GENERAL NEWS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 61, 16 October 1907, Page 4

GENERAL NEWS.

The political giants of the past came under review at a pharmaceutical supper | in Wellington early last week. The I Hon. J. Rigg, responding to the to.ist ' ■ Parliament, said he had heard it said tint t!:. 1 Parliament of to-day was not ::> the standard of Tarliaments of '• > ■ it—that, indeed, the standard was i i lower, and that there were no .;:Uirs there now such as used to be iicr; in the olden times. lie confessed .hat to one who had not an intimate knowledge of the members there might seem to be some truth in the statement. What had staggered him was why the pre.-cnt members did not make a liett'T -how. What was the matter with tlum? He could liardly put his finger on a m;>n v.ho was not able and conspicuous. They had ability in plenty, and the Parliament was up to the standard and as high as any he had known since lie had sat in the Legislature. He had heard something about intellectual giants of the past, but he thought that many of the giants in those days had a newspaper reputation, and, having had an opportunity of measuring the standards, as the American said, some of them were '•very small potatoes." New York City is building, at a cost of 101,000,000 dollars, a huge new water system, which will supply water to the 1b,000,000 population that the city expects within the next 20 years. A great reservoir, 12 miles long, is being completed in the heart of the Cat-kills. To I'rin- the water from the Ashokan reservoir to the city will require an aqueduct of larger diameter than most of the tunnels around New York. It will be an underground channel of concrete and steel, built to last for ever, and to parry the water in continuous descent from the high level of 600 feet at Ashokan reservoir to 335 feet at Kensic:>, where is to be located a main storage ot water near the city, and delivering it to the filtration plant at Searsdale. "We are still experiencing earthquakes in San Francisco," says an American, writing to a friend in Wellington. "We have had a very unusual summer, cool and damp, which I think is in some way due to the. earthquake*. There was anothei good one recently which had us all up. In San Francisco it is a poor week when they do not have one or two shocks, but the papers never mention them, for tear of injuring the rebuilding of the" city. If you come over this fall you will "see a great improvement in the city, and in a few years it will be it\'lf again. Large buildings are going up, and as the Board of Supervisors have removed the height limit, more skyscrapers are going up than before the earthquake." An interesting point in this year's sheep returns is that the number of flock breeding ewes is the highest on record, being 10,521,318, or nearly a quarter of a million more than in* the previous year. Stud sheep of- all kinds show an increase, the total number being G35.654. as against 600,963 in 1906. The bulk of the Bomneys, Soutbdowns, and Lineolns are in the North Island. Southdowns have increased rapidly of late in the Xorth Island. Fanners are increasing their sheep stocks, having gained 8,444,287 on the year, while the South Island has only added 31,014. During the last few years, this Dominion has made rather remarkable progress in regard to its literature. It has produced a large number of new books, some of which hare been placed on the world's markets. A feature of the activity in this direction has been "the publication of new editions of New Zealand's old classics, which have gone out of print. Quite a new departure has been made, in the shape of a series of cheap booklets, which, while pleasing New Zealanders, should help largely to advertise their Dominion in other lands. There are ail, numbers in the series. Each number is complete in itself, and, ]n a bright and interesting style, deals jrfth tome phase of the Dominion's possessions. lt» famous birds, for in- ■ stance, are de-scribed and illustrated by Mr James Drummond, F.L.S., in the first number, "Feathered Friends of the Bush"; and the same author gives a short sketch of the "Stone Age Man," when he lived in New Zealand, not much more than half a century ago. Mr. R. M. Laing, of Christchurch, has supplied a Specially interesting number dealing with the wild flowers, and Miss Jessie Maekay has edited a booklet of New Zealand verses. Other numbers deal with the world-famous "Wonderland,'' and with the Dominion's scenery and cities. The series is an artistic and dainty production, and as the publishers, Messrs. Whitcombe and Tombs (Ltd.), have placed a low price on the booklets, they will be in large demand. They arc excellent souvenirs of New Zealand. They 'should be specially popular as a gift" for friends during the next fewmonths, when seasonable greetings will be exchanged. The booklets are sent out in a neat envelope ready for posting, and, as the price is only one shilling, they are within the reach of all. Tin: publishers state they are obtainable from aliTßoksellers throughout the Dominion. An invention which may have a revolutionary tendency in the working of oildriven machinery has been patented throughout the world by the inventor, Mr. W. Johansen, of Auckland. This is a double-acting internal combustible engine, which, the inventor claims, will doable the power of an oil-engine of similar size. He achieves this result by exploding the cylinder alternately top and bottom, thus getting power every second instead of every fourth revolution. Designs of the engine have been submitted to experts in Australia and England, who pronounce it the most important invention in oil-engines of recent years, and a large engineering firm in . England is in treaty with the inventor for the right to manufacture it. ••it is a good tiling lu na\e as many maps as possible in Uuua, said Jl-ss £Ublieli, a missionary, in me course oi aii address to Ule Uieaners' Lilian at cuiisuiiurcli, "u= it icis lue Cniuese tlian China is nut tue only country in tne world. Xney h-ive ail idea tlial i 'hifig ig 'the' country, and that otiieis are only tributaries. When the i reucli warships steamed up a Cnincse ri\er a few years ago the people wanted to if now what country was rebelling against China!" \v e have frequently heard of the* collers oi the Siaie being eurieiied w.Ui "conscience money' reiunucd by loiii who have cheated the revenue and loum peace in repentance; but yesteiday was the lirst tune iu thirty-four years' newspaper experience Uiat we iiave come across a repentant newspaper runner, and uur feelings have been so overwhelmed tliat'we can only reproduce tne letter explaining the matter:—"Dear sir,—Enclosed tind half-sovereign lor papers which 1 sold while in your employ.'' .No date, no signature; but tile half-sovereign was there all right.— Feilding Star, , , aj alii