The Daily News SATURDAY, JANUARY 11.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 313, 11 January 1908, Page 2

The Daily News SATURDAY, JANUARY 11.

The New Plymouth grocers have decided to entertain their employers at a dinner and social on Thursday evening next. The proposal tu hold a settlers' picnic at Vogeltnwn is catching on. A meeting of Hie residents is to lie held shortly I to appoint a committee and .-elect the picnicking ground. The affair will probably eventuate ahout the middle of next month.

Mr W. U Malone has presented a massive solid silver cup, to be awarded to the winner of the Taranaki Hunt Club's Maiden Leaping Competition at the Agricultural Society's supplementary show on Thursday afternoon. The cup is on view at Mr J. Bennett's jewellery establishment. 'lho .Uoki ro ,d is now open right through lroin L'ruti to the East roau, auuiil eighteen miles north of Whanga.'uiouiona, writes a correspondent. Una of the Uruti settlers rode through .i fortnight ago. This road will enable I seitlers to gel their stock direct to the

Miiitara freezing works. The beach presents mi animated stvne just now. Not ouly are there scores of ladies, young and old, "dab-1 h.ing their tootsies in the briny roam," but quite a number of ponies are there in active training for the pony events at the supplementary horse show next week. The lads are very enthusiastic in their preparation. i'lie news that the Hon. R. McNab is to leave Wellington at the end of this week to inspect sites which have been olleied to the Government in Feilding and Ilawera has caused a mild sensation in Feilding (says the Manawatu Standard!. The Feilding people have offered the Government the use of theirTechnieai School for experimental purposes, while as a permanent site for the school, Mr. Letubridge, M.P., has come forward with a grant of 30 acres of land, upon which no restrictions arc placed. Owing to the large quantities of fruit arriving from Auckland and Nelson on Saturdays, Mr. Newton King has decided to hold his principal fruit sales every Saturday afternoon (during the season) in his new fruit mart in .lames Lane, near the. rear of Jubilee Villa Dining Rooms. The opening sale will be held there this afternoon, commencing at 2 o'clock, when about 700 boxes of various kinds of choice fruits will be sold. Jammakers and others should get their supplies before the heavy shipments cease.

Considerable interest is being manifested in the Agricultural Society's supplementary show of horses on Thursday afternoon next. Horse-leaping comjietitions are always popular with the people, and as the entries for these events next week will include most of the best "leapcrs" in the North Island there should be a good afternoon's sport . The show is being organised as a benefit, in order to recoup to the Agricultural Society its loss on the annual

show, and should be largely patronised. The postal officials in the Old Country are doubtless being blamed for the disappearance of a letter. It was addressed to a friend in a neighboring country town, but instead of going along on its appointed journey this inquisitive missive became caught in the open envelope which was covering some Christmas cards addressed to a New Plymouth resident. The letter has now been reposted, and will doubtless arrive at its destination, though a little late. The recipients should value that envejope, a« it beam postmarks of countries and towns that it was never intended to visit.

Referring to conditions, political and social, at Home, Mr. James Kowin writes ns follows, under date November 12:— "We are having rather stirring times here. ]»ndon is alive with the excitement of entertaining foreign visitors, and Emperors and Kings are getting quite common. Our King Edward is getting more and more popular, and is credited with rare good judgment in his peace-preserving policy, at the same time maintaining the dignity of the nation. The socialistic and democratic section do not seem to make much headway, although they get a lot of toleration and are allowed to blare and spout treason as much as they please." During a discussion at the Auckland Presbytery upon the question of Sunday desecration, a Pukekohe representative declared that this question was a trouble to him in his own district, as a superintendent of the Sunday School. He deplored the fact that on a Sunday, as he passed along the road to teach his Sunday School, he saw a reaper and binder at work. The reapers and binders were, be said, working all through the place. They would not have been but for the starting of the creameries. That was the thin edge of the wedge. Now they went even further and carted Uuy on Sundays. He knew of old people at Pukekohe who had opposed Sunday labor Utterly at one time, hut who were now falling in with it.

the sciiaiiuuiiui umeovcry has been niaue (says the Sjuuey Alaiiy itiegrapu) mat there exists something in We nature ol an inter-State organisation u! gamblei'sj confidence nien, iiud other criminal men which may yet become a serious menace to society. Apparently there are no recognised headquarters oi Uie combine or trust, and no [ward of directors appears to have oeeu elected; still, it is nevetheless a fact that tiie numerous gangs of spielers are bound together by a description of freemasonry or bond of sympathy, and that communications by post and telegraph are constantly pausing between the leaders of the diliercnt States of the Coinonweaith. .Each gang of conlidence men consists of from four to hie members, and there are many hundreds of these gangs aproad throughout the Commonwealth. A daily meeting of those located in Sydney in held in the forenoon in the vicinity of the Museum, usually within Hyde Park, and, needless to say, there is always a detachment of plaiu-clothes police on watch. There is nothing in these little gatherings that would arouse the attention of the pass-er-by. The men are well-attired and apparently prosperous citizens, and they quietly conduct their business. The ob-

