LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 49, 15 July 1914, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The clerk to the Moa Road Board has notified the Taranaki County Clerk that a deputation from his Board and from objectors to the proposal for merging part of the Moa Road District into the county will wait on the County Council at its special meeting to-day. Butter in coo' store at tile ports named oil July 14, 1914, was as follows: Auckland 12,039 boxes, New Plymouth 6216, Patea 2016, Wanganui 850, Wellington 17,844, Lyttelton 3471, Dunedin 2620; total, 45.056 boxes. Total at July 14, 1913, 24,231 boxes.—Press Association.

| In the Magistrate's Court, New l?ly|'mouth, yesterday, before Mr. A. Crooko, S.M., judgment by default was given in fllie following undefended eases: -Weston and Weston v. John [l. Robson, Jr., £2 lis Gd (costs 10s) s Shuttleworth llros. v. Henry Goodin, £3 9s (13s); Sargood, Son and Ewen v. Percy Frederick, £3 4s Id (10s); and W. N. Runciman v. A. (i. Fabian, £27 ( £1 4s). In the neighbourhood of Carnarvon, one of the great wireless stations associated with Mr. Marconi's name, is all but I complete. It ouly awaits a similar station on the. other side of the Atlantic to be put in an equal state ol' readiness in order to establish direct wireless communication between Great Britain and New York. Its exact situation lies four miles outside the town of Carnarvon, on the slope of Cefndu Mountain, and its presence there defies concealment. The foot of the mountain is about 700 ft above sea level, but towering above are ten mighty steel masts, which rise to a height of 400 ft. . Cefndu is the largest transmitting wireless station in the world. Hitherto a Jlarconigram intended for the United States, when handed in in London, had lirst to be sent by the company's private land line lo Clit'den, in Ireland. Thence it was transmitted by wireless to Glace Bay, Newfoundland, from which point it was sent to the States over the ordinary land line. When the Welsh stations are in operation all this will be obviated, as there will be direct communication with the wireless station at New Jersey.

The Government have pl-.viily angled for the clerical vote and inllueuce, are * they also angling for the fvubor vote j laid influencing by favoring' t lie system of referendum? If they have not, let I lis point it cut. If there is any one question upon which town and country are at variance, it is on the question of lai\d tenure. Town -particularly the Labor section of it- -favors leasehold; in the country, the freehold is favored. The land belongs to Unpeople, they never lose control 0 f it. They can, through their Parliamentary representatives, tax it to the point ot confiscation if they, are incjiined. If I then tJhe Ooverninent. admits that the I*people have a Tight to demand a rcf( l'cndum on the question of liible m schools, how much better right have they to declare by referendum as to what tenure their land shall be held upon. Tf the principle of rcfenondum i> to lie admitted (it is partially admitted now) the people will have a right to demand tliat their voice alone, quite apart from the Parliamentary representation, shall decide whether freehold or leasehold shall be the universal tenure of the Dominion. Jiid what Government having once conwded the principle of .referendum on minor questions could logically refuse it on such a, vital principle as land tenure? Are our fanning readerg prepared to accept the position?--TCltham Arg'is. !

An "angometer" attached to the ankle of Mrs Amelia Reeves, of Brooklyn, New York, allowed, that she covered 25,000 miles in tango dancing at various society gatherings. Loss amounting to £200,000,000,000 a year is inflicted on the people of the United States by the wholesale destruction of birds, according to a report read by Sir lioverton Redwood at the annual meeting of the British Science Guild at the Mansion House, London. Viscount Kitchener's report oil Egypt for 1913 states that the tiny eggs of the bilharzia, a parasite wthich lives in the veins and sorely troubles modem Egypt ians, have been discovered in the tissues of mummies of the twentieth dynasty, (about three thousand years ago.)

"I ain not one of those who think we have reached anywhere near the values of dairying land in tlhis country. When we see men taking £ls an acre off their land with cows, it is easy to see that the possibilities of these lands are not nearly reached yet."—Mr O. K. Wilson, M.P.

The fire which broke out in the early hours of yesterday morning in Mr. C. O. Steffensen's cordial factory, completely destroyed the washhouse attached to the factory, and a large number of bottles stored there. The roof of the factory was also destroyed, but the machinery was damaged only to the extent of about £4O or £SO. The cause of the outbreak has not yet been ascertained. The insurances were £2OO on the stock, £l5O on the plant, and £125 on the factory, all in the New Zealand Insurance Co.

