LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 63, 1 August 1912, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Vancouver mails arrived at Auckland per Zealandia at 1.5 a.m. yesterday, and will reach here by the Main Trunk tonight (Thursday). A paper 011 herd-testing, I>y Mr. W. Bulges?, of Warea, occupied pride of place in the July number of the Journal of the Department of Agriculture. At a meeting of farmers at Waipukitrau last Saturday, it was resolved to form a co-operative freezing company, and a committee was set up to secure information regarding probable supplies and report to a later meeting. Members of the committee gave guarantees aggregating 20.050 sheep per annum for three vears.

The newJy-eonsccratPd Bishop of' Melanesia is appealing to the friends of the Melanesian Mission to give him a fewgood motor-boats to enable him to carry on the work with greater efficiency than the present whaleboats and native crows afford. The serious shortage of men now crippling the good work, he points out, can he partly compensated by the greater speed in moving from i.-dand to island, or from village to village in the same island which the motor launch can supply. The following is an extract from the "Southern Cross' log of dune 78, 1 - 1 1 2: —'Kugotu is too large a work for one man—loo miles of coastline, two outlying stations, one . r >o miles away, the other i"> miles. 40 schools, !XK) communiand ,tlie only means of eomm-uni-eation and, conveyance an open whaleboat that cannot be rowed faster than four mil's an hour. The strain cost Welchiiiaii his life, and now Andrews is dead. AVe mu>t get, more men and motor boats. \\ e are asked to state that a conimiltee has been formed in Auckland to further the .Bishop's scheme, and specially for presenting him with a well-ap-point eil boat for liis own use. anil that assistance is earnestly requested. Next time you drink ginger ale, i;ive is a name.. Call for CAMIIOC DRY GINGER ALE, guaranteed to be made, from the original Belfast formula. No artificial aids to make it palatable. That. I he finest ginger root and sterilised water. All hotels and stores. 2

the Dargaville correspondent of the Herald states that the Hoods in the district have 'been the highest for thirty yeiu's. Although the downpour ceased at midnight on (Saturday, the heavy showers which fell throughout Sunday assisted- to increase the outflow of all tha creeks.

Tie vital statistics for July are as follows:—Births 175, deaths 83, marriages 51. Ihe totals for the vear to date are: Births 1042, deaths 480, marriages 421. The number of births registered this month is the highest since 1883, in October of which vear the number registered 104.

Complaint was made at the annual meeting of the Axemen's Association at Eltham on Tuesday evening of the poor support, accorded by the town itself, which received the bulk of the benefit of the fixture. During the past few years there has been a falling-oil' of over twothirds in the membership.

•Considering it is the off-season an unusually large number of marriages were performed in the New Plvmouth district last month. They totalled thirteen, compared with less than half (six) for the corresponding month of last year. Twenty-seven births were recorded, as against 37 in July, 1911, while the deaths, which numbered eight, were the same as for last vear.

At a largely attended meeting held at Masterton last night, at which delegates were present from Waipukurau, Pongaroa, Kketuhuni and elsewhere, a resolution was carried urging the opening up of (lie East Coast country between Waipukurau and Masterton by railway. It was decided to form a representative deputation to wait 011 the Minister in support of tho project. A branch of the Masterton-Waipukurau Railway League was also forme}!.

The euchre party and dance held in the Brougham Street Hall last evening in .aid of the Taranaki Circular Road Race was a complete success, and was well attended, both by euchre players and dancers. The prizes for euclire were well competed for. For the ladies' prize Mrs. W: Be'hdall and Mrs. P..Doughty tied for first place, the play-off resulting in a •win for Mr. Bendall, with Mrs.Doughty second. For the gentlemen's first prize the successful player was Mr. Haskell, while Messrs. 11. 15. Bullet and Pellew (iod for second place. In the play-off Mr. Bullot ..was successful in winning the second prize. Mrs. George's orchestra supplied, the usual "standard music .of five instrumentalists, and Messrs. W. Wray and 15. Bullot made efficient M's.C.

The annual meeting of-the Moa School j Committee Association was held in the ! Inglcwood Rchoolhou.se on Tuesday : night. There were present: Messrs. F. Thompson (chairman), TT. Wood (secretary), (J. (.Upper and C. Dobson (Kaimata), 1). Boldt (Lincoln), Egar and Codd (Dudley), Williams and Killpatrick (Waiongona). The report and statement of accounts was read and adopted. The surplus from the annual picnic was donated to. the Inglewood School. The i committee for the ensuing year was elected as follows: Messrs, F, Thompson (■chairman), Hood (secretary), Boldt, Capper and Kilpatrick. Mr. IT. Trimble was present by request, and addressed the members at considerable length on important educational. matter.}, his re. marks being very interesting to those present—Own correspondent. j Mr. J. B. Connett presided over the umiual meeting of shareholders' in the. New' Plymouth Sash and Door Company, Ltd., this week. The twenty-ninth annual report, which was adopted on the' motion of the chairman, read as follows: —"Your directors, in submitting a statement of accounts for the past year, have pleasure in congratulating the shateholdcrs on the general improvement of the company's business. The profit and loss account shows a credit .balance of £2,GTS 12s. The directors recommend that the following amounts .be written off:—Egmont tramways ' £2OO, Egmont timber "rights £IOO Os, Egmont mill £IOO, and that a dividend of 5 per cent, on the original paid up amount of the shares be paid, amounting to £ 1000, and that the balance of £O7B 3s bp carried forward. The retiring directors are Messrs. Xewton King, ,1. B. Connett, and R. Cock, who are eligible and offer themselves for re-election." Reference was made by the chairman to the satisfactory position in which the company now stood. During the year the new manager had taken up his duties and he had been enabled to make several alterations and rearrangements in the working of the factory and yards with very bene.fieial results. Messrs. Xewton King, J. B. Connett and R. Cock were re-elected directors for the ensuing vear, and Messrs. Hugh Bailv and C. T. Mills auditors. Subsequently the directors reelected Mr. Newton King as their ehairj man.

