LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 15, 11 October 1910, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

We would direct the attention of the Borough Council to the danger of leaving the approaches to the Powderham street bridge unfenced, as they have been during the past day or two. The lights are in such a position as to afford "no help to the stranger. Last evening a serious accident was narrowly averted. Some ladies in a trap drove to within a few feet of the (edge of the cutting, the horse just scenting danger and baulking in time. 'lf the Council wants to s°et a death-trap for the public it could not do better than leave the bridge as it is. The New Plymouth Borough Council last night decided to close for the weekly half-holiday on Saturday afternoons instead of Thursday. A shipment of 1,909,000 feet of timber, representing the product of 100 acres of forest, has been despatched from the West Coast' to Melbourne. The Mayor, reading the abattoir manager's report last night, commented on the fact that for the first time for many months the number of bullocks slaughtered at the municipal abattoir exceeded the number of cattle which found their way into local consumption. The fortnightly meeting of the Loyal ligmoTit Lodge was held last eveninoBro. W. Hooker, N.G., presiding. There was a good attendance of members and visiting members. One 'lady candidate was initiated, and one male candidate was proposed for membership. A clearance was granted to a member who has removed to another part of the Dominion. The lodge closed at 8 o'clock, and held a short musical social. The Borough Council last night received a deputation, from several ratepayers in the East and West wards protesting against the new sanitary by-law under which it is necessary for every occupier, irrespective of the area of land attached to his dwelling, to have his premises visited by the borough nightsoil contractor. The Council referred the matter to the Works Committee for a report. The other day a little girl, wheeling her baby brother in a small push-cart, arrived at the kerbing of the footpath, kept on pushing, and down went baby, push-cart and all. In some of the man, streets of the borough the six-inch drop from the sidewalk to the road level has been done away with. If there an •many wee kiddies in charge of pushchairs, the rest of the streets should have similar .attention. Mothers and nurse-girls would welcome the change. Some boys, old enough to know better, did considerable damage to the new work on Marshxnd Hill on Sunday. They waited on the brow of the hill until the Sunday School bell rang, and then set off on a race to the bottom. Blissfully and noisily unmindful that they were clothed in their "Sunday best," they scampered right down the face of the hill, ploughing through the loose earth embankments, and not deigning to use any of the paths that have been recently constructed by the Beautifying Association. The scheme advanced by Dr. Valintine, Chief Health Officer, under which local bodies are to hand over to the hospital boards their powers in the matter of sanitary inspection and disinfection, has met with a decided rebuff at the hands of the New Plymouth Borough Council, which decided last night to adhere to its present system, employing Mr. A. H. Kendall, formerly of the Health Department's staff, and appointed subject to that Department's very hearty approval jit the time. The Council was of opinion that the new scheme would not conduce to greater economy or efficiency. The Oddfellows (Egmont Lodge) held their final social, concert and dance last night in the Foresters' Hall, Gill street. There was a large attendance and the affair was most successful. The following programme was given:—Pianoforte solo, Sister Elsie Bennett; song (encored),, (Miss Ward; song, Mr. H. H. Ambury; song, Miss Rea; song, Bro. A. E. Pratt; duet (encored), the Misses Gilbert; hornpipe, Bro. L. D. Mclvor; song. Miss Rea; song, Miss Ward; song, Bro. A. E. Pratt; song (encored). Master Gilbert; song, Mrs. H. iMoverley; Irish jie. Bro. Mclvor. The piano was kindlv lent by Messrs Hoffmann and Co. Thp argument that the Fitzroy Fire Brigade would cease to exist as a separate institution if Fitzroy joined the borough, is still being used against the Greater New Plymouth scheme. As we have already stated, the merging of Fitzroy into the Borough would not effect the Fitzroy Fire Brigade, except that it will come under the control of the Fire Board and, as a result, probably have a larger revenue. There is nothing in the contention that it would become merely a branch of the New Plymouth Brigade, and thus unable to send competing teams in their own name to tournaments. The captain of the Fitzroy '. Fire Brigade would continue to be its '. captain, and all the other officers would ' hold their rank.. • ■*n ■

The establishment of the Egg Circle is stimulating interest in the poultry industry in the Wairarapa. A rink proprietary is negotiating for a site on which to establish an open-air skating rink on the beach at Gisborne. Hawks are now reported to be considerably on the increase in the Cambridge district, the Auckland Acclimatisation Society having paid for about tHH) of their heads during the past few months. An ■influent"! '":: '.:, ate of Waiapu settlers is at present acquiring oil-bearing o])tions over an extensive area in the YVaiapu county. The options include the siene of th. 1 iS;:uthern Cross Petroleum Company's operations, about 25 years ago, near Tuparoa. The syndicate's application recently came before a meeting of assembled owners in th? Waiapu, anil was endorsed bv those present. The matter will, in due course, come fiefore the Tairawhiti Maori Land Board for consideration.

We are very far from agreeing with the Dean of Newcastle, whose denunciation of the sport was cabled the other day. that racing was responsible for "greater evils than drunkenness," and for "greater fo;s than the Yellow Peril"; indeed, we are satisfied that if the totalisator and the bookmaker were abolished it would become one of the most wholesome pastimes the people could enjoy. But to contend that modern racing is improving the breed of-horses and siting us animals that will be useful in "the defence of the country is absurd.—Lyttelton Times.

An extraordinary phenomenon, Mr. G. M. Thomson remarked in the House of Representatives the other night, had been met with during the laying of a cable between New Zealand and Australia, in the shape of a huge submarine mountain range, which had been discovered during soundings at and it had been .found to rise to within 1000 ft of the surface. The survey vessel had had to make the range, and it had struck him that this might account for the establishment of the Australian cable station in Queensland, and might interfere with the laying of the proposed direct cable. The Prime Minister replied that soundings had been taken in the vicinity of the proposed line, and specialists advised that it was a good route.

A pretty compliment is being paid by the Government to -the English Chamber of Commerce delegates' who visited New Zealand last year. They were particularly interested in the profusion of beautiful ferns to be found in the New Zealand bush, and expressed their admiration in such enthusiastic terms that the Hon. T. Mackenzie for Agriculture), who is greatly interested in this aspect of New Zealand's botany, undertook 'to prepare the distinguished visitors a collection of ferns at a suitable time for transport. Under his direction, Mr. John Ammunson, Government timber expert and Crown lands ranger in the Waimarino district, made a selection, packing them carefully in eight cases, which will he conveyed free to England by courtesy of the New Zealand Shipping Company.