LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 195, 7 August 1908, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

''The Human Tragedy" is the title of on interesting sketch* by G. R. Sims appearing in to-morrow's supplement. Other articles include "Brilliant. Bagmen," "Tiie British Navv," "Bridges iAliule by Gun I'i'ie,'' "A'Veteran inventor," "Drc.u'us R'wlivivus," "A Huge [Battleship," "Looking Round for a Wife." Then there are the usual features—The Storyteller, the World of ■Sport, Wit and Humor, etc. The Education Department has forwarded a grant for the enlargement of the Stanley school, near Alidhirst. A fatality was narrowly averted on Wednesday afternoon. The gale brought down one of the chimneys in Air. S. 'feed's residence, and some'of the debris came through the ceiling, falling where .Mrs. Teed had been sitting a few moments before. If some of our merchants and trad.rs appreciated the value of advertising as much as some of our politicians and socalled social reformers do, their businesses would prosper as tlley never did (before, and golden echoes would resound from their cash boxes.

The directors of the Cardiff and Low.:ai!ii Daily Companies have decided to join in the co-operative marketing scheme propounded by the National Dairy Association. The directors of the Cardiff Company have decided to make butter this season in preference to cheese.

In order to prevent any disappointment to passengers contemplating making the trip to Auckland for Fleet Week, the Union Company have announced hoth the Rotoiti and'Takapuna will sail on Saturday night for Onehunga. Both .steamers should arrive in ample time to" see the fleet steam into Auckland harbor. The high prices ruling for butter and the bright prospects ahead lias induced the Directors of the Kaupokonui Dairy Company to turn their attention to butter making. Butter has been made at t.iic main factory for about a month past, and it is intenueo to start at the creameries as soon as possible. The West Coast is hardy and humorous. The Coast papers are telling oi a miner down a bout Keel'lun who recently fell a distance of forty feel Uirough timbering, mid wis pi-wed up for dead, and mourn.ully carried towards the station, and on the way go; up, remarking, "I'm full of thi-,' and walked oil' to his heme.

"II (lie farmers expect a departmental veterinary surgeon to run Lo every lain, where there is'a beast ill, they will be disappointed. It would not lie workable. A man's life would lie a dog's life under such circumstances, and he would be run right oil' his legs. If they attend to diseases of a public nature, that is as much as they can expect the Government to do." Those remarks were made to the New Zealand farmers' Union Conference by Air. Ritchie, of the Agricultural Department, when by invitation he was speaking to the delegates. D.nver, the capital city of Colorado, i.'.N.A.. is making aa interesting experiment for the prevention of crime (sir's the Sydney Daily' Telegraph). When Dr. .lergcr,' of Chicago, a visitor to Sydney, was passing through that city on his way lo San Francisco, lie found its highways ami byways so hung with eleetrTc lamps that they were as bright as day. This Iwd been done so that taere should be no hiding-places for skulking thieves and other criminals, and statistics showed that tie scheme had been successful ill reducing crime in the city by at least lifty per cent.

According to Jlrs ISesant, who loclured iit tlie lioy'al Alocrt Hall, Auckland, nearly all tltv. artisan's Jove of liis work has passed away. "J a the old days," she said to her audience. "Mie artisan was an arti-t. a eral'tsnuin. lu tile cathedrals J could take you from corner to corner, in oui-of-the- . way places, whore the workmen of times gone liy have carved in their own lime exquisite copies of branches, leaves, and fruit." Then came ihe point of tile stun. "How many of your trades unionists would do thai how'i she asked, amid la lighter. '•\\J\at lias become of the pride of tile workman in his work;"'

-\ol the .Main Trunk timetable alone is troubling some sections of Auckland; it is the railway itself which is causing consternation in some breasts there (according lb a telegram from the I'osi's special correspondent). It is feared tli.it '"pushful Wellington" will seize much ol Auckland's trade. Representatives of the capital's merchants have been active in the North, and Auckland rivals-are warned that they ivill be "left" unless tlu-v bestir themselves. It is feared in the' Nmlh that Wellington will pki'.i goods in the King Conn try and tilt' W.nkalo, iuhc sacred to Auckland, and (hat woo!, butter, ami other produce will be ilivc-ried lo the Southern port. ."You can di'pei'd upon it," said one prophet, "that I tit- Wellington people are quite prepared to get the trade right up to Auckland's gates if possible." Throughout America enormous in tercSl has been aroused by the case of .Mrs Anna ruselcia, of Passaic, j\ew Jersey, who says that a heavenly angei appeared to her, and told iier to be prepared to die by six o'clock Ihe other morning. .She is a joung woman, a. widow, and a Greek Catholic. Since ■lilie other week, wlieu the alleged an-

gel appeared, she iiad(suys the Telegraph's correspondent,) arranged all allairs, ordered her i-oilm, and made hvr shroud. Then she went to the genera. hospital at Passaic, JNcw .Jersey, p.iio (or a private room, ami asked the dwlors to attend her until six in the morning, w.iien she said Ihov could ccrfily her death. At ten a.m, there waan enormous crowd ouisidc .i;e ho.

was still alive, ami had oaten a remarkably good hreaiU'nst. .Mi oplimisiic view of the financial , 'i.iiijiu was expressed at WeHinglon on i-'riii.-iy evening by .Mr. J. 11. Blair, chairman of directors" of the Wellington In,, vestment Company. He said he did uot think in these electric times it was wise lo make any remarks about the state of nll'airs, but he thought lie voiced llie opinion of the directors when he spoke on this occasion. They hud considerable hope for the future, even taking into account the disturbances that might arise ill the money market. The position of the Dominion was iliU'erent now to what it was in the past. In 187!) nearly everyone lost; they did not know where to turn. In those days the colouy relied on wool, and when anything upset the market everyone sulVeivd. Now the colony had a variety of productsbutter, wool, frozen meal, and tail nd if ono door closed another opened. Tie felt the shareholders had every ground for expecting and hoping a mo.leratelv prosperous, lime, and that prudent 'people would be .able to conduet (heir business successfully.

