LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 226, 29 October 1909, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Twenty-four goats came down by the R.irawa yesterday. 'We have got some of the best legislation in ilie world from our faddists." -Mr. T. H. Davey, M.P-. The bankrupt estate of Mr. C. G. Beckett, journalist. Waihi, lias paid a first and final dividend of twopence in the pound.

Signor Caruso received for an August tour of the British Isles a sum stated at £8001). and yet he is always complaining about his remuneration. !u the great Tiiuaru-to-Cliristclmrch road race to be run on 30th October no Ic-s than six Arnsts will compete, viz., .1. A rust, 11. Avnst, 11. P. Amst, F. Arnst, W. Amst, and 11. Arnst.

flic Taranaki dairying award, the oiovisions of which were recently agreed upon at a sitting of the Conciliation Council here, jyjis signed by Jiidjfu Sim on the (ith instant, n and came into force as from the 11th of this'mouth,

During the recent spell of line weather several parlies from New Plymouth visited the. mountain house. They repert the track to be in good condition and the surroundings more picturesque and interesting than ever.

A Wcwt'und journal states that a resident of llosslmvn found under a sitting inn in his lowlyard the other day a dead Weasel with its eye peckcil oui. It is presumed that the irate mother pierced it in that rital pari with one fortunate peck of her beak, for otherwise it was uninjured.

The amount of sickness at present picvailing ill the. district is said to bo greater than has been known for years past. Happily it is not, generally speaking, of a severe nature. Reports from r.t'.ter places show that the sickness is pretty general. The Clirislchurch City Conucil asks the New Plymouth Borough Council lo pass a resolution supporting that passed in Christcharcli: •• that this council is of opinion thai the time has arrived when universal military training should lie adopted by the dominion."

It is being stated in town Hint me Harbor Board has provisionally accepted lenders for the supply of blue gum timber iur ivharf extension. 'The report however, lacks official continuation. It is an open secret that negotiations have oeeii proceeding with regard to this matter.

The New Plymouth Borough Council's balance sheet has been returned from the Audit Office, "approved, subject to the exceptions noted thereon." By the way, the Audit Department keeps a supply of letters' |iriuted to the above effect, and only awaiting address and signature.

iiy a curious coincidence the gas in one cf '.lie (jciiildine churches went out as the hyii.ii s.'Lead, Kindly Light" was being sung the other Sunday evening. V'l'ch remind., an exchange of the inci- ») t (pcri'ictly true) of the man walking out of Exeter Cathedral with his I i; ■{• pockc; on lire as the choir was singing "Sometimes a Light Surprises."

The fact that the llawera Hoy Scouts have asked permission to take part in I he King's Birthday military manoeuvres brings home to us more strongly than ever that New Plymouth is content to stay at the tail of the procession in some matters. Why not a defence cadet corps and it contingent of boy scouts here ?

hi Mr. Foster Eraser's opinion the pre. sent form of government in Russia cannot be indefinitely prolonged, but if a iaily representative system takes its place woivc troubles will follow, l'hti ji.ws, wlji. are the most intelligent pavt of Hie population, will obtain the ascendancy, anil the Russians will then rise against tliem, thus entailing a situation not. pleasant to contemplate, A peculiar freak animal was foaled by a draught, mare at Mr. J. Crocker's farm, near Xormanby, a few days ago. It had no eyes, no nostrils, and its lower jaw was about six inches short. On the po ; nt of the nose were two hard lumps. The freak, which was born alive, was sired by a high priced stud horse—one that lias now left the distiiet—Str.r.

Wangaimi land agents report an awakening in tile land market, ami a large number of enquiries from outside, persons desirous of settling in the district. More money seems available for investment than has been the case for 60me time, and the building trade is looking up well in both town and suburbs. This", with the fact that the interior lauds are bemg steadily, if slowly, opentd up, is considered a good augury for prosperous nines in the near future.

The resource and independence of the young New Zealandcr. Recently a settiir left the other eoast for Taranaki's hinterland with a couple of his boys, kiid 12 nnd 13 respectively and some' le.rsos. At I'nlmeisioii he was sudd u l.v'taken dl and had to be convoyed to the hospital. The bids proceeded with tt.e horses to Taranaki. saw the animals unloaded at the nearest railway po nt to their father's hack-block section, and started inland, some forty miles, ove,. roads or tracks difficult of negotiation pym in the height of « nm . •ni-r, and landed safely on the section! J The health of the father, it may be added, is critical. * "

i In New Zealand,, happily, no mail's w.nlth can purchase him 'inmiunilv in the criminal courts (writes Frank Morion An a contemporary). .Men stand equal before the law; on|v women have any advantage. H ; s „ v ,. n - nir i o Ti ..ling, when you come to think of it, that though women are the most notovi- ■ o,i, perjurers, our judges will generally lake a woman's unsupported words j-1-.'niiist a man's. You must not lnisnnId, r«tand me. I mean to say that, when they are in the mood to give false evidence, •women are move reckless and .shameless perjurers than men are. I am assured that this is so l.v lawvere-who cannot !„. ]„ viow o{ l)rat ,„,,,._ t)le attitude of our judges to the woman in ihe witness-box is extraordinary. One is nt fiuies a!nu«t led to suppose that our judge,; need fresh air-anil exercise.

