LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 362, 13 April 1910, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

At Inglewood the cash price of legs of mutton is 4y 2 d per pound, chops 5d and other joints down to 3d. Lamb sells at 4d for legs and .'VHd for forequarters per ,pound. A clump of daffodils in the Recreation Grounds has so far forgotten itself as to burst into bloom. Daffodils are classed as the earliest of spring flowers, but apparently the want of snow and frost locally is conducive to little irregularities in the '.lowering. Messrs Kemp and Sawle report ilie sale of the property of 203 acres, on the Manaia road, owned by Dr. Noonan and Mr. Franklin, to Mr. Wm. Dew, of Xormanbv. As showing the rapid increase in land values on the Waimate Plains, it may be mentioned that this property was 'purchased last June by Dr. Noonan and Mr. Franklin at £3l 10s' per acre, and has just been sold at £4l per acre. Stratford Post mentions that there is a probability of a wrestling match taking :place at an early date between L. S. Robertson, of Stratford, and Gordon Smith, of Hamua, Pahiatua. Smit'M, it will be remembered, gained a decision on points against R. J. Scott at the recent Palmerston North, gathering, which would seem, to indicate that in him Robertson will find a foeman worthy of his s'teel. and that a most interest contest should be the result.

Motor-cars, it would appear, are hardly suitable playthings for children. On a recent afternoon a small boy was left reclining in the front seat of a motor car in Dominion Avenue, Wellin.srt'on, and his curiosity, prompting him to try parts of the mechanism, he finally succeeded in releasing the brake. The .machine immcdinlfly commenced to •move down the jrentle incline, and it kept going until it bum,pod the curbing >f Lambton Quay. Fortunately for the car and its passenger no trams were passing when it made this special excursion.

In the Magistrate's Court ventenlnv morning, before Mr. H. S. Fitzherbert, S.M.. judgment wan entered for plaintiff bv default in the following cases:— Arnold George (Mr. Wrijrht) v. Edmund Kinsella, jnnr.. claim £ls 8s fid, costs £1 13s fid: Olive N. Firth (Mr. Wright) v. D. Graham, claim £.5 fa. and costs £1 3s fid: Arnold Georpe (Mr. Wright) v. Cecil "Rowe. claim F.YI 17s fid, and costs £2 10.« 6d; C. D. Chant (Mr. Quilliam) t. N. C. Bennett, judgment summons, order made for payment of the full amount of £2 7s, and costs, within seven davs. itf default seven days' imprisonment.

Amended regulations as to leave of' absence of officers in the public service | are gazetted. Ail officer who has' served | fifteen years or more may be granted by the Minister in charge of the Department leave of absence not exceeding three weeks in anv one year. If the officer has served less than three ypa.rtf. his leave must not exceed two weeks in one year. The grantin'g of leave of absence is subject to the following conditions:—That the behaviour of the officer has been in every Wf sn>isfactory: that the total intermittent leare during the previous twelve months has not exceeded five days; that absence from illness or accident has not exceeded one week: and, more generally, that his official duties have been properly performed. Olnnt'e 3 reads: "No officer shall be entitled to claim leave of absence a.s a right, and if for anv cause' the head of the Department thinks such leave ouarht not to he granted, he may refuse the same in any case, subject 1 to the anproval of his action by the Minister."

Dr. Thaekcr creaied some enthu*:Lwn in Akaroa, al'ter tile sculling race last week by announcing that he would give annually the sum of £'. so as a prize for a single sculling race, to be rowed on the day of the Akaroa regatta. Dr. Thacker added tiiat lie proposed to make provision whereby tile sum of ,CSO yearly would be iecured for all time.

It is claimed tint a new town i- born in Canada every second day. The three transcontinental railways systems are tile champion townmakers of the world. The Canadian IVific Railway, having a long start, is still far in the lead, but its younger rival, the Grand Trunk Pacific, is town-planting at a record Tate, their tracks being now laid to Wolf Creek, which is 122 mi!"-- vv-t of Edmonton. The work war- completed on 22iul January. Kverv ton miles of new track is responsible for the creation of a new township.

