The Daily News. FRIDAY, JANUARY 10.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 312, 10 January 1908, Page 2

The Daily News. FRIDAY, JANUARY 10.

it j Fnun :»0 to 1)0 miles of wire have been j used in the. New Plymouth electric i mm \ liyMmu system. ! 1 The man Stewart, arrested for n<- ' (iaiiUinu' Defective Boddnm. ha* b'*en rei ;n3nd'(' 'or a w«-k. upon lu> own applii t.it"on. The KnglMi in il desjntelr'd fni--Wellington via Naples on the 20th November arrived at London on the lith inst. At the meeting of ratepayers last ni"ht there wan an attendance of nineteen. Of these, eleven were borough ; councillors and members of the stall', : leaving eight only of the general body y lof ratepayers.

4n the compensation case, Wilson v. Knight, arising out of the railway deviation fatality, and in which .C3OO compensation was claimed, the Arbitration Court has awarded C>o. Il is reported that bad half-sovereigns are in circulation in Hamilton. The counterfeit is an effiiet representation of the genuine one, but being made ot brass is l'glit in weight, and lacks the ring of the genuine article.

At Horopito, on the Main Trunk Line, a huge stone, blown up by the blasting of trees, landed about a foot away from J a tent, wherein the occupier (Mr Head) was leading at the time. The lioulder, which weighed about 42ibs, sank into tue ground to a depth of eight inches. At the Teachers' Conference the following Taranaki remits were agreed to: —'i'liat where there is only one assistant in a school, that assistant if certificated, should receive not less than £IUO per annum; That a certificated teacher in Bole charge of a school above grade 0 should receive a minimum salary of £l,'!t) per annum.

A well attended meeting of the Ncw I'lyniouth Laborers' Union was held on Wednesday evening. The election of (.Iticers practically resulted in the reelection of last year's ollieials. The contribution fee was reduced from tkl to )lii per week. Regret was expre-svd that the Union's treasurer hail met with mi accident, he having broken his leg. Other business of a routine order was transacted. Air I. Fulton, New ZiM ',l III! lla\ expert, who is conducting experiments in flax-growing at St. Helena, writes 1., the Minister of Agriculture that the sends he took to St. Helena geruniatcil well, but when the plants began to grow they were severely attacked by grubs. Other experiments are now being tried. Mr Fulton ha-; been erecting a mill plant. The settlers are transplanting fairly extensively, but the industry, lie says, could not be made remunerative inside of four years.

The decision of the Borough Council to abolish the system of perquisites at the lleuui cemetery is causing inconvenience to some people who made arrangements for the care of the graves of relatives and friends by the sexton. 11l future the arrangements will be made by the sexton for the Cemetery Conini'ttce, and not on his own account. The minimum charge is two shillings, ulld a scale of fees has been arranged. Aity arrangements entered into with the precious nextoH are not now being recognised.

A Palmerston North contractor informed a Standard reporter that very high prices are at present ruling for draught hoses, notwithstanding the fact that a great number of horses have lieell nulling into the market from the Main Trunk line as the contractors have finished their work. Four- and five-year-old heavy draughts, good honest workers. fetch and upwards, while twoami three year-old heavy draughts, unbroken. were sold the other day for

t«0. A prize-winner at the recent show, about six years old, was bought by a local firm for Light draughts realise from .CUI to C 4.">, all of which tend* to prove that at the present-time horse-breeding should l>e a profitable industry. especially in the class of horses referred to. Oat- and chaff are selling at nearly double the prices charged three year- ago.

The ''iniquitous system of payment of salaries on the average attendance," came In for some severe handling at the Teachers' Conference In Auckland on Saturday. In the course of the discussion some instances of individual hardship, consequent on this system, were mentioned bv Jlr O. 1). Flamank, an Otago delegate. He mentioned the ease of a teacher who had lieen 13 years in the service, and was receiving the princely salary of fill) a year. This man. he said, had a delicate wife and a family to support, but in consequence of a drop in the attendance at this school Ms salary would probably fall to Tue case pf another teacher—a widow with seven children —whose salary was reduced through the same cause from £l2O to .£on, was also referred to. "I think this is scandalous." was Mr Flamank's comment on the existence of surli a svstem.

tl'here are so many acts and by-laws bulging us in within legal limitations that it is frequently a puzzle to know just what we may do, says the New Zealand Herald. The other day a Ponsonby lady had this fact forcibly brought home to her. She happened to discover upon her premises a small parcel, which oil lieing o|>cncd was proved to contain tho last mortal remains of a family of kittens. Tlicv had evidently been nil-

successful in their initial attempts at swimming. The obvious thing to do was to bury the giue-onie parcel, but the owner of the property upon which it was found had doubts as to whether

she might perform the funeral rites. She feared that bv doing so she might be liicakiiu.' a by-law.. Instead* she wrote to the City Council and asked that august Ikmlv to come and remove tbe corpses. On ltclialf of the municipality the town clerk, however, jibbed. He wrote to the lady to Inform her that she was legally responsible for the removal of any nuisance from her premises. Other people who may come across dead cats on their allotments should note this.

