LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 322, 23 February 1910, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

, The 'price of bread in Stratford has ..been lowered to sixpence per 41b loaf for spot cash. Mr. E. A. Clements, of Eltham, has made a start at the construction of the weir just below the Waiwakaiho bridge. Given fine weather, it should be completed shortly. At the meeting of the Education Board last night the tender of Mr. J. Petersen was accepted for additions 1o the Waitara school. The matter of accepting tenders for the Inglewood Technical School was left in the hands of the chairman, with power to act. Judgment was given for the plaintiff by default in the following cases at the Magistrate Court yesterday before Mr. H. S. Fitzherbert, S.M.:—New Plymouth Gas Company (Mr. Quilliam) jv. W. Blair, claim £!), costs £1 7s 6d; L. 1). Nathan and Co. (Mr. Weston) v. Jas. T. Moir, claim £l3 17s (id. costs £1 10s (id; Taranaki Petroleum Co. (Mr. Quilliam) v. L. 0. Smithers, claim £1 13s sd, costs S. W. Jury (Mr. A. Bewlcy). v. P. Stewart, costs only, 10s. At the Magistrate's , Court yesterday the following definition of a current account was given by a witness: "A current account is one that runs on for ever." Apparently, therefore, a current account is much like the brook. The same witness volunteered the statement that firms which allow a customer a running account object \.o ithat customer using his or rather their cash to pay for goods elsewhere on the cash isystemj- Quite natural, too. ■

During the course of some of the speeches at the Maori meeting at Okaiawa (says the Star), the change th.i 4 had taken place in Maori habits was emphasised. We must live up to the new standard, they said. .Now they wore European clothes, lived in European houses, ate European food and produced the same kind of it and in the same way from the ground as did the pakehas. Why, from the crown o. his head to the sole of his foot there was not much Maori about a Maou nowadays.

The Telegraph Department is pushing on the work of dismantling the overhead telephone wires in the central parts of Wellington. Xo less than 12S miles of underground conduits, ea"h conduit being capable of carrying ('OO sets of telephone wires, have been laid in concrete. The actual trench excavations to enable this to be done extended over a length of three and a-lialf miles. The conduit system, which is now partially in use, will meet the needs of the city for the next 25 years.

During the hearing of a grass seed cas L > at the Magistrate's Court yesterday, a witness shed some light cm the little ways of land speculators. The grass seed was required to be sown on a Crown Land section to comply with the regulations as to improvements <hforc a transfer could be obtained. Witness stated: "He told me to get the .necessary seed and book it up to him. 'Any old seed would do. Anything they wanted to get rid of, at any price! would do. It was only for the Land Board."

The chairman of tlio Matau School Committee has great faith in the future of the district. Referring to an application by the Purangi school for a full-time school, he asked that liii* .matter be left as at present, viz., halftime school with Matau, instancing- the fact that it would be impossible to get as good a. teacher for a small full-time school as for the present two half-tb.ie schools. He further remarked: "I. would ask you to take into full consideration the fact that we have the larger attendance of the two schools; the juvenile population every year is getting in school age. There is every probability of a permanent increase (throe-christen-ings last Sunday!) to the school atteuaance in the future."

Mahoe has provided a good deal of fun in school management circles for some time. The headmaster of fie school reported to the Education 150.nl last night that "during my absence two patent bee boxes and bees were blown up with explosives, and the end was .also Id own out of the fowlhouse on the following night. It is only fair to the residents of this district for me to state that there are in my opinion on'.y three persons in the whole district-that would lower themselves to do such aetfi. The explosion was heard at Rowan, nearly four miles from here. My sou was in the house at the time. I am sorry to say that the committee has made no enquiry as to this act, which also injured the school fence and hro'te a. window." The chairman remarked that thie was a matter for the police.

It is reported from Greyniouth that some time ago the luggage, legibly addressed, of a passenger from Lyttelton to Westport went astray. It eventually turned up in London, and was finally delivered in Westport.

A typographical error crept into our issue yesterday morning in stating, "Veterans leave by Wednesday morning's mail train." It should have read that sixty-eight members of the Taranaki Veterans' Association will proceed to Wellington by the mail train on •'Thursday" morning for review by Lord Kitchener.

A correspondent of the Wanganui Herald asked on which side of the road he should pass a horse that is being led by someone on horseback or in a trap. Tn s„uch cases, says the paper, the or<finary rule of the road is' not observed. The law is that a person should use a road so as to avoid accident if possible, and in the case of a horse that is being led the unwritten law or custom is to pass it on the opposite side—that is', on the side of the person who is leading it.

