, in certain securities under the Land Act, 1888. What we. 'i'li'mk the public would like to' know is, what precautions did the Supreme C 't take to see tii.it its order was obeyed: Are the public to assume, for instance, that when such an order is made the responsibility of the Court ends' If mi, we are paying very dearly for our judicial whistle.

A Jlalclittiia gentleman who until recently has boon intimately connected with farming and grazing was asked by a free Press reporter last week what he thought of the present prolonged spell of dry weather. "I don't like it at all." lie' replied. "The cfl'eci on crops and stock must be. very bad. ' I have been 48 years in Dingo last Christmas, and 1 haven't seen a season to equal this for dryness. A Halclulha farmer of almost equally wide experience, however, holds a dill'erent ; view. He says that in 1870 a severe drought was experienced; for in thai year slock had to be brought from the ilillend and Stony Creek districts to be watered at the Molynoux. This vcar I'hingß have, not a'cached that stage. The suburbs of Cincinatfi were re ci'iitly thrown into a panic bv a'hunt after osoaped elephants from the Zoological (.(aniens. A surgeon had 'iiuleavore.l to amputate' the tail of I'.asil, an elephant !lj years of age. and weighing} over four /tons. lAnolhci,' eiepiiant lied chewed the tail, causing blood poisoning to set in. lie rebelled when 111,- surgeon seared Ihe wound with a branding iron, and eas, ily burst, his bonds, 'lie charged (he animal house, dost roving tire '"renter part of it, and freed a herd 'of elephants which at. once stampeded from Hie park, lliroiijrli the city's streets, fee surgeon was seriouslv injured bv the falling limber of the elephant house, and several keepers were also hurl. Hundreds of men joined in the hunt for the elephants, which lasted for hours. All of the animals were recaptured. r . One day last week, Mr E. K. Jiacllouald, of Okete, Auckland, while burning some trees on his farm at Kaurou, discovered in the ashes of a huge rata tree, the remains of a human being. Tlie bush surrounding Ihe frees was felled some thirteen years ago. The free in which, the remains wore found was only scorched at the time, being in a green state. A good deal of speculation arose as to how the remains came in the tree. In years gone by the natives sometimes disposeil of the bodhs of their dead, especially those of higher rank, bv placing them iu the hollows of trees, at a considerable height from the ground, and it is surmised that the ratal which is of immense, size, may have been selected as the resting place of some Maori of high lineage, whose bones may have ruma'incjl there undisturbed until the other day, when the tree was converted into ashes. The theory that the remains were those of a Maori is borne out by the thickness of the portion of the skull which escaped dost ruclion of th,. | u , lt , lf n,,. | h .,,. as I lie occipital lion,: of the .Maori is much thicker than liiat of the JCuropoan. Mi' Chas. Eisonlohr, representative of a prominent linn in Spain, is at present on a visit to New Zealand. Spain he says, is waking up from a nation of 'lotus-eaters, content 'to squander the hours in pleasant dalliance. The

[Spaniards have, by the disastrous consequences of their quarrel with the United States, come face'to face will, stern necessity; and with a depleted exchequer and depreciated currency, have entered upon an era of commercial activity. Tee .Spaniard of live or len years ago is not the Spaniard of to-day. "lie sees tlial lie must be like the French, or the Germans, or your own people," said Mr Kisenlohr. '"He has made up his mini|, lie has intelligence, and he is not afraid to plunge in, as you say in your country. |~„ many ways the war has been a gmid thing for the nation. If | ws taught us that we must; \k up to-date. yVe intend to be. The recent marria»o of the King of Spain has had an immense political and commercial signilicance. The alliance has been extremely popular with, the mass of the people, and the personal prestige of the King lias been greatly 'enhanced.

lu tire' making of the Siinplou tumid f 11 new explosive was experimented witli. but had lo be abandoned bo- > cause it produced such onorinousVJuillititles „f carbon monoxide that the air in the tunnel would have boon unlit [ for breathing The explosive, which is described in (he "j\nnuios dm Pouts et Omussecs," was made li.v soaking powdered ehareoal in lii|iiid air or liquid oxygen. Tlii' powilci-fil ehareoal —which, by iUolf is of course, quite harmless—was packed in stout paper earlri.tie eases lilted wilh a paper tube, through whicli the liquid air was I'onrod at the last nioinent before use ami l ln- tiring was nwmplished liy moans of a fulminate cap. Owing t« I lie evaporation 0 f the liquid air it was necessary Hint the dun-Re should be tired within ten minutes of the moment when the liquid was added; but (his, so far from, being 1111 objection, conslitules one of the greatest advantage's of the now explosive, for if there | should he a misfire from any cause it is only necessary to wait a while and the cartridge may Ijc djig \out> with perfect safely, for its explosive properties have evaporated with tlie liquid air. The explosive is said to cost only one tenth the price of dynamite, so that if it is in other respects as valuable as it is reported to be, it is to bo. hoped that the disadvantage may be overcome, 11

>-.\ e rn^ , *#i ! A syndicate lias taken iip'tlie" i'ii'.i' way crossing danger signal, tile invoiilion of Mr (.'. T. I'ritchard, of Wail',in»i. and patent rights have been taken out for Australia.

