LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 182, 31 January 1912, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Advertiser for lost watch may have same by calling at News office. Monday next is the date fixed for the re-opening of all schools in the Taranaki Education district. There has been yo rain in the central pars of Hawke'sßay for several weeks, and the country is assuming a burnt-up appearance. Mr. W. J. Russell, of Cutfield road, is at present incapacitated through one of his horses knocking him over and trampling on him. The Greytown Standard states that a property bought in that township a few months ago for £IBOO was re-sold the other day for £3OOO. The Taranaki Agricultural Society de; cided upon the following dates for the next winter show at New Plymouth, June sth, 6th, 7th and Bth. At Waitara on Monday last a man named Doherty, with several aliases, was committed, for trial at the next sittings of the Supreipe Court at New Plymouth, on March 5, on a charge of theft from the person. On Friday .a large meeting is to take place at the Manukorihi pah. Dr. Pomare, M.P.J will be present and will address the Maoris on the present political situation Messrs. Okey and Hine, M.'sP., have been invited to be present. A handsomely-designed silver-mounted-championship belt, which has been presented by Captain A. M. MacDiarmid for competition amongst the High School cadets, is at present being exhibited in the window of Mr. Bennett, jeweller, Devon street.

The Taranaki Agricultural Society had before it last night a proposal, moved by Mr- A. W. Wood, and seconded by Mr. J. Sorenson, that two sections of its property be reserved for the winter show, and that sections 3, 4, 7 and 9 be sold or leased for the purpose of buying permanent show grouds. After some discussio, however, the motion was withdrawn in favor of an amendment by Mr. L. A. Nolan, seconded by Mr. Dockrill, that the committee go into the question of show- grounds and report to a general meeting of the society. Recent additions to the New Plymouth Carnegie Library comprise:—"The Challenge, Harold Begbie; '"The Ne'er Do Well," Rex Beach; "The Smugglers," S. R. Crockett; "The Root of Evil," Thomas Dixon; "Red Eve," H. Rider Haggard; "The Depot Master," J. C; Lincoln; "Mary Midthorne" and "What's His Name," G. B. MeOutcheon; "Bar—2o Days," Clarence E. Mulford; "Winding Paths," Gertrude Page; "The Claw," Cynthia Stockley; "The Garden of Resurrection," E. Temple Thurston; "Mother Carey," Kate D. Wiggin; "The Land of Veiled Women," John Foster Fras€r,

An Omata dairy farmer appeared at the Magistrate's Court yesterday in answer to a judgment summons of £36 7s Bd, representing a bill of sale over his stock; The defendant (0. L. Wadsworth) told the court that he tqok possession of his farm in May, making a deposit of £2OO, the balance (£1270) being on mortgage. So far he had not made a success of his venture. His dairy cheques had aggregated £45 lGs 4d, and beyond that he had not earned more £3. He had a wif& and family to keep. Mr. C. H. Weston, who appeared for the plaintiff (Wm. Wadsworth), agred to an adjournment of the case'for three months. . *

Travelling with some Sheep-breeders over the marvellous extensive area of rich country in Queensland, the Darling Downs, now covered with a fresh spring vegetation through: the recent downpours of rain (says Dalgety's Review for January), a remark was made in their hearing that ''This country is too good for sheep!" But sharp as the crack of a pistol came the reply from a fallow traveller: "No country is too good for sheep!" And it was argued that nothing paid as well as sheep, and no farm, however many crops were cultivated, should be without a flock of them, for sheep gave better returns than wheat or any other product of the land. He ought to visit Taranaki. Then he might change his view.

A party of New Plymouth men who have just returned from a trip to the Mokau, speaking to a News reporter, stated that the trip was one of the cheapest and most enjoyable possible. But they were most emphatic in the belief that unless the blackberry is at once attacked it will "over-run the Mokau." They state that between Mokau and the mines the curse is everywhere apparent—not in large brakes, but in small vigorous patches. The mines are surrounded with blackberry and gorse. As bushfalling is likely to proceed it is stated that should the pest grow around fallen logs it will be impossible to eradicate it. It has already taken itself to the bushland, and is, -of course, gaining hold very rapidly. One of the party said that the "black curse" is not now dealt with it would cost the Mokau "hundreds of thousands of pounds."

"The Englishmen can play cricket," remarks an enthusiastic colonial, and there is a good deal in that. Warner's team looks like taking home the ashes, and as matters stand now they deserve to, for there is merit in their work. Worth and merit mean much to the possessors, and that is rea,lly why Crescent Blend Tea finds so much favor with the public. Advt.

Premium Bonds.—A Christmas gift for your wife, an endowment for a child, or a nest e£g for yourself. Apply for booklet and full particulars Walter Bewley, Egmont street.

The Wairarapa Age complains that "we are bringing hundreds of young men and women to New Zealand without guarantee of employment." T'<' chairman of the Te Kuiti County Council is complaining that the public works in that district cannot be prosecuted because "there are no men available." Which is likely to be right? Quite a number of boroughs in NewZealand are likely to have their weekly half-holidays fixed for them by the Minister for Labor, as they have so far failed tp notify the Labor Dtpartment ■of the half-day (if any) settled upon by themselves. The formal notifications required by law liave been sent in by many local authorities. Those who have neglected the duty will only have until February 10th to make amends, aftev which the Minister is empowered to do it for them.

The speculator has got Te Kuiti by the throat. We were told recently that a land agent sold a, farm ;on Friday morning for £o(50. He. turned the land over again at a profit for the new owner next morning. He was instructed to "3ell again." The same afternooii he disposed of the property for £l3so—and the new purchaser thinks there is still a margin left! A day or two afterwards, when the farmers were celebrating the opening of a dairy factory! Mr. J. Boddie, a real settler, said: "Real farming has ■x.mmenced in this district. Hitherto we have only been scratching. Up to now speculation has been more profitable than farming, but when you get down to real home life on the land you will feel the benefit of real farming, and with permanency of tenure the system of working the land will be improved out of all knowledge. If speculation can be stopped there will be little 'difficulty in respect to tenure and a more* settled feeling with regard to land ownership in general." This means that in Te Kuiti, as elsewhere, it is the farmer who is being farmed and not the farm. The story is an old one, but the moral always, the same—Wellington Times.

The troubles of a recent arrival in the Dominion, who was induced to emigrate from England by rose-colored advertisements drawing attention to the favorable conditions of settlement in this country, were ventilated in the Magistrate's Court yesterday. Giving evidence in support of his claim for wages, ha said that at Home he had filled' good positions and his earnings were never less than £2 or £2 10s per week. Assured that New Zealand was a workers' paradise, he had landed at Wellington in December last, together with his wife and family. Through there being no vacancies in his line—he was a chef by occupation—he was unable to obtain any employment in that city. Subsequently he went to Auckland, where he was engaged as chief cook to a hostelry, at a salary of £3. \ He only lasted in the position a day, however, owing—according to his own version—to his being unfamiliar with local conditions and not having had time to familiarise himself with them. For instance, the order to prepare a comestible in the shape of "Taheroa" soup put him completely at sea, he not having heard of the lilvo before. Similarly lie fell foul of his employer for, on his own admission, "putting vegetables in pea-soup," a practice which he said obtained abroad, although it might be foreign to the New Zealand palate. Since leaving the hotel he had worked at a freezing works, ,but lately obtained a situation as cook. All this and more pointed to the fact that emigration to an entirely new country is in some cases a hazardous move, and that a man may sometimes be quite competent in his mother country, but subsev fluently heavily handicapped in his profession if he trvs his luck in a country where the conditions of work are very dissimilar.