LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 229, 10 January 1911, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

At the. CluUni sports last week a lady bagpiper (Miss \V. Ross, of Dunedin) played the music in the marches.

The Henry-Potts mis-ioner; are now in Creymoutli. According to Dr. Henry's itinerary, (hev will be leaving shortly for Queensland.

Hawks are now said to be, taking trout from the streams in South Canterbury. Previou-ly only seagulls and shags were blamed for this work.

What is -aid to he the oldest apple tree in Canterbury is growing at Hurwood. The tree was planted in the very earlv days bv one of the pioneers, and has now attained a great size. Kauri timber is now so scarce and dear in Auckland, where a bnildiup boom appears to have >et in. that many new dwellings are composed of rimu, matai. totara, Oregon pine and other chtaper timbers, only the doors and sa-lies being compose! of kauri. A few years ago most residences were built almost entirely of kauri.

Tlic -Tstpanose have 1i:k1 handsome curiously ili'-iaiinl kettle* in nso for many years. When the water lioils those kettles lmrnt i.itu r-cn.u'. tlio imlody lieim; produced, it is slid. l>v steam liuliljles eseapiiiL' from a -licet of iron fastonel across the kettle near the bottom. Skill is lmt only in making tluve kettles, lmt in rejula 1 iiiir tlic fire Hilt;or tliem, . ....

The holidays may now he considered as over. The lawyers resumed business yesterday. Inspector Hugo will be present at an inspection of the New Plymouth l<lre Brigade to-night at eight o'clock. Last evening about six o'clock Detective Boddam, accompanied by Constable Liston, arrested a young man named Thomas Stanley, alias E. Watson, who was wanted in Wellington on a charge of theft of a sum oi money. A cablegram received by the Eltham Dairy Company advises an advance of 4s per cwt. in the price of butter. An authority in dairy natters there expresses the opinion tha~, the market will continue to improve, says the Star.

Advice has been received at Westport that "Bill" Rudd has been matched at Hastings on January 20, for a purse of £l5O, against Arthur Cripps, of Australia; and also on January 29 against Sharpe, at Palmerston North, for a purse of £BO.

Southern farmers are accumulating wealth, an evidence of which is the purchases of motor cars. At the Methven race meeting the motor cars on the grounds were estimated by an expert to be worth nearly eight thousand pounds, and fourteen of these valuable cars belonged to farmers in that and the adjacent districts.

A rather remarkable incident is recorded from the mouth of the Piako river, up no rth. A rat's burrow was discovertd in an old log, and inside were twentyeight dead kingfishers, besides some that had been eaten or were decomposed. How such an alert and aggressive bird as the kingfisher could have, been capttired by the rats is a problem for naturalists to solve.

A milk supplier in the Kiwitea district, who is recognised as a substantial farmer of long experience, states that lie believes in bringing cows to profit all ithrough the year, instead of having nearly all of them calve in the spring. He admits that he is not able to show astonishing results for any particular month, but taken over the whole year he considers he. makes his herd pay very well.

Cr. McAllum concluded his speech on the appointment of a county engineer at the meeting of the Taranaki Count} Council yesterday with the following homely simile, which, he said, members' wives would understand if they did not: "We have a big house (the county) with many rooms (the ridings) in it, with servants (the road foremen) for each; but the most important personage (the mistress, otherwise the engineer) is missingl" Tlia year lilll will have two eclipses of the sun, one total and the other annular. The total eclipse will fall on April 28, and will be best seen from one of the Tongan Islands. The Commonwealth has voted £SOO towards the cost of observing it. There will also be two penumbra 1 eclipses of the moon, that is the sun, as seen from the moon, will be partially eclipsed by the earth. The moon will not, however, touch the central cone of the earth's shadow.

At last night's meeting of the Ashbnrton Borough Counil, Cr. R. Clarke forwarded his resignation, stating that as he was a director of the Ashburton Gas Company, under the Municipal Corporations Act Amendment of 11)10 lie could not hold his seat. The Mayor and councillors regretted that the resignation had to be accepted, but at the same time will consider if there are any means of restoring Mr. Clarke to his seat. A motion was passed, drawing the attention of Mr. W. Nosworthy, M.P., to what one councillor called ihc "absurd laws." Press message.

It was expected that on the occasion of tlie Taranaki County Council occupying their new oiTices yesterday for the first time that something, at ieast in the nature of a speech, would be given by the chairman. Cr. Hill drew attention to the matter prior to commencing the business of the Council, and the chairman said that as the building was not completed and the actual cost was not available, he was of opinion anything lie had to say would be better held over until next meeting. At the same time, he wisheil to heartily welcome councillors to' the new offices, which would be a distinct benefit from a sanitary point of view and in every other respect. Members softly murmured their assent.

