LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 190, 21 November 1910, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Yesterday was a typical summer day, and the beaeli presented a typical summer scene, scores of amphibious humans basking in the sun and bathing in tlu. sea alternately, as amphibious creatures mostly do. In the Police Court on Saturday morning. before Mr. W. BewJcv, .J.P.,'.Martha Tainu< was further remanded to Friday next on a charge of theft of clothing, valued at £3O, from Mrs. Eupheinia Mcllvride, at Opunake.

Nineteen candidates will sit for matriculation and two for junior scholarships at the University examinations in New Plymouth, beginning on the 29th inst. The examinations will be held in St. Andrew's schoolroom, under the supervision of the Rev. S. S. Osborne.

The Theatre Royal has been booked by Miss Nellie Stewart (who is bringing a specially selected company of thirty artists) for December 31 and January 2, for the production of "Sweet Nell oi Old Drury." The staging will be on a scale of magnificence hitherto unknown in the smaller centres.

A party of Vogeltown residents, viewing Marsland Hill from the new tennis courts, has made the discovery that the fountain recently erected on Marsland Hill has a decided list to the eastward, unless it is that just when they were looking at it there was a "kink" in the atmospheric conditions. They were all sober!

A civil action was taken by the Inspector of Factories, Nelson, in the Magistrate's Court, Motueka, against James Palmer, for the recovery of the amount of steamer fare from Wellington to Motueka—viz., 12s 6d—advanced by the Department of Labor, at Wellington. The amount 12s, Court fees 4s, and Inspector's expenses Cs—total £1 2s Gd—were paid into Court.

The suburb of Fitzroy has lately gained notoriety through its Town Board, and now further attention is being directed to the Board's business by a notice which has been served on Mr. Foote, clerk to the Board, by two ratepayers, directing attention to the fact that no election of members took place in September, as required by the Act, and that therefore there is no board in office. The Board's solicitor is to be asked for his opinion of the position. Said a London constable in evidence, "I kept observation for some time, ana then heard footmarks inside the house." Apropos. A New Zealand city station sergeant paraded his S) o'clock relief. "Show your appointments'!" said he. The men rattled their batons, handcuffs, bullseyes and whistles. "There's been a lot of bur-glar-ies in the city," he continued, "so kape your oies open fer th sound of dynumite! Doolan, Oi see yez hidin' behind your baton, laughin' and shufflin' your fate. Soilence! and right turn, the lot of ye! Jokin', is it. Mar-Teh!"

At the Moa Road Board meeting on Saturday it was decided to experiment in the direction of purchasing hawks' heads at sixpence apiece, on account ol the destructive habits of the bird on lambs. The Taranaki County Council and the Acclimatisation Society are to be asked to take similar action. Some interesting and amusing remarks were disclosed during the discussion of the small birds nuisance which ensued. The member who told a ratepayer, when he heard that a death warrant was out for lier neighbor's fowls, that the Board's poisoned grain "wouldn't kill poultry,'should surely be given credit for the higher motive imputed in his reply. The opinion was generally held that blackbirds and thrushes did even more damage than the sparrow, and it was refreshing to hear one member boldly speak up for this diminutive pest. "As far as my experience goes," he said, "and I have grown oats and wheat for years, I never found the sparrows do very much harm—at any rate, the little beggars have got to get somethin'g to eat!"

Dr. E. J. Dillon, writing on "Continental

Diplomacy" in the Contemporary Review, says that the German Emperor exercises to the full his power to force Europe to ruinous' sacrifice in armaments, so that our heavy taxation and our talk of compulsory service are directly due to Mm. He points out thai in the last 20 years naval expenditure has increased in France by 100 per cent., in England by 150, in America by 500, in Germany by 40, and in Japan by 950 per cent. A large portion of the money and time of the European is wasted in preparing for wars which are neither inevitable, nor useful, nor desirable to the community at large. And that burden is growing every year. The life struggle under the severe conditions created by these heavy sacrifices tends to become even sharper and more ruthless. The remedy for this public ill is obvious: The armaments may be diminished proportionately, or their growth may be stayed by a self-denying ordinance. Proposals to this effect have been circulated informally. All Europe would welcome their realisation with joy. Mr. J. E. Taylor, of Mangorei, Auck-> land, arrived in New Plymouth by the mail train on Saturday night on his return to Auckland from Wellington, where he has been to interview the Minister regarding the support that may be expected from the Government for the Mangere bridge embankment and the two proposed canals. Mr. Taylor is president of the Manukau-Tamaki Canal Promoters' Association, and went in his official capacity at the special request of the Mangere ratepayers and the Auckland Industrial Association, who are keenly interesffed in the project ol' joining up the Waikato river with the Manukau harbor, and the latter with the Waitemata, giving an uninterrupted water carriage from Auckland into the very heart of the North Island. The opinion has lately gained ground in Auckland that the old Whau route must be abandoned in favor of the Tamaki, where the distance to b» excavated is only 1000 yards between the two harbors, and the highest point is 39 feet, whereas, via the Whau river, the distance is one and a half miles, and the maximum height is 130 feet. Mr. Taylor has personally inspected the Tamaki route, and by a series of borings he has proved that no volcanic difficulties are to be encountered, the country traversed showing no stone formation. Many meetings _ have been held in Auckland and districts during the last few months, attended by representatives of the Auckland Chamber of Commerce, the Industrial Association, the Onehunga Borough Council, the Mangere Road Board, and an important meeting is to be held at Hamilton on December 7. so that it looks as if this long projected undertaking is likely to at last eventuate, and as a stepping-stone to the lock system of canal on high-water level, Mr. Taylor has fully convinced all the local bodies affected that in renewing the Mangere bridge, which must be done in the immediate future, a solid embankment, instead of a ferro-concrete bridge, will serve the additional purpose of"a lock for navigation to enclose the upper part of the Manukau Harbor. Mr. Taylor will leave by the Rarawa to-11'.-lit- and during the day will take the opportunity of examining the work done by the new dredge, as he is of opinion that the Faritutu, or a similar dredge, will most economically excavate the canals that will give Auckland an inland waterway of 150 miles.

