LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 374, 27 April 1910, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The Colonial "Mutual Office doeidoil to open ;i district office in Llthaai. A {armor was amongst those defeated at a school committee election on Monday. Thi' local storekeeper was elected chairman. The fannev wanted the billet. 'He called in lit the store on lu> way home, demanded and re.-eiveil his account, paid it, and told the mall he needn't call any more. A f.u-t! "I have only to go out form rnrs room to enter the richest street in the richest town in the richest country in the world. And I sluil! see Englishmen starving there, going in stinking rags. going shoeless to their poisonous hove!, in the slums, i shall see English people denied the possibility of everything which makes life rapturous to mv-.'lf. 1 shall see English women force.l. !>y man's lust, or man's cruelty, to ; i life which disgraces man even as an animal. 1 shall see, little children (liornc of foul parents) growing up from tfce gutter to ■be wild beasts and plague spots." So said Mr. John Masetield in the Queens Hall, London, at a meeting of the Women's Social and Political Union. In addition to the destruction of the sheds used by the N'.Z, Express Company aad the Sash and Door Factory, Turner and Beadle's workshop, together with the whole of their tools and a special bridge plant, were destroyed .by yesterday morning's fire. There were no insurances. The building belonging to the Express Company was insured in the Nmv Zealand Company's Office for £2.'i. The stock, including lorries, etc.. was insured in the same office for £350, and the damage is estimated at about £l2O. One of the, lorries in the burnt building was loaded with a quantity of belonging to the representative ot iMissrs. i'rioe and Company, of Wellington. They were damaged •.< good deal. Uit an estimation of the lo« entailed is not available. They were not insured.

What Chinese will put up with to get to Australia (says the Sydney Morning Herald) is shown by the case of the stowaways discovered on the Minderoo. The stowaways were not su-peeled to be aboard when the ves-cl left Singapore, but after leaving Broome it was noticed that the lid of the forcpeak tanft had 'been removed. The chief officer, on entering- the tau!<. was almost empowered by the foul uir. in which a light would not burn. A bucket of boiled rice and a bucket of water were noticed, and, in response to a fall, four Chinese of a superior class emerged, little the worst for their confinement. They refused to say how they got there. No opium was found. The stowaways were deported by the steam (iorgon, then at Port Hediaml.

An Elthani Borough Council deputation waited 011 Sir Joseph Ward yesterday morning, with the object of facilitating a loan from the State Cuaranteecl Advances Hoard. The Premier advised the deputation to send in a fresh application, and promised to place the facts before the board, Ibut made it clear that the board was giving precedence to applications for loan- for such purposes as roads and bridges, water, and sanitation. As to the reipiest for the Ciovernment to compensate the Borough Council for the amount of .-C.IOO and £I2OO costs in connection with a law suit with the Hawera Electric Light Company. 011 the ground that the difficulty had arisen through the Act 01 Parliament giving powers to the company. Sir Joseph Ward promised to bring the matter before Cabinet, but made it clear that the principle did not meet with his a.pproval, and if laid down was likeiv to lead to a flood of similar applications.

It Ims been decided to hold the Taranaki Winter Show 011 Wednesday. Thursday. Friday and Saturday. June 8 to 11, as previously arranged. The show be opened to the public on Wednesdayevening, when the official opening will be held. At a meeting 011 Monday evening the matter of arranging with the Railway Department, regarding fares, etc., was left in the hands of the presi dent and secretary. The secretary was instructed to write to the Taranaki Rugby Union asking that ilsodv to have matches set down to be played in Xew Plymouth 011 June 9 started a little earlier than the usual time, so as to allow people to visit, the show after the matches and then catch the late outward train. All entries for the show close on Saturday. May 28, at 0 p.m. Town exhibits must bo on the benches at !) a.m. 011 the first dav of the show, and exhibits sent in by train at 11 a.m. Tt was decided to let space at 2s (id per foot, with a .minimum of Ills. Season tickets will be issued, admitting people to the show 011 the four days for 3s.