The "demoniacal influence" of indivi-l dualism in social and economical affairs ! 'was one of the themes of an address by Mr. McLaren, M.L\ (Wellington East), to a Dunedin audience recently. He quoted statistics to show that 05 per cent, of the' wealth of Great ttritain was owned by one-ninth of the population, /half the wealth was vested in five million people, and the other half in the remaining thirty-nine millions. To show the conditions which followed upon this, he told how not long at'o children had been harnessed to" small coal waggons in the mines, and, like crawling animals, drew their loads in the bowels of the earth. "This is a Christian country. It was a dastardly outrage—a blasphemy/' Finally. Mr. McLaren quoted Mr. statement that 250,000 people owned twothirds of the land of England. The abattoir manager's annual report to the Borough Council shows that during the year there were slaughtered for local consumption 1500 cows (decrease 154), bullocks 510 (increase k!!)|. calves 130 (decrease 04), pigs 1034 (increase 201), sheep 6392 .'increase 102). lambs 1711 (increase 514). The total increase was 788 head. Fifty-nine cattle were condemned (an increase of 15). no calve.-j, 7 no lambs, and 80 pigs. The fees amount-!-:! to £1447 5s 3d. a decrease of £3SS 10s Sd. This was due to no cattle having been killed for export during the year. During March 115 cows, 00 bullocits, 7 calves. 571 sheep, IGG lambs, and 17G pigs were slaughtered for local consumption. Compared with the corresponding period of last year there was an increase of SO sheep and 15 lambs, and a decrease of 5 calves and 0 pigs. Cattle were equal. Three cows and four were condemned.

The Claud-de-boye Estate, near Te- j muka, which was acquired recently by | the Government for closer settlement, has been already inspected by it timber of intending applicants from both islan'K T V land is intended for dairying, and for this purpose it is admirably adapted. The estate is situated six miles from Temuka in a north-easterly direction, a good metalled road leading «11 the way down to it. The Claud-de-boye school is witnin half a mile of it, and a creamery is close alongside the school. It is bounded 011 the south side by the Orari river, on the north hv a road which is to be formed out of it (all the subdivisions will front on to this road with l.be exception of the homestead block, which face- Rolle'ton's road), on the east by other farm lands, and on the west bv Rolleston's road. The estate is practically level, is well watered bv natural creeks ar.d streams, and the soil is deen, rich, an.) tree. being composed largely of river silt and sand. The examination :>? applicant* is now fixed for lflth Mav, and the ballot will be held on the following day at Temuka. From Kawhia comes the story of a rather sensational escapade. in which (says the New' Zealand Herald) a Maori named Karaka managed to T-'y* the polieo the go-by. At the Iviwhh races Kuraka was approached bv a y,oH:-e eonstable. who intended to arrest him on a charge of theft. The native, when approached, vaulted cn to a saddled horse near by, and galloped off. The police and several civilians followed in pursuit, and after a long chase Karaka left his steed and too.v to the bush. Further search was without avail, but later in the evening, with his clothes turned inside out, Karaka "calmly rode past the police and others. He was not immediately recognised, and had a fair start before they set after him. Whilst going at full gallop the fugitive's horse fell, and one of his pursuers, Mr. W. Armstrong, was so c'ose behind that his mount jumped right over the fallen horse and rider. Karaka managed to slip through a feeee into an adjacent swamp, and has not been seen since. The escapee has a rather notorious refutation. On one occasion it is said that the police endeavored to dislodge him from a tree, and while the operation was in progress lie dropped from the branches into the police boat, and escaped. On another occasion, it is stated, he left an arresting constable to drift in a canoe down the Waikato, while he swam ashore with the only pnddje. Sentenced to fe;. ty years' imprisonment for murder, Williams, a cattledealer, after sen' 112 half his sentence, was released from Texas in February, as a result of the startling discovery that Bernard Carter, the man whom he was supposed to have murdered, is alive, weilthv, and well. Williams and Carter quarrelled in the spring of ISOO (says the New York correspondent of tlie Daily Mail). Meeting on a cattle trr'l, William- stabbed Carter and flung the body into the Pecos river. A few weeks later a decomposed body was discoveied in the river and identified as that of Carter. The identification, it now turns out. was erroneous, for Carter, by a miracle, was rescued in an unconscious condition from the river and sent to a hospital at El Paso. After his recovery he drifted into Central America, whence he returned with a la-ge fortune ten years ago. settling in Settle. Quite recently Carter was reading an account of cruelties practised in the gaols of Texas, when he noticed th* name of Williams anions those of other prisoners who had made statements on the sublet. His euriositv was aroused, and he learned that Williams, who be suppose hi 1 fled the country and escaped arre=t. was actually serving a forty Tears' sentence for murderinf him Carter secured a pardon for VTilliams, whom he is providing with n Qfoo 1 home for the rest of hk iifo tv;ui aill , - lV ho thirtv.tVne when he was arreted, is now a bent and prematurely r»ed man. tT n into tears when informed that he was free and was not n murderer.

