LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 313, 1 July 1912, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

According to the returns furnished by the Registrar (Mr. J. S. S. Medley), 30 births were registered at New Plymouth during June. For the quarter ending June 30, the number was 87, compared with 81 for the corresponding period in 1911. Deaths during June numbered 8, and 2S for the quarter. During the corresponding quarter of last year there were 24 deaths. There were eight marriages last month, The number registered during the quarter was 28, compared with 21 for the corresponding quarter of last year. Fully two hundred men were present at yesterday afternoon's meeting of the Brotherhood in the Good Templar Hall. The chair was occupied by Mr. J. B. Roy. The speaker was Mr. G. H. Doiby, M.A., who delivered an excellent address on "The Education of the Adult." He put before his hearers in a very. interesting manner the benefits of exercising the mind for the purpose of self-improvement and raising the standard of citizenship. At the conclusion of his address, Mr. Dolby was greeted with a hearty round of applause. The proposal by the women of the Dominion to present a White Ensign and Union Jack (in silk) to H.M.S. New Zealand, when the vessel visits this country early next year, has been referred to His Worship the Mayor, requesting 'his assistance in bringing the matter before New Plymouth residents. As the intended gifts are to be made as from the women, Mr. Browne (Mayor) has convened a meeting to be held at the Council Chambers on Wednesday afternoon, when it is hoped that a good attendance of those willing to assist in such a worthy proposition will be present.

During the last twelve months there were twelve fires in the New Plymouth Fire Board district, involving . a loss, covered by insurance, of £BOO. The insurance on property on which fires occurred totalled £13.390. The estimated valtte of the property was £1(1,000. The superintendent (Mr. F. C. J. Bellringer) also notes in his annual report that no accidents of a serious nature occurred to any of the firemen while on duty. There are at present on the members' roll of the town brigade a, deputy superintendent, four foremen, ID firemen, and five auxiliaries, and at Fitzroy, a captain, lieutenant one foreman, 12 firemen and one auxiliary. The annual financial statement showed that the estimated expenditure for last year was exceeded by £BO. This was due to the Liardet street house, bank interest, and painting the central station.

The basket social in aid of the Westown Hall piano fund duly eventuated on Friday night, and though it had been found expedient to postpone it from the previous night, owing to the unseemly weather, yet, nevertheless, it was an unqualified success. The ladies had gone to much trouble with the preparation of t'heir baskets, the exterior of which were veritable works of art, whilst the interior represented their best efforts in the culinary science. It was unfortunate that no auctioneer was present to put the baskets up for competition in the orthodox way, when it is certain some record prices would 'have been obtained. Still, as it was. Mr. W. Putt, by means of a Dutch auction, obtained satisfactory results. Mrs. Putt had donated prizes for the best decorated, and also for the most original 'design basket, and the judge. Mrs. Lovell, Tongaporutu, had a difficult task to decide the winners, which were, respectively, Mrs. MeCann, with a most artistic arrangement, and Mrs. Lander, whose basket represented a boat and crew, etc. complete. Mrs. Putt's man-o'-war was a close second. The music for the dance at which Mr. Redland made an efficient 'M.C., wns played by Mrs. Lander (piano) and Mr. Putt (violin); Miss Rita Solo also contributed extras.

RUSSETTA CIDER is the best antidote for faiijue. whether caused by work or social activities. Its sparkle and brightness make it an exhilarating drink.': and its tonic effect is bracing, 'if vou\ are weary and worn, try RUSSETTA • CTDER, non-alcoholic. All hotels and •tores. ■ n

Mr. Wilford (Hutt) is to ask the Prime Minister whether the Government intends introducing legislation for the election of members of education boards by the direct vote of the people.

