LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 79, 23 September 1911, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

In the course of the Supreme Court proceedings yesterday, a farmer testified that he had been charged by an Eltham financial firm £SO by way of procuration on a loan of '£soo, or 10 per cent. A no-license meeting is to take place in the Theatre Royal on the evening of Sunday. October 1. Addresses will be given by the Rev. Dawson, New Zealand Alliance secretary, and Colonel Birken- | sh.iw, commander of the Salvation Army in New Zealand. Probate of the will of the lato Frederick Stockman was on Wednesday last, on the motion of Mr. R. C. Hughes, granted by |Mr. Justice Sim to Annie .Stockman, the executrix under the will. On the 20|th inst Mr. Justice Sim, on the motion iof Mr. Claude H. WestoK (Weston an[l Weston), granted letters of administration of the estate of the late Mrs. Nelly Crozier, Inglewood, to her widower. In the Police Court yesterday morning, a first offending drunk was convicted and discharged. Albert H. Stockman was convicted of drunkenness and discharged, and was fined £1 for committing a grossly indecent act in the public street. On the motion of Mr. Claude IT. Weston, Mr. Alfred Coleman, Deputy Official Assignee at Stratford, was appointed receiver in the estate of W. Potts, of Eltham, motor garage proprietor, and directed to take possession of his property and business. The New Zealand Shipping Co.'s >teamer Ruapehn, which sailed yesterday for London, took the first shipment of the new season's butter. Altogether, ((404 boxes were dispatched, the ports of shipments being: —Auckland 2583 boxes, New Plymouth 3074' boxes, and Wellington 747 boxes; total 0404 boxes. "These cases have been settled," said the Solicitor-Genera] to his 'Honor Mr. Justice Kdwards in the Wellington Supreme Court on Thursday. The reference was to an action brought by Roderick McKenzie, Minister of Customs, against the Australian Kodak Company, Limited, a claim for £20,040 2s 3d, penalty for alleged evasion of Customs duty, and to the action brought by the same plaintiff against Harold Anthony Beauchamp, manager of the company, claiming a similar penalty. Continuing, the Solicitor-!icneral stated that the company had paid £SOOO as penalty and £IOOO to cover costs and unpaid duty, and so both actions had been withdrawn. The corsets that are guaranteed to fit comfortably, to wear well, and not rust, break or tear, ar* the celebrated War- 4 ner'a Rust-proof, as sold by local drapers. -rAM. .„, .. , ;j . ~,..J ^.,„^J, ,,i

The -value of the banana industry in Queensland is estimated at £150,000 a year. The area cultivated is 5108 acres, and the growers include 300 whites and 2t">. 1 ) aliens. Five hundred white men are employed at wages of 30s per week and keep.

''The present-day immigrant," said a speaker at the Auckland Employers' annual meeting, "is afraid to go further than the last asphalt path of out of sight of the last gas lamp. The people who arc workers.in the backblocks to-day are the sons of the pioneers who came over in the early days. It is the old-time stamp of immigrant we want out here," said the speaker in conclusion. To which he might add that it is very noticeable in various parts of the North Island that pioneering work h being carried on with exceptional vigor by the sons of the old Taronaki settlers. Wherever new country is being opened up, there are to he found these young men. When the Waratah disappeared from human ken, Mr E. R. Waite, curator of the Canterbury Museum, received a letter asking him to decide a wager about a. question relating to that ill-fated vessel. The question was—'lf the Waratah sank in mid ocean, would she drop right down till she reached the bottom, or would she merely drop down a certain depth till the pressure stopped her from going further, so that she would then be carried hither and thither far below the surface at the mercy of currents?" Mr Waite mentioned the matter at a meeting of the Canterbury Philosophical Institute. He said the answer was that the vessel would sink down to the very bottom of the sea.

Wild pigs arc stated to be causing the death of a, number 'of young lambs in some localities in the Wairarapa this season (says a local paper). A scarcity of food drives the wild pig from his usual haunts in the hills to fresh fields nearer civilisation. The young lamb provides that which he requires. He generally operates in a paddock used for lambing purposes, which skirts the dense bush oj the hills, and not too far away, so that in case of alarm he can quickly scurry away to his "mud bed" amid the supplejacks and "gaygee." His modus operandi is to watch for a new-born lamb, and before it has the strength to get on its legs, rush forward, chase the mother away, and commence his meal off the little helpless mite.

