LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 3, 28 January 1909, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Mrs. E. it. Smith lias received a notiNication from the Department of Industries ami Commerce that lior exhibit of ■articles made from Tarannki ironsaTid Hvas awarded: a bronze modal at the iFranoo-Hritish Exhibition. . At .tlic S.M. Court yesterday an order was made against, Michael Stewart to ' pay Ta (id a week towards the support of'his mother. A Maori woman: was filled if 2 and cpsts £1 2s (id for supplying liquor to another native woman. She paid .-C2 and was given a fortnight in which to find the remainder.

The Stratford District High School's] secondary department re-opened after the vacation with over IUU pupils piesent, including '65 new diics. ■ -Mails for the United Kingdom and Continent despatched from here on 17th 'December (via Brindisi), arrived in London on the 22iul hist.

The secretary of the Stratford District High School Committee, in reporting the re-opening of the school, stated that during the holidays all tire buildings, including the technical school, had bieii thoroughly cleaned with disinfectants. It may be of interest to other committees, wrote ilr. Penii, that we find sheep-dip about the .*st and cheapest disinfecting iluid to use.

Farmers in the ilukoia district, dissatisfied with the prices oll'ercd for pigs by the private firms, came to the following unanimous decision on Tuesday:— That it be a recommendation to the 'Eltham Bacon Company directors to lliuld a conference of pig breeders at IKltham with a, view of re-constructing 'the company and including as large an area as possible on to-operative lines. i Tim Ada Crosslcy performance on Tuesday evening proved too much for «t last one individual, an occupant of 'Hie dress circle, lie was particularly (demonstrative, even during the rendi'tion of the items, and tor the peace of '•Aw others who had paid their ten shillings, he was asked to retire, a reipiest •In- naturallv did not. wish to comply kvith. but the ushers took forceful measures and 1 the hilarious one missed hearing the remainder of the programme.

"It seems to me that any undesirable who comes over hen-, if he belongs to a certain secret, society, and pass a certain educational and medical test, can get to be a teacher, to teach high morality to ■innocent children," \rrote an indignant parent lo the Taranaki Education Board in complaining of the appointment to a country school of a teacher whose services, 'he alleged, had been dispensed with by the authorities in a neighboring State for misconduct.

Says the Inglewood llecord:—We do not know, nor are we concerned to enquire, who is responsible for the present 'terrific state of the borough streets and 'vacant sections. Ragword three feet 'high in bloom may be seen withiif a 'couple of chains of the very centre of the borough, both on roads and sections; 'while sections in nianv other parts of the borough are simply hot-beds of •weeds. If iherc is an inspector for this Mistrict it is about time he put in an 'appearance.

Portion of the revenue of the Opaku | reserve goes to provide a scholarship I obtainable by the children of the Taranaki provincial district, and entitling the. holder to college education for throe years. The qualification is a position on the credit list of the University junior scholarship examination. This year no pupil of a school in the Taranaki Education district has qualified. The results from the schools in the northern part of the Wanganui district, within the boundaries of the Taranaki 'province are net yet to hand.

The total post and telegraph revenue of the N'ew IPlymhuth postal district .for the quarter' cndedl December 111 .was £U4!)o osjll'/nd. as compared with . r.(l2«0 18s l'/,d in the December quarter of I DOT. the Savings Bank figures for last quarter were: Deposits£s2,B43 ss. withdrawals ,tT>l,BH> Rls ad, excess of deposits £1027 14s 7il. For the IDecember quarter of 1(107 the corresponding figures "were JMB,4!Mi Ills till, i.C:«),475 17s 2d. and £OO2I 2s 4d. Over ■the whole Dominion last quarter the ■excess of withdrawals, over deposits was i.C.)0,-H5, only four districts besides New (Plymouth showing an excess of deposits.

A meeting of Ihe New Plymouth Swimming Club committee was held last night. Arrangeini'iils were in connection with the forthcoming West Coast championship meeting, to be held at the New Plymouth salt-water baths on February 2.U11. It was recognised that the undertaking was considerable, seeing that prize-money would run into £2O 10s, and the utmost that could be obtained from a "gate" in the baths would be £2O. The programme was drafted, and the secretary authorised to have copies printed. It was decided to ■engage an orchestra for the afternoon, and other details were arranged.

