LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 86, 31 March 1908, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

\\beii replying t0 the loi.st uf '■fl.o .Vgrn-u tura! Interest,- at a gathering S i,l tin H 1" ' Co " lld,l< "' JlamiltoS ■ Jin tiiat it was general] v thought tint »»y man could go on the land'and £ Mim<,slul._ This was a great mistake, °P lni ® n ' r « be a successful farmer •i man had u> be possessed of sound S";" 1 ,T d a knowulliop ' r«' "I 1 "* I ' l *.- al "l to possess 'lualihcations; but above all he ™. «l practical experience Without ~ cceel [i' """' ?" ld '""'N 3 ' I,O P° to puttin'l hi- -T1 uf a dl ~™n <i faitu work booausy f , } ' oun =' f<,,low had weak eves The whi rcm.^T'T' 1 •" M " " kl fari,,er . or™^'i wiU so °"

Aiikoil liy a (iisl)»i-| 1( . '| i ln( , s lvport . jr * ,DU;mW visit .potter w, i i IU < . olmcf t'°u with rowing rt lh'TH fn I "'' ° f lhe W^d w ni ,t "l" if ~l,oth« - mar to Win L '. h f ,l l" < ' ,l,l »]» lu- must com, to M angiinui to get ,(. •Wanganui W.v been very g , to 1IK , ; - ~p and I dcm t think 1 should to to othe countries to try and lose what ( i.iv. won I ;im this week sliiftimr inio , new house (milt, by a subscription raise ill the town, and 1 greatly appreciati all that has been done for mo in tin South.' Kefening again to ruwin.r ,„«t. tors, Webb said that he wa, kust of -.,1! anxious to nice in America, a» lie had

been told Unit fair play in siullin.' was a tiling unknown t linv. I|<. not be surprised to revive a ehallen.... f nj m (leoi'ge Towns, whom he considered a "''"e chap," and proliably a belter mail »' tin' boat than Charlie Towns, u 'Jowns did clia I lr)i^ v i hini, lu l would luiv<- wait until after the engage,nenl will, Arnsi. JI« did not think Buniaii wn„l,i , m t w (l d ,, alenge a 8 thought the Canadian liar! give,, a |, hopes of ever ,.i llimp i olwllip . The ladv who rides or drive* sho-ild he prepared for the first cold snap that comes along. She should get a pair o| warm glove-. \Vhi(<; and Sons have a new assortment of dogskin" at 5s lid a pair.—Advt.

The schools in New Plymouth will lie closed to-tlay in celebration of tlio anniversary of Taranaki.

The farmers in this district (says the Pa tea Press] arc growling at the new valuation*, the complaints being directed not- so much against tile values themselves as the low estimate placed on the improvements.

Soaring the end! It is stated (says Wednesday's Waimaiino Call) that no more men will be engaged on the line works in the vicinity of Ohakunc, and as numbers of men will be owing to wet weather, the ranks of the "co-ops." will greatly dwindle during the next few months.

The fpiarterly merting of the Loyal Eginont Lodge, 1.0.UF., M.U., was held last evening, Bro. U F. Webster, N.O-, presiding. Two candidates were ini-

tiated and two more proposed. Visiting liro. K. Graf, of the Loyal Jlot Springs Lodge, and Bro. O. Lloyd, of the Prince Alfred Lodge. Tasmania, visited the | lodge and were suitably received, and thanked the lodge for their hearty reception.

The Maori when in a position of authority is not constrained by conventional methods of conducting business (remarks the Danncvirke Daily Press). The chairman of a .Maori school committee recently came to the opinion that his committee was not- working enthusiastically, and he therefore gave them "the sack." The parents supported him in his action and elected a more energetic committee.

