LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 82, 23 August 1912, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The s.a. "Ritrnwa does not sail for Onehunga till midnight this evening, on account of her shipping the Margaret Cooper Co. The Fitaroy school committee is endeavoring to raise, by canvass, a sunr of £IOO, which, with a £ for £ subsidy from the Education Board, will provide funds for the erection of a gymnasium. The following ;team has been selected to represent the New Plymouth Brotherhood Debating ' Society against the Egmont Club, Stratford:—Messrs. G. H. Dolby, W. Forbes, H. B. Reid, and' G. W. llartnell. The debate (Leasehold v. Freehold) is to be held at New Plymouth either on August 29 or on the Thursday following.

It seems likely .that the Borough Council will he able to make a deal with tiie Land Board for the acquisition of Kawaroa Park, which is an education reserve. The, proposal of the borough, which has 'been left by the Board to the Crown Lands Commissioner to deal with, is to exchange the unused portions of Davy, Wakefield and Bell streets (which cross another education reserve on the Carr'mgton road) for Kawaroa Park. It was decided by a number of local dairymen at Palmerskm North yesterday to form a cow-testing association in the Manawatu district. Six hundred cows were promised by farmers present, and it is expected that before the first test there will be 1000 cows offering. Farmers bring their own outfit, which will cost about eighteen pence per cow. The testing will be carried out at the Longburn Dairy Factory. Mr. D. Cuddle, Dairy Commissioner, who addressed the iarmers, said that the Department would bear the cost of testing for one year or perhaps two. " ' The first batch of cases to be tried in -New Plymouth under the new Defence Act were heard in the Magistrate's Court yesterday morning, before Messrs. VV' Bewley and ('. M. Lepper, Justices of the Peace. Captain Stevens prosecuted on behalf of the Defence Department, ; and raised a preliminary point as to whether the Justices had power to try the cases. Some uncertainty existed on the question, but upon Captain Stevens intimating that be had no objection to the procedure, the .Justices proceeded to try the two accused summoned rhe first accused. John W. H. Gilbanks, was I charged with having failed to render personal service by absenting himself from a compulsory parade. He pleaded guilty and h-ad nothing to say for himself. A fine of os and costs 8s was inflicted, Mr Bewley remarking that it was necessary to uphold the Act. but it being the first case tried accused would be dealt with leniently. The charge against Cecil •Johnson, who made no appearance, and was unrepresented by counsel, was :.nat lie had failed to attend numerous parades and had absented himself from the en mp at Wavcrloy. Accused had, said Captain Stevens, given no reasons for his non-attendance. Johnson was fined 10* and costs 3s. On the application oi -Mr. G. Grey, a case of alleged indecent exposure was adjourned for a weekAfter part of the evidence had been heard, an application for a prohibition order was adjourned until this morning in order to enable the defendant to call evidence on his behalf.

Writing to the Mataura Ensign, Mr. Hugh Mac Gibbon states that early last month nine Gore-ites met in London and partook of afternoon tea together. The Ashburton Mail states that with two hare drives —one at Sproadeaglo with eight guns, and the other at Westerfield with twelve guns—2ls hares were obtained at the end of last week.

In his address in Masterton- on Saturday night, tlie Hon. G. Fowlds stated that he had recently seen land advertised for sale in a Taranaki paper, "close to a cemetery." "They are even selling our cemeteries," said Mr. Fowlds, amidst laughter. A cablegram from New York states that the Associated Chambers of Commerce on the Paeiiic Coast are arranging for a 20,000-mile voyage by steamer, touring Australia, New Zealand, China, and Japan to advertise the San Fran-cisco-Panama Exhibition. The Financial Times, commenting on the loss of the Star of Canada, says:— "The need for more powerful salvage appliances in Australasian waters has long been felt in shipping circles to be a serious matter, and the fate of the Star of Canada emphasises this point in a dramatic fashion." To show bow a quick return and a big profit may be made in' live stock, the Southland Times mentions that; on Tuesday a well-known dealer overtook a man driving a dairy cow and a heifer to the Wallacetown sale. After some haggling the dwner parted with the animals for £ls. The dealer drove the beasts into the Wallacetown saleyards, where the cow fetched £ls and the heifer £7. 10s.

Mr. Harold Bride, who was assistant wireles operator on the Titanic, is now operator on the new P. and 0. liner Medina, which arrived in. Sydney last week. Mr. Bride refused to be-inter-viewed, says the Daily Telegraph. "No!" he repeated courteously, but with invulnerable resolution; "if you wait here all night I will not say a word." Painful recollections- obviously mirrored themselves in Mr. Bride's face as he sadly shook his head and emphasised the negative..

As the outcome of the determination by the last Premiers' Conference, says the Sydney Daily Telegraph, Victoria and New South Wales arranged to introduce uniform legislation to stop the sale of adulterated footwear; Mr. Watt has received a communication from Mr. McGowen that a Bill is being drafted, and that it will be submitted to the Victorian Cabinet for consideration. The proposed legislation, Mr. Watt says, will seek to exterminate the use of deleterious .material, and check misrepresentations as to quality of boots and shoes. Some extraordinary plants have been discovered in England, plants which have puzzled the botanists, to whom they were utterly unknown, or known as growing only in far distant lands. One naturalist picked, on the grounds of the Bradford sewerage works, .100 specimens of foreign plants. Among these were several Australian burrs, jimson weed, prickly poppies from Mexico, others native to Peru, Siberia and the Azores. All were of a, prickly nature. Investigation proved that the dust from woolcombing establishments was .being used as a fertiliser, and the washings of wool were run into the sewers. The burs of the foreign plants had come in the wool and' had grown. Other plants had sprung from seed in rags, and others brought in soil on foreign timber. The' real man-eating sharks that frequent the Australian coasts are the whaler and the white pointer. According to a speaker at the Sydney Aquarium Society's .meeting recently, the whaler is the more dangerous, because it is in the habit of going some distance up estuaries, and generally chooses still, placid water for its depredations: The shark Which is more abundant inside the rollers of the surfing beaches is the "Tiger," with its peculiar streaky markings. It hunts small fish close inshore, and grows to a moderately large size. Probably the biggest shark of all is tho "Boston." which grows to .a length of 40ft. Aj specimen 30ft in length was once caught off- the Victorian, coast. This variety, it is consoling to know, is not dangerous. There must be sharks in the deep waters of the Atlantic at least 70 or 80ft long, the speaker told his astonished audience,, "for very big sharks have been dredged up from the ocean bed.'