■ New Plymouth lias for years had. an unenviable remitatSluVi earned by its readouts wlty were fond of ''trying stinking fish" on local industries. The species is not yet extinct. The other day a visitor from Enplane! spent some little time in New Plymouth endeavoring to obtain some information concerning the Taranaki ironsand and the history of the attempts to render it of some commercial value, lie was in■formed by one man that the late Mr. K. M. Smith never produced a single ounce of iron from the sand, a statement that the visitor, from his Knglish knowledge, could all'or.l' to ignore. In the next breath lie was informed that the Taranaki petroleum boring was only a farce, audi that mi real petroleum had ever been obtained from the bores at Moturon. That was going a bit too far, and the "wet blanket'' failed ill his purpose.

| The. Stratford I'ost. in re-priufiug ■from us the remarks of Colonel Messenger and Captain Davlv at the Taranaki •Hillcs' jubilee bawpiet. says their stato•ments corroborate rema.iiks made by 'that paper in October last—"that to 'Taranaki, and not Auckland, belonged ; the honor of inaugurating the volunteer 'movement hi "New Zealand. The 10th ''November, 1858, U Auckland's date, but Captain Bayly asserts that be joined the Taranaki Killes ill September of that year, and that the movement bad been established .some time prior to that. Mr. Ccorge Curtis stated in the Post that •lie, as a volunteer, drilled at Omata ill 'April, 1858. Taranaki has thus let an 'opportunity to slip of claiming her 'rightful place as the originator of the 'volunteer movement in the British TCm'pire—not even excepting the Motberia.nd, where it was , quite a year later before an attempt was made to establish, volunteering. The fact that the tTimvimlci Volunteer Force was not gazetted until twelve months after the mioveiuent had been established does not ilo away with the claim of this province, 'and Although it may not appear a very large matter, tin-re" ia good reason why •till- honor should not have come this Way, as the Taranaki Killes were the llir.st volunteers in the British possessions (or, we believe, in the world) to ciiter the Held to maintain their Sovereign's authority and defend their -honies."

For many years cll'orls have been made u discover a specific capable <if ell'ccivcly destroying Ciiliforiiijrn thistle and tiler noxious weed* which threaten tin.aslures of tho Dinuinion and aiv. ii act, already niakhg alarming progros u this district. The discovery, ilicit ore. of a mixture which is claimed I le. capable of cllect ivcly eradicalin ,'uliforniau thistle, briar,' ragwort, an ilackberry, as well as oilier weeds, wil ii' noted with great interest liv fanner: ■specially so ill this "district,' says th 'overly' Buy Herald, as I lie inventor i i liiciil' resident, .Mr Thonins Long, wli ins taken out the jwU'nL rights of hi liseovery, informed a Herald roprcsoi! alive that his spocilic was llllde ill'cr to the (ioveriinient at the prcsoli lime, mid if it with-stood n six mouth? Lrial, us he was confident it would, h was to receive CI.IIKIO. The erailicuto will, we understand, be submitted to two yours' test, to cover a. couple of sen ■ions. Hi- Long added that on his pit: perty at Mntokiinatoki he was able, t show patches that hail been'treated hv wars ago and were to-day without iilade of grass. The erailieator, he sail completely destroyed all vegetabl growth until the ground was turne over. On November (i last, an exper merit was tried, he added, at Waihirer where to-dav the patches are as bear a a table. The cradiralor, Mr l,ong ex plniiieil, could he applied fouallv ell'ei lively at any season, with Ilie wed standing or cut, and in ii hours the el feet is visible. After a lapse of 14 daw (aliforuiau Ihistle. ho claimed, could Ii pulled out with six inches or twelv inches of tint roofs, the hitter perishci and black, whilst a week was siillieien to do the same with ragwort. The nii.x tore, the inventor went on to say, eouf he ma nil faetured very cheaply— 7d for i kerosene tin of four 'gallons, and lie wa i'it hope* of further reducing the cost n product ion. Mr Long recently obtain':" his lirst commission from Mr Fmilknei of Muriwai, where he is to receive Co for radicating the weeds on a quarto of mi acre. Two oilers, Mr Long arlde in conclusion, had linen received fror private concerns for the purchase of hi secret, which, in fact, would be more n niunerative to him than his oiler to th (loveriinient. and lie would be i|uito sal islied to receive the Department's eertili eale of approval. The official test wil be watched with considerable interest.