LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 199, 27 September 1909, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Tlie llangatoki Dairy Company's directors me l tatter buyers oil Friday, but did not come to any decision regarding tlie disposal of their output.

Imports of frozen meat into tho United Kingdom from Ist January of this .war to 13 th August includ'd 1,407,7! H sheep ami 2.023,880 lambs, as against 1 010,035 sheep and 1,074,107 iambs in the corresponding period of last year.

An excellent programme was submitted by West's' l'ieture Company at tlie Theatre Royal on Saturday night. Despite the watery elements there was a fair attendance. The weekly visits of West's Pictures have caught on in New I'lynioutli, anil Hie management promise even better lilins for future dates.

The soaking rain of yesterday caused a widespread disappointment, for it prevented people attending the baud concert in the Recreation Grounds, a treat that bad been looked forward to by many who had not yet had an opportunity of hearing tile Garris'on Band under the ccndiu'torship of Mr. C, 11. Anderson. However, a fair number attended despite the wet. The next appearance of the hum! on a Sunday afternoon will be eagerly looked forward to. A Melbourne cable Milted a few days ago that the Victorian Savings linnk Commissioners have accepted a Credit Foncier loan of £200,111111 at 3'/- pvr cent., the average Credit Foncier is analogous to the Xew Zealand system of advances to settle! s, and is an'adaptation t» Australian needs of tlie methods of the I'redit Foncier institution established many years ago in France tn enable house and land owners to raise money on mortgage at a low rate of interest, with facility 'or repayment bv an aniiiiHv including 'Cdeinption of the capital.

Ts grape-growing profitable or likely to be .profitable in New Zealand? A prominent horticulturist answered the

question put by a Post reporter recently in a decided negative, lie 6aid that I he had been over to Western Australia i ami seen the conditions there. Growers 1 got only £2 2s a ton for grapes delivered at the factory. At that rate thvy barely managed to make both ends meet. They had to work from 5 o'clock in the morning to sundown to do tlut, too. How could New Zealand compete with Australia, where vines grew naturally in tlie open air with few diseases and little troublu? Another informant, however, held that spring flowers, early tomatoes, and grapes for the tabie formed a profitable combination.

At this time of year the number of arrivals from oversea by the direct liners from England always begins to show an increase. For instance, the Rnapchu on Tuesday brought 245 people with her, of whom sixty were in the saloons. The latter included quite a fair proportion of Xew Zealandcre re-1 turning alter trips abroad. All the immigrants, 185 in number, passed the doctor successfully, and are now engaged in distributing themselves over New Zealand. Fifty-seven of them booked to Wellington, 42 to Auckland, 28 to LytleHon, and 10 to Port Chalmers, while the numbers going to the smaller ports are—Wanganui 12, New Plymouth 11. llluff 7, Cishomc C, Napie.r 5. Oiunaru, Timann and Westport 2 each, and Greymouth I.—Times.

At Taihape on Tuesday evening the Hon. T. Mackenzie, Minister for Agncuiturc, said that the Opposition asked for good government without corruption, and he would tell them that, having been eight mouths a Minister, ami thus being able to get behind the scenes, lie would challenge the Government critics to put their finger upon a single corrupt act performed during that time. On the contrary, the utmost cave was exercised to do honorable work. By the time the ni'xt general election cau'.e around he would have completed twentv-four years in Xew Zealand politics, and if lie felt that the country did not respond to the call and support what he knew to be clean and sound administration, then lie would regard it as a waste of time to continue political work.

, A serious position lias arisen as the , result of the rapidly-growing comyeiilion which tin 1 dairy farmers are en--1 countering from tlie manufacturers if ■ margarine in Sydney. It was authoritatively asserted (says the Telegraph) . tliat the previous big output of this article had increased tenfold during the ■ past year, and that, despite the complacent official assurances as to the pro- ; teetiou afforded the public by the Pure l'oods Act, Die majority of those wiio consumed these substitutes did so under the impression that they were eating lmttcr. The position was taken up bv t lie On-operative Dairy Conference, and the Parliamentary representatives of several outlying districts "who were present. that the only way to put this trade nil a legitimate footing was to absolutely prohibit Hie addition of the coloring matter which made margarine a deceptive colorable imitation of butter. Hot closclv margarine resembles the genuine arlielc may lie gathered from the fact thai simple* of this substitute and butlev were sitbinilied side by .side to the delegates—all practical dairymen and butler experts—and the great majority failed to distinguish one from the other. The members of Parliament were also put through the same tost, and they were all "plucked." The planet Mars, which, was "nearest to the earth" 011 Friday, is attracting' some attention just now, A Wellington correspondent philosophises tliusly: "It is very remarkable, this reluctance of some university men to accept the idja that there is life 011 Mars. Wo have now Professor Thomas, of Auckland, who points out that Professor Lowell's discovery that Uierc is oxygen in the atmosphere of liars does not prove that there is life there. Of course it doesn't; hut it increases the. probability. Certainly, when we get into tile region of assumption, it is far more reasonable to assume that there is than that there isn't. We folk of the paltry earth strut like bantams habitually, assuming that we are the beginning and end of things, that for us the universe exists uninhabited. I know that the discovery of life 011 other planets would be vastly disconcerting to many people. Most ol the philosophies, and nearly all the religions know to us, assume' that here is everywhere. Given life on other planecs, and we shall have to face queer issues. Tint that is not all. Wo inhabit one of the .paltriest planets in a rather paltry astern. Set against the great suns, our sun is a .mere pin point. The host "l the greater suns have planets also. Why should not they be inhabited also? An'j if they are inhabited, win- should thev 1101 in some cases be inhabited by 'beings infinitely our superiors in wisdom and in knowledge? There is at least reuM'n [to Ihink thiil if Mars is inhabited bv intellectual beings, thev are beings -it a higher intellectual development "than our own. \\'liil<> we are diseussinl aerial navigation, it is quite possible, that the Martians may, in fact (as Mr. Tf. n. A\ ells imagined), bv perfectinS some scheme of interplanetary com niunication. Xobody knows!" '

