LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 112, 27 September 1912, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The latest addition to the automatic machine* provided for the convenience of the public by the Post and Telegraph Department is a, machine for registering letters, which" was "installed in the public lobby of tha Christchurch post office. Not only .does (the machine register the letter, but it delivers to'the person posting-it a receipt,'which contains the particulars necessary to identify the letter rtoeted. An Australia)]' visitor touring the Dominion;; expressed surprise that in many of the jowns he had visited,'local bodies take' a idreadfully long time in transacting■ hfusWss. In one instance, he said, a borough council in an ordinary meeting sat; from 7.30 p.m. till 2.15 a.m. In some of the biggest'eities in Australia, he remarked/ the city councils easily conducted i all their business at an ordinary meeting in a couple of hours! : An allegation-of .having forged the name of Robert Harold Daveney on a cheque drawn ,on..the Union Bank- of Australia, Auckland, .and with uttering the same to John 'Harrington, was preferred against K.Muir in. the MagCourt 'yesterday morning. Accused Was taken in custody, at Patmerstori, .North last Tuesday, and remanded from;there to appear at New Plymouth. On the application of Senior-Sergeant Haddrelf Mr. A. 'Crook's, S.M.V further remanded Muir till Monday next. Mr. J. E. Wilson appeared' for'the accused, who -was granted bail in his oiwn recognisance of £SO. and in two sureties -of £25 or one of £SO.

1< armors generally throughout Southland are complaining of tihe dearth of labor, and one in Invercargill on Thursday front the eastern district stated that it was* impossible to o'btain ploughmen, and m some cases the farmers themselves had toi do the work. ■ He considered that the runners' Union should strenuously urge upon the Government the necessity for the introduction of suitable farm laborers, as it 'Was, quite out of the question to work their properties to the best advantage as things stand now. Another farmer who has been following the pursuit for many years says that he never before found the young men- of the country so independent as at the present time; due, he explains, to-the knowledge that they can obtain work whenever they want it. He states that if a social gathering is held in his district, and lie is employing men to, say, bag potatoes at a. shilling an hour, they do not consider it their duty to attend work the following day, and he considered himself fortunate if they did not allow a lon-r-r period to elapse before they When the weather was favorable, such avoidable delay was provoking, but lie sees no way out of the difficulty- while existing conditions continue. '

No fresh developments are reported in connection with the St. Aubyn muddle, but it js understood that the Taranaki County Council is determined to exhaust nil means of defence in its objection to being saddled with the cost 'of work at present being earned on in the Town district. , t i s , !U - d th,, t it is quite prepared to fight the matter out in the Courts, ami, if necessary, make, an appeal to a higher authority. The Council considers it has an excellent ground for objection to being made responsible for any liabilities incurred in St Aubyn after September 2. ft holds that the area of 25 acres (not merged in the' Borough) being virtually the St Aubyn Town District, or all that is left of it, is liable for the ovpcnditun on woil* ,1 1 t , lt :i_i 1m ' until vtlni b\ di, olu tion or ad| otiticnt (Ik contia<-( n- 0 i , some oihei 1, 0 , hlf the an i ixdudul from tin Toiou di is m rgod m the C oim ty that bod\ mil it 1-, nnneistood cndi ivnu to cnfoice p-umtrit In those who own Ih 1 i>ul of un Inbihfus di i Tlu\ m turn a ill hue llirn leiiivh b\ likm jii f tiding igimst rh< <s| Auln i 1 mil oi ul numbeis toi the x COVl\ t ,1,011 A 1,, |, |] H \ ,]], ( ||^ hal no ,i, hoi in { ( , ( xpend \, f , )],, Town T'< ud\ ng,l opinion it is con tendid in leitim quutiis flni nipmb i hav nr standing wh it opui Men ih i U<|Uit< ij i| f rnn) f] lP „„,] uin [ lol) with \n Phmniui Ihui t PI „, ,1 , i fl<'< •'M n 11 \ fluxion ot tum , , s , tembn Is Sl tig 'lni ii ill "Ii (ill! 1 call iinniii) it ion-, nut , , <] ( (,,„ , , held th oi ntun is tint the Tiwu V>< u 1 -,i,ilh dead—t\ucc bin ied in fact.

\c\t tune drml tringii ale g < is i mini Cill foi GniBOC DI Y OIMCIK \Tf jinnnticd to b mad! from th oii'iml P-dfist xoimuh \ T o artihr ,1 ul to ma! pit pild lbli TH{ th ii ii r.ngu loot mil stiiilisir 1 water. All hotels and stores. S

The Rahotu Dairy Factory has sold its output of cheese for the coming season to Messrs. Nathan and Co., for 6 9-16 d, and will make cheese from the outset (states the Opunake Times). The Patea Borough Council has decided to invite the Prime Minister, or in the event of his not !:■•)!■,;' able, to attend, Mr. R. 11. Rhodes, the PostmasterGeneral, to lay the foundation-stone of the new Town Hall. Three married women each drew a section in yesterday's land ballot at New Plymouth.* One of them is apparently well-fitted for her prospective career on the land, having at one time been a Government dairy instructress in New Zealand.

