LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 183, 12 November 1910, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

At the Magistrate's Court yesterday morning, before Mr. H. S. Fitzherbert, S.M., a first-offending inebriate was convicted and discharged.

The Japanese newspapers continue to manifest enmity towards the United States. This hostile attitude strongly recalls that taken up against Russia previous to the war witli Russia. "The proper sphere in which Japan has a right to expand," says the Chu Shimbun, "is the vast Pacific Ocean."

The pupils of St. Joseph's School were out for a picnic on Thursday, when they spent the day in the Ngaere Gardens. The usual picnic games and the sights and picturesque beauty of the Gardens were made more enjovable by the ideal summer weather which prevailed. New Plymouth was reached on the return journey at 7.30 p.m. Mr. J. B. Westlake, one of the candidates for the vacant seat on the Pahiatua Borough Council, in an advertisement in the local paper, states that what is wanted are ''capable men who will catch the bull by the horns, not namby-pamby, hatless, brainless wind-, bags, who are always trimming for votes." The ratepayers showed what they thought of him by returning him at the bottom of the poll. A Wellington buy, with smv , his chums, was letting oil' fire-wo-ks on Xov. o when one of the kind know ; n? doublebangers exploded in his hn injuring the finders and blinding ]■ for sometime. His face was also scorched. After he had been attend--l to av a neighbouring chemist's sh. Ue was removed to his horn*.. ?,;.r,-.- ;ni;v!es J .o other boys whr .vjre also connected with sm>l! i;.V) oceehnic displays last S.mirday ;>. ."■orted from various parts

The sale of work on beln'f of trie ; ackblock3 Mission League realise bout £45 in gross takings, a result which must be highly gratifying to the executive of the League and to the energetic secretary and treasurer, Mi.?s f!otlfrey. During Thursday evening Miss Gapper, of Temuka, sang "Lovelj Spring" (Cowen) and "I Remember * Meeting You" in response to a heartv eirore. A merry half-hour was provoked by Madam Souriantes' "Laughter P.tnvau," in which Misses Godfrey, Carte, Record and J. Hempton part. The n-ind-up auction sale, e-vlucted by M> K. C. Webster, effected -. satisfacto - clearance of the various :■(;"'<;.

The services in Qne»..- -?i ' iuirch tomorrow will be n- follows:—Morning, at 11, Rev. 11. - 1 ;.H\vis; Evening .at 7, Rev. H. Sha'-.• ;-\it Road, 11 and 7, Rev. J. N' v ->". ■.':..v::iversary).—Advt.

An Otaki poultryman has used his incubators to advantage this season, having hatched out about 4000 chickens. During the past few weeks lie has been sending away 680 dozens of eggs each week. Over eight thousand eggs per week is a good record for one poultry farm, and shows that the owner is doing things in a bi<* way at Otaki.

An American editor appeals to his subscribers in this unique way: "If you have frequent headaches, di7ziness, and fainting spells, accompanied bv chills, cramps, chilblains, epilepsy and jaundice, it is a sign that you are not well, but are liable to die any minute. Pay your subscription a year in advance, and thus make yourself solid for a good obituary notice in this paper." The King's po> ; ? medal has been received by the Covernor of New South Wales for presentation to Senior-Con-stable Gates, formerly of Xew Zealand, in recognition of his bravery in an encounter with a desperado named Crook, who had broken into a house at North Sydney and shot the owner, Mr. Sinclair, when the latter grappled with him. The details of this event, which took' place last year, will be well remembered. A full parade is to be fixed. Rua has persuaded the native owners to consent to him purchasing 300 acres of Waimana No. lc Block. Rua has in view the establishing of a township in this vicinity, and if his application for the transfer is granted at the next sittings of the Native Land Court at Opotiki, he will have the land surveyed into sections and placed on the market. It! is also reported that Rua has entered into partnership with a storekeeper, for the purpose of establishing and carrying on a general storekeeping business on the land in question. The rules for the secondary schools shooting competition for 1910 have been issued. The match is open to one team of eight pupils under the age of nineteen years from each secondary school having a defence cadet corps. Seven shots, with one compulsory sighter, at 200 yds and 500 yds will be fired. At the longer distance the Bisley figure target will be used. This will be the eighth annual competition. Last year thirteen schools entered and the contest was won by Nelson College with 606 points . 'Woolgrowers in the Hawera district must lose a large amount of money annually through forwarding their wool to the markets in a mixed state. Owing to the local sheds lacking the conveniences necessary to the proper getting up of the clip and the scarcity of labour at this season of the year, Mr. J. McGregor, expert in woolclassing, has been engaged to class the bulk of the clip in this district at Patea. It is considered by competent men that wool cleanly and well got up will command another Id per pound all round. Already 1000 bales have been offered.

With a view to fostering the scientific side of agriculture in the Dominion, the New Zealand Government is expected shortly to mate an important appointment (says the Standard of Empire). The High Commissioner in London (Sir Wm. Hall-Jones) has been asked to inquire for a suitable man with a thoroughly good scientific knowledge of agriculture, in order that his services might be obtained'for the Dominion Agricultural Department. We understand that inquiries are to be specially directed towards Canada and Denmark, where developments have recently taken place providing valuable object lessons for New Zealand agriculturists.

At this time of the year the scarcity of potatoes is felt very keenly, especially among the wage-earning classes (savs the Auckland Herald). The supplies'of old tubers have become almost depleted, and consequently prices are very high, the wholesale price being about £lO per ton, and the retail price about 81b or 91b for one shilling. This means a considerable item for large families. New potatoes have not been very plentiful so far, and have been bringing from 2%d to 3d per lb wholesale, making them rather an expensive luxury. It is gratifying to know, however, that crops are likely to be good, and probably in a week or two a plentiful supply will be available, with a consequent reduction in price.

A seven-year-old Calais boy named Gerard Vandenbrocque is the delighted recipient of a long letter from the Pope, written entirely by the Pontiff's own hand, in reply to a communication addressed to His Holiness by the boy thanking him for the papal decree fixing the age for the first communion at seven years. The Pope's letter, which was accompanied by a silver medal, begins as follows: "My dear Gerard,-—Your nice letter was true consolation for me, for if, as the Psalmist says, it is through the mouths of babes and sucklings that the Lord received perfect praise, Himself being the One that gives them being, it is verily He who inspires the decree." Tn conclusion, the Pope sends little Gerard and his family a special papal blessing.

A new treatment of dipsomania is announced by a medical paper. A patient who has been cured was an apparently hopeless case. The doctor who reports the case then prescribed a •'drug," to be taken in minute doses to begin with. It is a violent poison, he told the patient, and can be absorbed only gradually. In time the system becomes inured to it. It must be mixed with the patient's wine or spirits at the rate of one drop the first day, two the second, and so on, until the system is able to assimilate a whole glass of it. The drug will discolor the wine.. The dipsomaniac dutifully followed these directions and noticed that, as the doctor had said, the color of his wine grew paler as he added more of the "drug." He observed also that he became accustomed to drinking less and less wine as he increased the proportion of the drug. At last he drank with pleasure a-gl^sful-of the d-rti? with only a dash of wine in it. He i!= now absolutely cured, and feds no craving whatever for wine or spirits. He went to thank his doctor, and said: "Now, doctor, tell me what that marvellous drug was which has made another man of me?" "Water," said the doctor. v. ____