LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 32, 28 January 1908, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Ti"; School Jlit . iliL - , vill b , K'ltl 111 tliu Recreation (Jruunds about til'-' middle O! next llluuth. At jjan-era oil Saturday the loca! J emus flub defeated lilthani in a , s( .. r j,, s of games Isy 114 to 10S. 'J lie Uoruugh Council intends to continue its inspection ot the premises lo which the water-supply has been laid, «i:n a view ol charging people for exraordmary supplies for troughs, garden hoses, and so on. 11l .spite (if the dry weather the borough engineer reports that there wax on Uiursday a depth 0 f nearly twelve niches above tile crown of the liui'H at tiie mouth of the waterworks intake. The Borough Council last night decided to make and levy a rate o£ l'/.d in the pound for the purpose of providing intercut, sinking fund, :fcd other oharges Oil the electric light loan of ■V Stratford resident who has been pending a week iu the Whangamomoim district states that the bush iires have doiuMHidl ii miniber ot wliarcs belong! mg to luilortuiiate biislimen. besides the usual amount of destruction to bush and grass.—Post. The Corimia took 11.141 bows of 'J'ttei- and low, crates of diece from the Mntnroa Freezing AV„rk s vesterV- ''lid I lie liotidt i will take I.VMi crate-ol' -c to-,lay. the whole being transhipped to the Athenie for the Houif Tiuirkcts.

r ibe Tai-anaki County Council's claim against I. \. Simons, „ Tariki sawmillit. winch was to have been heard yesterday, comes on at the New Plvmouih I S..M. ( ouri on Thursday morning. The claim i- !,„■ er.ll for damage done 'o Ihe I'anki road by ihe defendant's timber waggons. Writing imni Willowvalc Stud Farm Hell Block. New Plymouth. Mr rienrw W I/esliip. manager for Newton King. I'.si|.. siys: "For the past, three years'"! have iim.,l Sykes's Drench extensively tor the farm animals with satisfactory results. 1,, on ,, p.nHicular case Ihe results were surprMng. that of a valuable purebred Frisian llolstein heifer which aborted. Sykcs's Drench was administered, and the animal washed with gratifying results. Health and natural conditions immediately followed." T'se only Sykos's Drench, because it ithe best. Price Is fid packet, or l(is by the dozen. Better buy it by the dozen. Write for booklet.

The secretary of the Caledonian Society desires to acknowledge receipt of a donation of one guinea from his Worship the Mayor, Mr. E. Dockrill. Thursday next, says the inglewood Record, will lie Inglewood's annual holiday, the one day in the year upon which no man (if such an individual exists) , works and everyone plays—the school picnic to the seaside at New Plymouth. ' The municipal Jraths are. again lo bo i gratuitously placed at the disposal of 1 the Stratford and Inglewood schoolchildren on the dates of their seaside j excursions to New Plymouth. , The Town Clerk has received inlima- , lion from the Treasury that the loan ! of £1750 for abattoir extension will be ; remitted to the Borough Council's credit in a few days. The Mayor last night said he believed Ilia I when the present drainage loan was expended the ratepayers would be able to see that the drainage of the town was costing tlfeni nothing. Then it would be feasible to borrow sufficient money to complete the drainage of the borough.

At last night's meeting of the Borough Council Mr. Cattley directed the attention of the Council's representatives on the Recreation Grounds Board to the paragraph in yesterday mornings News concerning vandalism in the Recreation Crounds. He hoped that those gentlsmen would see that the youth implicated would bc prosecuted, for there was too much of this destruction of public property.

To Tolaga Bay oy coach, sitting on a case of dynamite, sounds a rather foolhardy experiment upon such rough roads, but this was the experience of one member of the Ministerial party who was quite careless throughout the day of the contents of the innocentlooking box on the box seat alongside him. Needless to say when at the journey's end he made the discovery of his true position his nerves received a bit

Engineers are invariably noted for their ingenuity. It was' related at a, little gathering in Wellington to celebrate the business jubilee of Mr ('has. Seagar, than on one occasion Mr Scagar had a propeller constructed out of an old iron tank for the old Wongawonga. which traded from Wellington to Wanganui in the early days. Mr Seagar himself was responsible for the statement that this propeller increased the speed of the boat from live to nine knots. "Afterwards," he said, "it was decided to import a propeller from England. It was duly fitted to the vessel, and—and tlie speed dropped a knot!'' The question of the accumulation of rubbish in yards at the rear of shops in the centre of the town was brought before the Borough Council last night by Councillor Morey. He suggested a daily call hy the rubbish-removal contractor, for in some trades there would be quite a large quantity of refuse. -There wouldn't be half this humbug then about dirty back yards." He thought most tradespeople would willingly contribute a small sum weekly for such a service. Councillor Collis'said that a few years ago the'tmsinesa people had refused to accept any such idea

