LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 179, 20 July 1908, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The a"ed widow of Mi'. Edw,ard Mclvenna, V.C., lute stalionmaster at Wangaimi, is asking Parliament for r ' monetary grant to relieve her present necessitous condition.

The Moana, which left Sydney on Thursday for Auckland, lias on board English, Vancouver, and. Australian mails for New Zealand. These mails w 11 reach New Plymouth tins (Mondtofl ) morning. The Stratford Borough. Council has decided to place 011 record its high appreciation of the generous action of tlu Taranaki Garrison Band in kindly oiling to assist in the scheme that has been started in Stratford for the relief of Mr. T. Roberts and family.

An excellent programme is being prepared for the, Roberts benefit concert which takes place in the Ilioati'- Rojal next Thursday night. The programme win bo a varied one, iinduding a an* which will lie given by Mis. C. It. «<-* ton and Mr. Easther. Ihe Maiiawatu and Taranaki football representatives will attend the. concert, At, the Maori Congress last week Messrs. A. b. D. Eraser and Hemes, MP's delivered addresses on the question- 'lias the time arrived lor the lemoving of legislative between the pakeha and tlie Maon. Mi. Eraser urged that the Maoris should be placed Oil the same electoral lobs a, I pakel.a and allowed U> vote tor tlie i.Wdidate he thought best. Mr. lie me* agreed with him m the main. He d< hk that there was any color line, and sa d he thought they should mingle with th.. nakelia as one people. The Englishman 'was a mixture of the Celt, the, Sixon, the, Normau, and the Dane, and tin. in tun; produced a distinct nation. He hoped there would be this commingling of pakeha and Maori in New Zealand. He looked forward to the day when future New Zealand would boast that with the Anglo-Saxon lie had Maori blood in his veins. Can a woman who does not inherit a naturally artistic sense be taught_to dress with good taste? 'lhi-. is the important question Monsieur Noiili. tin , famous Parisian dress designer discusses in the Julv issue of The New Idea. answers in the allirinativc lie gives ; certain well-defined rules, by which ,i womau of average intelligence mav leaiii to dress to the very best advantage, i not always in the very latest style lln article is one of several fine special tenures that form the back-bone of the cmrent New Idea. In addition to these, there are a number ot excellent nlioit stories, and two very amusing, and entertaining serial tales, notably ' I lie Vlirtations of Four," which is by Henrietta Serjeant, and promises to be a addition to Australian literature, llie regular departments are. replete with good things; indeed, the July issue is what the editor claims lor it -the best number of Tlie New Idea Unit has ever been published.

"Defendant is either dead or a bank- 1 rupt—l don'fc know which is the worst/' Remark of a solicitor in making the application for a civil case to be struck out at the SM t Court lately. The Maoris, according to Dr. Ruck, have an old proverb, which says that the fame of a warrior is not lasting, but the fame of a tiller of the sioil is. "Unfortunately," says the doctor, "they .... not carry the proverb out."' Jn regard to the millers' complaint# that the importation of Oregon pine is likely to have n serious efl'ect upon our timber industry, "Ex Sawmill hand' writes to a Wellington exchange: "Let me point out that timber is excessively dear, that there is in this country a timber ring, and that the most natural tiling in the world is for the ring to pull the strings and get npl a bogus cry when their preserves are being broken into by outside competitors."

Curiosities in envelope addresses are always turning up at post ollices in various parts of the Dominion. One which came under tile notice of the postmaster at Te Aroha was distinctly original: "Air Dick , Bootmaker, Te Aroha (surname forgotten, but this should show the way to the desired Driven)." Then in ono corner was n sketch plan showing an inter-section of two streets in Te Aroha, with the shops, etc., marked oil' in sections and duly labelled: "Fircbell, Flesher's, Crucer, DICK." With such a definite description of the habitat, the person without a surname was located without dilliculty.

■Speaking at the recent annual dinner of the Sydney Chamber of Commerce, Admiral .Sir llarrv liaivson, the (Joverlior of New .South Wales, made two or three statements with regard to iSydney, the capital city of t-lie State, which! will come as a surprise to most people, in the course of his remarks, which were in favour of the provision of 1 better accommodation in Sydney for "Jack ashore," he Slated that, that city ranks as the eighth in the British Empire in point of population, and as one of the lirst half-dozen ports in the world, considered in relation to its shipping. More-over, the port can boast an annual trade of nearly £80,000,0001 'These lie brave words indeed," and eneouraging to those who take interest in the progress of Australasian commerce.

The oft-repeated charge against the Maori that he is incorrigibly lazy was referred to by Dr. Buck in his lecture at the \.M,C.A. in Wellington 011 Thursday. l'eople were fond of saying, lie. remarked, that the Maori watchword was "tailioa," and that he preferred to put oil' till to-morrow what he could very well do today. But, he thought, they only had to look at their great war canoes, fortiued pas, elaborate carvings and otller evidences of industry to be convinced that Weir lives were very far from being lazy ones. ' People swiiied lo infer that this taihoa bacillus was indigenous lo New Zealand. That was wrong. It was {juite a recent development, and was brought into the eountry by the Europeans along with other strange diseases. The old Maori never had time to be lazy.

