LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 10, 6 July 1911, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The Stratford Hospital Board has decided to subsidise a sum up to £l5O towards securing a district nurse for the back blocks districts.

A press telegram states that a ' phenomenal rainfall was experienced at Levin about 1 a.m. yesterday. Evidently £ a water-spout burst over the town. The Waimatc Witness says there are rumors of a couple of large dairymen in the district, going in for the erection of factories of their own for the prouiiction of butter ana cheese.

The arbitration proceedings between the Waitara Borough Council and the Spiral Steel Pipe Company, of Wanganui, with reference to the Waitara waterworks' contract, will take place in Waitara next week.

The Patea Harbor Board has been offered from Ross, on the West Coast, a dredge for £4OO, the original price of which was £14,000. The board decided to send its foreman to inspect the plant under offer, or other suitable machinery of a like nature. The New Plymouth Club has practically decided to purchase for a club the house now in the occupation of Mrs. Fair. With slight alterations, which will include the erection of a billiard room, the site and premises will be most suitable. Probably a tennis court will be provided for the use of members.

A tragedy was narrowly averted at Vogeltown yesterday. A lady, accompanied by a child, was just entering a house when a bullet, presumably from a pea-rifle, came buzzing past her ear. A Bearch was made for the firer, but without success. His carelessness was criminal, and it is a pity his identity was not discovered. The sub-committee of the new Mountain House appointed to confer with Mr. Messenger, the architect, in regard to the plans, visited the new site on Tuesday afternoon. The object of the visit was to take levels and peg out the site. The contract for the clearing of the new site and the formation of the road was let to Mr. T. Ryan, who had carried out his duties very successfully. The gravel pit was also inspected to ascertain the quality for the making of concrete. The subcommittee expressed pleasure at the location of the House.

The captain of the barque Margit, which arrived in port yesterday, had not anticipated being able to have the services of a tug to assist him into port, and was surprised when the Paritutu arrived to take him in tow. Another surprise awaited him in port. He was under the belief that he was drawing too much water (his draught then being 21ft. 6in.) to allow him to berth, and expected that he would have to lighter a quantity of his cargo to reduce his draught. This, however, was not necessary, for accommodation is now available for vessels drawing far more water than the barque. A block of Oaniaru stone, weighing about two tons, fell from near the top of Wellington's new Post Office building into Grey street oil Tuesday morning. The block was being hoisted by means of a crane to the top of the building, and was some 70 feet from the ground, when, by some means, it slipped from the iron dogs, and, in its fall, narrowly missed a lady who was passing. It fell close to the letter-box entrance, but, fortunately, at that time (about 8.30 a.m.) there were not a great many people in the vie--initv. The stone, however, broke the aerial telephone cable, and struck the roadway so heavily that it broke a fourinch water main,-Dominion,

Last night w4 were shown samples of metal containing gold, silver, and platinum which had just been extracted by Mr. Bransgrove, jun., for Messrs. J. Smith and Tweedale from a quantity of Taranaki ironsand, using the secret electrical process for which they are taking out patent rights. There was also a sample of steel produced from the sand direct, Mr. Smith stating that this is possible by no other known means. The process is said to be a simple one, but at present the method of working has not been divulged. If what is being done can be carried out on commercial lines, the discovery may have a very important bearing on the future of the ironsand industry.

The Stewart Island correspondent of Bluff Press reports an extraordinary happening at the sports gathering held at Halfmoon Bay on Coronation Day. The starter for. the running events (Mr W. F. Thompson) used a double-barrel-led gun, the shot being discharged into the sand. The iinal of the 133 yds Sheffield was about to be run. "Ready" and set had already been given. All competitors were straining for the sound of the gun, but before it had a chance ol making an impression unon their minds, one of the competitors (J, Robertson) received the charge of shot in his leg, and bolted like a redshank. A finer start could not have been imagined, and the unfortunate individual who received the shot ran as though for his life. He outpaced the remainder of the field and ran home an easy .winner. For the remainder of the afternoon he and his supporters were kept busilv employed retrieving the shot from his leg, and some 14 pellets were found to have entered the flesh. Although the leg is somewhat sore and swollen, Robertson is now little the worse for his sensational win.

The following fish story appears in an Auckland paper:—"While out for a run in my launch yesterday just off Orakei, we were surprised to* see three long things standing straight up out of the water about 300 yards ahead of ourselves. After a while they went slowly under, but came up agai:i in a minute or so. This continued until we got within about thirty yards of the thing, when it disappeared altogether. The objects that were sticking out of the water were just like elephants' trunks, and full four feet long. We never saw anv signs of a body, so could not make out what it was for some few minutes. \fler we had paesed the place we were surprised to see a large fish—considerably longer than our boat (22ft.)— making towards the North Head and swimming 011 top of the water nearly all the while. After guessing all sorts of tilings, we came to the conclusion that the first object must, have been :i huge octopus, swimming 011 the surface with three of his feelers in the air. As T have never heard of an octopus swimming on the surface before, T was wondering whether ally of your readers hail ever seen anything like it. After seeing the large fish, which looked like a whale, we thought that, perhaps it had disturbed the octopus, anil made it come to the top."

