The Daily News. SATURDAY, AUGUST 3.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 60, 3 August 1907, Page 2

The Daily News. SATURDAY, AUGUST 3.

I The cost of the erection of the new (.'renin pound is £55. The hours of attendance at the Stratford telephone excliange will in future be from S a.m. till 10 p.ui. I Captain l-Mwin wired at 12.32 yesterday: Moderate to strong eisterly winds; glass little, movement; tides low. The number of Crown tenants who paid laiul-tux for the year ended March :11st, 1!)07, was 421. The amount of land-tax paid on native lands during the year ending March 31st, 1907, was £6428 6s 4d. The total number of shops in the colony is 10,727, employing 211,141 persons —22,812 males and 0329 females. The total wages paid are £1,482,373 for the year. There were 67!) accidents in factories in the colony during the year, sixteen of which were fatal. There was an accident among every 111 people working in factories and one fatal accident among every 5000 people. The past year has seen the largest increase of factories recorded for some years in the colony. There are 907 more factories and 4907 more workers iu evidence than were shown last year. In tile last thirteen years the factories have increased from 4100 to 10,788, the factory workers from 28,000 to 75,310. Herman Unger, of Boston (U.S.A.), who committed suicide, believed that his body would be revived alter death in the form of some flowering growth—an idea that was repulsive to linn. He therefore left instructions in his will that his body should be cremated and his ashes mixed with cement, and then pressed into a solid brick) which was to be buried. A silver consular coin, which was struck about 705 years after ltoine was founded has been dug up at Winch Bottom (Bucks), England. Titus Carisius, whose name appears on the coin, was monetary to J uiulCaesscupkevbgkqm monetary to -lulius Caesar, and this very piece of money may have been brought by one of the soldiers who invaded Great Britain.

. Notice has been given by Mr Okiy to ask the Native Minister whether he intends to bring in a measure that will niiko it possible for local bodies to collect rate on lands in the hands of Natives. Mr Okey is also asking the Minister of Lands whether he will bring in a measure that will empower him to pay rates on unlet land taken under the band for Settlements Act or Workmen's Homes Act.

Messrs L. Seifert and W. Smith, two well-known llaxmillers of the Manawatu district, have returned to Palmerston after a trip to Australia, during which they made exhaustive enquiries into the growth and production of sisal fibre in Queensland. They state that in their opinion the New Zealand hemp-grower has nothing to fear from competition by the sisal fibre industry, owing to the. greater cost of production in the*latter case. This was due to the fact that the sisal plant did not come to maturity for about four years, and during that time had to be continually weeded and the suckers cut away. To get one ton of fibre millers had to treat twenty-five tons of greeu sisal, whereas in New Zealand it was only necessary to treat nine tons of green llax. The cost of the sisal-stripping machine is about £450, as against £3O for a machine in New Zealand.

The story comes from America—from Port Townseud, Washington. The steamer OuJila. arrived there un a recent afternoon ironi "Yokohama, and next morning the health otlicer proceeded to fumigate the vessel. \\ hi.e this process was going ou, the officials heard sneezing, repeated many times, apparently among the cargo, investigation was made, and six large packing cases were discovered to contain each a Japanese girl. ahey were -amply supplied with food and water for the journey, and beyond being a little cramped for room, fairly comfortable. The cases had been placed on the main deck, where plenty of air was circulating, and some of those connected with the vessel must have been in the secret. They were consigned to a Japanese merchant at Seattle. The women were ordered to be deported, the steamship company being obliged to give bonds of £2OO for each girl until she is sent back.

An extraordinary case is being investigated by- the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Women and Children in Montreal, Canada, and the decision is a difficult one to make, because the woman concerned is satisfied with her treatment, and merely called to ask the officials as to her legal • status. The woman's husband is a drunkard, and he arranged to soil her to another man for OOdol. The purchaser had not so much money, so he arranged to pay lOdol., to give an overcoat and a watch, to make up the value of the 30d01., and to pay the remaining 30dol. by monthly instalments of adol. each. The woman was' pleased with the bargain, and was extremely disappointed when the officials informed her that the contract was not

