LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 308, 7 February 1910, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The Inglewood Record announces that Mr. Skerrctt, K.C., has been retained by the defence hi the libel action brought against the paper by Mr. R. Farmer, hot for the plaintiff as has been previbusly reported. Harvest services were held at St. Mary's yesterday, both services "being well attended. The vicar (Re. F. J. Evans) officiated at the morning service ana tlie Rev. J. A. Kcmpthorne at the evening. On the motion of Mr. Thomas S. Weston probate under the will of the late Mr. Joe Ward, deceased was on February Ist granted by his Honor Mr. Justice Edwards to Mrs. Thirza Jane Ward \ widow), Mr. Sidney Ward, and Mrs. Ada Sole, the executors named therein. The matter of erecting swimming baths in the Central School grounds is not being lost sight of. Over £IOO is already in hand for the purpose, and in 'all probability an effort will shortly be h;ade to raise the remainder by means of a bazaar. The estimated cost of the baths is in the vicinity of £3OO. The Taranaki County Council meets to-day. The order paper will include the matter of Te Henui bridge, on the •Avenue Road, the state of which is such •as to neccs'sitate almost immediate rebuilding. The council proposes erecting ii bridge on a now site, and will probably make an inspection of one or two that have been suggested. At its meeting on Friday the Clifton 'County Council decided to call the attention of the local staff of the Agricultural Department to the very rapid Spread of noxious weeds in various parts of the county. Councillors said that •ragwort was in full bloom now, and thus gave ample notice of its presence. The 'area inflicted by weeds was said to be larger than usual, and as some landowners were neglecting the work of eradication—s'o important to the landowner affected and to his neighbor as well—members thought the inspector should visit the locality forthwith and lake extreme measures if necessary.

At a meeting of the Taranaki Veterans on Saturday afternoon it was decided to communicate with the Defence Department with a view to obtaining the same conces'sions as the volunteers as regards allowances. It was also decided to order 25 uniform caps immediately. A sub-committee was appointed, consisting of Messrs. G. Adlam, O. Oxenbam, J. Kenyon and R. Wells, with the secretary, to carry out arrangements for the holding of a rifle match and s'ocial or supper on the 2Sth, the anniversary of the battle of Waireka. It was also decided to arrange for a visit of the Veterans to the warship Pegasus, due to-day week, the 14th inst.

A new paper has mad;' its appearance in Taranaki. It is entitled, "Tim Taranaki Anglican Church Magazine," is to be published monthly, and, as its name implies, is published in the interests of the Anglican Church of 'taranaki, or, at least, of that portion of Taranaki that is connected with the Auckland diocese. The magazine, which comprises sixteen pages, contains particulars of services, births, deaths an 1 marriages in connection with the respective parishes, reports of the doings of the latter, besides other matter of interest to Anglican adherents, to whom the publication should lie indispensable. W e wish the paper long life and prosperity. Clergymen meet with some peculiar experiences at times. One of the queerest w have hoard of befel a Tarana'.ii clergyman not Ion« ago. A woman, of ,the mendicant variety, whom he had on previous occasions assisted pecuniary, called upon him one day and said that ; she was desirous of going to a place on the Main Trunk line, where her hiv; 'ban*? was working, and would like a little linip. This'was forthcoming. A nav or two afterwards he received the following wire:—'''Left top set false ieefh behind in liouse; please secure and forward." No (Tung daunted, the' cleric proceeded to the nlace in question and i=aw the landlord, who refused to give up the teeth, as, he said, the occupants'had cleared out without paying him any rent! The landlord instill in possession of the teeth! REXONA, The Rapid Healing Ointment, cures wit.i remarkable rapidity sores, ulcers, burns, cuts, bruises, eczema, chilblains, and all diseases of the skin. Sold in triangular pots at Is Od and 3s. Obtainable at Bullock and Johnston's.