The Napier municipal staff is to be increased by the appointment of an inspector of plumbing, drain-connecting, sanitation, etc., at a salary of £250 per annum.

Feilding is congratulating itself that not a single death occurred within its boundaries during the month of June, whilst Palmerstoii boasts that it had only one bankruptcy during the same period.

An Aram olio farmer was prosecuted recently for allowing his pigs to wander on the railway line. He urged, in extenuation that he had been unable to procure labor to attend to his fences. He was fined, nevertheless, £ 1 and costs.

Old residents of the Bluff declare that they never experienced such a succession of severe frosts as was registered this week. One morning's visitation was 17y 2 deg below freezing point, an easy record. Water taps in several residences had their contents frozen. This is the first occasion that such a happening has occurred in the vicinity of the foreshore.

The medical officer of Dr Barnado's Homes, writing in "The Child," a very up-to-date publication, says that for the last five years, in every case of scarlet fever, he has covered the patient with eucalyptus oil, and this has prevented infection spreading. The same method has been tried with measles, and amongst a lot of children only the one first affected took the complaint, the eucalyptus oil appearing to entirely prevent infection.

Dr. Edwards, of the Harvard Medical School, returned to America from a trip to the East the other day. In an interview ho made the startling statement that every ship sailing from Chinese ports is a possible carrier of bubonic plague, cholera, and even leprosy. He adds: "The establishment of a branch medical school at Shanghai by Harvard College is the beginning of a world-wide movement for the betterment of health conditions in China."

A resident of Masterton, who is closely in touch with financial affairs, gives it as his opinion that the tide of prosperity is slowly but surely returning from 'the northern end of the North Island to the more southern portion of the island. Tilings have been booming up North, he states, for some considerable time, and the inevitable reaction must set in sooner or later and the tide turn southwards again. It is his contention that that time has now arrived.

Great interest was taken by the natives in the trial at Raratonga, before Sir Robert Stout, of Wigmore, 011 a charge of murder. Referring tq the matter the Wellington Post's correspondent says:—One tiling they can not understand, however, and are inclined to view with grave suspicion, is the fact that the Crown Prosecutor and counsel for the accused can not only live in the same house without bloodshed, but are seemingly the best of friends, and never tire of each other's society. They, ol all people, should hate cordially, think the Alaoris. One Maori is reported to have asked a trader about the matter. "Wigmore got the good voice?"— Yes. "The Government got the" good man too?" Yes. "Then I think the biggesi liar he win."

Halley's comet., wlieh was nearest to the sun and to the earth and at its greatest brilliancy more than a year ago has been followed on its journey into distant space with the telescopes of the Lick Observatory. The comet is now (says il message from the observatory dated May 27) a little further than Jupiter is from the sun—that is, about 500,000,000 miles—but Astronomer Curtis has photographed it with the Crossley reflector- on two .jKgßC l r*#j|rtpaJ l exactly in the predicted positioiS !EvH| with the powerful photographic telescope the image of the comet is extremely faint on the plates, and it would no doubt be invisible in the most powerful telescopes if looked for visually. The comet is now fiO per cent, further from the sun than it was when its approach to the sun was discovered photographically in September. 1909. The Nimrod, the ship in which Sir Ernest Shackleton made his voyage of exploration towards the South Pole, has been sold. According to reports she is to be engaged in trading ventures in the Kara Sea, opened up some years ago by the late Captain Wiggins. The Nimrod, which is barqiicntine-rigged and has an auxiliary steam screw, boasts a remarkable career. She was built as far back as 1806 at Dundee, and for forty years led the strenuous life of a sealer. The scal-skins worn by many a fair woman were carried in this bluff-bowed craft. Chosen for Sir Ernest Shackleton's expedition, she passed through Green's Yard, on the Thames, for overhaul and strengthening, and went away

spick and span, flying at the main the white flag, indicating that her destination was the unknown land. When she returned to England the Nimrod was thrown open for inspection in the Thames, and thousands paid to go on board her. The price now given for her, subject to dry dock inspection, is £2200.

According to a Pari- correspondent, London audiences are likely in the future to see fewer strikes and other exciting scenes of the same kind from France on the cinematograph. The recent arrests in Kpernay of a number of rioters whose active share in the Champagne riots was proved by cinematograpli pictures, has aroused a wave of indignation among the worthies of the fi.l'.L. or General Confederation of Labor. "May-day is coming," they have said. "On May-dav we intend to demonstrate, and woe betide cinematograph operators who venture to take pictures of our demonstration." So here we have the cinematograph condemned as burgeois, as soldiery iind police and clean white collars have already been condemned by M. Jaures and his friends. I often wonder, by the way. bow the enlightened Paris Socialist manages in this little matter of the collar. A collar cannot be worn dirty, and. although f admit that I have seen thorn very white, M. Jaures and his fellow-Socialists must wear clean collars sometimes.