LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 222, 19 March 1914, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The Postal Department advises that Australian mails, ex Maunganui at Wellington, will arrive here this afternoon. The next meeting of the 'New Plymouth Hospital Board, which will be the annual meeting, will be held on April 22, owing to the intervention of the Bister holidays. The conference of county councils for the purpose of discussing tolls and motor traffic -regulations with a view to uniformity among counties is to take place at Eltham on Saturday, at twelve o'clock. . The longevity of people in Westland has often been remarked upon. The following figures compiled by the Kumara Registrar of Deaths 'show a very high average of persons who died in Kumara during the year. For fifteen consecutive registrations the age average was Ti'/z years. Leaving out the registration of a lad (18 years of age), who was killed, and taking in the previous, registrations', the average works out for eighteen persons at 76'/i years. There are-scores of octogenarian residents in the district.

Notification has been received by the Taranaki County' Council to the effect that the Minister for Customs has placed on the Estimates a sum for the refund of all duties paid on road rollers imported solely for the use of local bodies, and the Council is therefore advised to make .tin application immediately after the landing of the road roller now i.n order, stating particulars of the du'. paid, but it is-.pointed out that payment catulot be made until after the passing of the Appropiration Act at the next session of Parliament. The nomination of Miss Jirnestiii'Howell as a candidate in the Caniiya' Queen competition bus been withdrawn, owing to the fact that Miss Howell is away from Xew Plymouth and will not be back until after the carnival i? over. The nomination was made provisionally in her absence, and she lias now written to say that in the circumstances she does not feel justified in allowing it to stand. Her friends will he pleased to learn that she is making, good progress toward complete VeeOTery from "the effects of her recent accident.

At the last meeting of the New I'l 1 . - mouth Hospital Board. Mr. M. .f. MaiReynolds gave notice to move that the. resolution leaving in his hands the matter of obtaining a native nurse for Op;inake be rescinded, as a protest against the manner in vWiich' the Inspector-Gen-eral had treated him in the matter. When the motion came up for discussion at yesterday's meeting of the Board, however, he stated that after considering the matter, and in view of the fact that a nurse had now been appointed for the district, he would withdraw nis notice of motion, a decision which the Board received with expressions of pleasure. "This is a very serious matter," said the chairman of the Wellington Harbor Board at the annual meeting. The remark was in reference to the fact that coal for the Government handled at the wharves last year, and on which no wharfage is paid, amounted to 0(5,335 tons, as against 40,080 tons for the previous year. Mr. R. A. Wright agree* with the chairman, and thought that n deputation from the Board should wait upon the Government. By this means they might get the Government to agree to a limited amount on which no wharfage should be paid. He did not think, however, that they would get the Government to agree to pay for all the coal, but a limit might be fixed. As the matter stood they were bound to handle larger amounts each year. To the commercial world prompt information regarding imports and exports is a vital necessity, but the Customs Department has woefully failed to come up to its former standard of promptitude in regard to the particulars of Xew Zealand imports for last •lanuary (says the Wellington correspondent of the Lytt-elton Times). The figures under the' former practice w>c available about a week after the end of the month, but the January figures are si ill uncompleted, anil 1 mil informed oflieialh that they cannot be obtained before the beginning of April. When the April figures will appear for the guidance of the business community iapparently a hopeless thing to spec,, late ever, because the Department's slatrslical stair is wrestling with a new system. _ This was much belauded by the Minister of Customs when introduced, but judging by res.-ills it is a hopeless and expensive failure. A deputation from the New Plymouth l-voiigh Council, consisting of His Worslup the Mayor (Mr G. W. Browne). «n<l <-rs. -F. E. Wilson. James Clark ' «n.I-rKibl. : v. with tI.o Town aerk (Mr! r V, B T , ;' ln,, ? or )-' raited on the Hon. ». II- Hemes. Minister for Railways at the White Tlj.-rt Hotel last night,'to discuss the question of a wan; of land from the Railway Department to tin Conned, in connection with the tramway route to the Breakwater. His Worship the Mayor pointed out that although the Department bad granted the land in question, which was need, d to allow the Council to make a road for the rmrnoso of running the trams right up to the Breakwater without crossing the railway line, the concession ivas only made on the condition that the Council indemnified the Department against the cost of- resuming -os-ession of the land, should it ever be necessary, for the purpoe of duplicating the line, or for any other purpose, and against the cost of any land which mi"ht have (o be obtained instead of the laud granted. Tt was pointed out to the Minister that the Council could not very well agree to this condition, and that ■is the Department had already plenty of land in that locality for anything it might need, it could well afford to withdraw this condition and allow the Council to form a road which would remove the present level-crossing danger. The Minister said that he had not previously heard of the matter, and would have to consult with hi 3 Department as to their reasons for imposing the condition., liefore giving a definite reply. |

