LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 164, 10 January 1914, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

About ten trucks of fruit per day are at present- being despatched from Hastings. During last week the Timaru Uorongh Council took £OO in bathing fees at Caroline Bay.

A washerwoman at .Madrid gave, birth to seven girls. Three died shortly after birth, but the other four are. thriving.

Six girls in a big Sydney store won USDOO in "Tat's." One is to be married shortly. The other five liavo no definite plans for their future.

Times must be good. During the Xew Year holidays over' £-100,000 was put through the totalisators at the different race meetings in the Dominion.

Tile Timam Fire Board yesterday accepted the. tender of Mr 11. T. l'ring (£2218) l'or the erection of a new fire station, and also decided to issue £4OOO worth of £SO debentures at 5 per cent., with a currency of live years. The. papers throughout the Dominion last week recorded the fact that coal was literally pouring into New Zealand. If that is so, it seems strange to us that wc cannot buy an ounce of coal in Wood, ville (say.s Monday's Examiner)-. Two well-known Wanganui residents put up something like a record for the motor cycle and side-ear 011 New Year's Hay and Friday, journeying to Napier and back, a. distance of about StiO miles. They left early 011 Thursday morning and were back the following night.

A noxious weed known as the star thistle is appearing in parts of the Poverty Jlay district, and threatens to become as troublesome as the California!) thistle. The thistle is locally called the "wind thistle," and it grows to a height of three or four feet in good ground. It is very bnd in some parts of Australia.

A camping party on the Petcme beach, near Okato, had quite an exciting experience recently with a nine-foot shark, probably one of those monsters th.it iiave been noticed far some time past cruising in proximity to the coastal bathing resorts. A number of children were in bathing, when the shark was '.irst observed. They werg at once called out of the water, and Mr O. renwarden, with a ville, went after the shark and succeeded iu despatching it and, with assistance, pulled it ashore.

A little girl, the youngest daughter/ of Mr. and Mrs. ,1. W. Pepper, had a narrow escape from a shocking death a few days ago (says the Otaki Mail). She, in company with another little'girl, was playing at the Otaki beach, antl sut down on a log. The log had been burning, but ihe girl did not notice this, and when she sat down the smouldering fire ignited her light dre.*a, which was soon in Ihtnies. The little girl, nearly distracted, ran about the beach screaming,- the liamcs meanwhile spreading. Fortunately a visitor to the beach heard the screams, and. picking the little girl up in his arms, immersed her in the river near by. The girl's dress was b(irned from the bottom to above the waist, and even her underclothes were partly burned. I'lie few burns 011 her body and hands were only slight. Had it not been for the prompt action of the visitor, the girl would probably have been burned to death.

,-\ startling' discovery. but one wMcil will not cause New Acalamlers to quit I lie country, litis been made b\- an American paper, tlie Oregon siimhiv Journal, published at Portland. The exciting news is contained in the following article:--'"l > arrols are nearly all vege"(avians. There is one exception. The exception is a terrible man-eating parrot, called the kca, which devours iiHinan lle-ili with evident enjoyment. It is supposed that the kea was once a wildmannered bird, .satisiiied with fruit H is not now. The kea is a native of Australia, and, although rare, several specimens were reeentlv found in Xcw Zealand. It is thought that the kea developed its murderous habits through the eating of sheep. At iirst dead '"sheep satisliml it, but later only live slieep would do. As the birds became slronger and bolder they learned to attack unprotected men who were unable to defend themselves, in this way they developed a taste for human lleah. The kea is n large, strong variety of purrut, has a. sharp, curved beak'and long talons. It visually attacks nfl ov davk. and Ilies down upon its victim who is unarmed and defenceless. No recent deaths from attacks of the kea have been discovered in Australia, but because the terrible bird seems to be increasing in numbfr methods for complete extermination are being used."

A poll was taken lit Inv«rcargill yesterday on proposals to borrow £42,300 for sewarage and other works, and £ii,109 for extension o! the gasworks plant. 'Die former was carried, but t.ie latter was defeated.

Again no lights. Last niglit the street lights were out again and the pale light of a waning moon formed the only guide for the belated wayfarer, who apostrophied the borough officials at every stumbling block lie encountered.

The annual examinations for tin. teachers' C and D certificates and the Senior Civil Service are now ill progress. At New Plymouth, about CO candidates are sitting for these examinations at the Technical College, under the supervision of .Mr. li. 0. W'hctter.

The hull of the wrecked steamer Tyrone at Taiaroa Heads is graduullv being broken up by the ceaseless smash of the sea, and is now in two pieces. Nevertheless salvaging is still sufficiently payable to attract the salvagers to the wreck whenever the weather is sufficiently favorable tor them to work, and it is said that these operations may be carried on for weeks to come.

The exports of dairy produce from the New Plymouth breakwater in December were: Butter, 18,804 packages, ■£51,876; cheese, 12,000 packages, £45,2 71. The amount of butter and cheese in store on December 31 was 18,83;! boxes of butter and 0523 crates of cheese. For December, 1012, the figures were: liutter, 24,502, £07,545; cheese, 10,377, £38,013. Butter is estimated at 110s per cwt and cheese at 60s per cwt In both cases. A couple of platelayers had a narrow escape on Wednesday, between Pariroa and Patea (says the Tbev were proceeding at a good pace towards I'atea on a jigger, expecting to hear or see the mail train in ample time to pull up and remove the jigger from the line. Unfortunately for them, however, a dangerous bend in the line had been overlooked. and the train unexpectedly came nromid the bend and was upon them before they bad time to do anything but jump clear. They managed to escape without injury, hut the jigger was badly knocked about.

Thirty-six uniformed police, 25 of them mounted, maintained law anil order in Ifuntly on Tuesday, and tliov will remain ill tlie milliner' township until norm •ll conditions aro resumed. At lea?t twenty men wlio live 011 tlie outskirts of the town, and who wisiied to return to work, were unable to do so 011 Tuesday morning (states t!io Herald), because the protecting parties of uolice did not, come out to their houses and they feared to pass the homes of militant strikers. OLhcr men who wished to work, and who did not care to march through the streets escorted by police, were to be neon taking carefully-selected routes to the mine, through '-jaddoclw and along secluded lanes. lady Islington, wife of .Yew Zealand's ex-liovcrnor, launched the British buttleship Emperor of India at Messrs Viekers* works, Harrow, 011 November 27. The launching weight of the vessel was' 1-2,300 tons, and when ready for commissioning this super-Dreadnought will weigh close on 28,000 tons. Mr. Albert Viekers, speaking at the luncheon subsequently, said that in one round from all lier 'guns the Emperor of India would discharge over seven and a-lialf tons of shot, almost exactly double that of tlie dreadnought of 1900. The power stored up in all these projectiles fired in a round, ho added, is equal, as they leave the guns, to lifting the great mass of t'he ship completely out of the water. As a souvenir of the occasion, a diamond brooch was presented to Ladv Islington, who acknowledged the gift in a charming little speech, explaining that her husband was unable to reply for her, as he is now in India.