LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 230, 27 March 1912, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

At a council meeting of the Taranaki Acclimatisation Society, held last night, it was revived to hold the annual gen-' eral meeting on Thursday, April 18th. Mr. T. Brash, of the Taranaki Farmers' Co., has just received, word that one parcel of butter ex Remuera brought no less than 135/4 per cwt., which must be in the nature of a record for Taranaki butter. Mr. F. Cassidy, wool expert, has just returned from the South Island, and his services will now be available in connection with the wool classes of the New Plymouth Technical College and its country classes. The organising secretary of the Simplified Spelling Society intimates that "it iz not propozd to aulter the speling ov proper naimz, so there is no fear that aristocratic surnaimz will be plundered ov thair ainshent dignity." In recording a Maori wedding, Ngawini Peneamene to Tipu Ruki Ruki, the Waipawa Mail says: ''Affairs were done on a lavish scale. It is said that the result aimed at —to eclipse any native wedding in Hawke's Bay—was easily attained." The starting at the Opunake races was up-to-date (says the local paper). Each time the starter went out to the starting post he was driven in a motor car! The next country club to beat this will have to produce a flying machine for the starter. Evidently tailoresses are scarce in the Dominion, judging by the following advertisement appearing in a recent issue of the Sydney Herald: "Tailoresses—for New Zealand, 50 first-class coat table hands, 5 machinists; second-class passage paid. Apply, etc., etc." Members of the Royal Association of H.M, Veterans (Taranaki Branch) are requested to meet at the corner of Devon and Brougham Streets, at a quarter past six to-morrow evening, for the purpose of attending the banquet being tendered by the younger citizens of New Plymouth. J No burning of felled scrub or bush on the East Coast of the Wairarapa will probably take place this season owing to the quantity of rain which has fallen during the summer. The settlers prefer to let the bush and scrub lie to risking a bad burn, which invariably does more harm than good. The state of the groin at Stoney River is commented upon by Mr. T. Doyle, of Okato, in a letter to the Taranaki County Council. The groin, he states, requires attention, as the last flood undermined part of it, causing it to fall into the river. According to Mr. Doyle, if the matter is not attended to at once the chances are that a big flood will sweep the lot away. Yesterday four members of the council visited the locality and authorised repairs.

It has been brought to the notice of the committee who are arranging the social evening for the TaransTki°War Veterans that invitations have failed to reach certain veterans who took part in the war. This is accounted for by the fact that all those who have not received an invitation have failed to do themselves proper honour by registering their names on the roll of the local branch ®f the Royal New Zealand Association of His Majesty's Veterans. Captain J. Black is the local secretary, and eligible members should communicate with him without delay. The buildings for the Parapara Iron Ore Company works at Moturoa are neaving completion. A • fine 50 'b.h.p. producer gas engine has been installed, as well as a smelting and other plant. Some people, have the idea that the plant is temporary, but a visit to the works soon dispels the idea. Those "behind the scenes" predict that the works will before long become the largest industrial undertaking in the Dominion, and if the expectations of those interested in the patent processes to be used are realised the prediction may not be very wide of the mark. A detailed account of a recent visit to the works by a News representative appears elsewhere in this issue.