On Wednesday the Waverley bowlers defeated Patea by 115 to 106. On Thursday afternoon the Stratford Croquet Club defeated Inglewood by 12li to 72. At a meeting of fanners at Kapuni on Friday evening, various means ot improving the marketable price of pigs \vcre suggested, but no action was taken, the meeting being adjourned for a fortnight. An extraordinary meeting of shareholders ot the Makctawa Dairy Company was held last week to consider proposals' to instal electric power. A mi it ion was carried by 33 to 9 that matters remain as they are.—Our correspondent. A shipment of gold which has just been made from the relinery works of the Waihi Company constitutes a record for purity of the company, and probably for the whole mining world. Some of the bars, weighing lOOOoz (fine) are absolutely pure gold, while none of them fall below D'.1.0") per cent, of pure gold. The metal is produced by the improved electrolytic process recently installed by the company's metallurgists. The public are again warned that spurious coins are in circulation. A member of the (. hristehureh Press staff was shown one evening an almost perfect half-crown—perfect as far as milling and stamping arc concerned. It was only by very close examination that defects could be noticed, as the coin, though light, rang fairly true. Tradesmen and business people would do well to scrutinise coins received from casual customers. Owing to insullieient, inaccurate and indecipherable addresses, and, in thousands of cases, the absence of addresses. a total of over ol(j,000 letters and packets found their way during 101)0 to the Melbourne dead letter office. Of this number 2370 were without any addresses. A large proportion of the correspondence and packets contained money and valuables estimated to be worth between £ 13,000 and £14,000 in the aggregate. Detective Ward did a plucky thing in Duncdin recently (says the Star). A cabman named Fox had a minute before got down from his cab to eiueT a store in Lower Stuart-street. While he was tying the wheel the horses wheeled and dashed into Cumberland-street, with the cabman's little boy perched helpless on the box seat. Detective Ward flung liims'elf at. the offside horse at it entered Lower High-street, and was dragged by the team in their frenzied gallop. He would have had to let go, however, but that a heavy dray stood in the way. and the detective steered for it. The impact broke the pole of the cab, threw the dra\- hor.se to the ground, mid stopped the runaways. Mr. Ward, though sore and bruised, was unhurt. '•Flax Hook" (Foxton) writes at' length to the Manawatu Times to correct the impression that the tlaxmill hand is the "highest paid unskilled worker in existence.'' He claims that sawmill, hands are higher paid and work under healthier conditions. In the (lax trade, he says, there is a lot of broken time, such as running out of Max. floods, holidays, etc. "You have to 'bullock' to make constant wages. More than that, they arc, for the most part, physical ■wricks after two or three years, and can be seen about Palmerston any holiday time, aged men, instead of being young ones." If the mills succeed in breaking down the award rate it will ■he a sweated industry, soys' the correspondent. As to the magnificent wage, he does not think the average of all the men employed would be more than £2 a week, and ''how that can be a living wage at the present cost of living is a mvsterv."

j Our lor-nl police, we are told, have easy times. Cast's of crime are infrequent, but this may without difficulty , be construed as an indication of the very elo>'e watch which is kept by the guardians .of the peace upon the " shady' tharaeters. who consequently give the town a wide berth. A little incident, I Kvliicli is not devoid of comic interest, ' in ay be cited as an instance of the oil'i- ' cers' keenness for duty. A few evenings' back one of the stall' of female ser- ! vnnts at a local boarding-house was Awakened by the landlady at the door, : 'who, after ,nn interchange of the usual 'questions—" Arc you asleep?" and so on 1 —announced in terrifying tones, " The police are here, and want you." All of j the little happenings of a month past flitted through the poor womna's brain, Mil she wondered which of them it was j'that could possibly be magnified into ! an offence for the police court edification. The gentlemen in blue didn't ''want" her at all, but merely notified , that a man. w!io-e description they gave, 'in detail, had been seen robbing her t'lothes-line. The culprit was quickly !'identified by the now fully awakened j 'woman, who, shrieking with laughter, 'advised the constables that the clothes \ 'had been taken in, at her request, by j'her husband! The story is perfectly I true, and that is why clothes lines are .•a forbidden topic of conversation in 's'ome quarters.