LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 7, 9 June 1913, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Marie Lefevre, a young Paris dressmaker, avenged herself on her fiancee, who had jilted her, by painting his face and hands with black varnish while he was asleep.

A Mangaweka land-owner, who sold out some time ago and settled in Australia, has returned to the Main Trunk line and re-purchased his old homestead at an advance, it is said, of £3OOO. "I've only met one New Zealander in my life," said a Sydney man in conversation, "and I hope I may never meet another." "Why?" he was asked. "Because they're either hard up or stuck up," was his answer. The Mayor of Hamilton considers that publicans' license fees should be assessed on a population basis, seeing that while the population of Hamilton has doubled in recent years, much to the benefit of the hotels, the license fees are still the same.

A brilliant meteor was seen to fall on Saturday night about 8.30 p.m. It burst low down on the horizon towards the North West with a bright greenish colored light, which momentarily illuminated the surroundings, and then dropped apparently into the sea with a dull red .glow.

The Baths and Band Committee will recommend to the Borough Council tonight that the baths be closed during the months of July and August, and that* the following dates for municipal concerts be approved:—August 10, Pukekura Park; September 14, Fitzroy; October 12, AVest Bad; November 2, East End; November 10, Westown; December 14, Vogletown; January 18, Pukekura Park.

A story of a Territorial who thought the camp meat was tainted, was told: by Dr. Home at the meeting of the; Hvotherhood yesterday. The doctor explained that a certain Territorial came to liim with the complaint that the meat was not as fresli as it might be, and he (the speaker) took him outside the tent and looked at his teeth, finding the molars in a fearsome state of decay. The doctor, in advising the lad to go to a dentist immediately, told the Territorial that the meat was perfectly wholesome until it came in contact with his teeth.

The Japanese are becoming increasingly sensitive concerning their status in the world. Some months ago a Japanese steamer, the Hukishuka Maru, was in Now Zealand and found difficulty in getting a cargo of coal discharged owing to the objection of the white workers to colored labor. A Tokio news agency says that this incident "will be the subject of diplomatic negotiations," and adds that it sees "in a dock strike at Timaru, New Zealand, the underhand machinations)'of the British 'lndia Steam Navigation Company." A story concerning the Jews is toli by the Hon. W. P. Reeves in a letter to a London newspaper. When Edward Gibbon Wakefield was founding settle-

ments in South Australia and New Zea-

land, says Mr. Reeves, he conceived the project of establishing in the southern lands a colony of Jews. He sought advice on the subject from a Hebrew of high standing in London. "What?" said the gentleman, "a colony of Jews, with no; Christians whatever?" "Certainly," .said Wakefield. ' "No," said the Hebrew, "that would not suit our people at all. Why, what would they have to live upon?" Two prospective brides of the North Island have been practically left at the alta (writes a correspondent to the Wanganui Chronicle). The first occurred at Feilding last week, where a popular young lady, admired by all and sundry for her amiable disposition, was left'by her lover in rather a peculiar manner. He had represented himself to be the son of a wealthy Court jeweller residing in the West End of London, and his credentials and bona fides appeared to be genuine. He wooed and won the affections of the young lady in question, and the wedding was fixed for last Tuesday week. The expressed intention of the bridegroom was to take

his bride to Australia for the honeymoon, and then Home to England to introduce

her to his parents. Everything seemed very bright, and the prospects alluring, and the preparations for the marriage were carried out on a somewhat liberal scale. The. young lady had, it appears, sold her piano to buy the trousseau, and to make matters worse, she lent her future husband a sum of mQney when he suddenly appealed to her for a temporary loan to carry him to HawkcyS Bay and return, he having told her a plausible story that he had been obliged to go down to Hastings for a couple of weeks to arrange matters on a certain farm. Never suspecting her lover, the young lady waited for a promised letter. As it did not arrive, she wrote to the address he had given her, but received no reply. After a reasonable time she telegraphed, the message being returned with the comment, "Unknown." Enquiries were then instituted and information obtained which indicated that he had gone to Australia. The unfortunate affair caused a sensation in the place. The other is the Petonc case, praeticlars of which have already been published.

CAUGHT COLD AFTER DANCING. "Through not wrapping up after a dance my sister and I both got bad colds." says Miss Bertha Scott, sfi Fitzgerald street, North Perth. AV.A. "Father stocks Chamberlain's Cough llemedv and

r.s it had done him so much good when he had a cold we thought we would try it. It gave immediate relief and quickly cured us and now we always recommend Chamberlain's Cough Remedy to our cus tomers."—All chemists and storekeepers

The following is an extract from & Christchurch paper of fifty years agon "A. despatch lias been forwarded to llis Honor the Superintendent, of Otago, conveying the expressed determination of His Excellency to take possession ot the land between New Plymouth and the Tataraimaka, where the massacre was perpetrated. Free grants of 50 acres of land are offered to those who will volunteer to. occupy it on a system of military tenure, and free rations, arks and ammounition provided." The land referred to is probably now worth from £3O to £4O an acre, or more.

Pearl-stringing is a more pleasant occupation than pearl-diving. Many of our pearls come from the Persian Gulf, where the output is in some years worth as much as £2,400,u00. The equipment of the Arab divers is primitive, and as they remain under water nearly three minutes at every plunge they are nearly suffocated by the time they reach the surface. Most of them become deaf, and the sturdiest find it impossible to keep at the work more than Ave years. Their masters exact fourteen hours a day from them, and during that time the divers take no food, but keep themselvesgoing with coffee. At a special meeting of the Dublin Victuallers' Association recently, the sale of imported lamb, which has been under consideration for some time past, was the subject of further discussion. The New Zealand lamb, which is sold by seme of the principal city grocers, is entering into serious competition with the Home product, and trade with rei spect to the latter is, owing to the abj normal prices, almost at a standstill. ■ As a natural consequence, the sale of New Zealand lamb has increased. Up to the present the members of the Victuallers' Association have sold nothing but Irish meat, but, in view of the serious competition which confronts them, it is likely that they will no longer conform to that principle, says the Dublin Express. A story of cannibalism, recalling the famous murder trial, Rex v. Dudley, in which wrecked sailors were indicted for killing and eating a ship's boy, was related in the French press on April !). Four convicts, named Mouillard, Bachereau, Fossey and Machevel, arranged to J escape from Devil's Island, the penal settlement in French Guinea. They left one night, and Bachereau promised to lead them to a place where they would be able to dig for gold and make enough to live on till "they could escape from the colony altogether. On January ff they left with a sword apiece, some loaves of bread, and some preserved veegtables in tins. Fossey acted as guide, saying that he knew the way to the River Mana, where gold was plentiful. After a six days' march Fossey admitted that he had lost his way. The four men wandered about aimlessly for eight days more, living 6n roots. Starvation overtook them. Macheval broke down, and his three comrades killed and ate him. By means of stealing a boat the survivors got to Mana. where they ■ wore able to steal a larger boat. They ) were wrecked at the mouth of the Ma-

roni, and taken back to prison at St. Laurent. The three men have confessed to eating their companion, and are to be tried for his murder. • »