LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 188, 18 November 1910, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Fishing is reported to be good in the streams around the Opunake district.

A poll at Te Kuiti on a proposal to borrow £2:1,51)0 for roads, water, drainage, and fire brigade, was carried by 141 to three.—Press telegram.

At the Police Court yesterday A. E. Sykes was lined 10s and costs (7s) for not connecting with the borough sewer. Mr. J. F. Eustace, J.P., presided.

"I was standing on the back of a tram the other day," said the Rev. Charles White, M.A., at the Congregational Union in Sydney, "when a man shouted out to me, 'Hullo, Wowser.' I lifted my hat to him and he lifted his to me. It seems to me that there is a tremendous outbreak of irreverence in these days. We find that we are insulted in this way continually. I don't know how much there is behind it; but we have to fight this word 'wowser' down. I dare say it won't stick, but there is the irreverence that we have to contend with."

In the House of Representatives on Wednesday, Mr. Okey, for Taranaki, asked the Premier if the Government would take immediate steps to bring about a settlement of the longstanding dispute with reference to Mokau lands, and, if necessary, would the Government bring down legislation this session to enable it to set up a commission to enquire into all the circumstances of the case. Sir Joseph Ward (in reply) said that the case was now before Cabinet, and as soon as a decision was arrived at he would be glad to indicate what the> Government intended to do in the matter.

An extraordinary strike took place on August 30 at Coney Island, the fashionable amusement ground of New York, Forty women, concert hall singers, paraded the streets of Coney Island clad in yellow, blue, and red tights, and shouted "Down with Coney." Men marched alongside the Amazons, and pounded on tins. "We got ours," was another cry of the women, who, after making a tour of the town, left for New York in disgust, vowing that they would never again appear at Coney. And the bother was all due to the management of the Gardens having decreed the stoppage of the sale of liquor in the concert halls.

A novel sight was witnessed while passing through Tahoraite a few days ago. According to the. Advocate, a horse was eating its feed out of a bag on -the ground, while a number of fowls were scratching around the bag, greatly to the annoyance of the horse. After the animal had hunted the fowls away several times, lie seemed to grow despondent, and walked a few yards away. Suddenly an inspiration seemed to occur to him, for he walked up to the bag again, grasped it in his teeth, and placed it on a stump about three feet high. He then stood watching the fowls with evident satisfaction, as they made futile efforts to reach the chaff.

Recently a Maori boy living at Ranana, on the Wanganui River, wrote a letter to King George V., and has just received a reply, which, with the letter, is appended: "Ranana, July 29th, 1910. Dear King George V.—l am a Maori boy. I live in New Zealand in the North Island and up the Wanganui River. 1 am very glad that you are going to be a King. I was very sorry that King Edward! VII. is dead.—l remain your affectionate boy, Paori Hoori. My address is, Master Paori Hoori, Ranana, up Wanganui River, North Island." The reply reads:—"Buckingham Palace. The Private Secretary is commanded by the King to thank Mr. Paori Hoori for his letter of kind sympathy. September 9, 1910."

A whisky bottle, sealed with pitch, caught the eye of a resident of Levin as he was riding along the beach near Hokio last Sunday (reports the Horowhenua Chronicle). On picking up the bottle he found it contained writing, which, on further investigation, proved to be as follows:—17. sth Series. Lat. 44.57, long. 75.51. Midday, s.s. Medic, 14th February, 1909. If'the finder of this document will kindly send it to G. S. Alexander, care of Messrs. Crook, Milnes, and Jones, solicitors, Cheapside, London, England, I shall have pleasure in rewarding him in a suitable manner. This is wanted for scientific purposes, to trace the ocean current.— G. S. Alefounder. Witness, J. T. Brown, fourth engineer." A comparison of dates shows that the bottle was drifting for over a year and a-half.

Before Mr. Eenrick, S.M., on Wednesday, judgment for plaintiff by default, in the following cases was given:—E. Mcßeynolds v. W. J. Matthews, £8 15s Bd, costs 18s 6d; W. L. Martin v. Geo. Tapp, £25 7s 4d. costs £2 14s; A. E. Surrey v. S. J. Candish, £26 16s lid, costs £1 3s; E. Vickers v. F. G. Smith, £4!) 5s 9d, costs £3 7s Gd; L. Williams (Mr. Thomson) sued J. B. Gopperth (Mr. Paterson) for £6 os for breach of warranty. The cause of the action was that plaintiff bought a cow by public auction which was sold by defendant, and who gave a written guarantee that the animal was sound. The cow calved in about a week after the sale, and was not what the guarantee represented. After evidence for plaintiff was taken, defendant's solicitor consented to judgment for £2 10s and costs (£2 Iss).

