LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 128, 21 November 1911, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

It lias been discovered that the .Japanese have been labelling fish with British Columbia labels. One thousand cases of salmon have been seized and destroyed. Iwa, who was a popular contralto in Maggie I'apakura's Maori troupe now in England, Mas offered a very good engagement at one of the leading music halls, and will probably accept it and remain at Home. The anniversary of St. Mary's Church, New Plymouth, will be celebrated next Sunday, when the special services will be taken by the Rev. E. IT. Strong, of St. John's College, Auckland, one of the ablest preachers in the diocese.

There is evidently still some money in land (says the Age). A young settler of the Masterton district, who went to the Waikato about four years ago, recently sold out at an advance of £15,000 on the price he had paid for his property.

Mr. P. Hansen, of Westown, lost a valuable heavy draught horse the other day. He bad left his horse and dray on the Frankley road for about five minutes, and on returning found the horse stone dead in the shafts. It is thought to have been a case of heart disease.

The Kltham Dairy Company manufactured in October 221,0881b of butter, and will pay out ll%d per lb of butterfat. The total payment will amount to .■COfl'2o. Compared with the corresponding month of last year, there is a shrinkage of 3*2,4301b in the amount of butter manufactured, while the amount paid out is £235 more.

At a special meeting of the Taranaki branch of the Veterans' Association on Saturday, a resolution was passed thanking members of Parliament who supported the petition for military pensions, and expressing surprise at the treatment tlie matter received from the Premier, which was characterised as an insult to those who 1 had fought for the country.

With reference to an application for a coal-prospecting license near Picton, it is understood (says the Marlborough Express) that some samples of coal have already been extracted from the locality in question, and have a promising appearance. A number of Picton people are arranging to test the deposits further, and will form a company if results warrant it.

.After one of the most spectacular campaigns in the municipal history of California. Mr. -Tames Tiolpli, jun., has been elected Mayor of San Francisco in opposition to Mr. McCarthy by an immense majority. Mr. Tiolpli is known as a philanthropist all over the country. After the earthquake he organised a relief association, which fed 70,00(1 'men and women daily. His following amongst the working population is immense.

Uric. Acid is the chief cause of Rheumatism and kindred jv'oivin" this, why will him • iiuifiUi agony when RIIEOMO will cir<- you" It removes I lie. excess 'Trie Acid from the Blood, and thus quickly gives permanent relief. 2/0 and 4/0 per bottle, at all chemists. 13

air. Joseph .Smith, who for thirty yours was head of the Mormon Church and who died in Salt Lake City last week, was once a financial partner of the. late Mr. llarriman, the railway King, and was regarded as one of the ten richest men in America.

While engaged in thinning operations during the past week (writes the Roxburgh eorre?-pondcnt of the Dunedin Star) a Teviufc fruitgrower took the trouble to count tho apricots taken off several trees. As high •2300 were taken oil' one tree, jind the average for several was 1:500. The trees are nine years old. As fewer than 200 apricots constitute a ease, some idea of the productiveness of a Teviot orchard may be guagetl from these figures. Mr. H. J. Hollier, of Kdenglassie, on the banks of the Nepean river, I'enrith, N'ew South Wales, has a purebred Jersey cow, three years old, which stands oii'ly 34in height, and has given birth to a calf. Although on the dwarf side, the cow is well-proportioned. The calf is also well-built, healthy and frisky, and at three days old Weighed 20lb. The cow has a good supply of milk, and although tho calf is w it'll her all the time Mr. Hollier has to milk the animal once a day in order to relieve her.

At Perth (W.A.J last week a woman named Lizzie Gordon was sentenced to six months' imprisonment with hard labor on a charge of obtaining money by fraudulent representations. The evidence showed the defendant had sold tickets in an art union organised by her husband and herself, by representing that half the proceeds were in aid of the Blind Institute. The money received by tkn defendant for tho sale of tickets was used by her for housVkeeping and ■to provide pocket-money for her husband, Albert Gordon. > Advance sheets of the New Zealand Year Book show that during the financial year ended March 31, 1011, the investments made by the public on the totalisator amounted to £1.033.534, a decrease of £90,892 compared with the previous year, when there were thirtysix more days of racing. The percentage paid to the Treasury was almost doubled, amounting to ±."48,338, compared with £29,845 in the previous year. This increase was due to the fact that during the year the Government tax on totalisator 'investments was increased from 1y 2 per cent, to 2% per cent, of the gross amount passed through the machines.

