LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 194, 6 January 1913, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

On New Year's Day 2.04 inches of rain fell in New Plymouth. Tn all there were 140 cases of ptomaine poisoning in New Plymouth Inst week. There are 14,000 hands in the employ of the Xew Zealand Kail way Department. The capital invested in the lines is £32,000,000. Mr. Hansen, of West own. lost a valuable draught horse on Friday. This makes (be fifth horse he has lost during the last six months. , The Stratford troop of Boy Scouts will leave ''on trek" to-day. to 'the number of ten with the Scoutmaster. They will journey to Toko und then take the train to Pohokura and rest there for the night, afterwards going away inland on a, route not yet definitely fixed. "Reckoning butter at 110s per ewt. and cheese at fiOs per owl, 24,502 packager; of the former, valued at £O7,. r i-!."i. and 10,377 packages of cheese, valued at £38.013. were shipped from the New Plymouth breakwater during December. The figures for tlie corresponding month of Iflll (at 10.">s and 00s) were: But, ter, 2370 packages, £02,307: cheese, 75!>3 packages, £28,473. A well-to-do Sydney merchant states that a ten months' residence of his family in London had cost him £IO,OOO. The tipping is abominable. A theatre programme costs (id, and the high-toned damsel who'condescends to sell it expects a share of the change. The atlcudant who shows you to a scat must be paid for his trouble, and if you use the cloakroom you are in the clutches of another vampire. Seasonable greetings have been forwarded to the officers of the Taranaki Territorials by Lieut.-Coloiiel E. .Stephenson and officers of (he 3rd Battalion. Duke of Cambridge's Own. Middlesex Regiment (the old 571 li), with which the Taranaki Battalion is all'iliatcd. The Middlesex in stationed at Lebong. Tndia. and the card bears a view of the regiment's parade ground, Ma.jor Bond's last station. l;M'o;v comi'nv to Taranaki, was Lebong.

Several slight shocks of earthquake 1 have been experienced in the Okato dm- I trict recently. ; The Gisborne Times stales that shearing in the back country is now practically complete, ami farmers report that the clip is a particularly rich and luxuriant one. Signs of the season are daily seen by the wool, sheep and timber, 5 which load the ■(own-coming trains. A peculiar and unusual occurrence took place 011 Saturday at Whakarcwa rewa. One of the mounds close to the Porridge Pot burst with a noise like the report of a cannon. There were a good many visitors about at the time, and they were considerably scared by the unexpected explosion. What is claimed to be a record for a period of (il days for 38 cows has recently been put up by the herd of Mr. Fred. Hopping. Glen Oroua (says a Manawatu paper). They have given an average of -Pill) of milk per day per cow. For I'll at period the average test was 3.5. The highest average, for a single day was 4C'/»lb per cow. The number of federationi.sls in Wailn continues to dwindle, and of those remaining, several intend leaving the district very early. As a result of the exodus there are numerous unoccupied houses in and about the town, and no doubt some of them will be tenanted when the, mining companies start working a second shift, which will probably be about the e.nd ot March next. Of a consignment of 300 cases of American apples which came to hand recently to a Dniiedin fruit broker, £lO worth was taken by the, rats that apparently travel as tourists between San Francisco and New Zealand. Twenty cases have been ruined almost wholly by 'the wretched pests. Several cases looked as though the rodents had made dining saloons of them, for most of the fruit had been sampled. A well-known character about Picton attired in a white cambric suit was the victim of the jokist on Boxing Day (states the Press). "The sun had evidently proved too warm for his constitution, and he lay himself down in a shady nook for a quiet nap. Meanwhile the joker came along with a pot of black paint, and figured the white coat with the orthodox broad arrows. The, innocent victim afterwards paraded the streets in what looked for all the world like prison ga'rb,' and wondered why he was the cynosure of all eyes." The Customs. returns for the port of Patea, which are jurjt to hand, furnish some striking ligures an<l serve to show that during the year just ended trade with the port has been decidedly on the upward grade, says the Press. The receipts ""for the year total £12,330 l 4s Sd as against £O7BB lis Id last year. For the i;uart/T ending December 31 the receipts Were' £3533 ,3s 4d, being an increase of £ll3O 13s Od over the receipts for the corresponding period of last year. The revenue for the month of December was £IO4O 9s 2d as against £729 14s 3d for the previous December. There is (says a contemporary) a

