LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 170, 24 January 1912, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Notwithstanding the large number of dwellings that have been erected within the city of Auckland during recent years, there is still a marked shortage of houses of five and six rooms, and it is, therefore, expected that in this respect 1912 will be as busy as 1911.

Mr. McCallum, M.P. for Wairau, interviewed by a New Zealand Times reporter, denies the allegations set out in the election petition that has been filed against his return, and says that now the allegations have been made he not only courts, but insists on the fullest enquiry. . "Lover of Shakespeare" writes:—"A friend accosted, me in Devon street yesterday morning. 'Been to the opera?' he asked. 'What opera?' I enquired. 'Hamlet!' he said. 'Yes, I went,' I acknowledged gravely; "but the dancing wasn't very good.' 'Go on!' concluded my friend. 'l'm glad I didn't go!'" Education is free, secular and compulsory in New Zealand. The following are the dairy payments for December in connection 'with, the undermentioned factories:—Ha wera, £7990; Mells, £1988; Normanby, £2751, all at the rate of Is per lb. ,It may be of interest to readers to know that of the Hawera. factory cheques tweAty-two are over £ 100, the largest being £239, £IBB, £164, £162, £l6O, and £l4l. Normanby factory has nine over £loo.—Star. Considerable interest attached to the fact that the police in a case of robbery at Greymouth called a boy, aged seven, to give evidence against his father. Counsel for accused contended that such a course was utterly without precedent. The police, however, insisted on the boy giving his evidence, and the Magistrate consented, to taking the lad's evidence for what it was worth. Lectures on New Zealand, in Esperanto, are being given* by Mr J. A. Hodges, of: Nottingham, throughout North France, West Germany, Holland, and Belgium. The tour will be on,similar lines to that made by Mr Parrish, who was sent by the State of California to advertise its resources and atractions through Central Europe. This tour ■ has just been completed, and has proved an. unqualified success. Mr Hodges was formerly delegate of the Universala Esperanto Asocio, under whose auspices the tour is being made.

In the Magistrate's Court yesterday, before Mr. H. S. 'Fitzherbert, S.M., a young man named Walter James Ross was charged with stealing articles from a residence on the Old Hospital road to the value of £l9 10s, consisting_of a dress suit, a silver candlestick, handpainted cushion, table-cloth, bed cover, 12 serviettes, a silk drape and a lady's blouse. Constable O'Neill arrested the accused, on Monday evening just as the Rarawa was leaving for Onehunga, and quite surprised him. On the application of Senior-Sergeant Haddrell a remand was granted until January 26. Bail was granted, accused to find £SO and two sureties of £25 each.

The food 1 * value of walnuts, says the Lancet, is *very high; they are very rich in fat, containing as much as 63 per cent, while proteins amount to nearly 16 per cent. It has been calculated that 30 large walnuts kernels contain, as much fat as-2/lb of lean beef, and yet the walnut is used as a supplement to a square meal. Added to this the glass of port, say 2 fluid oz., contains, besides 180 grains, of alsohol, 70 grains of grape sugar. In the combination, therefore, we have all the elements which make for a complete dish, namely, fat, protein, carbohydrate, to which may be added mineral salts. Port and walnuts after a meal,-are, therefore, from a- nutritive point of view ."ridic.uloqg excess."',.. _ ,/ Mr W. T. Wells has a very fine stack of ensilage on his'farm on the Ma.naia road, says the Witness. He!has hafves--ted this season 200 acres of hay, of which he has converted 150 acres into ensilage, representing a cost for labor alone of £9O. Mr Wells believes in the ensilage made stack, simply weighted with earth, as being a better method for retaining and preserving unimpaired the juices and nutritive qualities of the hay, and in that form it generally supposed to he preferable to cattle. The problem of winter feeding is every season forcing itself on the attention of farmers throughout Taranaki, and in this district during the present .season there has been ' a large increase In the number of farmers who are providing themselves with ensilage as* winter feed. "At the present time some of the factories are making more butter and cheese in Taranaki than they were making this time last year, although the returns for the season are not up to last year's figures at this date." Such was the opinion expressed by a recent visitor to Taranaki. Feed is reported to be abundant, and the opinion is that returns should continue to increase. The Kaupokonui Company is stated to have netted 7d, f.0.b., Wellington, for its shipment of cheese by the Turakina. It is estimated, says a prominent shipper, that the New Zealand make of hutter for the season is still 15 per cent, to 20 per cent, below last season's figures, and that the increase in the cheese make is from 22 per cent, to 25 per cent, on last season's figures, Given perfect .■weather for the balance of the season, it is considered possible to make up a good deal of the present shortage. In view of the depletion of the stocks held in cold storage last winter, it is considered that much heavier supplies will he retained here this season, hut indications are that prices locally will again be high.— Exchange. Mr. Baker has most kindly allowed us to use his shop as an emporium where friends may leave parcels of things they are giving to the bazaar, to be held at Oakura on Thursday and Friday, February 1 and 2. We 'shall be glad of any parcel however small. Please don't wait to he asked. A good turn will he greatly appreciated—Advt. Premium Bonds.—-A Christmas gift for your wife, an endowment for a child, or a nest egg for yourself. Apply -for booklet and full particulars Walter Bewley, Egmont street.

