LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 159, 26 June 1908, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

i ll is satisfactory to note that the btuU'iucuU and iuis-statemcnU made by ; Mr. Marx ami others in the southern i districts relative to the llarbor Jiill are I not be Jeft iman*\vered. Mr. K. Maxwell has announced his intt'iititni of 1 addressing public meetings at Manaia, ' Okaiavva, and Kaponga on Monday. ; Tuesday, and Wednesday next respectively. U« is iuviliujx Mr. Maix to the I meetings. ]f llu* latter attend the meeting* should prove interesting 0 1 A proposal is 011 fool in Sydney to organise a midsummer pleasure expedition to tin- antartic emir at the end of December next. It is the intention to leave Sydney about. Chri>tmas for Hobart. and then steer a dnrcl course for toe ice pack, covering a route which luis not "been travelled by any ves-cl )'>r seventy Tears. Ti.e excursion would occupy about a month, and would allow five or six days within the Antartic circle. Messrs'-Burns, Philip and Co.. have hc;n approached on Ute .-object of providing a steamer. A guarantee has boon given for forty passenger* r.t V# a head, Imt eighty to nm> hundred would he necessary to make Hie trip remunerative.

YOU CAN GET IT CHEAPER AT THE RED POST. Mrs. Cromer, Percy-street, Oeehtng, ■writes: "Acting on the advice of a friend of mine, I bought a botlle of Chamberlain's Cough Pvemedy to give my little | girl, who was suffering with a very bad attack of Croup. T am pleased to say that after a few doses relief was obtained, and before the bottle \vas_ 'mished mv little girl was able to go to school again. I will always recommend Chamberlain's Cough Remedy to my friends as being the hest T have ever used." For sale by all chemists and storekeeper^

The banks of the Jillinga along the Dcvon-roud extension in the Unrrett ro:ul district are lo lie planted with willows to prevent- their subsidence. Diving to the inclement weather prevailing yesterday, the military manoeuvres which were to have been liel'i at luglewood had to be postponed. The body of Dudley V. Hood, who met ivilli a lamentably fatal accident at Dunedin, was brought lo Xew Plymouth last night, and will be interred at the Te ilcuui Cemetery to-day. It has been arranged that tlie Native bind Court, which is to commence its sittings in New Plymouth on itli July, will i>e held at the Native Hostelry in -Morlcv-stroet. The -session will probably extend over six or eight weeks. At a meeting of the directors of the. New Plymouth Gas Company on Wednesday tenders for a. further issue of lifty debentures of £SO each were opened. The debentures were found to be over-subscribed. A portion of the debentures were allotted at a premium and the remainder at par.

A Petone resident has discovered a new method of locomotion and one that, should commend itself to future Antarctic explorers, lie is the owner of three greyhounds, which he recently harnessed to his bicycle (a, ftee wheel) and then set out for a spin along the Esplanade. The dogs took to the work willingly and the rider, sitting motionless on his machine, looked supremely happy as he sped along the highway.

The Railway Social Club last year devoted the proceeds of » couple of its popular euchre parties to our local sports grounds. Looking round for some worth;' object upon which to bestow tile doortakings ironi one of this season's functions, the committee lias lighted on the Jisplauadc extension movement, and it is probable that ere long a "social" in aid of this fund will be given under the auspices of the club. Speaking ot all his recess trips in various parts of the Dominion, the Prime .Minister said he had found a very good

feeling and spirit prevailing. "1 am pretty confident," he said, "that the peo pie in the country'generally are not in the dumps." If there had keen a little tightness iu the money market the great bulk of the people he had spoken with did not fear it, and were in good heart. He referred to the way in which products were keeping up generally, and instanced Taranaki as a case in point, where a phenomenal season was lieing experi-

eneed. "On the whole," he concluded, "1 think things are very healthy throughout New Zealand." The timber industry in Westland appears to be in a promising condition. A sawmilling company, which has recently erected an up-to date fill at llaematua, has been cutting timber for the market. The tireyniouth Star states that a very large quantity of lumlier has been put through the mill, in the operation of

which about thirty men are employed. A second timber concern has been established in the same locality. Quite a number of hands are to be -engaged in working out a forest of white pine and matai timber. A sawmill is also being erected at Kokotahi. It will command a considerable belt of white pine.

