LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 76, 8 July 1910, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The dredge Paritutu will probably arrive at New Plymouth on Sunday morning.

The New Plymouth Racecourse Reserve Leasing Bill has passed its first reading in the House of Representatives. It is understood that a company is being formed at Wanganui for the purpose of running a number of small steamers between WaHganui, New Plymouth and Kawhia. j

There is at present one policeman to every 1330 people in New Zealand, the cost of the force being 3s 3y s d per inhabitant. Last year the cost was one penny per head greater. A couple of Palmerston Nortnites who went over to America to see the Johnson-Jeffries fight are stated to have made a big haul upon that sporting event. They took over a considerable sum of money to oack Johnson.

; In the Magistrate's Court yesterday morning Joe Wong, a Chinaman, was fined £5 and costs £1 18s. for rescuing his horse from the borough inspector, who was taking it to the pound. Mr. QuMliam appeared for the prosecution, and Mr. W. G. Malone for the defendant, who pleaded guilty. J. Harris pleaded guilty and was fined £2 and costs for breach of a prohibition order.

Wrecks and casualties on tJhe New Zealand coast numbered last year, according to the Marine Department's re-, port, 83, representing 47,857 tons register, as compared with 90, representing 52,239 tons register, in the previous year. The total wrecks within the Dominion, including the Duco, were 11, of 46517 tons register, as compared with 16, of (5537 tons register, in the previous year. The number of lives lost was 18, all being within the Dominion, as compared with 119 within the Dominion last year. Of the lives lost, 15 were in the Duco and one .each from the Cambusdon, Flora and Huia.

That there is need for the publication of a chart showing the actual depths of water at the harbor and its approaches is shown by the fact that the master of the Viganella, when leaving Liverpool for New Plymouth, had an idea, .based on the best information obtainable there, that we have only an open roadstead, with uncertain anchorage and poor shelter, and a depth of only about ten feet of water. This is not as it should be. A port which has aspirations to the accommodation of ocean-going steamers in the course of a year or two should be better known, and the sooner the certified charts are published the better it will be. The snug berthage, excellent depth of water, and harbor accommodation generally came as a great surprise to our German visitors.

In the Magistrate's Court yesterrlav morning a charge of assaulting the borough inspector was preferred against John Tuohy. Mr. Quilliam appeared for the informant, and Mr. J. B. Roy for the defence. Mr. Roy asked for lenient treatment of the accused, on the ground that he had received provocation for the assault, owing to Tippins' remarks to Mrs. Tuohy concerning the sanitary arrangements at Tuohy's house, the, complaints having been made by the inspector during Tuohy's absence. The assault, he was instructed, Avas only a technical assault, Tuohv having caught Tippins by the shoulder and pushed him. Mr. Quijliam outlined the ease for the informant, and called evidence to prove that on the occasion of the assault Tippins was in Kinig-street, close to his office, talking to some men, when he suddenly received a severe blow on the "back of the head that knocked his hat off and sent him staggering on to.the.road. Recovering himself, he turned and saw Tuohy, who used insulting language to''him. It was not until this morning that Tippins learnt that.Tuohy considered he had received provocation for thq assault. His Worship said he could not treat lightlv an assault on a public officer. Defendant was convicted and fined £2 and costs £1 4s. He was allowed a fortnight for payment of the fine and costs.

The Jewish World, in publishing the suggestion for the erection of a memorial to the late King (which we are informed by cable is to take the form of a hospital), describes King Edward as "the one ruler who in the long roll of Kings since Jerusalem fell regarded the Jews as ordinary men."

A West Coast school inspector having complained of the use of slipshod English, a Press critic remarks that "his report itself is in many places so slipshod and slovenly in construction and so amazingly deficient in suitable or even correct expression, that one wonders public school English has suffered so little outrage and bad treatment."

Kaid Belton, the young English officer who, at the age of twenty-six, became commander-in-chief to Mulai Hand and helped him to win the throne of Morocco, has had a stranger-than-fiction career. At nineteen he received his commission for bravery in South Africa, soon after achieved his captaincy in Somaliland. entered Mulai Hand's service in 1008, and now everybody in Morocco calls him "the king-maker."

"San Francisco is just as near hell today as it was before the earthquake." said Dr. Henry, addressing a large meeting of business men at Dunedin. "Snn Francisco has learned nothing. It is in the hands of the mob." A prominent official, he continued, was a disgrace to the city, to the State, and to American manhood. San Francisco was, however, the exception now in its corruptjon. and in most of the great cities' of America a better state' of things was rapidly being brought about.

