LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 139, 21 September 1910, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The Danneviike Advocate hastens to record the fact that (luring the past seven weeks nine lunatics have been committed to the Porirua Mental Hospital from that district. £)annevirke is not a "dry" area.

At the S.M. Court yesterday morning, a ease ' was adjourned in which the amount involved was five shillings. Mr. Fitzherbert remarked from the Bench that the fees would amount to more than the claim.

The Taranaki County Council has received a departmental reply to its application to have the remnant of the Henui .road district merged in the county by Order-in-Council. It is somewhat doubtful, though, whether the Government cnu'.d be advised to take any action in the matter under the existing law. Parsnip wine seemed to be the stimulant which was the disturbing element in two cases heard at the TCangiora Magistrate's Court. In one it was the undoing of a prohibited pcuon, being adjudge 1 to be "intoxicating liquor," which he was forbidden to touch or taste. In the other case it had caused a husband to use violence and administer black eyes to his wife, which resulted in a separation being granted. A Wairavapa farmer, in conversation with a Daily Times representative, stated that he was a firm believer in having a few sheep on his farm as well as dairy cattle. Sheep, if well attended to, he stated, and kept on fair feed, would always be a help to the farmer. In the first place, they ate ofY many undesirable weeus; and, secondly, they gave good returns in wool and lambs.

Apparently, Archbishop Wright of Sydney has taken a pointer from the Labor party in Parliament. He is anxious to abandon vestments, the wearing of which he regards as a mediaeval custom quite unworthy of these civilised times and manners. The drift of opinion is towards a homely simplicity in dress, and an abandonment of formidable robes. The time is coming when a Bishop will deliver his best sermon in a plain sac suit, and no one will think of offering any objection, provided the sermon is a good one. In the Magistrate's Court yesterday morning judgment for plaintiff by default was entered in the following undefended cases:—rß. H. Chaney (Mr. Wright) v. W. R. Arthur, claim £2 19s 6d, and costs 13s; E. Dingle (Mr. Wright) v. Peter Kelly, jun., claim £4 17s lOd, costs £1 4s 6d; Cecil Gray (Mr. Wright) v. Wm. B. Loveridge, claim £2 2a, and costs 10s; McEwen Bros. (Mr. P. .E Wilson) v., Mrs. W. Youngman, claim £3 14s 9d, and costs 6s; D. Berry and Co. (Mr. Grey) v. Fred. W. Retter, claim £lO, and costs £1 4s; A. H. Herbert (Mr. P. E. Wilson) v. Geo. Hill, claim £4 5s (id, and costs £1; same v. Arthur J. Hill, claim £4 Is 2d, and costs 17s.