Butter and cheese factories iu the Palmerston North district recently made an endeavor to start a box factory m

that town, but the attempt was abortive, owing chielly to. the dillkulty of obtaining timlier supplies. Eight cheese factories and eight butter factories from that district and surrounding districts are jiow making application, to be ad-

mitted as shareholders in the Egmont Box Company, of Eltliam (says the Argus). Two motor omnibuses are being shipped to-day from Lyttelton to New Plymouth, arriving here 'on Friday. They will immediately be put into commission on tlie New Plymouth-i 1 ilzvoy and New Plymouth-Vogeltown suburban passenger services. The 'buses are sai l to be most up-to-date. The first runs will be made on Saturday, and the service is to be continued for some weeks to give an exhaustive trial, with a view of forming a local company to maintain the services.

At the last meeting of the Taranaki Hospital Board the members were evenly divided in the voting upon the rate, four voting for the imposition of a rate of ninepenee per £1(X), and the remainder favoring eightpencc. On the lirst division the chairman gave his casting vote for tlie higher rate. Putting this to" the meeting for confirmation, the "ninepenny" party received additional strength by the secession of .Mr. Hill from the other side, and the ninepenny rate was then struck. Mr. G. W. Browne, who headed the low-rate proposal", has now given notice lo move at the April meeting to rescind the resolution.

Twenty-one members of the local branch oi the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants attended a meeting at New Plymouth yesterday, when ail exhaustive report was presented by the local delegate of the proceedings of tin conference. The members present discussed the matter of the change in the editorship of the Review, and the following resolution was carried by 10 to 8: —''That this meeting is of opinion that Mr. ■!. T. M. Horusby was unjustly treated l>y the conference." Opportunity was taken at the gathering to present ex-chairmen King anil Houliler with the society's badges in recognition of their' services.

Who was the greatest man of 1907? The answers to this question of American editors are naturally various, anl perhaps as remarkable for their omissions as for their inclusions. One of tTie editorial humorists said, "I think old Anno Domini is the man you are after; because he brought us good crops, tided us safely through what might have been the most disastrous panic of modern times, and leaves us with a bright outlook for I!WW." The British agreements with France and Russia, according to another editor, make King Edward the greatest mail of the year. Others suggest John I). Rockefeller, Marconi, and General Booth.

A few weeks ago Or. A. S. WoJilmann, Government Balneologist, visited New Plymouth, mid whilst here lio inspected and tried Die municipal hot saltwater baths. 11 r -puk,. very highly cif tlie properties of the water, and promised that the baths should be made more widely known, lie has now written to His Worship the Mayor as follows:—"Permit me to thank vou very nmeli for the eouvtesv shown to my wife and myself during our stay in New Plymouth. lam unite (.'lad to know of a plaee to which 1 can send patients who require hot salt baths, especially a place '.vliicli is also able to oiler such natural attractions as New Plymouth."

Dulling with t lie land question iu his speech at Tauranga oil Friday nignt last, the Prime .Minister stated that some people said the (lovernuient wanted to nationalise the land of New Zealand, localise they had set apart 7,000,00(1 acres for nationalisation purposes. The land settlement policy that the Government was carrying' out was a good one for the people, and the graduated land tax was the only increase in taxation that the Government had made. On the other hand, reductions aud remissions had been made to the extent of £1,500,000 to the people ot this country. The graduated land tax was in the best interests of a young country, which it was desired should remain as free as possible from the curse of landlordism, which had burdened the old world.

A great record. At Gisboruc last month a Wellington bookmaker lost about £IOO in notes, taken out of his pocket. At the Miramar pony meeting a couple of weeks later another Wei- , lington bookmaker, while watching a race, had a bundle of notes abstracted from his bag, aud although he was alarmed at the time, he only managed to catch a fleeting vision of the thief as lie dashed into the crowd. At the Shannon meeting on 20th February two rutlians (probably memlrers of the same gang) turned the enclosure into a regit Jar pandemonium after the second race by trying to mob a bookmaker and kis client during "paying over." The client proved a regular Tartar, and in the free light which ensued the would-be thieves , received a drubbing, the light eventually | (wing stopped by a policeman.