What almost might seem a comment on ex-President Roosevelt's belief as expressed in the Republican State platform drafted by him at Saratoga, that the tariff has not increased the cost of living, came to Chicago in a telegram from Omaha, Nebraska. The message states that the big packers in that city had nearly 50,000,000 eggs in cold storage waiting for advanced prices. These eggs were purchased six months before when the prices were low, and were to be placed on sale when about ten months old at greatly increased rates. The packers hope to reap a profit of at least 5d a dozen, and the tariff imposed by the Payne-Aldrich Bill of 2V s d a dozen on imported eggs permits them to hold this necessary article of food against the needs of the public. Thi* price has already advanced a little, but the packers are waiting for further profits.

Among the cases on the criminal calendar now before the Wellington Supreme Court is that in which a football player named Arthur Wilson—popularly known as "Ranji" Wilson—is charged in connection with injury sustained by another player named Duilio Calcinai during the progress of the Athletic-Poneke senior grade match on August C. The case was referred to in the charge of the Grand Jury by the Chief Justice (Sir Robert Stout). His Honor said:— "So far as my experience goes this is the first case of its kind that has come before the Supreme Court. Luckily, the injury inflicted proved less serious than was at first anticipated, but the offence is still a grave one. Football as it used to be played in the olden days was a sport that evervone would like to see encouraged. I should have thought that tho regulations of the various clubs would have been sufficient to prevent cases nf this kind coining before the Court. As an old footballer, it seems to me entirely inept to merely punish a footballer by disqualifying him for a game or a season. The thing would be to disqualify the team containing offending members. If that were done teama>would onieklv :Bee.A»tofci<vvthftt ..im.,

The inquest on Albert Sinson, the vietim of the coacli accident on Wednesday, will be hold this morning before the District Coroner.

A male patient escaped from the Porirua Mental Hospital on SaturdayAt latest advices hU whereabouts had not been ascertained.

Pickpockets were at work in Christchurch on the Metropolitan TrottingX Club's grounds recently, and a number ol people were robbed of various sums or money..

'•Considering the salaries, the cost of rent in Wellington is out of proportion to rents obtaining in other parts," was an opinion expressed by the Chief Justice iu Wellington. The petitioner in a divorce case at Dunedin was a woman whose husband, had left her at Pulmerston North eleven years ago and since then had sent her nothing more than two two-penny stamps.

Irvine Berlen, of New. York, is making £1<),000 a year by writing "popular" songs. They are without any literary merit, and are all mere jingles. He seems to know the American public pretty welL for a man 22 years of age. By the recent frost in Ashburton great damage was done to the stone fruits. Apricots as large as pigeon'seggs are "settled," plums fall off at the touch, walnuts are blackened to the leaves, yet the fruit on an old peach tree here and there has escaped. A mischievous Nelson boy, who had. climbed a tree, dropped a fir comb on * horse beneath, and initiated a chapter, of accidents. The horse, which was in. a trap, bolted, and brought about a collision with another trap, driven by a lady. The lady was injured, and both vehicles were badly smashed up. An American editor appeals to his subscribers: "If you have frequent headaches, dizziness and fainting spells, accompanied by 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." The Spanish Minister of War is taking action with a view to eradicating the influence of public inns upon the soldiery. It is pointed out that Spanish; soldiers frequent hotels to a much greater extent than the troops of other countries. The publicans openly preach republicanism to them, and as they have shown themselves capable of exercisinggreat influence over the men, the Government has determined to suppress the sedition-mongers.

In Canterbury the earth hunger is reported to be very marked. There are phenomenal demands for land by the landless—demands that the Government, finds it impossible to satisfy. The Government was recently urged to acquire certain large private estates for subdivision. In some cases the owners d<v not wish to sell; in others, they haw disposed of a portion, and the balance they wish to retain. In some cases high valuations prove an insuperable obstacle to eligible properties being taken compulsorily under the present Act.

The coal trade continues to improve each year in the Dominion. It is anticipated that this year's output for the ten months of this year, has exceeded its output for the ten months of 1908, the company's record year, and anticipates putting on something equal tothe 1908 output for the two months to go. For the week ending October 22nd, the Westport district mines produced 14,159 tons 12 cwt., Greymouth 6620 tons 5 cwt., Newcastle 56,070. Of the' last named, 3778 tons were sent to New Zealand, 18,080 distributed in the Commonwealth, and 34,122 shipped to foreign ports.