LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 114, 3 November 1911, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

There were 30 births, 9 deaths, and 9 marriages registered in New Plymouth during October.

It is seldom that a christening ceremony is witnessed by parents, grandparents and great-grandparents. Such, however, was the ease at St. Paul's Church, \\ anganui, recently (says the Chronicle), when the infant child of Mr. and Mrs. Harvey Bell was baptised. The grandparents (Mr. and Mrs. William Bell) were present, as were the great-grand-parents (Mr. and Mrs. Peter Bell), both of whom are still hale and hearty.

The sawmilling industry in Otago and Southland is very brisk just now. In the two provincial districts mentioned there are between seventy and eighty mills at work, and employment is being provided for considerably over 1000 men. In the Catlins district several new mills have recently started beyond Ilouipapa, and a Southland company has just taken up about 4000 acres of bush in the same locality, and will shortly place two mills in commission there. There are nine mills in operation at Catlins, and they arc all working full time, orders for timber coming to hand very freely.

Information lias been received in Sydney that the Maori troupe which went to England at the time of the Coronation, with Jlaggie Papakura at their head, is practically stranded, and that the company, which was reported to be doing well financially at thn outset of the tour, has proved a failure. A Sydney syndicate was largely interested in the venture, and members of the syndicate are stated to have lost between £OOOO and £IO,OOO. 'Bitter complaints are made of the management of the troupe. Fortunately, the necessary pas-sage-money for the return of the Maoris to New Zealand has 'been lodged at this end, and it is understood that they will be returning by the Federal-lloulder-Shire liner Somerset, leaving England this month.

Another "old master" is reported to 'have been rescued from oblivion at Christchurch, the rescuer being a professional artist. One day, passing a place of business, he saw, hanging up, an oil painting for sale. lie negotiated the purchase and took the picture home. When time offered, the picture was taken asunder, and enclosed were found portraits of the limner's family, each bearing the baptismal cognomen. The obverse was then subjected to careful cleaning, and displayed a masterpiece of Alexander Frascr. This artist was born at Edinburgh in the year 1780, and died at Ilornsey, England, in 1805. He was a genre painter, and was Sir David Wilkie's collaborateur for twenty-five years, and Wilkie's paintings are fraught with his cultivated taste and labor.

Speaking at Manaia the other day, the Hon. T. McKcnzie said he intended to appoint a man of high attainments to take charge of the scientific and experimental side in the agricultural work. He also said one-third of the total number of cows in the country were not paying the cost of their keep, and with improved methods with the panic number of herds the export of dairy produce could be increased by a million and a half. ("Sum and pumice lands, hitherto valueless, would, under an improved system of cultivation, bo brought into use. Even fruit farms of 30 acres each would be available for letting by his department where a few years ago the land was considered worthless. If lie were rejected in this contest, it would be some years before, another man could acquire the knowledge and experience he had now gained in connection with this department. IT IS THE RESOLVF

to obtain the, GENUINE EUCALYPTI EXTRACT which will procure for you a remedy of sterling value and will protect you from having your health injured hv one of the many crude oils and so-called "Extracts" which are passed off by unscrupulous dealers as "just as good," and which are, according to authentic testimony, very depressing to the heart. The GENUINE SANDER EXTRACT is absolutely non-injurious, and brings instantaneous relief in headaches, fevers, colds, bronchial and gastric affeations, and its great antiseptic powers protect from future infection. Wounds, ulcers, burns, sprains, are healed without inflammation. SANDER'S EXTRACT is endorsed by the highest Medical Authorities, and is unique in its affect; purity, reliability and safety are its distinguishable qualities. Therefore, get the GENUINE SAWDER EXTRACT; insist, if you have to, but get it, and derive the benefit.

It is reported that there is a likelihood of a paper mill bring started in Foxton, to use the enormous .amount of refuse from the many flax mills in the district. Secvia has a peculiar style of matrimonial advertising. Travellers in that country will often notice dolls hung up inside the cottage windows. He learns that the dolls are put up to indicate that a marriageable daughter dwells in the house.

During the meeting of ratepayers at Oakuhi last night, Mr. G. A. Adbim said that he thought there was a great deal more charitable aid givch in Xew Zealand than there ought to be in a young country. If a man was out of work for .1 fortnight he went to the charitable aid ofiice and got relief. This he had seen and proved in the pa.-,t, and he maintained it should not be so

Despite the guHv weather yesterday over thirty members of the Park Tennis Club gathered at the courts and indulged in the first games of the season. The courts played splendidly. It was decided to advertise the official opening to take place next Thursday at 3 o'clock, and to ask lady members to provide baskets for the afternoon ten. A large number of names of new members was handed in for election.

