LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 95, 19 May 1909, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Tin- I>»>)"• jil ■_>li Council's concrete channelling intentions ut present go to show llliil, llir West Knd has a preponderance, ill voting power. At Ilic meeting of tin- Ww Plymouth Fir.' I'.iigadc I„rfl. night Firemen W. Prrav and W. llardwiok -were presented wil.li the Association's .i year-' .service medal. ' I

The Pmvderhnin sired, bridge was inspected yesterday morning bv the Borough Council's executive, and' it was decided to close the structure against all but pedestrian trallic. The caretaker of the .Will Fgmont Mountain House is at present taking his holidays. I'ersons desirous of visiting I lie house may. however, obtain the fcrys from .Mr. Williams, at the radius line gate.

His Worship the .Mayor intends callins a meeting shortk to arrange for the ioeal celebration of Anuiveis'arv Dav 11110. IT,.> intends next year's finiciion t'o' lie a lug ail'air, weather pennittiii, The holiday will fall on a Thursday.

PrclimiMry arrangements are alreadybeing made for the holding of a monster c-elebration of tli ( . jubilee (fiftieth anniversary I of the battle of Waireka Owing to the date of Hie fight March 2811 i. being so clos,. to the anniversary day of the province (March Illstl it is probable that, the Anniversary Celebration Committee and the Waireka Jubilee Committee will join forces, mid the function will take place on the. beach at Moturoa, , , ,U:ij«

The'Taranaki County.Council will hold a special mci-tin« to-day to strike the j rates for the year. A deputation of Omata riding ratepayers is expected to interview the mcinhei's in an endeavor to persuade them to impose a separate rate rather than establish toll-gates.

The challenge race over 440 yards for £SO or £IOO a-side between -M. Ward, of New Plymouth, and U. Sanson, of Hastings (who recently defeated Trembath at Invercargill) is "oil," Sanson being unable to come to New Plymouth. An endeavor will be made to arrange the match early next season.

The New •Plymouth branch of the National Defence League recently invited Mr. Robert -McNab to deliver an address here on compulsory military training. Captain Hood has just received won from Mr. MeNab that he will be pleased to accept the invitation and speak at New Plymouth in the second or third week in June.

The Onernl Trust Hoard of the Anglican diocese of Auckland lias decided to erect a new see house for the bishop at a cost of between £3OOO and £4OOO. The house will be situated on a portion of the site in Parnell near where the bell tower was located, on the east side of the former residence of the bishop, which will not be interfered with at present.

•Mr. W. T. Jennings, M.P., in conversation with a "News" reporter yesterday, said that whilst in Auckland the otliei dav lie had a conversation with the man-K'ins director of one of New Zealand's largest wholesale importing firms. He told Mr. Jennings that jicver in the history of the firm had they had such s lave and satisfactory turnover. As for their Taranaki branch, this was its very best year. This should prove an excellent antidote fur the "blues" tliat seem to trouble some of our business folk. It was staled in the course of a Home Local (inveriiineiit Hoard enquiry recently at East Ham that a boy was recently taken into the borough fever hospital suffering from diphtheria and with his bronchial tubes so much choked up that breathing bad become almost impossible. Dr. Sowden at oace operated. !,„,, having inserted a tube sucked the virulent matter out of it. So that the sufferer might obtain immediate relict. In so doing the doctor saved Ihe boy's life, but himself narrowly escaped contracting the disease.

Tales of doirrlttv deeds of deer-stalk-ers continue to reach us in batches (says | the Carterton News). Two young men | went out stalking—their first year mil—and while they were both keen nil shooting deer, they were still keener on dodging a ranger-as if any ranger ran»os these ranges! The two, unknown to themselves, were stalking the same stag i.u the same gully and each came upon the other at the same time. Without waiting to s ay "Good day," both started oil' at top pace for the summit of 'the hill, each laboring under the delusion that they were ''dodging the ranger."

