LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 220, 28 December 1910, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The Patea borough ratepayers have rejected proposals to raise £17,000 for a water and drainage scheme. Each issue was placed.before the ratepayers separately. The'voting wa3: Water only: 48 for and 55 against! Drainage: 31 for and 67 against. . i An indication of the. enormous, number of rats which are brought to the Thames by shipping was given recently' by an official of the Port of London. "In cats' milk alone,'' he said, "we spend £BOO per annum. That sum is spent for the cats which kill the rats brought by the ships, A bookmaker who could not meet his obligations narrowly escaped a rough handling at the Morven race meeting recently, and it wa's only the tactful work of the police that saved him. Ee, took the names and addresses of those who iheld winning tickets, and promised to post the money to them. It appears that the time has come when steps should lie taken to put a stop to reckless cycling around corners.' Yesterday morning a cyclist was riding along Powderham street, and when neaY ing Robe-street south another cyclist came at a terrific pace around the corner, taking the whole sweep of,.the road, and crashed into him. Miraculously, neither, rider was seriously hurt.

As a result of a meeting of fanners at Hastings, convened to hear Mr. Lysnar's address re the handling of .frozen meat in London, ax resolution .endorsing the recommendations of the Investigation Committee, in favor of better facilities being provided, was on Friday cabled from Napier to the port of London authorities, who 'have replied stating that it would receive every consideration. Red tape. The train which ran from New Plymouth, to Stratford on Christmas Eve returned empty, the Stratford stationmaster being either unable or unwilling to allow passengers to travel by it. Had the train been scheduled as a passenger train to New Plymouth there would, we are informed, have been quite a number of passengers. New Plymouth people should work "for a late "through" train from Hawera next star.

A deed requiring nerve and pluck, and which would perhaps make the majority of young men quake, was performed by Miss Cissy Passmore a few days ago (says the Kumara Times). > A rather bad-tempered heifer had got away from Mr. Murphy and found its way to Mr. Passmore's farm, and when it was being driven away the animal charged straight at Miss Passmore. The little lady, instead of turning on her heels and screaming, as one might expect under th"e circumstances, picked up a stone and stood her ground unflinchingly, and when the animal was but a yard away, threw the stone and struck the animal on the head, killing it instantly.

WHOOPING COUGH. This disease is more likely to be coa. -tooted when a child lias a cold. Ac< cording to published statistics mofls deaths Tesult from whoopinsr cough than from scarlet fever, yet in all our experience <we have never heard of a <fase that did not recover when Chamberlain's Cough Remedy was used. It liquifies the tough mucus, makes it easy to expectorate and renders the paroxysm 1 of "coughing less frequent and less severe.

Parliament, originally prorogued till January .sth, is now prorogued to Feb* ruary 9th. ' Latham, the well-Tvnown aviator, aeroplaning at Los Angeles, shot ducks while in the air. At Stratford yesterday the Fitzroy Tennis Club beat the W.Y.M.I. by 107 games to 91. 1 A Homo cable states that 4940 bovs and girls at Nottingham were, taught swimming during *the year. We acknowledge receipt of a useful pocket-case of pencil, knife and cork screw from Messrs. L. D. Nathan and Co. At the Waitemata Swimming Club'i sports, held on Friday at Auckland, M. E. Champion reduced the record for 100 yds from 04 l-6sec to G4see. Old-age pensioners are advised that the Postal Department has arranged to pay old-aga pensions, on Saturday next from 9 a.m. till 1, p.m. only. The lonic, which has sailed from Hobart for Wellington, landed 107 passengers at Hobart and 607 ar,e proceeding to New Zealand.

The New York caWegrammer tells us that Dr. Cook, the Arctic explorer, lias landed. A typewritten interview reports that he declared his hope of rehabilitating himself in the eyes of his fellow coun-. trymen. ' A runaway in Devon street on Sat-' urday morning caused a little excitement, but no very serious damage was done, excepting, perhaps, the snapping of an iron verandah post near Messrs. Okey, Son. and Arnold's hardware premises. A Brisbane cable advises that Mr. Maxwell, the Queensland Government sugar expert, is proceeding to New Zealand. During his five weeks' stay heTe he will look into certain matters for the Dominion (jfovernmemt, and will consult with Sir Joseph Ward. The staff of the local raiyway station rose to the occasion splendidly during the holiday rush. They seemed to have time for anything and everything, lending a hand here -and a hand there, and earning the hearty appreciation of everybody. . *

The police report for the holidays is ivery satisfactory. There was almost an entire absence of drunkenness, while instances of disorderly behaviour were unknown. The only occupant of the police cells during the three.days' holidays was an unfortunate inebriate, who as a first offender, leniently dealt with, being convicted and discharged! A Christmas gift of a very appropriate nature for the Old People's Home was made by Messrs. H. Collier and. Co. last week. It was the presentation ol a gramaphone together with a dozen records for the machine. The inmates assuredly have already appreciated it, and, will, for the future no doubt derive much pleasure and amusement from a round of the records.