One of those who drew a lucky marble at yesterday's ballot declined to take up his' section. His fancy, he explained, turned to two other sections for which no applications were received, and he would prefer to take his chance of drawing one of these. At the subsequent ballot ho was among the applicants for one of the two sections. The man who was content to pick and choose, had the mortification, however, of drawing a blank —the second marble The headmaster of the Auckland Normal School has created a system for the culture of esprit d'e corps in his school. In each class a boy and a girl eaptain are elected 'by popular vote. Their duties are to lead, to discipline and to protect the weak, much on the same lines as the "prefects" at public schools and colleges. Bach captain has a distinguishing badge which is the emblem of auth-

ority—and an authority seldom disputed. The main idea, of course, is to develop responsibility, and by giving the boys and girls a share in the ruling of the school, to ensure that good order shall always prevail, and nothing occur to blemish the honor so dear to scholastic institutions.

At a meeting of farmers, dairy factory directors, and others at Hawera on Saturday the position of the Patea Farmers' Co-operative Freezing Company was further discussed. It was resolved: "That this meeting of farmers representing the dairy factories in Taranaki affirm the desirability of assisting the Patear Farmers' Co-operative Freezing Company, and recommends that each suplier of the dairy companies take shares ,in the Freezing Company and so enable them to procure working capital to purchase culled cows and bulls and so assist every dairy farmer to get the best value for' his ' stock." Subsequently thirty-five, farmers signed -promissory notes towards the, £IO,OOO additional'capital required to carry on the works. An illustration of not-thought-of consequences of taxation is reported from Hobart. A few veare ago the Hobart golf links were bought for £IO.OOO by a company, all of whose, shareholders must be .members of the Hobart Golf Culb. In the articles of association it is dis-tinctly-laid down that the property imwt not be used except for the ancient game. Now the company, or the club which rents the property, is faced, with a valuation for Federal land tax purposes of £19,000. It seems that the valuer has a system of his own, He looked at the property, and then his eyes, imagined it with macadamised roads running through, with gutters and foolpaths. ,ind with pleasant villas or an occasional larger .house. Then he imagined what the unimproved value would be if all his dream were true, and fixed it at £IS,OOO. The club is going to, appeal, but members are taking a gloomy view of the chances.

The importance of protecting food from flies and dust, and particularly the dust of the streets, was emphasised last week by the Sydney health officer (Dr. Armstrong). "The dust of the streets," he said, in an address to the conference of sanitary inspectors, ,"is made up of the most revolting ingredients. There is little doubt that some of the typhoid fever, the consumption, and much of the diarrhoea, which are so much more prevalent in towns than in the country, are due to, air-borne poisoii in the "form of dust. That such abominations should ;be allowed to come into contact with human food is horrible to think 6f, and dangerous in actuality. The plea that in the case of butcher's meat the danger is averted by the subsequent cooking of the meat is a childish one, and untrue in its main contention. The germs -which reach the meat may be, it is true, destroyed by cooking, but some of these germs, when they find lodgment upon the meat, form chemical poisons known as ptomaines, which are not liable, to 'bo destroyed in the cooking process, and which, if swallowed, will set up ptomaine poisoning. The closing-in of butcher's shops and the protection of all food from the dust of the streets are measures which it is undoubtedly the duty of sani-. ' tary inspectors to enforce."

Tlie more progressive of the Maoris in some of the Auckland districts arc taking to dairying, and managers of factories slate that the native suppliers compare most favorably with their pakeha brothers. The natives' keep the utensils scrupulously clean and are going in for well-bred cows. At a reeejit sitting of the Native Land Court at Kawene a section of interested natives fought hard for the final adjudication on a Mock of 8000 acres at Waima, and stated that they were ready to follow up dairying as soon as they secured individual titles to their holdings. Judge \Yil3on sympathised with their aims, and ultimately succeeded in. pacifying the opposing factions. An old chieftain named Tuaki lid the progressive party, and, on the Court's decision being given in its favor, he at once made provision for an early start. Although 72 years oE age, he is well posted iu pakeha matters, and is blessed with untiring energy and enthusiasm. lie began a tour of inspection in the leading dairying districts. No item of modern machinery escaped/his notice, and the need of intense cleanliness in the handling of supplies won his admiration. The tribe decided upon the establishment of a butter factory on their i.uul, :uid at present are in treaty with Auckland firms for its erection. Throughout North Auckland there are beautiful valleys of Maori-own-ed soil, weed laden, and affording bare sustenance. f.»r a few scraggy horses. These, if cleared ami grassed, would for many years, without artificial fertilising, carry thousands of dairy cows, but in their ownership they lack a man of Tuaki's calibre.

IAH J 101 VI M\\ WHO IS lOP 11 1 I l> rtllll RIIFU M ( i 1 V 0? COl'T

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