LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 212, 7 March 1914, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The Kaimata and Waitui schools, consisting of about 150 children and their parents, had an enjoyable picnic at the East End beach yesterday. Persons interested are reminded that nominations of candidates for the election of the "Carnival Queen" close with Mr. Robert Ellis to-night at eight o'clock. Mr. (Hover, MP., yesterday introduced to the Mayor of Auckland' ten waterside workers, and stated that there were four or five hundred of their men out of employment owing to inability to get into the new union. He asked that the City Council should endeavor to provide them with laboring work. The Mayor promised to confer with the Minister of Labor on the subject. . The annual mjutiug of the local Licensing Committee was held- at the Courthouse yesterday, Mr A. Crooks, si.M., presiding. There were also on the Bench Messrs. W. L. Newman J. 15. Connett, and D. H. McDonald. Cecil Henry Arden (Mr Grey) -.pplied for a transfer of the license of the Breakwater Hotei to Charles Arthur Sansom. No objection was raised, and the application was granted. Bridget O'Neill (Mr J. C. Nicholson, instructed by Messrs. Spence and Stanford) applied for the transfer of the license of the Railway Hotel, Inglewood, to Campbell Wilson Merrylees, and this was also granted. A meeting of the committee in charge of the arrangements for the celebration of the anniversary of the province and the Battle of Waireka, on March 31, waa held yesterday, His Worship the Mayor (Mr G. W. Browne) presiding. It was decided to extend .an invitation to the pioneers and veterans of the province to lunch and tea at Moturoa, and the chairman, with) Mr T. C. List, were appointed to deal with the matter. The i>me gentlemen were authorised to make arrangements for concession railway tickets between New Plymouth and Moturoa, Special «rrangcmemts lor catering are beini? made by Mr C. W. Williams, of Moturoa. Speaking recently at Manata, in response to the toast of 'The Dairy Industry," Mr. E. Barleyman, in the course of his remarks, said that he hoped the county councils or Government would take up vigorously the question of building houses for farm laborers—say at or near cross roads. Men could then get their families into the district. They could get a few acres and a few cows. Labor would then be more like a permanency. Men would do better work and would take more interest in their work, and so become more and more efficient. Work also could be done on farms, such as growing winter crops, which at present is often left to chance. A committee meeting of the Horticultural Society was held in the Town Hall last night. The secretary read a rough statement of receipts and expenditure in connection with the last show. It is expected that these will just balance, this being due to the generosity of many exhibitors who handed in th'e.r prizemoney. It was decided to hold an exhibition of chrysanthemums about the middle of next month. A notioe of motion was givon for the annual meeting; "That, owing to the lack of interest and scarcity of support of the public, no spring show be held this year." Mr. H. MeGfiihey resigned Jiis position as secretary, and also as- a member of the committee. The Rotorua paper records a big deal ir, pumice lands. The development of the Tokoroa lands, six miles from Putaruru, on the Mokai line, caught the eyes of several Wairarapa farmers, and the possibilities of the country were so prominent that a syndicate was formed, with the result that the purchase of the Maraetai block. 08,000 acres in extent, was negotiated. The block lies to the west of Taupo line, and the Toko road lands, and at present is covered with heavy fern and tutu. The syndicate, which is working under the title of the Maraetai Farms, Ltd., has engaged a surveyor to subdivide the block into 500-acre sections,'ami also to fix a site for a township. Thus the Ohinemuri Gazette: —There mnst be something wonderfully attractive about Thames, judging by the way the "old bovs" love the town where once the gold-digger held sway. There is no other town in the Dominion where so many reunions are held, and those who have resided there for a year or two always have an affection for the place, and like to get back for a little while to revisit the district. Most places are content to have a reunion once in ten or twenty years, but for old Thamesites there must be a gatherong once in the twelve months. And, whatever the Cause may be, there is little doubt that old Thamesites, and present Thamesites there must he a gathering just a little more of the spirit of hospitality than do those who make their homes elsewhere in New Zealand. A skeleton recently found during trenching work in Duncdin has been identified bv Dr. lienbam as the head of a goosoback whale. The head was conveyed to the museum, where it is to he staged among other skeletons there. The foreman of the Drainage Board informed un Otago Daily Times reporter that the. head was discovered while the men were engaged in cutting a threefoot trench, and it was practically severed from the body. The latter has not been touched, and is embedded in sand and shells. It is about lhirt\ feet in length, and il would entail a consitlerable 4 amomit of labor to unearth and remove it. It has been previously considered that this purl of St. Kilda not many years ago formed ii portion of the ocean, and the discovery of the. skeleton of this animal confirms this opiniou. TIME. TROUBLE. MONEY SAVED BV CHECKING YOUR BAGGAGE Through us. Our Cheeked Baggage System saves you time, because you have neither to take your baggage to the ■ train nor from it. It saves you trouble, t because you are entirely spared nil handling of it. Time and, trouble considered, it saves you money, too. We collect, cheek and deliver kagfgsge immediately on arrival. The N.Z. Bxproas