A Feilding rcsidefit, Mrs. Shaw; has just inherited a fortune, of £9OOO and an estate of 23,000 acres, through the death of a brother in Sydney. The Borough Council adjourned last evening till 7 to-night, when applications for the position of assistant electrician mid other business will be considered.

Dr. Henry Coward, who so ably conducted the Sheffield Choir during their recent world's tour, has stated that the enterprise resulted in a loss of £40,000. At the Education Board meeting last evening, when the resignations of teachers were read, a member asked the reason. "Marriage," laconically replied another member.

On their arrival in Eltham yesterday, Mr. li. B. Irving and his company were met at the railway station by the actingMayor and councillors, and later given a civic reception in the Town Hall. On Saturday last the Kaupokonui Cooperative Dairy Factory Co., Ltd,, distributed £14,159 2s among their suppliers, in payment for butter-fat delivered during the month of December, at Is per lb of fat. Forty-one suppliers received over £IOO each, whilst the six largest suppliers received £1986 between them.—Star.

Charles H. White, a New York broker, who died on December 7, 1910, left his entire fortune'of £400,000 to Fannie P. Jackson, his stenographer, cutting off his wife and family, with the proverbial shilling.' The funny part of the affair is that 'though the will was filed for probate immediately after White's death, the Surrogate of.New York, up to December' 24 last, had not been able to ascertain the whereabouts of the beneficiary. ' ' .

A Crimean veteran lately pased away at Swansea, in Wales, at the age of 81 years. He was the holder of Crimean, Baltic and Turkish medals. He win* the ,oldest marine engineer in South Wales. In 1874 he was the means of saving 162 lives on the Rio Grande river, and three years previously, during a collision between . two large Indian liners off Cape Trafalgar, he jumped below and eased the safety-valve, thus controlling the I boilers and averting a terrible catastrophe. - How to keep a wife and two children on £2 5s a week, and pay 20s per week rent? is a question that was discussed , at the Magistrate's Court in Auckland on Thursday last. The solicitor for the creditor suggested that £1 per week was heavy rent to pay out of such an income. The judgment debtor said he had tried to get a cheaper residence, but was faced with the difficulty that it meant going further out of town, and the train fares made up the amount to more than 20s per week. It is not 'often that a swarm of bees is to be seen in a main thoroughfare. A few mornings ago a swarm landed on a post near a tobacconist shop in a New Zealand town, and passers-by seemed to , prefer the pavement on the opposite side of the street. A gentleman who was pacing in a car suddenly got off, went to the nearest shop, purchased a box,, then quietly walked up the bees, lifted the : swarm in his hands, and dropped them in i his rough hive, caught the next car, and went on his way rejoicing. , ' The New Zealand Dairyman thinks it [ "would be a. graceful thing if the dairy j people of New Zealand raised enough . money to put a gravestone and fence \ round the Jate Mr. Kinsella's grave, inr stead of allowing him to lie in an un- , marked spot. "Tt was to the late Mr [ Kinsella," says the Dairyman, "we are . indebted for the 'starter,' which' haa [ done so much to,improve the quality of . both butter and cheese. Tf he had never done another thing for New Zealand ex- , cept educate the factorv managers on ' the value of the 'starter' he well earned

all the money he got from the State." The Rev. W. R. Daine, vicar of a parish in Cornwall was killed while making a brave at'tempt to stop runaway omnibus horses. A party of country folk were driving in the omnibus, when the horses bolted down a steep hill. The driver was pitched into the road, and Mr. Daines, who was seated on the box, seized the reins and tried to steer the horses down a hill, but he was thrown off and had his skull fractured. The horses crashed into a hedge at the bottom of the hill, but the occupants of the omnibus, •Amon? whom was Mis. Daine, escaped unhurt, and the driver was little trie worse for his, fall.

The loss of, brooches, gold and otherwise, in/ New Plymouth, appears to be absolutely appalling. Recently a 1 gentleman found a brooch in the town, and at once brought it to this office. An advertisement, without description, was inserted, and people who had lost the brooch, began to claim it at once. One person pesured a worker in the office that hef 'Brooch certain was as he described, having a brown stone in the centre, blue sapphires attach, corner, and two missing. Other enquirers there were eight altogether,—gave descriptions varying fjom ; that of a small silver* nondescript" article of '.jewellery, worth eighteehpence, to a gorgeous affair .with many,diamonds.,. Letters from, afar have been received, Claiming the brooch, and the poor little, thing is still hidden in theVsafei'.andesCribed and Unclaimed. Asit cannot be doubted that at •least twelve persons have lost this brooch, ultimately it may have to be boiled down and distributed pro rata, the priceless diamonds, rubies, sapphires, amethysts and other gems being also carefully distributed to the whole of the people who are partners in the article.