"What lest is tho rive,- that runs luiough your farm?" This seems the p.ipiilnr query at a certain Taranaki u.nrv factory jus, ~„„-. Dairy factories, ■is is well known to all connected with ll'iil industry, pay their suppliers accoidinsr to the amount of butter-fat eonIni'icil mi the milk, on a basis of a 3.0 test tanners as a rule are never satistcd with the les| they receive, and always imagine the factory manager is Irving to beat them. 'Oeasionallyriiow-

ever, a manajrer finik the farmer tryiii" l"_ beat him hv breakiiiß-down liis ini'k «|.|i tlie iicMitinn of n i|na pura (sometimes not over-pure). Th,. manner of U" tiictmy in i|iicstion, noticing that >■»■<' ot his largest suppliers was testing voit low. namely, 2.7,,100i.U-d 1,. wat.<<, vrrv caret,, ly and took the precaution ot testing daily for butter-fat and afcn "r water. 11,. found in three successive !■•; s tlmt tl.roctentlis of the so-enll-,1 M" k was added water. Tills was dulv ■|«ililwlie<l ~„ the lmlledii board of the creamery from whieh I lie milk was -,'., jvcived ; result the quantity's,,,,- '•' ' ', ""it nulu-Hlual decreased cons ileralily whilst the quality 'went no. 1. is hard to see what the object of this cr.uld be unless ,t ,vas that the supplier I !:on K ])t he would obtain an extra qua,,. ' I'ly of Mom milk in return for tlie water or maybe lie thought i„ these | davs of advanced science the manager night he aide to turn some of it into ' butter-fat.

.Jn the House of Representatives last I'gnf, Mr. Fisher's Bill, introducing pieferential voting llt elections and «n;n g away with the second ballot, was rejected.

In connection with the military manoeuvres to be carried out at Ingiewood on -King's Birthdav, the uiliccr commanding the Taninnki' battalion lias received an application from the llawera Boy Scoots to be allowed to wild two patrols i,f six scouts each to take part. In order to encourage the lads, permission will be granted, subject to Ihe ne- | cessary permission being obtained to j issue railway passes to tliem. .

ihrec years ago, when a function was held in the Central .School in aid of the school funds, the 80r0n..;, (',, lm . "I allowed its electric lighting n'lalf to instill the light in the school buildings free of charge, and this contributed Tn no small measure to the success of the function. Air. Dempsey, the headmaster. Has requested the Council to repeat me concession in connection with the bazaar fete, and exhibition to be held on November 25th, 26th, and 27th.

In the Police Court yesterday morning, before .Messrs. C. M. Upper and .1. W. Boon, .I.P.s, three ratepayers »-re summoned on charges of neglecting to ('■imply with tin. requisition of the Borough Council to connect their properties with the sewers. Mr. (Jiiilliam. borough solicitor, explained tcCthe Bench that the defendants had now taken steps to comply with the notices, nnd asked that the cases lie withdrawn. The cases

were withdrawn, the defendants having to pay solicitor's fees and court costs. Jn the S.M. Court, Wanganni, on Wednesday morning several bookmakers were charged with frequenting Knlgway street for the purpose of betling. C. Brown Parker, Sydney Blair, Ail red Ivug, .las. Qiiarlcrmain, and nn>. Peach pleaded guilty. John Farrell pleaded not guilty. Detective Siddels prosecuted, but' he brought forward no positive evidence against accused. The Magistrate reserve,! j U( i„. Zt'"\ I'*?' t0 ,00k »P »iUhoriti?, >n tegard to the purposes of loitering

. Ihe Rev. T. G. Hammond, Maori missionary, who is at present in Wellin.. ton, speaks very hopefully of the manner m which a section of the Tannaki natives are applying themselves to the development of their lands. They are valued as suppliers by the dairy factory companies, and their byres' are noted for cleanliness. -They have shown a wise discrimination in choosing the sites of the byres, selecting, whenever possible, a piece of high ground adjacent to a' stream, and taking full advantage of Mitur.il features.—Times.

The rcccntly-fomicd New Plymouth Ltedcrtafel has now an active membership of between thirty and forty. The weekly practices under the conduclorsliip ot Mr. <J. 11. Anderson are well attended and excellent progress is being made with the various' works in hand. Wednesday, December I'jth, has been provisionally decided on for the society's initial concert at the Theatre Roval. Ihe assistance of an orchestra consisting of twenty or thirty of the town's leading instrumentalists has been obtained. Jt is some considerable time 6incc a male concert society was heard locally, and with such numbers us "The Toast*" ! "The Gipsy Chorus" (Bohemian Girl) and others, interspersed with instrui muilnl and humorous vocal items, the concert will doubtless be looked forward to by all lovers' of music.

The encouragement of local industry was the avowed object of a deputation which waited upon the Minister of Labor (Hon. .1. A. Millar) on Wednesday night. There were several speakers, but' all advocated the same thing, tile effect of their remarks being to urge the Minister to introduce legislation insisting that all articles made in New Zealand should be branded distinctly and unmistakably. They also asked for the imposition of a penalty upon anyone found affixing the- New Zealand stamp to goods coining from other countries. The Minister gave a sympathetic reply and said there would be an alteration of the Factories Act this session, and that was where the change could come in. Both the workers and the honest manufacturer should be protected, and he would certainly bring the matter before his colleague's and, if possible, would endeavor to make the proposed amendment when the alterations in the Factories Act were beiti" considered. - °