LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 113, 28 September 1912, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

IMPERIAL WIRELESS. Some interesting details were given in the House of Commons recently by the Postmaster-General regarding the agreement entered/ into ty 'the Government with Marconi's Wireless Telegraph Company, Ltd., for the establishment of wireless stations to link up the Empire. 'For the present it is proposed to establish six stations. ■ The British Government will pay for four—one'each in England, Egypt, East' Africa and Singapore. The Indian Government'jvill erect one o"n the western! coast' of: India* and the Sotith African. Government/will erect a station ip tV>e neighborhood .of' Pretoria- The Commonwealth GoVermiient has decided not to be a party to the agreement, but will erect independently ,a station to communicate with' the one at Singapore. Messages transmitted to the Australian station , will, if- necessary." be, forwarded along tjie Australian land lines to the wireless station-- that are being erected in Xew; Zealand.. At a later \latu the British-Government'intends to erect a station Lit Hongkong, and possibly one in West Africa. Each Government tW. work and pay fontlie maintenance of the still ions which it orc«ts,''arid will be credited with the receipts of the <tra'llic- which its own stations handle-; The 'revenue will be divided on, the same principle as through- telegraphic, revenue between various-countrie's. The system will-be 1 State-owned, but the stations will be erected,by the Marconi Company, and they will have to he paid a royalty of 10 per cent, on the gross proceeds for a period of 2S years. At the expiration of that lime the Government will nave free use of all Marconi patents now in use or subseqnently;,patented up to the date the royalty ceases. The Government will pay the .company £OO,OOO for each station erected, and will provide the buildings, foundations and sites-. Each station, will have a radius of 2QOO miles. It will cover an area of 75 acres, and will have two aerials, one to communicate and one to receive. The chief expenditure in the erection of these stations will be the' steel masts, 300 ft high. There will.be about 30.0f these for each station." The 'company Undertakes to give an 'efficient and continuous service, capable of'dealing with commercial traffic by day and night, and at all seasons, at a speed duplex of 20 words per minute, and ,at a speed simplex of 50 words per minute automatic', after allowing for repetition. It is estimated that the cost of working the six stations, allowing for repayment of capital in 18 years, and for interest and management expenses,' will be about £IOO,OIIO per annum. The company vril have 'nothing to do with the fixing of the rates. These will be arranged, by the various Governments. It is expected that the rates will represent a considerable reduction on the existing cable rates. ' The Postmaster-General stated that the German Government had entered into a contract with the Telefunken Company for long-distance wireless stations in certain parts of the German dominions in the Indian Ocean and the Australian seas. It is with this company tl'iat the Commonwealth Government entered into an agreement for the erection of wireless stations in Australia. The German Government has arranged for four stations to be erected, but the cost per station will be.considerably more than the £OO,000 to be paid by the British Government to the Marconi Company. The Telefunken, Company will receive from the German Government an annual subsidy ture, ajid in addition will receive a royalty on the gross receipts. Of course, the receipts from stations in these areas will be considerably less than the receipts from stations erected in the chief centres of the British Empire.

Cattle were killed at .Mauricevillc last week during a heavy thunderstorm.

The Hon. F. M. 13. Fisher, speaking at Blenheim, foreshadowed a local government Bill to force the amalgamation of local bodies.

English and Australian maife per s.s. Marama arrived at Auckland yesterday morning and are due here per express this evening,

Ihrough the courtesy of the manager (Mr. Dick Stewart) the old lady inmates of the Old People's Home attended yesterday's matinee performance of '-Jambad the Sailor."

A Gisborne telegram states that a sharp and long-sustained shock of earthquake was felt there at 4.81 o'clock yesterday .morning. The direciiou was east to west. A slighter shook was experienced at 3.30 o'clock on the previous morning.

