LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 35, 1 July 1914, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

yearly evary member of the licensed trade of this district wil! leave to-day to take part in a deputation to the Premier on the subject of tJlie proposed new Licensing Bill. The Minister of Public 'Health announces that fTom to-day all restrictions affecting the travelling of Maoris shall be removed, three months having elapsed since the last ease of smallpox ivas notified.

A sitting of the. Compensation Court will be held at New Plymouth at 11 a.m. to-day before Mr. Justice Hosking, when the adjourned case of the New Plymouth Borough Council v. the Public Works Department will be dealt with, being a claim for compensation for stone taken from what is popularly known as the Skinner road gravel pit. Departmental officers wiho have come up from Wellington in connection with the case arrived in Stratford last night, and will come on to New Plymouth this morning.

The Taranaki Acclimatisation Society has been in communication with the Minister for Internal Affairs with a view to arranging for a visit from Professor Prince, the Canadian Fisheries Commissioner. Last night Mr. 0. N. Firth, the secretary of the Society, received word that Professor Prince would arrive by the mail train to-nignt, and would like to confer with the executive of the Society at the White llart Hotel. Arrangements will probably be made to show him some of the fishing streams in the district to-morrow, and he will leave for Hawera by the midday train. At a conference of the MungatoKi and Kaponga Tidings of the Nltliam County Council on Saturday, says the Argus* it was decided to tar seal the El than). Hunter and' Hastiugsi roads in the Mangatoki riding, and tlhr main road in the lvaponga riding. The tar tpiesti'on was discussed fully, and it was agreed to re'eomanend Hit? Council to purchase in the Old Country 10(1 steel barrels and have them stmt out full of tar, in urdej- to facilitate the reading work during the coming season. A proposal will be placed before the south riding ratepayers, after the next meeting of the. Council, t«i borrow £:',0.(I00 for road work in that riding'.

Some little time ago the committee nf Hi; 1 Taranaki Agricultural Society decided to invite farmers of the district to kriii a party for the purpose of visiting the Moumahaki State farm. These visits llwve been organis-ed by other societies, 'but not by the local Society for some years past, and it is very gratifying to them 'that some sixty farmers of the district have, readily arranged to take the trip. Some Jive or tax will alio be included ill the party, 'wflucib, will leave by the mail train to-day and return this evening. Tlu' whole of it Ik'", district ttii* side i i' the mountain will be represented, and ii is anticipated that (.he visit will 'be of considerable educational value.

An alarm of fire was igiven from the Central Station at about If,a.m. yesterday. The rings indicated ih : -->t tile outbreak was in the western /end of the town instead of the castcijn, and this confusion delayed the brigade a little. The outbreak occurred in '>he premises of Messrs Xippert Bros., painters and papcrhangcrs, of Devon St' i t East, and was caused by the boiling ■■ver of some knotting which was being' 'i -ated over a stove in a back room. The blaze ignited the woodwork round (he stove. When the brigade arrived the names were under control, ami a chemical extinguisher soon completed work. But, for the promptness with b.eli the .outbreak was met, a serious conflagration might have occurred, as the premises contained a quantity of iniiimimable material.

Maori ovens are still in evidence near the bearch at Pairaparaumui, and bear evidence or being built, with patience. In yesterday morning's bunting news an error was made in stating that the bunt was to be held at Hawera at the invitation of Mr Nolan. It should have read Mr Tonks.

Football must be more 'than a pantime in Taumarunui, judging by tfc following from ilie local paper:—At a farewelt social on Tuesday evening Mr. Canton ireco:u;nended football referees to take lessons in the art of self-defence, lliey might f-in.il it useful in quieting dissatisfied players. Lase week the New Zealand Dairy Association, Ltd., paid out to its suppliers £14,b64 2a sd. Thfa covered .!28,U!)3!b. of butter-fat supplied during tile month of May, The amount of butter-fat received during the corresponding mouth last 'last year was 214,4281'b.; th'uis the increase for the month was 114,'5fi51b.

The secretary of the Davy-Richardson non-refillable bottle (Mr L. M. Monli'ath) is in receipt of t'lie following caMo from Mr Bewley, wlro is at present in England in connection with the 'patent: : Demonstrated the Davy-Richardson non-refillable bottle to reputable firms, who consider it the simplest and best they -'have seen. The manufactured bottle will be available shortly." Burglars recently visited the residence of tlie Eev. A. T. Brainsby, pastor Of the Vivian Street Baptist Church, Wellington, and two gold' watches were stolen, together with a money-box and the contents of a mission collection-box. Entrance was gained by forcing the catch on the dining-room window. It is also reported that the residence of the Rev. W. Raine, senior curate of St. Peter's Church, Wellington, was entered on Sunday night and jewellery and money to the value of <£6o taken by th» burglars. On returning from church, Mr. and Mrs. Raine found that the front door had been opened, while a window on the ground floor had been raised a foot or two. Every room was ransacked, and the whole of Mrs. Raine's jewellery, with the exception of two or three articles, was taken.

The tedium of Court proceedings has become a by-word, and the statement that "the law is ii hass" has been glibly made by numerous people who know nothing whatever about it beyond the fact that t'liis seems a pretty good thing to say, but anyone who watched a case ■Which took almost the whole of yesterday in the Magistrate's Court at New Plymouth, might have found a new description for the law's monotony, yet extracted considerable amusement, and felt withal a tinge of pity for the members of the fraternity who had to expend profundity and legal argument on the questions of the hire of a dray, a bag of potatoes, and £2 7s fid—a claim, a counter-claim, and a coastal dispute. Henry Corbett (Mr. F. E. Wilson), a Warea farmer, sued Thomas Julian (Mr. R. H. Quilliam) for £2 7s 6d, balance due for hire of a dray, and the defendant counter-claimed for £1 lis 4d, being six weeks!' hire of another dray (15s), 601bs of potatoes (8s 4d) and 501bs of eschalots (8s). The evidence was voluminous, anil disclosed the fact that the dispute arose at least two years ago, and that two arbitrators and an umpire had vainly tried to settle it amicably. The date of return and the terms of fiire of both drays were disputed, the value and quantity of the eschalots were the subject of much discussion, and the fact that most of the parties were brothers-in-law, sons, or connections by marriage with each other, further complicated matters. Eventually Mr. .Crooke, S.M., after commenting on the difficulty of coming to a decision, found for Julian on the claim, with costs £:! .Is Gd, and on tlio counter-claim, in the sum of 10s 6d.