Tt was sbited hi connection with a judgment summons case in, the. Magistrate's Court at Auckland on Thursday that the defendant, a new-comer, had purchased a manufacturing plant for €llO, and paid a deposit of CI.). Before long he was informed that he had made a bad bargain, as the apparatus was not worth anything 'like the purchase price. He asked the vendor to keep tho deposit and his plant as well, but the request was declined. Then an expert was called in, and he valued the defendant's bargain at £7 as the highest limit. Eventually it was sold under the hammer and it brought £2.

Egmont Lodge, 1.0.d.T., met in their lodgeroom on Monday as usual. The lodge was openetj in due order by the P.'C.T. iu the absence of the C.T. One new member was initiated, and one member received' from a distance signed tho membership roll. Bro. N. T. Maunder reported what he had done in the matter of purchasing a piano. The question as to who should own the instrument and its use was discussed at length. The insurance of the lodge property was then considered, am! it was agreed that the whole be insured in one policy with the property of the trustees and in the Government Kire Insurance Office. The lodge closed early, so as to join in the preparations being made for the elections.

The considerable amount of illness among the Maoris' in the Gisborne district is occasioning some concern to the Public Health Department. A district nurse, who Mill work amongst tin; Maoris, is to be sent as soon as possible. The services of the district nurse will be at the disposal of the Hospital Board, and the Board will station her in that portion of tlie district that they consider most strategic for her work. Periodical inspections will be made of the native kaingas, and everything will be dono to induce the Maoris to report anil send eases where necessary to the hospital for treatment. nurse is to work in conjunction with the sanitary inspector who is to he appointed by the Hospital Board to supervise the control of infectious diseases.

That the cigarette habit is taking an alarming form was proved on Saturday piglit (the 4th inst.), when a young woman of about 25 years of age was found wandering about Centennial Park, Sydney, in her night attire. Upon investigation it was discovered that she had smoked three packets of cigarettes daily, and her medical adviser found that the patient's removal to a place of observation was imperative. Hundreds of ladies m the so-called "smart set" have developed the craze to such an extent that no bridge party is complete without a silver casket full of cigarettes, mostly stamped with the pet name of the hostess. There is every indication (says the Sun) that the idle rich will certainly bring about their own downfall. "White wings have grown weary in New York, and are out on strike, according to messages received a. few days ago. Bv that name the street cleanerß and refuse collectors are known in New York, because the men wear white overalls. The system of night work, although a novelty, and obviously one not liked by the workers, in New York, has been tried in other American citoes. An insight into the scope of the cleaning operations is given by a New York paper of recent date: "Garbage removal, ash removal, alley work, sweeping, all forms of city cleaning, are henceforth to be carried on at night in New York," it was stated. "To a limited extent night work of this character is carried on in the great majority of American cities. Under efficient management it can be prosecuted more expeditiously, more thoroughly and more economically than in the daytime. Night work, they say, is more conducive to honesty. Tips are fewer than in the daytime. Favoritism is less in evidence. There is less slighting All streets, alleys and garbage and ash boxes are treated more nearly alike."

The Great Barrier reef, fronting'the coast of Xorth Australia, is the largest coral reef in the world. It is over 1000 miles long' and 20 wide.

Some letters received from residents in Canada do not give a very "lowing account of the state" of things in. that Dominion. It is said that many districts are already overcrowded. Many persons who have emigrated there are unable to obtain employment, and are making their way back again to still further swell the ranks of the worklcss in Great Britain. It is now asserted that Tinakori, the name of a Wellington thoroughfare, is wrongly spelt. It should be spelt Tinakore, which means "dinnerless." The road was so dubbed by the Maoris who made it, because their wages were so small that they could not buy enough to eat. The spelling has become corrupted to Tinakori, which Cleans the dinner disagrees with one.

The demand of the banks for Australian notes appears insatiable. Official estimates of the number required have long ago been exceeded and the issue lias gone well over the £9,000,000 mark. It promises to reach, before the end of November the £ 10,000,000 face value authorised by regulation. As the officials are confident that the 10s note to be issued as soon as machinery arrives will be exceedingly popular, an Order-in Council has been passed extending the authorised amount to £12,000,000.