It was demonstrated in Petone the day that there is a law under which noisy hoodlums can be dealt with as a public nuisance'. It is surely time, remarks the Wellington Times, that the Wellington police woke up to their responsibilities in thi3 matter. Night after night bands of noisy larrikans perambulate the thoroughfares of this city, often at a late hour, howling, shouting, bawling, and whistling, to the great annoyance and disturbance of peaceful citizens. The police seem to take absolutely no notice of these occurrences. Another public nuisance is the insensate yelling of the evening newsboys. In some quarters this' has grown to be a perfect -pest. In no town in the world are such liberties taken with the public nerves as in the city of Wellington.

While shooting at Terawhiti during tlie week Mr. Doherty Tiad the good fortune to bag an extremely rare visitor to this country. Flying with some gulls he saw what he recognised at once as a' strange bird, but on bringing it to the ground was unable to identify it. The bird's body and wings were white spotted all over with black, its head was blue and its breast white. Several other sportsmen to whom the bird was shown failed to recognise it, but it was identified by a Government taxidermist as a Bounty Island pigeon. The expert declared that the bird was probably the only specimen of its kind in Australasia,. Its customary haunt was in the Antarctic regions, and its presence in Xew Zealand could only be accounted for on the supposition that recent storms had blown it in this direction.

The latest thing in the sartorial line in South Africa is trousers for oxen. This method of clothing beasts of burden is not due to any sudden accession of style in the Cape, but the garments havei become a necessity in order to protect the animals from the tsetse flies, which are a torment, and often a fatal enemy. The flies swarm about at sunset, travelling near the ground, and have been known to poison entire herds of cattle. The ox receives a bath before he dons the habiliments of civilisation. ' This bath consists of oil and resin, and is supposed to free the animal from all ticks and parasites. His pants are then thoroughly soaked in oil and resin, and when the swarms of flies come in contact with the trouser legs they die by the thousand#.

The Titanic is lying, roughly, 12,000 ft deep, or considerably over two miles Eelow the surface of the water. At that great depth the pressure of the water is about 222y 2 tons to the square inch. • The conditions of pressure at this depth—as far below the surface as the height of Mt. Cook—are extraordinary. At 12,000 ft deep a man would bear upon his body a weight equal to that of twenty locomotive engines, each with a long goods train loaded with pig iron. Under this enormous pressure the luxurious fittings of the gigantic liner are probably crushed like so much tissue paper, the water-eight doors of unilooded parts of the vessel smashed in like so much matchwood; the very woodwork and furniture possibly compressed out of shape. Any attempt at salvage is utterly out of the question. At depths of about 200 ft divers suffer great hardships; at the depth at which the Titanic is resting diving is absolutely impossible. Only by some strange and mighty upheaval of Nature can the lost liner ever be exposed again to the gaze of human beings. According to an article by Mr. B. C. Aston, F.1.C., in the Journal of the Department of Agriculture, the use of basic slag (the finely ground furnace slag obtained as a by-product in the ThomasGilchrist process of making mild steel) as a fertiliser, has steadily increased in popularity, as the importations for the undermentianed years show.—Year ending March 31, 190!), 4321 tons, £14,595; 1910,5013 tons, £16,12(5; 1911, 8070 tons, £28,231; _ 1912,_ 16,107 tons, £52,070. Great Britain is the only country in Europe in which the production of Thomas' slag largely exceeds the consumption. The average consumption per acre of grass and tillage land is, in Germany 3211b, in tlie United Kingdom about 81b. As a possible correlative of this fact, it has been pointed out that the yield of grass in Germany has increased by nearly 20 per cent, since the application of basic slag became general in that country, where, it may be added, about one-half of the phosphoric acid used in field-manuring is applied in the form contained in basic slag. In Great Britain slag did not begin to be used to any extent until 1894. Experts of the New Zealand Agricultural Department state that at a moderate estimate weeds diminish the annual producing power of land in New Zealand by at least live per cent,, which represents a yearly loss of nearly £1,000,000 in our agricultural exports alone. In an interesting article in the Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Mr. A. H. Cockayne, Government Biologist, emphasises the importance of ascertaining the quality of all seed before it is placed in the- ground. He says. "The desire for 'bargains' in .seed-buying is one that the farmer should sternly repress. It can safely be taken as an axiom that there are no 'bargains' in the seed trade. The average seed merchant knows to a nicety the market price of seed of average quality, and 'he is hardly likely; to sell good seed at a price below the ordinary market rate." Tn one sample of white clover seed which he tested Mr. Cockayne found twenty-threo different kinds of weed seeds. In another (also white clover) there were 36 different kinds of weed seeds, amongst these being clover dooder at the rate of over 8000 seeds per pound. In a sample of one pound«of timothy there were no'less than 65,420 weed seeds. With regard to the exodus o.f New Zealanders to look for work in Australia, Mr. J. J. O'Donoghue, writing from Woollahra, states:—"There appears to be a, general opinion among New Zealanders that Australia is just now more prosperous than New Zealand, and that work at high rates of pay is plentiful, whereas there are at present in Sydney a large number of unemployed men. Many of them have been lured here by false and misleading reports that work "is plentiful throughout New South Wales. I have no doubt the labor forces available in Sydney at a moment's notice arc more than sufficient to meet any possible demand now, or for some considerable time to come. And I would therefore warn my fellow Maorilanders seeking employment against leaving New Zealand to come to Australia, since by so doing they are likely to be disappointed in their own hopes, and certain to increase the evils of unemployment among the people already here. There has l?een no rain in the country districts for sjome month's, with the result that the country is now in the grip of a severe drought, and in consequence- thereof work ' has become scarce in the drought-stricken districts, and large numbers of country workers are flocking to Sydney every day to seek work, and swell the ever-increasing army of unemployed. There arjfe a fairly large number of Maorilanders lii'ing in Sydney, and it is pleasing to noifi that they are nearly all doing well, and imany are holding positions that do (jhem and their country credit." I

