LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 88, 4 October 1911, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Boys will bo interested in (lie news that the County Council will purchase small birds' eggs at fourpence a dozen illul heads «it sixpence ;i dozen.

Births, deaths, and marriages in the Aew Plymouth district during September were 31, 21, and (i. respectively. In September last year the were 31, 13, and 7, respectively.

prolonged, and unexplained absence of a business man from town is causing some comment, and there have been some exciting episodes at his premises, of which bailiffs i me taken charge.

l 1 requesters of the courthouse, whether on .business or idleness bent, will be pleased to see that one or two of the windows 111 the front of the building are being made to open. The ventilation of the .building is atrociously (had. A student in Capetown V"ionth Africa, named Jan Hendrilc HofiSyer, I,m just established a record which is probablv without parallel in modern times. Although he is only fifteen years of age he has graduated as a B.A. at the Cape University with first-class honors in the. rnssics. He has ben awarded a Rhodes Scholarship, but will not , )io ceed to Oxford until 1912,

In the Magistrate's Court yesterday morning, Messrs. I'. C. Bellringer and 1 1 } u t aCe ' s ' P les, 'lins- judgment by default was entered for the balance ot the original tfla.ims in the following eases: J. W. West (Mr. Weston) y. Ed° ward Walsh, os, co-its 8s; William Rowe (Mr. tStiindish) v, Peter Hansen, claim os (Id, costs 7s. A number of ca.ses were confessed, adjourned, or otherwise dealt with.

The joys of beach camping at Motuiroa are to be enhanced this season by the sport of "cata margining." A catamaran is a raft-like structure, and will not capsize. It as very Ifcht, can be easily launched or beached; and should be useful in ease of accident on the beach. The number of campers will be larger than ever this summer. The cottages are being "aired" now, and several parties will be in residence shortly. It is stated thai bricklayers are Jeaving Auckland for Australia at the rate of six or seven each week. On enquiry ft Herald reporter was informed that bricklayers are being induced to go to Sydney by offers of 3d per hour more than the .ruling rate of pay here, and were being refunded their passage money on arrival. In Brisbane it is said as much as 1 a lid per hour is being paid, with an additional if the men stay sijc months.

Liverpool's skyscraper, Die KoyaJ Livery Building, which has just been owned, is of seventeen storeys,' 300 ft high, and weighs 80,00° tons, i t has a clock bigger than Big Ben; each dial is 25ft in diameter, the minute hand Hft Jong, and at one point 3ft wide. Tin; clock never needs winding, ibut is propelled by electricity, :being connected with (ireenwich by post office wire. Special mechanism pi events the hands being interfered with 'by wind, snow or rain.

Dog-poisoning has been going on in the Gu-rington road district for some little time' past, and .several valuable dogs have been destroyed. It is believed that the poison has been laid owing to ill-feeling between neighbors, and the poor dogs are made to suffer tiie death a o°"y to satisfy the vengeful feelings of some person who, for the pnrposes of publication, must be classed as unknown. The disclosure and proof of his identity will ibe followed by some interesting proceedings.

The Maketawa l)i iiy Company is paying out UIS44 1.3s oil for September. This includes the bonus for the year. 'One fisherman who was operating at the opening of the season near Stratford, landed a bag of twelve, and of those every one bore a mark which could only have been made by a spear (says the Stratford Post). The fish were all taken from one of the district streams, and the Acclimatisation Society, who have been informed of the circumstances, will now have an indication where the activities of the ranger would hear most fruit,

The committee of the Society for the Ilea It'll of Women an,d Children inert, in the Town Hall on (Monday afternoon to hoar the Lady Plunket nurse's report for the month and to make further arrangements for the garden party to be held at Brooklands" on October 19, in aid of the society, fireat enthusiasm ■jvag shown. The tea committee will have the pleasure of serving the guests under the famous chestnut tree, one of the first planted in Taranaki. If the weather is fine this will lie a delightful outing, with bush, shrubberies, and flower gardens at their best. A handsome young woman in a filmy silk waist and hobble skirt accosted ten or a dozen women in the matinee crowds in the vicinity of Pittsburg theatres on July 15 (says the Xcw York World), with an apologetic, ''Pardon, please, but could you button me up? This waist has come open again, and 1 can't quite reach it." In every case, as the women accosted prepared to render the service, the stranger gushed, -'You're so kind; I'll hold your handbag while you do it. She left a trail of weepin" women in her wake. She is known to have riflled ten handbags in two hours. In every case the woman who had buttoned the waist found every penny of cash gone from the handbag the stranger handed back.

