LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 79, 12 July 1910, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

An Order-in-Council has been passed agreeing to the subdivision af Kawau Pah Reserve.

A Sydney cablegram states tna» a Haddonrigg merino ram was sold privately to Collins and Sons, of South Australia, for 550 guineas, the highest price for several years. Tine officers of the barque Viganella are experiencing a little trouble with the crew of the vessel. On Saturday the aid of the police had to be invoked, and now it is reported that five men are short on the ship's roil. 4* i« calculated by an expert that there is at preesnt, and has been for the past six months, sufficient gas emrtted from No. 2 bore at Moturoa to supply the whole of New Plymouth for fuel and lighting, besides serving as fuel for operations on the petroleum field. At last night's meeting of the Taranaki Agricultural Society, advice was received that the Egmont A. and P. Society's Spring Show would be held on 'November 22 and 23. The committee therefore decided to confirm their proposed dates, viz., November 30 and December 1.

Thei-e was a happening in the Carrington road yesterday morning. A leisurely horse with an empty spring cart was being driven along the highway. A team of bullocks was also using the road, and the horse did not like them. He tried to burst out of his skin and to climb a steep bank, without success. The cart overturned, and all that marks the spot is a very deep whee: rut in the bank. Nobody was injured and nothing was broken. Many willing hands righted the vehicle. The early bird does not always catch the worm. This was illustrated at Moturoa last week. When the Viganella was being berthed an enterprising tradesman jumped aboard and interviewed the captain about supplies. But he reckoned without the health officer, who peremptorily ordered him off. Later another tradesman of the same calling sought the captain, but the latter was too .busy to talk business. Later in the day tradesman No. 3 casually went aboard and asked the captain if he lequired supplies. He did, and the order was booked.

The road between Mokau and Ureti is just now in a very bad condition, being, in fact, almost impassable in places. A sick child was being brought into the New Plymouth Hospital last week, when the wheel of the coach came off. The little sufferer partly walked and was partly carried to a point where a vehicle could be procured to bring her to her destination, where she arrived in a very weakened state. It is a great pity that better roads do not obtain in a comparatively well settled place like ihis portion of Taranaki.

Sailors are proverbially superstitious, and it,is not surprising that when the cook of the Paritutu died suddenly when near Colombo that the men aboard the dredge were apprehensive of the future. Up till Colombo, ideal weather was experienced, but the bad luck came after leaving that port, the weather being vile almost m the way -to Wellington and the decks continually awash. "But the boat's a good 'un," said one of the men yesterday; "in fact, she's the best dredge I've been on, and I've worked on more than a- dozen dredges."

The butter in eool store in the Dominion at the present time amounts to 35,932 boxes, against 35,592 boxes at the corresponding date of last year. Tfle butter is stored as follows:—Auckland 8050 boxes, New Plymouth C6lB, Patea 3198, Wellington 16,870, Lyttelton 250 Dunedin 946. Last year's butter consisted principally of autumn-made goods. The bulk of the present supply is freshly made, and the daily output at the present time is very much greater than that of last wiiter. The production, in short, is more than equal to the demand, and there is little probability of the position being reversed before another season arrives.

An instance of thrift and energy that will bear copying recently came before the Wagga Land Board frsavs the Sydney Daily Telegraph). One of the applicants for a selection was a lad between eighteen and nineteen years of age. It was shown jn evidence that while working as a farm laborer the applicant had saved sufficient money to buy farm horses costing in the aggregate £7l, and that he still had £6 in cash in hand. During the', harvest time'he ,had received 35s per week and his keep for driving five horses in a stripper; while ploughing he received 255, and for the rest of the year 20s and keep. A member of the Board remarked that if the Premier would have a report of this case printed and circulated in England there would be less difficulty in securing desirable young men of the "farm laborer class as immigrants.