A cure, for scab in potatoes is reported by the Uritish Department of Agriculture in Yorkshire as having resulted from a dressing of wet sawdust, at the rale of V/> tons to the acre, The official report says: "Many authorities attribute scab to a fungus, and if this is correct, the Ivcneficial effect of sawdust may to some extent lie due to the protection which a covering of this material affords the tubers against the attacks of the scab-producing fungus. The sawdust was lirst steeped in water and then applied on the row at planting time over the sets and before the ridges were split.*'

A In.'iii s|]orlsm:in complains that at: the annual meeting of ! In. Afclimati.su-I linn Society it was tacitly agreed that the names of the holders oi gun licenses should lie advertised, so that farmers iind the memlßTs themselves would be able to detect poaching, and that this has not yet Ik'cii done, and he says the mattci' has been repeatedly brought under hU notice by the farmers who allow shooting over their properties but are anxious, as far as it lies in the'r power, to con line that privilege to sportsmen who have contributed tlu-ir quota to the funds of the society which is endeavoring to provide good shooting throughout the district. Jatking ol' the decision of the Employers' Association in reference tn the observance of a partial half-holidav on the day of the llritish football match, a local business man yesterday expressed his belief that the decision would be [ largely disregarded by employers who wished to see tin: match and had some thought for their employees who desired to get a good position front wliieh to | view the game. Many of the employees | in various places were so engaged that before attending the match tlie.v would have to effect a change of clothing, and lie could not see how they could manage this in the half-hour allowed. Jjike the Yankee, lie ''guessed" that the gcner.'fi rule would be 1 o'clock closing.

The I'riuie Minister says that some industrious jjeoplo are striving to create an impression that there was some terrible scandal in connection with the purchase of the Nai Xai estate, Lower Hutt. In the first place, explained Sir Joseph Ward at Grey town oil Wednesday night, I lie present Government did not make the purchase, but it was done upon the unanimous recommendation of the. Land Purchase Hoard of that time, and he had boen informed that day that the Government could get a great deal more money than was paid for it. The Government would take care that the full reports and documents in connection with the purchase would be laid on the table of the House. That "was the only way to deal with rumors circulated to gain political advantage at the expense of the party in power. The passenger list of the MoerakL which arrived from Sydney on Wednesday, included the names of several gentlemen who went to Australia some few weeks ago with the intention of taking up laud either in Queensland or Neiv South Wales. They have thought better of tlnv project, anil have- decided that after all New Zealand is preferable to either of the Australian States, an.l yet these would-be emigrants are men of means. The total amount tliev "were prepared to invest in Australian land was over :C'200,fl0(l! Some of them say (and probably all believe) that the "rush for Australia is a ridiculous mistake." The advice of Mr. .1. M. .10111151011.00r. r Palnicrstiiu North, is: ''Don't." Mr. Johnston, who represented the Manawatu A. and P. Association at the I'oyal Agricultural Show ol' New South Waies. admits that land is cheaper in these Australian States, and that there is room for much development ill funning, but he regards the risk of drought, which may undo in one year t lie prosperity of ten. as a great consideration on the other side.

Dr. 11. llowell, the agricultural adviser to the Government of Victoria, was in I'alclutha last week, and spent three days in the neighborhood, with Inspector Cihnour. of Ihe Stock Department. 11s cicerone. The visitor is preparing a l'epm't- lor his Coverinnent 011 our agricultual methods generally and our system of dairying in particular. With Mr. Giluiour he inspected the dairy farms of Messrs. William Weir (Inchclntha', W. Smith, aivl A. H. Anderson (Stirling), where they- saw the L.K.G., IlartneU, and Austral milking machines respectively in operation. From the inquiries made Dr. Howell is satisfied the iliat'Wnes have conio to stay. 111 fact, the users said if they had to do without machines (hey would give up dairying. Dr. Howell was greatly taken with the country. and as for the turnip crops, he. said he had never seen their like before. M/. G. 11. Gilroy's model farm at Stirling provided an object-lesson in the productiveness of soil when treated according to the best- modern methods of farming. There Dr. Howell saw turnips estimated to yield 70 or SO tons to (lie acre, and the oat crop recently threshed had gone 1110 bushels to the acre, notwithstanding that it had been badly shaken by gales. Altogether Dr. Uoweil tvas very favor ablv impressed with the land in this vicinity, and he expressed himself as convinced that the methods of our best fanners are abend of <lu>s- in Victoria. He begun his tour of New Zealand at the Bluff, and he purposes doing both islands, finishing up at Auckland.

It is stated that Joll's butter «m] cheese factories are to bo offered to suppliers during the coming season.

There are no appointments of Legislative Councillors expiring tin's year l>y effluxion ut time, and tile New. Zealand Times has it on the authority of the l'riine Minister thai none are contemplated by the tlowrmuent.

