LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 155, 26 July 1909, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

I Tlie Wanganui District meeting of ! Oddfellows, hold at Feildiag on Friday, adopted a motion 'permitting women to become members of lodges. A largely-attended meeting of dairy 1 companies' representatives in the Mew Plymouth Town Hall, on Saturday, discussed the proposal to re-estabiisli a Home agent in London, and the project . was received favorably.

For travelling on the railway between Ilawera and Normanby without a ticket a defendant at ilawera recently was lined 5s and costs. It is stated that a good many people endeavor to defraud the Railway Department 'by travelling without tickets m over-ridiu"

At the eighty-three Methodist circuit meetings held throughout the Dominion recently, votes on the question oi an independent conference fur New Zealami were cast as follow:—Number present, K120; votes for an independent confjrencc, 8!)8; against, 337; neutral, 83.

One of the results of no-license in the Mastcrton electorate has been a mild sort of boom hi billiard saloons (says the Dominion). New rooms with several tables in each are being upened in both Masterton and Eketahunn, with the prospect of very good business.

The Mayor of Timtiru remarked at a recent meeTing of the Ximaru Borougn Council (states a Southern contemporary) that the money market was easier than it has been for some time, judging by the fact that during the past fortnight the Council had been offered over £IO,OOO at rates varying from 3'/. to o per cent., the former being for money repayable on demand. Local bodies have been notified that for the future an additional twopence ■per yard will be added by the Government to the price of crushed metal from the mountain, the amount so collected to be handed over to the National Park Board. The price of mountain metal oi trucks at Stratford is now 7s 4d per yard—ss 2d on trucks at Waipuku, plus 2s 2d per yard freight to Stratford Post.

A collision occurred at Henui on Saturday morning, when a gig driven by Mrs. Luke, of Waiongona, collided with the Fitzroy 'bus. The horse which Mrs. Luke was driving shied, and the force of the impact with the 'bus snapped the gig axle. The ladies were thrown out, and were in danger of being run over by t'he heavy vehicle, but the driver promptly pulled it up with th<s brake. Neither of the ladies received serious injury.

Memories of the Opunake tar and feathering case, says the Cambridge paper, were revived in the Magistrate's Court, Hamilton, on Monday morning, when a young man named Harold Egbert Hill, who, it is alleged, figured largely in that incident, was charged with violently assaulting an old man named Richard Martin, at Frankton. He was remanded for eight days, Martin still being in the hospital and unable to appear. The Waiugongoro river was again unsuccessfully dragged on Friday for tne body of the late Mr. G. Bollond (says the Hawcra Star). An oilskin, said to have been in the dray, was found on a stump in nine feet of water about 50 yards from the spot where the accident occurred. The water round the stump was grappled, but no trace of the body or of the horse and dray could be found. Tic river is still swollen and is in a very dirty condition, thus making the operations of the police particularly trying.

Models of the new hygienic perambulator hood designed by her Excellency Lady l'lunket have been prepared, and are now a vailahle for inspection at the office of the l'lunket nurse in the Hcalsh Department's .building at Auckland (savs the New Zealand Herald). The hoods are so made that, by a simple process of unbuttoning Haps and rolling them, up, openings are made at the top of the hood on each side. By this means the air in the interior of the hood is kept sweet and fresh, whilst no draught can 'each the reclining infant. By keeping the "windward" side of the hood closed and the other side open an extra strong wind can be prevented from obtaining ingress, whilst a natural draught is still maintained by means of the open front' and the open llap, on the side that is not exposed to tire wind. The hood is also litted with a llap in front which can be lowered sufficiently to shield the sun from baby's eyes. The Lady l'lunket hood can be fitted to the frames of ordinary prams at a reasonable figure. Writing from Johannesburg to his brother in Wellington, Mr. A. D. .Wilkinson, some years ago a master in Wellington College, (ells liow the Bank of Allien last month was robbed of £IOOO by a most ingenious ruse. A client of the bank, with £ll3O to his credit, called on the malinger one day to ask for accommodation to enable him to make payment of £1001). The manager made enquiries, found things nil right, and agreed. The client went nwnv,' and ntcr on came back with a friend" to the hank, lie sent th:> friend to the manager to get a. cheque for CKliiil initialled. In tl„. meantime lie presented a cheque himself for £OOO. The ledgerkeeper found £!);!() to his credit and marked the cheque "all correct." Thereupon the teller paid out the £9OO A few minutes afterwards—it was in the press of the busy hours-rrp conies the CT i ,on,; 17 l? tl ' er tellci ' with tlle el ""l"e for £IOOO. Seeing the manager's initials on the cheque, he, of course, paid over the £IOOO And the pair got away. The comical side of the rascally trick s that their action was strictly" within the right of the law, and the bank has no remedy except by civil action