LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 89, 11 May 1909, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The Hecreation Sports Ground Committee wish to acknowledge a donation of £lO from Mr. <J, Hawkins.

'• There's more bud language about bad roads than alwut toll-gates/ 1 said the county chairman last night. It is suited that the Egmont County Council is likely to erect a toll-gate or toll-gates between l'uniho and Opunakc. The Barrett lload Board has passed a resolution strongly protesting against; | any extra rate being levied upon tiie ; ratepayers of that district. A copy of the resolution has been forwarded to the Taranaki County Council. Four nomination papers were received lor the Mangorei Koad Board as follow*: .Messrs. C. F. Gledhill, Gi. 11. Herbert, AV. (J. Stanton, ami A. 0. Wells. The poll of ratepayers resulted in the lust three candidates being elected. Speaking at Oinata last night Mr. J. Brown, the county chairman, said thai he and the county clerk had spent a great deal of time in endeavouring to collect rates ou Native lands, and had succeeded in collecting more in the past two years than had formerly been the case. But they could not go beyond a certain point, for at that point Uley were Mocked by the *'Taihoa" policy of the. Native Minister.

A couple of sportsmen who were in the Whakamara district, at the back of Hawera, on Saturday, report tlmt between HI p.m. and daylight on Sunday morning they saw a continuous discharge of fireworks near tin; coast between the. Tongahoe and Paten rivers. The illuminations appeared tu he caused by siiip rockets. No report i< to hand of any ship being in and the occurrence remains a mystery. ■

Owing to the excellent rainfall and | general weather conditions, Taranaki has I had a record season for pasturage this | year. Feed has remained green right through the season, and the usual brown tinge of autumn has not yet presented itself. Stock is in good condition, and although we are, in the iirst 111011t.i1 of whiter, we have not Heard of any of the winter stacks of fodder being cut into or root crops fed to cattle. The few light frosts experienced do not appear to "have alVeeled the growth of "tuss. Farmers should have little cause for complaint in regard to the scarcity of feed this winter.

A pertain voting fallow of llvfle Determined that he'd suicide, But tliv pill Laxo-Tonic Made livinjr harmonic. Wnv—lie couldn't lie sick if lie tried. IiAXO-TOXIO HIXS. lO'/.d iiTid Is (Id. —DnMiH-k & Johnston. Agents'. Xcw Plymouth.

j Ever to the front with keen prices. The Knsli is still below other stores in l>nVo. At their sale they've got boys' | wnsnine; Oonwav suits 4s lid, boys' i knickers is lid, boys' caps fid, boys' brace; from 3d. boys' stockings from | .—T%e Kash Alteration Sale,—Advi. |

The Maryland Hill monument is to be protected by u barbed wire fence. "A tiling of beauty is' a joy for ever."

Ho\v is this for sizu: a hide wag sent into Newton King's yards, at Stratford, which measured nearly 10 feet square ; correctly, it measured 10ft loin' bv !)ft lOin. ■'

Wairenga experimental station has produced 40 tons of grapes durtng tli: season, and sjoo gallons of wine have been made. The cellars are now well stocked.

The lessees of the copper mine at Maharahara, near Woudville, are making an effort to 'get the.r rights extended with the object of floating a company to work the property in a systematic manner.

A young lady passenger by a recent Sydney boat, possessing two " Merry Widow" hats, could iind no place for them in her cabin, so rather than ri '.k having them crushed, she decided to put the hat oil her bed and slept upon the floor of the cabin.

The reading and writing test, which! has to he passed by Chinese before they can enter tile Dominion, has apparently put at least a temporary obstacle in the way of immigrants from the Flowery Laud. Only one Chinaman has attempted the task af Wellington for over six months.

It is probable thai a large hoardinghouse will be erected at Wellington by the Natives of New Zealand. It is suggested that the required funds— lIUOUO —should be raised in £1 snares. The boarding-house, if erected, will be for tile sole use of Natives on their business visits to Wellington. The following tenders were received for the breaking of stone on the Ratanui, Hill, Carrington road, for the Taranaki County Council!—Goddard, 3s 6d per yard (accepted); S. Rider 3s lid. For carting boulder stone to Eliot road, J. H. Colesby, 5s (id (accepted); F. E. .Sole 5s !)d per yard; Parking 5s lid: Collins, 5s lid,

During the month of April there were slaughtered at the New Plymouth abattoirs for local consumption 131 cows, 41 bullocks, 15 calves, 525 sheep, 117 lambs and 172 pigs. Compared with the corresponding month of last year there are increases of OS in the number of lambs killed and S pigs, and decreases of 5 cows, 4 bullocks, 17 calves, and 4b sheep.

At last night's meeting of the 'Borough Council, Councillor Bishop drew attention to the notice-boards being erected purporting to prohibit expectorating on the footpaths, lie pointed out that the notices in the native language were at fault, and a source of much amusement to the Maoris, who interpreted the notice: "Persons are requested not to ' write 1 on the footpaths."

Messrs. C. Andrews and A. Corbett 'have been returned members of the Okato Koad Board; Messrs. W. H. Adlam O. Green, and 1 ( . J. Moms, members of the Oakura Road Board; and Messrs. E. U, Bayly and W. J. McKee members of the Omata Road Board. As the nominations in each instance did 'not exceed the number of candidates required there were no contested elections. The West Coast Refrigerating Co. (reports the l'atea Press) have- accepted the tender of Mr W. H. Brown, of Auckland, for building the new steamer for the Patea-Wellington trade. The dimensions are 100 ft long by 20ft beam with cargo capacity of 110 tons ,on Bft draught. The engines are to be 200 h.p., and the vessel •will be built on the lines of the Kjripaka. It is understood that tlie price was m the neighbourhood of £OOOO. The dredge which the Harbor Board lias ordered from Messrs. Fleming and Ferguson, Paisley, at a cost of £33,000, including delivery and work for a specified time in the harbor, will be of the stern-well bucket-ladder type, Having a large sand-pump in addition. The suction pipe will be fitted with a powerful rotary cutting apparatus, for the purpose of increasing the yield when the .pump is working in tight sand. Both bucket-ladder and pump will work down to a maximum depth of 42 feet below •water level.