In the libjl action, Gordon v. The Xew Zealand Times, at Napier yesterday, the jury deliberated for three hours and then announced that they bad failed to come to any agreement." With the consent of tiie parties the.jury was "discharged. The two-year-old child of Mr. Corbetl. vVarea,. was badly bitten by a do°- while playing outside the Oaku'ra Hotel tluother day. The animal bit the child on the face, inflicting a serious wound. The little sufferer was brought into town and medically attended to. An exceptionally severe thunderstorm was experienced at Xew Plymouth about noon yesterday. It was accompanied In-s-beet lightning, which put -over 200 telephones out of action. Thanks to the Telegraph Department, however, these were soon set aright.

The President of the Newspaper Proprietors' Association of New Zealand has been advised by the Minister of Public Works that tin; Public, Works Statement will be distributed in a similar manner to the Financial-Statement. It will be posted to postmasters, to be released (when delivered. The Conciliation Council continued its sittings! at .\ T cw Plymouth yesterday., in connection with the Plumber's' dispute, and adjourned late in the afternoon until this morning. The proceedings were in committee, and it is understood tli.it the parties have agreed upon the whole of the points in dispute with the exception of two or three clauses.

Alternative schemes for a double express service on the North Island Main Trunk railway are being considered by the Department of Railways. No information will be given regarding the timetables of the new service until one of the schemes Ins been -adopted. The double service'will be commenced on November 1, and continued until March 31, 101.". A New Zealand products export leaflet, covering th- 1 period from September 1 to September 15. shows the quantity and value of the principal products passed through the Customs for export from ■local ports:—New Plymouth. 360 skins, valued 'at £O2. .Patea 250 skins, valued

at £oo;vix \(vy< (1 f tallow valued at £1(17: 1.P..700 Tlw .if wod valued at £1025. W:>: tara 15 tops of tallow, valued at £-18'): 7080 lbs of woe] valued at £2BB.

American women are quickly abandoning cigarettes, and are now taking to pipc-snfoking. In smart society it is now common (says a cable message to the Australian papers) to see each lady produce, a tiny pipe mounted with gold or mother-of-pearl after dinner and

smoke -with the men. The wife of a millionaire has created quite a sensation by training her' pug dog to smoke an elegant, meerschaum pipe, the howl of which is set with diamonds. Lord KiicTiencr's brief rule in Egypt is highly praised by Sir George Arthur in an article in the Fortnightly Review. It has,'hi' .-ays. '-already lighted, lip the thoroughly human side of his character'." and res.toi-., d (he prestige of Great Pritain in the eyes of all whom it may concern. I'be country has many just causes of'quafn! with Mr. Asqnith's Government, "but no fair-minded man," says the writer, "can refuse to give full credit to the ;Prinie Minister for the appointment to Lord Kitchener to the Agency in Cairo."- It is noteworthy, that radical criticism of a type which quite' recently hampered our administration in Egypt has not been heard since Lord er's appointment. It seems to be realise! that it would bo futile.

Thatj mothers of modern days have small families is an assertion refuted to 'a large extent by the investigation now being carried out by the Commonwealth Statistician. , Mr. Kuibbs is making an analysis of'the phenomena, of fecundity in Australia, and. though he has only recently begun his work, he has revealed some .extraordinary facts. For the year IPOS a recs/d was achieved by a mother who, in her 23rd. year of marriage, gave birth to her 26th child. In the same year one woman had her 16th child in her 17t.1i year of marriage, another her 17th child in her 21st year of marriage, and a third li"r 17th child in her 2-lthyear of marriage. Four mothers had'each a 17th child in their 26th year of marriage, and one mother her 18th child in her 28th year of marriage. In 1911 another remarkable record was achieved by a mother who, in her 20th .year of marriage, bore twins, though she had 22 children previously.

' At last a' real women's suffrage movement ljas come. It reached New York in the form of a bevy of attractive women, having, a correct idea of the way to capture adherents of either sex. The club is known as (he Suffrage Literary Society. The slogan of Miss Gcraldine Wing-ate, the president of the society, is: "Votes for women may be had by charm." The society marched through the city sticking vivid green, disc-shaped sticker's everywhere. The stickers contain the and the notice of a meeting of the society, when Miss "Wingate promises to tell how easily charm can win over force,;how sugar attracts better than vinegar. Another paper to be read is entitled, <r \Ye ur, not smashing windows." The society has made noticeable progress, exerting much political influence, because, of the marked difference of the methods it employs to those of 'the militants. These suffragists by persuasion, are making headway. ' The members of the Lit. vary Society realise what unbounded influence women exert who refrain from inasseulino methods. They (ire working along these lines, having as their motto: "Men work, women p.oint the way to reward-workers." SALE OF LONDON JOB PURCHASES.

