LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 235, 2 April 1912, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Elliott Hume, of Alton, storekeeper, was yesterday adjudged a, bankrupt on the petition of his creditors, filed by the Commercial Agency, Ltd. A number of irrigation experts are oh the way to New South Wales from America. They will be provided with blocks on the irrigation area, and will introduce fruit drying and other industries. The High School girls' annual picnic came off on Saturday last, the pupils and their teachers journeying to Wellburn, Ca'rrington Eoad. Favored with ftja weather the outing was a complete success. The following are the vital statistics for New Plymouth for the month of March, the figures for the corresponding month last year being given in parentheses: Births 26 (37), deaths 0 (12), marriages 10 (15). The figures for the quarter ended March 31 are bfrths 83, deaths 26, marriages 19. A well-known Waverky resident nearly had a unique experience of flying through the roof of a shed the other day (says the local news vendor). Apparently some gas had escaped, and when lie entered the shed he thoughtlessly struck a match Quite a big explosion occurred, the man having his beard and hair ! singed. In the course of making some alterations to the Post Office clock tower at Lyttelton, the workmen found a bundle of letters and newspapers, which haii evidently been thrown into the clockfeight trunk by some lazy and dishonest official 2 years ago. They were all addressed to people in Lyttelton, and some of them can be delivered, the addressees being still alive.

"I tried to get the laws dealing with bush fires amended some 20 years ago," remarked Sir Bobert Stout at the conclusion of his summing up in a bush fire case at Gisborne a few days ago, "but nothing has been done, with the result that these actions are continually coming before tlw> Court. It is very unfortunate for the parties concerned. They are apparently all poor men, and whoever succeeds, a great loss will be sustained."

At the close of the financial year ended March 31st last, the overdraft of the Taranaki County Council stood at £1407, compared with £1197 twelve months previously. Commenting on the position, the chairman said the council had come through . the year very satisfactorily, when it was considered" that there had been several heavy items of extraordinary expenditure. He mentioned the 'outlay of £3OO on a road-rolle'r and £SOO on the Waiwakaiho weir. Other members also expressed themselves well satisfied.

A correspondent writes pointing out the unsafe condition of the foot-bridge connecting the Carrington road with Brougham street. A portion of the side bars has given way and it would be an easy matter for a child to slip through and fall many feet into the stream below. Another'matter he calls attention to is the inconvenience caused by a boxthorn hedge in Fulford street, near Marsland Hill. Anyone passing round the corner is apt to get scratched about the face, and a boxthorn scratch is no mean trifle. It was only 17 years ago (says Dalgety's Review) that Siberia began to export butter; now there are 3000 dairies at work with 500 butter factories, and the total export, according to latest figures, amounted to 5.0,000 tons, of which about half is sent to Great Britain. This was not so from the start, however, for during the first half of the period the Siberian butter went to Germany. However, during the check to trade caused by the Russo-Japanese war, Poland captured the German trade and has kept it since, the Russians turning their attention to England. In the course of an interview with a New Zealand Herald representative at Te Kuiti recently, Mr. C. K. Wilson, member for Taumai'unui, said that he intended to get as much as he could for backblocks roads. He condemned the ceremonies of "turning the first sod" at various points, considering that these official openings cost money which could be better spent on roads. Generally speaking, he considered that local bodies should press for the earlier passing of their plans and specifications for road work in order that they might be enabled to proceed with the work when weather permitted.

The usual weekly meeting of the Egmont Lodge, 1.0. G.T., was held in the Good Templar Hall on Monday, April 1, and after the usual business had been gone through the brothers took charge of the evening, and the following items were rendered:—Recitations, Bros R Pepperell, A. Bray, N. White, and J. C. Legg; harp solo, Bro. Rickett; concertina solo, Bro. Arnold; reading, Biro. Hedly. Refreshments were then served after which the lodge was closed in the usual form by the C.T. Bro. Thompson S. Coun will visit the district on Thursday, the 25th inst., when he will give an address, entitled, "A Great Humanitarian Order." Particulars will be advertised later. He also intends visiting other lodges in the district.

