LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 277, 31 December 1909, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

There will be no issue of the Taranaki Daily News to-morrow (New Year's Day), A Masterton trader said he made a mistake in not getting his Christmas goods up from Wellington by horse and trap, instead ot "by our slo w set-back railway. A Christcliurch angler who makes the mouth of the Sehvyn his happy hun;j ing ground, is reported to have 5001b of ! trout to his credit for the first eight I weeks of the fishing season. | The whitebait season at Kaiapoi is ■ almost finished for this year. It has "been a somewhat uncertain one; but while whitebait was at 2s to 2s 3d per pint fishermen had a good source of income.

An Auckland citizen has offered to I lend to the Art (jallery in that city a small oak panel, whereon is painted in oil, the subject being the "Judgment of Paris." The work is said to be by Raphael. The Hogg testimonial subscription lists are now being called in, and a meeting of the committee is to he held after the holidays. As far as can be gathered, the response has not been as liberal as was anticipated. A Tinwald (Canterbury) farmer has just sold a line of 800 bushels of last season's Dun oats to an Ashlmrlon buyer at Is Oil per bushel. The highest price he tould have obtained after threshing was Is 2d per bushel. The Friniley canning factory shelled with their machinery one day last week six tons of peas, which were all canned and put through their various processes and made ready for the market. An other three tons were dealt with similarly the following day. At present fifty pickers are employed, and this number is expected shortly to be increased to one hundred.

While giving evidence on a judgmenl summons at "the Feilding Court tin other morning, a debtor stated that h< linii » daughter twenty-one .years ol ago, but stie could not go away from home to service because she sufferc 1 from a weak heart. I,ater, he adniitt'Y that the girl helped him to cut wooe with a saw when lie had contracts fm cutting wood, and also assisted him '■> cutting gorsc. A Tar.ita correspondent writes:—TV general topic of conversation at Tnray -.•-cut is oil. Farmers arc already looking askance at the noble cows an sheep, and soaring In imagination If little Rockefellers in the oil world, b is a common sight to see the cowspank crs standing; around the skim-milk tanli discussing with gesticulations an. knowing noils the merits of the varinu< spots for lapping the bowels of tie earth.

Mr. (■. Tisch. chairman of the Seaside Improvement Committee, desires to ac knowledge the following donations:Newton King ,c.">, 11. T. Joll £1 Is, C. Clarke ,Cl, J. .Mckean £l. J. A. Tuthill IDs. F. J. Hill 10s, .1. Smith 10s, M. J. Jones Ills. R. Cock 10s, W. H. Jim Ids. Dr. Fookes 10s, W. Rowe as, C. M. Upper Ss. A. Moore ss. Furlong 2s Oil. W. F. MeAllum 10s; also donations ol lea and <ujar from Messrs Durgess. Fra-er and Co.. Cock and Co.. L.' D Nathan and Co. and A. Vcale. A coiTes|n>nucnl sends us the follow hi" pai'liculais of the Tokaanu trout nuehes (principally fly) for the week ending 23th instant:—l!. Jones, 52 fish wishing -1141b, largest Ulb; G. Butler. 12 fi--li weighing 1041b, largest M'/alb; !■:. 1.. Davics, 8 lish weighing 80y 4 lb, largest l.llli; M. Downs, 31 lish weighing ■•illHi, largest Ulb; F. Stubbing, 17 fish weighing lS'Jlb, largest lUy 4 lb; R, "Chase. 11l lish weighing 130y,1b, largest 13%1b. All catches were in excellent condition and afforded great sport. The recent rush to dairying through"ill Southland is now showing the effect on the cheese export. At this time last year the export had barely got into swing, and only three shipments had been despatched before the close of the year, while this season the first con sigupicnt went away carlior, and is now followed fry a regular iortnightlv shipment, five lots having been already despatched. The quantity exported is Piready nearly double tTiat despatched during the corresponding period of lfins The cheese industry to date has yielded about £24,214 more to Southland than it did during the early part of last season,

An extrordinary occurrence is report. i «d from Weotalibah, New South Wales about 20 miles from Coouamble, hearing in its train serious loss for a wellknown district grazier. It appears that Mr. J. Hall, of Edgertou Park, made it a custom to yard his sheep overnight about once a fortnight. Some weeks ago he yarded 1000. Xoxt (lav he forgot to release the sheep or give'am instructions about them, and proceeded to Sydney on business. The sheep were locked up in the yards for eight days before their plight was discovered, when it was found I hat all but about 20 wen dead, and they succumbed immediate!-, they were given water. Mr. Hall's lo - is estimated at £BOO. The vards ii which tie. sheep were confined are si ■ distance from any habitation, O hi during which the sheep were in the yards the heat registered was 107 ,1 • grees.