As the result of a "benefit" organised in aid of .Miss Celtic Campion at Auckland, aliuia .CI2O was ra'sed. The money will be devoted to setting up -Miss Campion and her sister in sum/ light business in Auckland.

It i, recorded that Speaker Cole-, of the South Australian Vssembly,. haput up what looks like a world's vein the chair, and dur'.'g that time lie lias not missed a sitting of the Jl,ui-e. It is alleged that an action by a cordial manufacturer, claiming .C2I.HKI damages, is [lending in connection with recent ptomaine poisoning eases. The case will probably be heard at Ihe next sitting of tiie Supreme Court, says the Manawatu Times. Last year n farmer took up a sec tion of land on the Plains, anil paid CLIO deposit. At the end of lbs year he had paid oil' .Cu'OO, and this year be anticipates wiping oil' I'DOO. This shows wiiat a man with a family can do starting from scratch.—lluWera Star.

A I'.aMutha dealer, was oll'cio.l n line of full-mouthed ewes from Oam am at 7/ a head last week. The low price is owing to the drought and scarcity of food; at this time last yea: tiie same class of sheep were fetching 15/ to 17/. Another example of a similar kind came under notice at the yards the other day, when dairy cows which cost £7 in the spring sold for ,12 10s, says a .Southern exchange. The following amusing conversation was heard at the Exhibition (says the Lyttelton Times) between a lady and a Fijian who could speak English fair ly well. "Dave you been up the tower?" queried the lady. "My Lord, no," answered the Fijian, "me afraid."

"Don't talk like that," corrected 'th:-: lady; "say, 'My gracious, no." "flight, said the Fijian, "me say 'My gracious' if ydu like." The dusky visitors from the sunny isles of Fiji are nothing if not obliging. The schooner jMaroro is now being laden with 250,0U0a of white pine at Wiinganui for Sydney. The Alexa has just departed with a load of 1100. 000 ft, and as she is expected to rciurii in a fortnight's time another huge consignment will be in readiness. Tinmarket for local timber is very brisk in Australia just at present. This vast exporl- of limber is being drawn from the 'J'uihape district. Owing to a good season having been experienced in the Commonwealth, a good de maud for timber has set in.

A naturalised Chinaman is one of the inmates of the Ohiro Home, Wellington, lie is old and infirm, said .Mr liobertson, chairman of the ben evident trustees, the oilier afternoon. Chinese friend, of the aged celestial are getting a sum of money together with a view to maintaining him pormaiienllv iu the home. The veteran has been many year., in Wellington and "he. wanfs'lo'die here," added Air Itoliertson, showing that this China man's wish is diametrically opposed to the ambition of his average fellowcountryman. There is at present a missioncr in Australia in search of land for settlement. This is the Jtcv. 11. Newbury Toms, who states that he represents the lionilout colony iu the State of New York. The great waterworks scheme that is being carried out there will form a lake seventeen miles long and from two to live miles wide, and j will 'Oil'oet about fhl/WU persons. Many of these are thinking about settling in Australia or New Zealand, and M 1 Toms has been commissioned bv them to report upon the conditions. Tie has interested them in Australia., and on receipt, of his report it was prob ,aJ>lo 'that a vllepulatjion would yisit Australia.

A couple of dusky belles who attended the, performance of "The Cingalee" on Thursday night took exception to a remark of one of the ''gods" of the pit. The girls didn't faint, or look shocked, or any of the other feminine tilings that the pakcha girl would do. The young fellow wdio made the objectionable remark was smartly repaid for his trouble. One of the girls gave him a swift open-handcr on the cheek, and then another on the other side of his face to balance matters. Then the other girl got one home on him .and thought that en-

ongli. Subsequently Ihe disgusting denizen of the dark 'seats had to take a lecture from a policeman. District ,lodge Kettle is insistent and emphatic iu his judicial condemn 'ation of the laxity shown by commission agents and others iu business trail actions, uifd a ease before him at 'Auckland, in which an agent and a client were al variance in respect lo the payment of commission, provided another opportunity For the judge lo indulge in 'further 1 eoinmenL on the subject, lie expressed the opinion that the only way for litigation to be avoided iii such cases was for agents to make a proper memorandum of instructions received from clients, and to pursue that course further by sending a conliriuatory 'letlqr. That would give some sort 'of evidence if a dispute" arose subsequently. This was especially necessary where the client refused to give the instructions in writing, or do dined to sign a memorandum, and where the agent walked about the streets touting for business. Verbal conversations virc dangerous in business, and the judge said he cou'd >;,,; i.ndeistaud why some people in a business transaction considered it a rellection if asked to give a sign,,! warrant, "you don't lind banks or other institutions working on a business has is relying on verbal instructions." he | urged, "and why should the smaller I trader act iu the opposite direction.,"