LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 317, 17 February 1910, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The next annual convention of the W.C.T.U. will be neld in New Plymouth in February, 1911. The Wellington-Naples mail despatch of 7th January arrived in London on the morning of the 14th inst. It is said that surf bathing is very good for colds. Quite a number of local people have got rid of colds in this way. At the Magistrate's Court yesterday, before Mr. T.. C. LisVJdiV<& firstoffending drunk was convicted'; cautioned and discharged. ',.'■' The Fitzroy Town Board has 1 reaffirmed its willingness to assist in the-estab-lishment of an electric tramway - service in New Plymouth and suburbs.

Yesterday fairly large numbers visited H.M.S..Pegasus. The wind,was'blowing off.-the.i shore, and the sea, .was, beautifully calm, enticing even the notoriously bad sailors to make the trip. The' police cells were full last night, seven men being -accommodated with lodgings at the country's expense. Five absentees from the Pegasus, which sailed for, Auckland..a,t 7,.'o'clock last riigtit, a drunk, ancl,,disor(lerTy,'.and a. prohibited drunk, comprised the complement. Fifty-five solicitors are at present practising in Taranaki, against 52 last year. The number of solicitors pracr tising in the 'dominion at the end of December was! 860, an increase of;. 1.0 over the total for, the < previous yea,r. H.M.S. Pegasus Sailed last evening for Auckland. The vessel is due to meet the flagship there on the lQth, and must by that time have full bunkers. Coali ing will be put in full swing almost im- | mediately on 'arrival'a E the northern port. The beach in front of the railway station is a favorite playground for children. It is' suggested that the Borough Council might lay water on to the beach at this point and erect a standpipe for drinking purposes. It would be a great j convenience. j An unusual incident occurred af the local wharf on Tuesday afternoon. A little girl was holding her hat in her hand near some fisli that bad just been landed, when one. of the finny specimens grabbed hold of the hat. much to the terror of the little mite, who s'oon, however, recovered her headgear.

About 2000 bales of wool have boon consigned from Hawera this season. About the same quantity was sent away last year. " . The Opunake Times states that the prices obtained at the Loan and Mercantile weancr fair on Monday were the best obtained for many years—if not a record.

Captain Wright, officer in comma-id of the Dominion Scouts in the Taranaki district, inspected the recently-formed New Plymouth patrol last evening. The Boy Scout movement is catching on here, and another patrol will be formed shortly.

A very fine mob of fifty fat bullocKs passed through Stratford on Moiuiay (says the Postj en route for M-wsrs I'. Borthwick and Sons' Waitara freezing works. The bullocks, which were HI four or five years old, were bred and raised by" Mr. Hair, of the Hunter ro<ui. Eltham, and were mostly purebred Herefords. Several of the animals would scale 1200 Ibs, the average weight of the whole mob being about SOOlbs. Josh Billings spells it "nurv." A couple of ladies who came to the Recreation Grounds gate last night at about 8.30 apologised to the gatekeepers for lateness, and for not paying for admission, as there would be " nothing left to see now." Then they stood at the railings an'd saw what there was to see, whilst still later arrivals cheerfully contributed the "''colonial robert" and went into the grounds. Owing to the Fitzroy bacon factoty being once more in operation, the Fitzroy Town Board has given only a qualified consent to the proposed extension of the borough abattoir district. The Board recently gave a Mr. Ingley permission to slaughter pigs at the factory, and the resolution agreeing to the extension of the district is conditional upon that permisis'on receiving the endorsement of the borough authorities. There was sadness in the expression of one person's face at the races yesterday -when he approached a friend and stated he had lost his pocket-book. "Was there anything valuable in it?'' queried the friend. "Only a few private papers and some stamps," was the ieply. "That being the case you will | most likely find your pocket-book in <6ome secluded place." After hunting j round the individual located his lost .book and lying beside it were no less than three purses that had evidently been filched and their contents emptied in the search for valuable, which proves that the. light-fingered fraternity is well represented in New Plymouth just now.'

A New Plymouth invention with great possibilities has just been most rigidly tested in Christcliurch, and a company formed to take over the patent. Messrs. G. Metcalf and J. Riddles are t'fie patentees, and a little local syndicate interested itself in introducing the matter to the right people. The invention is nothing less than a non-puncturable bicycle or motor tyre. The material used is such as to enable the cyclist or the motorist to ride with absolute safety over thorns, broken glass, eleven nails driven through a piece "of timber and left upturned in the track, 'tin-tacks, the old bugbear of the bicycle man, make- no impression upon it. The exploiting company has a capital of £3OOO, in shares of £lO each, and already ope of these shares has been sold for , £3O. The patent promises to be a 'good thing for the public—and for the inventors.

