LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 193, 18 September 1909, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

In the action Gorlitz v. Kubeli!;, heard at Dunedin, the jury award-.'d Uorlitz £1250.

The sixty-fifth anniversary of the Queen Street Primitive Methodist Church will be celebrated to-morrow, the preachers for the day being Rev. H. White in the morning and Rev. J. Guy in the evening.

A laughable incident occurred at the Christchurch Theatre Royal last week. A young man patronisjng the dress circle was in the dressing-room putting the finishing touches to his toilet, when the bell rang announcing the rise of the curtain. He promptly thrust his tick-t into the brush and hurried out to tlic doorkeeper, presenting the comb as his passport.

In a reference to the state of the im port market the Trade Review says that the demand for the necessaries of life, what may be regarded as bread-and-butter lines, is well maintained, but for anything in the way of luxuries thu sa'e is extremely limited. The soft goods section is still very quiet, but somo improvement is looked forward to with the opening of spring. The fancy goods trade is excessively dull. An elderly man was observed the other day to borrow an overcoat from the Criterion Hotel, leaving his own dilapidated garment in its place. The sequel took place yesterday in the Police Conn, when John Alexander Angus, alias Johnston, alias Stewart, was charged with the theft of the coat. Angus was before the Court on Wednesday,! when he was sentenced to a week's imprisonment for being illegally on premises. A remand was granted until next Wednesday. On behalf of the New Zealand Government, Mr. J. W. Di em has purchased from Mr. Newton King the import'd peligree Holstein-Friesian bull Sir de Kol lnka Pietertje. The latter was railed during the week to the State farm at Levin, where he will be mated with a numbe r of selected cows of similar breed which have been purchased by the Government in the South. Sir de Kol lnka Pieterje has probably won 1 more first and champion prizes than any other bull in the Dominion, and the Go- | vernment is to be congratulated on securing so fine an animal.

Here is an explanation of the moving iglittt-cuin-airship mystery. It is said hat a young man residing between Ballutlin and Clinton made a number of urge fire balloons at least six feet in leight, using kerosene for tlie heating lame. Several of these are declared to iave been despatehed, and as the !n----lamniable mattn r was arranged so as to ast for a long period of time, the air mrrents would carry them over a wide, ixtent of country. This sceme a feasible ixplanation (the Dunediu Star sug;ests) of the strange lights reported to iave been seen from time to time in the listriets between Milton and Core. Recently a steamer berthed at the S r ew. Plymouth wharf at ii quarter to >leven o'clock at night, and east off the warps at half-an-hour after midnight, As she had occupied the berth on parts »f two days, the berthage fees w-;vc charged up for two days, the second day's charge in this instance being '£l 15s. The matter was brought under tin notice of the Harbor Board by the company afl'ectedi The secretary pointei out that up till recently Timaru, Oainit ru and Xapier had followed the practice of charging pe r day or part of a day as had been in vogue in Xew Plymouth Now, however, Timaru had altered itr port rules so that the 'day's berthagi fee covers 24 hours alongside tin wharf. Xapier, he thought, was follow ing suit, and at Oamaru the harbor master was allowed to use his disere tion. Steps will probablv be taken t> bring the rules of the port of Xew i>ly mouth into line with Timaru. The Harbor Board yesterday discused the advisability of using stringy bar] instead of ironbark timber in the whai extension, it being pointed out tha this timber was finding favor "on th other side" for marine works, and wa obtainable at a much lower figure, be sides the fact that this timber was ot tainablc from Hobait at shorter notic and at a lesser freight charge than th West Australian hardwoods. It wa decided to obtain cabled quotations froi the Board's. Hobari agents, and to asl the engineer whether, considering th reduced cost and the deterioration i: the quality of ironbark, lie can recon mend the use of the stringy bark. Th Board has arrived at the concjusio that better arrangements for the pur chase of timber can be made personal!' in Australia than under the prcscn system of tender, and that either Mi Wilkinson or Mr. Maxwell should co,duct the negotiations in Hobart at th Boards expense. Mr. Wilkinson ha definitely stated his inability to go. After twenty-nine and a-half years experience of life in New Zealand, Mi David Sandilands writes from Oainari to The Scotsman to tell his friends ii the _ North that "Xew Zealand is i glorious country—to my mind there i no better country on earth for th working man. My only iv s ret durin my twenty-nine and a-half years her has ever been that J did not come her when a much voungcr man." He assure his brother Scots that no iiKluccniTO will ever bring hj m back to Scotlam 1 Xew Zealand is a young country, an. there is still plenty of room, "but r. faint-hearted people need come ]ic« and the best asset any tradesman ca bring with him is the spirit that is pre pared to take a turn at anything tha offers fo,- a time. Xone who are willin, to work and conduct themselves propei ■y need be afraid to come to this, th Scotland of the South." Mr. Sandila id gives some statistics compnrin" Mi average rainfall and the avera"e" teni peraturc of Xew Zealand and Scotland. The Harbor B'oard yesterday ,r affirmed the desirability 'of giving hai bor boards power to pay their eha?rine,i During the discussion Mr. Wilkinso' said that the question of salaries air travelling expenses loomed too hir»ci in the minds of members of several loci governing bodies, and he felt that mei should be glad to devote a little tim for the advancement of the district Mr. Maxwell also opposed the idea, a he has done ever since it ivas ilis mooted. Tn his opinion, if the clinnnwere made the salaries should be bn'ci on some definite scale drawn by tli Harbor Boards' Association, perhaps ii proportion to the revenue. He felt toe that to introduce the system would b to lower the dignity of the office, be cause it would induce men to seek afte the salaries. Messrs Ward "and Mc Cluggage moved in favor of orantiiv the authority. The chairman and \fi King supported the motion, the chair man pointing out that lie'was not per sonally interested. Mr. Kin,, qualifi*, Ins support by agreeing absolutely wit Mr Maxwell's idea that the pay,,,,,, of the chairman must be compulsory 0 , i fixed scale. Messrs Price „,,d HiHnjso spoke briefly in favor of the mr tion. Replying, Mr. Ward considered reoplc were "robbers and thieves" t ?ivc the amount nf time that a chaii man must do in the faithful dlsebnrg of his duties. Mr. King moved a unendinent to provide that the chart man •'shall" be paid. The motion wa iltcred to incorporate this idea. M' Maxwell argued that unless the seal )f payment were fixed there would b lothmg to prevent a board pavin« .n ihairman .£5 and the next £3O ° }\ noved an amendment, seconded by Mi ting, that payment be made on a'scab V t 'i.oJ ,llnimum of£ - 5 ™ d » uiaxlmui if £2OO a yeaT. The amendment wi ost, and the result of the half-hour diV ussion was an instruction to th loard's delegates to support the pr'n lple of payment of chairmen, Messr Maxwell and Wilkinson votin* agahs