The I'eatherston correspondent of the Carterton News relates how eels capture wild ducks' anil swans in the Wairarapn, Lake. Some sportsmen who were shootiii« on a lagoon dropped two or three 1 ducks from one lliglit and loft them in the water for a few minutes. -Inst 1H an attempt was made to get (hem in, they comjmeiicod moving! about in a ludicrous manner, and on investigating the shooters found that large eels were attempting to make off with the game. The bird thai had disappeared came to the surface a«ain, but was found to he damaged to an extent that, rendered it worthless. Nome swans that were s'liot. were dragged a' eon-idera'ble distance along the water by eels before th'-v could be recovered.

There was a small but fairly representative attendance last night at the. meeting convened by the Mayor to discuss matters concerning the. holidays to. be observed ill New Plymouth, particularly in regard to the observance of Tar'anaki's Anniversary Day as a public holiday. l>>n the motion of the Mayor, seconded by Mr. W. A. Collis, it was decided to recommend the tradespeople to observe a whole holiday on March 31st, Anniversary Day.' The meeting derided to recommend the tradespeople to observe a whole holiday on Empire Dav, and to cut out the Prince of Wales' Birthday (June 3rd) from the list. Dominion Day. Anllor Day, and Labor Day were discussed, but action Mas deferred until a later date. The meeting was inclined to the opinion that these holidays were unnecessary.

The white dill's of England are slowly receding inland. One hundred thousand tons of chalk aud -soil of the famous Shakespeare Cliff fell into the! sea at Dover recently. This cliff has been immortalised in -King U'nr." "How fearful and di/.zv 'tis to cast one's eyes so low." savs Edgar to (lloster, ,his father, as they stand on the top watching "one that gathers samphires." The point of the fall is situated just beyond the Dover boundary-stone! The immense mass fell witli a heavy, rumbling sound, the dust rising in a high cloud. The fall took place about six o'clock, and was witnessed by local fishermen. A heap of chalk and stone king about 11 hundred yards along the base of the cliff and ionic two hundred and fifty yards seaward represents the extent of the fall, some of the blocks being as large as a billiard-talile. During the day quantities of detached chalk continued to fall, while at the tup of the cliff lissures extending about fortv feet back from the face of the el iff have developed, threatening further slips. The landslide is' considered to lie doe to the severe frosts and heavy rainfall of the last few weeks. The hist'fall took place in 1000, and in one .previous'to this the coastguard's watch-house was carried into the sea.

In the Magistrate's Court yesterday, before Mr. 11. S. Fitzherliert, S.M.. judgment wasl entered by default in the following eases:-Wallath Bros. (Mr. A. R. Stauiilsh) v. H. (i. Patterson, claim £SO Ids, with costs £3 Ids. solicitor's fees £-1 lis Oil; L D. Nathan and Co. (Mr. (!. 11. Weston) v. Mrs, M. .11. Brooking, ilaim C2O 3s Id. and costs £2 14s; the Public Trustee (Mr. Weston) v. A. F. (Iraham (Pihania), claim £O7. and costs £i ils lid; Taranaki Oil and Freehold Co. v, C. F. Eyre, claim .CI 12s, and as costs: same v. .lohn Cray, claim CI 103 and 15s costs: same v. Mrs. Lilian Geofginn Lawrence, claim £3 las and 5s costs: same v. William Maxwell, claim £1 and 5s costs; same v. Mrs'. A. E. Popple, claim CI 4s and as costs; same v. Annie L. McC-rath, claim £ls and costs £1 Is; Emma Chapman v. A. .T. Porteous, for amount claimed, £3 17s 811, ami costs 10s. less the amount of £4 Os 8d paid into Court. On a judgment Smniiioiw. Henry Weston (Mr, C. 11. Weston) v. Christopher Crane, the debtor was ordered In pav the amount in full ( £l4 0s Kd) in seven days, in default fourteen days' imprisonment ill the New Plymouth gaol; order to lie. suspended so long as'the debtor pays £2 per month, the lirst instalment to be paid on the 201 h inst.

Hhubarb is grown extensively ill China.

