LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 94, 17 May 1909, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Four men woru arrested at Arainnhu station »n Iriduy fur gambling "n the -New Plymouth-Wellington express. Xa|)ier, wlitcli has Ijong suffered from one of tlie worst and dirtiest theatres in New Zealand, is to iiave an up-to-date Municipal Opera House in feno-coucivte. "There are too many men knocking about now who want iivc shillings for one shilling's worth of .labor," said Mr. Lawrence at the Moa Road Hoard on Saturday. f _A lire occurred at the rear of Messrs. Tayler, Scrivener uml Uo.'s premises on Saturday morning, biu lurtu.uitely. u was discovered and cheeked in time to prevents its spreading.—Eltham Argus. Empty houses are scarce in Stratford. This healthy state is accounted for ' y reason of a number of co-operative laborers employed on the railway construe--tion works wintering their families there.

Ciieers for May Hallclt were given by a section of the crowd as she drove away from the Court on Friday. The trial! lasted four hours, and the jury, after 50 minutes' absence, returned a verdict of "Not Guilty." A noticeable feature, says an exchange, in the dairying districts around Pahiatua, is the large number of stacks of beans whica have been successfully harvested. The grain is used for (ceding pigs, while the stacks make excellent bedding for them during the winter. Jt is stated that fnom twenty to thirty families are emigrating to Xelson from Wellington, says the Xelson Mail. The heads of these are mostly retrenched officers, who live in Wellington on salaries of from .L.iOO to tUOO per annum, but whose retiring allowance, £230, will iiiot allow them to continue at Wellington.

It. having come under the Stratford Hospital and Charitable Aid Board's notice that ;i certain recipient of relief had expended a portion of the sum granted on tinned peaches, pickles and salmon, it was resolved that the Board will not countenance this sort of thing, and will onlv provide the necessaries of life.-Post. *

" I do not believe in these ' niake-hini- ' nmrry-the-girl' marriages." said Mr. .Instice Deir.iiston at the Supreme Court, Christchurch. when dealing with a criminal case. '• I think that more than half of the cusps of desertion are due to a compelled marriage, and .1 think that it would be better for the girl, in most cases, to brave the matter out." On Tuesday the Wellington Crown Lands Office opened for selection 2<33 acres of Lhe Xormundale settlement, Belmont survey district, Lower Hutt. There werp in all ten sections offered, ranging in area from three acres to seventy acres, with half-yearly rentals varying from £i 10s to £2l Os 3d. There were no applications. It is estimated that nad Madame Melha, given her cuncert on Friday evening there would have been an audience of it thousand people. This calculation is not based upon the bookings at the biox office, but upon the number of people in Xew Plymouth and other towns who profess to have been disappointed, and who are now saying nasty things about singers in general. A return presented to Stratford Hospital Board on Wednesday, for the year ended March 31, 1111)1), showed contributions from local bodies £,7!)0 3s, voluntary contributions £225 Os lid, amounts paid bv patients for hospital maintenance £(113 lis 3d, and subsidies o'l contributions £110") Os 7d. Assets were shown to exceed liabilities bv the sum of £38,i2 18s oil.

It is said that it famous' Xew Zealand student, now in the Old Country, tried his hand ami brain, in an idle hour, at a Limerick or some other form of enterprising newspaper competition, and won a prize of £2OO. Straightway he gathered unto himself all the Xew Zealandcrs he could find, and took them to a West End restaurant, where the dinner costs 21s a head, exclusive of wines. Perhaps the most remarkable ring in the world is "The Ring of the Fisherman" worn by the Popes of Home. This ring hears the deice Of St. Peter sitting in a boat holding a net, and is always kept by tli<' Grand Chainlierlain of tile Vatican. When the Pope dies, his name is erased from the ring and that 01 his successor inscribed in its place directly the election of the new Pontiff has taken place.

Mr. J. T. Stevenson, an Auckland astronomer, states that there is a probability of another earthquake period between the 17th and 23rd inst. It will not, he considers, be so severe as the preceding periods, but it is probable that the geyscijs fit Whakarewarcwji (will give good displays about the 20th inst. It is not jirolrable that Ngauruhoe will be as active as last mouth, but whatever outbreaks'may occur mitv be expected about the iflth. Further letters of advice have been received from Math ■ Melha ami others referring tjo the contralto voice which she has discovered in Xew Zealand (said the Melbourne Argus of Mar 4tn). .Madame Jlelba was most enthusiastic about its ([utility, and ucluullv went so far as to say, '• I shall teach lier myself, for it is the most lovely contralto voice I have ever heard." The possessor of the vloice is the youngest daughter of a native of Walls, Shetland, who emigrated to Stewart Island over thirty years ago. The charm of her voice is well known in the island and in Duneilin, but hitherto she has been unable to realise lier ambition to be trained as a singer. .Madame Melha has arraugd for her to begin her studies immediately at the University Conservatorium unt'i she herself returns to Melbourne in September. I

Mr. Huston Curlett, who has just returned from the Parapara ironfields, in the Xelson district, gives a glowing description of the quality and cxteiit of the ore-field. He told a reporter that there was sufficient ore in sight to last for hundreds of years. It -would he a great mistake to allow foreign ists to step in. and he thought that the people of Xc.w Zealand would he quite, ahle to supply sufficient money to develop the fields. "There are nimmlains of ore close to the sea front,'' he said, "and as the distance is less than half a mile, the question,of shipping will bo easy. There is a plentiful supply of coal and limestone in the immediate vicinity, and sufficient water-power to drive (urliines to generate electricity for smelting, lighting, and power. There is a large sluicing claim bordering on the deposits, anil 1 hear that it has been working very successfully." The Napier Telegraph says (hat n local doctor advised a patient that for the henefit nf his health he should keep to his room. The patient olieved instructions and received all the attention due to ait invalid. On the second night he was missing. The police were alarmed, and a masculine friend in answer to a telephone message ollcrcil to meet tlieiu at a certain point and conduct them to the scene of distre-s. The masculine friend arrived at the rcudcviiiis, and getting tired o? wailing, fell oil' to sleep. Two stalwart cousin bleu passed the tired watcher, ,and not knowing tile proper entrance to the house, made an I appeal for admission u t the window of a young lady's ibcdrooin. Two female voices screamed that they were totally unsuspicious of a missing man, and then the policemen were admitted by the front door. A search revealed' the linissing man quicllv sleeping in his bed. Hi. had suddenly remembered that lie. had Jieen asked out to spend the evening, anil he had got up and gone out. enjoyed himself, and come hack. He was very s'orry for the policemen.