LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 41, 7 February 1908, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

1 The employees ui' the Kgtuont I!mx | Co. tKKham) held their annual picnic j at Mot in oa yesterday. About a hundred .ante in by the morning train and proceeded to the breakwater, where an enjoyable day was spent. "There are more houses empty in I t'iiristchuivh than there have been for ' a long time, and rents have a tenden ',v ! to go down.' was an opinion expressed i by a business man Wore the local Cu:i- ---! filiation Bunrd, says the Press. j Waitaiu is very sore at the action • : I New Plymouth tradesjieople in not closj iiiL' early yesterday to enable |ieoplc !i) ! vi-it '.hi' regatta. In retaliation, Waij tara refuses to close on any lint tic : .statutory day during Bund Contest I week. The exceptionally dry weather has licon a real boon to the settlers iroiu I'rcnui northwards and in the newlyopened lands. The settlers have secured excellent burns. The Ux>\. too, is looking fresh ami green, the s(i|V papa soil holding the moisture better that the more friable soil in this part of the province. The roads, too, are in perfect order—the best for years. Mr. S. Hill, District Valuer, has jn-t returned from a visit to the King Country. One of the principd sights along j the road at present is about a quarter i of an acre of ragwort, in fullblooin.just ! In-yond Creniii This is an aggravation oi the native land curse. In the interests of the farmers there the authorities should take steps to have the weeds cleared. Should they be allowed to seed, acres and acres will become infested with ragwort. Another most enjoyable recital was given by Mr. A. Mi'ller Potts at St. Mary's Church yesterday evening, but the attendance was not at all satisfactory from a" jiuan'cial standpoint. It is to I*' deplored that a greater proportion of the musically-inclined inhabitants of this town do not avull themselves of the opportunity of hearing good organ music by the best of composers and well interpreted by an organist of undoubted ability. At the same time they would render the choir a great service by helping to pay otr the debt on the organ. A pretty story is in circulation among those in touch with the Spanish Court. What took the King and Queen of Spain specially to see the ex-Empress Eugenie was to witness the formalities necessary to complete a deed of gift in favor of the youthful heir-apparent to the Spanish Tlii'oiie. The gift (so 'tis saidl is lo accumulate until the young prince shall become of age, and by that time it will have become a very'considerable lorltine. 'l'lie anxiety of the venerable ex-Queen, it is declared, is lo render the sou of her favorite godchild independent' ut any possible dynastic changes or revolutionary upheaval.

Writing to a friend in New Zealand, a voung American farmer, of (Irecnliehl, Massachusetts, says; -Things here in the States have been going On fairly well. We have had a terrible money market, which makes things rater had just now. The sheep position is satisfactory. We received from is to 1- :id for our wool, and from lis to U.i 4 a head for our lambs. The winter promises to lie a hard one. and as hay is -hort and grain is high I exqiocl. a poor lambing period next spring. We have been fairly successful ourselves, but the autumn pastures have been very poor, and the lambs have fallen off.' Our -heep sheared about 71bs of wool, all through, which is not So bad. We are using Southdown run this winter, so as to have lambs in May. Stomach worms are our greatest trouble."

It is of interest to note the cost of an orchard in ISrilish Columbia. The e..-t of making a twenty acre orchard is variously estimated from VoOtl to C7OO. according to the first outlay on land and the cost of local labor conditions. Care and maintenance for the live years, or until the orchard begins to bear, would Ik- about .C'>oo. le-s the value of smaller fruits and vegetable* planted between the trees and the iiftli year's return of fruit, which in all shonld pay the original cost of the trees. In tile sixth rear the orchard would produce Cl7O worth of fruit, in the. seventh £1)40. and ill the ninth .CMUU. after which it should pay a net annual profit of .C2,i to l_"ll» per acre—an assured income for li(c of e.-|OO or OHM) a year. This estimate i.-. it i- stated, justified by ac- j (mil experience. |

A remarkable article—picturesque but. convincing -on the general business <](■■ pres-iou in .lohaniiesburg ha* just been published in the London Daily Mail:--■for a oil v to be scourged liv disease or overthrown by -nine upheaval of Nature is bad." says the correspondent, "yet I doubt whether it is worse than 111,, torture of slow economic starvation. In the one case there is, after the first -hock, the reaction of hope. But when vou have hoped in vain for five weary vear- -■!" I heu there comes a shoal

of details; and then—"Wind caused the collapse matters little. Perhaps it wis the Liberal (lovcrnincnt in England. [Vidians il was Chinese labor—or the lack of Chinese labor. Perhaps it was swindling flotations: perhaps it was sim ply tin' l.tft that we built for a population that a country which lives upm imported goods never supports."

