LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 105, 11 August 1910, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

As the result of exhaustive reports on | the relative merits of horse traction, mo- i tor waggons and traction engines, the ' Gisborne Borough Council has decided to obtain its metal supplies by means of a tramway from Patutahi, 10 miles dis- j tant. The cost is estimated at £12,000. The Government Insurance Recorder for last month mentions that Mr. W. J. I Rudd, who is 75 years of age, and has been an agent of the Department for over thirty years, has taken over 11,600 i proposals, the net result of his work beI ing a total of closed business amounting I to just upon £1,500,000.

A Wyndham paper is reliably informed that two men mounted on motor bikes, while crossing the Morton Mains country, took to certain farmers' paddocks, the turf surface of which provided a better track for their machines than did the sloppy road lines. When j they came to the dividing fences they solved the difficulty of further progress by cutting the wires! This was done to at least five fences. More may be heard of the matter.

The "counter lunch" has occasionally been the ground of strained relations between some publicans and their patrons, says the Dominion. Sometimes it brings on open hostilities. The landlord of a certain big Wellington hotel has liberal ideas on the subject of counterlunch; but his liberality and patience have each its limit. The other day his hostelry was invaded by a person of mild and sober mien, who, after modest patronage, settled down to a counter-lunch and a novel. He began his book at chapter one,and by the time he turned a page the visible supplies of light refresh-1 ment had already diminished woefully, Boniface stood it as long as he could, but) at last was moved to take action. He said it was too much, and in a tone that brooked no denial demanded that the omniverous reader should instantly depart. To those who remained mine host' explained that if his too willing guest had begun on the last chapter he would not have been so much hurt, but to see an attack on the counter lunch begun as an accompaniment to the first chapter of a novel was "out of bounds" altogether. The sensitiveness of capital in matters where there is a possibility of labor troubles occurring is exemplified by the experiences of a Christchurch man who recently put before a number of people a proposition for opening up a seam of coal in a locality within easy connection with a portion of the Government railways, and consisting of a good class of coal for which there is a good demand. Many of those to whom the proposal to invest in the proposition was made, while recognising that.as a business proposition it was excellent, declined to embark on it, giving as their reason that they are not putting money into enterprises which involved the employment of labor, even though the return from the investment promised to be a handsome one. They were content with the lower rate of interest obtainable from mortgages rather than the higher rate that would result from -investment in industrial concerns.

A figure that created much interest at the Bluff on Thursday, says the Southland News, was one of the returned Macquarie Islanders in the costume he wore when the party was succored by the Hinemoa. His hair was long, he was unkempt, and, as he termed it himself, "greasy." Furthermore, he wore the now famous blanket trousers, which, in their extremity, the men manufactured on the islands. Besides the matter of these pairs of blanket trousers, the party explain the sore straits they experienced in regard to footwear. No boots could stand the months of clambering up and down rocky bluffs, first after oil and subsequently after "tucker." They had neither leather nor tools, and so" they were in a quandary. Eventually a genius suggested mocassins from the hides of the sea elephants, and his suggestion was promptly acted upon, but still another difficulty presented itself—there were neither tacks nor nails. Necessity, however, again proved the mother of invention, and use was made of some copper composite from the remains of the ketch Gratitude, wrecked there in 1891, to piece together footgear. On arrival at Bluff, their outfit was quickly exchanged for civilisation's garb.

The extraordinary thing about Mr. Sydney Kidman, the Australian "cattle king," is his wonderful methods of management (says an Australian paper). There is no expensive system in vogue. The generally accepted theory is that no large business can prosper without thoroughness in the accountancy department. The cattle.king supplies the successful exception. He manages the great transactions with the aid of a small notebook and his banks. A smart man might manage to thus carry on a business on a small scale, but when the transactions amount to hundreds of thousands, it is a horse of another color. No doubt a set of good managers must be a great help, but even their business with buyers and sellers must be bewildering. For instance, while passing to the north the other day, he explained l that he had at that time over 13,000 head of cattle on the way to the market ,and he could tell where they started from and where and when they were due. An idea of his transactions may be gained from the fact that he pays the South Australian Government about £30,000 a year for railing stock. That is merely an item in a great list of extensive transactions.