Mr -T. R. Henry, an Australian horsebuyer in a large way, was operating in Ashburton district last week and secured 3G fine draught horses. This brings the total number of Dominion horses which Mr Henry has secured for the Melbourne market up to 70S. Mr Henry considers that the stamp of draughts in Canterbury is a high-class one, and that there will be a market for such animals in Australia for many years to come. In the more inaccessible parts of the Sierra Madre Mountains in northern Mexico, live a curious people called the Tarahuamaris. Many of them dwell in caves, but they have also small villages, all of them about 1000 feet above sealevel. The Tarahuamaris are small in body, but possessed of much endurance. Their only food is maize, and they manufacture a drink called teshuin, from the same cereal. Their language is limited to about 300 words, and they cannot count, beyond ten.

The extent of the operations and the destructive capacity of the grass grub are evidenced on a farm at Roalyn Bush (Southland), where in an area of 400 acres fully seventy have been rendered bare by the pest. A fanner stated that it was consoling to know from experience that those parts affected by the grub this season will, as a consequence, be more productive than usual. It is stated to be a characteristic of the grub that it severely leaves alone soil ill which it has worked the previous year. Councillor McAlluin has given notice of his intention to move at the meeting of the Taranaki County Council on Monday next, "that the new council, at its first meeting, set up a committee for the purpose of formulating a scheme for the better management and supervision of all works under its control, such committee to report to the. council at its December meeting (1) as to the advisability of appointing a duly qualified roads and bridge engineer; (2) as to the advisability of appointing a qualified overseer; and (3) the formation of a works committee and define its duties.

in the Magistrate's Court yesterday a young man named Harold Street pleaded that lie was a victim of a sort of sleeping sickness when driving and he was in this sleepy state one night when his horse collided with a motor-car in Devon street. He was charged with not having his lvorse under proper control, and, although, as it tvas shown, the defendant had "come off second best" in his encounter with the car. he was convicted and discharged, Senior-Sergeant Dart saying that as the young man had been in the hospital for some weeks as the result of the accident he did not wish to press for a fine. The justices, Messrs. Medley and Boon, warned the defendant not to go to sleep again in similar circumstances.

The Prime Minister read a cablegram in the House on Saturday night from the High Commisioner statins that the deferred rate telegrams between Britain and New Zealand will pome into operation 011 January 1, and it is proposed to reduce plain-word messages between New Zealand and Australia mi January 1 to 2'/ a d per word, the Pacific Cable Board receiving iy 3 d and New Zealand Id per word. The arrangement for deferred cable messages to come into operation on January 1 will enable plain-word cables to be transmitted at half rates. They may refer to either business or social affairs, the only stipulation being that they must have no bidden meaning, or in other words, must not contain a code in disguise. Ordinary cables will take precedence of '•deferred," but the latter will always be delivered within 24 hours.

Bandsmen and musicians generally are surprised and much displeased at the attitude taken up by North Island Brass Bands Association in refusing to issue a permit for the Taranaki Band Contest in January next. It is.pointed out that many of the brass bands in the province have been having a bard time lately, owing to changes of conductors and losses of members The spirit of emulation which would be fostered by the holding of a contest amongst the Taranaki bands would give more inducement to members to practise regularly and assiduously, and as it is only by practice of this kind that bandsmen and bands can reach a high standard of efficiency it appears on the face of it that the contest would do good to the bands and' probably so improve them as to increase the possibility of entrants from here for the big N.1.8.8.A. contest. The association's executive seems to be looking at the matter in a narrow-minded fashion, and evidently takes up the stand that there must be only one contest in New Zealand each vear.