ject of the meeting is to exchange information with regard to likely "marks," and to allot the duties of each gang. Operations are conducted on businesslikc methods, and there is active cooperation among all the confraternity. Under date, November i'J, a London correspondent writes:—An ollieiiil report is stated to have been received today from .Monsieur Cadet, director ol the Central Observatory in indo-Chiiia, of a storm of hailstones that dwarfs everything hitherto recorded, even in the Book of Exodus. Were it not given on such authority it would be hard to attach credence to the following story: —"At the village of Phaima, about two miles from Langson, the hailstones pierced a roof in 20 places, making holes Sin in diameter, and being as large as a child's head. At Langston iisejf, the soldiers picked up a hailstone as big as a man's head, and Dr. Portal found one weighing three-quarters of a pound. Others weighing nearly half a pound seem to have lioen common. The storm

took place on April 30. and, beginning in the Mai-Pha mountains, travelled in a long line, leaving destruction and desolation in its path. The damage was enormous, but, though many cattle were killed, no human lives seem to have been lost. During the height of the storm the lightning was almost perpetual, seeming to play over the whole

zenith and running along the ground while the temperature rose to over 07 deg. Fah. in the shade. The first hailstones were as large as eggs, and increased in size until they became veritable projectiles, mostly shaped likeicicles formed Tound an ice kernel alt big as a hazel nut." M. Cadet concludes by Raying that such hailstones were seen hefore. and that probably it wilt be long before similar phenomena are again observed.

The services at Whiteley Church tomorrow will be conducted by the Rev. T. O. Brooke. The subjects will be— Morning, "Then Tenth Commandment: Covctousness," and evening, "Christ, Mighty to Save.". Visitors cordially invited.—Advt. Christmas comes every year, and to all of us it comes much quicker every I time. Time was when the last week at

»chool seemed an eternity, but nowadays it comes all too quickly. Happy, careless times, thnfle school-days. Your boys are passing through the same time now; make 'em as happy as you can; and what pleases a boy more than having a | nice suit on ? Tiemember the proud look on your face when you were a youngster with a new euit. Dress your boy well and hell be pleased with himself; dress him at "The Kasli" and you'll be pleased with yourself, for you'll get honest, dependable goods there at a moderate figure. They've iust landed a lot of Conway suits, nnd if you want to give the hoy a Christmas present, give him one of those: they have them from 13s fid to 27s fid. Don't, forget the shop—"The TCash," iuel below Nolan's auction mart, | Devon-rtreet, New Plymouth.—Advt.

The Bund Contest Committee has requested the Mayoress to organise the ladies' entertainment committee. The ] work could hardly be placed in better hands. A Taranaki cyclist who was in Mie South Island recently states that most • : |of the Dominion's crack cyclists will lie competing at the championship sports meeting in New Pymouth next month.

The U.S.S. Co. and the Northern ' Steamship Co. have intimated that tlicj ' will put on excursion rates from Anck- '' land to New Plymouth from Sunday, 1 23rd February to Friday, February 28th, ' for the Band Contest. It lias been remarked that as yet onl yloc.il agencies of outside firmß have donated medals for the Band Contest. There is nothing to prevent the committee from accepting assistance in this way; in fact, we believe that Mr Clarke would welcome the, offer of about a dozen, singly or in lots, from local business people. The Curringlon Hoad Board has resumed work on No. 2 contract, widening the Victoria road. At the lower end of this section the surfacemen have felled the line of shelter trees and shifted the fence back by several feet. The earthwork on the lirst contract is settling well, de.spitp the fact that stray cattle evince a decided preference for the newly-formd footpath. Whilst the widening is a great improvement there jis an inconvenience attached—the increased dust nuisance. We would suggest a little local arbor day at the proper season with a view of planting the high banks in all the cuttings and on the big filling, thus affording shelter and relief from the dust, as well as rendering the view more attractive. A peculiar case will come before the Feuding .Uagisirate's Court on January ■ liilu (=aya ike Feilding Star;. Some time ago a well-known settler at Himatangi entered the creamery at that place by night, and was found there by the , manager and another man. Owing to , some dispute as to his tests, he had

