GENERAL NEWS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 60, 19 September 1907, Page 4

GENERAL NEWS.

Speaking to a New Zealand Times reporter with reference to Dunedin'a collection of £15,000 for a Y.M.C.A. building, Mr H. N. Holmes said: "The result of the campaign in Duncdin is a record for the southern hemisphere. When we realise that Dunedin lias only a population of sixty thousand, it was remarkable to get this sum in fourteen days, when Sydney, with six hundred thousand, got £15,000 in thirty days. In Ottawa they secured £40,000 in fourteen days, but the surrounding American cities made that easier. The result here, so far away from large centres of population, is something to lie proud of. It is due to the enthusiasm and the system which secured the co-operation of a large group of men for a definite time; and also to the remarkable organising powers of Mr Lyman L. Pierce, the national secretary for Australia and New Zealand. He was secretary in Washington for six years, and during that term he achieved an international reputation. Just at the close of his term he opened the finest association building on the continent. He has the gift of inspiring a group of men with his ideals and keeping them at work. Associated with him were Mr Gillandcrs and a number of the most prominent business men ot the city, and 110 young business men, all of whom worked incessantly during the campaign."

"In the discussion in the House of Lords on the Butter and Margarine Bill, Lord Onslow amusingly illustrated the difficulty of getting margarine called anything but butter. "A committee •that considered the question at one time," said Lord Onslow, "did not know how to pronounce the word 'margarine,' so they called in a waiter from the refreshment department to decide the matter. 'Do you call that margarine or marjorine?' asked the chairman. 'No, sir,' replied the waiter, 'we calls it butter.'"

No fewer than two thousand people in Nelson (says the Picton correspondent of the Marlborough Express) of all ages and both sexes, have been afflicted during the lust few weeks with the influenza fiend. The rest of the grown-up male population went to Wellington as a deputation to the Premier to urge upon him the necessity of railway extension in the district. The Midland railway tunnel through Arthur's Pass, for the construction of which a contract has been let to Messrs. John McLean at nearly £OOO,OOO, will be the longest railway tunnel outside Europe. A young man had a most unpleasant experience in Hastings the other night. He was leaving his residence to attend a social function, when Ko.neone from an upstairs window, presu n.ibly by mistake, threw the contents .if a wash-basin over him. a most likely happening.