LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 70, 9 August 1912, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

A senior cadet in Westport was yesterday lined £2 for using insulting language 'to an officer on parade. A proposal by Mr. Oonaglen to form a farmers' bank at Opunako with a capital of £OO,OOO in" £5 shares, was discussed at tho last meeting of th© Opuiiako branch, of the Farmers' Union, but no decision w;i3 come to. "fn order to counteract slovenly speech, indistinct utterance, of impurity of vowel sounds, daily practice should he given in the schools in the correct methods of breathing and use, of the tongue, lips and teeth."—Education Commission's report. The Waihi .strike is having its ofiwt on football. The secretary of the South Auckland Rugby Union, in writing to the T&ranaki Rugby Union for financial assistance on their tour south., remarked that owing to tho Waihi strike their gates this season, had been very much affected.

Monition was made in a recent is-sne of tlhe News to a- fruit tree being already in blossom at Bell Block. The tree in question is a, Pelham'rt seedling plum, grown by Mr. A. Rowe, and it quite eedipsed other varieties of plum in tho race for the honor of first proclaiming the approach of spring. "You never know until you go about canvassing at an election what an awful blackguard your candidate is," said Mrs. A. K. Newman, in the course of a speech before the Reform Leaguers. "Of course," she added, amidst laughter, "that never applied to the candidate for Wellington East" (her husband,-Dr. Newman). During bis address to the suppliers at the annual meeting last week, Mr. Pulton, of tho Dairy Department, stated ,tliat the cows in the tested herds of the Raupokomui Cow-Testing Association averaged 801b. of butter-fat per cow more titan the average of the Normanby suppliers' cows, and this meant a loss of £3840 to the Normanby suppliers. Some idea of the magnitude of the refinery which is to be erected by the Taranaki Oil Wells, Ltd., at Moturoa, may be gleaned from the fact that some 250,000 bricks will be required for bricking in stills and boilers and for other work, and that about 1500 yards of shingle, as well as 50 tons of cement, will be utilised in the concrete foundations. t

J. J. Meilde has come forward again as a petitioner to Parliament. He prays for an inquiry into the conduct of Dr. Fmdlay and Mr. T. K. Macdonald before the Royal Commission that was held in Dunedm in 1906 and 1907. His complaint is that "both the above gentlemen named told lies .to mislead the Commission in meting out justice to your petitioner with a view of confusing the main issues to defeat -the -ends of justice" in the Meikle ca.se. Petitioner prays that inquiry be held into the charges , foe makes.

There was a short sitting of the MagisCourt yesterday morning, when. Erie .N..Bellringer was fined' 2s Od with'out costs for failing to register a <k><*. Thomas Falconer pleaded guilty to having been found on licensed premises during the currency of a prohibition order. Thea ccused, who was convicted for a similar offence nbout two years ago, was fined £2 and costs 7s, with the option of 14 days' imprisonment. A further adjournment of two weeks was granted in tdie' case of Johnson v. De Silva and the cross-action. Two other maintenance cases werea ujoumed by the Magistrate for a week.

Dogs are affectionate animals, in their tf.iy, but it is sometimes extremely embarrassing when they attach themselves 'to a household where their room is more appreciated than their company. A defendant in the Magistrate's 'Court yastefday found that this was so. In answer to a charge of keeping an unlicensed cahane, ho explained that he did not own the animal, although it wa<s on his premises. He could not get rid of it. It had of its own accord established itself at his house. 'Doubtless realising.that'it was hopeless trying to persuade the do'w that it was not wanted,; the'defendant intimated his willingness 'to register it. Under the circumstances- the ma.o-istrate imposed only a nominal-'fine, without costs; :..',■

Some four or five mouths a-20 the. Empire Theatre installed an electric generating plant, but on account -of .a shortage of -electric current the machine was 'unused till last evening, wfli.cn the' pictures were projected from the operating box at the back of the dress circle. Tile pictures have always, been well screened at,the Empire, being clear and flickerless, but last night showed a marked' improvement in the projecting of the pictures, the present programme of .which, by the way, is umisuallv dn'terestin", .particularly the Otter study and of the Zambesi. The whole plant is now equal to the best in Australasia, and for its enterprise the management is deserving of credit and the greatest measure ot public support.

A shocking case of human depravity was exposed at the Feilding Court a few •days ago, when an old man named Bill Boundy was .brought before the Bench. Sergeant Bowden stated that^he-had-re-ceived word from Waituna regarding,.the. wanderings of the old man, and hadV'nt out a constable. The man was found in a filthy and disgusting state, his;'clothes not sufficient for decency, and reeking with vermin. His swag was indescribably dirty and evil-smelling. ' He- had been sleeping in places not .fit for a pig. In answer to the Bench, Boundy stated that he had no trade, no work and no friends. He was sentenced to three .months' imprisonment with hard labor, and the Bench expressed the hopo that it would be for his own good. the sight-seers' Mecca, formed the subject of a.n exceedingly interesting and entertaining lecture, by" the Rev. J. W. Burton in the Whiteley Hall last night, under the auspices of the Whiteley Young People's Winter Entertainments Committee. The address, which was interspersed with numerous lantern views, dealt extensively with the manners and customs of India's teeming millions. In touching on -the religion, or rather religions, of the inhabitants, the lecturer screened some particularly fine views of some of their wonderful temples. Ho also traced interoitingly the spread of Christianity, and the powerful forces which it is up against. For a good evening's amusement it would be hard to surpass these popular entertainments, which, are interesting to both children and adults alike.

Something like an onion famine prevails in Sydney and right throughout Australian producing centres. It is asserted in unusually'well-informed quarters that practically no stocks remain in (iippsland, and the western districts' supply of the Victorian .bulk is estimated at not above 2000 tons. . Victorians were quoted on July 12 up to £l4 10s per ton. Auckland and Wellington, Kiobe and Yokohama, Vancouver and San Francisco, have all been represented among onionselling agents, lately. The Xew Zealand boat, which arrived on July 10, brought 2200 bags. The latest consignment did not stand the trip well, and sold at £lO 10s per ton. Importers of Japanese onions, which are expected to make an appearance in a week or so. were in receipts of good news from Japan. The season there, it appears, has been very drv and favorable for t)f packing of the bulbs. As the greatest .(rumble in the importing of onions is in the way they stand the journey, this relieved the operators' minds consider:!bl\\