LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 189, 31 July 1908, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

«. . Willi to-morrow's supplement tin 1 Maori legend, "Tuianekai ami I!ini-moi."' Will lie completed. Art Usual lllf supplement will contain features of interest to liolli lady ami male readers. Among other articles an' the following:

"Phillip .Maimers' Talent" (<i short storv), "(lossip about Tioyaltv," "Ameri-can-born Peeresses," "If 1 Were si .Man.'' "Royal Homicides," "Hoes Sport Kill "Love-making'/'' "Marrying to Dodge Work.'' "Xew Zealand for Servants,"' "Seas Seamen Daren't Sail," "Fight on the .Mauretania." "The Pope's Logic," and "Lord Wolsclcy."

At card-playing last night Court W:tireka beat the Druids by 17 games. licpi'cseiruitivcs before the Local Hills Committee on the Opunakc Harbor Hill report that the result of (he representations will not be known until ne.\t week.

List iiijiht IViiioipal Warder Down 's. of ilu- X.iw I'lyiuoulli »nol still]'. n-liinn-il IVuih Wii'imamii with n yam; of liiiir-ii-dozi'ii prisoners win, lu«- l.i-.-u i-n----■la-.'.l for some weeks in Ilu- oroclioii <.l eoltajres at tin' Wanpimii -aul. .\ working liec from ilu- si-uioi-in [hi' (.'eiilral School, with several ni.oiiln'rs of tlio s.-houl euiinnilU'e, atlrml"il ;\- Hi.' JliTi-i.'ntinix Grounds yesienh.y iil'n-riiooM Mil'!, limli'i- .Air. IVrcv Nmilb's iiislnu-lioii. vouuMv lorim-d Uh- fool,I palll, Ml'iUlld I In- m-w l;.!;r. Tli,. HnMiin«- lorn-lies will In' fjivi'ii in .1 lomiiidii's I inii-. YVKT f'KCT Oi'fon r.-,ult in i, li.'.-ivy .-"hi. of A posilive p.'i'vi'iiliiiiw »f lli"se ills is I .Dr. Sheldon's Now nismv-.-ry for colds, iini'. consumption. Small I Pleasant to take. Every bottle gun ran- I teed. Obtainable everywhere. ?

Efforts are being made by Sir. A. T. Ngata, SI.P., and other members of the Voting .Maori Parly to preserve phonographic records of .Maori fulk songs.

A well-known resident of (iore was marching along the main street the other day with a double-barrelled fowling pivce under Ids arm. "Been running amok'/" inquired a friend. "No; just collecting a few accounts!" was tin reply.

Speaking in Carterton on Slondiv evening, Sirs. Major (Hover, Chief of tie League of .Mercy of the Salvation Army, stated that the Army homes and shelters in Australasia provided for the care of 3l)(Hl people daily, at a cost of JilOlli) per week. It was the intention of the Army during the venr to erect a Prison Cafe' Home at Wellington! a Hoys' Home at Elthain; and to purchase a building for a Slivternitv Home at Auckland.

A correspondent to the Jjyttelfon Times points out several absurd errors in the "New Zealand Nature Study Hook," which is being largely used in the rural schools of the Dominion, lie ([notes this glaring error: •'The tail of the. sheep is short and woolly. The animal does not require a lung tail like the horse or the cow." Speaking of rabbit-, this remarkable text-book says: •"When running from danger they expose the white underside of the tail, which thus acts as a guide and signal to others."

Before Education Boards select textbooks on elementary agriculture il would be well if they were to submit them lirsl to the Agricultural Department. I "To the great Prince of the Temple of Justice"—Uiat is how a Chinese living at Pctono addressed the Clerk o.| the Court at Mastcrton when turw-aril-ing a month's instalment of maintenance ordered by the Court to be paid lo the Celestial's European wife at the rale of 2s lid per week. The teller goes on—"O High Excellency! 1 quail before thy terrible eye! 'thy message of Jilue has reached thy servant ill regard to his mistress,'-Light of SlyEyes;' otherwise (luaming Ihi.s wife), lu trembling compliance I enclose your Excellency the ten bob ilo--1 mantled, praying humbly, O Creat Prince, thout'wilt receive" il, and may the light of Litan shine upon thee for ever.—Vour lowly servant ."

A writer ill the Potiirua Times says: I had the pleasure of a chat with some of our visiting footballers. One of the lirsl questions tlrey invariably asked was: "Are you licet mad down here?" They had had "lleet" talked to them in Auckland, until tliey were sick of the word. Tliey did not show any partiality for bile Yankees anyway; but seem to regard them as a nation of "Wowhards"—which tliey certainly are. The Auckland people are so engrossed in "Fleet Week," which is expected to bring a huge stack of dollars to the town, that they are in a bubbly state of effervescence. The Auckland press, 100, is working up the sensation for all it knows; and it is doubtful if there will be in Auckland by the 10th August a single person with a really calm mind'. The Aticklanders aiv going to Maffick, so advice and remonstrance are in vain.

Canada is under the world's limeligi'.t just now whilst celebrating Quebec's tercentenary of settlement. Some indication of the productivity of liio Dominion of Our 'Lady of the Snows, may be gathered from late returns, and some of Canada's export items will be of Special interest to the people ot Xew Zealand. In ISB7 the Dominion shipped 110,27+ live cattle abroad, in 1897 the number had reached 103,301), and for nine months of 1f1P.7 tile total was 102,141. In 1887 the butter trade amounted to but ,),45.)..)U!11b5, whilst for nine months of IW)< if reached 18,078,.->oßlbs. For the same period of nine, montihts last year Canada shipped abroad 178,141.5701b of cheese, us compared with 73.1iu4,4481bs for the full year of 18S7. The growth of the exports of button and hams was even more significant.. From a volume of 11,425,!>421bs in 1887 they grew to 77,210,0501bs for niiw months of last year.

An interesting letter appears in the Feilding Star on t> subject of "U'lre* Last Moa.'' The writer is Mr. Thomas A. Bryce, a fanner at Kiwitca, and son of the lion. John Ivryce. The writer says: ''What time has elapsed since the moa became extinct'; Allow me to give you proof thai, the moa was not extinct at the time Xew Zealand was first settled bv the British. Jt is a bold assertion to make. On the 21st of the present month. J unearthed Some moa bones. This bird had evidently died in a hole mail: by the uprooting of a tree, the clay failing back Ironi the roots covering and preserving the remains, The bones I found were lying above broken roots, Some of which wire si ill fairly sound. The surface roots and trunk were burned presumably when the land was cleared in 188:1, us masses of ashes lire still in existence almost on the surface. Assuming tliat Hie tree lay fifty years .-probably not so long—before if was burned, it, would Seem thai . {his particular moa lived not more than seventy-live years ago, anil possibly lung since then.''