Yesterday morning Sergeant Haddrell received information which establishes the identity of the body found under the wharf- on Sunday as that of Stephen Larsen or Lawson, second mate of the Himitangi. It appears that Larsen arrived from Wanganui on Saturday afternoon to join the vessel, and proceeded to the harbor by the 4 p.m. 'bus. He boarded the steamer in a condition of insobriety, had tea there, and about 0.20 p.m. left the vessel to go up the wharf. That was the last time he was seen alive, so far as is known. When the time came for the Himitangi to sail, the master of the vessel searched for him without success, and concluded that he was sleeping off his potations somewhere. The vessel then left for Westport. It is, surmised that Larsen walked over the edge of the wharf at a spot where there is no guard rail. Larsen was a married man, his wife and family residing at Greydon-street, Wanganui. An inquest will be held on Wednesday, when the 'Himitangi will be in port. " The secretary of the Poultry Societv reports that large entries are being sent in for the baby show, which promises to be a great success. Owing to the numerous entries, the Society lias, through the generosity of Messrs. S. b! White and Co., Messrs. Ambury Bros, and Mr. C. Carter, given a second prize in each class, and the total entries received up to "date number twentv-five babies. Mothers should please note' that no entries will be received after Wednesday next. The poultry section entries have greatly increased the last few days, and a number nf champion birds from the Hastings Show are now entered, and pigeon fanciers will have to get their birds in in good time for the competition, which will be keen The children's pets are very numerous, and children should make' their entries at once, as they will not be received unless entered before Wednesday. The secretary has received 159 entries from' the Technical School cookery classes.! and every child has promised to fulfill the number of dishes they have entered' for. We will again mention that the! ladies should enter the home industries classes, not forgetting the two boiled po-. tatoes. Enter at once, as entries' close to-morrow.

A fishmonger at Gisborne delivers nU fish to customers by motor car. Tlie firtlx are also made ready for the cook.

Mr. \V. T. Jennings (Taumarunui) has given notice in IParliament to introduce the Waitara Harbor Board and Borough Empowering Bill. The .Mayor expressed the hope at last night's meeting of the Borough Council that both the Gill street and Powderham street bridges would be open for traffic during September. At the S.M. Court in Wanganui, T. Gordon Lennox was fined £lO and for allegedly wrongfully attaching; the initials "M.R.S.V.S." after his name. A recent visitor to the North Island states, on very good authority, that within a recent period no less than £3(1,000 of money made in Marlborough has been invested in Waikato lands.

A suggestion by Mr. W. H. Skinner that the Borough' Council should take steps to have the old cemetery on Marsland Hill included in the Ma'rsland Hill Domain has been referred by the Borough Council to the Reserves Committee for further information.

Apropos of the great number of. New Zealand horses that are at present being shipped to go under the hammer at the Melbourne fair this month, it is stated that there is a strong demand for our Clydesdales from West Australia, and that a large proportion of them will eventually find a home in the western State.

Some of the children of Xew Plymouth have been n the habit of rushing out in front of motor cars and indulging in gesticulations. Unless vlie practice is checked there will be a serious accident to record before long. Only yesterday, one of these urchins took no notice of the .horn of a car driven by a local medico, except to turn round and raise his arm and extend his legs. The car swerved to one side, so did the boy. The driver turned in the opposite direction; so did the boy, who, however, had allowed the car to come almost upon lum. It was a touch and go, according to .an onlooker, who expected to see the lad cut into pieces, for the car had fair way on. There are some brave fellows toiling in the bush, and in nothing is their heroism shown more than when an accident befalls any of their mates. Last week a young bushman .had his leg broken, in the country, twenty miles from Awakino. Twelve of his mates carried him through the forest tracks, rivers and mud channels, to the main road, where 'he was taken to New Plymouth Hospital. The crossing of- the Awakino river was attended with some peril, for the river w?.s swollen and the current strong. One of the bearers, as a matter of fact, was swept off his feet, and carried down stream, but. fortunately, he was y.ble to reach the bank, though by the time he reached it he was considerably exhausted. A!! the members of the relief party were greatly done u'p by the time they reached their destination, for the trudge through forest, river and track was sufficient to tax the strength of the most haHv, without beins burdened as well. Tlie injured man is making good progress towards recovery at the Hospital.