LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 178, 1 September 1909, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Owing to the inclement weather the Frankley road ■concert', to have been held last night, had to Ire postponed. The function eventuates tliis evening. A writer in an English paper says that at Bradford the outlook for brass bands in the engagement field is not hopeful', as the military combinations arc securing all the plums. A .concert was held last evening at the llvinuirsiuin 'Hall in connection ■with live Methodist Church, South road. There was a good audience in spite of the weather. The Rev. J. CI. Chapman ■/resided. A vocal ami musical pro(,'iiiiiimc was submitted, those contributing being .Misses Osborne, Aiuswo.'th and ..Mr. Mc'tfcalf (sioiigs); Miss Dowling (violin .solo); Miss M. .Caiiuell and Rev. Chapman (duet); Mr. W. iLcwis (recitation); Mrs. Olliver (2), and Mrs. Bulbil, Messrs W. Lewis, .Marks and L. llullot (dialogue). Refreshments worft dispensed by tlie ladies of the congregation.

l/ical patriotism. Five or six carpenters were starting work on a house the other morning, and the foreman issued individual instructions. Then ihe oldest man nrc-enl, addressing the whole staff, spoke somewhat in this strain:—"Now, tllicn, you fellows, don't you go and foul your own nest, you. know. Here's the Labor Journal sayin' the huildin' trade is slack in a whole lot of towns. So if you've got a spaik of local patriotism among you, work this job so's .that won't be said about ns. As far as I know the boss hasn't got another contract to f»o on; with fo, seven or eigiht weeks, and if you don't use a. bit o' common there'll be on:ire unemployed about. Now, 'start."

In the Magistrate's Court yesterday morning. Mr. 11. S. Fitzherberf, S.M'., gave judgment for plaintiffs in the 'ol'owing undefended cases:—Nolan and Co. (Mr. Roy) y. fieo. Taylor, claim ~£l> Lis (Id. and costs .111 3s fid; Malone. McVeagh and Anderson (Mr. Johnstone) v. .las. Rooney, claim £■> 18s (id. and costs f.l His: New .Plymouth Harbor Board (Mr. QnilKam) v. Chas. Fcaro-i, claim Ks 4d. and costs £1 lis; same v. ■ In-liua .Harrison, cla'ini. ,C 4 1:1s !)d. and "Osts 13s; same v. John Harvey, claim His lid, and costs as; same v* Fraalc llicltey. claim .Is Od, and costs ss; same v. William O'Reilly (claim of 10s Pal I'iiiil). costs os; Frankleigh Park Extension Co. (Mr. Quilliam) v. Levi W. Jeffries, claim ,ClO lis 4d, and coats £ 1 i2s fid; Malone, MV-Vcagh and Ander- ' son (Mr. Johnstone) v. Godfrey A. Smith, claim ;C4 lis 2d, and costs £1

[ K Li the case Aroo (Mr. Roy) Y . ICiiwella, judgment summons, the debtor , failed to appear, and an order was made ' tlinl. he should pay the full amount of (he claim. .Cll lis fid, in fourteen day?, ■ hi default fourteen d;iys' imprisonment. T'he .Magistrate Raid it was evident that I he debtor would .nut produce liis book, as ordered, iji order to satisfy the Court ot (he amount of his earning. A correspondent miles:—Among native trees the horoeka (panax longipimum). TOmniouly known as the lancewood, is otic, of the most striking. For fifteen or twenty years its long, narrow leaves incline downwards at an acute. a-.de from tlio stem like a half-closed iimlirella. Then these disappear and foliage of a thick growth shoots upwards from the top of the stem o« trunk, giving the stem or trunk a tufted appearance like that of the ti- or cabbage tree (cordyline anstralis). A very line specimen of the laneewood is to be seen in Mr. Crawford's garden, Courtney street. Old residents will remember :t

in its earlv stage uf grow'flh with ii 3 leaves pointing downward. T n the course of years it has developed into a, handsome tree, but onlv about 15 feet in height, although planted in the late !)r. Low's garden about fifty years ago. 11. is to lie regretted that some emplovee of Ihe Telegraph Lines Department iiiis iceciitly hacked oil' some of its ■branches and this without any, notice to the owner of the property. Itjs understood, that the excuse given is that the tree threatened !to interfere with the telegraph wires. Rii<fc seeing that the wires .ire at the outside of the foivbpath and the nearest branch of the tree would have been several feet Aay, the :wt demands some explanation. •For Children's Hacking Cough at night, Woods' Great Peppermint Cure, 1b 6d and 2» 6d, i. -

A rough-and-ready individual found his way into Carterton recently, and meeting a resident, remarked: "I say, Mister, where's the Government .brewery?" The citizen replied that the Government, paternal as it is, had not established a brewery in Carterton yet, lut there was a pretty good beer depot down the street. "Beer be dashed!" said Hie traveller, "I'm after toil, and I want 1 o find the brewery where a chap applies for work." He had tangled up a brewery with a bureau. It was forty-two years ago 'that Alaska was purchased for £1,440,000. The .price seemed large at that time, be- \ cause very few persons in the United States supposed that that province l would ever pay for itself. The amount of gold which Alaska now furnishes' every year would pay that sum three times lover. And its fish, furs, lumper, and other products add largely to its revenue whifch the country is getting from its big northern colony, says Leslie's Weekly. Moreover, a beginning has not yet been made in developing its capabilities. Commenting on Mr. Jlillar's ' statement that 130,000 persons in, New Zealand are dependent on the State, the London Spectator remarks: "New Zealand lias one-fortieth of our population; therefore, if we plunge as deeply as New Zealand into social reform wo sliall be spending something like ninety-six millions a year on .public works, and have some five million two hundred thousand workers dependent upon the State. Yet, in spite of that, 'we should still, like New Zealand, be face to face with a vc;y large proportion, of the population out of employment."