All who visit Rotorua, says an exchange, had better beware of Rotomahana, the cause of the stupendous upheaval of. 1880, for it is again showing signs of agitation. , The value of the principal New Zealand products passed by the Customs for export during the fortnight ended March 15th is £1,085,253, the figures for the corresponding period last year being £1,333,216. Owing to the high prices ruling at Home and in Vancouver /or locally-made factory butter, the Taieii and Peninsula Company has decided to raise the price by Id per lb. This brings the retail price to Is 3d per lb. The butter manufacturers state that it would have paid them better to ship all produce to outside markets during the last few weeks. Coombe's Arcade, a Queen street, Auckland, property, has changed hands at £22,500. The property consists of a two-storey brick building and land, and has a frontage of 22,y 2 feet to Queen street and 22% feet to High street. This is probably the highest price yet paid for Queen street property, and approaches £IOOO a foot. In 1905 the property was sold for £12,000. Some sparks from a threshing engine did a lot of damage on a Wairarapa farm. Two stacks of wheat, estimated to contain 400 bushels, and a large stack of oaten sheaf, were totally destroyed, the threshing plant being also seriously scorched. By a great effort five other stacks of oaten sheaf were saved, though two of them were only about 10 to 15 yarcjs distant from the destroyed stacks. The practice of cyclists being "towed" behind traps is an exceedingly dangerous one, as was exemplified a few days ago in the Wairarapa. The horse in the trap shied, causing the cyclist's machine to skid, the rider being thrown heavily to the ground, and spraining his left wrist, besides hurting both his hands and face severely, also shattering _ some of his teeth, and driving a pipe "which he was smoking into 'the roof of his mouth. Writes the Greymoufh Star's Blackball correspondent: "Intense excitement prevailed here a few days ago when it became known that a rich find had been made, and it was ascertained that from a crushing of 20 tons of stone 30oz of gold was obtained. The fortunate owners are Messrs. J. Mclvor, W. Barrett, R. Meelian, the well-known prospectors, who have been for the last three years prospecting various parts of the Paparoa ranges without any definite results. The reef in sight shows every promise of continuing for some considerable time."

The whale, which for a century fairly held its own against the harpoon and the wooden sailing ship, is apparently doomed to extinction with the extension of new methods of whale hunting. Within two years eight steel steamers armed with powerful machine guns have begun to hunt the whales on the North Pacific, and five additional steam whalers are now under construction. These vessels are primarily destroyers; they do not try out the oil as the, old whalers did, but kill |he whales with explosive shells and _ then tow the carcases to a central station, where the work of getting out the oil. whalebone, etc., is done on a large scale.

The theory that eels at times migrate overland was supposed to have received confirmation the other day, when a Waverley resident assured a Press representative that he had been given a fourfoot eel which had been found crossing the road, near the racecourse, some distance from water. Several papers have screamed at the idea, and have drawn marked attention to the fact that "there was no water in the locality." However the sequel proves rather disastrous to the theory, despite the fact that the eel was found on the road, for an unsophisticated notice has come to. light who affirm that on the morning in question—"Py korry! I lose the fine tuna, out of my cart, near the Waverley racecourse!" There was an amusing scene at the Theatre. Royal, Melbourne, one night during the run of "Alias Jimmy Valentine." In the vault scene in the last act, where Jimmy Valentine (Mr. Desmond), blindfolded, endeavors to open the combination lock by means of the sense of touch, the audience were held tense by the realism of the scene. In the midst of the stillness a voice from the gallery gasped: "Let me have ago at it, for heaven's sake!" The words appeared to be used with such earnestness that the audience did not laugh, but an usher approached the man, who explained that he was a locksmith, and had been so carried away by his feelings and professional instinct that he had involuntarily called out as he had done. It was certainly a compliment to the play and players. In the bush, where people are thrown on their own resources, some remarkable ingenuity is, shown in contriving makeshifts. A young fellow living in the backblocks not far from Taumarunui wanted particularly to be roused at 2 o'clock in the morning; and having no alarm clock contrived a substitute on the spot. Like Alfred the Great (says the Taumarunui paper), he had recourse to burning a candle as a time-measurer. He suspended a small can of water above the head of his stretcher in such a way that it was prevented from upsetting only by a string connected with the candle at a certain mark, which he by experiment would be reached at the required time. (This device, by the way, is not unheard of in the fire-insurance industry). He then lit his candle and went to bed. The plan worked like a charm. At 2 a.m. he received a cold douche which effectually awakened him. A romance of the Russian penal settlement on Saghalien Island, north of Japan, is told in the Reichpoht. A Russian count and his voung wife were deported to the island 'in 1887 for political offences in company with a gang of prisoners. The count died before reaching the island. The countess bore a child, a girl, on her arrival, and expired immediately afterwards. The prisoners adopted the baby, the entire company standing godfather, and she spent a happy childhood among them. They put their savings together and sent her to school on the mainland, and later she entered business in Vladivostock as bookkeeper. The son of a millionaire named Lordoff, who was in the business, fell in love with the girl and married her some time ago. The girl wrote to her godfathers—there are only 20 still alive —and her bridegroomi sent them a cheque for £IOOO to pay for the expense they had had in bringing up his wife.

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