LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 238, 6 April 1912, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Fifty-five estates were placed in the handis of the Public Trustee in the month of February last. Conventions of the Grand Orange Lodge and No-License League opened at Palmerston North yesterday. The Garrison Band will give its fifth municipal concert in Pukekura Park on Sunday afternoon, commencing at 3 o'clock. St. Paul's pro-Cathedral was entered on Thursday night and some collection boxes were broken open and. rifled. The amount obtained cannot be ascertained. It is authoritatively stated 1 that no appointment of a successor to Mr. Waldegrave, as Commissioner of Police and Under-Secretary for Justice, has yet been ma'de. The Appeal Court has reserved its decision in the oaees': Kauri Timber Co. Amd Taupo Totara Timner Co. v. the Commissioner of Taxes. The Court has adjourned till April 15. The Garrison Band will play a programme of music at the Recreation Grounds on Monday during the cricket match, New Plymouth Borough Council v. Taranaki County Council. It has been proposed at Feilding to form a syndicate with a view to bringing out from Britain a certain numibev of farm workers, as men of that class are inconveniently scarce in the district. On March 20, at Wellington, probate of the will of William Armstrong, of New Plymouth, late 'Commissioner o*f Crown Lands, was granted to the Public Trustee, the executor named in the will. A telegram from Auckland states thai .'£l7o has been contributed 1 to the Herald's fund for the relief of the distress- | ed people in Great Britain. The amount has been forwarded through the Pre--1 mier. i ; The erect-ion of a Maori hostel, such as exists in other towns where natives largely congregate, is contemplated in Manaia, a letter to that effect having recently been received locally from the Public Trustee. An Auckland telegram states that the missing boy, Basil Arnold, was playing hare and hounds and hid in the truck of i ■a goods train, by which he was carried to Mercer, a distance of 43 miles. He \ started out to walk home, and arrived; safely after two days' travelling, his only sustenance being some apples. J A visitor from Mew Plymouth informed a Wairarapa Age representative that though the dairying industry has made Taranaki one of the wealthiest districts in the Dominion, the recent boom in connection with the petroleum fields has done more to advertise the province than anything else, and the new industry is likely to make New Plymouth one of the most progressive towns in the Dominion. , A final reminder ie given of the euchre parity and dance to' be hek in the Broughaim Street Hall on Monday evening, commencing at 8 o'clock, the proceeds of which are in aid of the newlyformed New Plymouth Rifle Club. The committee who have the arrangements in hand have procured excellent prizes, arid as all the arrangements for the dance will be of the best, a very Large attendance should be the result. The express train for Wellington was ten minutes late in leaiviniw yesterday. There was very heavy holiday traffic. Incidentally, the booking arrangements at the railway -station lelflt much to be desired. Two windows were opened, one of which was reserved for Wellington through booking, which was comparatively light. At the other window, where tickets were issued l for wayside stations, there was a crush that was almost unseemly. At holiday times it is necessary for greater facilities for quick booking. An extraordinary narrow escape from a fatal accident is recorded in a Southland paper. A young man was trolleying a load of timher to the yard, and when he was crossing a bridge over a' creek a stringer collapsed. i'h« trolley canting, the whole load slid, and before there was a chance to escape the driver found himself in the bed of the creek with the load of timber on top of hiim. He lay there for two hours until help came. Besides many severe body bruises he had his collanbone broken, but it is considerel marvellous how he escaped injuries. The spectacle of Maoris gathering seaeggs ia one whicih is to be seen nearly every Sunday, and often on a week-day, at Takapuna beach. The natives confine their operations to the vicinity of the rocks, and work industriously among the p&ols that are left by the outgoing tide. Groping about among the silt, they trace the eggs with great precision, with the result that they generally have well-filled sacks to bring away as trophies of the chase. The sea-egg, on the outside, somewhat resembles the body of a p6rcupine. It contains a mass of dark liquid, which is swallowed by the Maori with great relish, but which to the European looks decidedly nauseous. : Miss C. W. OhVistie, organiser and travelling lecturer for the New Zealand section of the Theosophieal Society, gives the third and last of her series of lectures in the Good Templars' Hall on Sunday night, upon a subject of great interest in the present industrial andl 'religious crisis. The thought that the Christ is at the Head of each and every religion is new and startling to many, a;s is also the difference be°tween Him and. the Lord Jesais, so clearly and reverently explained by the lecturer, whose audiences invariably increase "rapidly in every centre. It is | hoped that a large audience will gather on Sunday night—the last opportunity ctf hearing Misfc Christie for at least -a year. A senseless joke was perpetrated in Patea on Sunday night just as churchgoers were returning home (says the Press). It appears that someone had succeeded in affixing a tin to a live rat by nreans of a lengthy piece of string. As a local resident, accompanied by his wife, was passing the alley way' near Messrs Boyle and Jones' premises, the rat ran across the path and the string attached to it became entangled round the lady's feet. As it happened, tne I lady, who is anything but strong, has a particular dread of rats, and naturally fainted on finding the animal entangled round her feet. For some time she re- j mained in this state, and considerable difficulty was experienced in revivin" her. ° To-morrow morning, in the Whiteley Memorial Church, the Rev. F. P. Kellow will preach his farewell sermon. In the evening there will be a special service in memory of the late Mr. G. A. Benbow.

