LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 29, 24 June 1914, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Mr. J. B. Murray, chairman of the Wanganui Hiu-oor Board, informed a gathering on Saturday evening that ar/rangemente had been mieidc fori uhc raising of tJhc Board's £150,000 loan. IA. pioneer says it is no use trying to nut fanners on the land in_the Northeri Territory, owing to the climate. "The- Territory is «. splendid horse and cattle country, and that is about all," he remarked.

At a recent clearing sale in the Pongaroa district sev .ral two-pound bottles of preserved gooseberries brought 5s per bottle. Surely a record! Needlessi to say, pehaps, they were bought by a memiber of the sterner sex. —Pahiatua Herald.

"Sir John Murray, when a naturalist on board the Challenger," said Mr. J. G. Wilson, of Bulls, at the National Dairy Show, "discovered that Christmas Island, a British possession in the Indian Ocean, contained huge quantities of phosphate rook. He was able to gain control of this, and a company was formed to work the deposits, which has resulted in making the original shareholders wealthy." Maoris are being prosecuted in the King Country fo r failing to have their children educated. At Te Kuiti tJie other day several cases -were before tin Court. In the case of a girl of 10% years, who vas very 'intelligent, the .parents refused to send her to school. A fine and costs totalling £3 8s 4d was inflicted. In the case of Taituiha, at Hsngataki, two charges were laid, and •fines and costs amounting to £2 19® 4d in one case and £1 17s in the other, were inflicted.

"He lias been living at Aramoho and has been going around the houses there making out that he is destitute and that he hijs five children to'keep, and the money he obtains l from the charitably inclined, he spends in drink." Suclhi was the designation given at the Wanganud Magistrate's Court the other morning by a member of the police force, when a man named Christian Dennispn, alias Jensen Kiistian, was called upon to answer charges of vagrancy. Dennison was sent to Wellington Gaol for three months as a punishment for his ivrong doings.

The strenuous nature of the life of a Prime Minister was referred to Iby Mr. Massey at the social tendered to himself and Mrs Massey at Mangere on Friday evening (saya the Auckland Herald). During the two previous nights," he said, he had been at Pataienston and Te Kuiti respectively, and late night engagements had resulted in his obtaining a, limited amount of vest. He referred to his old days at Mangere, and ho said: "I then had more steep and less work anu worry than now. I do not complain by any means, but these are the thoughts that strike me as I look round and see so many old faces."

The beekeepers conferring in Wellington were (says the Post) muchiinte r ested in a statement made by Mr. G. H. Buekeridge, of Taranaki. Honey, he Raid, was provided in many American hotel?! in "individuals pots" containing from an, ounce and a half to two ounces. For si:ch a pot, the customer was charged 15 cents. That was, said Mr. Buekeridge, a very fine price for (honey, and the supply of the/ commodity in siuch a form would pay the producer very well if he could get a fair proportion of tihe price. He felt wire that it would he possible, to sell a Oange quantity of good honey in the best hotels and on the railways if it was put up in an attractive and suitable form."

It is reported -that there isi plenty of work for willing men. in the Wairarapa. Settlors; complain of a great lack ot labor, especially in regard to sorubeiuttiag. Wage*, vary from Is to Is 3d an hour. A reporter, in course of conversation with a "scrubber" who was in Wellington, learned that the work 'could easily "be done by 'the ordinary individual." It was the ailvual clearing of land containing "light timber, but chiefly of tufts of grass and suchlike." The person ; n question remarked that it would be well if, instead of ihibemating in tdic cities and depending on charitable insbituitions, the laborer went to the Wairarapa .and '-'did a bit for himself." "Now's the chance for the immigrant who wants a* start during the winter," was his parting message.

An official of Scotland Yard, the London detective headquarters, told a ntewspaipen man that Itue axlrentl ;of flying Im'a created quite a bull movement among pickpockets, and that at every flying meeting sums ranging from' £SO to £IOO, and-eomctimes a good deal more, are "commandeered by the aristocrats of the light-fingered profusion. Their plan of; action is delightfully simple. Three or four members of the gang—they always vork in gangp—collect together and begin gazing up at the sky. and pointing out to each other some imaginary aeroplane atoost out of sight. At once other people begin staring mip too, many of them with field-glasses glued to their eyes, and then the confederates set to work. One of these gangs "worked" Paignton and Torquay very effectively last week, and' relieved five men standing together of over £M. The practice of m'ctor-cyclists of carry-