A London cablegram to the Sydney Sun says: —-'' Some of the war correspondents are exposing the faketl despatches regarding the 'glorious victories' scored by the Italian forces in Tripoli. 'Ananias, in his palmiest days,' declares Reuter's correspondent, 'never wrote so many falsehoods as the misleading reports that have appeared in the Italian press respecting the progress of the campaign."' A Paris message adds: " Uncensored messages received at Xiee from Rome indicate that the Italian Government is ready to drop Tripoli if it could do so with its national honor unscathed. It is feared in Piome that when the facts concerning the conduct of the campaign are know, not only the Ministry but the Throne itself will become endangered."

Darling Downs, in Queensland., is experiencing another of it# perodical drought visitations. Practically no rain worth speaking of has fallen for about six months. The latest reports are to the effect that the wheat crops are practically ruined, entailing a loss to the district estimated at fully £150,000 . Pastoralists in the west are still hoping for a downpour, having already lost some thousands of sheep by the protracted absence of rain. It is believed that the recent change of ownership of many stations may be safely attributed to the prevailing apprehension of the approach of a severe drought Residents are pondering over Mr Clement Wragge's predictions for 1011-12. The general opinion locally appears to be that the northern and western districts are in for a drought more or less severe, though hopes are expressed that it will not be so disastrous as th.i record visitation of 1902.

Anything more desolate than the lot of a little Cretan hoy named Ste)li(» Arglieri, when, in 18!>6, his father was killed by a Turkish bullet and his mother starved to death in the hills, could hardly he imagined. He was picked up by a kindly Englishman, and brought in more dead than alive. He was sent to the Government school, and there gained both flesh and knowledge. Soon it was found that he had a wonderful gift for languages, and he was sent to Bengasi, in Xorth Africa, where he learnt French and Ttalian. By the time that lie was twelve lie could speak eight languages—namely, Russian. German. Italian, French. Greek, Turkish', Arabic and English, and was appointed interpreter to the Italian Admiral Cannevara, Sir Thomas Lipton. touring in the Mediterranean, discovered this many-tongued wonder, brought him to England in the Erin, and put him to a good English school. He is now being specially trained in Eastern tongues.,

The Auckland Star states that telegrama from the Lakes districts record phenomenal catches of trout, which for the most part are allowed to rot on the lake and river bainks. There is a good demand for this fish in Auckland, anrl the arrangements made by the Government in former seasons for utilising the supply were an advantage to the community. It is to be regretted that no provision for the sale of the fish has been made this year. Tn Great Britain, where the salmon fisheries are closely preserved, a regular supply of that valuable" fish is placed on the market. Surely regulations could be framed which would prevent injury to o«r trout fisheries with out depriving the public of a valuable food. The wholesale destruction of trout which sometimes goes on under the name of sport is a public scandal, whereas under capable management these catches might prove of benefit to the public, as well as a source of pleasure and profit to enthusiastic fishermen. "H.J.'.' writing on this subject, states that at Taupo trout are being caught by the ton, only to rot on the banks."

Discussing the growth of Sydney with a reporter, Mr E. R. Waite, curator of the Canterbury Museum, who recently returned to Christclmrcli from a visit to Australia, said he lind noted remarkable activity in the building trade in the New South Wales capital. Whilst in Sydney Mr Waite. was informed that during the past four years £20,000,000 worth of buildings had been erected there and during the past 12 months houses had been erected at the rate of one a day in North Sydney. Traffic on the tramways and on the ferry boats had increased enormously, and the borin«r of tunnels beneath the harbor was "still being discussed as an alternative to erect ing a bridge. The traffic on the ferry boats was so .enormous that the boatboys continually called out "Hurry on please!" purely from force of habit. No one hurried. Verandah posts are bein» dispensed with in order to «ive more room for pedestrians. Tramway poles and telephone poles were also disappearing, the telephone wires being placed underground. The prosperity of Sydney and New South South Wales was ascribbecl to various causes, It was claimed by so„„, that the Labor Government were responsible, and by others that purely natural causes produced it.