At Pongaroa on Saturday a settlcß" was fined £3O nnd about £l2 expenses, for allowing his dogs to worry a neighbour's sheep.

''An Act to provide for the settlement of land as fruit-farms," is the explanatory title of the Bill introduced by the Ikon. T. Mackenzie. Ordinary Crown lands may be set aside not exceeding 10,000 acres in the aggregate, for leas*or other methods of disposal in allotments not exceeding "j acres in extent.

A well-known French actor became involved in a discussion with an American, grew heated, drew his card from his pocket, threw it on the table with a tragic air, and stalked out. The American regarded the card for some moments, then took out his fountain pen. wrote •'Admit bearer" above the engraved line, and went oil' to the theatre.

Tt has been stated that if, as the result of the court-martial, Lieut Sutor, of whom the cable has said so much, is dismissed from the service, lie may enter the Church. He was asked about it. "I cannot say definitely," he replied, "what my future' line of life will be. But I intend to speak out a little more. You may relyon the 'speaking-out' part, whether inthe Church or anvwhere else."

In Mexico the daily forecasts of the central meteorological bureau are sent out at an early hour to every post office, and these are inserted in the postmarks of inland letters, in addition to the date and place of issue. These forecasts are made twenty-four hours in advance, so anyone receiving a letter the morning after it is posted, knows what weather the meteorologist expects him to get durin** the day. °

One of the test selections sent out by Boosey and Co. in connection with the A grade bands competition at Palmerston in February is termed "L'Africaine," and the opinion has been expressed that it is probably identical, with the test piece " L'Africaine" played at the band competition a few weeks ago in Dunedin. All doubts are set at rest by a communication from Mr. Laidlaw, conductor of the Kaikorai Band, which won the Dunedin contest,, who states that the two pieces are entirely different and arranged by different persons.

At the Christchurch Magistrate's Court recently counsel for & bookmaker who was defendant in a charge of betting with an infant pleaded for clemency and tried to mollify the Magistrate by reminding him tHat the bookmaker would soon be a thing of the past and cease to trouble the community. Mr. Bishop took a different view, and showed little faith in the bookmaker's amenability to the law depriving hina of his legal status. He replied rather sliarply to counsel: "Oh, I haven't seen the last of the bookmaker. Don't believe that I have."

The following is an interesting re« cord of the velocity of wind, sound, electricity and light: A gentle wind travels about "five miles an hour, a high wind about thirty to forty-five miles an hour, a hurricane eighty to one hundred miles an hour. The velocity of the earth around the sun is calculated to be <56,000 miles an hour, and the velocity of_ the moon is calculated to be 2273 miles an hour. Sound travels through dry air at the rate of more than 1000 feet a second; through water at the rate of 240 feet a second; along steel wire at the rate of about 17,130 feet a second. • Electricity is said to travel along wires'' above ground at the rate of 22,300 miles a second. Light travels at a velocity estimated to be about 186,770 miles a second.

A resident of Palmerston North, who is conversant with the locality of the Bullfinch gold discoveries, informs the Standard that he is confident that it will be the greatest development of gold mining Australia has yet seen. In his opinion it would be & mistake to go there now, as the weather conditions are not alluring. He thinks April would be soon enough, and a prospector, or mining speculator, will have just as good a chance then as he would have going now, as by tlifct time the seething excitement of the present hour will have subsided, and there will be better opportunities for investing to the best advantage. He considers that 1 part of the State is the richest in auriferous deposits of probably any other part of Australia, but for a resident of New Zealand the climate in summer will be found exceedingly trying. A resident of Palmerston North has just received a letter from his brother in New York in which the writer states that a very lorig hot summer has beanexperienced there, "but," adds the correspondent, "thank goodness it is oveK. Cholera martus has been somewhat prevalent and fatal in a number of cases, while many have succumbed to heat apoplexy." It has been remarked before now that the summer in New Zealandvery often is exactly similar to that previously experienced in New York. Aucklanders are interested in the fact that there are at present three aeroplanes under construction in the city. The most advanced is that being buift by Mr. W. Henning, at his works in Custom street. Mr. Henning has now been employed on his aeroplane for about three months, and expects to have everything in readiness for a trial fligllt at the Aero Club's grounds, Papakyja. He has planned his machine on that of M. Bleriot, the French airman, who some time ago crossed the English ChanjieL but the engine will be entirely of Mr. Henning's own design.

Members of the Equitable Building Society of New Plymouth (First and Second Groups) are notified that subscriptions will be due and payable today (Monday), at the Secretary's Office. Carrie street, from 9 a.m. to 12.30, from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., and 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.— Advt.