Mr. Walter Trafl'onl. Pharmaceutical Chenii.it bv KiainhniLion. High-street West Maitland. X.S.W.. writes: "t have had over 2ii yemv active and practical experience in loading English and eolo Inial pharmacies, and am convinced that of all the numerous cough medicines, none has given greater satisfaction than Chamberlain's Cough Remedy. I invariably us., it iii my own family. ar.;l have derived such benefit from it that when I am asked to recommend a good medicine I unhesitatingly recommend Chamberlain's Cough Remedy." For sale by all chemists and stortkeepm ,

After about a year's collecting, the fund which is being '..used throughout the Dominion to do honor to the memory of .Sir James Hector, a scientist of real eminence, who performed unselfish services for this country, still stands at less than £3OO.

Mr. Marehant, consulting engineer to, the New Plyimnith Harbor Hoard, and Captain Hone, representing tile inariir underwriters, were engaged yesterday' inspecting the wharf anil breakwat'i'. Captain Hone returns to Wellington «y Friday morning. Mr. Marchnnt will attend " Kriday's meeting of tlie ll••irbiiv Hoard, which is expected to prove more than usually interesting.

In conversation with a representative of the Stratford Post, Mr. C. J. McKcnzie, engineer in charge of the Public Works Department odice there, stated that although it was probable that some men would be put off the StratfordOnganie railway works shortly, owing to the plant available being insufficient to keep so many going, he had no knowledge of how many men were likely to be thus affected. 'At the present time I there are close on seven hundred men On the works.

A contemporary says that the New Zealand Government might go further and fare worse for a successor to Captain Kd'win than by securing Clement Wragge. Already his' New Zealand predictions, given seemingly offhand, from scraps of data and imperfect appliances, make the dinkey little stereotyped forecasts from the New Zealand Observatory appear colorless and vague, and presently the Meteorological Office may be gettin" On its hind legs and chasing Clement with an official big stick of jealousy, as thov tried to do for many years in Australia.

A Feathci'ston gardener recently had an unexpected windfall of tlllO. lie decided to celebrate Ills good fortune hy going to the Wellington races, and in the case of fire in his absence, he put what was left of the money in a tin box and buried it in the garden, placing a roll of barbed wire over it for safety. When he returned from the races a:id went to dig up :his little "planl." he found that someone had been"there before him ami had secured the inonev. A few shillings in change was left, but the discoverer of the hiding-place hud taken the main sum, about £OS, chiefly in live-pound notes.

A visitor to Oainaru from Soulli Africa gives a doleful account of the labor market there. He savs that every department of trade is vi-rv bad. and until recently the steamers could not accommodate all the passengers desirous of quilting the country. The depression which existed all over the country siii"c the war has had a decidedly detrimental effect on investment companies,. so much so that whereas in former years dividends of 100 jut cent, and "up to 300 were not uncommon, the once profitable institutions paying these now found it difficult to declare a 10 to 20 per cent, dividend, and some of them could not even do that.

Gambling is not altogether confined to America, as some of uur New Zealand merchanls could tell us (says the farmers' Cnion Advocate). It'is reported on good authority that early in Mare'i lust,-southern merchants sold to one buyer, for delivery during April ami Jlay, no fewer than 100,000 sacks '..f milling wheat, at the prices then current. When the market took the sharp rise of a few weeks ago, it is said tin sellers offered several thousands of pounds to " cry off." but the buyer refused. This probably means a further sharp rise to farmers.' as it is understood that tlie bulk of tile line lias to be delivered before the end of the present month.

ft is the practice with most newspapers in the Dominion not to publish the names of inebriates brought before the Court for the lirst time, nor of those, against whom prohibition orders are granted, unless an application be accompanied by 'unusual circumstances. Maingood reasons may be adduced: for adopting this course, but at lUeiiln-im the other day Mr. T. Scott-Smith. S.M.. expressed tin- opinion that the interests of law and order would be served by the full publication in the Press of' the names of prohibited pervous, and he furt'liei- suggested that the public should be empowered to advertise, the names. Hi s Worship evidently thinks that if this plan ,were pursued there would be fewer prosecutions for breaches of prohibition orders.

The claims of Liverpool to be regarded as the second port of the world, and th ■ " Catoway of the West," are set fort 11 111 an interesting article in the Magazine of Commerce. The Liverpool and llirkenhead Docks have a total water area of 553 acres, and a lineal quayage of liti miles, while the whole docks' estate, extending for seven miles and a ipiarter on the Liverpool side and inland for three miles 011 the Cheshire side of the Mersey comprises over 1077 acres. In tiiis area are 03 wet docks, H) dry docks, and four basins. Liverpool's outstanding feature has. however, always been its Atlantic passenger traffic, and consequently special accommodation has been provided for this trade. This is in (he shape of a (loafing landing stage—the largest of its kind in Hie world.

