LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 310, 27 June 1912, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

A number of members of St. Andrew's Kilwinning Lodge of Freemasons, Wang&nui, paid a friendly visit to Ngamotu Lodge last evening. Early next week a meeting will be held, locally, in connection with, the proposal to hold a grand military ball at New Plymouth. The Coronation Hall will probably be secured for the purpose. A house in Masterton, which was erected thirty-six years ago of heart of totara, is at present undergoing internal repair. The builder states that it is as sound today as on the day it was built. "There is no telling how long totara will last," said a carpenter who has a long experience in various kinds of timber. A pupil attending the High School named R. Kidd, whose parents reside on the Hurford road, met with an accident whilst practising in the gymnasium yesterday afternoon after school, as the result of which he sustained ' a broken collarbone. After being attended to by Dr. Wylie, the lad was able to proceed home. In response to many repeated requests, Nelson, Moate and Co. at length decided to supply both a cocoa and also a coffee of such a high standard as would secure for both that wide and genera! recognition and appreciation for so many years attained—and retained—by this well-known firm's brands of tea.' It is almost unnecessary to point out that Nelson Moate and Co. have exceptional facilities for so doing. Their long and intimate knowledge of the world's markets, purchasing in such large quantities, having secured the services of specialists in both these articles and made the most complete arrangements generally, enables them to supply both a cocoa and a coffee of such exceptional purity, qunl ity, flavor, and general excellence, as will ensure an ever-increasing demand. A*!--for, insist upon getting, and give both ifair trial, and you will be fully cVmr* vinced.

The appearance of whitebait so early in the season in the rivers both on tlie East and West Coast, according to an old Maori legend, and one that is still in favor with the natives, is regarded as a sure omen of an early spring. Thus J. M. Barrie, the author, at the dinner given in honor of Warner's team winning "the ashes":—"l have only seen Mr. Warner play twice," he said solemnly. "The first time he made one. On the second occasion he—er—was not so successful."

The Christchurch tramway service has to face more competition than that which confronts similar city systems. In his retiring address the chairman of the board (Mr. G. T. Booth) stated that the number of motor-cars and motor-cycles registered in the different cities was as follows:—Auckland G9O, Wellington 735, Dunedin 802, Christchurch \ 2250. The number of ordinary bicycles in use in Christchurch was estimated at from 15,000 to 20,000—probably four to ten times as many as in other cities. Apparently very little interest was taken in the poll on Tuesday in <!.or\-' nection with the Eltham Borough Council's proposal for a supplementary special loan of £3BOO with respoct to the improvements to be carried out at the Town Hall and Council offices, remarks the Eltham Argus. According to official figures, there are about 350 ratepayers in the borough, and of these only about one-fifth took the trouble to vote. The result of the poll, as declared by the Mayor, Mr. T. B. Crump, was:—For the proposal, 51; against the proposal, 24. Some exceedingly fine yields of rye and dog's-tail seed have been obtained in the Feilding district, and farmers who put down big areas in these crops have made big profits, merchants beiug under contract to pay 9 ] / 2 d per lb without restriction as to output. One Sandon farmer put down 150 acres in dog's-tail, his yield being equivalent to £l7 per acre, or an aggregate value of £2250. Another won £IOOO worth of seed from 56 acres, and a well-known Mount Stewart farmer reaped 2fi tons of seed off 230 acres. Being worth over £BB per ton, the output brought him in over £2300, whilst his rye produced about £4OOO.

The Hon. 11. G. Ell, Postmaster-Gen-eral, told a reporter that in regard, to the cities it is essential that telephones, if they are to be of the greatest service, should be installed in places where they can be readily availed of by the public. "I have had plans of 'call cabinets' prepared," he said, "and in about a fortnight's time three of these will be installed as an experiment in Christchurch. These 'call cabinets' will contain slot machines, and will be open to the public night and day. If the Ohristehurch experiment proves a success the system will be extended to other places, and I am convinced that the departure will prove a great boon to the public."

Dairy farming is a rigid, merciless court, where there is no escape from paying the fines imposed (says a Canadian writer). The farmer is fined hard cash in this court if he keeps poor cows; if he has unhealthy sheds; if he does not provide plenty of pure water and feed; if he feeds an unfitting, unbalanced ration; if he does not care for his milk and cream in a sanitary manner; if he does not provide improving blood for the building up of his herd; last, but not least, he is fined most heavily if he undertakes to deal with all these questions with an. ignorant, uninformed mind. There is no escape, no appealing to the mercy of the court, no remitting of fines.