Apropos the suffragette movement at Home, a good story is told of a prominent advocate who vent ou one occasion to visit the wif<j of a. well»to-do trades* man. 1 lie hostess, before going iutg the parlor to meet her visitor, fairly tiembled. "(.ioodnessshe said to herself, "what c-au 1 talk to Mies Fit* Jones about? She belongs to many cluUs reads and studies so many languages, writes such deep papers, and ad that! AY hat on earth can 1 sa\- tj entertain lurY J know 1 shall appeaunusually ignorant- mid foolish before her.'' The <r o ud dame iterved herself, and went in to greet the terrible visitor. After shaking hands, the formidable Miss Fitz-Jones nestled up to her on the sofa, and said in an almost mysterious whisper; "Dear Mrs. Brown tell me, do you know any really sathfftctoiv way of cooking turnips?"

A peculiar incident which occurred 011 the southward ■ bound express from thristciiurch recently is reported in the. Ashburton Mail. A ladv, carrying an infant, boarded the train at Christ. c ,1, and, desiring to make a small purchase, and at the same time to bid good-bje to a friend, she asked a fellowpassenger—a Single young lady—if she would be good enough to hold her babv a request that was immediately responded to. In the meantime, the war-

Ned lady was 30 engrossed in a couleisatiou with a triend 011 the railway station that- she failed to hear the signal lor the departure of the train, which moved oil from the station without her. the passengers of the carriage in which ie joung lady and her charge were 1 .uelling extended tlieir sympathy to the ormer, and advise,! her to leave the |'i" ( 1,1 t^lar S e of the stationuiaster at the hist stopping-place. The ollicial (.1 *j n r ,! man} courteously declined the I 1 ail 4 , I '"' ■ VOUU S lady was comix. Ed to take the infant to Tima.ru, where she intended remaining to await its right!ul owner.

PTrPF D vni AOTrr* mm GENUINE ... VOUTffiB EUCALYPTI EXs,,,,™ W A <S P rove(l l experts at the upreme Court of Victoria to possess curative properties peculiarly its own and to he medicinally absolutely safe, effective, Rnd reliable f« internal use. therefore, do not aggravate your complaint by the use of one of the many ated"^ I TV^^run^ blackheads, freckles, cracked hands, dry and inflamed skin use SANDER ANT) HONS' SUPEKBA SKIN FOOD No Udy should be without it. Allays irri on; brings beautr to every faoe and hand. Chemists and stores.

The preferential duty on several imported articles takes effect as from tomorrow. There would have been some

considerable clearances locally to-day but for the fact that the Customs oflicc is to be closed, to-day being the anniversary of the province. It is un-

fortunate that the ollice should be closed 011 a (lav that i» so very important tu importers, and even more unfortunate that public notice was not given of the intention to close, for few were

aware that the holiday was to be observed by hmv of Ihe (jovernuient offices.

The year's operations of the, Duncdin Corporation tramways show a profit of £5578. It is the largest trading department of the Corporation, the capital expenditure being £305,120, while the number of men employed totals 170. The tramways manager anticipates an even more satisfactory return for the coming financial year. The number of car miles travelled was 1,01)3,251 miles, the average length of penny sections is 7!) ."l-tlth chains, and the number of passengers carried was 10,(ill,059. The number of cars in Stock is 43 electric and six trailers.

Enquiries elicited the fact that there j is a strong feeling among the butchers of 1 nvorcargill in favor of the cash system, and it is understood that the pr-is

and cons will be diseased at an early date. The News has discovered that one collector alone (acting for some 10!) clients) has no less than £33,000 on his books, and of this amount he states at least £20,000 is absolutely irrecoverable. Thi-, is startling enough in itself,

but represents only a section of the business community, and the paper claims to be ill a position to state that no less than £IOO,OOO has been lost to retailers there during ten years. Assuming this state of all'airs to be constant, on the basis of population at tlia rate of £IOO,OOO for every 10,000 of the population, we have seemingly the preposterous fact that no less than £!),- 000,000 has been lost lo the retailers of the Dominion through bad debts incurred during the past decade. The sum of £SO was quickly carnal