IT DAZZLES THE WORLD No discovery m medicine has ever , created one quarter of the interest that has been caused by Dr. Sheldon's New Discovery for Coughs and Colds. It has brought relief in the most hopeless cases when all else has failed. .Price Is e'd'l and 3s. Obtainable wetywhere.' I

The conversion of 90,000 acres ot swamp land into dairy farms is the big undertaking being carried out between Morrinsville and the HanraUi Gulf by the Government. The Piako swamp was a hopeless place for even flax-growing until drainage works began some ye<us ago, and the Government is carrying .ut a big scheme to bring the whole ore* into profitable occupation. The Hon. J). Buddo (acting-Minister of Lands) visited the works during his Auckland trip, and was very much impressed with the possibilities. "The enormous expenditure the Government lias undertaken on the swamp will," lie remarked, "gife I annually for close settlement some 15,000 or 20,000 acres. Already by the work which lias been done an area of 30,000 acres is well out of the water and suitable for carrying grass. Some portion had iieen sown, and I saw the grass growing luxuriantly. About 509 head of cattle have been placed upon it by the Government, and they were looking as well as any I have seen this season. There is no doubt that the engineers will have 15,000 to 25,000 acres ready for dairy farm settlement early next' March."

A religious cercmonv at the seashore near Purakanui, Dunedin, on Sunday afternoon attracted several hundred spectators, some of whom walked from Port Chalmers to witness the rite. A nomadic revivalist, one of whose principal doctrines is that ministers should not receive a salary, has just concluded a, mission at Purakanui, and Sunday afternoon's cercmonv (says the Stai) was the rite of confirmation by immersion Of some forty converts. Purakanui district is under the jurisdiction of the Port Chalmers Presbyterian Church. Sunday's proselytes included youths rind girls and elderly ra e n and women. The revivalist stood in an inlet from the sea, with the water up to his waist, an! 'a male assistant hrought the converts from the shore and led them back aga'n after they had been immersed. A settler's house near at hand served as a dreesing-room, and a kindly teapot imparted fresh inspiration to the initiated. There seemed something uncanny in the performance when an aged Highlander waded out and submitted to an innovation that said lie had reviewed the faith of hie fathers. The spectators mostly viewed the proceedings from an adjoining bank, but a number of young people in canoes and flatties kept close to the baptiser, and in a happy mood seemed to enjoy the wails of a fair young devotee who got slightly hysterical while experiencing the water rite. Numerous cameras recorded the quaint scene. When the baptising was over, the assistant tried to address.the spectators, but the younger clement hooted him, and when the occupant of a flattie started to throw water over him with a capacious bailer he desisted from further oratorical display. Many of the sightseers boiled billies and indulged' in afternoon tea before returning to tlisir homes.