LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 8, 10 June 1913, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Will the person who posted the "News" 12s in postal notes from Waitara on Saturday kindly forward his or her name? The will of the late Charles Autridge Bullot was on the 29th May proved before Mr. Justice Edwards, and on the application of Mr. Hughes, probate was granted to, the widow, Mrs. Amanda Bullot.

The Brotherhood Debating Club will open its winter session in the Borough Council Chambers tonight, when the subject lor debate will' be "That Married Life is Happier than Single Life." Mr. G.- H. Dolby will lead in the affirmative, and Mr. H. B. ■ Keid will' lead the opposition. Mr. E. Maxwell, whilst ,in Wellington, interviewed the Hon. "W. Eraser, Minist(!r of Public Works, on the subject of the Opunake-New Plymouth railway, and submitted to him a number of suggestions put forward by the executive of the Railway League as to the form of legislation required to enable the district to undertake the construction of the line. Mr. Fraser fully approved of the suggestions. Mr. Massey states that the Government hopes before long to make an allround advance in the limits imposed on borrowing from the State-lending Department. The advances to workers' limit will be raised from £3OO to £400; and the advances to settlers from £6OO to £7OO. The limit imposed on loans to local bodies by the preceding Government has not in all cases been strictly adhered to of late, where local bodies had development works to carry out.

The surveyors were, to have commenced on Monday last their work in connection with the New Plymouth tramway scheme, but as yet have failed to materialise. "The delay in commencing the survey," wrote Mr.'Frederick Black, consulting engineer" to the Borough Council last night "has been as annoying to me as, no doubt, it is to the Council last night, "has been as annoyto commence the work wer« given as soon as I had received your official au-' .thority it has been impossible for me to overcome the difficulties introduced by the absence of some of the surveyor's staff at the different military camps, which have been held during the past two months. I have, therefore, impressed upon the surveyor that it is necessary to push oil the work in such' a way as to compensate,, if possible, fo? at any rate, a part of the delay and I trust that the surveying party will be fortunate in obtaining weather that will enable this to be done." The writer added that as soon as he could fix the date of his departure for New Plymouth, he would advise the Council.

A peculiar marriage match, in which Auckland people have been more or less interested, had its sequel this week, states the Star. Early last year a young princess, niece of King George of Tonga, finishing her education at a ladies' college in the North Island, came to Auckland, en route to her home, where her people had arranged for her an alliance with an Tslaml prince of high degree. The proposed marriage, hou'ever.' was distasteful to the little prim-ess,' ami she thought to checkmate her relatives by entering the matrimonial state in Sew Zealand. .Accordingly, 0 n the morning of the day on v/iiu-n she was due to leave Auckland, she became the wife of a young man in the employ of one of the big Island trading firms in this city. The .bride left immediately after the ceremony, the arrangement 1>«ing that the husband should follow bv the next boat, or as soon as ]ps business arrangements would permit. This course i was carried out, but when the youthful [ luiband arrived at the home of his Tonsrnn princess, it; was only to find that she had hen spirited off to the far-away Island of Taviuni, which is beyond the reach of ordinary trading vessels. The husband, moreover, was warned that if ho ever attempted to follow his princess, then ill betide him. The next chanter in the storv is the return of the nrineess to Auckland by the last Tsland boat, en route to a Waikato sanatorium in a broken state of health. TTer condition is regarded as exceedingly serious.

The discriminating plujr smoker buys GOLDEN" EAGLE 'PLUG. Aromatic, sweet. and cool. It is the best of all brands. Try a plug—you'll like it. 10

At Auckland 4 Wind man strenuously resisted a constable who was endeavoring to arrest him for drunkenness. His excuse was that he eould not see who it was that had got hold of him. He was fined £l, or three days' imprisonment in default.

It is reported that there is a movement on foot in Christchurch to amalgamate into one organisation the different unions connected with the frozen meat industry—the Slaughtermen's, the Fellmongers' and the Freezing Workers' Unions.

The problem of housing verious valuable documents, Maori curios, etc., which are at present reposing in the Carnegie Lobrarjr building, and also ien tho Town Hall, is at present occupying the attention of the Library Committee of the Borough Council, and a comprehensive report on the subject may be expected shortly. The usual weekly Bession of the Egmont Lodge No. 112, 1.0. G.T., was held last night in the lodge room. The evening was taken up with a social, the following items being given:—Pianoforte solo,sister G. Way; song, Miss V. Morsehead; recitation, Master song, Mrs. Yates; concertina solo, Arnold. Supper was then partakiiV if, after which Mrs. Moverley gave BT piatfoforte solo, Mrs. Yates a song, and Master PelJew another recitation. The, balaflfe sheet of the liall was read and approved of.

Legal argument was he.q,fd , the. Magistrate's Court yesterday 'inofnin?,' in the case of J. H. Hempton (Mr, IV E. Wilson) Collector of Customs v. Frank Rattenbury (Mr. J. C. Nicholson), the charge being that defendant was the owner of'the, launch Frank Rattenbury of Waitara, and had allowed the vessel to proceed to sea without first having complied with the provisions of the Shipping and' Seamen's Act with regard to. the survey of the launch. Mr. A. Crooke, S.M., reserved his decision, which will be given at Waitara to-mor-row.

Some day the complete drainage of Lake Ellesmere will do away with the picturesque flock rt of pukeko that abound on its marshy ledges (says the Lyttelton . Times). Meanwhile, these fowl, in tfieir beautiful plumage, with scarlet crest, are multiplying with astonishing rapidity on the shores of the lake. In some parts of New Zealand they are extinct, and it comes as a surprise to fi)id them so prolific in Canteri bury, whirili has few native birds, owing !to the denudation of forest areas. The | pukeko lias never been so plentiful on la,ke. before. The rains have prot vided an. Ideal swampy hunting ground for young broods, and thousands of birds may be seen in large flocks from the Little River train. The bird used to be a staple article of food for the Maoris when skinned, but now it is replaced by daintier fare.

When replying to an Auckland deputation last week the Prime Minister had something to say which will be of interest to the numerous owners of motor cars. The deputation in question complained that while such useful road-mak-ing accessories as steam rollers had to pay a heavy import duty, the destructive motor car got in free. Mr. Massey, while not committing his colleagues of the Cabinet to anv decision, expressed the opinion that the motor car would shortly be called upoft to contribute to the. upkeep of the roads of the Dominion. The idea, he said, was that of cars should all pay license fees, to be fixed in proportion to the power of +1 " car. These fees would be put into " for the purpose of making and intaining the main roads of the counfv". and, if necessaix the amount in-this *""d would be subsidised by the Government.

A fish-filleting business, which has become an enormous industry in Aberdeen and other Scottish fishing ports, has been established in Wellington. The process of filleting fish, and smoking it. is only a development of recent years at Home, but with the thorough exploitation of the Iceland waters by trawlers, it is an industry that has gone ahead. Mr. W. Ritchie, who for over thirty vears was connected with the fishing industry in Scotland, has been smoking fillets of fish in Wellington for,some time past. He states that there is plenty of demand.for what be produces, and if the supply of fish in Wellington were steadier, that branch of the business could easily be extended. On his authority, it is pointed out that most of the filleted fish sold as English hake are nothing more than New Zealand king-fish, which, bv the wav, he considers every bit as good as hake.