Having been captured by brigands in a lonely mountainous district of l'eiu, the 'Kev. Arthur Miles Alnss, who recently resigned his position as Precentor ol .Norwich Cathedral ir, order to* take up thu work of chaplain in Lima, lias sent home a thrilling account'of his adventure. While travelling from Orya to Lima, the train in which he was u passenger was stopped at (lalcra, at an altitude of lo.U.Kllt. by an armed brigand band. The fullest precautions had previously hcen taken bv I lie bandits to put the passengers completely in their power, and the railwav ollicals were evidently either in the pav -of title brigands or too frightened "to resist. J.lie telegraph wires had been cut, and the- bridges communicating with tile nearest town were blown up. 'Vlicio were 15 soldiers in the train, but these gave up their arms when ordered to do so, except one. who was shot dead. Mr Jloss, with Air Newman. I lie seamen's missions at Callao, and six friends were all taken prisoners anil led lo the robbers' mountain retreat. Their absence however, caused the Peruvian Government lo send troops from Lima, and they were at length released.

I In spite of the increase in the price of wool and a corresponding decline '» the sheep marlcut as couiparcd with last vear (savs tlie Ashhurton Mail), the value tif agricultural and pastoral conn try in the Ashburton county still ke.'ps to' a high level. Several strangers to tic., district have been making inquiries for laud of lale, ami although there .uv quite a number of vendors, these are lml.liiijr mil for high prices, and are .111willing to accept values ill -sympathy with the present lemlejicv of the wo >1 :iml stock markets. Speaking to one 01 niir reporters, a prospective purchaser of laud from the N'orlh Islam! staled !!,;,i he v.';'- lirmlv convinced Ihat, Hie laud' in faulcrlmrv. although offered ai a ndicohuv-lv high liguro. was cheap.-r si. m the N'orlh Island count rv. lii.'J'nru-ini-ki. land situated . fullv c'iuhl mil'Iron, I he railway line, ami adapted on';.(en- ;:rass and I'ool-pi'oiliicing punios-'s i. .-.-ilin-al t::io and 'flu per acre, am' I 'e ' mm, of uiiiilousdiaiile felled-lmsl--1 ouulrv sMii-il--l in •'„; ha •'■• "-Is ■.,.' J ii 1,. li'< 'cr acre is'l-ine; i'sk-"-l ■ '-ipiahi'itv of the IsiKd for either gp\:< iclne lie pounds pi"- :i-re c comiinr-'f v. ,: tli any country property 1 the Xorll. >'-and. ' for children's lucking coi, K li at night Woods' Great ' J °".iermmt Ore. 1/6 and z/l yOfl CAN fiTCT IT CE'i'JAVm AV THE S® X)ST.

An interesting article, specially wi'HItcn for the Tarauaki Daily News, will appear in our issue to-morrow in connection with the Champion mines, in which many T'arauaki investors are interested.

The Southland Times describes an invention,- reported to have been made by two young Xew Zcalnnders resident at Fortriise, devised to indicate to train passengers I lie name of .the station which they arc approaching. The indi-

cator is automatic. At certain points • a "trip" is set. When a train passes , over the trip a lever moves the mechanism and exposes the name of the ne\t station, and also rings a bell. "Victor'' in the Waugauui Herald , writes: -li is pleasing to know that , Webb is progressing well. He has quite ', thrown oil' the effects of the recent i'l- , ness, and hits had three or four usel.il i spins. He hopes to be able to go to the post on the luth December as lit as ever he was, and should he do that we ea'r look forward to the result with cvavy confidence, notwithstanding that tiie Australian critics arc so sweet in Arnst's chance. It is a year ago yesterday (3rd August.) since W. Webb defeated C. Towns on the I'arvamatta, and thus won the world's championship. An authority who complained of the price of New Zealand timber declares that there is an arrangement between the millers and the merchants (says the •Dominion"). This gentleman says that if'anyone in the trade in Wellington sends an order for timber to Auckland in the hope of saving a few shillings by importing direct he.is penalised the next time lie buys locally by having his discount docked. And yet they ask that the 30 per cent, duty on Oregon hi still further increased. He maintained that the interests of the millers should not weigh against the whole of the community. Besides, by admitting foreign timbers, the New Zealand forests, which are being rapidly depleted, will be saved to the country for a longer period. It is said that there are only eight to ten years' cutting left in the kauri forests of the North, and anything to check the ruthless destruction of the few remaining areas of forests should be welcomed instead of discouraged. "1 have heard it said," staled this informant, "that there is as much kauri stored in Sydney uad V-'lboiirnc as there is standing in New Zealand. Not so long ago it was stated I hat some Southern linns had found it " more economical to buy kauri in Sydney Ihan in Auckland. Only the other day 1 I wis charged 31s for 102 ft of iueli ']■:.. mi. ami i! ■ = -1-1 -.1 li" purchased for 24s 1 per 100 ft in Sydney."