LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 158, 3 January 1912, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Pickpockets are having a good time in Auckland just now. Wherever a crowd gathers together there the pickpockets are. Many of the Aucklanders during the Christmas holidays were relieved of purses, watches and other trifles. There is quite a tinge of excitement and expectation now amongst those who mingle with the Auckland mobs.

Rdigious tolerance is evidently a prominent characteristic of the Maori. During the Christmas season many tribes and hapus gathered .together at Te Ore Ore, near Masterton, to take part in a "religious conference" for Catholics, Anglicans, Non-confonnists, Mormons, the Church of the Seven Rules of Jehovah, and presumably any others sects which number natives among their adherents. - A curious action was heard in the American courts. A plaintiff sought damages for the bite of a dog, which bit him after he had tramped on its tail. The claim was for £9OO. The judge held that a dog has a right to bite a man who steps on its tail. It was not shown that the dog was vicious. The animal itself occupied a prominent position in a corner of the courtroom and aided in the defence by allowing people to walk round him without offering to bite. Amongst the stories told by Sir Robert Hart is one reflating to the estate of Kilmoriarty, which had been given to one of his ancestors for service at the battle of the Boyme "by King William. The ancestor left the place so burdened with debt that it had to 'be sold. Hearing the story, Robert Hart-na little boy thenused to say, <f When I'm a man I'll buy back Kilmoriarty—and I'll get the title too." He did buy back Kilmoriarty when it came on the market years afterwards, and gained a knighthood, a Grand Cross, and a. baronetcy. A returned visitor to Sydney, who says he was "jolly glad to get 'back to New Zealand," informs us that there is a great outcry in the New South Wales capital about the scarcity of water, owing to the inadequacy of the mains. The consumption of water has been so heavy in the hot weather that the higher levels are without any. The only alternative is to duplicate the mains, which will take five years to do. The pipe-makers, who should <be turning out the mains, are following the prevailing fashion by going on strike.—Palmerston Standard.

It would appear that it is becoming a custom among shearers in the Dominion to temporarily assume names not their own. In the course of a false pretences case heard at Blenheim one of the witnesses, a shearer, was asked why he took up work on a Marlborough station under an assumed name. He replied that when he arrived in Blenheim he was prepared' to give his proper name, but was told by some fellow-workers that it was not the practice among the shearers from other parts to work under their own names. The reason of this custom did not transpire.

Premium Bonds.—A Christmas gift for your wife, an endowment for a child, or a lwsfc e/r? for yourself. Appiy for book* let and full particulars Walter Bewley, Egmont street.

Mr. Bishop, stationer, Lad a small case at his shop broken open during the holiday*, and a razor and 'brush stolen. Tt is reported from Paris that the sum of £IOO.OOO lias been left to King Alfonso of Spain by the late 11. Albert Sapene, landowner of Montauban de Luchon.

The year just closing was of marked activity in the building trade in Napier, the permits issued representing a value of £!M,474, ;is against £01.0:23 for the previous yea;'.

Some slippery fingers have been about lately. A man was getting a ticket at the station on Monday morning, and when he got out of the crowd he discovered that he hud been relieved of thirty shillings.

The Stratford Post rrfers to a new method or protecting a crop from the small birds by tethering a number of cats on a string, thus enabling them to wander about in the paddock as occasion arises. The idea, it is stated, works admirably.

At a race meeting in Taranaki recently a banker drew a dividend; He left the machine, and walked some distance away with the notes in his hand. Someone warned him to be careful on account of the number of spieler's about. He. said tliat he was all right, and knew how to look after his money, but later in the day he admitted that someone had gone through him for the dividend. People who pay for their gas by the shilling in the slot principle are considered safe, but it may not have occurred to them that the meter is an inducement for unscrupulous persons to break into the house. On Sunday, the inmates of the Burlington tea-rooms being away, someone entered through the window, broken open the meter, and stole the cash, which, it k said, amounted to about £5. ,

News lias been received of the total destruction by Are of the fanjous carved Maori house Takitumu at Tablelands, Martinborough. From the meagre particulars available it appears that Takitumu has been razed to the ground.. It is understood that at the time of the fire, 10 p.m. on Sunday, there was only 'one native about the place. The origin of the fire is a mystery; The police are conducting an investigation. Persistent reports are being circulated that the syndicate purchasing the Taramaki Petroleum Company are agents of the Standard Oil Company. Mr. Brown, chairman of the British Empire Oil-/ fields, gives the report an emphatic deV nial, stating that the Standard Oil Oof is not interested in the company, whicih is solely British, with no foreign directors or shareholders. The directors; tof the new company will also be all Bffitisfc, including a New Zealand board/of four. / Scene, a country school. Occasion, a prize-giving ceremony, the chairmam of the school committee officiating, j Up steps a son of the chairman for his fprize," which he grabs and makes off witM, for-! getting his manners. He is hallf-way down the building, returning to hisj desk,; when father calls sharply, "Toni.'J Tom ; comes back. "You young imp," Ijle goes on, "I'll shake the tar out of yolu when you get home. I'll teach you tolmake a holy show of me," and so on. The people enjoyed the fun more than Tom did. ! ••'•*-' The display of frozen meat by the New Zealand Government at Rrtubiax, in France, isi likely, says a London correspondent, to have a beneficial effect. A local paper named La Croix: states that some eloquent speeches have; been made in that district in favor of/frozen meat and the revision of the harassing Customs tariff. The paper commends the action of New Zealand, and observes that if the French Government wishes to take all precautions of view' it could make iv easy for the shippers by requiring a consular stamp on the carcase. The construction of ; the Stratford Main Trunk Railway will be a boon to, a large number of sawmillers (says the Auckland Herald), and the saving of freight alone will amount to a considerable sum annually. The finding of ail outlet at a AVest Coast port will provide a number of Main Trunk millers with a route to a port from which timber for Australia can be shipped direct at y a smaller cost than is the case at present. But the completion of a railway in New Zealand is always associated with such a remote period in the future that it is possible! that there will be very little timber left to export by the time j the railway is finished. Employers of domestic servants will be under the necessity, before March 1 next, of insuring themselves against possible claims by their servants for compensa-J tion for accidents whih may arise out of and in the course of the employment. The 'amendment passed last session to the Workers' Compensation Act brings within the scope of the statute '"'domestic service in which the employment or engagement is for a period of not less than seven days." The new law conies into operation on, March 1, 1912, and in view of the fact for the defence that the occupation is not carried on for the purposes of the employers' trade or business will no longer available, the wisdom of effecting an insurance against possible claims for compensation will be apparent to every householder. He was a sad-faced man. Seemed to have found life flat and uninteresting. His knock at the door was timid. "Come in!" yelled the editor, and, as he entered, "Sit down. What is it?" "I want half a sovereign," said the visitor. "Wasting time," was the editorial comment. "See the office boy." "But I want it from you," he said;' "you're the chap that did it." "Did what? How the But let's hear your story." "Well," said the sad-faeed man, "it's about me hat. Last week 1 read your advertisement, 'Summer time is here,' it said; 'walk on the shady side,' it said. 'lf your hat blows off, don't chase it, some other fellow will.' That what it said, isn't it?" The editor nodded. "Well it did blow off. and I didn't chase it." "But the other fellow did?" said the editor eagerly. "You're right, boss; he did. You're a great judge of human nature, boss; but he hasn't come back with it yet." Members of the Equitable Building Society of New Plymouth (First and Second Groups) are notified that subscriptions will be due and payable on Wednesday, January 3, at the Secretary's office, Currie street, from 9 a.m. to '13.30, from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., and 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.—Advt.

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