LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 160, 15 October 1910, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

It is expected that the Pohokura section of the Stratford-Ongarue railwar will he opened for traffic about the end of this year. The Patea Borough Council has decided to call a public meeting to discuss Mr Metcalfe s reticulation water supply scheme and a complete modern aewa°e system, at an estimated cost of £17,000. In Mr. Williams' scheme for saving time in cricket championship matches he claims that the over of eight balls instead of six will save one minute in each of three overs, not one minute in each over, as erroneously stated in our report of the meeting of the .Cricket Association. At the annual meeting of the Wellington and Taranaki Wool, iSkin and Hide Buyers' Association, held in Wellington on the 7th inst., representatives were present from Auckland, Stratford Patea, Wanganui, Hunterville,' Feildi"--' Palmerston, Napier, Dannevirke and Masterton. Mr. A. Christensen (Patea) was re-elected president, and Mr. A. EHott (Palmerston) re-elected secretary. The services in Queen-street Church to-morrow will be conducted by the Rev. John Nixon morning and evening The Boy Scouts Will parade at 7 p.m. The Kev. Nixon will preach on "The Ideal Life." All seats free.—-Adyt.

What are described as the "gay doings" of King Alfonso during his recent visit to England have caused great displeasure in Spanish Court circles. Weather permitting, the Taranaki Garrison Band will render a programme of music in Pukekura Park to-morrow afternoon, commencing at 3 o'clock.

The thirsty souls of Masterton are doing good work for the no-license party, for (says the Wairarapa Daily News) lhey are p:-?t'- : before the Court on one charge or another. Trade is reported to. be on the improvement throughout the whole of New Zealand, and commercial houses anticipate a good year, though nothing in the shape of a boom is likely to occur. People who complain of a rate of 2s in the £ on the annual value would be interested to learn that in the Hebrides, off the coast of Scotland, the rates amount to £1 3s 4d in the £1 on the animal value.

The Eltham Rifles will celebrate their tenth anniversary on Thursday next by holding a re-union of past and present members of the corps. In the afternoon a rifle match will be fired between past and present members, and there will be a social reunion at night. A South Canterbury farmer, who uses a patent bird trap with which to catch sparrows, drew a cheque for £ll from the Levels County Council last month, having caught 220 dozen birds. He did not devote his time to the business, but simply had the trap set while he was engaged at other work. A singularly malicious act of destruction on the part of burglars occurred in Chicago on September 24. The criminals broke into the residence of Mr. W. E. Muse, a leading company lawyer, and after having looted the place of everything in the way of valuables they set about destroying the house by fire. The building was a magnificent mansion that cost £IO,OOO. "I have been ordered to take a spoonful of whisky every four hours," said a first offending inebriate at the Magistrate's Court, at Oamaru, the other morning. ''Evidently he forgot the spoon ant misjudged the dose in consequence," remarked Sergeant Stagpoole. As a penalty for the. offence consequent on his forgetfulness, defendant was fined ss, in default 24 hours' imprisonment. A newcomer to New Plymouth has discovered in Mount Egmont an infal'.ibk weather indicator. -'When the mountain is clear," he said, - 'it is going k rain; when the mountain is not clear iv is raining." "But it's fine now," protested the Taranaki native. "Wait "till you get to the other side of the road,' retorted the stranger, and made towards an umbrella emporium. Anglers in Canterbury report that the rivers are not yet in their best trim for fishing, and no takes of a sensational nature have so far been recorded. Messrs Lavery and Cowlishaw, fishing at Motukarara on Wednesday evening secured 19 fish of fair size. In South Taranaki trout are fairly plentiful, one angler 'having secured about fifty already this season from the smaller streams on the Waimate Plains.

"The Anglican mission in Wellington has caused a remarkable revival of interest in the work of the Church," says the Times. "The mission has, in several rebeen unique, for it is the first time in the history of the Anglican Church in New Zealand that missioners have come in such a body from the Mother Country to spur on the Church here to further effort. The missioners' services so far, whether in city or township, have certainly proved eminently successful, and their influence will unquestionably be felt long after their departure. Their visit will stimulate the local clergy to renewed zeal, whilst it has drawn back to the folds many, who by indifference and lack of sympathy, have drifted away from the Church. The series of addresses have all had a very high ideal. The missioners in particular supplied much food for thought individually, in their remarks on the duties of citizenship, and the question of business and commercial morality generally."

A meeting of representatives of shipping, mercantile and insurance offices was held in Mr. E. W. Garner's board room yesterday afternoon to considei the question of observing the weekly half-holiday on Saturday instead of Thursday. Mr. F. P. Corkill presided. There was an attendance of seventeen, including representatives of two auctioneering firms, whose "mart day" is Saturday. The meeting was fairly unanimous in the opinion that Saturday was the more suitable day, and on the motion of Messrs. C. T. Mills and J. S. McKellar the following resolution was carried: "That it is desirable that the commercial and mercantile offices and auctioneers' establishments should close foi the half-holiday on Saturday instead of Thursday as at present, and that Messrs. Corkill, Miljs and Garner be appointed a committee to formulate a scheme for the purpose of obtaining the opinion of the majority of persons in business, such committee to report on the question at a meeting on this day week." "Opium Mag," a very old acquaintance of the Dominion police force, reneweo her acquaintance with the Courts yesterday morning, when she was charged with drunkenness. The woman is some G2 or 63 years of age, and was until recently an inmate of the indeterminate ward at the New Plymouth gaol, whence she was released on probation and given work in the country. She worked thert for a few weeks, and then came to New Plymouth, where she worked another week. Then she commenced drinking again, with a man who had just been released from prison. She pleaded for another chance, and promised to go to the Salvation Army Home at Wellington. The Magistrate adjourned the case to give her a chance to put her good resolution into effect. Hers was a difficult case to deal with. To have her detained in the indeterminate ward she would need to get a three months' sentence. In the event of Dr. Findlay's proposed Probation Act being passed it would be possible to return her to the indeterminate ward as a protective measure without sentencing her to a further term of imprisonment.