_,,. Amongst the visitors at yesterday's races' were some bluejackets from H.M.S. Pegasus. Three of them got m league with an individual known in sporting-parlance -as a "guessef." The ■navy lads'wanted' to.have a bet oh the Welter Handicap and the "gues=er'., adviaecf them to put their money .on Swimming Belt (tile winner), "Von 'thr.es chaps give me five shillings each .and I'll:get, tfte ticket," he advised, The money' was put up and the ticket s-e----cumt.-\"Now.you'fellow3 can hold the .ticket while I go and see a friend," remarked the 'slim one, and handed" one of the bluejackets a ticket. The race over, ,the sailor, boys wont to collect /-their diyidend-but "were told that Hie ticket .ivas a dummv... They had hem ..badly duped by the "guesser." The tars .accepted.,%>..situation in as light-heart-i,.ed,,a..nianper, as, could be existed, V-.it .one of .them was heard to remark: (, T >dpn't irfind-rjosing; the dm., but T wciM very much .like to have five bobs' worth ,of. lash at that land-lubber's face. I'd guarantee to spoil his expression for .life". ' ' '

... The Sydney Daily Telegraph recounts an. exciting, episode which occurred at Cloptarf, .where, the Maori village (the ! inhabitants of which left on Friday on j their return to New Zealand) was loj cated r ,A picnic was in progress, during •the course of which three constables at- , tempted to arrest a man for drunkenI ness and were assailed by the crowd. I Wliat would have happened to the police had assistance not arrived from a n unexpected quarter, is hard to say, but just as: the J mob-was about to "deal it j out" t'o -them; a blood-curdling war-cry | rang clear above the din—the Maoris | had come to the res'cue. Nearly a dozen l.tstalwart warriors, who were preparing [to give*.a ,"haka" for the amusement [■• of the public, rushed in full array from their village., and were soon in the thick 'of the fight. At first it was uncertain , which cause they intended to embrace, but, much to the relief of the police and law-abiding citizens, all doubts were soon settjed, and with many fearful ■cries, and. bellicose gesticulations, they fo.ught..their .way to the side of the guardians of the law, and formed a to protect them. Their weird cries and ferocious appearance blunted the zest for battle previously shown by the ringleaders of the mob, who did not care to match their bottles and other impromptu weapons against the murder-ous-looking granite meres which the warriors deftly wielded. At this stase the police .again arrested their prisoner, and -while the- Maoris covered their retirement and held the crowd at bay, managed to haul him to the wharf. The wharf sates were then barricaded, and the prisoner was safely shipped to Syd- j «ey. ■ ■• ' j THAT TTRED FEELING. !

Tt. is not natural to have that tir n d feeling day in and day out, that yon -to to .bed with at m'aht and get up wHh in the.Tuoniiiic—it is a sure si<m that, your system is out of order. To refresh onrself and regain that st.Tonrr vigorous feeling yon should take a course of Chamberlain's Tablets. Tlw Will'strcusrthen your stomach and stimulate your livers and bowels to renewed activity: although you have not realised it, it is these organs that have caused that tired feeling. There is no better medicine made for all disorders of the stomach, liver and bowels than Chamberlain's Tablets;. Sold by all chemists and storekeepers.

A miniature man, known as the Cornish Pixie, is being exhibited in Wellington. His height is said to be 25y 2 nehes ,and his weight B%lb. The Scouts are to have a journal published in their interests. It is to be called "The Dominion Scout," and, published in Christcliiirch, it will he rhe official organ of the Boy Scout movement in New Zealand.

Speaking to a Press representative, Mr. W. A. Low, business manager for Pollards Opera Company, said that .the company's last trip mini Christi-hur-li to Invercargill cost £SO more than was paid a few months previously. '■' l these increased railway rates continue,'added Mr. Low, ''they will kill the travelling theatrical business in Xew Zealand."

Here's a story of a recent wedding not a hundred miles from Wellington. The. truth of the story is vouched for. It had been a sultry day. but _ thunder and hail showers had prevailed in the early morning. The wedding party went tp the church, and when the register had been signed the minister happened to speak about the weather md asked the "bridegroom: "Have you had any hail this morning?" The man hlushed and hesitated, but at length replied: "Well, sir, we did just have a glass a-piece before we started." When Lord Kitchener was in Japan the Japanese dubbed him "the English Sbogun." For his entertainment, the mayor of Tokio, Mr. Y. Ozzaki, arranged a serious play, and a dance called "The Triumph," suiting the career of the hero of the evening, was danced by expert dancing-girls'. The evening's entertainment wound up with thV performance of a conjurer, who produced the well-known piece, "The Lion arid the Butterfly," which shows a lion teased and disturbed in his siesta by the; pretty play of a butterfly, which, hoverrng over him and alighting here, there/ and everywhere, disturbs his ■rest.

lady clerk of Sydney named Mws Dorothy Boyd had an exciting e:i■counter with a street thief in a reccit afternoon. The young woman liad he.?n sent, to tlie bankto gftWufikient loose cafSh; "to. pay the weekly Wages, and carried- with her the sum of £$W. Yyhen she alighted from the tram at Sjiuth-street. the chauffeur of a motor ear waiting close by blew the horn, and Miss Boyd turned her head to see what was amiss. Instantly she was set upon by a, muscular young man. who, approaching from behind, tugged violently ■at the bag containing the money. For •a. moment or two the lady messenger thought she would have to let go, but getting a firmer grip witli both hauls she hung on like a grizzly, and screamed loudly for assistance. Presently, attention was directed, and th" young man, fearful for hi= own safety, decamped, leaving Miss Bovd gasning on the footpath, hut tenderly clasping her employers' "ish. The driver of the motor ear watched the nroeeedings from a few yards away, and made no attempt to interefere. On the contrary, when the struggle was over, lie drove quietly away in another direction. The description of her assailant furnished by the I young woman is such a good one that the nolice expect to make an arrast shortly