Among tlie delicacies at tlie function ttt Parihaka yesterday w'av one ton of shellfish, which was carted by .■some of the natives from }New Plyuiouth on Wednesday night on a lorry, which did not leave here until midnight. The following are the amounts pai<; out to suppliers for the mouth' of February by some of the dairy companies having headquarters in New l'i)nioiu,i, the hgures in parent.he.siu being th« amounts paid out for the corresponding period of last vear: —Mangorei, £34 VI 12s 7d (£2(181 Ills); Oakum, i-llft.i 14 l)d); Frankley Road, £2OB Hs fid. Miss Ruby Roberts, th n champion lady billiardist. played a game of 000 up at Inglewood on Tucsdav night, with Mr. Frank Julian. Miss Roberts won the game by 130* Mr Julian was not playing up to his usual' form, writes a correspondent. The game was played in Mr Stewart Huston's capricious room, under the direction of two local fports, Messrs. J. Cleave and H. Peterson who deserved more encouragement than was the case -for their enterprise. Mr O. K. Wijson, member for the district, arrived, in Waitara o'J Mon.lav night, with Mrs Wilson. He proceeds to Awakino to-day, and, in attending the sports there, expects to meet all the settlers of the district for.a diseusf'o'i of the district's requirements, The biergest question is, says Mr Wilson, the making of the main North road. This will be specially gone into when the Minister of Public Works comes along, and it is hoped that at an early date a big step forward will be taken.—Waitara Mail. At Opunake on Tuesday evening, a deputation from the Egmont County Council placed before the Hon. W. 11. Merries the difficulties experienced by local bodies in collecting native rates, stating that despite legislation there seemed to be a loophole of escape. The Minister advised them to give last session's Act a trial. This, lie believed, hal stopped all loopholes. If, however, it was found t.o contain nnv flaw, and not to be effective he v/as prepared to amend it, as tlie Rill was intended to be an honest attempt to remedy this crying evil.

The non-arrival of the daily paper is naturally a source of annoyance to people living some distance from town, who look to the oaner as the prinoiDal means of keeping in touch with civilisation; but a communication to the Dailv News yesterday, in connection with t.c accidental arrival of only, one naner instead of three, gives reasons even more' potent than this for a regular delivery. These Are embodied in i< footnote to V letter, which is as follows: "The rrival of only one paper in the. morn'ns means a loss' of two hours per diem to"our firm, as our staff ami office boy will not commence wot!: unti! after o"i' usal of same!" An interesting innovation is heme, made in connection with the New Zealand Territorial Fores, proving I mil in future each regimi nt is to have its own regimental march. The marched are being arranged so that during the march past in 'a review the massed bands will plav the march of each regiment as it passes the saluting base. 'Tiie'"fßrir'-"t<" , nrlterhiiry) Regiment uas adopted Sh*- parch of the (Queen*Own) Royal West Kentish Regiment, with which it is allied. The march is the well-known "A Hundred Pipers." The 13th (North Canterburyand Westland) Regiment is adopting the "Irish Washerwoman" march, and for the Ist Mounted Rides (C.Y.C.) a special march has been composed' by the bandmaster. It is also being arranged that the other regiments of the Canterbury Mounted Brigade, the Artillery, the Engineers, and the Field Ambulance Companies will have their own marches,. The Victorian Minister' for Education knocked down o wasps' nest the other day by making a I'arliament.uy statement to'the effect that out of every -100 teachers who retired annually M) were women, who left the service to be married. Whereupon, the' Victorian. Lady Teachers' Association vigorously and indignantly repudiated die charge on the grounds that, uncontradicted, it would brand the Department practically as a. ! matrimonial agency. Not content with the usual feminine argument,, t'lvy quoted statistics to further confound the Minister. They stated that of 271 teachers who retired last year !).> were men and 170 women; '2O of these were teachers of over 30 years' service, and inferentially beyond matrimony,, while CO were "junior" teachers, and while probably excellently qualified for matrimony, were not qualified teachers. And so they held that on the facts it was evident that the majority of qualified Women teachers had not left the service to be married. "Wesleyan" or "Methodist"! . The Rev. T. A. Joughin (states the Dunediu Star), in moving last week that a young people's society should be formed, said that three titles had been suggested, and of those the committee recommended "The Wesley Guild." A member promptly rose and asked why it shouhY not be called "The Methodist Guild." Mr. Joughin answered that "Methodist" was the name of the Church. "Wesley" perpetuated the name of its founder. The Rev. A. N. Scotter approved of the recommendation. They had been iu danger of squeezing out John Wesley's name altogether. The Rev. T. \Y. Vcalic feared that by taking the name of Wesley they might alienate the Christian Endea'vorers. The Rev. W.

A. Sinclair replied that there was no wish to interfere with the work of tti.it Tlie Rev. P. \\\ Fain-lough: '-If anybody has discovered that 'Methodist' is a popular name with our young people, he has discovered more than I have. It is a nickname. I have no wish to give our young people n push along a slippery- incline. Let us carry the re commendation." The name 'of 'Tne Wesley Guild" w<is carried. An incident that occurred in the Northern Tcrirtory is related by Dr. Gilrutli in a report to the Commonwealth Minister for External Affairs. Frederick Bolton, a settler on the Daly River, w«s ahout to get into a canoe when he was accidentally shot through the lung by an aboriginal. The aboriginal sought Mr. Love, the aborigines' protector. Meanwhile the settler hid crawled to his home. Mr. Love, with the aid of the aboriginal, and using a sheet of galvanised iron as a stretcher, carried the settler down to the canoe. He managed to paddle five miles up the river to a landing, and at 5.30 p.m started for Brock's Creek on horseback to secure the services of a doctor Travelling all night, with the exception of two hours' rest, he covered the 70 miles by next morning. A telegram was sent to Darwin, and Dr. Holmes left on a motor tricycle at B o'clock in the evening, and reached Brock's Creek at midnight. Shortly before 1 a.m. Constable John, Mr. Love and the doctor set out for the Daly. They travelled until 3 p.m., when the horses had to be rested. The journey was resumed, and continued until 3 a.m. next day. The whole party was then exhausted. At 6 a.m however, they were again in the saddle! and they reached Daly about midday or 38 hours after leaving Brock's Creek, but only to learn that the unfortunate man was dead.