LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 30, 1 March 1909, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

.Xominatious of candidates for the Taranaki Licensing Committee close today. The poll, if accessary, will be taken on the 9th inst. Advantage is being taken of the present dry spell by many holders of bush lannis in Taranaki to'gct in their "burn?.'' and as a consequence some parts of the province are enveloped in smoke.

Despite the competition of the Alain Trunk railway, the New Plymouth-Wel-lington mail trains continue to be large, ly patronised. On Saturday the up train at various stipes of the journey was crowded, and this is not an unusual experience.

A correspondent sends us the following cutting from the Alliance News of 10th December last:—"ln September last the County Local Veto Law for the State of Ohio, U.S.A., came into force, and the first contest took place on .September 20. From that date until' October Bth thirty-three contests have been held, and in thirty-one prohibition has been carried by a' majority of no less than 39,822; and whereby 835 saloons have been closed." Admiral Lord Charles Beresford, commanding the Channel Fleet, has presented a bulldog pup to each of the battleships Commonwealth, New Zealand, Dominion and Britannia, and recently he made the following signal to the captains :—" 1 have not yet named the bulldog pups, but 1 am calling them my ' battleship breed.' The pedigree of these pups will be sent to ships companies later, but the owner of the sire has refused £I2OO for him."

In reply to a communication from Jlr. 11. Okey. M.l\. asking the Minister for Hallways, the Hon. .1. A. Millar, to inform him a few days ahead o( his nc\!, visit to New Plymouth, in order that arrangements might be made for a number of persons to" meet him (the Minister) in connection with railway charges on butter for shipment, etc., .Air. ilillar lias written from Dunedin that lie will be pleased to give timely notice of his visit to Taranaki in connection with I railway matters. Mr .Millar writes that he is now cngagefl on similar business in the South Island, and it will be- some | three, or four week's at the earliest before he can be in Now Plymouth.

-During, tlio three months they have heen 1 rumiisijf the Wiuignmii electric trams have proved more successful than was anticipated hy the promoters. After payinnf expenses and allowing- for everything, including l',i per cent, sinking fund ami a fair sum for depreciation.

tin' trams have earned a clear profit of over ,C3O 11 uionitli. Many «i' the IVaiignmii ratepayers expecieil that the service would entail a loss of about L'looo a year. On (lie aliove figures!, however, it look? as though, the service , wiil result in a sulis'tantial profit to the. town. New Plymouth will await with |

i interest particulars of the working of the trams after they have been nninrng another six months. The cost of the service, it may bo stated, va* approximately '£50,000. XATL TITIS TO YOITi. JIKMOKY.

That it you want cartage of any do- I scription whatever done, the best,-people I to do it are the New Zealand Express | Co. The company supplies expresses, I vans or lorries, together with experi-

enced men: and anything you -want moved {no matter lion- bulky'it is), (ho company can shift it. No delay, no I bother. Eemeinher'name: X.JS. Express Co. Branches in all towns. I

The Minister for Marine, the Hon. J. A. Millar, in the course 0/ a speech at Dunedin on Friday night, said he had honestly endeavoured to bettor the condition of those with whom lie hail spent the early part of liis life. He had. had experience of deep-water ships, and lie had had experience on the coast of New i Zealand—he had risen from apprentice to master; and ho knew what seamen had to put up with, and he had felt it was his duty to belter the conditions under which they worked and lived. He thought he had been fairly successful,

as the Shipping and Seamen Act of Newl Zealand was admitted to be the best Act' of its kind in any part of the world. I (Applause.) It had been copied by Aus-[ tralia, and it was taken as the standard I at the Maritime Conference held in Great Britain, for tic British people to work up to. (Applause.) He had also endeavoured to work in the interest of the travelling public by providing danger-signals in the form of lighthouses I and fog-signala,

The magnitude of the frozen meat' trade of the Southern Hemisphere is( well known in the statement that at'x the end of 1908 there were no less thanj 170 steamers engaged in it. Of these 54 trade to South America, 48 to Australia, 45 to New Zealand, and 29 both Australasia and South America. Their] total cargo capacity is over twelve millions of 501b carcases. Besides these there were at thai date U move steamers fitted with refrigerating machinery, but not at that time engaged in the trade, and the steamers lilted up exclusively for carrying chilled beef from the United States were also excluded. Of the 48 Australian steamers only five

will hold 11)0,000 carcases, while 19 of the New Zealand traders will carry from 100,000 to 110,000 ; eleven of the South

American boats earn- 100,000 t„ 100,000 (four 150,1100 and uiie Kio,ooo|. There are twenty-nine freezing works in Australia, with a daily freezing capacity of 58,150 sheep end 1780 cattle : 25 in New Zealand with capacity for 70.500 sheep and 170 cattle per clay : and 11 in South

America able to (leal with 30,800 and 3050 cattle per day. When New Zealand soldiers left Africa, after the war, they were, of course, not allowed to bring their surviving horses with them because of the quarantine regulations existing in this country. Only the hardiest horses survived the terrible experiences of those trying limes, for, added to the dangers of the battlefields, there were those of disease, which arc

many and varied. It was noticeable that I the 'horses of New Zealand, if properly rested o'.l their arrival in South Africa, were able to stand the vagaries of the climate and the extraordinary number of horse diseases that made equine life a misery. Horses that survived were, as a general practice, sold to any local civilian who would buy thcui. In the ordinary course, the horse of Major Hughes, D.5.0.. who was a subaltern in the first New Zealand Contingent, was handed over to a resident of Barbcrton. This

was eight years ago. It is an extraordinary coincidence, (says the New Zealand Times) that this charger survived the many vicissitudes up to a few months ago." Major Hughes received a letter from the' owner of his former charger by the last mail saying that the horse had recently died after a third attack of homesickness. This disease, which attacks nearlv all horses in South Africa, is generally fatal at its first onslaught, and the fact that this particular horse reached the.., age of fifteen years before succumbing is one of the best evidences that the New Zealand horse is hard to kill, and that there is a good prospect for a trade in troop horses for foreign service with the Imperial army.