A good deal is hoard, nowadays about, "Scouts." and it may not be generally known that the term was employed several centuries afro in the F.nglish armies. A correspondent writes to this efTeet. and encloses the following excerpt from Martin's History of England, referring to the Battle Song Mars ton }]oor. July 2, 1604: The opposing forces wore in battle array, a great ditch or dnin between them, "But surely.' - said .Scoutmaster Watson, serving in Cromwell's Horse, "had two such armies drawn ut> close one to the other, being on both wings within musket shot, departed without fighting. I think ii would have heen as great a wonder as hnth ever been seen in England." "We eame down the hill," Scout-Master Watson said, "in the bravest order, with the greatest resolution that ever was seen." "And here," Scout-Master Watson noted, "came the business of the dav, nav. almost of the kingdom to be di-'uited, fov the enemy, seeing us come in .u-h gallant posture to charge them." A recent .southern visitor to Paten remarked admiringly upon the beautifully green and heallliy slate of the farm lands he had seen in South Taranaki. "It's like corning to another world," was his emphatic comment, and he went on to remark that the natural order of tilings setnod at present to he reversed, (lie sunny north bearing,evident tokens of an abund'-int rainfall, while the south cminlrv which >■ mirnonIv has no reason to oomnlain of ; icl< of rain, is sutlering seriously from the effects of drought. This is par'k-.ilarlv true of the region around llanvni and inland in the neighborhood of Windsor and Klderslie. Small farmers 'n tiiU region have been compelled to Inl'n their stock into paddocks of feed that should have heen reserved for winter, in order to obtain a snmmr nmfit. The only farmers doing reasonably well ;;;■ ■ ;ho--e who make a pvacLic of L r oiug in f ■tit" J autumn sowing. Tn some in« ■•u.'-e-;., however if impossible to iOoi- >lt rv-| •n? to tbe dry and hard cond :i 'oo of I the ground. | ?or C2irou:e Chest Com plain U. !*«*■• • I,', Peppermint Cure, 1/8. 2 6

Cantain and Adjutant, Jkl'ymjrtf hut notified that the orde s lor the (cjnpetition for Government K.e.U'-i on *ne v!«th inst. are cancelled. Now Zealand cities and country town*, afflicted by the "loafer" incubus. may gather hope from the succeg# of an experiment in Crete, Nebraska. "The City Marshal," says the New York Municipal Journal, "recently made a hit with taxpayers by his ingenuity. The towns had for months far too many 'hobo.'-' i vagrants) on its mess roster to sait tln- people who foot the bills; so the Marshal decided on advertising as a remedy. In papers in near-by towns he inserted this brief card:—'Wanted—--17 hoboes for stone crushing. None bufc bona tide hoboes "need apply.' Not a bo' ha- been seen in the town since the 'ad.' appeared." The following extraordinary case is reported in a Sydney paper:—A cleanshaven young man, who looked as if he had just emerged from a fashion plate, was called up for sentence at the Quarter Sessions Court. His name is John Edward Stewart, and the previous day hi* • had pleaded guilty to obtaining money by false pretences. When asked if he had anything to say wily sentence of the Court should not lie passed upon him, the prisoner addressed the Judge in polished, respectful terms, asking for leniency, lie said that he had been a victim to the cocaine habit since the death of his wife, and promised to mend his ways when abroad again. Judge Backhouse then called the arresting constable, who stated that accused had keen charged, together with a millionaire, with fraud in the Tnited States, The millionaire was sentenced to 14 years' imprisonment, and Stewart wa» deported to Australia. The accused contradicted this statement emphatically. declaring that the charge he was indicted upon in America was grand larceny, and upon a second trial the waofc matter proved so complicated that he uas discharged. "[ was prevailed upon to leave America by my father," accused added, "on account of the fatal fascination of a daughter of one of my father's associates." His Honor thereupon sentenced accused to two years' hard labor, but held out the hope of an early release if accused could make arrangewith his people for his return to America. 'I think." his Honor concluded. "that wo have a perfect right to send you back to America." The accused bowed his assent, and went to gaol.