They were on their honeymoon, and had decided to put in a day at the. races. He was joyfully informing her that he ■lmd put a sovereign oil a horse for her. "It's a 'dark horse,'" lie explained, " and its price is 10 to 1." But, what does 10 to 1 mean V" queried Mrs Newlywed, whose knowledge of racing matters was slightly limited. " Why," said hubby, "surely that's simple enough. If you have .€1 on a horse, and it Blarts at 10 to 1 and wins, you gain .-CIO." "Oh! how splendid!" s'aid wifie, clapping'her hands at tlie prospect of such easily'gained wealth, "but what shall 1 get if it doesn't start until 1 o'clock 1"

"Incidents" of liist week's memorable ceremony are now .being recounted. Here is one Unit arisen out of tile visit of Sir. Craven, of HelensviUc, n sailor on the Niger at tile time of the Waireka fight and one of the purtieipauU' in it. Upon being informed that the signal telescope which had belonged to Lieut. Make, of the Niger, was treasured in New 'Plymouth, he expressed a strong desire to sc ( . it. Lieut, lilakc. it will be remembered, was one of the Niger's complement, and was severely wounded at Waireka. Mr. W. 1). Webster was communicated with, and he readily produced Hie identical 'vspy-glass," as the old salt called it. Sir. Craven was' com■pletely overcome hy the sight of the p'roperty of his greatly revered officer, and reverently kissed it. It was an affecting moment.

Says the local Stratford Post "Without beating about tlio bush we would ask how many families benefit: "from thy ;C;"ODO or t'oooo that is paid monthly to the co-operative workers on the Stratfoid-Ongarue railway ? The number of empty bottles from the works to within a short distance of Stratford tell a sorry tal< h 3 and inese "dead marines " only ioriu evidence of a part of the orgies that are indulged in by many of the men on these works. The behaviour of these individuals while travelling on the Toko railway is at times disgraceful, and a menace to the respectable settler* who use the line. Whatever else may be said in favour of the co-operative works it cannot he denied that such works fail in one very important point if the money earned is largely squandered in creating riot and disorder. There are undoubtedly many fine men employed on the Ptrat-ford-Ougarue railway construction works, but the unruly element is as bad for them as it is for the settlers along the line, and it wants eliminating—if such a thing is possible." An extraordinary escape from a shocking accident is reported bv the Kaikoura Star. Whi,<? Mr "R, F. Spensley was driving to Kaikoura from Flaxbourne one. day last week he came up with Mr K. Doyle, who was riding in the same direction. At his invitation, Mr Boyle took the back seat of the j buggy, lending his horse behind. -All went 1 well until reaching the Ohau cutting, when the horse pulled back, ami Mr Doyle, having the rein of the bridle round his wrist, was dragged out on to •the road at the. edge of a precipice. This startled the horpe still move, ;uid it backed over the cliff and fell 70 feel. to the bottom. If the reins had not broken Mr Doyle would have gone over also. The horse fell with a thud, leaving the bridle in Mr Doyle's * Hilda. 'Mr Spens ley noticed that his friend had left t!ie trap, and Mr Freebonie Larsons, who was tflose behind, saw the remains of the horse, a mass of pulp, at the bottom ot the bluff, while Mr Doyle was lying n the edge of the bank. Mr Doyle eventually went down on the beach and secured the saddle and bridle, and continued his journey to Kaikoura with Mr Spensley '

"We do not deny—we have, indeed, for years past stoutlv maintained—that the prolligate administration of the party m power has swollen the expenditure oil the Public Service to excess, and retrenchment should in our opinion have come long ago, before the pinch of hard times arrived to stimulate economy (says the Wellington I'ost, an Opposition journal). Hut when .Mr. Massev associates his reference to the subject with a jibe at the falling revenue, he must surely know that the (Jovernment is no more responsible for the fall than the Opposition. Both parties concurred in the remission of duties which was ell'eeted by the revision of the tarilV in 1007, and the sudden drop in import values from .CIS,IM,M)B in INO7-S to .UlJ,7i>o,Oli:i ill the year just concluded "would have embarrassed Mr Mas<iey »l he had been in oll'iee as as it has embarrassed Sir .Joseph Ward, hi these circumstances, Mr Masseys glee at the difficulties .of the (Jovernment, which r /iave arisen from a great public misfortune quite beyond its control, does not conform to his usual .standard of fairness and patriotism.

Head the Melbourne's j.rie'e list of I good booU: Men's stro ig shooters, 7s I (id; youths' (is lid: .bluchers. -Is lid, 'lid; women's gum boots. IDs' Od; women* dairy boots, special line. 10s (id; children's strong school boots, .Is Ud to 7s (id; men's chrome bills. !)s (id. IDs (Id. Vis (id: men* box-calf, willow calf, and glace kid weltvd boots. His !)d pair; men's extra tflnnis* kip watertight* Us; fid; ladii'ri' dancing shoes', 4s lid toj IDs (id; men's dancing pumps, 7s Gd. IDs lid.—Advt, I

For Chronic Ohest Complaints, Woods' Great Peppermint Cure, la fld and 2s 6d.