LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 201, 22 February 1912, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

It was reported last evening that Mr. A. R. Barclay, ex-M.P. for Dunedin, had died. Both Legislate Houses adjourned as a mark of respect to his memory, but just before midnight a wire was received intimating that the report was premature, Mr. Barclay still being alive, though dangerously ill.

Members of the Taranaki Land Board will make an inspection of the northern portion of their district, commencing on the 4th March next. ,

At next meeting of the New Plymouth Borough Council the borough engineer will submit an estimate of the cost of constructing underground sanitary conveniences (in concrete) in Brougham street. '

During January 45 patients were'admitted to the New Plymouth Hospital, and 35 discharged. The number remaining in the hospital was 42. There were three deaths, one patient dying from nephritis, the second from arteriosclerosis and suppurative arthritis, and the other from cancer of the liver. Thirty operations were performed during the month.

It is proposed to vigorously prosecute the work of the Ohakune-Raetihi branch railway line, the first sod of which was turned by the Minister of Public Works on Monday. Instructions have been given to put on twenty men forthwith. The new line will tap the Main Trunk line at Ohakune railway yard, and will be eight miles in length, with comparatively easy construction. The estimated cost is between £4OOO and £SOOO per mile.

At yesterday's meeting of the Land Board Mr. Heslop referred to an article appearing in the King County Chronicle, dated 17th February, representing an apparent case of distress of one of the Tangitu improved farm settlers. On his suggestion the Board decided to send a copy of the article to the Minister of Lands, "as there Bhould be no reason for such a case existing." Mr. Heslop remarked that he and the late Commissioner were in the settlement recently, and as far as their observations went there was plenty of work on the roads at good pay. The settlers themselves had asked for outside labor to be sent in order to push the road-work on. The New Plymouth Borough Council applied for Kawaroa Park (which fronts the Esplanade to the distance of about 20 chains) to be vested under its jurisdiction as a recreation reserve. The Land Board having visited the landthrough the courtesy of Mr. Brown, who provided a conveyance for the purpose—it was resolved, "that in view of the great amount of money expended by the Council in improvements to the reserve, erection of public baths, band rotunda, etc., and of the proposed improvements as a memorial to the late Mayor (Mr. G. Tiech) and the fact that it will be a resort, it recommends that the land be vested in the borough as a reserve for public recreation and that the arrangement of details be left to the Commis-' sitiner." The park is about eight acres in extent. Some three-quarters of an acre has been lost through erosion, but th« Mayor (Mr. G. Browne) to whose activity and foresight the citizens mainly owe the gift of the park, intends to see, once the preliminaries have been settled, that the land is protected against further jnraids of the sea.

Some time ago members of the Hospital and Charitable Aid Board were asked to think of a suitable name for the Old People's Home in Its new situation. Mr. J. R. Hill told his fellow members at the board meeting yesterday that he had been prosecuting inquiries, and as a result he had two alternative names in view. One was "Rangiatea," meaning, free from care. It was appropriate as far as the inmates of the home were concerned, for they were free from care, although requiring the care of others. Another name, "Oki, Oki"—a resting-place-had been suggested to him. "I do not, facetiously added Mr. Hill, "wish the Board to think' that this word has anything to do with our representative, Mr. Okey, although Okey! Okey! has been a familiar battle-cry in Taranaki for some time. But a member of Parliament at the present time has not a resting place for any great length of time, certainly not as long as some of the inmates of the home." Mr. Hill's first suggestion in the shape of the name "Rangiatea" was favorably commented on by several members, while the chairman (Mr. Bellringer) theugh "Tukapa" more euphonious and appropriate. "Westown" was another name thrown out, and ultimately the question was adjourned till next meeting.

