LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 136, 26 October 1912, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Australian mails, ex Makura at Auckland, will arrive here this evening, via the Main Trunk. Out of nine applicants Mr. Ralph Collins was yesterday appointed Inspector for the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. A meeting of creditors in the bankrupt estate of a widow in Auckland on Wednesday presented the bankrupt with the asset* amounting to £l6l. Another picture show is to start in U" 1 Palmcrston municipal theatre.' This makes the fifth started in this building within a short time, £IOOO being lost over the ventures.

A telegram from Rotorua states that the "Porridge Pot," the liquid mud pool at Whakarewa, erupted to a height of 20 feet yesterday. This phenomenon occurs only at long intervals. The services in the Whiteley Memorial Church to-morrow will be conducted in the morning by the Rev. J. Charteris; and in the evening the Rev. J. W. Burton will preach. Subject, "Christian Atnletics." Last 3 T ear motor cars were imported into New Zealand to the value of £507,452. The imports for the previous year were £203,015. Thus the increase was £274,437. And people ask why money is scarce!

A retired civil servant recently toured New Zealand to find a place in which to spend the remaining years of his life. He settled in New Plymouth, which he describes as the most attractive and interesting town in the Dominion. Edward Pawson, sawmiller, of Dannevirke, arrested on warrant in connection with his bankruptcy in 1910, has since his examination in Wellington been released from custody. It is understood that he has retained Mr. M. Myers to act on his behalf, and some interesting legal developments are anticipated. The billeting of the Canadian Cadets is not yet complete, and there are still about fifteen of the boys to be placed. Mrs. P. M. Paulsen, of the Terminius Hotel, has kindly offered to place six of the boys in the cottage in the hotel grounds, and it is hoped that other pub-lic-spirited citizens will come forward and place the balance of the boys. They will probably remain in New Plymouth for two days. A meeting attended by some thirty motor cyclists war; held last night anil as the outcolne it was decided to form a club to be known as the Taranaki Motor Cycle Club. Officers were elected as follows:--President, Dr. Suttie, secretary, Mr. If. W. Lightband; captain, Mr. R. Heard; committee, Messrs. Short. Barry. Heard and Potts. The initial run will be held next Thursday to Urenui, leaving the New Plymouth Post Office at 2 p.m.

To avoid the present duplications caused by the extension of the Borough boundaries a number of streets require to be renamed. The Town Clerk (Mr. P. T. Bellringer) is submitting the following suggestions to ( the Council: Standish street, Yogeltown, to be changed to Ballance street; Newton street, St. Aubyn, to Whiteley street; McLean street, Dartmoor, to Seddon street; Watson street. Dartmoor, to Massey street; Barrett Road, Moturoa, to' Pioneer street; Eliot Road, Westown, to Tukapa street.

"Wind blows through the whole of the ■building at its own will, often blowing out candles at night. Wild cats prowl through the building without any restriction at all hours of the night. There are no locks or latches on any of the doors, and some of the rooms have no windows.''—A graphic extract from a letter received by a county council concerning the state of a surfaceman's cottage.

A Maori of the warrior type was referred to by the Superintendent of the Maori Mission (Archdeacon Hawkins) at the Auckland Synod meeting as a typical specimen of the devout self-sacrificing native. He has seen 70 summers, and though of poor education he has been instrumental in keeping the church Hag flying in his settlement both during and since the native war. Sunday after Sunday he had made himself and others happy by Biblical reading, and now the delight of being visited by the clergy had come to them. "You don't wonder, do you," added the speaker, "that wc are petitioning the Bishop to make him the first licensed lay reader in the district?" A furore of applause was the answer.

A correspondent, writing from Waihi, says: "If ever no-license was a success it is in this electorate.. The police say that had Waihi been under license it would have been a perfect hell during the strike. As it is, there are distressing and very discreditable things. The other day some unwomenly women knocked a respectable man about in a shameful manner, and stuck hat pins in tim, and every day they get into the forefront of the mob, but carry their babies with them, so that they will not be molested; and the language they use is simply horrifying. The other night 200 of them disturbed the whole neighborhood by serenading a 'man' who had been locked up during the day for misbehaviour on the street."