Thc-r-. 1 i- a pr-pussl on font to establish uiUiKvijiul i.auis at Mnnaia. Au estimate of <o-t is to he furnished to the next, meeting ot t.ho Town Hoard.

Aii uini.-nal case is being heard at Kumara. A local resident is suing a hairdresser for damages owing to plaintiff having -uilVred from barber's rash alleged to have been contracted after being shaved at defendant's shop. The report on population, published in the current number of tile Gazette, shows that since the uw K ii-u-. taken nearly four years agv. .'iiKidund has made the greatest advance. Auckland has gained Weilingti.il l-."iS'l, Christchureh 10,(>27. anil Duncdin ti564.

.There is a difliculty in coping with the rush of sheep and lambs at the freezing works in the South Island. iu« Daily Times reported last week that there were about 10,000 waiting «o lie killed and frozen at the Oamaru works, and the works of some other place* have the same difficulty. One fortunate potato grower in th« Oamaru district took £sli worth of potatoes off a single acre. Fortunately for the potato growers, states a local paper, blight is not so bad as in other places •where there has beJii a greater rainfall. The good crops here will have to make j;ood the devastation caused further north bv the disease.

The TTavelock paper states: "There was a little excitement in the main street on Saturday last, when an insolent, foul-mouthed hoodlum received a severe trouncing from a lady whom he had grossly insulted. The affair was ■witnessed by a good number of people, who applauded the lady for so thoroughly thrashing the blackguard."

A stone found it few chains from the beach near Koputanaki, on the west coast of the Coromandel peninsula, rj Mr. H. Turner, surveyor, Coromandel. claimed liv Mv. Clement L. Wragge to be further evidence of his contention that, prehistoric man inhabited New Zealand long before the advent of the Maori, The stone, says Mr. Wragge. weighs ls!b, and has a human face carved on it.

At the Blenheim Supreme Court the other day, when a female witness was being sworn, she was asked to take the glove off her right hand, whereupon, reports the Express, his Honor said that there was a mistaken idea that a woman could not be sworn 'with her glove on. It was bad enough for the witnesses M have to kiss the same Book, and he hoped that, very soon kissing the Book would be abolished.

' Referring to the find of coal 011 the Main Trunk line, the locality of which the Railway Department is keeping secret, a correspondent of a contemporary writes: ''The coal is on the upper waters of the Retaruke stream, about two miles west from the present railway. There are also outcrops lower down the Retaruke, towards the Wanganui, and it seems as if it were a continuation of the coal measures on the Tangarakau, on the west side of the Wanganui." A peculiar occurrence is reported from North Wairoa, which has been visited by millions of crickets, which have absolutely stripped the grass. In parts the "round is just black with the pests. It is estimated that farmers have lost hundreds of pounds through the devastation. A number of factory suppliers Lave been compelled to dry off their herds and place them in paddocks further back where pasture was procurable. This was necessary to .save stock from starvation.

Mr. R. Craig. of Jnvercargill, is the ■possessor uf a remarkable cow. She is of the Ayrshire breed, is seventeen years old, and has given birth to fourteen calves. AVI it 11 still a heifer, fourteen days before calving, she gave three buckets' of milk daily. Before calving this season she had to be milked three times a day. and is now yielding etght gallons of milk daily. The animal brings in a niontiOv return of £4 10s. Mr. Craig says she is one of the best cows lie ])2 s ever possessed.

The much abused sparrow found a champion in Mr. A. Smith at a meeting of the Mackenzie County Council. Mr. Smith said that the little owls seared all the sparrows from his (the Kimbell) district, but he would be worse off without the sparrows than with them. The sparrows did an incalculable amount of good in devouring the seeds of weeds, and but for them the hot fly nuisance would become intolerable. Mr. Rutherford said that if they killed the sparrows they would be overrun with caterpillars. r

Private information was Tecerved in Wellington on Saturday to the effect that. Mr. Charles Carr, acting on behalf of Mr. W. Akers, of Linton, had offered Mr. Ernest Short, of Parorangi. €BOO each for the two best Romnev Minis that he is taking to the Argentine International Exposition. This is the highest price ever offered for any New Zealand-bred sheep. Mr. .Short has deferred acceptance or rejection of this magnificent offer until he has consulted with Mr. F. J. Riddiford, who is taking a good deal of interest in Mr. Short's enterprising trip to the Argentine.—Dominion.