Thp unlives of Waitangi, on the Tilingaiimtu river. about twenty miles inland from Taumarimui, Have bee:i throw 11 into a state of excitement bv tlio discovery of the desecration of a jrraye in a native linrial ground tt-.i Wailangi. I'll,, distnrljed grave contained Ihe remains of a Maori chieftaincy a nd two children. All the remains were removed with the exception of a couple of hones, which appeared to hnu' l>ecn overlooked in the course of ; ii hurried (light. The Maoris are greatl.v incensed, and have been assisting the police to seonr the hush for signs of the vandals. Constable Maher has reported to Inspector Cullen that marks in the vicinity of the grave indicate that t.vo persons had visited the locality. The remains appeared to have lieen dragged 111 a hag from the elevated burial ground to a flat hclow, whence trace of thc.n disappeared. r lhe deceased woman, adds the officer, was a great ehieftaincss, and died thirty_ years ago. It is thought that wita tne woman there was buried n beautiful greenstone mere, and probably other valun'ole pieces of greenstone. Everything was removed from the grave. The constable suggests that the remains may have been taken for exhibition purposes. The natives, he adds, are at a loss to account fo r (he act. and think thai ultention must have been attracted (o Hie grave by the fact that- it was the onlv one with a headstone.

Members of t!w Equitable Building Society of New Plymouth (First and becond Groups) are notified that subscriptions will lw due and payable toJay _ (Monday) at Secretary's office, Uirnc-Street, from 9 a.mto 12.30, from 1 p.m. to 5 pjn., and 7 p.m. to D p.m.— Advt, ' . Mrs. L. Peters, Miramar, Wellington, JS.Z., save; "I can safely recommend Chamberlain's Colic, Cholera, and Diarrhoea Remedy to anyone suffering from pams in the stomach. A fiw days ago my little boy, aged six years, was suffering agony with this complaint. I only ga-ve him a few dos«s of Chamlurlains Colic, Cholera, a nd Diarrhoea Keinedy, and he was soon well and has not been troubled since. I think this remedy should be kept ia every home." For sale by all chemists and store-

The Manga toki Dairy Company's dnily output is now 54 boxes of butter. The produce buyers were met on Friday, but no business resulted—Star.

The Ministerial party to Tc Wera on Friday were somewhat astonished to find gangs of men still engaged in "corduroying" the road in places to make a passage at all possible. Tiiis work lias almost denuded Strathmore of manuka scrub.—Post.

It is stated that practically the wlHe of the flaxmills in the-Manawatu and Horowbemia districts are now working, and by October 1 every mill is expected to be actively engaged. The result 1« that employment has been given to a large number of men. The T. L. Joll Co-operative Dairv Company have decided to consign the season's output (cheese) through Lonsdale and Co. (without recourse). The amount of advance is not divulged. Nearly sewn tons of cheese a day is being manufactured at the present time. Two extra wires have just been run from Lcpporton Junction to Waitara, and the metallic circuit is established on thein, giving direct telegraph communi-

cation with Wanganui and intermediate offices and direct telephone communication with Roll Mock, Fitaroy, Lcpperton nnd Sentry Hill. It also gives Waitaia three wires for telephone purposes to New Plymouth. Probably never before has the East road been in sueh a terrible state as it )v\< got into this winter (savs the Post). The negotiation of the St.rnt.;imore and Whiingamoniona saddles has been a task almost more formidable, and certainly more risky to life an) liiub. than a trip round the world in a wind jammer. The pluck And endur-

ance the men who are constantly driving on the road are certainly wonderful. Yesterday (Friday) for a mile

or two—in a part not really bad for the East road—the Hon. TC. McKcnzie sampled this Appian way, so knows something about its condition. The first annual meeting of the White Cliffs Dairy Factory Co. was held at Pukearuhe on the 20th inst., when the

shareholders were well represented. Messrs 11. Wells, A. A. Davis, A. C. Watkins, A. McEwen and W. J. Parsons were elected directors, the first-named being chosen as chairman. Mr. 11. Baiiy was re-elected .secretary, and Mr. C. I.

Mills auditor. The company had a lairly successful season, lfld being paid for butter-fat, and there is a substantial balance left. The directors decided not to sell, but will consign the output for 1 this season. Mr. S. 0. Jones was reengaged as manager, with increased satary. His work gave every The directors expect to have an excellent season, as the growth of grass hi the district is remarkable, and theie will be more cows milked.—Waitara Mail.

Interviewed liy the Manchester Guardian lost month, Sir Joseph Waid spoke as follows in reference to the laud forces of the Dominion:—"We have a voluntary system, and wc have had fo r many years an organised cadet system in ouv schools, public and private. In the next session of Parliament it is intended to legislate so as to ensurenot universal service, for I think there is a strong feeling against that—but that over a certain age a percentage of the community should become part of our inland defence system, and that the numbef of men should be sufficient, in proportion to the population, to give us a practical and efficient system of land defence. I regard this as a great advance on the present system. I feel sure that our people would not agree to compulsory service in the ordinary acceptance of the term. But the country gvnerally, and our public men, are fully alive to tile necessity of having an efficient (and not merely a paper efficient) force available for effective use should it at any time he required."