LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 97, 10 September 1912, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Whitebait are reported to bo veryplentiful in the tidal rivers of the East Coast. Some record 'hauls have been secured. A freak lamb is reported from Wairamarania, Waikato. It /had one head, two bodies, eight legs, two tail«, and one nostril. A settler in the Bay of Plenty recently netted £250 from one acre of onions, lie took forty tons of the vegetable from 2y a acres of land. The Grey lliver Argus states there is greater activity in mining circles on the West Const at the present time than (has been the case lor years. The north telephone line, which has hitherto been terminated at Mahoeuui, has now .been extended to Te Kuiti. This wilj provide for telephonic communication between New Plymouth and any office as far north as Te Kuiti. The Now Plymouth Borough Council will meet on Thursday night as a tramways committee, to consider tramway proposals for the borough. Among other things, the appointment of an expert to report upon the whole question will be considered. The weekly session of the "Hope of Egm«nt" Temple was opened last night by the C.T., Bro. Thompson, with the Superintendent, Bro. F. R. Pepperell, in attendance. There was a large attendance of juveniles, some thirty being present. During the evening a reliearsai of the programme which was afterwards submitted at the adult lodge was gone through. Subsequently the juveniles were entertained at the Egmoni Lod"e No. 112. p '' If Taranaki dairymen had been told ten years ago that the time would come when instead of receiving 7d and Bd. per lb _ for their .butter fat they would obtain more than double those amounts, they would certainly have disbelieved it. Yet these big prices have como about. Last year the Kaponga company paid out for cheese no less than Is 4%d. No wonder the dairyman wears a smiie. No townsman would begrudge him all he can get. At last night's meeting of the Borough Council, the New Zealand agent for the Edison storage battery car wrote regretting that he was unable to ascertain the date the Australian principal would be clear of his dispute with tlk' Commonwealth Customs, and until then the Beach storage car would not make its appearance on the Sydney tracks This means that the projected visit of lepresentatires of the Council, to Sydney to witness a trial run of the car has been indefinitely deferred. A family of ten children is so much a rarity in these days of. empty cradles that officials in the Labor Department in Wellington were at first rather taken aback when a woman last week asked for assistance in taking her ten children to Auckland to rejoin their father. For many years past the Departmental statistics of those assisted in this manner havo shown a steady drop. The average number of children dependent oil the men assisted was 3.30 in 1890, but it fell to 1.77 in 1900-10, the last figures available.

The request for two daily through express trains from Auckland to Wellington is not backed by the extent of the traflie at present being carried over the Mam Trunk ine. All through the winter small trains have been runnin"-, and the average number travelling by each tram does not exceed 200 people". The traffic oil the Rotorua line, however has been very consistent, and full trains have been recorded daily. On Monday 101 lung tilery were ]5 carriages on the express, carrying over 300 people, and the average throughout the winter lias been well over 250 passengers per train. Borough Council last night passed a special order including that portion ot the Ilurworth Riding added to the boiough some months ago in the St Au-byn-Moturoa Ward, and fixing the repi esentation on the Council of that ward -rV OI T 1! - The Mayor explained hat the step was taken in order to a roll to be made up, and to give this ward a voice in the affairs of the would h- i a StagC thc Council «ould lu e to consider the question of m' of t! 10U f Wlmh ' 0r thc al,olisl '- n of the system before the next, <r eu . eial election of Councillors. The Mavor to lent ( lllc ,, L ' le, ' tion flf a councillor to icpiesent the Moturoa-St. Aubyn--1-luiMoith Road could take place about six weeks henee.

A intlier amusing case was revealed 1,10 monthly meeting of the Manawatu County Council. A well-known t-dnclon farmer, who is a member of the -Oiincii, authorised a friend to purchase some stock for him. A few days afterwards he was very much annoyed to see a large number of cattle grazing in one or his paddocks Ho, lost no time in having the cattle impounded, and lie was pretty forceful in his language about impudence of some people grazing then- cattle in other people's paddocks. e J oke became apparent when, shortly afterwards, his busy friend rode up and apprised him of the purchase and of the location of the stock. He then realised that he had impounded his own stock. lie was, of course, obliged to pay the impounding fees before he could secure the release of the cattle.

