LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 321, 7 June 1911, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Sixteen new targets are to be erected on the Rewa Rewa range. Mrs. Schultz, the elderly woman who was found wandering in the bush at Rerekapa a fortnight ago, and who was subsequently brought into the New Plymouth Hospital, has died from pneumonia, partly accelerated by exposure.

Two noil-commissioned officers of the Royal Army Medical Corps were recently driven' to suicide at Parkhurst from overwork. It was proved that these men worked 100 hours per week. The pay for their rank was about 2s 9d a day. Each was a skilled dispenser, and each drowned himself.

A man named Bradley was on Sunday admitted to the Stratford Hospital. It appears that he was working at a pit head at Whangamomona, when a fall of earth occurred. He was forced down into the shute, receiving severe injuries to the head and shoulders, one ear being almost torn off. Bradley was at once conveyed by the ballast train to Skinner road, being thence conveyed to the hospital.

It has been stated that accidents have occurred lately at the local railway station owing to some defect in the apparatus for heating the foot-warmers. The men engaged in taking out the warmers in the morning for placing mi the carriages, have placed one foot on j the grating, and the risk taken has 1 proved in some cases to be real. So far as can be seen by casual observation there is no defect in the plant, although some safeguard-might be provided. During the progress of the Fitzroy amalgamation commission of enquiry yesterday, a visitor announced himself. It was- the Hon. Mr. Buddo, Minister of Internal Affairs, who was making a round of inspection i» the Government buildings. When he heard the nature of the business on which the Commissioner of Crown Lands was engaged, he said he had "better get out," adding that he might be accused of corruption if lie accepted the invitation to come in. He did come in, but declined to say auythiag concerning the matter in hand, with the exception of a statement that he knew "all about it."

An exemplary sentence was passed by the Wanganui magistrate on a mini who wag before him on a charge of threatening behavior towards his wife and children. The unfortunate wife roused the whole neighborhood by her terrified screams, calling out that her husband, who was mad with drink, would kill tke children—there were four children in the house at the time. The magistrate refused to recognise the plea of drunkenness, and fined accused £5 and costs, in default 30 days' hard labor. He was allowed an hour to get the money. Even then the punishment will principally fall on the innocent. In the course of his speech in Auckland, Mr. W. A. Redmond, M.P. for East Tyrone, said that he had been astounded by the smallness of the police force in New Zealand. He learned that thirty constables were considered sufficient for 'the preservation of law and order among the good (people of Wellington. If the city was policed on the same system as that obtaining in Ireland, it would have 0000 police. Ireland had to pay a million and a half a year for the maintenance of the police force, though, in Scotland, where the population was greater, and there was 40 per ceViit. .more crime, the expenditure was 'only '£Boo,ooo. It was not because the 'lrish were unruly, for there was less crime in the whole of Ireland than in any manufacturing town in Great Britai*.

Parihaka, the historio Maori pah, the scene thirty years ago of troublous times, and for years past of great native gatherings, will soon he merely a name, as it is rapidly becoming deserted. The death of Charles Waitara has completed the exodus that commenced after the demise of the prophets Tohu and To Whiti. A few years ago every house, both "mansion" and wliare, was fully occupied, several billiard rooms, boardinghouses, etc., were in full swing, and the visitor could not help but notice the signs of animation and progress. On Monday the ministerial party who visited the village were struck with the air of desolation that pervaded the place. The majority of houses are unoccupied, and the whole population appeared to consist of two or three old men, several women and a few children, who assembled on the "marae." Asked as to the absence of the men, one of the native onlookers remarked that they were away working. The voluntary breaking up of this communal system, as practised at Parihaka, is undoubtedly a •splendid •thing for the Maori. Speaking to the Auckland Herald on Saturday Mr. W. T. Jennings, M.P. for Taumnrunui, stated that great satisfaction was felt by the settlers of Ongarue and Olnira, at having at last won from the Government a promise that the On-garue-Stratford lino shall be started at the Ongarue end. While, approving of the activity displayed at the Stratford end, Mr. Jennings has, both in and out of the House, strongly pleaded that a start should also be made at the northern end of the line. Invariably the .Ministerial reply lias been unfavorable. Mr.

Jenning* lias recently completed a tour of his largo electorate, and he was successful in persuading the Minister for Public Works (Hon. R. McKenzic) to accompany him over the railway route. The member for the district was then in a position to convince the Minister that if the northern settlers had to wait till the line was carried through the Tangarakau Gorge northwards/ they would suffer a great injustice. Surveyors are now at work on the Ongarue end as a result of the member's representations, and the Minister has promised that 200 men will lie at work at the northern end of the Ongarue-Strntford railway by the time Parliament sits. YOU SHOULD BEAR IN MIND

That Dy using the Commercial Eucalyptus Oil, which is now bought up at fld per lb weight and bottle, and, on account of the large profits, pushed, you are exposing yourself to all the dangers to which the use of turpentine will expose, you—irritation of kidneys, intestinal tract and mucous membranes. Bv insisting on the GENUINE SANDER EUCALYPTI EXTRACT you not only avoid these pitfalls, but you have a stinv ulating, safe and effective medicament. the rendt of a special and careful manufacture. Remember: SANDER'S EXTRACT embodies the result of 50 years' experience and of special study, and it does what is promised; it cures and heals without injuring the constitution, as the oils on the market frequently do. Therefore, protect yourself by rejecting other bruria.

The Taranaki County Council meets to-day.

Mr. E. W. Griffiths sustained nasty bruises last night l>y falling just as he was about to mount his motor-bicycle. The machinery was in motion at the time, and he liad a narrow escape from a serious accident.