The New Year number of Progress has just reached us. Naturally, the first article is a review of the scientific progress of the last, twelve months. Pride of place is given to two things—the progross of submarine dredging and the marvellous development of the motor-car industry in the United .States. Proceeding, wo find the contents of the number, which is an exceptionally large one, of very wide-reaching interest, embracing the study of the heavens, the great labor question, the water systems of Sweden, where electric power is harnessed, the relation between architecture and scenery, details of repousse work, the story of Wellman's fall into the Atlantic Ocean; on the whole, a very informing number, with some excellent illustrations.

A meeting of borough councillors and representative citizens presided over by Ifis Worship the Mayor, was held in the Council Chambers last evening to make arrangements in connection with the Governor's visit 011 the. 2(ith inst. The following programme was arranged: !).:>O, visit the petroleum works and harbor; noon, hand over to the public the fountain 011 Marsland Hill erected to the memory of the Taranaki soldiers who fell in the South African war; one o'clock, official luncheon; 3 o'clock, <mrden party at Pukekura Park; 8 o'clock, concert at Theatre Royal. If time permits, visits will be made to St. Mary's Church, the Hospital and Old People's Home. At the garden parly, which is being organised by the Sport's Ground B»rmnittee and the Park Board, the Governor will inspect Ule veterans,] cadets, and territorials. '

Much comment has followed the visit of a member of the News staff to one of the auction marts one day last week, ami the paragraph next morning; noting that bananas went for five shillings a ease, set the public agog with the prospeet of cheap fruit. The fact that some of the same shipment brought eight shillings a case, and was not recorded, made it appear that there was no ground for the clamour for cheap bananas. I'.\ en if the cases ran out at 4:>llis net, as has been stated, the difference between (iOlbs at 3s and 4oibs for the same money should not make a very great deal of dill'erenee to the retail price. The shipment of Tongan bananas may not have been very extra qualityvcu inferior' was how the auctioneer giaded them but the fact remains that one retailer considers she never got such a -'snip" in bananas all the time she has been in business. They could not have been \ei\ inlerior. it would seem. Some* cases went at 4s. The plums that were put up at the same auction were said to ha\ e been green and also very inferior, the prices ranging from Is 3d a dozen lbs upwards. In all classes of fruit, we are assured, quality rules the price, and what may appear to the public as cheap trait is often dear fruit (o the retailer. The idea of penning the par was simply to let the public know their popular banana was low in price, and (hove was a chance for him at last, but it Tms been made to appear that we were mistaken.

Miss Grjiec Gilbert, a celebrated bearded lady, has married » farmer named Calvin—the sweetheart of her youth—at South, Bend, Indiana, U.S.A. The bridegroom, who is clean-shaven, was dressed in a long ulster when he appeared with the bnue before the desk of the judge who was to marry them, and that olticial not unnaturally got them mixed, and asked the bearded lady all the question* which should have been addressed to the beardless man.

A remarkable incident is related in conncction with the recent fire at the Young \\omens Christian Association's building in Wellington. A young woman, who had just arrived from Great Britain, had accepted a situation in the South Island, and her luggage had b e en placed on a steamer, when her suspicions were aroused by her new employer asking her for a loan of money. She consulted someone connected with the Young Women's Christian Association, with whom she had not before come in contact. Acting on the advice given her, she extricated herself from the engagement, and also adopted a suggestion to place her boxes in the Association's premises. There they were at the outbreak of the fire and they must have been surrounded by the flames, but, strange to say, the boxen were merely charred on the outside, and the contents were uninjured. Mr. 11. T. B. Drew, a Palmerston North journalist, who recently returned from a trip abroad, writing m the Manawatu Standard about New Zealand meat in London, says:—"l have frequently, upon observing 'Canterbury' mutton ticketed up, asked if it were as good as the English. Sometimes the assistant will tell you it is English—that it comes from Canterbury, in England! Which is very good for New Zealand mutton, and needn't worry us. It is only when Argentine or other countries' produce le sold as Now Zealand that we need cry out. One man once broke into musings as to how such a small place as Canterbury (England) could supply so muA mutton! After a close observation of the meat trade in various parts pf Knaland, I have come to the conclusion—tor what it is worth—that a good deal of imperfect knowledge is acquired by ua»ple who come to England for a brief visit and who on returning giv<j their' unqualified opinion as to the defects fct the colonial trade in London. New Zealand is doing just about as well in thil respect as sihe, with her many disabilities in regard to distance and freight, can e*-. pect to."