Are county councils in a position to collect rates on native lands? This question, it will be remembered, caused not a little controversy in the News a few months ago, following the inactivity of the Clifton County Council in not collecting rates on the native land, occupied by Europeans, within its area. The experience of the Waitomo County Council in this matter should be of interest, the Auckland Star interviewed Mr A Scholes, chairman, the other day. "We hayc been quite successful as a local body m collecting (rates on Maori lands since the amendment to the Act in 1910," said Mr. Scholes. Before that alteration took place, it was pointed out, the position was that before a judgment could be enforced against native owners the consent of the Native Minister had to be obtained. The amendment had had the effect of removing this power of consent from the Minister so as to enable local bodies to get judgment against nominated owners of native, lands, and in the event of nonpayment to 'register the amounts of the judgments against the property. This meant that whenever negotiations of sale or lease took place, the judgments would have to be satisfied before the registration of titles could take place. Tn Teply to a question, Mr. Mora (the clerk) said that since the issue of notices for the collection of the 1011-12 'rates on native lands had commenced" there had been a number of responsive payments, and not in one instance had the native owners disputed their to pay. Rome of the local bodies bad ■struck off the native land rates in the belief that they were not collectable, but to his knowledge some of them had not tried to secure payment.

Grandpa sits in his easy cliair. And talks of when ho "was young"; Hp ships tho praise of those bygone days, And the theme never tires his tongue. But if we talk of our modern timer. And things that are near and newer; There's only one thing whose praise he will sing, W. E. Wood's Great Peppermint Cure.

There will be no issue of the Taranaki Daily News on Good Friday or Easter Monday. What is described as a most' miraculous escape from a terrible death occurred a day or two ago at the Timaru railway station. A semi-inebriated young man, mistaking a train that was just leaving the station for the one by which he intended to return home, attempted to board it, but seeing he had made a mistake he jumped buck just as an express train dashed into the station yard. A railway porter, wi:'i great presence of mind, dragged the youth away from the train, and held him against a carriage only just in time to avoid what would undoubtedly have been a terrible fatality. Those who witnessed the incident regarded it as the narrowest escape and the pluckiest rescue tbey had ever seen.

A Colorado, U.S.A., farmer, who is now visiting New Zealand, remarked to an interviewer that he thought the New Zealand sheep about the finest he had seen, the system of sheep-raising in Colorado is very different from that" in New Zealand. _ A man who intends to raise sheep m the former counttry sends a herd out with a provision waggon into the .open prairie with, say, three thousand. Grazing is free, and there are still miles ot unoccupied land. After a month or so, more provisions are sent to the men in charge of the sheep, and they are moved on to the next stretch of good country. The soil there is splendid, but the rainfall is deficient. In the winter there is deep snow, and the sheep must be taken where they can be under shelter and looked after.

It has been stated that Inspector John Gullen, the new of Police served for some years in the Royal Irish Constabulary, but the story has not been told of how he came to retire from that distinguished force. As a constable in the Royal Irish Constabulary, he was called upon for duty at several successive evictions. The finaj one was on a cold' wintry night. The roof had been taken off a cottage. The children had been driven out into the snowstorm, and finally the police were required to carry out into the wintry night a poor, bed-r'idden old woman on her couch, which was deposited by the roadside, exposed to the jury of the elements. It was too much for the feelings of the young constable. That night, when he took off his uniform, it was for the last time. He resigned his position, and came straight away to the colonies, with the determination to find Ins future in a country where there were no evictions.

Five vast railway projects for the opening up of Africa are at present either in progress or seriously considered. .First, there is the French Transfer liaran, and the further scheme of that nation to join the vallev of the Ni»er and Lake Tchad with the Atlantic coast by means of the Trans-Soudanese railway. Germany also has planned the lrans-equatorial road, her first important railway development in Africa. The fifth enterprise contr-mplates buil'din* a line from the Straits of Gibraltar Southerly along the Atlantic coast by way of Casablanca and Agadir to Dakar which is an important point of shipment for West Africa, where France has lately built an important naval station Growing passion fruit for profit does not appear to be a common industry in Australasia, but an experiment in that direction is being made by some residents of Cootamundra. New South Wales One of the delegates to the Australasian Press Association Conference at Auckland stated the other day that some high. land, available at "Cootamundra, was peculiarly suited to the growing of passion fruit. It was easily worked, and the plants needed verv little attention. Already quantities of the fruit were being sent to Melbourne,' where there was an excellent market, much better, in fact, than was "available m Sydney. It was intended now to extend the business in a large decree and export the fruit to New Zealand, in the expectation that it would be welcomed at the price at which it could be supplied