The railway traffic inwards and out-! wards to New Plymouth during .the holi-1 days was very heavy, surpassing by far that of the same period of last year. The exact figures are not yet available. The stationmaster (Mr. Day) informs us in support of the above statement that the race .train which went out last evening was, \ the ' heaviest yet recorded, and contained over 1000 passengers. » Owing to the recklesness of a party of young fellows who> were driving in a gig into town on Saturday night Mr. J. George met with a somewhat serious accident. Both parties were driving, and the gig ran into Mr. George's vehicle, upsetting it and throwing out the occupants, including Mrs. George ana child. Mr. George , was considerably knocked about, and, on latest accounts, wa3 not able to leave home.- It is understood that the young fellows referred to came into collision with another vehicle the same evening. The Christmas meeting pf the Taranaiki Jockey Club was pronouncedly successful from every point'of view. The attendance was very large on both day's. Speculation was exceedingly brisk, vso* much so that no, less than £lß4o,more went through >the totalisator than at lafct Christmas meeting. -The racing was decidedly interesting, thanks to the handieapper and the starter. .Unpleasant incidents comprised but a slight accident and a mild protest; and last, but by no means least, the weather, after one or j two false starts, ran straight. It will ■ be .readily understood, then, that with its! pretty surroundings, where family parties piclcnicked in the shade, with its emerald ' lawn, where the fair sex basked in the' sun in the glory of their, holiday warpaint of multi-luied",parasols, impossible hats .and indescribable costumes, the course was a place of beauty and a joy unto all'patrons of the sport of kings. Instrumental to the success of the gathering, also, was the music of "the books," who sang their last lay on the Course in, a cadence of unalloyed unison! It cannot foe said that as far as New Plymouth I is concerned, they went out unhonored and unsung, as they were well supported. ! .It is rather a notable fact (writes the I New Zealand Herald) that whilst holi- 1 daymakers who spend their lives in the country, find their way eagerly to the cities, the townbred do not find in a I similar change to the country half of, the. satisfaction which might be anticipated; the most that is usually attempt- j ed is a residence of a few weeks in the summer at the nearest seaside suburb (which increases in attraction in exact ratio to its accessibility to city pleasures) and on rare occasions when excursions further afield are undertaken they are not, as a rule productive of the expected pleasure, and more often than .not only serve by their lack'of the accustomed surroundings to enhance still more the advantages of town life. That the latter is an artificial life even the dwellers in the city themselves do not deny, but for all that it never loses its hold over mankind; the hardships, the temptations, the insincerity, and the subversion of nearly everything to the lust of gold, all are not put up with and cheerfully accepted as the not excessive price to be paid. For what? For a little glamour, a little make-believe; a life of movement (and many people forget that all movement is not progress), and kaleidoscopic change; diversity of excitement which is rarely permanently beneficial and not infrequently wholly harmful; and the sometimes unsuspected but almost inevitable lowering of mental and moral standards by even unconscious contact with much that is base, lnus whilst we are always glad to welcome country visitors in the most hearty of ways we would always rather that they should succeed in influencing the townbred to try the country life than that they should themselves remain fascinated too much by the prospect of .a city existence. I

LIFE'S LIT3S» THINGS. If you were able to live right all the time there would be little need for medi--3 for doctors. But some little thing is constantly coming alone to put us out of baianoe-eSxMur?, change of diet or drinking water/irregular meals are little things that wil at times upset the best of us. Nothing particular the matter, but we don't feel good. At such times the wise amon« us wrfl take a few doses of Chamberlain's Tablets knowledge that they will put us right, right away. Sold by all chemists and storekeepers. . ■

Madame Dolotes.jis- v>,"J ; i: : Yesterday in Sydney was; the hottest day of this year, the therm6metestoucl»ing 96 deg. ~ . , • Phenomenal increases' in the oufout oi butter factories in the AucklaM'*pr<i- • vince this season is shown in ths*irecord consignments for shipment arranged for the various vessels leaving for the Old Country (says the Star). Th€t last fortnightly shipment was materially in • excess of any previous lot sent forward to the Home markets, but the quantity got together to dispatch by the oorlnna ' for transhipment to the Tainui it Wellington, to leave on tlie 29th insl, is a new record in butter export. Tlji« shipment will comprise no less than<*24,soa boxes, equal to 002 tons \ cwt., tjie previous best being thee tynsignment of 22,575 boxes by the Rmjtoehu earlier in the month. 'Up to date this season the fortnightly consignments have Reached the substantial total of 3302 tons of butter as aginst 2959 terns for the corresponding period of last year. Besides the consignments sent to markets, 984 boxes of the local particle " have been exported to the islands, 108 . boxes to South Africa, and 730 b&es to San Francisco, i n addition Xo the larg« supply consumed locally.' The quotation from Home shows a drop in the market price to 106s- per cwi, and this will affect the producers wmf'toade forward arrangements with buyers at lid per lb. The heavy colonial supplies 1 being poured -into the market is stated I to be the cause of the decline.