LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 174, 22 January 1912, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The rain on Saturday again interfered with the progress of the cricket matches. Owing to the south-westerly gale the Earawa was barbound yesterday. It is expected, however, that she will arrive this afternoon. Earl Mount-Cashell, of Beryl, Somerset, an unmarried Irish Peer, to whose title there is no present heir, celebrated his eighty-second birthday last month. It is expected that the speed of the new British cruiser Lion, which has engines of 60,000 horse-power, the most powerful ever placed in a warship, will exceed thirty knots per hour. If all the valuable manurial constituents contained in sewage could be utilised on land, says Dr. J. Grossmann, of Manchester, they would represent a value of somewhere about £40,000,000 per annum.

The new Imperial Chinese cruiser Ying Swei, built at Barrow, has completed her trialß. She carries five types of guns, has two classes of boilers, and a singular variety of .equipment, because she is to ■be _ used for instructional purposes for Chinese officers and seamen.

A Spanish colonial paper has apparently a gem of a sub-editor. When he got the cablegram announcing the result of the St. Leger—"Prince Palatine, Lvcaon, King William"—he filled it out so as to read: "Doncaster, Sept. 12.—The Prince Palatine, of Lyconia. So far the result of the trip to Saint Leger by the Prince Palatine of Laconia, King William is not known." We should imagine that it is still shrouded in mystery. Newspapers from Canton, Ohio, report a romantic wedding of a poor Norwegian cook to a local millionaire. Mr'| Edward Langenbeach engaged Miss Jansen as cook, and was so delighted with the first meal that he proposed to her on the spot. The new cook was considerably astonished, but accepted him with %q,ual promptitude. The license was obtained and the ceremony, performed one hour after the first meal had been placed on his table. > A large king-fish, weighing 371b, was caught off the Onehunga wharf on Tuesday by a Mr. Ormerod, who was using an ordmaTy schnapper line and hook. On examination the fish was found to have some ten inches of the snout of thes owrd fish sticking into its gills, presumably as the result of an encounter. Mr. Ormerod considers that it would have been impossible to secure the fish had it not been in a feeble condition by reason of its wound.

A startling accident occurred at one of the ferries on the Waiau river a few days ago.' The ferryman AVas induced ! to take a settler's horse and gig aboard j the punt, which was already comfortably I filled. The rear gate could not be shut on account ,of the trap partly projecting. When in mid-stream a horse in front became restive, causing the horse in the gig to back suddenly over the platform of the punt, and, in a moment, horse, trap and freight were swallowed up in the swirling waters. A lady passenger sprang from the vehicle not a moment too soon, but lost an outfit prepared for an extended holiday. A correspondent forwards a touching story of. juvenile self-sacrifice, which he has culled, from a Dutch daily paper:— The wife of a farm laborer named Lilies, at Morschied, Rijnpruisen, went to the city to buy some stores! Her two childa boy. and a girl, respective five and three years of age, went out in the evening to meet their mother, but, unfortunately, they lost their way in the country, and were found the next morning in a dry ditch. It appeared tha.t the little boy had undressed himself partly to protect his little sister against the cold weather. The girl was found to be alive, but the poor boy was dead. About 9 o'clock on Saturday morning a fire was discovered in the office of Messrs. Watking. and Fox, which is at the : rear of' Mr. Arnold Jones', in Brougham streea. Mr. Watkins was in his,,office at 8.90 and there was no of fire, but when Mr. Jones went 1 to his office he noticed a smell of fire, and gave the alarm. -The brigade-was-soon on the spot, and before the fire could be much damage it was extinguished. The walls and ceiling were damaged to the extent of about £2O, and books and papers were damaged with' water. It is difficult to say how the fire started. I Messrs. Watkins and Fox had no insurance, but the building i s insured in the , Phoenix for £IBOO and the fittings, etc., for £2OO. *'■ *