An interesting example of the use of wireless telegraphy 011 a sailing ship is furnished >by the equipment, of the cadetsliip Mersey, belonging to the White Star Line, which recently arrived in the Thames after a voyage round the world. The wireless installation is of the Marconi type, and, according to ail article 'by Lieutenant Cross, the instructor on board the .Mersey, which appears in the Marcomgraph. the system worked admirably, lhe installation is unique, inasmuch as it is claimed to be the first instance of a sailing vessel carrying a wireless equipment, and the fact that the apparatus on the .Mersey worked for eleven months without a single breakdown, notwithstanding the fact that none of the men on 'board had had any practical experience with wireless telegraphy, is a trihuito to 'the elliciency of the Marconi system.

The notorious Filipino insurrecto Otoy, otherwise Insidro i'ompae. will, it is expected', shortly be run to earth. He has been abandoned by his erstwhile followers, and can hardly much longer evade the large force of native eonstabularly that is now on his tracks. The exploit in connection with which he is principally wanted' 'occurred as far back as l!)0(i. Otoy had agreed to surrender at Magtaon, and marched in with 200 (followers, all armed with guns, bolos, and spears. Captain Jones, commanding the. United .States force, of native constabulary, had his doubts about Otoy, and gave his men the order to withdraw to the fort. Hardly had the men reached the shelter -of the fort when they heard the treacherous Otoy's signal to attack, i The constabulary had time to fire only one volley, after which a general hand-to-hand fight ensued. The insurrectos had 4'i of their numlber killed, and tho constabulary lost 22 men. Since then Otoy has been .playing the role of n bandit chief.

Between 1004 and 1!)U the white population of Rhodesia, i n South Africa, has nearly <loublcd. 'Die increase is mainly (hie to the eflorts made by the Chartered Company to attract agricultural settlers to the country.

"I lielien'e," said Mr Bedford, in an „<f. dress at Dunediu Inst -week, "I belie™ that the time 13 coming when wc shall say that no woman—l mean no married woman— shall .he allowed to toil «,aside of her home.' The remark was greeted with an outburst of applause.

As an easy means of getting rid of cash, as well as acquiring it, the racecourse has few equals. A young ma* who attended a few meetings recently discovered upon going into his accounts hat he had lost a sum of £7O, despite dividends struck some big

Xext to the Argentine Republic Venezuela -possesses the widest "razing land* m South America. Cattle" w2 once more prosperous than it is now. A' British company has, however, been formed for cold storage of meat, and at Harrancas. on the Orinoco , a factory ha« ,eon opened for the preparation of' meat exports. Cattle hides are an 'important

. P " ins > according to a returned Australlan tourist, is the place where chauffeurs are unhindered ,by police regulations regarding speed' limits. A large number of f ;' irl y monopolise the traffic. There, said the tourist, "the motorcars do travel fast; it would make the Australian policeman open- his eyes if such pace were clapped on in any of our own cities. They seem to have no speed limit, and if the pedestrian is slow to get out of the road there is no hope for him." Oil Sunday of last week Rev. B. H. Ginger (formerly of Woodville) was jjreachJflita, one of the out-stations at the Mutt, when a. passing swagger threw! a stone in through the door of the church and quietly went his way. Our readers Will readily believe, states the Woodville Examiner, that Mr Ginger left the pulpit ins tauter and not quietly, and gave ehase, m wliieh he was joined by the men of the congregation. Seeing there was a race on the swagger thought he might as well take a .foot in. it, and gave leg bail. The parson and his people soon found ti.at a stern chase is a long chase, and gave it up,'went baek to ehurch and finished the service.

LAn old' lady was going over the Zoo, and aftea* some time she went up to a keeper and tsvpped him on the shoulder with her umbrella. "Well, mum!" said the keeper. "T want to ask you."' ex-*< plained the old lady, "which of the animals in the Zoo you consider the most remarkable?" The keeper scratched his head for a while. Then: "Well mum." ha replied l after careful consideration, "as you might say, I've come to the conclusion the biscuit goes to the laughm- hvcna!" "Indeed!" said the old laiFv iir surprise; "and why do you consider the laughing hyena so remarkable?" "Well, mum," answered the zoological expert, "lie only has a sleep once a week; ho only has a meal once a month; and he only has a drink once a year. So what he's got to laugh about is a bloomin' mystery to me!"-", Jokes, Jibes, and .liiigles," iby George Rabey. Mr ,T. Hooker, writing to his mother in N T e\v Zealand, graphically describes how the Paparoa met with an ice-berg about a week before reaching Cape Horn. He says: "During our run across the Southern Ocean it was bitterly cold, with sleet and snow, whilst ice covered the rigging. On Friday, July 7th, we were on watch at 4 a.m. There was a heavy mist, when all ot a sudden the engine-room telegraph rang 'Full speed astern.' We put her astern, and then I went on deck. The mist had suddenly lifted, and there right in front of us, -about 200 yards away, was ail immense ice-berg. We should imagine it was .100 feet above the water. Tho chief officer was on the (bridge at the time, and it was only owing to hia quickness in starboarding* the helm that saved us from disaster. As the ice-berg floated past, it was so close that you could easily throw a biscuit upon it. From that day and for a week after we passed ice-b&rg» every day."