The Daily NEWS THURSDAY, JULY 15. THAMES DEEP LEVEL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 144, 15 July 1909, Page 2

The Daily NEWS THURSDAY, JULY 15. THAMES DEEP LEVEL.

I Those who arc interested in Thames mining ventures, and we believe their number is quite considerable in Taranaki ] will have noticed, with perhaps no little concern, the recent drop in tue value of shaves. The somewhat sudden partial collapse of the market was due to the decision of the Government to limit the subsidy towards development of the Thames deep levels to £SOOO. The I amount now oll'ered is £2OOO short of tlie amount expected by the companies, but it has to be remembered that the otter has been the only one binding oil the Government. It is a matter for re-I gret that the companies should have been led to believe that the Government were ready to contribute a grater sum as a subsidy than is now oll'ered; but mow that an offer as definite as the Government can make is before them, it appears to us that the companies would do well to promptly accept it Rand proceed with the work. The £IO,OOO guaranteed by the companies, and the £SOOO by the Government—£.ls,ooo in all—is only £2OOO short of the amount necessary, according tu tne , estimate, for the completion of the deep level scheme. A matter of £2OOO in H a work of such vital importance is M neither here nor there, and is hardly |y worth haggling about, and could, and I™ should, be easily raised by the companies likely to benefit thereby. Tile advice given .by the Hon. J. McGowan, law Minister for Mines, to go on with the work at once and approach the bovern nient again if it is found necessary, ii timely and sound. If the companici adopt this course they will consult tlieii own and the field's best interests, an 4 will show that the scheme is bonu-iidc and worthy of further support if it ii felt by the companies to be necessary already stated, the definite oll'e jjg now made by the Government is £2oo' |S less than the indefinite offer made i J& year or two back, showing that in thi [H matter the Government are working o: 13 the Dutch auction system, and the |9 should thus be taken at their word a El now given. Delays are dangerous, an H if the present offer is not availed t | there is a prospect that a further n Mduction of a thousand or two will Ii made when deep level development croj 5» up again. As the companies have pra< tically in hand £15,000 out of vS £d7,000 said to be necessary, the should at once proceed with a vcnv.iii

, which means so much for.the country in and, of course, the Thames in particular. OX FIRST AND FOURTH P^iGES. Girds. Commercial. District News. ' Woman's World. Farm and Dnirv. , "Lest We Forget." . Held to her Death. Football in Jerusalem, LOCAL AND GENERAL. . Ridings, and rumors of ridings, flt ia now stated that there is a possibility of the W'aitara riding of the ooiiaty being subdivided. > Hailstones twelve inches in diameter fell in Walde, Texas, on .May II), »nd killed eight ranchmen and 201)0 head of cattle. No wonder! On the motion of Mr. Quilliam (CJoyett and Quilliam), probate of the will of the late Henry Cotton Cock has been granted by the Supremo Court to the. executors named iu the will. On the application of Messr*. Stnndish and Standish, his Honor Mr. Justice Edwards on the 12th instant granted probate of the will of Job Wills, deceased, to (loorgo Wills and William SurM Francis, the executors mimed in the will. Messrs. Webster Bros, have preseptßß to the New Plymouth museum a jtoSS piece of wreckage from the Iraique ' " Boyd," Captain Thompson. The (&>yd was tiiki'ii by the Maoris and the ejaw massacred at Wiiangaroa in IHOO. Tie wreckage now presented to the IUUSSBm has boon under water for 90 years, Tile petition for the merging ot tile Barrett, Omata, and Hurford road districts is now in circulation. Advice having been obtained that the siting ■ of the petition in its present form might prejudicially affect St. township petition, the ratepayers in Jke latter area are requested by advoi'Woeinont not to sign the petition. hi the Police Court yesterday momi'.|g a lad named Albert Busby was lined 5s and costs for driving round the Devon Currio Street corner at other than a walking pace. Later in the day a motor-cur whizzed round the Coffee Palace corner without warning, and a pedestrian had to skip smartly. There will be no prosecution. , A good story conies fin:ii a town not fifty miles from Napier. A schoolboy had boon for several iveeKs frequently absent from school on Wednesday afternoons. Inquiry as to the feason for nou-ntloridanee elicited the reply that the lad went to the hookey ground to hold his brother's anroeial tooth while the brother played hookey. A young New Zoalander who recently iwent abroad to look for work tried Queensland, but found things very slack there. Willing from .Sydney to a friend m . in Wellington, he said: "Last night wo met some more men tack from (Juoens■3' land. They say there tire three snfin for every job, and some New Zealandcrs I are stranded up there looking for work. Some poor fellows have been waiting six months for the cane-cutting to open up."

