LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 46, 13 February 1908, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

'lire Tariki school children held their annual seaside picnic at the harbor vtsterday. The secretary of the Maryland 11.11 Memorial Committee has received from Mr. E. D. Douglas McLean, of .Napier, the handsome donation of £2O. The old blockhouse and barracks at Opunake are to be dismantled. A portion will in; erected on the beach in the bay to .serve as a dressing shed for bathers. In company with the Hon. (J. Saimi.d ami Mr. H. Ukey, M.P.. the Hon. R. McNab yesterday paid a visit of inspection to the much-abused Deeds Office in the Government Buildings. '.Messrs Cameron and Brooking hive secure,! the contract for metalling with shell-rock a further length of four miles of the Ohiira road beyond Slrathinuiv. When compieied. whicl, will not lie this season, this will reduce the unmelallcd gap lo twelve miles. A member of the Xew Zealand professional foothill team, in a letter to a l wad in Dunedin, slated that he expect ed to return to the Dominion with C-fmi i,. the. good. Th,. tour, he add l !, was proving a great success Im.nicialh. On Tuesday evening. Mr. W. Ilrerotun, on behalf of a number of residents interested, interfvrcwed the Hon. Ms\ McOowan, and a-ked him if he could definitely .state when the Urewera country would be opened for settlement. The Minister, in a guarded reply, said that it. would probably he open for selection in about four months. Mr. D. Pemvawen. of Oniata, lost his Iraphoise last Saturday in a very simple fashion, lie was" driving alo'ig the South road when a loose stone

caused the home t» fall, injuring himself badly. On anivn'i at the homestead the animal staggered about and fell, twisting a leg under him, and he had to be shot.

The Inspector of Xoxious Weeds (.Mr. 11. \V. fsmith) has just returned from

a visit to the I'renui and Uruti districts. He found considerable patches of rapwort on Maori land in the former place, and these the owners have, at the instance of the Inspector, rooted up. The Uruti district he found free from ragwort.

It has been decided by the Railway Department to run a special train from New Plymouth and intervening stations r.s far as Hawera on the 24th inst. for the convenience of those travelling to Waiiganui to witness the sculling championship. The special will leave Waiiganui the same night, reaching Xew I'iymouth early on Wednesday morning.

"I recognise that controlling t'nu ' dairies of the colony is almost a labor of Hercules," said the Minister of Lands to a deputation in Wellington on Saturday, "and that it is of the utmost importance that, if it is going to be done at all, it should be done well, because it means a great deal to those engaged in the industry and also to the public". Ouite a quantity of grain has been put in near Manaia this year, and splendid yields have been obtained. Mr. U. T. Wells put in good big patches of liarIcy and oats, and it threshed out at SO bushels to the acre. Previously (it) bush- j els lias been an exceptioiml harvest.-

To-day is the IMiaUord's -Children". Day." Big children and Tutle children, and tiie children of ten, thirty, and lil'ly ! years ago, 10-day will disport themselves |on the beach. About fifteen bundled excursionists are expected by special train, wbirh will convey the visitors to Moturoa. The Stratford Municipal ISrass Band accompanies the excursionists. Referring to the growth of the Kanpohomii (South Taranaki) factorv «iuce it started opera: ion- in ISW. Mr.' liorr'nchairman of the conipuiy. on Hie occasion of the Hon. McXab's \isil to that district on Tucsdav. quoted figures to show what that growth b.nl been. In I WIS the total amount paid for niilk wivs CS2U 8s Od. whilst in ]'.H)7 it wis £54,072 2s 4d. The turnover in IHOS was £0920 7s 4d. whereas in 11107 it was .t 114.7(13 18s.

The battle of sites over the Dairy School continues. The Minister f O V Lauds, tiic Hon. 1!. JlcXab, informed a I Daily :\o\vs reporter last night that a decision would soon be arrived at. On hi* present tour he had inspected proposed site, al Fending and llawora, and yesterday also received a deputation ;u Stratford on the question. 'To-day the Minister receives a Deputation at Levin urging thiT'i-laiins of the Government Experimental Farm. The claims of l'aiinorston .North iiad previously hecn brought under tli'c Mini-ter'* mil ice.

The. cllicacy of what arc commonly known :u "rjiMtk" medicine- i- frequently doubted. A case 1m? just been brought ! under our notice showing Unit -omc of I these, remedies d ( > good work lor Millcv- ! iiig humanity. A boy in South TaraJ iiaki had for veins »uffered from a congenital disease. Ili-; father had spent hundreds of pound* in doctor.-' fees and tried everything possible for the lad. who wns a helpless cripple, without : avail- Some months ago the father was persuaded to use I)r. Williams' fink fills. After a course of these, the hoy made rapid headway and i= now runj ning about, completely cured. I in:. sni-xnoN's, dkikstivk j TAW LICK. WdKST WHAT VOr EAT. The only practical method of curing 'indigestion is in use a combination of all don's Tlig.-tivn abides. In thi« wav it is | possible to digest all classes of food. »o ! that tlie body can be supplied with the j uriot.v of nonri.-liment necessary to >. healtli. Jf you are suffering from indi- I w'linn. we suggest the n=e of Dr. Sheli'.iu'j Digestive Tabnles. liecause they completely digc-t wlrt you eat, and allow you t.i cat all tli.-' good food you desire. Price 2- Ud per tin of 80 Tabu'lcs.