A well-known resident of New Plymouth left his home yesterday morning at about ten o'clock on business, and at a late hour last night the search parties had been unsuccessful in tracing him.' His disappearance is causing some apprehension. Inside of a fortnight New Zealand's first wireless telegraph station should be opened to the public for commercial use, and within the next four or five months stations should be working steadily in at least four places—Wellington, Christchurch, Giaborne, and Doubtless Bay.

It should be mentioned that the two children who represented the King and Queen in coronation robes at the Fire Brigade ball on Monday night did not come into competition with the other children for the prizes offered for best fancy costumes. They were the recipients of special awards. The report of the commission on the Fitzroy merging, and particularly in regard to the area of the town district to be merged, will be ready for presentation to tho Minister in a day or two. When the area has been denned, a poll of the ratepayers interested will 'have to be taken before the amalgamation can be brought about. There is a big demand for both town and country propertiesr in Stratford jnst now, a larger amount haviUg changed hands recently than has been the case for many yeaTs past. One enterprising firm of land agents is said to have netted over £4OO in commissions in one -week recently. Farm land in Toko district that would have been considered highly priced at £ls per acre a few year* ago, recently sold for no less than £33 per acre.—Patea Press.

The sale of Mr. J. Goodson's Normanby land in sections of 50 to 90 acres, by Messrs. GiUics and Nalder, at Ha-i wera on Saturday, did not result in business being done. There was a large attendance, and keen interest was taken in the sale. The first and second lots were passed in after bids of £SO an acre had been made. The other lots •were similarly dealt with after bids had been made ol from £4l to £59 an acre. Lot 1 was subsequently purchased by Mr. Rudkin, of Tokaora, and the others lots are being negotiated for. A gentleman travelling from New Plymouth to Stratford on Monday got a bit of a shock. He desired to see e friend who was on the train passed at Tariki, and to that end he sought to put his 'head out of the window. He did so; but unfortunately he did so under the impression that the window was up, while as a matter of fact it was down. As a consequence the window was broken, but fortunately the gentleman was not cut at all, the most serious phase of the incident being that he was called on to pay half a sovereign for the broken window.—Stratford Post. Mr. William Blomfield ("Bio," of the Auckland Observer) had an embarrassing experience at Nice, though an amusing one to look back on. He went out for a stroll one fine morning, and presently received a rude shock by finding himself under arrest. It seems he bad unwittingly wandered into a fort. The soldiers took him before an officer, who talked to bim at great length in French. But neither officer nor prisoner could understand each other. So Mr. Blomfield was passed on to another officer, with a like result. Finally the New Zealander was marched out of the 'fort and released, the military being apparently satisfied that he was not a spy. He was told afterwards that he was lucky not to have been locked up for trespassing on the fo-r bidden ground of the fort.

These are the day of the scientific farmers (says tlio Wellington Evening Post). Every succeeding conference of the Farmers' Union shows that the agriculturists are paying more and more attention to experimenting. In his presidential address on Tuesday Mr. J. G. Wilson lilted some bush fanners in each district to co-operate with the experimental supervisor of the Government farms (Mr. Bayliss), and so institute experiments to solve the problem of the bent system of continuous cropping. The Covernment supplied the seed and manure, and supervised the experiments; the farmer did the work and took the produce. There was much need in all the bush districts for some experiments of this nature, and the various branches should arrange for some to be carried out in their neighborhood. If there was a high school near, it would add a great, deal to the usefulness of the experiments, if they could lie made in conjunction with it, «o as to bring the pupils into close touch with what was being done.

Discussing the rise in the price of freshly-made butter by a penny per pound tho manager of the Taieri a'nd Peninsula Company said that the drought ha 9 reduced the supply, and that tho people in Dunedin and all over the Dominion ask for fresh butter of the first grade, and cannot be induced to look at anything else. These are the causes of the rise. The company are offering a sound secondary fresh butter at twopence per lb. below the first grade rates, and it does not meet with much demand. The dairy farmers are feeling the pinch very much. During the season ended in 1910 the export of Otago butter was 29,340 boxes; for the twelve months ended 1911 it was 15,356 boxes, a shortage of 14,184 boxes, representing n loss to the district in butter alone of nearly £37,000. The present rise is in the direction of unloading on to the public part of the enormous loss arising from the continuous dry weather. It is impossible to foresee what will happen in rcspeet of the butter market. Nobody has any stock in hand in Xcw Zealand. The man who can now tell whether the present price will continue, or whether butter will rise or fall, could make a bit, of money. The rise now notified did not take place last winter till the Ist of August. The manager adds (says tho Star) that his company will be only too glad to announce a reduction as soon as circumstances justify it. Nobody in the trade gains by a tight market.

MILITARY OVERCOATS. ARRIVAL OF A SECOND SHIPMENT. Tlie Melbourne Clothing Company, Ltd., lias much pleasure in announcing the arrival of a second consignment of clean, specially selected, British Army riding coats, with good long capes, a's issued to the Royal Field Artillery. These famous coats are the kind known a* "first grade" and arc the very host of their kind supplied by the British Government to its forces both at home and abroad. These eoats are undoubtedly the ideal coats for farmers and others exposed to cold and rain. We have only 100 coats in this shipment, and they are sure to be "birds of passage" in our three Taranaki stores. Wo have, ton, on the best authority that the sale of these coats by the army stores is likely soon to be stopped, so we would advise intending buyers io make early application to either of the Melbourne's three stores—New Plymouth, Stratford, and Eltham. Prices as usual—the lowest in Taranaki.