binding. She said she and her husband

oame from England three years ago, and she had maintained them both, whei«as the purchaser was a hard-working man. The officials are now puzzled to know whether they have a right to accept the responsibility of protecting a woman who makes no complaint. One of the most sterling Wairarapa pioneers, in the person of Mr IX. Burling, is still well and hearty, and is now in his 107 th year. He is now (says the Standard), as he has been for many years, living with his son, Mr Arthur Burling, at Otaki. Mr M. Thomas, of Moroa, while recently on a visit to that locality to see some of his friends, spent a few day? with the centenarian, and found him quite hale and hearty, and with faculties undimmed, with the exception of hi 3 sight, which has almost failed him. His locks, though silver white, are plentiful, and he amuses him•elf with a little gardening, having still a desire for work, a trait in his character which lias been proverbial from boyhood, One of the many instances of his wonderful vigor js worth recording. At 10U years of age, he was assisting to sow grass seed on the liilly country of AKredton with some of his stalwart grandsons, taking the lead with a sack of grass seed on his shoulder. He noticed the boys lagging behind, and cn-

quired if he were making the pace too , fast! The grand old man's descend- " ants are said to exceed 400 in number, k The chairman of the Nelson Harbor ) Board, in a comprehensive report to the j Board the other day stater that the cut- ( tiug through the Boulder Bank, providing a new entrance to Nelson harbor, had j cost to date £50,772. Of this sum ] £'25,012 luid been spent on plant, C 12,- » 35i on a mole, C 16,146 on dredging, ) £3045 on civil and other engineers, and £2312 oil sundries. Part of the dredgiiig was delivered through discharge , P'P CI * for rccLiniiition purposes at a cost j of 12V4d per ton; the dredging with j dumping of the spoil cost 0 l-3d per ton. j The aim is to make a channel loft deep J at low tides, or 27ft to 29ft at high tide j (spring), and the chairman said there is no dubt that this can be done. The new cut had been in use for some time, ]and when deepened throughout t 0 15ft larger vessels will be able to visit the port. The harbormaster reports that tidal currents are deepening the water outside the limits of dredging. Tho Board lias power to levy a harbor rate, but the rhainnnn anticipates that a' ! rate can be dispensed with, at the same time keeping the harbor dues and char- ' ges low. (

Woods' Great Peppermint Cure for Coughs and Colds never fails. Is Gd. Indents of C. and J. Clark's ladies' shoos, suitable for the season, also ladies' and gents.' warm slippers have arrived at Dockrill's, and prices can't be beat. A large assortment of ladies' evening shoes to hand at low prices, also I his well-known brand, of men's ' and youths' winter boots always in stock,—

For the year ending July 31 the following produce was exported from the New Plymouth breakwater: 206,175 boxes butter, estimated value £515,435; 17,173 packages of cheese, estimated value .tliO,102;; total estimated value, of produce exported from the port. £575,537. For the preceding year the figures were as follows: Butter, 196,217 boxes, [£400,011; 9575 packages, I £30,01!) a difference in favor of the year just closed of almost £BO,OOO. From returns supplied by the Customs Department, (he Minister, Sir William Lyne, has had estimates made of the amount of bounty which will require to be paid during the coming season oil sugar grown In" Australia by white labor. It is estimated that in, New South Wales only 1333 tons will be the result ol black labor, whereas 24,100 tons will be grown by white labor. The bounty payable to New South Wales planters will, therefore, amount to "£72,300. In Queensland, by black labor, there will be produced 16,87T) tons of sugar, and by white labor 157,000. The amount of bounty is estimated at £500,000. Ihis makes the total sugar yield of Australia l;)fl,,'!05 tons, and the total amount of bounty to be paid £572,300.

Lord • Linlithgow, in the course of a letter to a friend in Melbourne, refers to an incident that happened while lie was Governor of Victoria in the early nineties. He was the guest of Mr Ilyland at \\ arrnambool in 1891, and he savs:— "I well remember the episode about 'the whisky distillers. Poor Brisbane, my clerk, brought me the evening paper with the pretended portrait of Mr Christie, and I exclaimed, TVliy, that is me; I know myself by the frock coat. I was married in it!"' It appeared that' Detective Inspector Christie had been despatched from Melbourne to Nirranda, the nigged and heavily-timbered country east of W arrnambool, to capture some idieit whisky distillers, who had been trading m the district for some years. Disguising himself as a swagman, lie effected the capture after some shooting, and so groat was the excitement that an evening paper in Warrnambool promised its readers a photograph of the detective. When the photograph appeared it was that of Lord Hopetoun, and below in large type appeared the words, "Detective J. M. Christie, the Terror of Illicit Win sky Distillers!"