By-and J by the "Union Parliaments" and the multiplying debating societies and mutual improvement associations should he sending some good debaters to the House of Representatives. There is room for them (says the Wellington Post). The interesting speakers in the Lower House may be numbered on one hand and a-half. Some have good enough ideas, but they are butchered in delivery. The monotone is the prevailing tone; the wind blows only one tune; the northerly of dissertation ha 3 only one sound. , The ears of the audience ache; one feels ' that one's 'bones are holding indignation meetings. Some members speak querulously, even when they are advocating a pet notion. Mr. Ell, for example, has a diction which invariably leads a hearer to think that the speaker imagines that a cold, hard world is pitted against him, but Mr. Ell is not at all a dismal man naturally, though he is serious enough. Mr. Laurenson was once a sad speaker, who shoveled leaden tones into Hansard; but his temperature has risen, and his words have now an agreeable warmth. Some mutter, some mumble, others shout. Mr. Poole is a shouter, and so is Mr. Russell. These gentlemen use much unnecessary horse-power. They pitch their voices loud enough to reach the Quay, and all the air is a-buzz. A mathematical mind cannot help working out the good tongue-pounds of energy meedlessly expended by these members in throwing their voices into the bottomless pit of Hansard. But there is hope for the future; there is comfort in tile contemplation of that "Union Parliament" and l those debating societies.

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Included in the list of inventions for June quarter as published in the New Zealand! Gazette, are six for aerial machines and three for aeroplanes. The charge sustained by the Chief Justice by dismissing Bowron Bros, appeal, is the first conviction since 1891, for wilfully making a false return in order to evade payment of Income Tax.

The usual weekly session of the Hope of Egmont Juvenile Temple, No. 25, 1.0. G.T. was held in St. Mary's Hall last night. The C.T., Sis. L. Aldridge. presided over a good attendance. The sisters won the banner for good attendance and behaviour.

On the motion of Mr. Govett (Govett and Quilliam) probate of the will of the late Alice Fanny Sadler has been granted by the Supreme Court to James Cuthbert Sumner and Dorothy Paradine Sumner,' the executor and executrix named in the will.

There is likely to be a substantial rise in the price paid for butter-fat in the Manawatu district in the coming season. The representatives of one proprietary concern is offering a shilling and a. half-penny per lb. 'lt looks (says the Standard)"as if dairymen are going to have a good time.

Residents in the West End are complaining of acts of larrikinism. The mischievous spirit of the youth of the locality is breaking out in several ways. Gates are lifted from their hinges, and pickets removed from fences, whilst a coterie of young scamps in Hine street tie threads across footpaths to trip the unwary pedestrian, or place them at a height that brings them into contact with the faces of passers-by. The other evening a resident chased the youths, but they had covered their retreat by a series of traps of this description, and got clean away. The usual weekly session of the Egmont Lodge, No. 112,1.0. G.T., was held in St Mary's Hall last night. C.T. Bro. C. E. Pepperill presided over a good attendance of members. The following committees were appointed: Finance Committee: Bros. J. Higgs, Bro. N. T. Maunder and Bro. J. Roeh; Sick Committee, Sisters Mrs. Legg, Sis. M. Street, Sis R. Reid, .Sis. L. Rusden, Bro. Legg and Bro. Pepperill. The following items weTe given: Reading, Sis s L. White; recitation. Bro. G. W. Hartnell; reading, Sis. E. White; recitation, Bro. A. White; pianoforte solo, Bro. S. Lewis"; recitation, C.T. Bro. C. E. IPepperill; mouth organ solo, Bro. C. Smith (encored).

Our telegrams mentioned yesterday that some time ago a young lady of Ashburton went to reside in Wellington, where she became acquainted with a young man. A few days ago the girl's parents, it is alleged, received a telegram purporting to come from her, and asking that a considerable sum of money should be telegraphed to her. The man referred to is Arthur Cyril DowelJ, an insurance canvasser, who appeared before the S.M. Court, Wellington, on iSaturday and was remanded on bail on a charge of putting the name of "H. A. Read" to a telegram without authority, with the intention to perpetrate a fraud. The accused will be further charged with the theft of a pair of field glasses, valued at £lO 10s, tlhe property of Mr. D. M. Findlay.