Owing to the increased holiday traffic the Wellington mail train was nearly an hour late in reaching New Plymouth last night. The re-decking of the old railway bridge in Leach street is now completed. The eastern approach is filled in, and the western one will be completed in a few days. The road will be ready for cattle traffic in a week.

Henry Williams and Sidney Baker, whose arrest for alleged theft was reported in Thursday's issue of the News, were brought up before Mr. A. Crooke, S.M., at the Magistrate's Court in t/he morning, and remanded to appear at Stratford next Thursday. The charge was that of stealing goods to the value of £B, the property of Archibald Clark and Co., Stratford. The "Wild Duck" patrol of the New Plymouth hoy scouts went into camp on Thursday at Tainui, the residence of Scoutmaster Sandford, at Vogeltown The boys, who number fourteen, are in charge of Mr Sandford, and are' to be joined by a patrol from Stratford. Leaving that town on Tuesday, the visiting contingent will march to New Plymouth, stopping over night at Inglewood. 'Scoutmaster and Mrs. Sandford will be pleased to see the parents and wellwishers of the Wild Duck Patrol at "Tainui" on Sunday afternoon. Although the total amount of the public debt is large, the New Plymouth Borough Council, according to the annual report of the town clerk, has valuable assets to show for money spent, in the shape of waterworks, electric light installation, sewerage system, baths and abattoir, and these assets at the present time are worth much more than the money spent upon them, and are rapidly increasing in value, to say nothing of the benefits accruing to the ratepayers from such installations as the waterworks, sewerage and abattoirs, in the preservation of the public health.

"iPersonal experiences among the cannibals of New Guinea" was the title of a lecture delivered in the Whiteley Memorial Hall last evening by the Rev. J. T. Field. The Rev. J. W. Burton presided over a fair attendance. The lecturer dealt thoroughly with the various phases of native life in the still far from civilised island, and his remarks awakened much interest. During the evening Mr. Maunder announced that the total Contributions in New Plymouth during the year towards the funds of the Foreign Missionary Society had amounted to £52 Is 9d." The collections during last month were £lO 5s 6d. There was a sitting of the ' Magistrate's Court on Thursday morning before Mr. A. Crooke, S.M. Arabella B. Davis proceeded against her husband, Wm. Bolland Davis, with an application for maintenance to the amount of 10s per week. On account of the illness of the defendant the ease was adjourned for a week. For cycling in Devon street at night without lights, a fine of as and costs was inflicted on Walter Hislop, Charles R. Coleman and George Wire. Charged with having driven at night without lights, Catherine Hall and John Lowrie were each fined 5s and costs. In pleading guilty to a charge of having boarded a train in motion, a native named Kupe stated, in extenuation, that he was reading on the platform, waiting for his train, which he suddenly noticed moving off. He made a dive for it and was knocked down. Kupe was fined 5s and 7s costs. William Hunt, for a simiar offence, was also fined 5s and costs 7s.