LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 309, 6 January 1908, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Crews of tlie Wailara rowing clubs are now in training lor the forthcoming rcjjittaa at Waitaru and Waiiganui, A large area of Crown lands in the Taugarakau district, Whangamoinona, will lie open for selection shortly. The l.ind is described as of good quality. The Karawa made a daylight trip from Onehuuga yesterdiy, carrying about live hundred passengers. A special train ntct her on arrival, and mumof the passengers came into town. A young wom.in whose mind is unbalanced by religious mania, was put ashore at the breakwater on Saturday rind taken to the Xew Plymouth Hospital. She will be sent to a mental hospital to-day. Cutting! «h or t]y after tll „ „ lwll j n ,r of a new section of railway in the .South recently an old lady who" was walking into town was told that she could have saved herself the exercise, for a train was just about due. "Xae thank ye," she I answered, "1 eanna wait!''

Local fruiterers and auctioneers aid not very keen on the new steamer , time-table. The boat from Xe|sou now arrives on Saturday, the busiest day both of the auctioneers and the retailers. Hut as the fruit eannot protitably be kept until Monday, it must be Sold that same afternoon! At .Mr Xewton ■ .King's mart on Saturday the sale of poultry and general sundries was going orf whilst another staff stacked the newfe-arrived fruit and prepared for its sale. In order to avoid this inconvenience. Mr King has decided to hold his fruit sales in one of his stores near the railway goods shed. Maori hospitality is no new theme. The native of this country, when treated aright, is generous to a degree not excentud by the pakelut. But he is also an adaunable mimic. The Maori has for year* past noticed that even the most taeitwn of his cockatoo neighbors can muster half n smile at ChristMas time. He his noticed the hoiuc-stoii-d hospitality, too, and friends gathering from far and near to assist in "keeping up Christmas" with historic joviality. So the Awakino Maoris the other day took another leaf out of our well-thumbed book, and invited their , white neighbors to spend Christmas < with them. And they did the thing in I rare style. The European guests were so pleased that a meeting was summoned, and it was unanimously decided to return "the compliments of the season" by entertaining their Maori friends in the Mokau Hall on Wednesday next. An accident was narrowly averted in Revonfitreet yesterday. A lady and gentleman in trying to pass one another started that familiar dodging backwards nnd forwards just outside the A.TS.C. Moot Shop, .lust when a crash seemed evident, both their attentions were drawn to the startling prices for footwear in the above firm's window, and ' instead of rushing into one another they rushed into this familiar shop, and each made a cash purchase from the . ' lAimernu-t bargains offered. But imagine | ' flu ir surprise when the genial manager gave them a 10 per cent, discount as i a Christmas-box for paying cash. These < great .offer* are now open to everyone „ at the A.B.C. Boot Shop. You know ,■ wliw to gel them now. so don't start | „ dodging about—come right hero.—Advt. j

A female inebriate was arrested on Saturday night and lodged in the police «lls. Large parties left town on Saturday light for the North Egmont Mountain House. l'atca shipped 13,13!) boxes of butter ind 18,891) cases of cheese last month. Hie former was valued at £32,848, and Die latter at £52,81)2. The Dawson's Falls mountain house, on the Manain side of the mountain, is being well patronised at the present time. A start has been made with the dismantling of the abandoned railway line through the town. The ballast w now being removed from the eection near Vivian street. The Garrison Band played a capita programme of music yesterday after noon in the Recreation Grounds. Aboir four or five hnudrcd people assemble! to appreciate the commingled bcautie of music and scenery.

The .Stratford Farmers' Co-operative ssociation, Limited, will be paying out n the 20th instant, for milk received nring December, the sum of £750!) 15s il (a record monthly payment) as gainst £7lOl 14s l'ld for the same eriod last year,—Post. Mr W. 11. Hawkins, ex-M.H.R. for 'ahiatua, informed a Hawera Star re. xirtcr on Friday evening that he hat [(■ finitely decided to contest the I'ahiatiat soat against allcomers at the next ;eneral election. A number of Hanks l'eniiwiila farmer.iavc arranged to begin cutting cocksfoot rhis will ]>robab!y be the earliest starl thnt has ever .been made on the I'cirn «ila. F.xcept in a few favored localitic: the yield is expected to be poor. The widening of Victoria road hm the effect of bringing the street-light in poles nearly into the middle of tli thoroughfare in KOme places, and i the middle of the footpath lower dowr The borough electric lighting deparl ment has now moved these to their pel manent positions.

The December rainfall in New Plymouth was 4.41 inches, which fell on 21 . days. In the previous December 4.70 inches fell on 17 days. The wettest day was the sixth, when 1.55 inches I fell. The ycir's rain measured up to 77.2?f>, which was above the average.' Spread over a period of .14 years, the average for New Plymouth is 60.G42. The following prize answers were given to the question, "Why are you spell a snob?" put by the London Express:—(l) "Becanse the more perfect bounder I am the higher I rise."—(2) "Because I keep 'my craft' afloat amid the swells."—(3) "It's such a common offence, and such an offence to be common." It seems tliat the lupin, which is doing such beneficial work in reclaiming the sand dunes along the coast, has, at this season of the year a decided drawback, inasmuch as it is extremely likely! to take lire. The Lyttelton Times reports that on Boxing Day, at New . Brighton, a serious conflagration raged for hours, and endangered a number of dwellings. In ids New Year message to St. • Mary's congregation last night, Rev. F. < G. Evans mentioned the need for ani other clergyman in this purish, and for " the estbnlishment of a Taranaki diocese. ' He said that the Auckland diocese, ■ extending from the North Cape to , Stratford, wits too large, and there was - no opportunity for the required frc- - quency of the Bishop's visits to his dis-