A glaring instance of evasion of regulations as to residence came under the notice of the Wellington Land Board at its last meeting. It was stated that a settler near Taihape was not living on hia section as raquired by the regulations, but had, instead, built on it three houses from which ; he waa drawing good rents, while he himself was living in a wliare on Maori land. His section waa promptly declared forfeited. Of all the pastimes favored by the sightless perhaps none is more rare than the cultivation of roses, which claims the attention of Mr James Bitmead, of North Adelaide (writes an Australian correspondent). Although totally blind he raises his own briar stocks and cuttings, and performs the delicate work of budding with as much skill as an experienced sighted gi.rdener. He also prepares the rosebeds and transplants his own standards. Ilis collection already comprises 69 distinct varieties, and he expects by the end of the season to have nearly ■2OO. Mr. Bitmead not only knows the distinctive peculiarities of each rose, but he can go into a garden where he has never been before and by merely handling the rose-bush can give 011 c the names I and characteristics of many of the vaI rieties. When asked how he was able j to recognise the different varieties lie said: "Sometimes by the peculiarities upon the surface of the outer bark, most of which have their own distinctive characteristics; sometimes by the thorns; and sometimes by the coarse or fine formation of the -leaf;" and the recognition which lie can thus make is upon rosebushes 'Where neither buds nor blooms are in evidence. When the rose-bush is flowering tho distinctive odors tell him even more readily the name of the rose. It is not claimed for one moment by Mr. Bitmead that he is able to recognise roses with which lie is unfamiliar, but those that come within -his ken he is able to distinguish with remarkable accuracy. Mr. Bitmead an active member of the National Eose Society, and has successfully exhibited on more than one occasion.

■Members of the Equitable Building Society of New Plymouth (First and Second Groups) are notified that subscriptions will be due and payable today (Monday), at the secretary's of-' flee, Curric street, from 9 a.m. to 12.30, from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., and 7 p.m. to 0 p.m.—Advt.