The sensational denouement which has followed th» latest escapade of Amy Bock has excited very • general feeling of admiration for the remarkable cleverness of the woman. Already in Tiniaru, says the Post, there are youthful emu la tors of " Percy Carol Redwood." Tli.-> other evening two young girls dressed themselves ill " male attire," and wandered forth, presumably in quest of unsuspicious and eligible'yonng ladies. A gentleman friend, learning their -prank, assumed the role of Detective Hunt, aim hurrying after the girls informed them, in a theatrical voice,, that the game was up, and! asked them to accompany him to the station. The musqiieiadcr-. however, were not prepared to accept their fate'so philosophically as their heroine did. and with hearty screams they rushed away to the seclusion (it their home.

A rather exciting little incident which occurred on the Wairoa river a few days ago proved the sagacity of a dog (says an exchange). A man'named Todd was going ashore from a river .steamer, which had been drawn fairly close to the bank, when he slipped into the river, and, there being a strong current running at the time, lie was in danger of being carried down stream. A friend's dog was on the -boat, and it seemed to grasp the situation quicker than anyone else, for with a spring it was into the water almost as soon as Mr. Todd was precipitated into the stream. The animal quickly grasped Mr. Todd's clothing in his teeth, and made for the shore, which was successfully reached. Mr. Todd cannot swim, apparentlv. and had it not been for the dog a serious result might hnviviceiirrod. The dog is a line specimen of a pointer, and cau'do almost anything bin (all;.

Professm- stai-r, of Chicago University, bus repealed and emphasised in a lecture given at New York, his predictions of disaster for Mr. Roosevelt's African expedition. When he himself went 10 Central Africa he was thoroughly acclimatised after twelve years in (lie (topics, anil was also yoiiii".; but Mr. I scvelt. »l„, has had no such ex, peneiice. and is fifty years old. will never, in Professor Starr's opinion, survive the fevers with which he is bound to be afflicted. To a young man thoroughly acclimatised they would be a serious danger, "but to'a-man of die IcXrl'iesideutV age, the trip is little short of suicidal." Professor Starr is one of the leading American authorities 011 anthropology, and has carried out! extensive researches in Mexico, ,lapa 1 (among the Ainu), and the Congo Free State. It is pointed out in reply to his sensational forecast that the li'oose-

veil, party will lie as well equipped in medical attendance as a military expedition. During a recent trip abroad, .Mr. Archibald Clark, of Auckland, wim lias just returned after a year's absence, was particularly struck with Hi,. I'nrili ties oll'cred hv the Canadian Oovcrniuoin to settlers, in contrast to tile svslcm that, obtains in Xew Zealand. ' "In Camida." said Mr. Clark to an interviewer, "llie Covcniincnt. oilers i.unt to • lioincste.idcrs' in areas or Kill acres each. Tliec give the freehold at the end of i.nrcc veins, and the total fee dialled is 10 dollars. Those taking tip the lands have to erect a small house and ell'cct a given amount of improvements, such us fencing and laying nut n certain area in grass. Hundreds of thousands of people are Hocking into the country, hotti from t'.nropc and America. I was very much impressed with Canada. Last year was a record one. as to the output, anil when I was Ihere in the sprhg (.lime and .Inly) there was every indication in I lie enormous crops of when* and oats Unit it would lie a record. I could not help observing the facilities given to settlers there, and contrasting them with this Dominion, where wo. have such a vast area of unoccupied laud in the tails of the (iovernmcnl, irid particularly in the hands of the natives.": WACIGA, N.S.W. ,

Mr. A. Shudder, Wagga, X.S.W., writes as follows:— 1 '! have taken Dr. Sheldon's Digestive Tabulos tjr indigestion, and found them, splendid. I recommend thein to all my friends." Dr. Slreldon'fi Digestive 'J'ahules arc an unequalled preparation for the cure of Indigestion and all Stomach Troubles. Price 2g Cd per till, Obtainable everywhere.