We all have a great respect for Sir Robert Stout as a man of solid attainment, and high character (writes Frank Morton). In some ways, too, he is a man of singular breadth of mind. But in his official capacity he does do things that seem queer to the layman. We have seen him leaping into the place of the prosecutor, over and over again, and quite recently a jury refused to endorse his action in such a manner. A little while ago he sought to prevent university students from smoking. And now he has forbidden the use of tobacco to a young fellow .admitted to probation. There is, in fact, an amazing aged-spin-sterish streak in Sir Robert. He is rather full of whims that are as far out of date as the plesiosaur. Apart from cigars, which don't count, I don't suppose I ever smoke more than half a pound of tobacco a week; so that I can speak as a moderate man. I think that to condemn a young fellow to abstention from tobacco, when he is ordered to stay indoors every night after eight o'clock, smacks of pure barbarism. As to the , students—well, is it to be decided that the students have no rights? Person- ! ally, were I a student of this University, I should have great pleasure in telling Sir Robert, good man, to mind his own superlatively adjectived business. The long and the short of, it is that Sir Robert is a good man spoiling: he needs discipline, if ever a man did. He has really, come to regard himself as a man of superlative qualities and incomparable excellence. He is not that at all. He is a shrewd Scot who, having made some money, got into politics, and then passed to the Supreme Court and permanent security. He does not count among the big men of the world, and in New Zealand itself there are many men vastly more .brilliant and notable in their generation. But because Sir Robert is a good man it is a pity that he should go to pieces on what is, after all, merely personal conceit, and a pathetically exaggerated idea of this importance in the scheme of things. Meantime, it is cheering to reflect that the young fool of a probationer in Auckland will smoke just as much as he chooses, and that neither the police nor Sir Robert will be able to prevent him from smoking. Regarding the appointment received in England by Colonel Davies, the London correspondent of the Wellington Post writes:—'"The offer that has ibeen made to the Inspector-General s of the New Zealand Forces, must' have an important bearing on the reorganisation of the defences of the Dominion, which is now proceeding. It would be invidious to say that Cdlonel Davies is the best.soldier in New Zealand. But it is not invidious to say that he was given command of a composite column in South Africa. Nor is it invidious to mention that the War Office, from what it has seen of him in training here during the year, has offered him command of a brigade, which carries the rank of Brigadier-General. .This appointment would in the ordinary course cover a period of four years, and the question for New Zealand to consider, if it sanctions his acceptance of the position, is what will be offered to keep General Davies in the service of the country at the end of the terin . He is, of course, a New Zealand officer, and his acceptance of the position is subject to the permission of the New Zealand authorities. In view of the defence agreement which was come to last year, the War Office would not offer permanent employment to an oversea officer except in the way of training, so Colonel Davies will presumably return to New Zealand at the end of the term. This will raise the whole question of the employment of general officers in the Dominions, and will necessitate a bold decision of the question of providing positions of sufficient emolument in New Zealand, or refusing to send to England for training held officers of senior rank. Evidently things are developing faster than they were expected to. It will obviously be unfair to stop the avenues of promotion tor promising officers." The first of a series of monthly phonograph parlor concerts took place at Mr. C. Carter's shop on Monday evening. In of the inclemency of the weather, a fair attendance listened: to the September programme of Edison Amberol records, which consisted of to range of. music from comic to opera numbers of J high class. A most enjoyable evenin» was spent.

The wift pWjj&ity 1m the next to fall in'with the SatUrdfcjf v' half-holiday rule. There is a fair dajly attendance of bathers at the municipal baths, and the numbers are beginning to show the. usual, increase at this season of the year. The unsafe state of Morley street, near Western Park, was brought under the notice of the Borough Council last night by Cr. Holibs, who said the street should be repaired or closed. It wa» decided that the engineer should effect immediate repairs in the worst portions, and prepare estimates of the cost of formation and renietalling. In the Magistrate's Court yesterday i\/f'. anna Raill, of Koru, sued the D.O.A. in the estate of J. J. Patterson, of Dannevirke, for £lO4, being rent due on a lease of tramway rights through her property, under an agreement which was produced, but the existence of which, had been denied to the D.O.A. bv the bankrupt. Mr. A. H. Johnstone, in»ti ucted by Mr. A. R, Standish, appeared for the plaintiff, and Mr. J. J. Patterson himself for the defendant. The -Magistrate reserved his decision. During Saturday night's gale the root of a bakehouse at Lower Hutt became suddenly infected with the aeroplane craze (says the Wellington Times). Ifc arose jauntily, and soared up proudly for a few seconds, but the flight waft on y a brief one. The roof mad! a sue oessful descent, except that a portion of came into contact with the baker's nose, and that organ had the worst oi e,f B an « of men spent part of the Sabbath in restoring the fallen monoplane to its original Tphere usefulness as a bakehouse roof. Yesterday the Kaupokouni Co-opera->vae Dairy Factory, Ltd., paid out £12,198 lis 9d in the shape of bonuses oa last season's milk supplv, being 1V,4 per lb of butter-fat. To* this is added interest on shares, rebates to shareholders on their purchases at the company's store, and £3439 8s Od for the AVust milk supply, making a total pay-out ot ■€16.956 Os lid. fhe Lowga?th <S,. O £- erative Dairy Company paid out £675 to suppliers yesterday, £393 beinir by rank ° f b ° nUS and £2B ° for Au « uß^ There will be no hot baths available «t the municipal baths to-day, owing to the plant being under repair.—Advt.