LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 116, 6 November 1911, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The Patea Farmers' Co-operative Freezing Company made a loss on last year's working of £I4G3 Is Id (including the debit .balance brought forward from la.st rear), to which is added £137 3s 3*l on account of preliminary expenses, and amount paid for repairs, renewals, and Alterations, ,t'S2O 15s lid, making a total to debit of profit and loss account of £2421. (Is ;id. There soems no end to unseasonable weather this spring. Gardeners and others were, jnsl congratulating themselves that the void snap had frozen itself out, and yesterday morning came in bright anil charming. Xot fur advanced was morning, however, when rain commenced. A cold half-gale swept down from Ml. Kgnvonl's direction, and the 'bite in tile atmosphere was in keeping with Egmont's white cloak. Guy iFawke.s' Day this year fell on Sunday, so the boys decided to. observe the festival oil Saturday. Guys of all sorts were trundled about, and at night the funds were "pooled.'' and the night was crisp with 'wankers and Catherine wheels. A man who saw a "guy" passing recalled that seven or eight years ago he wa< pestered with boys on their I betgga.ra' errand; and, ha ving a hammer in his hand when the seventh one called, he tupped the "guv" on the head with it. Instantly there was a tremendous screeching from below the hard hat of Guido Fawkcs ' effigy. The youngsters had dressed up their baby brother! The hardness of tlm old hat with which they liuul crowned him saved the living "guy" from serious injury. Business nu;/i ■wanting billheads, letterheads, or any other description of print ing. cannot be better served, in price, quality or despatch, than by the Daily News Printery. Try us- ring up, or write.

It is slated, says the Waitara Mail, that ono of the first acts of tiie new Clifton County Council will be tlie abolition of the Waihi toll-gate.

The Wavctley Town Board has decided that a poll of the ratepayers be taken in reference to lighting the town with acetvfone gas, at au estimated cost of £1200.'

While a thoroughbred foal, belonging to a Papawai resident, was being led along the Carterton road early on Runday, a horse, which was unattended, in passing, seized the the foal by the neck and overturned it, and then trampled upon it, breaking one of its legs. It is said that a. Chinese manuscript has been discovered which proves that anaesthetics, were used in China 1700 years ago. A certain concoction was given bv the doctors before performing an operation, which rendered the patient unconscious. The anaesthetic was a simple preparation of hemp.

The Socialists in Alsace-Lorraine last month practically swept the p«ills in the elections that have just taken place under the new Constitution. They captured no fewer than 60 seats, as against the 20 secured by the clericals and the five won by the Liberals. The result is regarded as a portent of what may be expected in the coming general elections in Germany.

Some time ago Mr. O. D. Sole, on behalf of Stratford School Committee, approached tlhe Premier with a request that he would visit Stratford and lay the foundation stone of the new District High School. Sir Joseph Ward has now replied that as soon as his engagements will permit him, he will be 'glad to do as requested, and will pay a visit to Stratford for the purpose of performing the function.—Post. Great indignation is felt at the treatment to which a native nurse has just been subjected in Colombo, This woman performed a most courageous act recently, when she ran after a child that had wandered on to the railway, and was just in time to save it from being rim over. To the surprise and disgust of the whole community the plucky woman was brought before the local court and fined Bs on a charge of having trespassed on the railway!

Nevada, notorious as one of the American States in whieh divorces can be obtained so easily, has been swept by a sort of moral wave. As a result of the agitation against the ea.se with which ill-mate<l couples can get the matrimonial knot untied, the Legislature is now considering a new law which, if passed, will do away with what is known as the divorce culnnv, rind will make a year's residence in the State compulsory for all those seeking relief from connubial troubles.

Serious concern i« expressed by the Federal authorities at the prevalence of the feeding-bottle used so often for babies, which has for convenience a rubber tube. The apparatus lias been described by a medical authority as a murderous one, owiria to the impossibility of cleaning it. The Federal Government asked State co-operation in the prevention of the manufacture of the article. The Board of Health, however, though in accord with the desires of the Federal Government, is unable to pass anv recommendation about it. as there is 110 ■law in existence to enable prohibition to be undertaken.

Dr. F. A. Cook, who two and a-half years ago was acclaimed as tho discoverer of the North Pole, had a lively experience upon hi* arrival in Copenhagen, states a recent cable message published in Sydney. The people there had not forgotten the doctor and his graphic narrative of how he reached the Pole, and were ready to give him the only sort of reception to which they thought, lie was entitled. As he made his way through Hie streets of the city the doetor soon found himself the object of a hostile demonstration, mirl he was finallv obliged to seek the aid of tho police in protecting him from the mobs bv which ho wns followed. Dr. Cook has abandoned the lecturing tour that lie intended to make in Europe, and will speak only in Copenhagen, where ho hopes to convince the Danish scientists that lie really discovered the North Pole.

Mr. W. R. Hearst, the proprietor n f Hie Xew York American., interviewed recently regarding the increase in the cost of living, said:—••'The -s.nne question exists in the United States as elsewhere, but I think ill the Tinted States we arc a little more ready to meet I lie increased cost of living with increased wages, and the consequence is that the oppression of the increased cost of living is not felt ad keenly. To my mind, the most important matter next to the aggregation of wealth is the proper distribution of wealth, so thfit all classes mav obtain a fair share of tlm wealth which "they all in combination create. Good wages, constantly increasing wages, are a necessity for this fair distribution, as wealth is constantly increased in anv progressive nation. I think the standard of living s-hould constantly be increased. One of the main advantages of our higher civilisation ought to be a superior standard of living, and with all the wealth tliat is being created by modern intelligence and ingenuity and perfected machinery, the men who do the manual labor ought to receive a fair share. Then yon would obviate strikes and the dis-tress of an insufficient income." Members of the Equitable Building Society of New Plymouth (First and Second Groups) are notified that subscriptions will be due and payable today (Monday), at the Secretary's office, Ourrie-street, from 9 a.m. to 1*2.30 p.m., from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., and 7 p.m. to 8 p.m.—Advt