-Hie Mayor (Mr. G. W. Browne) last nignt congratulated the Borough Council on the carding out of the Greater ■New Plymouth echeii'c, remarking that the for the 'tramways was now paved. The development that had taken activity in oil and ironsand, Avould now, with bhe realisation of the Greater New Plymouth scheme, bring the borough a step nearer m the direction of the higher sLand it was destined to take. A high tiibute to the amount of time and enel'gy given by the Mayor in bringing the scheme to fruition was paid by Cr. Clarke, who moved that his services be placed 011 record. In second the motiftn, which was carried "unanimously, (Jr. Ami.) pmised the Mayor for workin<* very hard and exercising a great deal -of discretion in connection not only with the hieater Plymouth s<?lieme but v.uious oilier ltiaU'ui'.s of importance including sewerage and drainage.

ihe weekly session of the Egmont ■Lodge, No. Jl2, was held in the Good templar Lodgc-roum last night. Tlu; C.i. (Lro. I'. It. ['eppeiv!!) presided over a tan' attendance of membere. The programme, as set down, "Invite Temple," was proeecued with at eight o'clock, so as to allow the children to get away early. 'lhe lodge-room presented quite ail animated appearance, with the large number of juveniles assembled then'. The folio wing programme, which was given as an "item competition" for two prizes presented by brothers of the adult lodge, was then vnbmitted:—Recitations by Swtm Way, !\ rfwhitmi and V. Pepperell; brothers■ Thompson. C.T., Tweejhile and A. Peppcre!]. I'.C'.T.: readings by Sisters W. Uartnell and Davidson, and Brothers W. Elliott, T. Murphy, II" Baltimore, A. Moody. C. Milne anil W. lellew. The result nf the competition was announced by tlie Rev. F. Kales. On rising to give his decision tile judffe gave the juvenib's some helpful 'hints re'rurdmg elocution. l T e stated (hat it w.ns impossible for him to separate four jn\eniles, and hi' would consent to give a further prize as a first if ihe lml«rc worn! find another. which was immediforthcoming. The winners were Sis. R Swinton and Bro. A. TVppere]], wilh Sis. Davidson and Bro. Thompson' second.

A\ il 1111 1 the past few weeks a series of petty thefts have been effected from numerous Sydney warehouses. The police are of the opinion that, in view of the remarkable smilarity of the methods employed, they are the work of the American gang of thieves known as "The 1 Dusters," who are supposed to be on a tour of Australia at present. The articles stolen for the most part are overcoats, leather handbags and other small articles, although in' a couple of cases the value of the articles stolen Jus been much more considerable. The method favored by the thieves is for one ot the members of the party to call at a city business house, and to make enquiries regarding the whereabouts of some other business house in the near vicinity. lie, with the utmost deference passible, apologises for his intrusion, which he excuses on the grounds of his being a stranger to the city, and after expressing his thanks for the information vouchsafed, takes his departure. After he has left it is generally discovered that numerous small articles have disappeared from the office. Miss McNeil, travelling secretary of the Young Women's Christian Association, speaking to' a Lyttelton Times reporter last week, referred to the dangers that beset young girls who are engaged m earning their own livelihood. Economic conditions, she said, had produced the business girl, but there were many dangers for her when she was awav from the protection of her home. "A girl arrived at a railway station in a Aew Zealand city," Miss McNeil stated, and, callng a cab, asked to be driven to a boardinghouse. Just as she was entering the vehicle she was stepped by a policeman, who warned her that the cabman would take her to a boardinghouse that was not of the character she desired. The girl was taken to the Young Women's Christian Association's rooms and was well cared for. Another girl advertised for rooms and received four replies, but three of them were from houses of a doubtful character. The travellers' aid department of the Association was being organised in the Dominion, and i't was hoped that it would deal with such cases. Its work would be considered at the conference to be held in Wellington shortly. In Christchurch it wns intended to erect a new building to provide accommodation for this work among young girls. The work, it was urged, was very necessary, and deserving of public support." The interest 'that lias been taken in the entertainments that have been held in aid of the Taranaki Circular Road Jvace funds was evidenced at the monster euchre party and dance held in the Theatre Royal last evening, when, despite unsatisfactory weather conditions, some seventy tables were occupied, whilst a number of onlookers were also present. This must be considered a reco'id attendance for any euchre party held hare for some tini-?.' Of course, no doubt, the valuable prizes accounted in small degree for a goodly number, ihe card-playing went off well, under the very able guidance of Mr. Dineen, and when time was sounded it was found that Miss D. Lobb had won the ladies' (: V st prize (a pair of Roslyn blankets), \nth thirteen games, while Mrs. L. Cal-hi-ghan anil Misses F. Olliver, E. Philips and G. Kivell had tied for second place with twelve games each. The play-off tesuited in Miss F. Oil Ivor securing second prize (a silver rose bowl) and Mrs. L. Oallaghan third (,i(ilb Hour). In the gentlemen's prizes, Messrs. Hanwri»ht and Jordan tied for first place with°l3 games each, Mr. .Jordan eventually winning first prize in the play-off (a iton of coal), and Mr. Hanwright second (solid leather handbag). For third place Messrs. 1). Colson, J. McGiven, D. Morey, J. Bennett and H. Harvey tied with' twelve games each, Mr. J. Bennett being successful in the play-off, and taking •'Ol'b flour as third prize. Mrs. George's orchestra of five instrumentalists supplied perfect music for the dance, and Messrs. Geo. La-bo.-, Hy. Brooks and W. Way made efficient M's.C. During the evening iten>s wera contributed by Miss Rosie Danks and Mr. IT. Xippert.