LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 285, 25 April 1913, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The first tournament of the Technical College Draughts Club has been concluded, L. Enniss being the winner. Another tournament is to be held shortly. There are now fourteen candidates for the twelve seats at the New Plymouth Borough Council, Mr. J. D. Sole* having p nr business reasons, withdrawn his nomination. As Mr. A. S. Hicks, of Tikorangi, was rctuniig from the Chrysanthemum Show last night with his exhibition of pot plants and flowers he met with an accident which resulted in the destruction of a number of the exhibits. He was leaving some flowers at Mr. F. W. Garner's house in Devon street, when his horse was startled cud backed across the road into an adjacent fence, and the cart was upset and a number of the liots were broken and the plants badly damaged. Mr. Hicks himself escaped wil.h a few bruises. The Rev. 11. T. Peat met with an accident yesterday afternoon, which fortunately was not attended with serious results. He was motor cycling along Devon street, and when near the Red House Hotel, while avoiding some vehicles, ran into the back of the. Fitzrov 'bus, the force of the impact being sufficient to break the window in that vehicle. The Rev. Mr. Peat was thrown from his bicycle and was taken into the Red House Hotel, where after some kindly attentions at the hands of the proprietor, Mr. E. Whittle, he recovered and was able to return home. His injuries, fortunately, consisted only of a few bruises and abrasions.

They certainly do things on a big scale in America, whether it be business or burglary, creating cities of mammoth buildings, or wiping them out with flood and fire. We read, for example, in the current issue of Life, that New York has more (ires annually than all the capitals of Europe put together. The annual lire loss of the United States is £;>:),000,000, and it is asserted by the writer that one-half of the fires are intentional—in other words, are crimes committed for insurance. 'Tn a word," says the writer of this fascinating article. "arson has become America's national crime." This article is perhaps the most striking feature of the May number of Life, but there are several others of great value. The regular departments of the magazine are full of useful and interesting matter; indeed, the May number provides a particularly good sixpenn'orth. The magazine is now on sale locally.

Old hands are fond of telling stories of the "good old days" in mining townships, when a fortune changed hands on the turn of a card. That the sporting instinct docs exixt now. and even in a community devoted to the sober occupation of sheep and cattle raising, was strikingly exemplified at a country saleyard in Taranaki recently. It was the occasion of a big sheep fair, and buyers and sellers were present from all over Taranaki. After the sale a prominent North Taranaki dealer and an equally prominent one from South Taranaki, of sporting proclivities, met in the tearooms adjoining. One had had twenty-three and the other twenty-eight sheep unsold, not enough for a truckload for each. A deal was commenced when suddenly the northern remarked, "I'll play you seven up at euchre—the winner to take the lot." No sooner said than done, the northerner agreeing to put in £5 to equalise the stakes, and in less than five minutes the game was over, the sheep and £5 note being handed over without a murmur to the southerner, who, as there was no hotel in sight, was let off easily by paying for eight teas.

"You don't know what I suffer," is a | remark often made by those tortured by rheumatism, gout, lumbago or sciatica. Yet, strange to say, many continue to endure these complaints, when they can be easily cured. Year in, year out, some continue to use plasters and liniments that can bring but temporary relief, when RHEUMO would in a few weeks cure them permanently. Rheumo drives the uric acid from the blood, and cures the disease by removing the cause. Thousands have testified to the wonderful efficacy of Rheumo. Of all ehemiists and stores, 2/6 and 4/6. £4

There are 2!) candidates in the field for the IS scats on the Auckland City Council, among the number being .Mr, Joe McMahon, well known in the theatrival profession. Otago farmers are reported to ha holding their yield,s of grain in the hope of a boom iu the market. Very little grain is coming forward, and business is almost stagnant. What is claimed to be a remedy for sea sickness, on entirely new linos, has been compounded by a one-time steward on one of the intercolonial steamers, and has been taken up by a Xew Zealand syndicate. The painful sensation of a monster rodent attacking the prominent portion of her nasal organ was the alarming experience of a lady resident of Kaiti the other day. Hurriedly turning on the gas, she found blood streaming from two I distinct incisions about the end of her i | nose. The (iishonip storage button- tram cars earned £!) 7s lOd on Thursday last and £7 8s the day before. The cost of the current worked out at under £1 per car. This result (says the local Herald) proves that the storage battery system can easily hold its owa with the overhead system. During his visit to Rotorua his, Excellency the (iovernor, the Earl of Liverpool, was presented by the Maoris with a beautifully-carved canoe, about Oft in length. It was brought forth to the accompaniment of the incantation with which, legend says, the Maoris' ancestors dragged their canoes to the sea when they set out on their adventures from Hauraki.

A Christchnrch lad who recently produced the "effects" behind the screen at His Majesty's Theatre, sent to the Vitagraph Company of America the sketch of a picture comedy. This was accepted (says the Press), and a few days ago the young author received a draft for £8 in payment. The picture comedy itself is expected to reach Xew Zealand shortly. Old-fashioned dwelling-houses are said to be hopelessly out of favor in Dunedin. The demand is all for modern "bungalows," containing five and six rooms, and equipped with all the latest furnishings and other fixtures. In one suburb last week no fewer than seven new cottages found purchasers at prices ranging from £SOO to £750. It is stated that the fear simple folk once had of mortgages has quite disappeared. Miss Amy Williams, youngest daughter of Mr. W. L. C. Williams, of Cambridge, met a tragic end on Saturday afternoon. With other friends she was partaking of afternoon tea at a friend's house, where a gathering was held for the purpose of celebrating the forthcoming marriage of a lady friend, and was singing "Love's Coronation," when she suddenly fell forward on her face. Her friends thought she had fainted, and usfd every means to resuscitate her. She died from heart failure. Mrs. Williams was a great favorite all over the Waikato, «nd also in Auckland.

I should like to have our hospital run on lines that people would long to go up there, remarked Dr. Florence Kellev m the course of a Hospital Board election address at Auckland the other night There was general laughter, and it was renewed when the candidate mentioned that one doctor had told her that at Uiristnias time the doors of the children s ward had to he kept locked to prevent mothers leaving their babies while they went off to Rotonia or elsewhere for holidays. Perhaps there was nothing more wrong with some of the babies than tlwt they had been "iven sour bottles. ' B

A London cable to the Svdnev Sun states that Miss Lucie Dodge,'the daughter by a former marriage of the Hon. Mrs. Lionel Guest, a well-known London society woman, disappeared from her home in Portman Square. Miss Dodge was afterwards found in lodgings close to the Marble Arch, in West London. She recently expressed a desire to earn lier own living, and while her parents were mvay from their home at Portman Square she departed in a cab, leaving 110 intimation regarding her destinai , lv S ' K> ' ,as been traced, she still refuses to go back to her people, and declares that she will work and make enough money to keep herself. The roofing of the Union Company's palatial bote! at Suva will be finished this month. Most of the artisans have been engaged in Xew Zealand, but there are a dozen plasterers from Melbourne. The architects, Messrs Salmond and Vanes, have word that the recent hurricane, which the cable said had done damage to the value of £SOO. left the main building uninjured, but the cement shed was blown into the harbor, a lot of cement was ruined by the rain, the workshop l°st its roof, and the hoist snapped oil like a carrot half-way up. At latest advices, however, the work was in full swing again. Salmond and Vanes have another big job at Suva, premises being ordered, also m ferro-conerete, for one of the Dominion banks, and sketches are to be prepared for a fairly big warehouse m the same town.