troublesome harbor scandal to lay in Auckland. The two assistant engineers of the Auckland Harbor Board have resigned. In a letter to the Board these gentlemen say that they resigned because they found that although they pointed out to the engineer "grave dangers in existing works," and that "'there is every reason 'to fear these dangers may be perpetuated in future constructions," they had to come to the conclusion that the engineer did not realise the seriousness of the case and did not take effective steps to avoid future danger. The letter concluded with the statement that matters had assumed a serious aspect, and that the writers (both of whom signed the letter) had to protect themselves by disclaiming any responsibility. A quaint letter, written from Norfolk Island by a native who is studying for the ministry there, describing the new Bishop of Melanesia, who is now in New Zealand, is published in the Sydney Evening News:—"! ami greatly astonished at this Bishop," says the boy writer. "He is very tall, his face is exceedingly beautiful, and his clothes are beyond description. He is also very learned indeed, and 1 am astonished, because in three days he already knows something of the Mota language, and I •think that in this he must be more learned .than Bishop Wilson.. We decorated the mission, painted afresh the house of the clock, and words waited for the Bishop on the road. The words were 'Our hearts are with you.' The Bishop visits each class in the school, and I am afraid because we do not know anything. We do not answer him because he speaks dn English only, and we are thickheads and do not understand this language vou call English." In view of the advantages claimed for the Diesel locomotive, a representative of the Commonwealth High Commissioner's office recently visited the works of the manufacturers at Winterthur, in

Switzerland, to enquire first hand as to its suitability for the Trans-Australian line. A communication has been received from Sir George Reid that there arc no fewer than 4000 men employed in the works, and that 2000 are employed at a branch establishment in Germany. Ho added that the locomotive is built

to carry soflieient oil to accomplish a run of ten hours. The reservoirs can be easily enlarged to take double that quantity, and even more. There is no funnel, consequently there are no sparks to set' lire to dry vegetable matter. The engine lias the same appearance at both, ends, and can travel in either direction. There would be no necessity for a turn-table. It is probable that a trial will be made of one of the engines on the Kalgoorlie to Port Augusta line.

"What'g the latest advise regarding the llax market?" queried a Wyndham Fanner man of a well-known Southland llaxniillcr. "<'!ood--oh!" was the cheerful response. "Head this." ho continued, handing over a trade circular. It was to the following effect:— "We have just received advice that the fibre market lias taken a considerable jump, high point fare grade being worth £-20 7s 6d to .-ear. 17s fid. on trucks, and ordinary fair grade 10s per ton less. We read iii Saturday's paper that a typhoon has recently caused a, groat deal of damage in the Phillipine*: and, no doubt, the sharp rise is attributable to it." The jolly miller was heartily congratulated on the turn of events. "Yes," ho added, "it's fairly decent, and not much short of the big prices going a month ago. Millers .should sell now. while the flax will yield a. fnir profit. Besides, there's extras in the game now -thai we didn't have a few years ■,<,■,>. "We e au n ( .t, to-day, CD Ids a 1,,,, f or WP ,cond-grade tow and C 8 10s for third-grade; and not so very long ago wo used to burn the tow to get, it out of the way. Then, again, a demand has just sprung up for stripper hlips; that's'the young shoots which we used to throw into the'streams, to the disgust of the acclimatisation societies, who complained that the stud' used to kill the trout. : Now, we are .being olTcrcd—and this is the first time I've noticed the. quotation— £7 10s for stripper -lips." HAD A WEAK CHEST.

"My son Frank would not be alive today had it not been for Chamberlain's Cough Remedy," writes Mrs. A. M. Buckley, River street. Bulimba, Brisbane, Queensland. "He had a weak chest and was subject to attacks of croup bul. Chamberhi in's Cough Remedy has brought him safely f.hroii'/b and'now l.e is strong and bv a'l Chemists and Storekeepers-