ing a passenger on the- rear portion of a machine upon a specially-cushioned seat is being question iby the flhxiatehuirch police. In the court on Monday a test ease \va,s brought against an individual under a recently-passed bylaw, which reads: "No person driving a motor license;! vehicle- of any description _s3iall al!ow any. person or persons to ride upon any -part of islurih vehicle other than the pant provided for the accommodation of persons intended to be carried by such' vehicle." On the case being tailed, the magistrtite pointed out_ 'that the words "motor licenced vehicle" would not, include motor-cycles, and the city motor inspector, who* was present, volunteered the information that this by-law was intended to control taxis, and not motor-cycles. He thought the charge could be brought under section 7 of the Motor Regulations Act, which prohibited "driving to the common danger." He agreed that on motor cvdes was a [practice dangerous botili to the participants and the public, although, so far there Jihd been no serious accident's from this canst". A police prosecution under the by-law w, discussed, but a fresh information is to he laid under the Act referred _ to, so that very shortly a magisterial decision may be" given which will a.brnp% terminate this game oi "joy riding." ITS A BIG ADVANTAGE HAVING OFFICES THROUGHOUT DOMINION

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Wellington 1, considerably perturb?j over the death, from pneumonia, of a young lion in its zoo.

The Stratford Post says: iir T. Lyford reports the appearance of some early lambs on hi-} East road farm. Lambing commenced on the 18th inst. Mr C. A. Wilkinson, M.P., addressed ,a large meeting of electors at Eltham on Monday evening. At the conclusion he received a vote <ut thanks and confidence, the mover (Mr JUcob Mnrx) expressing the hope that al'l would do their best to again return him at the next election. A vote of eonlidence in the present Administration was also pawk.il. W'.) (Ohum Advocate) arc surpritwd to hear llliat work at the State brickyards, 14-miti, Ohura road, bos been suspended. One ugly rumor is that the bricks are not satisfactory. What! after all the fa-ting we were led to understand tli.it Die clay was subjected to—and the alleged pronouncement tlmt it was tlio best in the Dominion for brieknraking purposes'.

"The ceremonial work that I '.''.iw was generally well none," remarks Sk lan Hamilton in his report on te New Zealand milit-iry forces. "After South Africa there were some who considered the days of ceremonial over; since then there has been a reaction, and it i» acknowledged that ceremonial has its uses. There is tlio shoiildei:to-shoulder feeling that men miss nowadays in their extended work; Ulicre ■is also the advantage of giving the <>:! population a good show; and, thirdly, an inspecting general can fcim an impression from carefully watching ceremonial work—not of field training, of course, but of spirit and discfpline. That impression, I may say, wis ir> my case a viery happy one. The rank and flic are of good physique and bear themselves well. I am confident they are steady fellows, who would ■ stand a lot of hammering and hardly know, they wore being hammered."

According to Mr. John Gibbs, managing director of the New South Wales Merchants' and Traders' Association, who returned recently from a four months' trip to the East, one of the most remarkable evidences of Japanese colonisation exists in Honolulu. "The Japanese are still going in there in large numbers," said Mr. Gibb; "not only men, but young girls, who are practically bespoken as wives before they leave Japan." Mr. Gibbs referred to a specific case where 200 young Japanese girls were landed in one shipment at Honolulu, adding that very little imagination was required to picture the situation that would arise with energetic colonisation of this description going on. The Japanese would very soon loom larger than ever in the history of the island. Mr. Gibbs, who was also in Japan for five weeks, declared that at present the country had plenty of internal troubles. "Her people are over-taxed," he said; "sllie is troubled over tfhe naval scandals, short of money, and, in fact, everything seems to be upside down." The newly-installed winter daily mail service, whicn commenced ©n Satorday last was marked by a rather peculiar accident which befell Mr T. Moore, coach proprietor, says the Ohura Advosatc. It appears that cne of the letter .bajrs was {■eft k-Mnd by the coach on leaving Mtttierc, and Mr Moore was proceeding with the bag on horseback to Ohuva when "tihe horse stumbled and fell near Bennett's Hill, pinning the rider down in the mud; the animal refusing to budg>\ li> aibout half an hour's time lie managed to extricate '.himself, and duly arrived in Ohura, a sorry spectacles all plastered in mud and r inus hisi boots, which fortunately were unlaced at the time of the accident and lo&t in the mud. After all these years of struggling with bad roads, what a shocking indictment it would have Of en against the Roads Department if Tom Moore had been smothered on the main road.