LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 124, 3 September 1910, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

In the Magistrate's Court yesterdav, before Mr. H. S. Fitzherbert, S.M., Jessie Robinson, alias Robertson, who has had seven previous convictions for vagrancy, was fined £l, in default'4B hours' imprisonment, on a charge of drunkenness.

Mr. G. W. Browne, ehairman of the Western Park Board, informs us that some mischievous individual is nipping off and destroying young trees in Western Park, and that a watch is being set for the offender. "A nod is as good as a wink."

A very enjoyable day was spent in the Park on Wednesday by some of the High School cadets oinder the instructions of a master. The operations of the day consisted of (in the morning) clearing, cutting down and- removing debris brought down iby the late gale; in the afternoon the boys were given a practical illustration of gunpowder as an explosive. A fallen tree was sawn through in three parts, and each part was split fey a charge of blasting powder. Full instruction was given to the boys re the power of explosives, the necessity of careful handling and correct tamping. The explosions proved a great success, and the master is to be congratulated on the success of the day's wort. Needless to eay the boys enjoyed the outing. Some of th'em came as far as ten miles to attend. If similar enthusiasm were shown by the masters of the different Bclools, there is very little doubt that the Recreation Grounds would be great-1 ly benefited.

In the Supreme Court, on the motion of Mr. Govett (Govett and Quilliam), letters of administration of the estate of the late Margaret Valintine have been granted to Dr. Valintine. The Customs revenue and beer duty! collected at the port of Wellington during the past month totalled £83,289 12s 4d and £1093 17s 3d, as against' £62,482 Is 2d and £852 10s Sd for August, 1909.

The Mountain House Committee has decided to invite architects to submit competitive plans of the proposed hostelry on Mount Egmont. A two-storey building is favored, and it is probable that concrete will be the building material used.

Owing to one of the attendants contracting scarlet fever, the whole of the female ward at the Gisborne Hospital is at present under isolation. A number of patients who were waiting to be operated on have had to be sent home in con-j sequence. The afternoon train from Waitara to' Xew Plymouth now leaves Waitara at 4.20 p.m., or five minutes earlier than heretofore. There is no gain to the traveller, who now has the pleasure of cooling his heels for an extra five minutes at Lepperton Junction. Of the prisoners received into the gaols of New Zealand during last year only 28 were of what is described as possessing "superior education." Xo fewfer than 4885 males and 533 females were able to read and -write; M males and seven females could read only; and 230 males and 22 females could neither read nor write.

By the invitation of Mr. Ahicr, a short service was held at H. Brown and Co.'s| mill yesterday morning, and a very in-i teresting address was delivered toy Mr.' Joe Harris, the lay nrissioner. At the close of the service Mr. Ahier moved a vote of thanks to Mr. Harris for his address. This was seconded by Mr. H. Potter and carried by applause. ; At the Clifton County Council yesterday the chairman reported, in reference to the commission which sat recently to decide upon the apportionment of the cost of maintaining the Junction road, between the Taranaki and Clifton Councils, that he had hopes that the Taranaki Council would not succeed in its claim upon this Council to contribute. In reference to the improvement of Marsland Hill, it has been found impossible to lay off the path as suggested by the Beautifying Association the other day, the grade working out at approximately one in seven. - The committee and members of the Reserves Committee are iasked by the Mayor to meet on the hill at 10 o'clock this morning to discuss the best method of roading the hill.