The sale of London "job" goods reI gently: bought. In- (lie Melbourne Clothing managing director, is now in full swing. This sale presents <i remarkable opportunity of purchasing new goods,at tlic beginning of the season. The purchases were ie-de by (he iinnV representative at (lie .-10.-e' of the English summer, just a I a period when business was exceptionally quiet there owing to various cause-. -iiief of which of oour.se was the great strike of dockers. Manufacturers and warehousemen were in desperate -traits, a position of affairs of which you mav depend our managing director took' fidi advantage. With cheque hook in hand la' was aide to Imv practically at his own price and we have been enabled to offer in this our first instalment of job goods a medley of bargains little short" of marvellous.'The list of bargains has already been published. It you have not seen it please call or write. Whatever happens, don't let anything keep you away from this great sale. ..-.. j; s^

"Well-trained sheep and cattle dogs are no source of trouble or annoyance to us," explained a motor eyclist to a meeting in Carterton. '''lt is the mongrel breed which haunts the town -and highways that is the menace of our lives," concludes the speaker. The Marquis le Montebello, son of a former famous French Ambassador to Russia and a figure in Paris society was killed by lightning on duly 20 while walking from the station of Aleriel to his country seat, the Chateau de Stors in the department of Seine-et-Oise The marquis had been in Paris all day at the Bank of Morocco, of "which he* was secretary-general, and arrived at Meriel station just as a great thunderstorm was at its height. I-fe had told his chauffeur not to meet him as usual, and, despite the storm, set out to walk home across the iields. A level crossingkeeper offered him shelter in his hut but he went on, saying, '-ft won't kill me, and took a short 'cut through a leafy walk to the castle. Ten minutes later a servant came upon the hody of the marquis,' his clothes rent to tatters and his straw hat and umbrella broken into little pieces. The body was not . dishgured save, for a slight burn on the face.

_ An elegantly dressed voung girl, whose identity has not yet been established committed suicide on July 30 by throwing herself from the topmost 'platform of the Effel Tower. 005 ft. from the ground. The girl ascended the lift and was seen to scribble something hastily in her notebook, and then to tear up what she had written. For a moment she leant on the balustrade contemplating the superb panorama spread out at her feet, and weepiiig bitterly. Then she suddenly sprang on to the'bench running round the large platform-and dived head first out of one of the windows. Her body dropped to the second platform, ■s2sft -below, after being practically cut •in two on the intervening ironwork. The remains "'were mutilated beyond recognition. In the poeket-of her serge tailormade dress was found £l6 in French money, and a pencilled note giving the address of a- Paris hotel. There, however, the girl was quite unknown. The remains were sent to the morgue. A story of a woman's hatred of the man she married has been revealed before the Criminal Court at Dresden. Several years ago a German naval officer named Schalm married the daughter of a nobleman who was a major in the army. The union turned out most unhappy, and the wife sought every means to procure a separation. Failing to find any other excuse, she laid an information in;the autumn of 1009 against her husband, alleging a crime. A young girl's evidence bore out the charge, and Schalm was degraded from his rank in the navy and sentenced to two years' imprisonment. On his reltfase last year he began to press for a fresh trial, which he has just obtained. The result has been his acquittal of the charge on'which he had been previously convicted. According to the finding of the judges, the girl'witness was coerced into giving false evidence by the mother of Fran Schalm, who was also found to have influenced oilier witnesses. Schalm, whose career is now ruined, is bringing a suit against his wife and her parents for perjury and false accusation. ..At the Brotherhood to-morrow afternoon the Rev. A. Reader, of Stratford, will rq>eak on "The Man that is to be." The chair will be taken by Mr. M. Fraser.