Last week a draft agreement was submitted by the Taranaki Employees' Union to the employers. It was proposed to govern work and wages in the manufacturing branch of the dairy industry. 011 Monday a conference of factory directors and employees met at Stratford, but the conference was fruitless. It split hopelessly upon the proposal that employees must join the Union within seven days after commencing work. In addition, the directors considered that the wages asked for managers of the smaller creameries were too high, but a compromise might have been arranged in this connection if compulsory unionism had been agreed to. No further conference has been arranged. and it is not unlikely that the matter will lie submitted to the Arbitration Court (according to the llawera Star). There died at Jlahia recently a Maori named Whare I'aku, who was rioted for his enormous size and weight (writes the Nuhaka correspondent of tile "East Coast Mail "). He belonged to a well-known loc-il family, and several of his brothers are men of unusual weight and stoutness, Humgjh Wliare exceeded t'lieni all. lfis weight is given as thirty-four stone, though some people say who knew him lie was thirty-six stone; but even at the lower figure he must have been the heaviest man in the Dominion. W'hare was of genial disposition, and well liked by those who knew him. As he was unable to obtain boots of a size that he could wear, he always went bare-footed and this lead to his death. The dialing of the stirrup-iron 011 his foot, when riding, produced a sore that developed into blood-poisoning from which lie-did not recover.

In the July issue of Australia's loading sixpenny magazine, Life, a writer | explodes the idea tlmt a great part if the back-country of (jueenslnml is a droughty waste, and ventures t,h« opinion that if much of the alleged arid country of Australia were properly explored it would be found that there is suilicient natural water supply to make Hie bulk of this so-called desert blossom as the rose. In suppurt of his theory he takes the Jordan river, and with pell and camera gives a remarkably interesting geography lesson to Australians on Australia. Charles Barrett, the wellknown Nature writer, takes another part of Queensland, and in a finely illustrated article depicts the light for life in tlie Rig Scrub. One of the photographs accompanying this article is that of a rille-bird's nest, decorated with yards and yards of snake-skins, and is of exceptional value, not merely as u specimen, but in hard cash. It was the lirst of its kind ever taken, and was one of the results of an expedition, sent out at considerable expense to secure it. Says the Opunake Times: event of tlie New Plymouth Harbor Bill passing, for which the prospects are good, the Opunake Bill will require a little amending, which can easily be done, and it would lie much better to give way in a few small matters than light for the whole of it and not get anything. There has been a big light to stem the opposition in South Taranaki to the New Plymouth Bill, and Mr. Maxwell may claim to have achieved a great victory in eventually getting that opposition withdrawn. It may not be out of place here to draw attention to remarks which have been made with reference to Mr. Maxwell's action in connec-' tion with the present loan Bill. It has teen asserted by some unthinking people that he is being paid to pilot the Bill through for the New Plymouth people. Such a base remark could only emanate from those who are embittered against New Plymouth on account of always being included in the rating area, and think that because Mr. Maxwell is a country nicnilier he should not do anything whereby that town should get a benelit, losing sight of the fact that what benefits one is doing a service for the ratepayers of the other. Mr. Maxwell has been so long serving the interests of the public that anv one who has followed his actions cannot for a moment entertain the idea that lie is doing anything but what he sincerely believes to be right and in the interests of the ratepayers. There is every reason to believe that the existing supplies of butter ill tlio coed stores of the Dominion will not be equal to the demand till the spring butter comes ill (says the Wellington Times). At the end of ■lime there were only lllHti boxes in store in Wellington, against 211,480 at the end of June of last year: and taking the rate at which last year's supply went into consumption, a ■shortage this year is certain. During last July nearly SIIOl) boxes were withdrawn. and the withdrawals the following month amounted to 7000 boxes, or considerably more for the two months I than there is at present ill store. A certain amount of this butter was shipped out of the country--2UHI boxes in July ami lillll boxes in August. This season butter is being shipped to South Africa, notwithstanding tlie small quantity in hand. This week's Sydney steamer took | t")0 boxes. Hotter is stiil being made, , but on such a limited scale that it can- , not atl'ect the market. The actual posi- j lion is that there are about 40,000 boxes . in store for the whole country. The weekly demand is about 0000 boxes, and the spring butter does not usually come in till tin; first week in September. It ' is said that cows are expected rather ; earlier than usual, but against this there ] is the fact that little artificial food is available. A mild early spring will, , therefore, mean a certain supply at the ( Mid of next month. In the meantime it \ is probable prices will advance and j famine may rule before spring butter is t available.