T.lie Rev. T. G. Brooke, the organising secretary for the Methodist Church Home .Mission Fund, in the course of a lecture at 'Napier the other evening on the work among the Maoris, said the effect of the Taranaki Maori War had been severely felt by the church, and it was only recently that lost ground was being recovered, making it more imperative thaa ever that a large income be obtainable. While acting as chairman of the Taranaki district he had many opportunities of noting the need for more workers' in connection 'with the opening up of the laud on the west side of the Main Trunk Railway. The Rev. A. 11. Colville gave an interesting and instructive address last evening to a well-attended meeting of the recently-formed local brunch of the Church of England Men's Society on the work and experiences of the Mission of Help to South Africa (of which he was a member) after the Boer war. The rev. gentleman, in his iluent and entertaining style, referred to the raising of the money needed for the mission (the whole sum, £6OOO, being quietly raised within a fortnight), the (iil'.'lculties Hie, niissioiiers had to face, the hostility of the lioers to everything British, the strong prejudice aganst the blacks, and the results achieved, besides giving some diverting personal experiences and reminiscences and at the conclusion replying to several questions. On the motion of Mr. S. Shaw, Mr. Colville was heartily thanked for his address.

A local gentleman, whose occupation consists principally in reclaiming the strays from the broad way and presenting them for admission at the strait gate, tried the narrow way himself the other day. The narrow way in'this instance was the Govur Street footpath, and the celestial pilot was gliding on the wings of tlic wind—and a bicycle, l'iirtlily beings, whatever their occupation or delight, are, however, subject to municipal bye-laws, and where there's a borough inspector who takes a keen delight in enforcing i.u,- said bye-laws it is not advisable to cycle on footpaths. The inspector stopped the cyclist nml talked to him. The gentleman of the religious persuasion talked back. Quoth the myrmidon of the law, in answer to a statement concerning the other future policy in regard to footpath-riding, " The sooner I get you before the magistrate the better for you." Then a summons was issued. As is not unusual, the inspector received a visit from his victim, who asked that no further steps be taken. "I'm not going to take any further steps," was the reply. "The magistrate will do that on Wednesday morning." The Hon. Sir W. J. Steward has forwarded to the t'ukekura Park Board some seeds of a hedge plant which the hail, gentleman personally collected during his recent visit to South Africa. If the plant takes kindly to our soil' and climate it should prove a very valuable acquisition. The following description is supplied by the donor:—''Tine plant is, 1 believe, indigenous to Natal and is extensively used for garden ranges. Thenear rs somcthirig'liko out taupala in shape and size, but in texture more like that of the holly. The

plant is.sparsely thorned and bears a white flower ■from which the perfume known us 'frangipani' can be distilled. This flower is followed by an edible scarlet fruit, about the size' of a small walnut, which makes an excellent jaro. Tlie shrub <loes not appear to be subject to any kind of blight and is evergreen. T do not think it would survive severo frosts such as we have in Olago, but it grows well in, Johannesburg and Pretoria, Where thcv have occasional fnat 111 winter such as you'have in Ncliv Plymoulli. lam told that Hie seed should he sown in a mixture of one-half of good ■■•oil and one-lnflf line coal ash or sharp, clean river sand, in a warm shady place. If you succeed with it you will secure S, most valuable and handsome hedge ■plant. I shall Ire glad to hear if you succeed in raising the Amatungulu and how the plant fares." The authorities here are indebted to ;Mr. H. Okey, M.P., for interesting himself in the matter end securing this gift. The universal brotherhood of man ideal finite as little favor in South Africa as in America. Tlie Rev. Colvillc re-

fated an incident in point last cvc-iiii" at the C.E.M.S. meeting, Before set" ting out for South Africa he, with the other members of the Church Mission, was enjoined not to have any truck with the blacks, otherwise the'support and interest of the whites would be immediately alienated. He was holding a service at Matching one evening, when a couple of Zulus, like the witches of iMiicheth, came gliding in and took up their quarters ill a back pew. Hut, quiet us they were, their presence was detected, and in a short time some of the congregation arose and, with demonstrations of their displeasure at the "intrusion" of the newcomers, stalked out of the building. Before the service commenced the next evening, the vicar of Mafeking was alarmed to find a bi<* crowd of Kaffirs outside the church* waiting for the mission service to begin. I The vicar was in a state of porturba-1 tion. "Why,", he told Mr. Colvillc. "if we allow tlie blacks in, not a white] will attend this or auv other meeting I of the mission," and forthwith be went out and told tlie .Kaffirs that the mis-1 sion was not for them, but for the' whiles. They dispersed, and the whites thereupon put in an appearance. Next day a Kaffir saw Mr. Colvillc, and, lamenting that his people were excluded from the mission, told him that they would derive some benefit from his presence in Ma'feking if Mr. Colvillc persuaded the white's of the place to 'be more considerate to the blacks.