The forgetfulijess of the average person is shown year after year when a city official sells at auction articles which have .been left in tramcars, but the average person, as shown up in the annual report of the Post and Telegraph Department, excels himself in the way of forgetfulnes when he comes to deal with that branch of the public service. During the past year the Dead Letter Office was kept busy finding owners for 052 post office orders, valued at £1497; 54 bank drafts, worth in the aggregate £3078; 405 cheques, pf a value of £3374; 495 dividend warrants, representing a value of £ 141; six promissory notes of a value or £109; £524 worth of postal notes; and no less a ,sum than £54 in gold.

The Rev. J. G. Chapman presided over the quarterly meeting of Wliiteley Church on Wednesday evening. In spite of the inclemency of the weather, 15 officials were present. A'hopeful and buoyant feeling pervaded the meeting, and the various reports showed that the Church was in a prosperous and healthy state. The balance-sheet showed a credit balance of £7 12s (3d carried forward. The membership of the Church stands at 268.. There are 1(10 scholars and 21 teachers in the Sunday School. Two sub-pastors were appointed to assist the minister in visiting the sick.. Foreign mission services were arranged for next Sunday and a public meeting for Tuesday—services and meeting to be conducted by the Rev. W. ,A. Heighway, of Fiji. Messrs E. Chatterton and Rudd were appointed to act on the committee for providing a piano for the Old People's Home. Mr. F. P. Kellow gave a report of the work in connection with the country stations. Arrangements were made for the annual tea t;o be to the members of the choir. Various other maters of interest to the Church were dealt with, and th« meeting was closed by the chairman pronouncing the benediction.

Some impressive figures are mentioned, in the- annual report of the Post and Telegraph Department for the past financial- year, which has been presented to Parliament. It states that the total postal revenue was £506.000, and the telegraph revenue was £411,296. Postal mater delivered in New Zealand, including that received from abroad, reached a total or 03,650,908 letters, 8,040,808 postcards, and 48,105,407 other articles, and 1,-222,020 parcels. The Savings Bank deposits (£0,611,119) exceeded the withdrawals by £111,799. The whole amount now at credit, £12,666,897, equals £l2 5s lOd per head of the population. Arrangements are to be made to introduce hourly deliveries in the principal cities. The average number of letters and postcards posted per head of the population was estimated to be 05.98. The number of telegrams forwarded was 7.757,128, an increase of 5.71 per cent. The bureau messages numbered 1,757,869, of the value of £42,753, an increase of 334,776 in number, and £10,641 in amount. New Zealand's proportion of the deficit of £60,887 on the seventh year's working of the Pacific cable amounted to £0631. The total number of telephone exchanges is 153. and the total number of connections is 29,681, compared with 20,833 in 1900. >

A Taranaki correspondent in London writes to the Hawera Star thus about the King's funeral:— "I saw the procession in Hvde Park. Another fellow an:l I started about 1 a.m. and wandered slong the track of the coming funeral. There I were crowds of people out then, and all ■ the seat 9 that were not sold were being I offered at four guineas or more. About 2 ] a.m. there .was a heavy fall of rain jv.» twenty minutes. This drove the crowd to shelter for a while, but they soon came back again.' About 4.30 a.m., feeling -very tirpd, some slept on the pave-, ment for a time, but at 5 the urates of the Park were opened and there was a huge rush. We got an excellent place, perched up on some high railings just beside the avenue down which the procession would come. There we had to wail till 11 a.m. At 7.30 there were so mampeople in the Park that the gates were again closed. It was a curious crowd, not very much humor in it, and yet in a way' amusing, and really it seemed only an hour or" two before the procession commenced. Tt was a fine sight, but strangely within the Park there was no music, or but little. The foreign kings and princes with their attaches in gorgeous uniforms at once claimed and retained attention. T saw the Kaiser, who looked a peaceable, pleasant man, and was a fine figure. King George looked small bpside him. yet not insignificant. King Alfonso of Spain was in the group, and, I thought, had rather a strong face. Roberts and Kitchener were together, the latter impressing one extraordinarily. I just got a glance of Roosevelt peeping out of his carriage window, talking, and gesticulating with his forefinger to some old gentleman opposite him. After the procession passed people seemed to be everywhere. There was scarcely standing room in Hyde Park; in St. James' things wove nearly as bad, the lawns being almost covered with tired people who had been ur> all night and were now resting and lunching. It was an extremely hot day. Very often men, women and children were to be seen dropping in faints or fits. The ambulance people, it was said, treated over 0000, and many got no attention."

Men's Suits.—Worsteds m particular, our reputation for carrying the best in these is established. This season's are particularly nobby, are cut in the verj latest style, with*hair-cloth fronts, good F-flndti canyas .put rijrht through tha and very good linings. They're branded -''The Prestwell," and you won't see their equal in New Zealand. Prices 25=1 to fiSs.—THE KASH. Devon Streot, £tw Plymouth.—Advfc.