A second 'batch of men numbering 50 will be dispensed with in the State mines (states the Greymouth correspondent of the Christeharch Press). A bal-' lot was taken amongst the single men last week with the above result. This means that a.bout 100 hands have been dispensed with during the last three months. As most of the work is nearing completion it will be necessary, to make a still further reduction shortly. Recently, says the Wairarapa Daily Times, some men were working in the country, not far from Masterton, and one of their number announced that a fairly large sum of money was awaiting him in a certain town, where, 'by the way, no-license was not in force. Not having the wherewithal to pay travelling expenses, he asked his individual fellowworkers for a loan, but as they were sceptical regarding the prospects of repayment, his request was rather coldly received. One man, however, yielded, and made out an order for a small sum. He was agreeably surprised when, a short time afterwards, his kindness was rewarded with a cheque for £SO. Mrs. Gussie Adler, a recent Ibride, of Brooklyn (U.S.A.), in June caused the arraignment of her hushand, Charles, in j Court on a charge of intending to desert] her for two months and go to California to see the Jeffries-Johnson fight. Mrs. Adler requested the court to put her husband under bonds not to leave Brooklyn. "He may see some one in California he likes better than me," she said. "Oh, Judge, I wish you could put him in prison until after that old fight is over." The court magistrate explained that so long as the husband fulfilled his obligations to the wife he was free to go where he pleased. The disappointed wile I was led soibbing from the court room.

In the course of .an address in Melbourne last week Me. W. H. Judkins re-1 lated that on the previous Sunday night, I under cover of a disguise so complete; that his own father would not have re-i cognised' him, he went into two Chinese i gambling dens.right in. the centre of the city, and watched all that took place atthe gambling tables. He went to another; place shortly afterwards, and could havej got fourteen more.- If he had had two' men only, the same size as himself he could have raided both places.- Later in the same night he, with a friend, went to other places, where-they saw -such fear-' ful immorality that made them shudder. It made them think that, in comparison with modern Melbourne, Sodom and Gomorrah were highly moral places: ■ If he could find out these things, why could not the police do it, seeing it was their duty 7 "The Wonders of Lightning" is the title of one of the most interesting features in the September issue of the New Idea, just to hand. The writer presents some truly wonderful photographs of lightning flashes, and in the course of an interesting article endeavors to rob the thunderstorm of its terrors. Perhaps the most interesting department, this month, is that entitled "Fresh Facts and New Ideas," which in itself is a perfect mine of information and interest. It includes a most fascinating account of the second journey of the great German airship, and the thrilling story of its wreck; a sketch of the new Lady of Government House, New Zealand; reviews of a number of new Australian books; directions for growing mushrooms for profit; an account of Queen Mary's treasures, including the souvenir she received l during her trip to Australasia, and some little stories of the Dowager-Queens of Europe; the whole being illustrated with a number of beautiful photographs.

Mr. J. McCluggage writes to the Stratford Post in reference to Mr. Hine and Mr. Fincham:—l desire on behalf of the Stratford branch of the Liberal Federation, to express our surprise at the statement telegraphed from Wellington as between Mr. Hine and Mr. Fincham, and to express our disgust that anyone should have adopted such a despicable course as the writer of the allegedly forged letter has done with the idea clearly of (l 1 ) either injuring Mr. Hine,' or (2) injuring the Liberal Party (by allowing the impression to get abroad that it was a Liberal "move" to belittle Mr. Hine. In either ease, the action appears utterly contemptible, and while expressing sympathy with Mr. Hine, we beg leave to utterly repudiate any knowledge of the letter supposedly signed by Mr. Fincham. It may be hardly necessary to repudiate such foolishness, but to prevent possible capital being made out of it, my executive considers it advisable to make this, denial and to nsk you to kindly publish this letter. " " '

Coli Malone's concluding lecture to eft* det officers last night was on "Night Operations." Stratford's total rainfall for August was 10.20 inches, and the biggest fall recorded for any one day was 1.41 inches on the 18th. The average rainfall at Stratford for August is <% inches, so they have had more than their share lately.

A gigantic lo§ raft, said to be the largest towed into any port in the world, recently reached San Diego from the mouth of the Columbia river in tow of the tug Dauntless. The raft, which contained 7,000,000 ft of lumber, was 700 ft long and 54ft wide. It was valued at £200,000.

At Montreal recently Mr. Marconi announced his intention to make a series of tests at the end of the summer for the purpose of ascertaining the practicability of sending a message across Canada, from ' the Atlantic to the Pacific. The principal difficulty to Ibe overcome will be that of getting electric waves across the Rocky Mountains, but Mr. Marconi doe« not anticipate that it will be greater than other difficulties which have been overcome, especially in connection with the Swiss Alps.