Twenty-eight years ago a New Italy settlement was established on the north coast of New South Wales. Some four or five hundred natives of Italy settled in the district, and the success of that settlement has been brought to the notice of Mr. Trefle, the Minister for Agriculture, with the suggestion that efforts should be made to people the Murrumbidgee irrigation settlement, or at least a part of it, with Italians. How far the Government, in view of its fear to deal with the subject of immigration, will be inclined to accept such a proposal will be for the Government itself to say, but tho fact remains that this "New Italy" has been described as one of the most successful atempts ever made to introduce foreign settlers into an English-speaking community, and that further enquiries are being made with a view to supplying the Government with information as to the possibility of carrying out a suggestion that Italy might with success be exploited by the agents of New South Wales in order to provide some of the labor needed by the State.

, In an interview, Professor Alfred Frcid, of Vienna, the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for 1911, said that a united Press was the most practical step in the direction of maintaining the world's peace. "It is clear," the professor went on to say, "that we have emerged from the period of eternal war. Had the Hull affair, the separation of Norway and Sweden, the annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the emancipation of Bulgaria, the Casablanca incident, or the recent momentous dispute over Morocco taken place ten years ago, there would have been no escape from slaughter. The most important thing to do is to arrange for the participation in war negotiations of the lay element represented by Parliamentary committees charged with the duty of watching over the doings of diplomats. We need a state of international order, a harmony of forces, greater health, better education, better justice. In short, the higher fulfilment of life is the real peace for which we should strive."

It is reported that freezing works are about to be erected in the neighborhood of Tauranga.

?lunket nurses are now stationed at Dunedin (3), Invercargill, Timaru, Ashburton, Cliristehurch (2), Napier, New Plymouth, and Auckland (2). The Hawke.'s F>ay Fruitgrowers' Asso-

ci.ilion is at present kept fairly busy. Last week, it was expected, it would, handle between 1500 and 2000 cases daily.

Some of the largest individual cheques paid out to suppliers by the T. L. Joll Co-operative Factories last month were £207, am, two of £lOl, £l6O, £159, £157 an;! £154.

A farmer in the vicinity of the Ashhurst district has no less than one hundred, and fifty acres of cocksfoot this year, winch will be harvested in the course of a few weeks.

An English immigrant thus summed up the result of the second test match: "Barnes got 'em aht in the first, Foster fizzled 'em in the second, and now 'ere's 'Era an' 'Obbs 'elping with their 'undreds. It seems to met' Ovvld Countree is goin' to shake 'em up after all." I hope to come to Europe again before I get too old. 1 am 110 years of age, you know —you look surprised, but I am counting age by a man's daily work; in hours. I have worked eighteen hours a day for—for a long time, and I wish to live to 150.—Mr. Edison.