His Worship the Mayor yestwday telegraphed to the Hon. Ministor of Labor: "Will the Government provide U for f. subsidy up to .150 on citizens' fund to provide relief works for the. unemployed. Money to' be, spent on public reserves." The Minister's reply was as follows: "In reply to your ipiery, tiie (lovorniucnt cannot subsidise ' local relief works, only public works."

At a meeting of creditors in the o*tah of liopiha Rauighaukori, aboriginal native, at Waitotara, the chairman, Mr. C. A. Budge, commenting on the fact that the liabilities amounted to £305 and the assets comprised a horse valued at 2.15. characterised the case as serious. He moved: "That the bankrupt be rahinitled to a public examination." This was carried. The mover said that if they let the bankrupt oil' it would be an example for other natives. The Poultry Society lias been very successful with the entries for the show, which takes place on Wednesday and Thursday next, in the Drill Hall. The poultrv entries number 2HO and pigeons 1-14. Of the latter llfi are of the homing class and 1)4 fancy. The entries for the canaries are good, being 30 in number. The public are reminded that entrios for the home industries, children's pets, plants, flowers, jams, etc., close jn Saturday after which date no entries will be' taken'"on any account. Two special prizes have been donated by .'lis Worship the Mayor for best collection of jams, pickles, etc., and best collection of camelias.

Referring to the visits to lie made to Australia and America by troupes ol .Maoris the Cliristcliureli Spectator says: •'lt is fair to predict that the Maoris who go with these troupes will gaai little benefit thereby. It is not good l<: turn a man into a mountebank, even for n little season. As Race, the Canadian Commissioner at the Exhibition pointed out. it does not reflect credit on a white man's country that its savages and their customs should be the things which it takes chief pride in showing to strangers. But these things will doubtless continue, for what is the business of a whole community is not the chief worry of one individual." For Children's Hacking; Coug'i at •night, Woods' Great Peppennfcit Cur*; 1/8 and 8/1

In relation to {he unemployed, a writer in the Petone Chronicle mysi I sauntered into the Trades Hall the ouier day, and was struck Willi (be diuiib despair written on the faces of Wine oi the men l'saw there: men I have known as sober, industrious, aud willing workmen; men whom no employer could find fault with, and yet they stand in tile market place and no one asks their hire. There is no mare heart-breaking sorrow than dumb sorrow. There is no iMMpau like dumb despair, and no terror like the animal awoke in the human to lend and to slay. There was no complaint expressed; nothing but sullen mumblings of a passion under control, "(iive us a sprat,' said one following me out) and, choking down his pride, said, "I want to get something to cat!"

Mr. T. llouayue, General Manager of Railways, has written to the Borough Council in reference to the alternative schemes for the Gill Street extension t.B states that the Department would have no objection to giving the land at the back of Messrs. Berry ana V/O.'s property to further the scheme, and, as a matter of fact, it would be preferable to the former proposals, as it wou.d interfere less with the siding; but the Department must maintain the right conferred on it by statute to lay and maintain sidings on the street. (The Government, of course, hsis the right to lay and maintain sidings on any street.) The Department is also prepared to give the additional 12-inch strip of laud along Mr, Nolan's boundary to make tile proposed street 66 feet wide.