LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 109, 16 January 1912, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

' Several sharks were seen near the wharf on Saturday, and a large one was also seen close to the shore near the railway station beach. A special meeting of -the Taranaki County Council was held yesterday to consider the passing of bye-laws, and after sitting till late in the afternoon the meeting adjourned until the ordinary monthly meeting. Mr. Hugh Campbell has purchased'four sections, comprising 15<i acres, of the unsold portion of the "Pakowhai" estate, near Hastings. Other purchasers are negotiating for sections, and it is expected toy the auctioneers, Messrs. Dalgety and Co., Ltd., and Mr. J. R. Lanauze, that the balance will be disposed of in a few d»y«. "Ratepayer" writes:—"l notice one 'Gentleman' complains about the peculiar method of watering our main thoroughfares, and there is no reason why Devon street should not be watered before the shops open. Now, I wish to make a statement. and put this man right. The water-cart is out every morning when required at half-past seven. This was not always so." , At a meeting of the Taranaki County Council yesterday, the chairman's action relative to instructing the bridge foreman to proceed with protection work at Waiwakaiho bridge was confirmed. It was decided that the council proceed with earthwork at Henui bridge by day lobar, and that the metalling on Upper Carrington road be completed from the end of Henrickson and Blanchard's contract to the present metalling. According to Mr. W. H. Hagger (officer in charge of the Christchurch branch of the Department of Labor), there are very few 1 men out of employment at the moment, judging from the small number of enquiries received. On the other hand it appears that many industries are doing little more than marking time, pending the settling down of affairs. He is assured, however, that this is merely temporary, and that shortly all work will be progressing as usual, At the fortnightly meeting of the Loyal Egmont Lodge, 1.0.0.P., M.U., a Past Officer's jewel was presented to P.G. C. A. Matheson, he having passed through the' lodge chairs for the second time. P.P.G.M., G. H. McGahey, in making the presentation, complimented Bro. Matheson on the manner in which he had carried out the duties of an Oddt fellow, and wished him, on behalf of the lodge, eyery happiness in->his proposed new sphere. (Bro. Matheson is [ shortly to join the ranks of the Benedicts, and will reside at Hamilton.) A Peilding stablekeeper sent the "new" boy with a couple of horses to the paddock. The boy set off in the right direction, but stopped at the pound paddock. Finding the gate locked, he put the horses securely in the "boss's paddock," and then went back and reported that the paddock had been locked. His employer could not understand why it should have been locked, but in conversation with the poundkeeper the'next morning he learned the painful truth. At a cost of a couple of shillings he redeemed the horses.

The Egmont Lodge, 1.0. G.T., met in their lodge room last evening. The holiday season is not quite over, hence the attendance was not as large as usual. After the opening Bro. Arnold reported a proposal from the District Degree meeting in favor of the formation of a choir or glee •company within the lodge. The idea was well received., and a competent leader is all that is now. needed. About •X) young members signified 'their intention to support the idea. It was decided to postpone the official visit to the Westown Lodge until 25 th January. The evening was in the Sisters' hand's, and a line evening and a good supper it was. The following itums were given: Pianoforte solo (encored), Sister G. Way; recitation, Sister Belle Connett; recitation, Sister It. Brnnsgrovc; song (encored). lli*s Connett;" recitation"! Sister TS. Connett; song. Sister Rusden; recitation (encored), Sister R. Reid; pianoforte solo, Sister Belle Connett; recitation. Sister B. Connett.

Premium Bonds.—A Christmas gift for your wife, an endowment for a <Md, or a nest egg for yourself. Apply for booklet and full naviculars Walter Bewley, Egmont rtrorf.

A belief that children are sometimes permitted to see supernatural visitors, was expressed by the Bishop of London in a recent sermon. He urged his hearers not to regard all that children said to be mere fancy, and he told a remarkable story to uphold his point. The father of five girls, feeling ill, had gone to lie down. The youngest girl was sent to bed, but ran from her room, calling, "Come out! There are two angels walking down the staircase and father is walking .between them!" All five girls saw the same thing; and going to their father's room they found him dead. A medical cprrespondent has written to a London journal complaining that many public schools have issued prohibitions against trouser pockets. "I cannot imagine," he says, "what benefit the sewing up of a boy's trouser pockets can be to him, morally or physically. O/i the other hand, such a rule has a great deal to condemn it from a medical standpoint. The main reason is that the hands of a boy or girl have a peculiar function in regulating the circulation and warmth of the body, and boys with cold fingers are peculiarly liable to catch cold both in the head and body." He goes on to say that the schoolmasters' "antipocket craze" is the cause of the cases of pneumonia and bronchitis at large ii> English public schools.