It is stated that it. is the intention: of the Japanese to establish a Ashing fleet within two year. Several .lapan\ ese have ))cen following the licet tlii*j season to the West of England, fo Scut-.' land, and to Lowestoft, and at inlying tin! industry. II is their intention to: supply Russia with herrings liy llic JlaiM i-linrian raihvav.

Speaking to a New Zealand Time.; reporter on -Monday a gentleman elosciy. connected with the export butter business said that an order which hid been received from South Africa for i~if> eases for the next six months at l'2',/.d per ib had been taken round the city and refused by nil the linns approached. They were unable to do business at tbo price.

In the northern purl of Madagascar is the ninsl remarkable natural fortre-s of the world. U is occupied by a wild trilie who call themselves tile People of the Rocks. The fortress is a lofly and precipitous rock of enormous size, moiifi. high and eight square miles in •ilea. Its sides are so steep that it cannot be climbed without artificial means. Within it is hollow, ami the only entrance is by a subterranean pasI" --i parts of Hungary it is the I eii-loni lor the bridegroom to pay a sum 1" llie bride's: parents, and in ease Ibe parties cannot agree the mayor acts as ■n'l'iirator. The Mayor Vollied. hho is \-< eaitle dealer, has had to decide a case "> this kind, and after inspecting the I hride he decided that the bridegroom »iii-t pay the parents at the rate of half :> '-rowii for each pound that the bride weighed. This verdict was accepted; and the woman weighing 8(ilh. the bridegroom handed over the equivalent id L'HI 15.-. after which the wedding ceremony was performed.

In connection with the death of Dr. Wilkinnon, liisi,,,], „f sti .Andrews, a singular coincidence is established. It is ii remarkable fael that all the predecessors ol' Dr. Stubbs as ISishops of Truro have dieil suddenly. The /irsl oeeiipant oi the Sec, l)r, licuson, afterwards Arch, bishop of Canterbury, was taken ill while at service at llawanlell Church, and died in a few minutes: Dr. Wilkinson was second Jtishop of Truro, and he died diivinj a meeting at Edinburgh; and Dr. (1011, the third llishop, died suddenly while giving direct ions l„ his chaplain in his study ai Trenythoii.

II is reported that several Manawatu farmers liavn made up their minds to quit New Zealand for the lands along the border Jilio of Queensland and New South Wales, Some of the (so the reports state) have been over to Australia spying out the land. Others' have already made their purchases, and are now "packing up" to leave the Manawatu. Their reasons for leaving the Dominion are. tlier state, the labor conditions and the high price of land. The aggregate capital of these intending emigrants is estimated to be CiO.ooo. Improvements m flaxmilling machinery to lessen the cost of production have occupied many mind.", but Mr. .dimes; iShiels, a well-known southern flaxmiller. is confident that he ha* invented n mechanical device «!iic!i v. id tatdi lie ilax from the -tripper, snal-,. and wu-lr and hank i[. This, sus flu- Bruce Herald, will mean tint the p!-re will not be handled alter going through the stripper until it i" ready to be in ken "i<> the bleaching paddock'. (In a recent,' S ii-11 to Wellington Mr Shiels bad his | idea patented, and he expects to li :vo I machines in running order soon. Tiiri j ce-t of production will lie decreased W ; -omeihiiig like .1.1 10s a lon.

How dilliouil 1: i- for „,.,,. 1., 5..;,.,. rale nini-seil' from his d.iilv work (-a,-* !h" Sydney Morning lieriii,-,. A man Ike pi.ice where he is employed, and given absolutely new condition-, will in. variably revert to the ohl. The teacher is an aggravated example. h,- en joys more vacations than (lie ni-n mi' any other proles-ion. These ce.-snl inns' of his work should he used to the utmost rsijiacily to Like hint eul of it, (Im-e liiunelierl on vacation the teacher s]i,,u|,| seek a eocictv where no other t-achers arc to be found, or. if found, mil rc-og-nised. During v.ication ovjit teacher should become a social leper' to evenother tcaelier. Department undersecretaries, inspectors, chief and otherwise, syllabuses, and grievances, should be shut, out of oi nvei'sation entirely. Could every teacher do this, how much better equipped to renew his work he would return. Yet lion few attempt such a

means of complete mental re-l. anil revivification. Jf l hey go touring th,.y go in groups, in parlies. There is one in New Zealand to-day: (her,, are many in Tasmania not "liiciallv branded, bu'l still loarhev-. They iday crick-el togcther and talk -shop" between oven-. and innings. Their summer schools are crowded. The children are the only vicalioiiist--. There is an unconscious wisdom in childhood.