in Timaru the other day as the outcome of a practical joke (says the Christchurch Press). Jlr. U. H. Rhodes, who is selling out prior to leaving for England, had his household furniture removed to a local auction room there to bo sold, and in conversation with one of his old friends, Mr. Thomas Teschemaker, he offered the latter a cheque for a substantial amount if he would undertake the office of auctioneer's boy and display the various articles during the progress of the sale. Mr. Teschomaker accepted the challenge, and having discharged the duties admirably, the auctioneer, acting under instructions from Mr. Rhodes, handed Mr. Tesclieinaker a cheque for £SO. The Sou'h Canterbury runholder mounted the rostrum at. the close of the sale, and after letting those present into the secret, announced his intention of devoting these, his first earnings as an auctioneer's assistant, to some deserving charity-.

An odd sentence has been imposed oy a San Francisco judge. A mail named Fred S. Butler was virtually banished from the United States for ten years. This revival of the old Roman and Grecian method of punishing poiiti.;.il wrong-doers attracted a great deal of attention. Butler, who is an old man, promised to go to Australia hy the next boat, and he will probably end liis days there. If he returns within the jurisdiction of the court before the expirai tion of ten years he will be sent- to prison for ten years, Butler embezzled a fium oi money from his employers,, His previous reputation was of the best, and the firm for whom he worked suggested to the judge that the case was one ill wliieh mercy might be extended. Under the laws of California, a first offender may be allowed his liberty on probation, but the judge is empowered to fix conditions. The judge in this wise agreed to let Butler out on probation, for ten years, making it a condition tliat' he' must leave the United States and stay away for that length of time. The old man was greatly downcast by the sentence of ment, but, of course, gladly accepted it in preference to going to gaol for ten years.

One indication of the early couplingup of the iron way to provide the overland route to Auckland, for wliicli wo have been waiting many years, is the preparation by the Railway Department of the through timetable. This is a task full of difficulties, as a proposed deputation from the Fcilding Chamber of "Commerce to the Minister of Railway? indicates. One essential is to provide an almost continuous journey from Auckland to the Bluff, utilising the rail to Wellington, the steamer' as far as Lyttelton, thence by rail to the end of the long journey. Care- must b e taken not to land passengers in Auckland or YPjilington at an unearthly hour, and tlie branch railway services must fit in as nearly as can be devised. The Mauawatu Daily Times states that the North mail will start from Wellington about 11 a.m. or noon, reaching Auckland iu good time for breakfast. At first the journey will occupy twenty or twentyone hours, but this will be reduced to nineteen when the central section, of tbe line consolidates. To make good time, stops will be cut down to a minimum. Paekakaviki will have to be a stopping, place for water, Palmerston and Marton because they are junctions, hence gathering-grounds for passengers, and Taihape because it will also be a centre of traffic. Feilding, according to the Daily Times, is to be left out, and the Foilding newspaper suggests that this was the penalty of not having a Government supporter as its representative. "That is pure foolishness," remarks its I I'almerston North contemporary, which points out that the whole question is purely a traffic and mehanical one.— I Wellington Times. The Hawera Star, referring to the rise iu the butter market, says: "The factories whose shipments arrived Home at the proper moment were fortunate. The balance-sheets this year will make most interesting reading. For instance, Mells 150s per ewt., Mangatoki 154s per cwt. Figures like that will make the directors face the suppliers at the annual meeting with cheerful countenances. At the beginning of this season, it will be remembered, there was a great controversy about changing from butter to cheese. Several factories, at great expense, did so, and naturally regretted their action. When the sensational rise came they wanted to get back to butter again. It is gratifying to learn that the price prospects are still favourable [ We are in possession of a letter from London, dated January 31, referring to the advance which had taken place, saying: 1 The present position is due principally to the shortage of supplies generally. There has been much less from the Continent, practically nothing from Canada and the United States, and reduced quantities from the Argentine, but the greatest falling-off has occurred in the Australian shipments, owing to the drought. These things, taken to' get'her, have liad a very considerable effect on the markets here. We should think that the people who are consigning their butter this year, instead of having sold, arc congratulating themselves, seeing the way things have turn, ed out.'"