gone there for the purpose of changing it, stating that his intention was, after his then current monthly test was made by the manager to have told that he had altered the test, with the object of showing that the mode of testing was not reliable, lie alleges that for some time he has had trouble over his milk tests at the creamery, He will be charged with being found by night, without lawful excuse, on the premises of the Oroua Downs Dairy Company. A capsize occurred yesterday ut the harbor, hut serious consequences were averted by the promptness of Mr J. Brough, who went to the rescue. Messrs McDonald, a visitor from Kapiti, ana Mr C. Parker, of New Plymouth, put off in a sailing boat . They, had not got much more than a quarter of a mile from shore, when the wind suddenly chopped round, and the boat turned turtle. Both of the occupants managed to scramble on to the bottom of the upturned boat. Mr Brough saw the accident from the beach, and immediately launched his own boat and went out to the rescue. Despite the promptness of his action, the two men had had quit* enough of their compulsory immersion when they were brought to shore. "Special terms for large parties" .uid_ "reduction for large quantities'' ■ are' almost synonymous terms frequently employed in business. This rule is 'reversed by some of the local houses in dealing with the bands who are arranging for accommodation in contest week, for they have raised the t.irill'. They are independent of the bands, they say, for they can fill all their rooms with other visitors. But if all the tariffs were raised, and all the bauds refused to accept the imposition, there would be no contest, and no visitors. Several of the bands have written to the secretary of the local committee, complaining of the high rates to be charged, and doubting whether the funds and the chances warrant the unexpected expenidture. A rise of Is (id ; per day means somewhere about £lB to a band of forty members and support--1 ers.

Ihe • Jaihape Times" states that commencing from Monday, passengers will be able to leave Tailmpe by the 8.30 a.m. train to the North, and reach J aumaruiiui the same evening. This is slightly different from the time-table foreshadowed by Sir Joseph Ward recently, but further arrangements have been arrived at by the Railway Department with the Public Works Department, which have obviated the necessity for the northern train leaving Taihape nt an earlier hour than half-paat eight. ihe change will be much appreciated by the travelling public, who are now proceeding over the Main Trunk line route in rapidly increasing numbers. It dispenses with the dreary stay at Waiouru, and enables the through journey from Taihape to Taumarunui to l>e completed in one day, as stated above. The trip from Taumarunui to Auckland is completed the next day. So there are three stages on the route from Wellington to Auckland—Wellington to Taihape (first day), Taihape to Taumarunui (second day), and Taumarunui to Auckland (third day). it has to be remembered that, after all, tlie best means of defending the limpire is that each part ol the Einpiro should make its own defence secure (says the " Wellington Post"). While we provide for naval defence, we must not forget military defence. The Navy is our strongest liue; but if by ill fortune it should break, then the Dominion must not■ be left impotent against invasion. The need for training our young men to bear arms is scarcely less vital than the need for supporting the navy. And that training, by strengthening bodies and exercising minds, has a civil justification as well as a military. But at present the money available for defence is limited. We have to consider, not what we would like to do, but what we can afford to do with the means at hand, if we do not need to count every pound spent, at least we have to contrive howto get the utmost value out of every thousand pounds. So that the Premier's new scheme of a naval training- ship to accommodate a thousand youths must be looked at carefully before it is approved. It seems to us that, in view of the naval opportunities already provided, and iu view of the need of military defence, the reorganisation of our laud force and its complete equipment should take precedence of the Premier's training-ship. When we have assurance that there are a hundred thousand modern rifles in the Dominion, and a hundred thousand men able to use them efficiently, we shall feel a great deal more

secure than we do at present. And. while money has to lie rigorously apportioned, we do not feel disposed to permit anything hilt the naval subsidy to come before that feeling of military security. ■•Farmers! There's land waiting for you in New Zealand. There is room for thousands of settlers," runs a glowing advertisement in an American journal. This announcement, under the sanction

of the Department of Industries and Commerce, pictures New Zealand as "the paradise of the Pacific," to which all the world and his wife are invited to rush post-haste. One man made enquiries at I Christehiirch about northern land Die other day, and discovered that it was veiy much "wailing" for him. He was sullicicntly dissatisfied to voice a strong complaint, which the Ministerial explanation Ims nut altogether removed. Does New Zealand want immigrants or not? Last year, when there was a demand for navvies, Britons came to the country in shiploads,'and the Labour Department had to be heckled into taking the trouble to send an officer to the I wharf to meet the steamers. In a haphazard, lackadaisical way New Zealand

is seeking to divert Home of Great Britain's flow of emigration to these islands, anil hundreds of Ilritons continue to arrive. Yet it J.» difficult to get at the Government's policy, if It lias a policy. Nobody in the Cabinet seems to have given the matter much thought. The Ministry has a hazy idea that more population U needed for development purposes, and has ther«fore empowered the High Commissioner to grant "assisted passages to suitable persons," but the scheme is on no definite basis. Either the country does or docs not want immigrants. If it does require them, the Government should take considerably more interest in the subject.—Wellington " Poet." MTUtING-MACHINE EVIDENCE.