Speaking at the meeting of shareholders of the Eltham Bacon Company, Mr. Hodgson drew attention to the fact that now—when outside companies were not buying pigs so freely, and the Imtham Company was only buying from its shareholders some shareholders were foolish enough to accept pigs from their neighbors who were non-share-holders, and to sell them to the company as their own pigs. Tins practice was a most dishonest one, and wan bound to hit back the shareholder who countenanced the practice. By robbing the company in this matter the shaicholders must realise that they were robbing themselves. Mr. C. A. Wilkinson's large new seed store at Eltham is now out of the builders' hands and ready for occupation, and its completion marks an epoch in the 'building progress of- that town. The new building presents a very pleasing appearance. It is high off the ground, and the principal entrance is gained by ascending a short .flight of seven concrete steps which lead into a fine long showroom OCft x 30ft, and rt the eastern end is a large office. Passing thiough the showroom one enters the main store, and cannot but be struck l>y its large dimensions. In shape it is somewhat irregular, but the average size of this apartment mav be estimated it 150 ft x 80ft. This affords a very large floor-space, and allows for the storage and display of large quantities of man ures, seeds, produce, machinery, etc., without undue crowding up. The lighting throughout is excellent, for there are sixteen roof-lights. Consternation was not the name for the excitement which prevailed in an up-country theatre a week or so ago when a local joker got on the job. The young fellow was bitting in the second front row of the orchestral stalls, and towards the end of the firsf act he deliberately drew a pistol from his coat pocket and aimed it at a young actress on the stage. Two gentlemen made an attempt to seize him, but the young chap, who is very athletic, managed to free himself, and pointed the pistol at their heads without saving a word. Some of the women who were near .enough to see what was goin<r on shrieked and took flight, the men lowered their heads in order to escape the .impending danger, while others mo.-c courageous hastened to throw themselves on him. Suddenly he turned r T ie pistol towards hiiwelf and held it before his mouth. Great anxiety. Then, placing it between his teeth ho bit a piece off. It was made of chocolate.

Captain .Tames B. Pardv, on the qu;>s.tion of Anglo German rivalry, writes io an English journal: "1 wish to put on record a conversation which I had with one of the most far-seeing of men, and also one of the ablest of soldiers, of the last century. T allude to General "Chinese" Gordon. In June, 1882,1 was act rig as "aide" to him when he was reviewing some troops at Dordrecht, in the Cape Colony,' and he then uttered the following words: 'So far as England is concerned, sh? need not, for the nett quarter of a century, he under any apprehension of serious difficulties arising with any of her European neighbors: but in 1010, or thereabouts, there will have arisen a naval Power which may prove mightier than 'he, and should *be —Ormanv—gain th p supremacy, Eng land will become extinct, both as a <"a and a lend Power, and all her depend'noies, including Tndfa. will fall into Germany's dutches. You may live to see this.' I shall not, but when that time comes, remember my words.'" Many of our readers doubtless smiled when reading that portion of the report of the School Inspectors' Conference ra which it was proposed to grade teachers under various heads, including "personality," which one member said was too indefinable a kind of charm. They would reflect that in the days when they were acquiring instruction the methods of the teachers' strongly impressed their personality on the scholars. They were vigorous and tnorough. and, for a time at least, loft painful memories, more or less associated with the lesson. Their '•'charm" wa3 effected mainly by the method recommended by Burns—"charm . . . with the magic of a switch." The cane was chiefly relied upon as a means of discipline and of developing the understanding, and the hardier" Scots adopted an even more fearsome implement called the "tawsc." Whether the old plan which did not spare the rod did not produce as good results as the present system will be questioned by some who realise that most youths nowadays have considerably less respect for authority. BOOT BARGAINS at THE MELBOURNE. . When the first signs of increasing prices on leather goods cropped up, our buyers were advised, and with the wis. .(lorn born of wide experience, they got .tremendously busy forthwith. Contracts were placed that manufacturers would have given much to cancel later on. ■But, with our public in mind, we insisted on prompt delivery of every item ordered. That boo is and shoes are going «to be dearer is a foregone conclusion: tli.it price- like Mrs,, will not oc<"ir later on when you want footwear is n dea-d certainty. Embrace the opportunity. Men'* strolls; kip shooter.-, nailed or vlain, 7s (Id: men- light chrome ,bnK 10- fid; men's black canvas shoes, with clumped soles!. 4s 11,1: women's canvas shoe-. :'.- 1?,1: children's chrome school boot-, splendid wearers, 5s lid; men's heavy kip watertight.;. Us Cd: men's kip 'bluchers. Is 111: men's chrome balmorals, sewn soles. !:~!s ,fid; women's ehrome 2-bar shoes, .Is lid; men's highest grade box-calf, glace kid. jind willow-calf balmorals (weltc), worth 25s pair, in seven oi-tinct styles, including the newest Yankee form shapes. 113s Oil pair. Hundreds of other bargains. .......