LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 335, 10 March 1910, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

An enquiry into the recent lire in Devon street is to be held at the Courthouse on Fiiday morning. The Government has decided to offer a bonus' of i'ourpence per pound for the production of the first 100,0001b weight of quicksilver from any mine in Xew Zealand. The plaintiff in the Oaonui case yesterday said he couldn't remember ever having said that the man who sold him the farm "deserved five hundred years in purgatory" for his misrepresentation. "That's only an estimate, of course," remarked his Honor, with a smile.

A witness in the Supreme Court yesterday was referred to as the "proud possessor of seventeen children." Evidence was given that the family "overflowed" the parental domicile, aiid three were quartered in an old outbuilding. "I had to put them somewhere," murmured the proud possessor, apologetically. Wanganui is still very keen on Webb. Its folk are running him in connection with the Wellington Times' circulation voting contest, the first prize of which is a free trip around the world. They are so determined that he shall win that they are holding a big benefit concert next Friday evening, the proceeds going towards his candidature. A man who had been standing about the Supreme Court buildings all day on Tuesday and Wednesday approached the court bailiff last evening and asked when his case was likely to he called on. Enquiry elicited that he was a Stratford man ;iud had been served with a indginent summons ordering him to appear at the Magistrate's Court here next Tuesday. He had come n week early, and to the Supreme Court! Whv don't people read their '•'correspondent*" more carefully?

Tn an election speech recently in En<_'Jand, the Enrl of Hardwicke mentioned that he himself was for ten years engaged in mining engineering and for two of these vears worked as an ordinary miner. Thirteen years ntto he wns working on the night shift oil a 1000 ft level, on union wnaies, in a cold mine at Montana, in the United States. He was known as ••Charlie." and as "Xo. 12fi" to the mannsrement. He added that he knew ;i duke who worked in bis <rnrden everv da v. an.i who had musses on him as orood -is a Billingseate fi'hnortnr.

There is seldom a lawsuit in which '■' export" witnesses are called without the presiding Magistrate or -Turtle making comment upon the directly divergent testimony given by the experts on either side. Yesterday, during the progress of the Ononui farm-leasing case. Jud"e Edwards lemarked that where there are half-a-dozen experts on one side and half-a-dozen expert farmers on the other, there was bound to be conflict o'r evidence. ''Lawyers are just as bad," ■he went on. "but fortunately we don't often have them as experts. Doctors are notorious. You'll get one gentleman swearing a thing is a beautiful wnite, and another will swear it's an inky black."

Eight; Westport lads have Joined iarge ocean-going steamers which have visited that port recently. The j.tar crop in the Hastings district this year has been very satisfactory, and in once instance almost phenomenal. Mr. Kirkham, of Manga teretere, yatlured from two trees 103 eases. Fifty yeais ago last Friday the first | expedition left New Plymouth for Waitara to cope with the troublesome Maoris. On the 17th of this month active hostilities were commenced, the first shot being fired from the camp reserve on that date. Dr. Truby King, in a lecture at Dunedin on Thursday, stated that fiity per cent, of the children of South Dunedin, known as ''The Flat," suffered from adenoids, which were very often the peicursor of consumption. He stated that one of the great causes of the disease was the use of the comforter, and the improper feeding 01 children. A striking coincidence came to light at a sale of unclaimed luggage in the Dunedin railway goods shed one afternoon this week (s*ys the Otago Daily Times). Four photo enlargements »-*--- sold, the last one being bought for 4s. On examining his purchase closely the buyer identified it as an enlargement of a photograph of his father and mother and family, and he hafd no difficulty in recognising himself in the group, although he was only ten years old when the original photo'was taken.

Some time ago Lieut.-Col. Allan Bell, of Waikato who has been prominently associated with Defenco Association work in the North Island, inaugurated an essay competition among pupns of the primary schools of New Zealand, tin subject being "Patriotism." The competition was open to boys and girls under 16 oi age. The Southland Education Board has received intimation that this competition, which Licut.-Col. Bell called "The Cecil Rhodes Competition," had been won by Miss Ida L. Ross, of Waimatuku school, Southland. The prize for the competition, a handsome gold watch and chain, was rewarded w-.th ti«c intimation.

