LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 200, 3 May 1912, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

A new regulation order under the State Guaranteed Advances Act provides that loans to local bodies may be for a term of twenty years at 3% per cent. A Christclnirch solicitor, who runs a dairy farm as a hobby, turned out £9OO worth of milk for the season, though the farm consists of only thirty acres. Among the Masterton firemen there are evidently some born canvassers. The Standard reports that one of them, Mr. A. Coe, alone disposed of £SO worth of raffle tickets—yet they say money is scarce.

The. Oamaru Mail says of a North Otago farmer who has occupied his farm for the past 40 years, that never before has he experienced a harvest that has given him such excellent returns as the one just completed.

The increasing .interest taken by farmers in the pasteurisation of skim milk and whey is evidenced by the fact that the system has now been introduced to some seventy cheese factories and twenty-eight creameries.

The annual meeting of ratepayers of the Waitara West Road Board will be held in the Lepperton Hall at 2 p.m. on Tuesday next. Th& meeting will discuss the question of the advisability of merging the district into the Taranaki County.

There is likely to be a petrol famine in New Zealand before long, the supplies being nearly all exhausted, and the next shipments some weeks off. When the oil refinery is in operation at New Plymouth, as it will be in the course of a few months, motorists will not need to worry on thia score. Taranaki petrol has been proved to be without a rival.

Yesterday, members of the local Agricultural Society journeyed out to the Waiwakaiho to. inspect a stretch of flat country adjoining the Rewa Rewa rifle range, which they have in mind as a possibly suitable site for the summer show grounds. The land is a Taranaki County Council reserve. At present the society has no show grounds of its own, being dependent upon the goodwill of the Taranaki Jockey Club, whose racecourse is used for the purpose. It has long been realised, however, that nothing short of permanent grounds of its own will bring the society into lime with other up-to-date shows in the Dominion.

Some months ago tlie borough council decided that the houses in New Plymouth should be systematically numbered. The passing of a sum, which is to be included in this year's estimates, for the purpose, -will bring this much-needed improvement into effect. In view of this, it is interesting to note what has been done in some of the towns which have the system in operation. There, the practice is for the municipal authority to purchase a stock of substantial brass numbers. These are supplied to occupiers of dwellings at a nominal price, varying from a shilling for a single number, to about ninepence for or more numbers. Provided the numbering comes up to standard requirements, it is usually optional for householders to procure the letters from private vendors, or to make their own numbers. Some even go to the length of simply painting the hieroglyphics, and a very unsightly job they sometime® make of it. With an eye to the picturesque and a view to reasonable uniformity, it is to be hoped, however, that the council will, in the words 'of a Hibernian stump orator, "put its foot down with a firm hand" on the last two expedients. It is a trifling matter some readers will be inclined to say, but when it is borne in mind tlmt even town-plan-ning may have its origin,from very small beginnings, the importance of having some hard and fast principle is not to be overlooked. Incidentally, it may be explained that the advantage of buying the numbers from the council lies in the fact that in that case the borough inspector or some other municipal official is usually told off to fix the numbers in position.

The Opunakc Railway Commission will sit at Hawera on Wednesday next. There were no bankruptcies in Weilington la«t month. Only seven bankruptcies have been recorded since the beginning of the year, five of them being in March. The petition in favor of the merging of the St. Aubyn town district and part of the Moturoa district in the New Plymouth borough is at the office of Mr. Newton King, awaiting signature. The total rainfall at New Plymouth during April last was 5.86 in., as against 7.72 in., for the corresponding month of the previous year. The number of wet days was 21, and the maximum rainfall, which was on April 23, amounted to 1.23 in.

Owing to the fine evening, there was a. very good attendance at the Defence J Club's euchre party and dance last night.! The prizes were won as follows:—Ladies, Mrs. Hill 1, Miss Gilbert 2; gentlemen, Mr. W. Bruce 1, Mr. T. Little 2. After partaking of an excellent supper, dancing was kept up till a late hour. The Hon. J. A. Hanan, chatting with l some pressmen at Woodville, said he was very pleased that the educational question was not brought into the domain of party polities' in this Dominion. It was kept on a higher plane, and he trusted that it would continue to occupy a high position. Men of both sides of the House worked with the one common object of procuring the most efficient education for the young people. Whether the hunger sense has its seat in the stomach and thirst in the throat has been a subject of much scientific controversy. The Italian physician, Valenti, now puts the seat of both these emotions in the gullet; he found that a cocaine injection in the oesophagus (the channel from the mouth to the stomach) resulted in immediate suppression of the feeling of both hunger anl thirst. Savages have long known that the chewing of-cocoa leaves renders the gullet insensitive and destroys any desire for food or drink.

Negotiations are in progress between the South Taranaki Shipping Company and a Taranaki oil company with regard to the regular supply of crude oil as a substitute for coal fuel for use in the steamer Kiripaka. Inquiries have been sent Home by the owners of the Kiripaka' respecting the purchase of a set of Diessel petroleum-burning engines to be installed in the vessel in place of her present boiler and engines. The Kiripaka, which is at present laid up at Patea, would be the first oil-burner in this part of the world—Wellington Times.