An Auckland message states that the police at Paeroa on Tuesday, seized 37,000 feet of timber whieli, it is alleged, was illegally taken from Crown lands in tile district. A prosecution i.s likely. An Auckland message states that acting upon advice ot .Mr. Reed, K.C., Mr. T. (ircsliam, late city coroner at Auckland, lias accepted, under protest, a cheque for £2OO, tliis being the amount voted on the Estimates last year in consideration of past services. A peculiar accident occurred in Christchurch on Wednesday evening to a boy named John Hunt. While '"augiug the petrol in a motor-cycle, his linger swelled and became stuck. After trying for a considerable time a doctor was procured, and with the united efforts u! oil, acids, and muscle, his finger was at last extracted. The Hon. J. Allen, Minister for Education, in opening a new school at Akaroa, on Thursday afternoon, said that he intended next session to give further consideration to the salaries paid to school teachers. He hoped to make things better for them, not only in the primary schools, hut also in th« secondary schools, for, in his opi.iion, tho teachers in the latter schools were very much underpaid. The railway turnstile at Inglewood i.s to be closed by the Department. Representations have been made bv the Inglewood local bodies to have the. turnstile retained. The district traffic manager fMr Armstrong) told an Inglewood deputation on Thursday that if the turn stile was considered a great convenience, the town should not' hesitate to pay for an overhead bridge, which would render the public immune from accidents. The fencing at the Wai-iti deviation near Pukearuhe, which has been very prominent before the Olifton County Council at the last few meetings, was mentioned at yesterday's meeting. Councillors who have visited the site recently were emphatically of opinion that the fence was placed in the right position and that if there were no fence there would soon be no road. The fence might get damaged by traffic sometimes, hut it was far better to have to repair the, fence than to renew the road. As showing the expansion of the oilcarrying trade, Mr. H. J. Haynes has had a letter from his son, Captain If. A. Haynes, a New Zealander, who is assistant superintendent for a large shipping firm in England, and he states that they have three 15,000-ton steamers fitting out, four of 15,000 tons on the stocks, and they are also building three of 0000 tons and two steam tugs of 1000-h.p. each. This was on January 11 last. The firm is the Mexican Oil-carrying Co., Ltd., in which wealthy Englishmen are largely interested. The above figures will give a good idea of the development that is taking place in the oil trade, which ia only to be expected in view of the fact that oil-driven ships will botome very numerous in the future. Addressing his constituents, Mr. Veitch, M.P. for Wanganui, said he waa ■ot a Freetrader, but thought New Zealand had gone Protection mad. He quoted the timber industry, which had an enormous protective duty, giving it the- whole of the market. Yet there was timber going into workers' houses, there in Wanganui, too, that would not stand up till the loans on the houses were paid oil'. It simply meant that the life of a house, with the timber now being used, would be only 25 years. If they took the duty off timbW they would still employ as many roen\n the timber industry. Men would still be wanted to saw imported timber, and it would be cheaper and the houses would last longer. The time had como when they should consider building in concrete rathev than in timber. Such houses would be cheaper and the houses would last longer, consequently loans would be granted for longer periods and insurance premiums woidd be less. Mr. J. B. O'Ncil, a Duncdinite now settled in Rhodesia, haa been on a visit to his native city, and in an interviow published in the Otago Daily Times has given some information regarding tho land of his adoption. There is a vast tract of unsettled country in Rhodesia, even after the million acres taken up by Liebig and Co., for cattle grazing, were occupied, "Men going there," said Mr. O'Xeil, "want to have a fair amount of money—£looo to start with. That, of course, refers to anyone proposing to engage in agricultural pursuits." Sheep farming, according to Mr. O'Nleil, is little practised in Rhodesia, the veldt land not being suitable for sheep. "It is, however," he said, "a fair country for tradesmen. Bricklayers get 30s a day, carpenters 25s a day, and painters 22s 6d a day; and living in New Zealand is higher at 10s a day than it is in Rhodesia at 20b a day. It is a better country for a single man than for a man who is married. House rent is very high, and education is a more expensive item for a man with a family than it is in New Zealand. In Rhodesia anyone is expected to pay for the education of his children if he is able."