; j Sydney is expected by the police autliI orities to become very shortly the happy built iiig-groiiml of .ill I lie confidence men. I spicier*, petty thieve-, anil Jiickpockets of the Cummomvealth; and renewed efforts are being made to cope with the evil, say* the Daily Telegraph. They are being rapidly driven out of Victoria and New Zealand by recent legislation, and owing to the fact that our vagrancy laws are now inoperative this undesirable class is making its headquarters in Sydney. Indeed, the police report that the spielers are most aggressive, and. knowing the weakness of the law, sarcastically bid "good-day" to the plainclothes men. They cannot be arrested as vagrants while thev are able to produce funds, and they must lie caught in the act of trickery or theft hufore hands can be laid on tliein. What is required is an amendment of the Act, which will throw on the sus|iected person the onus of proof that he came bv his funds lionesi.lv. The Inspector-General of Police ha* for some time been agitating for Increased powers, and the hope had lieen entertained until the prorogation that Parliament would have passed an | amending law.

| A mouse Hehlom lives longer than three years. An accident, was narrowly averted in Dcvonstreet yesterday. A lady and !>cntleman In trying lo pass one another started that familiar dodging backwards and forwards ju=t outside the A.T3.C. Root Shop. -Tiif-t when a crash seemed evident, both their attentions were drawn to the startling prices for fool - i wear in the above firm's window, and instead of rushing into one another they rushed into this familiar shop, and each made a canh purchase from the numerous bargains offered. Put imagine their surprise when the genial manager gave them a in per cent, discount as a Christmas-box for paying cash. These great offers are now open to everyone , at the A.B.C. Boot Shop. Yon know f where to get them now, so don't start 1 dodging about —come right here. —Advt. ,

During (lie past year the borough building inspector issued 5'J permits ior buildings and alterations to buildings, the total iiinont involved being £12,033Turn- were no big building contracts let during the year, but several large buildings were completed, the permit* having been issued during the previous year.

Heporth to hand show that the cocksfoot Harvest is now in lull swing on the \karoa I'eiiinaula. and there is all in creased demand l«r reapers, particularly in Le lion's and eastern bay*, where the seed is thicker. The uor'-westers of tilt last few davs have caused anxiety, and it irt I eared that, should reapers not b.procurable, some of the seed will shake. The seed generally, though short, is clean and bright, the absence of ram keeping

down the softer grasses. Canterbury this .season will have the most prolilic apricot crop known in liti »issf*3MtfS »r*»TS#3B rijH'nctl up the wood early and set th, nower-lmds. ApneoU are partial to ,lrv climate, and this accounts tor tin" successful culture in Cental Otago, whc» the summers are intensely hot anil dr> • They, however, are partial to.other co 1 .litioiw. espeeially to a heavy, htitl sou ll' pre el.iv is mud, in evidence, this 1 rxptainA \vUv the Ueathcote Valley In'- ! moved to lie one of the very l>e#t centres I Canterbury for producing this luscious

fr \ l,e 3ucoobs<j( the dairying industry on ill' northern river lb, Is fc (s.i vs the Sydney Morning far.n ,li„' imi,riiv«l character of the farm the visitor was surprised '"Tew v,'u- "fe'o, when cane and corn ' k JL, ~t the succession of «Ul> nnd thescrub E rrHi:C« S dnring the Ff t^\t'dlUi™t n "; X £*£ST«£ wLn that work is finished. Arctic day as tof* «£ tm ves ma^ o r'ilK to HuS™tel methods of progression show the wide change of plan sinf ° ?; ;i n ;^ ,cn u;i"i l fn n G ! 1,,, i.0w8 deavored to An pxpc(iit ion is projected in which dog-sleds will he super- I ceded l«v an amphibious <«> tom< *"° boat, designed to travel either oil J nr water. This is all advance on Lieut, phnckleton's motor car. Mr \\eilmnu BtiU expects to achieve success through his halloon; and Captain Amundsen proposes to utilise a team of P°l" hears. Tn addition to thc.se, Dr Cook, at Etah, Is awaiting a favorable moment. for a dish northward. Robert K Pe>rv and K. V. Baldwin both exneet to' start again; and similar word comes from Captain Joseph E. Bernier, nf the Canadian exploring expedition, who is nt present returning frpm a journey in the Far Xorth. The borough engineer, Mr A. 11. Kendall, has written to the Borough Council:- "I beg to report that the work of dismantling the old railway line (Sentry Hill-New I'lvmnnth) is now proceeding, and as 1 believe there is a movement afoot in the Fitzroy Town District to acquire, if possible, portions of the old track for a new road (or deviation) as far westward as the New Plymouth borough boundary, T venture to suggest that if anything is still thought of in the way of acquiring the bridge which now spans the JTenui river, or land other than that which it is presumed will revert to the borough, that now is a very appropriate time for some action to he taken in the matter, either jointly with the Fitzrov Town Board and "Taranaki County Council (if possible) for the purchase of the bridge and other property or in other maimer as may best seem desirable." It will be remembered that some months ago a deputation representative of the local bodies above-mention-ed waited upon the District Railway F.nginoer and made a request (hat the Hcnui bridge and the railway line as far nf! Pavnter's lane should lie handed over to tlie local authorities as a public road, the idea being that it could he used to divert the cattle traffic from Devon street. At that time the railway officials said they could not make any promise until the new line had been opened. The railway authorities have for thirty years monopolised Leneh street, and pending the removal of the line the people living in that street have had to put up with the convenience of an unmesilled road, which in winter time was onlv a bog. Tn consideration of that, could the fiovernnient' consider the nclvisableness of banding over this bit. of properly for the convenience of the people of New Plymouth?