A copy of the first Kilmarnock edition of Kobert .ISurns's poems was recently sold lor €IOOO. Jn 18.j8 a stray copy was bought for £3 10s, "but there lias been a rapid rise in the value of these books since then," said Mr. K. Sandilands at a recent meeting of the Dunedin Hums Club. "And yet out of the whole edition (012 copies) Burns's share was only £20!" Butter is one of the oldest articles of human diet, lour thousand years ago, we are told, the Hindu cattle-breeders of India valued their cows according to the quantity of butter obtained from them, and the butter was used as food. There is some reason to believe that in Europe butter-making was lirst practised in Norway and Sweden. In tile twelfth century Herman merchants used to send

! cargoes of wine to Bergen and receive dried fish and butter in exchange. Interviewed by a, News reporter last evening, Mr. U. Spencer Claphaw said that Hawke's Bay, despite its bnrnt-up look in February last, had never looked greener than now. There has been a fine growth of autumn grass a second spring. He lielitjves that the province of Hawke's Bay will develop to all unexpected degree within a few years. "Its capacity for production will- not be fully ■ understood till it is divided lip and closely settled. Till then," he says, "it will remain an undiscovered province." A recent visitor to the baekblocka lias a deal to say about the hardships of the settlers 011 the land remote from civilisa' tion. The other day lie saw a mar abandon his buggy in the mud, and strike out for a pair of bullocks will which to haul the vehicle to dry land A day or two later another buggy which was for the time being an ambu lance for the conveyance of a sick ma: back to civilisation for medical treatment, was blocked by nearly three feet of mud, and his fellow-settlers had to wade into the mud and remove him from the vehicle. "By Jove," the visitor remarked, "people who take up land thorp olK'lit to trot. it. f<ir nnt.himf." One

night he went with his hosts to a neighbour's house only a few chains distant, and they all had to take with them a change of footwear, for the intervening road was a sea of mud. The female labour bureau, which was recently opened by the Department of Labour in Auckland, is being availed ot

to a considerable extent by both mistresses and by girls and young women seeking employment (says the "Herald") Hiss ll.lt. Morrison, who is in charge ol the bureau, slates that already a large number of situations have been filled through the agency of the office. "There is" she said to a "Herald" representative "a g/iod demand for competent generil servants in private houses, and good wages nre offered, the range being from about 10s to 20s. Good generals have no difficulty in obtaining 15s a week. A large number of young girls, say from 15 to 18, could be placed at houses where they would lie trained in domestic duties by mistresses, and paid from 8s to 10s a week, but there is a dearth of' applicants in this as in other classes of female labour."

Bananaland narrowly missed a Homeric railway smash the other day (says n Sydney paper), and a Shunter crowded the feelings of an adventurous life into eight minutes. He felt in that time as if he had led forlorn hopes, stormed fortresses, and built and pulled down empires. They were loading up a train with limestone at the foot of Razorbaek, Mount "Morgan, when five trucks got away on their own. The shunter valiantly sprang aboard as the runaway sailed out of the yard. The road atj this place falls near 500 ft. between the starting point and Uoongarry, and a* ! the train began to leap down hill, the shunter shoved on the brakes and hurriedly reviewed his past life. Boongarry was passed at the rate of a mile or more per minute, with hand-brakes hard set ; and the vehicles in the air the most of the time. Just after Kahra- was reached the change in the grade helped things to a standstill. Then the shunter leaped off, raced to the nearest station, reported on the telephone that the trucks were safe, asked for an engine to take charge of them—and collapsed. A few minutes later a stock train puffed along, no one on board havinsr the least idea that a brisk gamble with death had just happened thereabouts. Referring to the matter of representation at a meeting at Stirling last week, Mr. Thomas Mackenzie said that, two electorates had been cut out of the South Island of late, and if the same process went on as it had done in the past they would soon find themselves entirely memberless. If this were brought into effect they would have barely four country representatives in Otago. When he was first elected for the C'lutha there were twelve country members and four city representatives; now they had fewer for the country and the city seats numbered the same. Community of interest was being entirely and absolutely destroyed. The basis of true representation was that as nearly as possible the members of Parliament should voice the aspiration of those whom, they represented. The town populations were increasing at the rate of 25 per cent, and the country at the rate of 10 per cent. It was only a matter of time until the towns dominated the country. Those in the town got ideas into their heads and carried their point owing to their numbers, sometimes hampering the industries upon which they depended. If they had a majority of town men in Parliament they would have their opinions put forward, but he knew that in many instances when these were given effect to they were inimical to the best interests of the community. Tn conclusion, Mr. Mackenzie said he believed it was still possible to retain adequate country representation.