"With regard to the drink question in England," says Sir Robert Stout, "1 •believe that the distillers and the hotelkeepers in England are the rulers of the Conservative Party, and that they were the most active influence in the rejection of the Budget. Mr. Balfour himself*, said that there were two things in t'lw Budget to Avhich his main objections were given—the tax on land increment and the tax on licenses. That to some extent put the show away. It was the power and Influence of the trade which fiave ruade all this trouble. We in New Zealand can have no conception of the influence wielded by the trade in England or or the appalling extent of the traffic its'clf"

In the Supreme Court yesterday applications for discharge from bankruptcy were granted as fol'jows:— James Ruther. ford, blacksmith, of Eltham (Mr. A. H. Johnstone); M. A. Citorin, baker, of Hawera (Mr. O'Dea); Richard Lloyd, cabdriver, of Hawera (Mr.\O'Dea); Joseph Cossey, laborer, of Haweiv* (Mr. O'Dea). In the cases of Currin and Cossey. the Deputy Official Assignee sai.il there was no formal objection to the\ discharge, but some of the creditors had'.expressed the opinion that the bankrupts should pay them something. His HonorVstated, however, that unless creditors tocik the trouble to show fraud or some Vther reason for expecting further payment he could do nothing in the matter. I

It would seem that the local maristerial tjistrjct is too big. and the woi.k beyond thi> powers of one magistrate t(\ cope with (says the Eltham Argus). It I extends from Pa tea in the south to Inglawood in ■ the north, and when the work falls in arrears the result is .serious loss in money and time to litigants I who make fruitless attendance? at Court j with their witnesses. As showing the position at the local Court ii may »e mentioned that some five or six defended actions (most of which have already been several times adjourned> -re awaiting hearing. Where parties are re- ( sident in the country the useless attendances at Court are vexatious a'id costly, and the question arises whether it would noi; be a wise plan to cut down the boundaries of the district.

Several of the leading residents of Fitzroy are interesting themselves in the matter of providing access to the beach from this popular suburb. There is an exceptionally fine stretch of beach between the Henui and Waiwnkaiho streams, but there is no decent access except from Devon-street oil the town side. Tt is proposed to make a. path to the beach by way of Pavnter's lane, and to plant that thoroughfare with ornamental trees and shrubs. Another path is proposed to be made from the Fitzroy store to the beach. This will tap the centre of the population, although it will be more expensive than the other path to make. Tt is pleasing to see that Ihe improvement of the senfront is being so generallv taken mi, and hones are entertained flint the Fitzroy efforts will soon take definite shape.

The Bluff correspondent of the Otago Daily T'mes writes:—lt has been known for some back that a north of Auckland firm has been moving for the establishment at o r - o: other of the outlying islands of an up-to-date whaling station and its adjuncts. The object is to utilise the fish in all its parts, turniii'i them to profitable, account and leaving nothing in the shape of refuse or valueless product. The choice of an islam* fit.occasioned i good deal of anxiety. It had to be most carefully gone about. In the first place, the promoters had to consider proximity to the whale grounds, and as far as' possible study the question of their permanency. At one time the locality that is still known amongst the whole bands as the middle grounds —i.e., the Tasman Sea midway between TTobart and the southern coast of New Zealand—was the "happy hunting ground." Steamboat and other seafaring traffic, however, frightened the whales away, and until recently where they had gone to was a moot point. But now the difficulty has been solved. What may be termed their New Zealand habitat has shifted to the ocean tract south of the Campbell Islands, extending (o thp average limit of drift ice en route to the great Antarctic ice gulf* There is absolutely no traffic of anv kind in that ouarter. So little, indeed, was known of it that the illnsow Emerald Island \»as ascertained latch- -1 Have no existence. There the whale is not likely to be disturbed, and that is iust the sort of community he desires. Tn these circumstances. Campbell Island has been selected for the station, and in all probability Perseverance "Harbor will bp the chosen "site. Tt is 412 nautical miles from the Bluff. If the proposed scheme is carried" out on Hie scale proposed, there is expert opinion for saving that it should add at lens* per annum tolhe tTaile of the Bluff. An auxiliary engine craft constantly trading to and from trie island is talked of. _ ....