The Maoris in the •baekbloeks of Waikaremoana (says the Poverty Bay Herald), are to be seen in their more primitive state through not having come so often into contact with the white ma«. Some time back a number of Maoris were reported for poaching trout at Waikaremoana out of season, and the ranger set off on horseback to see the offenders. It was a moonlight night. As he approached their resort there was a report of a gun, and a bullet whizzed past the nose of his horse, and at the same time a Maori was seen to dive into the bush. The Maoris of late, however, have had the position regarding poaching and taking trout out of season more fully explained to them, and there has been very little poaching so far this season.

The effect of the duty placed on kauri and white pine timber from New Zealand by Australia is a matter for speculation in timber circles. Some hold that the duty must come off the price in New Zealand; others that the merchant in Sydney will have to pay it. Others, again, hold that kauri has reached its top price in Sydney, and that there is a strong probability of consumers looking to cheaper timber. The Dargaville correspondent of the Auckland Star had a chat on the subject with Mr. Woolsey Allen, jun., sawmill owner, who has just returned from a trip to Sydney on timber business. Mr. Allen is of opinion that the Sydney merchant will have to pay the duty. He does not anticipate any difficulty in selling kauri, for which there is a steady demand. Years ago, said Mr. ■ Allen, Sydney merchants told us we were selling kauri too cheaply, and the fact that we now sell more in Sydney at double the price then paid will bear out their statement. Mr. Allen, however, thinks it possible that under the duty more rimu may now be enquired for.

With reference to the serious accident by which a man named Thornton received injuries through colliding with a spring dray, the statement made by John Poletti, farmer, to the police was that he left his home, Bell 'Block, at 8 p.m. on Saturday with his wife and five children in a spring dray to drive into New Plymouth. At twenty minutes past eight, when opposite Mr. Kibby's house, while driving at the rate of five miles an hour, he noticed a cyclist riding very fact towards him, with* his head down, riding on the wrong side. He was driving on his right side, but had no light. The cyclist had a lamp, and had he been looking he must have seen the dray which was within eight feet of the footpath on its proper side. The cyclist struck the off-side wheel, and was run over. Poletti stopped the dray, lifted the injured man on to the footpath, and sent for Dr. Fookes. He was driving a white horse and his girls were wearing white hats. The frame of the bicycle was wrecked, but the wheels did not suffer , much. The buckle of the cyclist's belt was broken. His condition last night was unchanged. Evidently the belief that Britain and Germany were recently very close to war was widely and firmly held in the Old Country. The Sydney Sun prints extracts from a letter received from Mr. Rowland Hunt, M.P., showing that he, at least, had no doubt on the matter. Dealing with the statement that for three nights the British vessels lost sight of a German torpedo-boat flotilla, and in consequence the entire fleet kept the torpedo nets in position the whole of the time, Mr. Hunt states that there was genuine fear on the part of the Admiralty that Germany contemplated a sudden attack like that made by Japan upon Port Arthur. The presence of scores of Germans amongst the railwaymen on strike was significant, adds Mr. Hunt. It was the general belief that German emissaries were doing, their utmost to magnify the trouble, and that the fear of complete disorganisation, which would. pla*e the nation at a terrible disadvantage in case of a sudden outbreak of hostilities, was alone responsible for the railway companies acceding to the railway strikers' demands. Germany, no doubt, realised the importance of first attacking Britain from

Mr. C. E. Bevan-Brown, headmaster of the Boys' High School, Christchurch. who has returned after spending twelve months in the Old Country, says that on all sides he heard evidence of a great diminution in drunkenness in the Old Country. There was a general increase of earnestness amongst all classes. Many of the members of the Labor Party were earnest, religious men. The large numbers of societies Socialistic societies, Imperialistic societies, like the Victoria League and League of Empire, political and religious societies implied eager thought to improve conditions at great saorifice. These societies had seized upon a large number of university men. There was a much deeper religious spirit in the universities. In each college lie found branches of the Students' Christian Union and the Church of England Men's Society, and other similar organisations, and also branches of non-religious societies like the Fabian Society. These facts showed that more interest was taken in matters of public concern, apart from private enjoyment. In Paris, and to a lesser degree, in London, lie found that all obsequiousness, and a great deal of the old politeness had disappeared. There was more surliness. But these things were rough indications of the newly-nwakened self-respect. There was deep discontent with the conditions of labor. A great deal, perhaps most, of the sentiment of attachment to employers had gone. Working men, on the other hand, showed keen sympathy to one another. Men of all parties anxiously studied social problems. Voumr men at Home discussed thorn much more than tliey were discussed by young men in the colonics.