triet. Juat before Chriitmas the Borough Council's staff metalled over the railway line in Devon street, the Works Coin- j mittee being given to" understand that the old line would not bo needed for some six weeks or so. Great was the /surprise of the chairman of the committee when he saw a gang of men stripping the street metal at the end of last week. It appears that the Department is anxious to push on with the demolition of the line. At Stratford the other day Mr C. Lloyd, who was standing on the bowling green, heard n whizzing sound near him which resembled the noise made by a . large bird, and looking round, saw the earth and grass Hying where a jagged Hint, 81b in weight, which hud come hurling through the air, had ploughed up the ground in the centre of the green. The stone apparently came from a spot about a cpjarter of a mile away, where blasting operations are being carried on. Some time ago the Hawera County Council derided to erect toll gates on the roads lending to Hawera from the Waimatc Plains. The erection of the gates 1 was held over to permit of an agreement being made between the lfoad i Hoard and the County Council for the repairing anil maintenance of the roads. . This not having come about, the Connel at a mucling on Saturday authorised ; the erection of the gates forthwith, a motion to have a commission appointed • to assess the amount of subsidy to be i paid by the lioad Hoard being lost. When, a person loses all article of 1 value and it is not returned in a couple of dag's it is often surmised that n 1 Maori has found it, and will not give it ' up. The Upunake Times records a ease of honesty in that district, in which an old Maori returned a gold \ watch with a half-sovereign attached. He picked it up going out of the gate at the Opunake sports on Boxing Day. He took it home to Rahotu, told another Maori about it, and said he had better take it to Constable Hickman, to whom most of the natives go when there is a dillicnlty to be solved. The Maori knew nothing of the reward which was offered for the watch. The treasured article has been restored to its owner in Manaia. The Magistrate's Court at Xew Plymouth luvs been very much understaffed in the past- few months. When Mr Phillips, the senior clerk, was recently transierred, the authorities sent the clerk of the court a surprise packet in the shape of a boy cadet who had no previous experience of court work. Of course, great inconvenience wan caused by this, and but for Mr Pipe, the bailiff, having a good grip of what was required in the office, Air Banks must have had a very rosy time. Now, however, the lad has been ordered to report himself at Hamilton, and Mr Findlay, of the Hamilton Magistrate's Court stail','t ikes up his duties here. He was to "nave been transferred before, but the order was suspended in order to allow him to sit for his L.L.B. examination before coming to New Plymouth. The Butter Export Act, passed into law last session, is now in operation. Butter-makers all over the Dominion will be well advised to put themselves in possession of the provisions of the Act, as it vitally affects their business. Its chief clauses enact that any person exporting, cir attempting to export, butter containing more than 10 per cent of water, commits an offence, and is liable to a line not exceeding £SO, With a view to educating butter-men as to the reason for this measure, the Department has issued a circular stating that (he limit for moisture in butter in (ireat Britain is Mi per cent., and as a number of firms handling our butter on the Home markets have been prosecuted and heavily lined for selling New Zealand butter which contained moisture exceeding the limit, the Act had lieen placed on the Statute Book with a view to preventing recurrences of a like nature. The idea is to protect the reputation of our butter in England, and the Department intends to see that it is strictly complied with.

The Maori* itre not generally credited with an undying love for the polkcni".'). And it U rather roinurkalilc that members of the '•foorce" should have been baniiuetted at the princip.il native village of Taranaki without the news having been passed along to the newspapers, lint the feasting was no t the result of nny great achievement on the part of the police, or to celebrate any great. Hiiceess. Rather to the contrary* About six years ago the police first "wanted" a I'urihaka native named Wehi on a charge of sly-grog selling. And they've wanted him ever since. Wehi, however, knew n thing or two, and carefully kept out. of reach of the arm of the law, by sequestering himself in nnfrei|iiented places. Rarely did lie leave the village, and if he did come outside its boundaries it was merely to work on some neighboring farm. ' As Wehi steadfastly refused to lie arraigned for Ms offence, and the police were still unable to catch him. it evidently struck the "powers that, be" to grant a pardon. This was done. News was sent to • Wehi th it liis offence was to be condoned, and last week Serjeant Haddrell and Constable Hickman visited Parihaka to forniallv torsive. The Maoris were de- j lighted with the leniencv of the nakcliti. ind killed the fatted calf. A big feast l ivas provided, and bia sneeclies made, the . Maoris brill" told that the law in future ,ronld always lie fairly enforced, just (is c ivith the palcelin. TU.mhera of (|,o TOoni 1 "' 1 !" HniM!-"* !n.-.inle of Nnt PlymonUi 'First uml !«»nnfl firoimal are notified tlii+ mill, "notions will be due and nayahle to- " lav at the Secretary's Office. Ourrie- jij 1 reet. from fl n.m. to 12.30. from 1 n.m. C o 5 p.m., and 7 p.m. to 0 p.m.—Advt. *'