A somewhat peculiar occurrence which is hard to credit, hut nevertheless is a fact, took place in the storeroom of an liivereargill grocer's shop the other day. A cat had been shut in the room for the purpose of catching rats. On entering the apartment later the occupier was surprised to find his cat with its head jambed inside a jam bottle, and on closer examination was somewhat startled to notice that there was also in the bottle a young rodent. The matter of extricating the cat. a valuable one, was accomplished without breaking the bottle. The rat, when cut off by his natural enemy from his only means of escape, sought refuge in the empty hottlo, the mouth of which was just sufficiently large to allow the cat's head to enter.

The Christchurcli Weoklv Press Christmas number for ICI'2 is to hand. It is an exquisite piece of priiitinfr in monotone and color. The front page is in white and gold, with a reproduction in color of a laughing Maori woman, from a water-color by A. Konnawav —a most artistic piece of work. The colored supplements are from works in oil by 0. If. riowarth "A I'.end of the YVanganui." and by \V. A. Tlowring. ''Kapai te Koura" —a grinning Maori boy eating crayfish. The colors and texture of the printing closely resemble the originals, even to the brush strokes. The Maori figures largely in the annual, graphically and in print. Among the photographs utilised that call for special notice for their genuine pictorial qualities are "A Maori Centenarian" and "A Wahine at Tokannu." For friends abroad unfamiliar with New Zealand some fanning and pioneering scenes are given Unit will do much to dispel anv liazin"- r - about this country and its people, and how they live. Farming life, d:\irving and sheep raising are all illustrated by well-selected pictures. Considerable space, too. is devoted to the Cook TslamU The child's page is a clever series of photographs of live rabbits, puppies, guinea-pigs and, kittens, illustrating "■ simple tale in verse. Mr. C. E. Bellringcr is to speak at the Brotherhood meeting to-morrow. Selections by an orchestra under Mr. A. V. Carbines will be, rendered. As it is the last of the weekly meetings there will be a collection,

"I consider that motor cycles are more dangerous that motor ears," said Mr. L. (1. Rcid, S.M., at the Miisterton Court. Auckland and its suburbs arc built on volcanic country, beneath the surface of which many caves exist. The Mount Albert borough had some difficulty in getting rid of its surface drainage. By searching, a cave was found in a handy position, a hole was bored down into it, and the street drainage is run into the cave, where it is "absorbed." About two weeks ago a Christehurch resident had his bicycle stolen, and on Friday the remains of his machine, which had been almost a new one, were round in the Avon river. The thief had maliciously wrenched the buck wheel off the bicycle, and so damaged the rest of the machine that the frame, handles and one wheel were practically all that was left of it.

The New Zealand Products Export Leaflet for the period October 1 to October 15 gives the following details of the quantity and value of the principal products passed through the Customs for export from local ports:—New Plymouth: butter A ewts, valued at £54; Patea: butter 2124 cwt, valued at £12,741; cheese, 7371 cwt, valued at £23,210; Waitara; tallow (i tons, valued at £150; New Plymouth: 74 hides, valued at £O3; 1347 skins, valued at £245; Patea: tallow, 0 tons, valued at £108; wool, 18,202 lbs valued at £O3O.

A lady parishioner confided to the vicar of Takapuna (the Rev. W. G. Monckton, M.A.) that she had to read a paper upon a subject of which she had absolutely no knowledge. The vicar replied—ao he said at the Auckland Synod mission meeting—that it could not be easy to speak about something with which one was familiar. "Whereupon," said Mr. Monckton. "she replied with that subtle flattery that only a woman can use: 'Well, it seems to come naturally to you.'" The audience was convulsed.