There was considerable dissension amongst members at yesterday's meeting of the Hospital and Charitable Aid Board over the question as. to what was to be done with two important and weighty documents in the shape of reports to the District Health Officer upon the butchers' shops in New Plymouth and the New Plymouth water supply. The reports were espies of the originals sent forward to the Health Officer by the local health inspector (Mr. Keiidall), and they embodied important recommendations. In the opinion of several members the reports should be handed to the press for publication, and copies at the same time forwarded to the various persons affected. This course Was strongly opposed by a bare majority of members, who held that being addressed to the District Health Officer the reports should be treated as strictly confidential. They also held that the Board had no power to act upon the documents. After a close division the Board decided to agree to this course, and to do nothing, pending action on the part of Dr. Chesson. At the same time it was agreed that the position was' very unsatisfactory. Several members complained feelingly that the Board had been slighted by the Health 'hnrities and the opinion was expressed that it had been treated as if it was of no account. Ultimately the outcome of considerable discussion was the passing of a resolution requesting the InspectorGeneral (Dr. Valintine) to meet the Board in conference and define clearly its powers so as to avoid a repetition of what had occurred that day. As one member put it, the Board' desired to know who was to rule the roost—Dr. Ches6on or the Board and its inspector.

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The schools under the Moa Schools' Association will hold their annual picnic at : Moturoa to,-day. A special train leaves Tariki, and will collect children and adults from Ratapiko, Tariki, Durham, Dudley, Inglewood, Lincoln, Kaimata, Waitui and Waiongona schools, for a day of joy and sunshine at the beach. Labor is having good times just now. A paragraph in the Napier papers states that owing to a number of wharf laborers going to the races, a full staff could not be got together to load a big steamer which was loading for Home. A sufficient number were offering for the meat loading, but only six out of the required number of fourteen were available for the wool loading. At his social at Dunedin on Friday night, Mr. J. P. Arnold said that ho believed that the Liberal Party would rise from its ashes stronger and* purer and better than ever it had been, and, perhaps for some mouths to come, New Zealand was upon the edge of a volcano, and it would require the best and brainiest and most tactful men to represent both labor bodies and employers. A Porangahau, Hawke's Bay, a great number of buildings are being erected by Maoris, some of them being veritable mansions, and having cost a lot of money. The chief topic of conversation amongst the Maoris is Rugby football, and they are already discussing proposals for the coming season. One native, who is building a fine residence, is including a room in his dwelling specially for visiting footballers. Among citizens who are descendants of the barons who, in 1215, at Runnymere, compelled King John to sign the Magna Charta, have formed a society, which has charged itself with the maintenance of the historic associations of Runnymede. Mr. C. Harshall, the secretary of the society, who is now in London, has induced the American Embassy to use its offices with the authorities to permit of the erection of a memorial on the historic field.

At yesterday's meeting of the High School Board of Governors Mr. Hutchen brought up a matter of interest to country pupils of the secondary institution. The time, he said, was opportune for an alteration in the railway time-table, and on his suggestion a committee of three (Messrs. Fraser, Dockrill and himself) was delegated to confer with the Chamber of Commerce with a view of again bringing the matter under 1 tho consideration of the Railway Department. | Pearls on watches are commonplace, but a watch inside a pearl is a novelty. One has been made by a Paris watchmaker after fifteen months of work by his best mechanics. The pearl weighed 45 grains, and was a perfect flattened sphere. , Its diameter was slightly more that half an inch. The watch is' 45-100 of an inch in diameter, and has a compensating balance of '5-12ths of an inch calibre. The maker says the most difficult part of the work was boring the holes in which the watch was to be inserted in the pearl. This watch mounted in a pearl cost £12,000. The dairying season promises to be equally as good if not better than last season, for although the excessive wet weather before Christmas prevented the cows from coming to their flush as early as usual, yet the moist weather which has prevailed since, as compared With the remarkably dry season of last year, is causing the milk to keep up better, andd ■ will probably more than compensate for the decrease in the early part of the season. As an instance of this, i last year Mangorei came, to the top of its output in the middle of December, when 71 boxes of butter Were manufactured. This year January 1 proved to be the top day, with 62 boxes. The out-' put now has only fallen to 50 boxes daily, whereas this time last season it had diminished to 44 boxes. The tests at the factory at present range fyoin 3.5 to 4.9, an average of 3.9.