Tlio classes of instruction for dairy inspectors ar e to commence at Wellington next week. The veterinary class will lie in charge of Hr. W. C. Quinncll. The principal subjects to lie taken will lie animal hygiene and .sanitation, lh" purely veterinary work heteg confined to knowledge of the symptoms of contagious diseases affecting dairy stock. It is not intended to complete the instruction in the one course. The inspectors will lie brought together again a); j a later date nnd receive further in- | siruction.

A good deal of inconvenience is caused settlers through the local Stock Ollicc heing closed during the day, excepting Saturdays. Settlers have occasion to consult the ollice in regard to the registration of brands, etc. On making enquiries, we learn that a clerk' formerly divided his time looking after the Stock- Department Ollice and the lirading Office, but with the removal of (he latter to Jfoturoa, the arrangement has been discontinued, and the Stock Department Office has beeji left unatj tended to. The Minister for Agriciili lure, now that he is in town, might, with advantage to the outside settlers, give this matter his attention and sec if a cadet or clerk cannot be placed in the ollicc during the week.

The idea lit' co-operative housekeeping N growing in favor in England, ami in one town it is about to lie tried "ii a large Hi-iilc. Thc houses are to be built roimil three silks ot a quadrangle, and

each family will have its individual house, but there will lie a common dining hall, which will be connected with every house by a corridor, though •»'■ the payment of an extra sum, meals will be served privately in thc ditl'erent dwelling-. One great feature of the. plan is that there will be a special part set aside for the practising of musical instruments., so that tenants will not : ic tortured at all hours and in all places, by scales and five-Hnge'r exercises. There will he a restriction on pel«, but none, it is good to hear, on children. The whole scheme seems to be most successful, and application* for admission have been received from all classes.

•Mr. W. Collis, chairman of llie .North Kgmont Mountain House < oniniittcc, waited on the Minuter for Lands lust, night with a request that the two old powder magazines erected on Marsland Hill lie given to the. committeefor re-erec-tion at the Mountain House for stable*. Il<? pointed out that the buildings were very rarely used, and were falling into disrepair. The present "Mountain House was a portion of the old barracks on Marsland Hill, given by llie Government for its present purpose. No had applied to various Departments in turn for Ine buildings, and had finally met >vitb a refusal from the Lands Department. The Minister, in reply, promised to look into the recjuest, and to communicate liis reply to the committee. Taranaki is easily the tenting dairying centre of the jjomimon. Take tlie Waimate Plains, for instance. I.nst year the amount of cheques paid to suppliers for mill; was: Kaupokomii. IS-!,-072; doll's. COlt.OOO; Kaponga. Citi.OOiV. Awatuna, £20,000. The oulput in cheese and butter wa-: Kaupokomii. lliSO tons cheese and 28 tons butter: Jolt. 1550 tons cheese and -II) tons tinner; Iviponga. (i.">o tons cheese: Rivcrdalr, Stll) tons cheese; l'ihama, 300 tons cheese; and Awatuna. -100 tons cheese and 27 tons lnittcr; or a total of .">3lO tons cheese. The t.ital value of output i was C 325.000, just a few pounds short :of ii third of a million pounds. The i largest output in one day of the comI billed factories was about 322 tons clieese. The total number of dairy emplnyes in llie Dominion for lOOli ue 3 ISlfi. and within a ten miles' radius of Kaupokomii (here tvere 17-1, 10 per cent, of the total number employedThese facts were mentioned by Mr. -Tohn Hunt, chairman of the llantia Town Hoard, to the Minister for Agriculture when in the Waimate Plains district on Tuesday. In the S.M. Court yesterday morning Mr. 11. !S. Fiizhrrbert heard charges brought by Mr. A. Hooker, as Inspector of Fisheries, against several residents for using nets in the Waiwakaiho nver. The case against Andrew Bishop was dimijssed, on the grounds that the defendant had not commented to use his net when the Inspector came, and he did not use it. Tlic information charging Fred Xicholls was also dismissed, lie denying that he assisted others at the net as alleged by the Inspector. Xlie (ioni.il was supported by an eye-witness called by the Inspector, and the case broke down. The other defendants were J. \Y, Smith, S. Stroud, and J. \Y. lierndtscn. They pleaded guilty, but said they were ignorant of the recentlyenacted regulations. Mr. "Weston, who appeared for tile defence, submitted that the prohibitory regulations in Taranaki applied only lo perch and trout, ivl whose protection the regulations had been gazetted. He considered it monstrous that the law should absolutely prohibit the taking of all fish except by Ihe rod and line of the licensed angler. The Inspector quoted the Act, and eontended that the use of the net was prohibited in any stream and within n cpiirter of a mile of its month. He was not prepared, nor did he consider it neees<avy. to prove that (he defendants intended taking trout or perch. The Magistrate reserved the point.