lieeently the secretary of the llawera Football Club received a letter from Mr. Buchanan, chairman of the Taranaki Rugby tiiiim, asking the opinion of the club as to Die advisableness of erecting a monument to the memory of the late Mr. A. Bayly. That particular suggestion was not favored by members of the committee, who thought that the best way of perpetuating the memory of the veteran footballer would be either to have a. cup or shield for competition, or perhaps a gymnasium. A special general meeting ot tßc club was called to consider the question on Saturday evening, but only some dozen members put in an appearance. It will be mentioned again at the annual meeting.—Star. A gentleman who travelled from New Plymouth lo Wellington last week by the mail train (says the Dominion), slated that he saw grass fires started at least three or four times by fire from the engine. Our-informanl, who is an Australian visitor, states that it is the practice in Victoria to cut down the grass between the fences guarding the railroad iu the summer time to avoid slarting grass fires, but he did not believe it was very effective, as one Often caused by a spark from the funne, alighting amongst the tinder-dry, sunheated grass in the rail-side paddocks. From what he saw cm his recent trip from Taranaki, he would judge that the railway engines had a good deal to do with some of the grass fires in the country.

What might have been a very serious matter, but was fortunately attended Willi no worse results than a severe shockto those in the house, occurred at Dr. Menzies' residence, Stratford, yesterday morning, when, owing to a piece of gel--ignite or some such explosive having been left in a piece of coal, which had been bought in the ordinary way bv Dr. Menzies, the kitchen stove ' was' blown to pieces. The incident is not' quite a singular one, says the Post, and it therefore behoves residents to carefully examine their coal before putting it into tlie fire, otherwise a sfcrious ae-i cident may have to be recorded. The explosive, it may be explained, gets into tlife coal when the work of blasting is being carried on at the mine, and a portion of the charge is not exploded at the time the charge is fired. This re-i mains in the coal when it: is handed to the householder, and thus the danger arises.

Reginald Spalding, alias Spate, tiie young Englishman arrested at Pittsburg in connection with the oilers made by him to get Pittsburg society women into the highest British society circles (for a consideration) has made a sensational statement to the police of that city. Ho alleges that, while living in South Africa some years ago, he met the daughter ol a certain English countess, very well known in society and Court circles, and ultimately married her. He repeats iiis assertion that the countess, who would thus be his mother-in-law, authorised him to make his remarkable oilers to American women. The police declare that there is no doubt that Spalding was once in South Africa, but allege that while there he served a long term of imprisonment at Capetown. His romantic story, although it will b c investigated, is not credited.

Mr Just, of Palmerston North, writes as follows to the Auckland Weekly:— j The question is often asked by people about to plant an orchard what variety of fruit tree pays best, so I send you the weights of fruit borne by one plum tree for the past three years. This season we have picked 52t)lbs, which realised £1 Ts od wholesale. Last year the weight was 4111b, and the year before last 5821b., which shows that this tree is a continuous bearer, and which, I think, is a record for New Zealand, if not for the world. The variety is a

new Japanese plum that 1 raised from seed ten years ;igo, and have called Lord Kitchener. The tree is now 20ft high and 25ft in diameter, so it is a very strong grower, whieh makes the tree capable of licnring the great load of plums. I. think this variety should be widely known amongst your readers, as the fruit ripens about Christmas time, when plums are scarce and sure to command a good price.

The llawera Star reports that between 12 o'clock on Sunday night and 4 o clock yesterday morning some person entered the Royal Hotel by means of the lire-escape and got into the rooms of several boarders, presumably with the object of robbing them, but fortunately

for the latter they had no money about their clothes. The would-be thief made a thorough examination of the clothes belonging to the occupants of the rooms he visited, and neatly folded them up after going through tlie pockets. One of the boarders had two pairs of trousers taken down from the wardrobe in which they were hanging, and after having been inspected the garments were folded up, one pair being placed in the passage and the other alongside the washstand. I'he clothes in the porter's room were taken from where they were hanging j behind tTfc door and examined on the , landing of the fire-escape. A pocket- | book was gone through, several papers , being scattered about, and n cheque pay-

able to order issued by the proprietor, Mr. Rainbow, to the porter was found in a dustbin on the landing. The porter's loss was two oi" three shillings. The

thief also wont to the cook's room, but she was awakened by her door creaking as the intruder was in the act of opening it. and she called out "Clear out." She explains that she thought eome one liad made a mistake in the numher of the mom. A room at the Central Hotel was also entered, and 29s was taken from 0. t'ochr.anc's pockets. The thief did not take watches or jewellery. The linihvay Hotel was also visited. Jt i= stated that the Intruder turned out the pas in the passages, and while groping his way in the dark aroused an occupant of a room, who immediately inquired "Who's there." The man stood not upon the order of his going, but wont-down the fire-escape. The reputation for really good, reliable, stylish foot ware, enjoyed by the New Zealand Clothing Factory is well deserved-. The firm lnw direct from the manufacturers, thus giving their clients the benefits of the middleman's profit. Some very smart summer lines are to I be seen in taelr fitted-up boot window,