SALE OF MEN'S AND BOY'S CLOTHING. The Melbourne Clothing Company's great mill and factory sale offers unparalleled opportunities for buying men's and boy's clothing at prices very much less than ordinary. Since the inception of the sale last week many hundreds of garments, fresh from the leading mills and factories, have poured into our stores, replenishing our already huge stocks, and imparting a bright, oris)) freshness to our goods which is unobtainable elsewhere. More important than all this is the remarkable lowness of price, together with the high quality of goods, a combination rarely, if eve.', achieved by others. Here are striking instances of the wonderful savings we oiler you. Hoys' Norfolk washing suits. 5/11; boys' Kaiapoi tweed suits, sizes 7 to 12, l.'S/O to IC/fl; boys' splendid tweed Varsity suits, all wool, in nice shades of browns, greens and greys, 11/0, sizes 5 to 10 years; men's dark tweed coats and vests, 17/(1, splendidly tailored; men's Kaiapoi tweed suits, 28/0, worth 33/-; men's natty worsted trousers, 7/11, in neat stripe designs; men's splendid I'etone tweed suits, splendid for knockabout wear, 33/-; men's superb tailor-made suits' special purchase of lovely worsteds and' indigo "Belwarps," 30/0;' stunning values in saddle-tweed trousers, strong and dark grey saddle trousers. 8/0; Ros°lvn saddle trousers. 0/0; Pctone and Kaiapoi dark grey saddle trousers, 10/6; Oamaru saddle trousers, 13/6, best value iu the Dominion.—Advt.

Inspector Tippins, in proceeding against Mark He-slop Baniitt in the Magistrate's Court yesterday for cycling at night without lights, said that when lie stopped the defendant the latter told him if he were not an old man he would punch him. .Barnitt was fined 10s and costs, the presiding justices making the fine thus severe as an indication that the borough officer must be protected and respected. The inspector proceeded asrainst R. Ellis for burying nightsoil within the borough, and a fine of os and costs was inflicted.

i'app, the English naturalist who has explored the mountain ranges of the Malay Peninsula, reports the fact, not generally known, that in several species of bamboo the hollow internodes—the parts of the stems between the jointsare stored with large quantities of naturally filtered water. The knowledge of this fact might be of great service in an emergency. Mr Yapp also discovered on his last visit two species of ferns, growing on trees, whose thick, fleshy stems are filled with galleries tunnelled by ants, the ferns thus forming living nests for the ants.

• ev ' < ' finein ™ the remarkable manner in which the introduction of the Komncv strain has strengthened the constitution of sheep in the Hawke's Bay district, a. settler who has had upwards of 20 vears close experience with freezing works states that before the event of the hardv denizens of the marshes it was quite the average thing to have about three sheer, in every ten condemned on account of pulmonary complaints. At the present ime, lie stated, it was very rarely a earcase had to be condemned for this reason, and the improvement in constitution was almost entirely due to the introduction oi the Romney strait.

In the northern part of India sheep are put to a use unthoiight of in European countries The mountain paths among the foothills of the Himalayas are so precipitous that the sheep, more sure-footed than larger beasts, are preferred as burden cariers The load for each sheep is from l« b to 801b. The sheep are driven from village to village with the wool still growing, and m .each town the farmer iimnl? "l uo V vOOI as he can ,ell there and loads the sheep with the grain he receives in exchange. After his flock has been shorn lie turns homeward, each sheep having on its back .a small bag containing the purchased grain. 0h ? la . d ' V from Youn i? s town, Ohio (L.S.), who has just toured New Zealand from Auckland to the Bluff is not enthusiastic about what she has seen ™rt ßW S Zenla x? d towns - To a Press reporter she offered the consolation that slin, could truthfully say that she liked Christchurch better than any other town she had been in. "There is one thine; about all >,ew Zealand towns that is unfortunate, and that is the dirt. It blows everywhere—in the houses, in the shops, a din the tramcars When you meet a , of Wl,lfl you have to close vour eyes to go through it. I think the lades' clubs in Zealand should take this up, and insist on their menfolk keeping the street* clean. Women's clubs in America have gone a long way in that dnection, and are very hard workers in the line of civic improvements. Thev t«ke a great interest in eivie affairs so ; " s tllc y affect the health of their families and the beauty and cleanliness ot tlieir towns."

The path of a chairman of a load board is not altogether strewn with loses. He has various trials and tribulations. is at the beck and call of the ratepayers, and has to listen to all sorts o complaints. Mr. T. Smart, chairman of the Oakum Road Board, at the meeting held last night to consider the question of merging, expressed himself as much in favor of the proposition, and as willing or even anxious to relinquish his position. It wus nothing uniiMia to be stuck up by some indn 'dual, to the following effect: "You're the chairman of the road .board What about that t!) you owe me?" Of course he would deny owing the sum, and at the following meeting of the board "! T' i^ fc H w;ls du| y pawed for payment. Then he had numerous applications from ratepayers, who said that they bad been paying rates to a certain for ten years and had never had a penny expended and inviting him to look at the road with a view to expending the money Would the council, he naively a«lced, recommend such claims for favorable consideration? Cr. McAllum smilingly declined to commit his colleagues °