Mr. S. Percy Smith. of New Plymouth, is responsible for the following l<6a story, which is related in a contemporary:— "Some years ago I was at the Hermitage, Mount Cook, and was snowed in for three days. The man in charge, in order to entertain his guests, told us many stories, amongst which was one dealing with his expediences with keas. He was sent to start a sheep run somewhere near Lake Wakatipu, and one of his most important works was the forming of the kennels for the dogs. These were made by cutting out of a -steep bank a series of square holes, large enough for the dogs to sleep in, and ■roofing tliem with a sloping of corrugated iron. 'When this work was completed the men went into their hut for dinner. < When inside they .hoard a great noise, and then saw about 20 keas, which wero examining th-p kennels with deep interest and exictement. After a time all except one of them assembled inside one of the kennels, where they formed a ring, with their heads facing inwards. All the time they were flapping their wings and uttering tlieir cry. The other kea got on top of the kennel, over the heads of the others, and picking up a fairly large stone, dropped it on the iron roof, down which it rolled, making a rattling noise. At this all those

inside'began to dance, with a flapping of wings and a chorus of harsh cries.

After that had gone on for some time another one was sent up above, while, the fust operator went down and stood in the middle of the circle with an air of

pride in his achievement. This went oil until eac.h bird had taken his share in affording his mates some music to dance to. Possibly this story was a little ■embellished ■in the telling, and called, forth good deal of chaff towards the recited, but ho maintained -that it was correct.'' What are the wild waves saying? flanged if I know or care! for my poor old head is swaying Willi the weight of the cold that is then-. Panev T hear them saying. "Take Woods' Great Peppermint Cure;" Took their advice, thus staving The cold (hat did not ■mature. 1 NOT PEELING TOO GOOD. "I was not feeling too good for months, and being a sufferer fr«m constipation, J tried Chamberlain's Tablets, and found them really splendid," writes "Mr. Arthur Bradbury, pr- «ri«i«in merchant, Smith street, Colli.urwood Vic '7 certainly made me feel good aft'.r taken a few doses. Chußberhin' lets are the best medicine I *.. used. T often take a dose ;md 1,1 not be without them." Koid by all cheu ists and storekeepers.

Before Mr. A. Crooke, S.M., at thc( Magistrate's Court yesterday morning, Thomas Reynolds was charged with drun-;' kenne.ss, his second appearance this week. Accused was remanded for seven days for medical treatment. In the August. issue of Life, just to hand, Dr. Fitehelt continues his story of "The Explorer who Disappeared/' and tolls, in hi ; own characteristic si vie. the romance of Ludwig Le.iehhardt. The lirst section of this thrilling story of Australian exploration appeared in the July issue, and dealt with Leichhardt's journey from Brisbane to I'ort Esington in 184;>. This section deals with Leichhardt's second expedition, which began SO promisingly, and ended so disastrously. It ends with Leichhardt's expedition, from which he. never returned. Saya Dr. Fiu-hett, in summing up: "No expedition was so brilliantly successful as that to Port Essington in 1845-6, and no other so complete in its disaster, and so mysterious in its fate, as that of Leichhardt in 18-18 is on record."

Meerschaum mines at Nemlau have worked lor 2000 years, it is claimed, and the process is quite simple. The mines, which at one time reached from Kalic. to Mihalitch. on the Sea of Marmora, are concentrated around the city of EskiShehr, and give employment to some 5000 miners. The .mines are worked in the most primitive manner by a foreman and two to five workmen with picks. The depths of the, pits vary greatly and depend upon the dept-h at which a red-dish-brown earth is met-, which is the first indication of the existence of the magne.site. Sometimes this red earth is fomi ( l only a few yards beneath the surface, but ordinarily at a depth of twenty yards, often forty,' alid even sjxtv. In this layer of red earth meerschaum is found, distributed in nuggets of irregular shape. The size of these rarely exceeds twelve to sixteen cubic inches, the greater pari: of the size ol a walnut. No explosives are used, the ground being soft. Almost the entire output of this article is exported to Vienna, and thence distributed to the various European countries and to the United States, the latter buying only the finest selections.