LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 104, 23 October 1911, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Tlic force of tlie wind in Masterton on Tiit'Mlny afternoon caused the town clock to sto;i for il few minutes. It is slated that several properties In the Tologa Bay district. Kast Coast, will shortly lie cut up for closer settlement by their owners. Dairy factories around Inglewood are paying out as follows for milk received (luring September:—M<)a U2li 15 12s 7(1, Tariki €4BO 7s, Lepperton £458 Is, Maketawa £1344 13s. 5.1 (including bonus), Tarata £123 18S' 7d. A Masterton resident has received a letter from a. relative in the Isle of Jcr.sev, in which it is stated that New Zealand butter is coming very much into favor there, and was selling at Is 4d per lb. .lersej butter is realising Is Hid per lb.

■Excerpt from a foreman's report to the Moa Road Board: "I have inspected the culvert and can find neither wood nor pipes. All I can find is a hole in the. ground where the water escapes, but cannot lind where it comes out. This culvert has -been like this for a number of year*." A Rongokokako farmer, who makes it a practice to rug his dairy herd, states (says the Kketahuna Express) tfcat the cows were not at all affected bv the recent gales. and the practice was one which paid for itself time and again. Other farmers arc now adopting the same course.

In our report of last Tuesday's Court sitting the name of the judgment debtor in the case McNeill v. Barriball was wrongly given as C'has. Barriball, but it should'have read Samuel Henry Barriball. We regret the mistake, which has naturally caused LMr. C. Barriball some annoyance.

There were ninety-eight applications for the position of ranger for the, South Canterbury Acclimatisation Society, tlie applications coming from as far north as Auckland and as far south as Invercargill. The salary is ,Ul2t> a year and a free house. l'iiially a Timaru man was selected. Several hours were spent in considering the applications. An American Governor in the State of Oregon lias instituted a system of putting convicts "on their honor," allowing them to work outside in ordinary clothes, and report at the prison in the evening . There are now 144 convicts working quite unguarded at different places within a radius of five miles of the penitentiary. Only one man has abused the. privilege, and he is now confined in the prison, and the rest of the convicts had him sent to Coventry. To "knock down'' a cheque for .£ll7 in eight da vs must surely be a record in this favorite pastime' of bushmen. Such an exploit was claimed the other dav—without any boasts or regrets by an individual who appeared at the Wanganni S.M. Sourt for being drunk and disorderly. lie was fined £2, ill default oil days' imprisonment, lie had not a penny for the line, and he told the police of his vanished wealth. Arrangements were made for the payment of the fine.

A Christehnreh lawyer stnied that sunn 1 (if the eccentricities of Xew Zealand law-makers had ereatod more pitfalls in this Dominion's statutes than eotild he found, probably. in the statutes of any country ill the world. As instances, he said that the Public Holidays Ac), repealed an important clause of 'the Hanks and Blinking Institutions Act. ami one of the vital amendments of the I-an.l Transfer Act—ill its way the most important enactment Parliament had ever made —was in the Probate Act. Members of the Equitable Building Society of New Plymouth (First and Second Groups) are notified tliat subscriptions will be due and payable today (Monday), at the Secretary's office, C'lirric-sfreet, from 9 a.m. to 12.30 p.m., from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., and 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. —Advt VISITINI* * > 'ARDS.—When you run out of cards, send your order for mom to the Daily News Printery. 3/6 for 50, 07 5/- far 100 (postage paid).

To-day is Labor Day. "Don you mean to say that there are ~>o laud agents in (iisborne," asked Mr. Barton, in astonishment, when a witness was giving evidence in a ease. "Fifty," rejoined the witness, lf \vhy, I should say the number is nearer ISO."

Ihe directors of the Wellington Opera House Company on Friday completed the purchase of a section of land in Manners stroi t for their new theatre. The section, which has lNift frontage to ihe tram line and a depth of 240 ft, was bought from .Mr. T. G. Macarthv lor £123,200, equivalent to £2OO per foot. , AI. the Okaiawa pa my welcome was not it very warm one;' wrote Xurse Mentha in in her monthly report to the Miiwera. ;io>pifal Board, on Monday. " Ihe pi i-;de are most superstitious and bigoted. They appear to pus-ess most erroneous and antipathetic ideas concerning the Government." ''An imposition district,' remarked a member. Nurse lieetlum believed that if one of thfc rangaliras explained to the natives fully the object of her work among them, it would do ail immense amount of good and remove many existing wrong impressions. Tt is stated on undeniable authority that the demands made recently upon the Patea Shipping Company would mean an increase ill the company's expenditure of £IOOO a year, without taking into account any extra charges for overtime. As the company in question has paid no dividend for some years past, it is only natural that they should decline to recognise the demands. The general' impression abroad is that a general strike throughout the whole Dominion is at hand, the action of the members of the Merchant Service Guild having precipitated matters Patea Press.

For ill-using y purebred Ayrshire cow, the property of the Government, at the Moumahaki tSnte Farm, 11. C. Lucksteil was on Thursday at the Wavcrlcy Magistrate's Court fined £.5, with 17s costs, in default two months' imprisonment. He was given two months in which to pay. As soon as he became aware of the occurrence the, manager of the farm discharged Luckst.ed and reported the matter to headquarters in Wellington, and was instructed to put the mutter in the hands of the police. At the conclusion of the hearing of t:io case Mr. Km', 8.M., said that if any similar ca'es came before him again he would treat them with increased severity and would not given the option of a fine.

The Patei Press says the sale it reported of 14,000 acres, a portion of the Okahukura block. Kaipara. formerly the property of Mr. T. c. Williams. ' Thb Okahukura block, comprising 24,000 acres, was sold in December last to a southern syndicate, which at once •placed between seventy and eighty men 011 the estate bushfelling, surveying, roading, and building sheds, residences, etc., preparatory to subdivision for dairying. It is part of this block which has now been sold, the purchasers being Mr. Frank Fagan, of Russell, and Mr. Thomas Nicholson, of Wa-verley, w ho intend to further subdivide the area and push on improvements. Since December last 1(100 acres of bush have been felled, and some hundreds of acres sown in grass, etc.

An exchange has been shown some samples of solid petroleum patent fuel. This material, which is manufactured under n patent process, promises to revolutionise '.lie use of petroleum, or, rather, to ensure it becoming the fuel of the future. In the past the in flammable anil explosive nature of petroleum has limited its sphere of usefulness,. but, under the new system, it is rendered as safe as coal. The ordinary crude oil is converted into the solid form by the addition of only i per cent, of extra material, the cost being very small. In appearance it is like cork, and if a match is applied it burns slowly without exploding, running or dripping, and the residue of ash is almost negligible. As a fuel solid petroleum has been found to have an advantage of So per cent, as compared with con).