LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 53, 24 August 1911, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The Taranaki Education Board yesterday accepted the tender of Messrs. Boon Bros., at £3550 for the erection of the Stratford High School in -brick. A public meeting convened by the, Mayor will be held at the Town Hall' to-night to consider what steps should he taken in New Plymouth to augment the fund now being raised throughout the Dominion for the benefit of those dependent on the late JJr. T. E. Taylor, Says the latest issue of the Sydney Sun to hand: On behalf c-f Mr W. H. .ludkins, the social reformer, who is now lying dangerously ill, the Rev A. R. Edgar and Mr John Vale arc now appealing to the-public of Victoria for £IOOO for. the purpose of bringing immediate relief to the Bufferer's mind, and making subsequent provision for lur wife and child. At the present time no less than 2o vessels, are loading or on their way to Australia, and New Zealand ports, with eargoes of case oil for the Vacuum Oil Company, Proprietary, Ltd. The fleet comprises twelve large steamers, and thirteen sailing ships, and a rough estimate places their aggregate cargoes at something like 3,000,000 eases of oil and spirits. Six vessels are either on their way or have been fixed to leave for New Zealand. The total quantity of oil and spirits coming by them will be roughly 950,000 cases. Mr. H. G. Ell, M.P., wishes to add to the list of necessaries of life upon which no duty is payable. In a question which he will ask in the House of Representative he suggests tliat the following goods should be placid on the free list:—China and cart-hen domestic table ware, combs, floorcloth and oilcloth, glassware, cast iron and enamel hollowware, kerosene lamps, mats and matting, watches (not exceeding .£4 in value), clocks (not exceeding£fi in value), forks, spoons and knive9 (not exceeding £1 per dozen in value). The Victorian Police Department is looking for a man to whom t© give £4,000 per year (states the Age). That man is a Swede named Carl Filander, at one time a clerk in the employment of the Swedish Consul in Melbourne. The missing man was until recently well known in tnc city. Since he left the consulate his father has died in Sweden, leaving an annuity of £4OOO to his son. The police, however, have been unable to find the man. Inquiries are also being made for a Mr Walter S. Clarke, son of the late Mr. Richard H. Clarke, of New York. At various times he lived in Latrobe street, Melbourne, Collins street, and the Leongatha Labor Colony. He, also, is wanted in connection with the will made by his father.

A somewhat remarkable reunion of brother and sister is recalled by the death of Sir Alfred Charles Sutton, which occurred at Longreach, Queensland. Mr Sutton was one of the earliest settlers in Moreton Bay. When he was about twenty years of age he left Brisbane. His family heard of. him no more till twelve months ago. when his only surviving sister Ho : ticed in the report of some stock passing the words "A* Sutton, drover, in charge.'' Thinking this might refer to her brother's son, a letter w«s written. The .recipient was no relative of the, writer's hut he forwarded the letter to Glenduloek,. near Longreach, where Sutton was. Sutton then sent his son to Brisbane with instructions not to return unless he brought Tiis father's sister to him. Although over seventy years of age she made the journey to Longreach, and brother and sister met after fifty years separation. In commenting on the cry of "dull times" on the West Coast, the Hokitika Guardian says:—'"Time was when the wage-earners were prone to spend their money all too readily. Many were not satisfied till they had knocked down all they had oained. Experience lias doubtless shown them the folly of such ways. Slumps and strikes have made them understand the necessity of providing for a Tainy day. In this way thrift has taken the place of reckless extravagance, and by thrift the element of permanent prosperity is created, which surely discounts this wail a'bout quiet times. The quiet times merely indicate that the n'aste has been stopped, and in reality a better condition of affairs is being brought about. The outlook is thus not without hope, and pessimists might take heart at this view, and looking to the brighter side realise the position at its true meaning, a period of evolution for better times."

"My work at night has been hindered by the want of a lire to sit by, and I must admit that as a rule 1 have had to correct my exorcises in bed." Such was a rather pathetic excerpt from a letter received from the mistress of a Taranaki country school situated in a bush district, that was jironght before the Education Board yesterday. The teacher asked the Board to supply an open fireplace at the school residence. She pointed out that the only fireplace available to her invalid husband, seven children and herself was the stove, and she had suffered very severely from the cold. In conclusion, she added that this was the first winter she hud ever s.pe-nt without a fire, and it had been a severe lesson. If the fire-place was not forthcoming! before next winter, she would place her name on the transfer list and leave the wretchedness for some dne else to face. The Board decided to instruct the overseer to report on the matter.