The I'atea Press has changed hands, Messrs Thompson and Driiiuniund having'j purchased .Mr. W. C. Cargill's interest In the paper.

At the Hancia District Court on Monday, Robert James Clarke, laborer, was found guilty of theft and sentenced to nine months' -Jiard labor in New Plymouth gaol.

Taranaki exported produce to the value of nearly £1,500,000 for the year ended March 31st. It is calculated that if the rest of the Dominion produceu the same per acre as TaranaKi, New Zealand's exports last year would have been valued at over £25,000,000. The Stratford Post is informed that some men, who had been employed for a fortnight only on the Stratford-Onga-riie railway works, were informed on Friday afternoon that they would have to leave on the following day. The men are now in Stratford, and on Monday called on the secretary of the Charitable Aid Board, stating that as' their pay had been exhausted discharging liabilities incurred for board before going to and since leaving work they were now without means to leave the place. The secretary of the Board communicated by wire with the Minister for Labor, and has since been advised that the Minister will look into the matter forthwith.

Mr. Francis William Manning, formerly manager of the Queensland Meat Export Works, has returned to Brisbane after spending seven years in the Argentine. In the course of an interview he said that from the factory which he controlled 40,000 tons of meat were shipped annually. The output of his factory last year was 580,000 sheep and 00,000 cattle. The feature of the Argentine meat trade was the immense amount of chilled'iueat shipped as com pared with frown meat. "There is a movement," said Mr. Manning, "to try and send chilled meat from Australia to England. My opinion is this can only be done by the use of some patent process'. 1 was the' first in the Argentine to use the new Limlley process for the'safe carriage of chilled'meat. It proved a great success. I believe in the near future chilled meat will be successfully carried from Australia to England by such a process. I do not think Australia could possibly compete successfully with Argentine in the Home markets."

The seditious utterance for which H. Holland, one of the, Broken Hill strikers, was sentenced to t'wo years' imprisonment, was as follows:—"We read an account of Tom Mann's arrest when in Sydney, and we. read of thousand* of you men. who call yourselves unionists, being there, and you allowed Tom Mann to be taken to gaol, and not one of you attempted to rescue him. mid .only 300 police in Broken Hill, and you call yourselves unionists. You have the position

in your hands, geographically, now. 1 How long would it take you to stop the j supplies' to the gaol, to refuse to allow your daughters to wait upon the police: stop supplies to Broken Hill mine and send Wade's criminal* back. If you are going to light, put a little ginger into it, or to be plainspoken. dynamite. That is tihe way to win. Do you mean to say :)00 police are going to frighten you! Why, if they hit you with the Laton. then bit them with a baton. If they hit yon with 11 pick handle, hit them with' a pick. H they shoot at you with a revolver, and if they raise a rllle at you, well, if you have a Catling gun, turn it on them."

During n six months' visit to England recently, Mr. Archibald Clark, of Auckland, found trade there exceptionally bad. In fact, he told a press representative that lie had never, on any previous visit to the Old Country, Seen such evidences of want of employment and distress. "It was," he said, "most painful to see, in London and also in Glasgow, hundreds of men parading the main streets of the city, shouting out at intervals, 'We want work.' Whilst, no doubt, some of theac. men may have iieen wastrels or agitators, the great majority seemed to be decent, sober, working men. evidently desirous of obtaining work." There was, added .Mr. Clark, a feeling that relief from this state of affairs might be brought about by tariff reform. He found a decided change had come about in public opinion in favor of protection, and the giving of preference to the colonics. Whereas, on former visits, talk of tariff reform was Y'pooh-poohed," oil this Inst visit most of the people with whom Ire discussed the subject admitted that the time had come when a change must take place. For the most part they seemed in favor of Mr. Chamberlain's proposals, including preference to the colonies. Mr. Clark added that he did not ascribe the distress in England so much to over-popula-tion as to the fact that foreign manufacturers' were overtaking the British, and taking a large proportion of the trade from England. He could not help, also, contrasting the existing distress' with the evidences of wealth to be seen iu the leading streets and parks at Home.