There remain in England about 12,000 gipsice, nomad and sedentary, while in ! Scotland and Wales there are about GOOO of the same people. The gipsies of Wales and of the Northern English counties are noted as retaining more of the ancient Romany than their kinsfolk in Southern England, who indulge in red hair, snub noses and blue eyes, and speak with very corrupt Romany that the better class clans refuse to recognise them. Even 'in the North, enquiring members of the Gipsy Lore Society must distinguish | between the true Romanichel and those descendants of Scottish tinkers and degenerate English gipsies who at large horse fairs may be camping on the same ground with the superior Hemes and Boswells. Just now, of course, rural England is enriched by that host of splendid Continental nomads who scattered from their first camp at Birkenhead to test the charms of common and highway, and have not yet reassembled for the further trip to Canada or Brazil, But, still, gipsyism is declining, say observers ; and the modern Romany, not to speak of the "posh-rat," or half-breed, seems to take more kindly than he should to the waj's of city life. The poor gipsy drifts to the slums, the prosperous gipsy does not despise a prosperous villa. Even in the country a Romany of unimpeachable wandering descent may be found settled down quite happily within the limits of his farm. Between the attractions of the town, the increasing tolerance of mixed marriages and the sophistication of once Arcadian lanes and roads, the lingering remnants of a mysterious race seem bound to be absorbed by degrees in the everyday life of the English people. A writer in the Sydney Morning Herald voices the part played by Australia in the work of feeding and clothing a large portion of the Empire, from the time when Captain Phillip landed the first stock, consisting of seven horses, six cattle, 29 sheep and 12 pigs. Little did the pioneers of that time foresee the huge industries which have since sprung from those minute beginnings. By the beginning of last century, Australia had 6124 sheep, by the middle of the century this comparatively tiny number had increased to 16,364,308, and in 1900 to over seventy millions, while to-day its flocks number ninety-two millions. Australia and New Zealand provide, together, a half, or more, of the total amount of wool imported into the United Kingdom. The part played by Australasia, therefore, in providing clothing for the Empire is a very considerable one. The same is true of the meat export trade, which dates from the 'eighties. Between 1891 and 1895, New South Wales alone exported a total weight of beef and mutton of 1,495,893cwt., of a value of £986,700. Last year, Australia and New Zealand, together, exported to the United Kingdom over half the frozen mutton, and the greater portion of the frozen lamb received by that country. Tho butter trade, also, is rapid growth. It did not come into being, as far as New South Wales was concerned, till 1890, about 20 years after Mr. Mort began his experiments with freezing machinery. Last year, over one hundred million pounds of butter were exported from Australia. Wheat growing, again, is one of Australia's largest industries, a record proportion of over ninety million bushels being made in 1909-10, although only a small area is cultivated, compared with what may one day be utilised. Add to these things fruits, wines and minor prjmary products, and one begins to realise the magnitnde of Australasia's contribution to the life of the British Empire.

The fragrance of the blushing rose, Of luscious fruit the taste; All for our pleasure God bestows, Whose wisdom may he traced. with the good and beautiful, Our health maintained and right; With Peppermint Cure to make more sure, Is cause for our delight. 17

The. Carriugton Road Cricket Club's dance takes place to-night at the Carrington road school. A brake will leave the Bank of New South Wales corner at G. 45 p.m. The Minister of Internal Affairs received by the last mail from London a copy of a letter sent to the Secretary of State for the Colonies from Ismay, Jmrie and Co., owners of the lost liner Titanic, as follows:—Sir,—VV'e are in receipt of your letter of I.oth inst. covering copies; of telegrams from tlie Governor^ieneral of Australia,'sind the Governors of New Zealand, New .South. Wales, and Victoria, expressing sympathy with the relatives of those lost in the terrible disaster on the Titanic, and hasten to record our gratitude for the more than kind terms of the messages, which are a great consolation to u.s in our trouble." We are certain they will be very highly appreciated by the bereaved relatives,' to whom we are communicating the contents. May we trouble you to convey to the senders our heartfelt thanks.-'-We are etc., Ismay, Imrie and Co., Livernool' April 22, 1312." ' ' Here is a most emphatic realisation of the inner working of a groat ocean liner, such as was the Titanic:—Lastly, when I had supposed myself to he at the rockbottom of the steamer, I had been instructed to descend in earnest, and T went down and down steel ladders, and emerged into an enormous, an incredible cavern, whore a 'hundred and ninety gigantic furnaces were being fed every ten minutes by hundreds of tiny black dolls called firemen. I. too, was a doll as I loked up at the high, white-hot mouth of a furnace, and along the endless vista of mouths. . . Imagine bell with the addition of electric, lights, and you have it! . . . And upstairs, far above, on the surface of the water, confectioners were making fancy cakes, and the elevator boy was doing his work! . . . Yes; the inferno was the most thrilling part of the ship; and no other part of the ship could hold a candle to it. And I remained of this conviction even when I sat in the, captain's own room, smoking his august cigars and turning over his ! books. Ino longer thought, "Every re- ' volution of the propellers brings me nearer to that shore." I thought, "Every shovelful Hung into those white j hot mouths brings me nearer."—Arnold Bennett, in April Harper's.