Ts the Maori dviug out? According to the Tfon. A. T." Ngsita. speaking a.t the Y.M.C.A. in Wellington the other day. he is not. There had been an increase during the past five years of eighteen hundred. In the AVairoa, Cook, Waiapu, and Opotiki counties, where the influence of the Young Maori Party had been greatest during the past, ten years, the increase was eleven hundred; The Maori people in that particular part of "the- North Tsland had taken to heart tho proverb, the strength of the warrior is short-lived; the strength of the man strong to cultivate endures for ever. Mr. Ngata was a strong advocate of the absorption of the Maori into the white race by inter-marriage. The mixture of the two races, Maori and pakeha, would give New Zealand its scientists and inventive genius, and he held that in literature the Maoris and Maori halfcastes would be looked to for poets, who would be best, able to sing the real charms of New Zealand.'

Mr. C. 11. Opie. of Cbristchnrch. has just received a letter from his son, Ronald Opie, who was an Australasian representative in the sprint events at the recent Festival of Empire sports. Referring to the injury to his leg, the New Zealand champion said lie could not understand how it originated, as he sustained it when running extremely well on a first-class track. All the. New Zealandcrs were unlucky. Ilaskins straining a. tendon. Woodgcr contracting pneumonia, and Champion heing seized with cramp when winning easily. Notwithstanding his injured limb, Opie performed very well, llardwick alone of the Australasian team being more successful. In the English furlong championship Opie finished second after suffering fearful torment, and he won his heat in the English furlong championship. After this event he was unable to walkfor some time, and was ordered by his doctor into the country, where ho fast .recuperated, and is now "extraordinarily fit and well." Opie left England by the Rotorua on August 3, and is expected -to arrive in 'New Zealand on September W.

Gisborne Borough Council has appointed Councillor VV. Peltie Mayor, in place of Mr. Lywiar, who resigned owing to ill-health.

One of the largi-nl imports from Russia ipto America is willow clothed baskets. 'JMie huge hampers so commonly in ti.su lire fiuirly all inade in Central Russia by peasants, although some come from the Danube Valley, und there is considerable domestic manufacture. The, importations 'last year exceeded one million dollars'(worth*. Osier willow, from which made, Ims been worked by Russian: peasants for centuries, and was formerly the material from which they wove their houses. The method of cutting, peeling, twisting, and manipulating the withe 3 is handed down from father to Son- ;

Two members of the Russian Imperial Police— Alexander Rozoff and Ivan Arvak—are now in the United States in search of the famous Romanoff pearl necklace, which was stolen from the Tsaritsa. Rozoff has worked in London for his Government, lie has left New York for New Orleans, after consultation with the official* of a private detective agency. The necklace stolen from the Tsaritsa is an heirloom of the Imperial Family of the Romanoffs. The Russian police have taken the affair up most energetically, and special representations have been made to the Criminal Investigation Department in London to watch for any trace of the necklace or the suspected thieves. The London correspondent of the Argus tells a good story in connection with Mr Fisher's visit to Troon. A curious mistake was made by the son o/ a peer, to whom was committed the task of proposing the toast of the Commonwealth at the Troon function. The proposer of the. toast was Lord Casillis (pronounced Cassels in Scotland), who had somehow got the idtea into his head that New Zealand was a Commonwealth, and Mr Fisher was its Prime Minister. Accordingly he devoted the whole of his speech to eulogising New Zealand. As a consequence Mr Fisher practically- had to reply for New Zealand and also for the Commonwealth, which he did in such a tactful way as probably to leaye Lord Casillis still under the impression that the dominion and the Commonwealth were one and the same, and Mr Fisher the overlord of both.

One passage in General Godley's report on the defences will ejiusc bitfer <li«ippointment (says the Christchurch' Press) to that small section of the public that has been endeavoring to wreck the compulsory training scheme before it even came into force. More than one of the anti-militarists has asserted in effect that men in the ranks of the territorial force were to have no chance of securing commissions. The object of making such a statement was presumably to arouse class prejudice. The misstatement is now effectively nailed to the counter by General Godley's definite assertion that '•appointments a3 territorial officers are to go to the most suitable and most deserving from the ranks, or to those who show most promise as senior cadets." A further safeguard against anything like favoritism is indicated in the, general's remark that ''No officer will be promoted, even provisionally, unless he has passed the prescribed examination for the next higher rank."