GENERAL NEWS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 116, 24 August 1910, Page 2

GENERAL NEWS.

The cost of the Anglo-German Institute, which Sir E. Cassell is establishing in memory of King /Edward, will be £2OO/100.

There are said to he '50,000 boys in America who have wireless installations of their own, and it is claimed that some of these installations are more up-to-date than the official ones.

Interesting details as to the cost of training greyhounds for competitive purposes were given at a county court action in Durham. A traijier said a greyhound in training could not be kept for less than 10s a week, as it had to be fed on legs of mutton, fresh eggs and champagne.

A Greymouth correspondent telegraphed to the Christohurch Press on Wednesday that the present block in the shipping is the most serious which has been experienced at the port of Greymouth for sixteen years past. Many vessels have had to discharge ttheir cargoes, and even then they cannot cross outwards, owing to t'he shallowness of the bar. All the local industries are practically at a standstill. J

Speaking to a Dominion representative with reference to the importance of scientific dairy farming, Mr. C. J. Reakes, Chief Government Veterinarian, expressed the opinion that if Taranaki dairy went in for dairy herds' testing, pasteurisation of milk, and a proper and sensible system of dairy sto6k breeding, they would increase the value of their outputs toy twenty-five per cent. The «ame statement, added Mr. Reakes, applied to all the dairying districts in the Dominion.

A good story of the King and his children is told in the July Novel Magazine. One afternoon his Majesty was batting to the bowling of his two sons, and knocking up quite a respectable score, although it is said that he could never stand 1 longi to the bowling of the Prince. Prince Edwiard, however, was 'bowling, and the King was .hitting all over t'he place. At length the younger Prince went up to his brother, and said: "This won't do, you know. You must get him out, or I must go on again myself—as usual!"

[Robbing a bank is not the only way to get money. Some fifteen years ago, says the Dunedin tSar, a section in Queen's Drive, 'Musselburgh, was offered at auction, and 'blocked down for £35. Two bidders claimed to have offered that sum, and to settle the dispute the auctioneer re-offered the section, with the result that one of the disputants got it for £153. Nine years ago or thereabouts the purchaser sold one part of this secion for £300; recently he parted with another piece for £275; and it is said that he has been lately offered £IOOO for the remainder.

Practical testa 'have now been made of the improved hemp stripper invented by the Featherston miller, Mr. W. Wakely. The, results luave justified the most sangUule anticipations. It has not only proved all tihat was claimed for it, but has disclosed advantages which were neither foreseen nor thought possible. The Times summarises the advantages of the new method: increased value of hemp; increased ratio of hemp to flax; increased daily output; reduced cost of running engine; less wear and tear, oil, etc.; no danger of bursting chairs, 'beating bars or drum spindles; reduction in time required for., bleaching; scutching simplified, and with less, strain on tie fibre in the process; more'hetnp and less tow; expert labor not required. iA sawmill band named Murphy had a sensational experience the other day on an extremely narrow portion, of the Akatarawa tramline, some milei from Upper Hutt. 'He was cantering around a ibluff where the side- of the road falls precipitously a hundred feet when (his horse stumbled and shot h'is rider over the cliff. 'As the man was falling, .he instinctively threw out 'his arms, and one hand!,just managed to grasp the wooden scantlings of the tramline. As he hung there he was horror-struck to see his unfortunate ihorse topple head Over heels into the deep ravine, and crash, downward to the bottom, where he was found later with a broken ijeck. After much exertion, Murphy 'hauled himself into safety!, but was some days before 'he recovered from iis nerve-racking experience. *

iC '- Rua, the lonig-haired "prophet" who has held sway over a section of the Urewera natives is making one of his periodic visits to Wellington. EEs retinue is smaller than usual, and the '"prophet" is not aggressively inclined towards European settlers and pake'ha methods. His object is to interview the Native Minister and the 'Hon. A. T. Ngata to offer some of the Urewera land to the Government, and also to make arrangements for financing the native, farming operations in that district.' "We are getting on splendidly," stated one of Rua's representatives in answer to ft question as to the progress of the work. Rua's objection to native schools has been so completely overcome thslt he is prepared to grant 3000 acres of land as an endowment for a'college. If the land sale can be negotiated the proceeds will be spent upon farming implements, the purchase of stock and improvements to the land.

j A Dunedin correspondent states that a discovery of a "hoard" is said to have 1 been made not far from Port Chalmers. LAn old woman, about eighty years of age, died a few weeks ago. She lived in a fern-tree hut with her husband up to within a week or two of her decease. The couple were typical English agricultural laborers, and never abandoned even the style of dress so familiar in [English country districts. They earned their living by cutting and stacking hay and other odd jobs of a similar nature. For several years past both were in receipt of their full old-age pension—a, joint income of £4 6s 8d per month. This should have provided a comfortable old age for the couple. Such was not the case, however. Food was stinted to the merest margin of sustenance, and the conditions of their living generally were primitive. A stocking containing £390 in cash has (been found secreted, and represents the deceased woman's hoarding. The section on which the whare stands is valued at upwards of £llsO.