GENERAL NEWS

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 8, 3 February 1909, Page 4

GENERAL NEWS

Tlic swagger nuisance is sometimes a serious one, and it assumed rather aggravated dimensions in the opinion of a farmer of the southern end of the North Ot ago district the other day. In the morning, about 0.30, he saw three men approach his front entrance and camp there. At S o'clock one of them went lip to the house and asked [or the usual liilly of tea and something to eat, supplementing tile application with the announcement that there were three of them. The request was granted, not altogether willingly; but tile climax was reached when half an hour later the three men hoarded the same train as the farmer and travelled to Oamaru, consuming a bottle of whisky on the journey. -\fr Thomas John Le Snaver writes from (he Punjab, India, to Mr T. IS. Donne, head of the Tourist Department acknowledging the receipt of some books and papers sent to him. The writer says : " One cannot but admire the thoroughness of your work. A country where everything is thus fostered and cared for must prosper, as it is making use of and keeping a careful account of a Heavenly Father's gifts.'' .Mr Le Snaver suggests that in the event of his coming to New Zealand he could ■render signal service to> the Dominion by bringing over a few J'aluch marcs. He thinks that if tile (Government favoured this venture our horses would be improved. The writer suggests that the Punjab is not a good place for the white man. The climate is against the Europeans working hard, and all places, except the highest positions under the Crown, are filled with natives. A European has 110 chance of competing with tin' native, whose idea of a living wage is not very extravagant.

The Hon. A. W. Hogg, in an address recently, described llasterton's backbone. About forty years ago, lie said, a small band of pilgrims from the Hutt, after they laid out ilasterton, set aside a few acres in the centre as an endowment. This was the town's backbone. It had given the people one of the finest halls in the Dominion ; it had given them a free reading room and a library that was virtually free ; it had maintained a technical school that had developed into an institution of which any centre might be proud ; and it helped the equipment and 'efficiency of the school, and it had given one of the prettiest parks and pleasure grounds in tho North Island. It would be a blessing if every municipality had a similar backbone. lie regretted that every family did not possess a backbone to rest against, Freehold or leasehold, they need not quarrel over the tenure. He gloried in the fact that, in response to the demand of the party with which lie had always been identified in Parliament, a strong backbone, in the shape of a magnificent land endowment, had been conferred on tile Dominion. The erection of the skeleton of the Okarifo whale is a greater undertaking than most people would believe (states the Lyttelton Times). Mr. E. R. Waite and his assistants are engaged on tlr work every day now, and it will be some time before it is completed. Most of the work in hand just now is of ail engineering character. A row of stout iron pipes, about 1 - it. long, has been placed in position to hold up the mas -ivr hones, The pipes will have concrete foundations, and they will have to bear the. whole of the burden of the skeleton. A three-inch I, T" iron runs the wdiole length of the skeleton, and to it the vertebral bonis arc attached. By means of the iron the vertebrae are placed in position, and they are separated by wooden blocks, which will represent the inter vertebral cartilage. The iron has been bent to show file curve ill the whale's back. A platform, about 10ft. high, has been erected near the skeleton to enable the work to be done, but it will be pulled down when the skeleton is ready to be exhibited. Visitors will be able to pass under the skeleton, but a ■platform oft. high has bean erected along the whole length to enable them to get a good side view. Mr. Waite has taken a series of photographs showing the progress of the work, lie lias written to •■ Xaturc," in London, staling that his assertion that the Okarito whale is amongst the largest known Ims been challenged in the (iiristchim-h newspapers, and asking directors of museums possessing skeletons of large whales to communicate with him directly, or through the columns of "Nature."