In a leelurc on consumption at Svd ney a few days ago, Sir Phillip Svdiiev ■loiics laid great stress on the value of fresh, air as ,a precaution against con trading the disease, and as'a curative agent when once the • germs had entered the lungs. Tens of thousands if people m Sydney, he said, were breaking down the powers of resistance mil rendering themselves favorable victimfor the white plague to fasten upon lotheir fear of fresh air. The nightmare ot our ancestors—fear of the ni»ht air causing colds-was still rampant anion* us. -Sleeping i„ the open air or m rooms, thrown widely open to the free access of fresTi air at all times and in all weathers was the best of all B „f e . guards against consumption. He quoted a personal experience in his professional practice of how the dread of fresh air ruined the health of thousands. Mp was called one night to a comfortable home in Woolloomooloo to see a sick woman. He found her kin" on the bed gasping fro- breath, and bathed in cod perspiration. Examining her car<fully, he could discover no disense. to

account f„ r the symptoms. Noticing that the atmosphere was unpleasan' he found that not onlv were (he dev am! windows tightly ciosed. but eve crevice in the room had been careful!plugged with paper, and a sack of st.-a •• put "P the flue of the ehimnev. s„ Hit it was utterly impossible for'any pnr air to get in the room. Tie removed Ihe plugging, threw open the windows and doors and prescribed something dial would not do any good or harm-people have no faith In you if tou don't give them medicine. Sir Philip added. When

he returned eight hours later t.h»i woman was sitting up and smiling and happy, and declared that she was perfectly well. Tlu- doctor knew that she was mmvl by fresh air and nothing else. This was the way he said that noopto weakened their vital nnwors and made themselves easy prev to consumption which, in the words of John Burns, he described as n bedroom disease more than nnvthinn also.

YOUNG NEW PliYMOTtTrr-XoTV your chance to secure a smart looking tailor-finished, hazed suit for vours'i-f. I Most of the well-dressed -voiiths «.r,n see in New Plymouth get their best suits from The Kns|,. We've iii«t fin Vied a lot of youths' suits in nlain knickers, buckle and strap knickers, and but-ton-kneed knickers, made from the most fashionable cloths and finished in Hiton style, with well-fittinsr nodded shonldern and pood-fitting suits. We hniei them from 29s to 49s Bd.—THE TCA^IT

"It's a pleasure to umpire nowadays," s'aid Mr. Greer at the cricket social last night. "In the early days batsmen sometimes declined to go out when the umpire gave them out, and they often started to argue the point. To-day, when the batsman is given out lie goes out like a sportsman." From December 1 to 13 the port of Pa tea exported 2ll(lewt. of butter, valued at .-C 10,3(111, and 70(15 of cheese, worth £21,204. There were also shipper 174c»t. of frozen beef ( £21(3) and 583ewt. of frozen million (C 831). During the same period New Plymouth exported GOOocwt. of butter ( 00,02!)) ami 2078c\vt. of cheese (.C(l(f!)5).

The price of fruit this Christmas season has been far in excess of previous years. This may be accounted for by the early season and such fruits as peaches' and apricots coming in in time for the Christmas trade. At Messrs. Webster Bros.' fruit (sale on Friday morning last peaches brought as high as las Cd per 201b box, tomatoes to Is 3d per lb, and ordinary Christmas plums as high as 9s' Od for a small 181b to 201b box. It was noticeable that a number of people were sufficiently interested in the Manawalii-Tiirannki cricket match to watch the progress of the game through the fence, but not sufficiently interested to pay the shilling asked at Hie gate. It is only on one or two days a year that cricket matches are not free to the public, and it does seem hard lines that these alleged supporters of the game arc unable to "stump up." Mr. Donnelly, an old Masterton settler, has been spending the last four months in the ranges, on prospecting bent. He has discovered several metals which may possess a marketable value, and he has found a promising output of gold-bearing stone. lie is strongly of the opinion that within the next few years the ranges at the back of Masterton will be a big mining field. Mr.

Donnelly is himself an old miner. It is something of an achievement for a man over 05 years of age to put in a lonely four months in the ranges (says the Wairarapa Daily News). A young man named Horace Campion was "arrested by Detective Quirke on the 24th inst. on a charge of stealing a bicycle (says the Manawatu Standard). The Mayor was asked to deal with the case, but on the police going to the cell to get the accused they found that he was to nil appearances very ill. After prescribing for Campion the doctor suggested, as the man was apparently helpless, that the door of the cell should be left open to allow of fresh air. However, Campion must have recovered pretty quickly, because on going to the cell in the early hours of Christmas morning it was discovered that the bird had flown, and this, too, over n very high board fence, with barbe,! '-.ire on top. Campion has no! vet beeu rearrested.

Detective McLeml arrested a man on a charge of attempting to extort money from a lady at New Brighton. It is alleged that accused wrote an anonymous' letter to the lady demanding 50s from her, and that if the amount was not forwarded to certain initials, care of the Post Office, by a specified time, he threatened to make certain charges against her to her husband. The lady, knowing the charges to be false, shotted the letter to her husband, who subsequently laid the matter before the police. At their : suggestion, the lady replied to the letter, and Detective McLcod kept watch at the Post Office to see who called for the letter. A young man ciinie along in the afternoon for the letter, and subsequently, on his information, another man, whom he alleged had sent him, was arrested.