LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 272, 9 April 1913, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The Auckland-Wellington telephone is now open, the fees being 4s 6(1 for the lirst three minutes and la lid for eaeh succeeding -minute. The Kui'iuvii will miss a trip from Onehuuga on Wednesday, 10th April. Conseijnently there will in' no .steamer from New Plymouth on Thursday, 17th April.

The Cisborne-Napier ferry service which has proved a grejjt boon to business people in (iisborne, will be continued by the Tukapuna till the end of May.—Press Association. The increase in the rate of interest of »/, per cent, uu Post Office Savings Bank deposits wider £3OO referred to by Mr. Masscy in his speech on Friday night will commence on May 1.

The secretary of (lie 'General Post Ofliee is advised that the Warrimoo will not connect with the outgoing London mail at Sydney. Her mails will be taken on bv the Orama next week.

During the night of Wednesday last a number of rural receiving boxes on the Manaia road were torn down from their fastenings on the settlers' gates, partially destroyed and filing into gutters and drains along the road. Six were found at intervals along the roadside and two on the weighing machine of the Kapnni factory. The boxes were the property of the settlers. —Witness. There was not a little surprise at the Ministerial luncheon at Mapaia on Thursday at the suddenness with which Mr. Pearce, M.P., butted into the proceedings with a carefully prepared series of figures and arguments intended ns a comparison between the splendor of Patea's achievements as a seaport and the futility and helplessness of New Plymouth in the same line (says the Witness). The introduction of this old wrangle was, it seems, deemed to be necessary owing to ,the fact that at Stratford or Eltham or some other village where the procession blew in to announce the glad tidings, a brother M.P. had uttered sundry libels against Patea. Mr. Powdrcll also assisted in ing the assorted wonders of Patea, while Mr. Okcy emitted a succession of disparaging noises and otherwise evinced a robust contempt for t,he other side.

A couple of young 1 bloods were responsible for a big scare in Waverley the other evening. They returned home to their fiirm. and outside a building in which ail employee was sleeping commenced a preconceived violent quarrel. Using blank cartridge one was to fire at the other and after a few dying exclamations oil the part of the alleged victim. a second shot was to he fired, and the murder completed. The act was carried out in its entirty, hut the effect was not quite what the actors deaired (says the local paper). The f" rni employee naturallv 111 ought that a man had been done to death, and rushins from (lie room made into Wavprlev post iiaste and reported the occurrence to Conslable O'Brien. The agitated and exhausted condition of the man left no doubt in the mind of the Constable that his tale was a true one, and he immediately comiuiiiiic.ated with Dr. Harvev. Together they proceeded in the doctor's ambulance car to the place of the supposed murder. When they got there a search was made for the body of the victim and the alleged murderers, but they appeared to have vanished. Searching the sleeping rooms in the house the constable found the two young men who had perpetrated the joke, sleeping soundly in bed. lie elicited from them that they I only desired to scare the farm employee I above referred to. but had done it much I more thoroughly than they had anticipated.

Particulars are contained in this mora* ing's issue of a pending sale of som<| first-class Bay of l'lenty properties. i The present season is an open one fofl imported games—hares, quail and pheasant—all of which are reported to fairly plentiful in the Wellington district.

Pea straw is in general demand itt. Jilenheim. The owner of a stack of pea* being threshed within the borough says that he has had at least twenty requests for the straw to feed to cattle during the winter.

A record is claimed to have just been established in wheat loading at Darling harbor, Sydney. In five working days--110,000 bags of wheat were loaded into the steamer City of Lincoln. In one day 30,000 bags went into the ship. With the settlement of a portion of the Waihi Plains holders of sections are. talking of taking steps to advance the dairying industry (says the Waihi correspondent of the New Zealand Herald}. A meeting of dairymen and new settlers was to have been held last week to discuss the matter.

Mr. J. B. Flowers, a Brooklyn (New York electrical engineer, has invented r machine which typewrites the spoken word by means of an ingenious arrangement of steel reeds actuated by electrical currents. What next mechanically? Presently, we shall be able to drop nit idea into a slot, and out comes—a short story or a long beer.

Land for growing bullw in Holland, which has been manufactured out of saiui dunes and peat hogs, is now valued at £3OO to £SOO per acre. Great Britain is the best customer, taking 40 per cent, of all the bulbs grown. Promising new varieties often fetch high prices. For example, 21b weight of a new gladolns has been sold for £ 1000.

Queensland Liberals are hoping to defeat Federal Premier Fisher in his stronghold, Wide Bay, says an Australian paper, and adds: ''No doubt if they did lie would get the offer of another constituency. His opponent, Wainholt, is described as a man of family and education, a young man with plenty of dash, a good speaker, and the of a million sheep." The post mortem examination on the body of the dead King of Greece disclosed that the assassin's bullet pierced the heart and lungs, and consequently death was instantaueous. A gracious smile still illuminated the dead face, showing that the end was a peaceful one. It was found impossible to undress the corpse, and it was buried in the uniform that the monarch was wearing at the time of his death. Whilst lying at the Melbourne Hospital, hovering between life and death, a young man named Stanley Lassan, aged 24, received word that he had drawn the first prize in the South Sydney Hospital art union—a motor car valued at £SOO. Needless to say, although Lassan had been hit on the head with a stick and robbed, and was not expected to recover, he quickly took a turn for the better, and was soon making tracks after that car.

A News representative was informed, on good authority, yesterday that it is probable that the petition for the Saturday half-holiday will be thrown out in New Plymouth on the same grounds as that at Stratford, viz., that among the signatories on the petition are persons whose names are not on the old roll. The position in Hawera is thus summed by the Star: "It is understood that there is no question of the sufficiency of the numbers who signed the petition in ITawera asking for a poll oh the holiday question; and that therefore the question of validity which has arisen elsewhere docs not arise in Hawera." There was a good attendance at the euchre party and dance held in the Brougham Street Hall last night, under the auspices of the Tukapa First Junior Football Club. Sixteen tables were occupied, and the prizes were won as follows:—Ladies, Miss Learning 1, Mrs. E. Waters 2; gentlemen, Mr. F. ITealv 1, Mr. W. Gunson 2. The music was supplied by Mrs. George, and Mr. W. McLean officiated as M.C. Trophies won last season by members were presented as follows: Senior, most improved forward, E. Ward; back fi. Loveiirige. Junior, most improved player. N. Steele. Opportunity was taken to present Mr. Wm. Drinkwater with n travelling bag, in recognition of his past services for the jnniors.