Mr. John Harris, manager for the Hon. J. D. Ormond in Woodville, the other day received the weights of a certain portion of his wool clip for this season. This was the wool from 5000 sheep—ewes, hogges, wethers and dry—and the average per sheep was 101b Boz. As an instance of the scarcity of domestic servants, the Manaia Witness states that a girl who was receiving £.l a week in a small private family announced her intention of leaving, and as an inducement to remain was offered 25s a week, which she refused to accept. A clergyman in Keokuk, lowa, while waiting for a train at a railway station, was accosted by a eouple who requested him to marry them. He saw his train approaching, and he married the couple in the following brief manner:—"Do you want one another '!". Both replied "Yes." "Well, then, have one another." J According to the Wairarapa Standard, a meeting was.held at Carterton recently to consider the question of establishing a Maori 1 Fruit-growing Company. It was decided to form a company, with headquarters at Carterton, and to issue 4000 shares at £1 each;, also to secure 200 acres of land at Palmerston North for the project. Petone will soon be a deserted village at the present rate of depopulation. ! There are now considerably over one hundred empty houses there now. It is somewhat remarkable that a portion of Petone's. population is gradually drift' ing to .tlie Lower Hutt. Probably the meat works in the middle of the town may account for the exodus. The T. L. Joll Co-operative Dairy Company is about to commence the making of butter from whey (says, the Star). The Kapuni factory will start first, and the other of the company's factories will probably follow as soon after as possible. The total milk supply to the several factories iB about equal to last year's, but under normal conditions it should have been considerably more, as the company has more suppliers this year than last. Many causes have been attributed for the rapid increase in recent years in the number of cases of appendicitis. It remained, however; for a New Zealand doctor to throw some light on the effect in one direction,' at least,,of .a complaint that at one time seemed almost epidemic. A nervous patient, seeking to find a reason for his pains, asked his medical adviser whether he thought motoring caused appendicitis. The doc-, tor scouted the ddea. "But I am not sure," he added reflectively, 'fthat appendicitis does not cause motoring—among doctors. I got a new set of tyres out of my last case."—Exchange. The first sitting of the Court to hear applications for pensions under the Widows' Pensions Act was' held in Wellington on Friday. There were fifteen applicants, but it is understood that this. does not represent all who have made claims. Nine of the applicants were granted pensions, and six were refused them. Five of the refusals were on the ground of excessive income, and one because the.children were born out of New Zealand. A woman with one child gets a pension of £l2, two children £lB, three children £24, and four children £!W. Anyone whose income does not exceed £ 130 per year is entitled to a full pension, but anything she receives above £l3O is deducted from the amount of the pension. One of the applicants was a woman who earned £2 10s weekly in regular employment. This made the £l3O, and, as her children numbered two, she gets a pension of £lB, which brings her annual income up to £l4B. — Dominion. '

, Thursday last was the anniversary of ihe' storming of Ruapekkpeka, tile' end of the series of encounters between the, courageous officers and men of the Imperial forces and the notorious Hone Heke, that occurred in the Bay of Islands sixty-seven years ago. Sergeant Sage, who has reached his eighty-eighth year, and was attached to the 58th Regiment, is (says the Auckland Star) one of two known survivors of the notable attack and capture of Heke's final stronghold, and claims to be the only living soul who saw active service in the Heke and Waikato wars. The 58th, under the command of Major Matson and Lieutenant Balnea vis, came ashore at Auckland on 23rd March, 1845, and after remaining for a short time constructing the "ramparts at Fort Britomart, the regiment was ordered to the Bay of Islands, where the troubles with the Maori chief had then commenced. Sever fighting followed at Okaihau and Ohaeawai, and retreating to Ruapekapeka, Heke made strong entrenchments. The Imperial forces attacked the stronghold, which fell on Sunday, nth January, 1846, after a strenuous bombardment.

M.C.C.'S GREAT SUCCESS. SALE OF STEWART HUSTON'S STOCK. The Melbourne Clothing Companv's sale of stock, purchased at 13/4 in the £ from Stewart Huston, has proved an instantaneous success. Right from the time the doors opened until closing time each day of this sale has this popular store been crowded with buyers. And no wonder. Just figure for yourself what it meant to you when we got this stock at one-third oil' cost price. It means that on every article of this stock purchased you make a clear saving of at least 50 per cent., and in some cases more. In every instance you are buyin* at less than landed cost. J UB t eonside? the mighty savings represented in prices like the foiiowingr-Men's genuine panamas, 10/ ft; men's Island hats, with straps, 1/- each; men's wire tweed trousers, o/ll; men's flannels, 2/5; men's merino singlets, 1/6; men's merino pants, 1./ H; me n ' s co]ored ne „j._ ge ami tennis shirts, 2/11; men's silk ties Od PlK .hj men's worsted trousers, 8/11; men's tailor-made suits stunning patterns, beautifully cut and finished, 45/- and 59/0, worth 65/- and 80/-. Dont miss this wonderful sale for the greatest money saving chances ever offered on men's apparel.—Advt