LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 291, 1 May 1913, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

A feature of yesterday's municipal elections at New Plymouth was that no candidate had to forfeit his deposit, \ through polling an insufficiency of votes. Mr. C. Carter had his window fitted up last evening as a polling booth and gave the results of the .Mayoral election when they were announced in a manner that caused no little merriment to the numsrous onlookers.

The Pukekura Park Board acknowledges a donation from Mr. O. Hoby, of a variety of seeds of African plants and flowering shrubs, which he procured from the curator of the public gardens, Bulawayo, South Bhodesia. It is reported that one of New Zealand's one-time leading horsemen is at present busily engaged in forming a jockeys' union. Many are wondering what will really happen when the jockeys form a union. It is not yet decided whether their policy will be aggressive or defensive.

I The Eketahuna Express states that fat sheep are available at present in excess of the ability of the freezing works to kill them, and various drafts have to wait their turn. It is expected that killing will extend into June, or, in fact, as long as the sheep can be kept in condition. The season will thus be a long

A Canterbury gentleman has made an ' ■■" r of £SOO towards the extinction of the Canterbury A. and P. Association's debt, under certain conditions. There appears a good chance that, with the active co-operation of other committeemen, £4BOO will be raised, and the Association placed in the happy position of being debt-free. The first consignment of muttonbirds from the islands south of Stewart Island arrived at the BJuff a few days ago. Some 25,000 birds were landed, and these were quickly disposed of.' As the weather has not been good in the southern latitudes the supply may be somewhat erratic. There are about 200 muttonbirders at xvork on the islands, and reports show that the birds are fairly numerous.

A Southland; farmer is reported to have made a notable profit recently on the sale of his 1000-acre farm, which he disposed of at £25 per acre (says the Dunedin correspondent of the Lyttelton Times). It is stated that his profits ran into £15,000, and he had owned the farm for four years. Some people would naturally question the prospects, of the buyer, but others say that he will probably cut it up into ten 100-acre dairying blocks and sell each one" at £2B per acre.

The annual report of the Waihi Company shows that the gross profits for the year were £118,700. Adding bullion produced during the strike ( £54,300), ami £82,000 brought forward from last year, this gives a total of £256,000. Dividends and income-tax absorb £IBO,000,' depreciation £3'0;000, a further trans-, fer to the Hora Hora power scheme £25,000, leaving £IB,OOO to be carried forward. A dividend of oho shilling per share was declared, payable \n June 2.

The Berlin education authorities have issued an order enforcing attendance at continuation schools upon all girls • up to 17 years of age. The new decree, which took effect from April 1, holds the employers of juvenile workers responsible for their regular attendance, and compels mistresses of young domestics to allow them at least six hours a week free for continuation studies. This ordinance testifies to the increasing importance of girls' education, and brings it in line with that of the boys, who for years past have been obliged to continue school attendance until 17 years of age. "The ceremony of naming the Federal capital was not unimpressive," says the Review of Reviews, "hut it is almost impossible to realise that on such an occasion, in a Christian country, there was no invocation of divine blessing, and that the only recognition of God throughout the whole ceremony was the singing by some of those present of the Old Hundredth, when the bands played the familiar tune. That this costly^and, were it not for the heed for fulfilling the obligations laid down in. the Constitution, utterly unnecessary capital should be founded without any religious ceremony, ■Svjth not even one word of prayer for tlie Almighty's blessing to rest on the enterprise, is a scandal that will shame posterity." The omission was a strange one which has not yet been explained.

In connection with the visit of H.M.S. New Zealand to New Plymouth, Mr. Wilkinson. M.P.. has received the enclosed telegram from the Hon. H. D. 1 Bell, Acting-Minister for Marine:—"Replying to your letter of the 25th, I am obliged by your suggestion and will aski the Railway Department to run excursions on the previous day. Arrangements will be made as suggested by you I .for holiday excursion rates to New Ply mouth on Kith and on the morning of the 17th June from Hawera and all stations nortii of Hawera, also excursion tickets to Wanganui on Saturday,' 14th. I greatly regret that it is impossible to extend the time of visit beyond one day. livery date is now allotted and the whole days of the second visit to Auckland are required for refit, coaling and provisioning prior to the long voyage to Vancouver. With regard to the suggestion of the vessel voyaging by day along the coast from Wanganui it is essential she should travel by night to give the full day at each place. Please make this public."

Only when tea is absolutely pure do you get the highest stimulating power and the least waste. Purity in tea is secured by the utmost care in every branch of the industry, from picking of the leaves to marketing of the finished product. Crescent Tea is a high grade, pure Tea. It is rich and strong, and uniform in flavor. Sold in three grades at 2/-, 1/10 and 1/8 per lb. 7

S Y K E S'S SHUPrtSG BY M A\ Remember, the mair makes ' « all neighbors, and you are therb.v.e no further from us than the nearest letter-box. You can shop with us by letter just as safely and satisfactorily as if you were here in person, for our Mailing Department is thoroughly equipped, and our facilities for the execution of orders unsurpassed. Send to us for anything a CHEMIST should keep. SYKES'S MODERN PHARMACY. Devon Street, New Plymouth.

Wholesale and Factory, King Street, New Plymouth.

Warner's rust-proof corsets. Every pair guaranteed not to rust, Break or tear. Your draper stocks "Warner's."

The Postal Department advises tttafc "*"*' the Australian mails, ex Manuka, at Wellington, will jirrive here this afternoon.

Argentina's greatest natural wonder,, which attracted visitors from great distances, has now gone. This was the famous rocking stone at Tandil, in the province of Buenos Ayres. The huge rock was poised on the edge of a cliff so delicately that a person could easily cause it to oscillate by pushing against it. Even the strong winds that blew , from the Pampas would cause it to move perceptibly. Nevertheless, according to tradition, at one time Senor Ross, a much-hated Spanish Governor, tried -with a team of sixty oxen to pull it over with not even one word of prayer for dieted that when the rock of Tandil fell it would mean new glory for the Spanish, and he wanted to help history on a little Now it has really fallen, and the cause of its fall is a mutter of much argument.

The death of ex-President Madero recalls the tragedy of Maximilian, Mexico's last Emperor. The second son of the Archduke Francis Charles of Austria, he was invited to the throne of Mexico in 1859, but did not nccept it until 1863, when he yielded to the pressure of Napoleon 111. Maximilian landed at Vera Cruz on May 28, 1804, but to his disappointment he failed to receive the amount of support promised him. From the outset he was involved in difficulties, the only solution of which was abdication. But he refused to desert his followers, and at the head of 8000 men he made a brave defence of Queretaro against the insurgents. In May, 1807, he was betrayed and tried by court-mqr-tial, and was shot His death was said to have been directly due to his own fatal edict, that all Mexicans taken in arms against the Empire should be shot. Mexican advices dated February 24 state that, after the death of Madero, Senora Madero and the two sisters of the exPresident went to the penitentiary and endeavored to view and secure the body, Their request was refused, but it wag promised that it should eventually be handed over to them. AH were poignantly grieved. Senorita Mercedes Madero, with dry eyes but tigerish emotion, hurled accusations at the officers barring the entrance to the mortuary chapel. '"Cowards! Assassins!" she shrieked. •You are the men who shot a defenceless ■man! You and your superior officers I are traitors!"