The Daily News. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 10. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 311, 10 February 1910, Page 4

The Daily News. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 10. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

An effort is being mods to form a branch of the Wharf Laborers' Union at Moturoa.

The Taranaki Garrison Band will ■play in Devon street on Saturday eve fling. The return fo this popular practice will be welcomed by the public.

v . Those who hare resided ii the Hawera district longest state that thty have never known in such a hot *aiamer ae is being experienced this yoar.

• A solicitor lias writte* t* feh« Registrar of Poisons, Wellington, pointing out that a dangerous practice exists among plumbers of putting spirits salts into cordial bottles.

The reported discovery of gold In the vicinity of Ohakune turned out to ba a hoax. Some practical jokers gilded a pisce of scoria, with ths mult that Oha'kuno was thrown into a. stats «t' great excitement—till the trath «a«t« out.

It is rumored that the Goar Meat Co., of Wellington, intend opeaiag a pi?receiving depot at Auroa. It is also reported that Lovell and Christmas are seeking a guaraatee of 500 cows and they will then cruet a factory, buy farm's and finance farmers of Aurea a*d other places, fhig was told to the Hawera Star correspondent) oa «tppo«®d good authority. T"t savors of a *»nai«" story.

A Government survey party » now engaged in mapping a base lint from the bottom of the Hastings road, Mir Okaiawa, to Eltham, crossing th# Hunter road, a distance of about ten mil««. It is understood that particular «a. - e is being taken to get this bas« absolutely accurate, and that after It :s completed the work of the party will bo carefully checked by surveyors front Auckland and Wellington. By working on this line as a base all surveys of sections in the immediate district may be made without fear of error.—Star.

Some Australian scientists just now are interested in a proposal to establish a solar observatory in iSie Commonwealth. The Federal Gavarnment liaspromised to maintain the institution if the sum of ,£IO,OOO can be raised by bodies and individuals for the buildings and equipment. A considerable «nm has been collected already, and it is exited that there will not be much difficulty in obtaining the total. A site tae not yet been fixed. The Maedonald Rangss, in the middle of Australia, have batja suggested, but Dr. Farr, of Christchflrch, who has just returned from a visit to Australia, thinks that the new observatory will find a horns no»4 ae remote from civilisation.

The recent rains have given the dairj farmer almost everything he sain wish for this season. Prices are good, the fear of drought has been removed, and the results may be judged by the fact th.it the export for the season, up to and including the Corinthic's consignments at the end of last montll, show aj» increase in butter of 1843 tons, and in cheese of 2800 tons over the period of last season. The totaSs m each case were:—Butter ¥O9-10, 2i8,481 cwt.; 1908-09, 181,620 cwt.; Chme: 1909-10, 230,072 cwt.; 1908-09, 173,534 cvt. As tho eo«s came into milk earlier than usual this' season, they morally go out earlier, and file end of the season will probably tail off qtwckly.' Mr. E. H. Dudley, of Crook welK New South Wales, received an interesting communication from New Zealand last week. In August, 1908, Mr. Dudley w.i« voyaging from South Afriea on 'board the steamer Miltaides, and when off Twofold Bay, on August 17th, he dropped overboard a bottle containing a slip of paper on which was written tlie name of the steamer, the position off the coast, and his Crookwell attdress. The episode was forgotten until the following letter from the Collector of Customs, Auckland, came to hand:—"January 10th, 1910. Dear Sir,—The attached piece of paper was found in a bottle on 1 the West Coast of New Zealand; it may j be cf interest to you." The bottle took seventeen months to cross the 1000 miles. The incident is interesting as' showing the vagaries of sea currents.

It is understood on good authority (writes the Dominion's Palmerston correspondent) that the Dairy Union of Workers is busy framing the rtfcm«nJs for a new award when the present one expires on March 31. The Union proposes to ask for an increase of wages and shorter hours. What the increase of wages will amount to has not. transpired, but the hours for butter factories are set down at 52 per week from October to March, and 44 for the rest of the year, with a day off each week. For cheese factories thp hou •? are fixed at 00 per week, with a day off. In regard to sleeping accommodation, it is suggested that whVre a cottage is provided for a married man. the salary should be reduced by 7s a wee'<. and when suitable accommodation is provided for single men. that the salaries be reduced by 2s fid. It will also be proposed to make more classes of workers. It is further undersfood that the Union would prefer to confer directly with the factory owners. They are -somewhat averse to goinc either. Vefore the Conciliation Commissioner or the Arbitration Court.