Lord Roberts is fighting very hard to secure compulsory service' for the citizen soldiers of Great Britain. Some time or other England may come to grips with some Other nation, and trained soldiers will be needed. Xumbcrs will tell, but the quality will count most. It is because quality is essential that Crescent Blen Tea is so widely popular. It is a good.tea, and good all the time. Trv it —Advt. " '

The amount of butter-fat received by the Moa Dairy Company for December last was 127,478, as against 132.544 for December, 1910. The payments tills year amounted to £5842 14s 9d, as against £5533 lis in December, 1910. The business of the Prisons Board was )']■ tight to a close yesterday afternoon, an ! members leave New Plymouth today. The Uoard considered forty cases of habitual criminals in the local gaol, and also a number of cases relating to prisoners undergoing reformatory treatment in other places. News readies us by every successive mail of the very serious outlook, as regards v/cather conditions, now prevalent in Queensland. That State is, without doubt, in the. grip of a real drought, and New Zealandors who ha vy'taken up their residence there write in a despondent strain of their experiences. Several of the grain producing'districts, such as the Darling Downs, are in a very bad way, and a great falling off' in production is anticipated, the wheat crop being almost a failure. There lias been no°rain to speak of for some months past. The wheat yield will not be a third of that of the previous year. Even with a good average yield, Queensland finds it necessary to import somewhere about two million bushels of wheat for loeal consumption, and probably between three and four millions bushels will be required for the present season.—Exchange. It is the custom in these days to describe the Ulster-Scot as a brutally obstinate and impossible man, but recently he was made the subject of a panegyric in the city of Edinburgh and at the hands of Lord Rosebery, who is not usually regarded as a man who takes sides with retrograde or wrong-headed communities. This is what Lord Roscbery said in Edinburgh to an immense gathering of the most cultured people in Scotland:—"l love Highlanders and I love Lowlanders, but when I come to the branch of our race which has been grafted on the Ulster stem, I take off my hat with veneration and with awe. They are, I believe, without exception, the toughest, the most dominant, the most irresistible race that exists in the universe at this moment."

Tatt's sweeps still go merrily on tempting the nimble shillings and pounds of colonials. A recent Sydney paper indicates that, despite all the precautions taken by our Postal Department, a vast sum must go annually from New Zealand for speculation in Tatt's. In the 26 "consultations" held last year New South Wales again headed the list, capturing seven first prizes, ten second and eight third, of the total value of £58,402. Victoria was not far away, receiving seven first prizes, six seconds and six third prizes, amounting in all to , £53,228. South Australia came next, .Securing £28,400 for four first/three second and. three third prizes. Queensland occupied four place with four first, one second and three third places, of a value of £24,940. New Zealand obtained £20,250 for two first, five second and (three third prizes. West Australia reached £7700 for a first,' two second and one third prizes. Tasmania was last on the list with £5750 for one first and four third priEPg. The mystery of a village church lies behind the arrest of the Abbe Laroue, the respected vicar of Igornay (Saone-et-Loire, France), in connection with the murder of the parish,sexton as the latter was going to ring the angelus one evening at the beginning of October. The sexton, an old man named Dessertenne, was found by children the following morning with his head battered in at the foot of a pile of chairs, evidently erected in order to trip him up. The old man's savings, amounting to about £2O, which he always carried about with him, were gone. A soldier named Leroux, on being arrested some weeks after, is alleged to have made a statement, following on which the Abbe Laroue and a young man named Grillot, who had formerly been in the Abbo's service, have been arrested. The villagers firmly believe in the innocence of their vicar, who is generally beloved. The Abbe is immensely popular with the farmers, and the peasants, it is stated, refused to lend the police a conveyance to take him to prison at Autun.

The "tightening up" of the methods whereby indecent literature, post cards and picture films can be kept out of the Commonwealth has Men a hobby with several members of the Federal Government (says the Melbourne Age). Perhaps their leader is the Minister of Customs, who has commenced a rigorous campaign against the importation of filthy cards and films. Customs inspectors have been instructed to prohibit the entrance of things indecent, and have been given the nave advice of the Con-troller-General: "Interpret 'indecent' as something a respectable householder would not like to see in his home." The instructions against the entrance of indecent films have been found almost superfluous. As far as txpericnce has gone, it has shown that importers are so afraid of any. Customs handling of their goods that they do not dare to import indecencies. When Mr. Hughes was Acting-Prime Minister he asked the State Governments to supplement Federal efforts by punishing the local display or' sale of immoral literature,- Tardy replies have been received from the States. The New South Wales answer is typical. It states that the existing law In the State contains ample power to deal with the exhibition and sale of indecent publications, and that the law is being rigidlv enforced. Some State Governments delight in telling the Feceral Government to "mind its otn business."