LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 352, 1 April 1910, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Wild cattle are to be found on Stewart Island. They are shot for the sake of their skins. It is reported that as a result of an animated discussion, the Feilding owner of a pair of cobs will essay to drive then 500 miles in eight days for a wager.

The Whiteley Sunday School anniversary services will be held on Sunday next. Special hymns will be sung by the choir and a large chorus of school children. The Rev. J. G. Chapman will conduct the services.

The Public Works Department, which was crowded out of the Government Buildings a couple of years ago, and has since been housed in Webster's Buijdjngs on the corner of King and Egmont streets, moved its quarters and its belongings yesterday to the old ' police station, which has recently been renovated.

When the Mayor announced that in the event of the weather being unfavorable the Anniversary Day celebrations and the entertainment of pioneer settlers would take place in the Drill Hall, he had no idea that a gale would be raging. Such proved to be the case, however, and it was quite out of the question to expect the old people to put in an appearance. The celebrations had therefore to be abandoned. The fact that one of the new Dreadnought battleships is to be constructed on the Clyde is reported to have caused much jubilation in Glasgow. The cost or the vessel, when completely equipped with her guns, etc., will reach £2,000,000 sterling: This means that a great amount of work will be given to Clyde shipyard workers extending into 1912. It is stated that a battleship costing £2,000,000 means something like £1,400,000 in wages. Mr. T. Buxton, secretary to the Taranaki Rifles, called at this office yesterday in reference to the paragraph alleging delay in ,paying volunteers for attending the Kitchener manoeuvres. He says that as far as his company was concerned, the Department had made a record for itself in the promptness of its payment. He applied for the money a few days after the camp, and the cheque came up by return post, the men being paid on the 21st March. Our information, however, came from a membet of another corps. For the twenty-eight weeks from Ist September, 1909, to 15th March, 1910, the butter exports from Taranaki were valued at £442,932, of which £337,G10 worth was shipped at New Plymouth and £105,317 worth at Patea. During the same period Auckland shipped £442,971 worth, beating Taranaki by £39. The cheese exports from New Plymouth were valued at £118,824, and from Patea £250,833, making a total of £375,657 from Taranaki, while Auckland shipped £31,563 worth. Taking butter and cheese together, the exports from Taranaki for the twenty-eight weeks were valued at £818,5S!), while tho'se from Auckland were valued at £474,534. i

There is a prospect Ilia ' the fire which I has been burning for 50 years in a j mine at Summit Hill, Pa. (U.S.A.), at j last will be exting ''shod. The mine j contains one of the ino=' valuable de- j posits of coal in the arl' iacite region, i and millions of dollars huve been spent I in vain efforts to put out the Are, which I has been burning fiercely all these years.) A Scranton, Pa., constru.'.on company. | which had the contract for extinguish- j ing the fire, has cample, ed its work, i The company occupied a vtar in building I a concrete wall 15f., thuk This ex- I tended far below th.. mass of burning | coal, and it is though'- tl." v ork has hail | the effect, of conque.-im' the fire, but ; this will not be seHled positively for ' some time. Old-tim.- miner- nre of the opinion, however, thit tr." heat of the fire will be so intent as n eat through the concrete and con,mite .is way down into the Panther Cre *k Va'icy ' ;

I ?et no "pens," the gardener said: "Bean" couchine all the niuht: ' With running nose of fiery red, I A "scarlet runner" finite! ' "'TToe!' John, you're 'seedy,'" cried his I wife. j "And settinsr like a 'rake.' j So here's the stuff to save vour life, | Woods' Peppermint Cure to take!" 9 j At The Tsnch thev are sellin" their J "elpbiated Prf««h'-ell snit= at 2=;=_-'hn best value that has pypj* been. . in TfiTHnnkt. T>nn „.i C(1 „ . 1 bif rantp to r'io"=p f-n-" ci,! rM. wrolTpTi ] ln= -. I 2s fM- English worsted trousers. 8s lid. I —Advt. 1

The new running of the mail train commences' to-day.

11. A. Lane and Co., Ltd.., Tooley street, London, lias presented a cup value at £SO to the South Taranaki Winter Show Company.

When the small steamer Wai'/au was passing through Cook Strait on Saturday morning, a phenomenal number of sparrow hawks were seen out at sea off the Brothers, Jackson Head, and Wellington Iload. There were large bush fires on the mainland, and it anr-eared as though the smoke and fire had driven the hawks from their haunts. Hundred of these birds hovered in mid-air as the vessel steamed past the headlands mentioned. An Eltham tradesman sent a shipment of goods per train to a station on the Toko line. The person to whom they were, consigned complained of their nonarrival. The consignor produced the railway receipt for the goods and the railway people declared they had been put off at the (lag station. In the course of time the goods were discovered on board the Corinnn at New Plymouth. How those goods found their way on to the steamer is the little puzzle, that now requires solving.—Argus.

In November last the Commissioner of Taxes sued ,). L. Denniston. ajrent for certain non-resident trades, for income tax. Hie amount originally claimed was' £9 3s lid, but on Denniston refusing to pay, the Commissioner assessed the amount at .CM Os' (Id and sued for that amount. The Magistrate held that the defendant was not protected under the Act and gave judgment for the Commissioner. The defendant. lodged an appeal to the Supreme Court on a point of law. After further consideration, However, the Crown lias decided that the Magistrate's decision cannot be supported, and has intimated that no eft'ort will be made to collect the itax.

A somewhat unusual case oamo before the Magistrate (Mr. V. fl. Day, 8.M.) at Timaru, when Alexander Copland sued William Stevenson for the -sum of £5, damage caused to tin? plaintiff's sheep-dog by a stone "tossed" by tlw defendant. Stevenson was loading a dray with old iron, and finding a stone among the rubbish, picked it up find threw it on the roadside, where it fell on the dog, which was lying there, and T>roke its leg. He did not see the animal, and claimed that, as the accident was not due to any malicious intent, nor to any carelessness on his nart. he should not be held responsible. His Worship hold that the manner of throwing the stone was not that of a reasonable man, but that of a careless man. The fact remained that the throwing of the stone caused injury to the do<r. However, he did not think thnf the broken le? of a ?.heep-do<r six years old was worth £5 in damages. would he given for damages 40s and <?osts (4fis\.

An experiment conducted by Professor D. F. Mackenzie, F.L.S., of Liberton. Scotland, has shown that the life of birch timber for railway sleepers and bridge works may be prolonged for fully twenty-five years bv means of the Powel system of chemical treatment, and following on Professor Mackenzie's experiment and report the New Zealand Government has placed an order with the Powell Wood Company. Rnnntaua, for 10,000 birch sleepers, which will probably bo used on portions 0 f the Sfrat-ford-Ongarue railway line, near Whansramomoim. There «'-e at present lnnre areas of birch in different povtvvis of the Dominion, which have 'been regarded as waste, and onlv fit to be burnt. They will nn«r become a valuable to Dronertv owners. As raihvnv sleepers thev should be un*nrt«isse.'. Th n v nre Tiard-md heavv. ivei"liin<T 1201b. nrrnjn=t the lO'b silver nine <'cent>r« the ■Main Trunk line, which tl re be>>ry frvind ■fni* too soft for the h°-t yy traffic which daily thpnders over them.