A few of the sale prices ruling at "The Kash": Silk handkerchiefs Is. stripe denims 3s fid, brown denims 3s lid, blue denims 2s 9d, ba thins costumes Is, saddle tweed trousers Off lid. woollen sox 3 pairs for 2s 3d, cashmere sox (id a pair, heavy tweed trousers 5s lid, Brazilian straw hats 2s Gd. J«st try a pound at "The Kash" to see how far it will go, youH be surprised at the splendid results.—Advt.

The New Plymouth express was lelayed on Tuesday night, at Tawa l-'iat for about forty minutes owing to an accident to the engine. When nsce idmg the hill past Johnsonville the enginPlost flic use of a valve spindle. A light engine happened to he at Ta va Flat, proceeding to Paekakariki, an.i its services were secured to bring tne express to Wellington, That it is not sale to judge men !>y appearances is an accepted rule, and it .was once more exemplified yesterday. A visiting cleric evidently bore a striking resemblance to a man ''wanted" for forgery, and a kern-eyed constable acquainted him yesterday of the fa?., j A request that the divine—who trawls very much "incojr' —should aci-omjwiy I the policeman to the police station was politely declined, and instead of that. | to meet the gentleman's convenience, the constable visited his hotel, .searched his belongings, his correspondence, and bo on. An hour elapsed before the suspicious official felt bound to acknowledge that the Hian was what he claimed to be, and not what lie was suspected oPfeing. Bob Fitzsimmons told a Wellington ! reporter that on his first meeting with Jeffries in 1599 he had been drugged. i '•Someone," said the boxer, " 'doped' the {'white rock' water I just before the contest. 1 couldn't see anything clearly after the first two rounds, and twice I thought I could see Jeffries' head as big as one of those great heads you see in the pantomime. I hit out wildly —sometimes he was there, and at others its was eight feet away, and when he knocked me oat It was going to sleep. The effect of the 'dope' was so strong that I lost my memory for two ipontlrs, a,nd had to get away to the hot springs and lay up. I got 26,000 dollars for that encounter on Coney Islaml, 'and there was 125,000 dollars in the j house.'

Miss Frances Coleman, who recently returned to Christchurch from a vis'it to England, where she studied eduaatiomj methods, told a Lyttelton Tiniea intor*iew«r that ■nature study receives much more attention there than it does in the Domjnien. The Eiglish school gardens are mostly on the same plan as those in New Zealand, but she was impressed ■•with She fact that even in the slums,' of London, where gardens are quite out of the question, each child has a plant in a pot to attend to. In the country the s«Jiool buildings seem to be an improvement upon those in New Zealand, and more money is spent on school ai> paraUis. Miss Col An an -was also impressed with the enthusiasm of the teacher*. She says that their enthusiasm is qf tilie stamp which characterises missionaries, but, if anything, is greater and more marked.

A remarkable case of a dumb woman, recovering her speech is reported from lieeds. For eleven years Mrs. Ada Coltingtv«od, aged thirty-three, the wife of a sarpenter, had not been able to utter » single worch A lortnigtit alter,,tier marriage she had a paralytic seizure, which left her speechless. Doctors and specialists w6re consulted, but from none of them did she derive any benefit. A few mornings ago, however (says the iDaily Mail)," Mrs. Uollmgwooct, after a fortnight's illness in bed, startled her father-in-law by suddenly uttering the word "the." Mr. Collingwood, sen., informed his son of what had occurred, aji'd when the husband put questions to his wife he found that she was able to rajjdy. Slowly but surely the woman increased her vocabulary, until at last in Simple language she was able to carry bo a conversation.

An exceedingly wonderful and interesting discovery of prehistoric pottery has lately been made in the Chimcana Valley in Peru. The pottery was found in a vad burial ground, and there are authentic marks which date back live thousand years. Some of the inlaid silver m) eorroded, and the turquoises set in are dropping 'into (Hist. The glaase and figures are quite intact and perfectly plain. Evidently the people w-"'e very fond ofi elaborate dress, for there are any number of curious hats and head-dresses that will be a boon to the Parisian milliner, and we shall be going about no doubt in facsimiles of those Worn Ave thousand years' ago. Truly, is nothing new under tho sun! Thesri old folks were fond <sf whistles of every shape and size. Most likely they were ttseful to scare away the ghosts that flourished with them largely. Their children, too, must have had a pretty good time, for a number of pretty toys were unearthed. Arrangements are being made to get many of these' curious old things for the liritisFi Museum. -