"I know rents are getting scandalously high," stated Mr. Frazer, S.M., at Auckland, yesterday morning, when the defendant in a maintenance case declared that he was paying 20s a week rent for four rooms and a scullery, and that he could not get a house for less, adding that he was asked 30s a week for a fourroomed house in Albert street. "I hope,'" continued his Worship, "that some day the Legislature or City Council will take in hand a scheme which will enable the working man to get a house at a rent bearing some proportion to Its value, instead of being unreasonably bifid."— Press Association.

The "big development in the dairy industry in Taranaki is reflected in the output of the Egmont box factory and the statistics now available are interesting, because they reveal the remarkable growtlh of cheese making. During the past twelvo months, 190,080 Gutter boxes and 251,100 cheese crates were made. Compared with last year's output, tliere is an increase of 8776 butter boxes and 32,185 cheese crates, or a total increase of 40,961 packages. In 1913, 116,693 butter boxes were made, as against 17,010 cheese crates, and each succeeding yea,r saw butter boxes in the majority until 1912-13, when the cheese beat the butter by 36,801 crates. "For many years past,' states th-j annual report of the Commissioner of Police, "the fcovermnent has been expending considerable sums of money in

various localities in providing workers' homes, and I am of opinion tket a similar scheme, applied to this department, could be carried out very satwfnetorily. The land upon which' these houses arc. erected has to foe purchased, but thid woukl not necessarily bo the ensi

ill this department, as there are nmple Government sites lying idle in ii aiiy towns. The total amount which the Department, has paid in house allowances to .members of the force dur* in" tin; past ten years is ; - £04,500, the annual expenditure under this heading htving increased from £3500 in 1804 to ilfl.'liSO last year."

The annual report on' scenery pre

si rvation presented to Parliament reeuitly, shows that 3000 acres have been reserved during the year. This brings

the total area of scenic reserves in tii

Poininion to a little over 214AHM) acres, comprised in 3G3 different reserves. The great bulk of this land is very hilly I'inl unsuitable for settlement purposes except in ver) large areas at very low ruitals. The retention of lafid in a slate of nature greatly benefits settlement by assisting to conserve water, protect the, soil, and prevent denudation. From a natural point of view, it is advantageous to bu-ve areas such as

ure included ir. these reservations under forest.

Many people adopt the practice .oi placing on tl eir billheads an intimation

"that so much, interest will be «hargod on overdue accounts." In a case before the Pukekoho Magistrate's Court on Thursday the plaintiff had included in bis claim an item for interest. "You can't claim this unless you can produce an agreement to that effect," remarked the Magistrate. "We've got it on all our billheads," remarked the plaintiff. "That's no food. This is a tradesman's account for -rends supplied, not money lent, and I allow it," returned the Magistrate. plaintiff claimed that defendant tud agreed to it, 'but the Magistrate said that unless there was a signed agreement between the parti*.*, he could nor recognise it, and advised plaintiff in future to have any a-nranoe-ir.ent- of this nature put in 'writing. Here is a tabloid instance of anonymous letter-writing in Christchurdh, inspired by either blackmail, hatred, or jealousy. A married woman received a typed anonymous letter couched in ambiguous terms but imprudently accusing her of an indecent communication with a girl. She handed it to the police, and type-writing experts were called in. They found that the sender had a good deal of natural cunning, for the letter was written through a worn out carbon sheet, making the identification ot the machine difficult. Suspicion turned on a young woman typist in the city, a»d the typing corresponded with the machine. Tlere is the plot laid 'bare. The young woman to whom the letter was traced had struck up an acquaintance with a married man in business, lie treated her with courtesy, and she found excuses for trying to ripen the acquaintance. Then one day she received a letter of an indelicate nature, and the next thing that happened was that she had accused the man's wife by medium of the first mentioned anonymous letter of writing it. She even ".shadowed" the married woman and made things very unpleasant until the police stepped in. It was found that tihe young woman was neurotic and the theory was established that she had written (lie abusive letter to herself, and then lucused the wife out of jealousy. The particular case is mentioned as typical of many. When the, matter was mentioned to a police officer, lie did not deny or confirm it. He said that there were cases of the kind continually coming into the hands of the police, Imt the principal parties would not prosecute on account of the publicity involve!. "Is it blackmail?" he was asked. "Not as a rule," lie answered, "very often jealowv. A woman takes a fancy to u man and presses her company on him. Tie throws he: off, and her auction turns to hate, then she writes anonymous letters, perhaps to his wife or other relatives. Such cases are very common, an! we have to sift them very carefully.'