The latest dramatic sensation comes from Japan. A Tokio correspondent gravely reports that the editor of the Tokyo Shimbun has brought an action for libel against the Imperial Theatre at Tokyo in connection with the production at that theatre of a translation of Ibsen's play, "The Sunrise." The villain 'of the piece is a newspaper proprietor, a person of low morals and contemptible _ character. The Japanese editor claims that the stage character is intended for a representation of himself, and also a libel on the character of journalists in general. The gold exported from New Zealand for the month of April amounted to 35,5190z., valued at £140,552, compared with 18,0810z., valued at £74,659, for the same month last year. The silver exported amounted to 9fi,2360z., valued at £9709, against 94,!5820z., valued at £9440 for the corresponding month last year. The export of gold for the four months ended April 30, 1912, was 136,894'0z., valued at £542,432, compared with 135,G790z., valued at £545,300, for the same period last year; and of silver 357,3100z., valued at *£38,321, compared with 379,7750z., valued at £37,905, for the corresponding period last year.

A Dunedin telegram states that inquiries show that there is a shortage of benzine and petrol in Dunedin, but so far prices are unchanged. It is understood that the Vacuum Oil Co. has sufficient supplies to keep Dunedin clients going for some time, but any lar»e orders will not be taken from local garages. A keen demand has also set in from Timaru and Oamaru, and Dunedin merchants are endeavoring to secure supplies from Christchurch°and the North Island, hut large quantities cannot be secured. It is considered that the local supplies will be sufficient till the arrival of the shipment by the Hohenfels.

The mystery as to the destination of the battle-cruiser New Zealand, better known to the public as the gift Dreadnought, remains as dark as when the matter was last mentioned in these columns. According to the arrangement which was made at the Imperial Defence Conference in 1909, this ship was to be the flagship 'of the China squadron, and was to visit New Zealand periodically, but doubts are now expressed as to whether this arrangement will be carried out, and these doubts seem to derive sanction from some expression used by the recently appointed First Lord of the Admiralty, Mr. Winston Churchill. London newspapers appear to have information on the subject, but nothing has been disclosed by the authorities in this country.—Dominion.

Describing the sights in the Antarctic, Mr. P. E. Correll, a member of Dr. Mawson's expedition, says in a letter to a friend: '"On the voyage down we continually saw icebergs, sometimes miles in length, others smaller, sea-worn, and of most fantastic form. The blue icc caves are very fine. We have experienced snow-storms at sea on several occasions, the flakes sometimes granular, and sometimes in the form of star-shaped crystals. Several times we saw whales spouting, and the penguins which we often saw miles out to sea drifting in to land are very interesting. The days grew longer as we came south, and now we are within the Antarctic circle, in the region of the midnight sun—no sunrise, no sunset, but continuous daylight. We have already made a very important geographical discovery—a great ice barrier—a vertical wall of ice fronting tlJe sea, and from 120 ft to 150 ft high, and extending for many miles."

MORE MELBOURNE MARVELS. Never before have the famous Taranaki stores —the Melbourne Clothing Company—been so fully prepared to fill the season's requirements in winter apparel for man and boy. Quoted here are n few examples, not because of their sterling merit, but merely to illustrate the force of the firm's fundamental principle of buying and selling for cash only, and the consequent savings accruing therefrom. The Melbourne are the largest buyers of men's and boys' apparel in TaTanaki, and have reached this proud oosition by selling only dependable merchandise at prices below all competitors. "This advertisement is but the forerunner of a weekly list of bargains, that will fairly stagger the average man or woman who has been accustomed to buying at the high-priced cash-cum-credit stores. Boys' braces, 3d pair; boys' celluloid collars, 6d; boys' splendid quality navy worsted jerseys, 2s lid, 3s 3d to 4s 6d, aecording to size; men's knitted' pants and shirt*, 3s lid; superior ribbed pants, 4s 6d; warm plaiding underflannels, 5s 6d; bushmen's ribbed pants, 6s 9d; children'# black or tan cashmere socks, size 2 to 7, all one price, 6d pair; men's ribbed stockings, Is lid pair; men's heavy saddle trousers, 8s 6d. Marvellous values.

'Flying has taken hold of the Chinese, and a school for inanbirds ia being opened at Pekii by 'Fuz Yu, who spent a number of years in America and became an enthusiastic flying man. Chinese college students are also adopting athletics, and are sending a team to participate in (.lie Olympic games at Stockholm.

Although termed the "Bush" district, firewood is fifjmenUy getting scarce in Pahiatua (says the Herald), for not a single tender w:s received by the local school commit! n for a supply of ten cords. Some of the wood dealers in the town recently raised the price on the unfortunate householder by a shilling a cord.

It is extraordinary what form slanders take and with what avidity otherwise respectable folk seize upon them and repeat them, as well as occasionally magnify thom. An instance of this has occurred at Levin, where a respectable resident has had to obtain a letter from a prominent medical man in Palinerston to certify as to the nature of an. operation his daughter had to undergo, owing to the, slanderous statements circulated in the district in reference to her.

"This question of families," said the Prime Minister to a reporter at Auckland the other day, "must be fully considered in connection with the defence of the Dominion. A mother put hsr case very clearly before me the other day. She said: "I have reared five stalwart sons, and I believe in every youth being trained to defend his country, but what I object to is that my sons may be called upon and shot for defending the property of men who will not marry, and of wealthy men who have no children. I don't mind all my care, self-denial and economy for inv sons, but something should be done to make those who have wealth end no families do more for the defence of the country.' There is a lot of force in that, and we must fully take into consideration the matter of making concessions to those who have done inestimable service to the State by rearing large families."