Some time ago the North Egmont Mountain House Committee wrote to the Telegraph Department asking if they could have through communication on Sundays from the Mountain House to New Plymouth, the reason for this request being that in case of accident it would prove very useful to be able to communicate without loss of time with medical men. The committee also forwarded a request that the office at Taurangi be opened at night between 7 and 8 o'clock. To the first request the Department replied that it cannot see its way to grant .same, but the second has been agreed to. This concession will bo a convenience to the public, who will be able to ring up friends who may happen to be staying at the Mountain House. An instance of a woman masquerading aa a man was disclosed at Ararat (Victoria) recently, when "Tom" Ralph, who was engaged to act as storeman and driver for J. Wise, of Elmhurst, met with an accident. Ralph arrived a fortnight aifo, and began work. Ralph took a horse from the stable on Tuesday and went for a ride. Soon afterwards "lie" was picked up in an unconscious state on the road, and brought to the Ararat Hospital! Here it was found that "Tom" was a young woman. The patient was then transferred to the female ward, where she is being treated for concussion of the brain. The young woman is 1!) years ol age. She .says that her father and mother died when she was very young, and she has always dressed in male attire. She comes from Sydney, but recently worked in a factory in Melbourne. She is of prepossessing appearance and of exemplary conduct. Jn connection with the illness of the Pope a prediction made sometime ago by the Pope himself has been recalled. About 1!) years ago, when he was still Bishop of Mantua, the Pope remarked to a friend: "I studied for nine years in a. seminary, f was for nine years vicar at Tomboli, nine years archpriest at Salzano nine years canon at Treviso, nine yearn bishop .here. Yon will see that T shall remain nine years as n patriarch at Venice, and then, perhaps, nine years as a Pope." As a matter of fact, he left Mantua, at end of nine years to become Patriarch at Venice, and after nine years there he became Pope. On the 9th of this month he entered upon his ninth year as Pontiff. He has several times since then spoken of the way in which the figure nine seems to rule his life, and the approach of the ninth year of his tenure of the Holy See may have had more than a little to do with the depression which has come over him.

A cowardly and brutal assault was, it is alleged, committed upon a young woman at Auckland on Saturday evening by a man who, it is stated, aspired to be her lover. It.is alleged that for many months past, the man has been pestering the woman with proposals of marriage, and has been continually following her about by tram and train, and had even gone as far as to follow her to Hamilton on one occasion. The woman went about in constant 'fear of her would-be lover, for he was evidently not one of the sort that would take "No" for an answer. Matters, it is stated, reached a climax on Saturday evening. The woman was quietly walking along with her young niece. When she was accosted by the man it is alleged that he once more'made his proposals of marriage, and she (irmly informed him that she would not marry him. This seemed to infuriate the man, who struck the woman on (he nose and on the forehead. The woman fell to the ground in an unconscious condition. By this time a large crowd had gathered, and the man disappeared from sight. A novel idea of raising money was adopted in connection with the anniversary of the Goldsmith street, Methodist Church (writes the Goultmrn correspondent of the Sydney Morning Herald). Birthday bags had been sent to members of the congregation, with the suggestion that a coin be placed in the bag for each year o,f the recipient's life. The bags were collected at the anniversary meeting, and the response proved very satisfactory. No less than 2280 coins were received, and the total they represented was £45 12s Cd. A member of the congregation, whose birthday synchronised with that of the church, gave a donation to make the amount an even £SO. The Rev. E. J. Rodd, who preached the anniversary sermons, congratulated the chairman on hitting upon such an idea, when all the means of money-making were done to death, and wms informed that the ladies' guild were entitled to the credit for the innovation. It should be added that the coins were counted -by the treasurer, and it was promised that ho would not tell how many were in a bag, so that those who were curious about the ages of others would obtain no satisfaction. The services in I he Whiteley Memorial Church to-morrow will he conducted in the morning by the Rev. K. P. Kellow. and in the evening by the Rev. ,T. W. Burton. The evening subject will be "The, Way to Diciplcship." For chronic chest complilnts, Woods': 6ml Peppermint Cure. Is 63 and 2i Id.

The Tarannki Agricultural Society's annual horse parade is to be held to-day in Egmont street at Tattersall's stables. The horses are all to be on the ground at one o'clock, and farmers and settlers will no doubt attend in large numbers to inspect the sires of the season. At tiie Stratford Magistrate's Court yesterday a man named Neil Kwen Smith was convicted of assaulting a Chinaman and sentenced to a month's imprisonment. Accused, it was shown, broke a glass window, and when the Chinaman opened the door Smith pummelled his face, caught hold of his pigtail, and, still striking him about the face with his fist, pulled him across the footpath. Then (hong, the Chinaman, fell to the ground and was further pummelled and kicked. During the souffle accused dropped his hat and his watch. The hat was picked up, by Chong, and the watch was handed to the police later on. The watch had accused's name in it, and this practically led to his arrest.