LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 179, 7 January 1915, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

About a week ago several of the crops of potatoes around Kaiapoi were affected by the sharp frosts.

The lighthouse at Jackson's Head, near kapiti Island, which lias been without light for some days past, has -been lelighted. The Jackson Head lighthouse is one of the most modem constructions of the kind in New Zealand, being controlled entirely by electrical machinery and not requiring the constant attendance of a man.

Among the many novel gifts to the .Belgian Fund, one received in Auckland (on .Saturday morning must be regarded l as unique (says the Star). The dona- • tion takes the form of an engagement rfring, and in an accompanying letter, the i writer, who signs herself "Jilted," expresses the hope that it will realise a pound or two and tenders the information that it cost £lO.

The Eight Hon. A. Fisher, Prime Minister of Australia, is a diplomat. " He knows how to please the Aucklanders. In acknowledging a welcome to the city he used appreciatively the popular title given to Auckland, remarking (hat whether Auckland is the best town in Now Zealand or not, it is worthy to be called a "queen city." Mr. Fisher also said he was impressed by the character of the people. They seemed to him to be calm, and self-reliant, as might be expected in a country which offered such great opportunities

A story is told of two chess players enjoying a game in a cafe who were -much annoyed by onlookers who stood behind their chairs and interested themselves in the game in a marked and disturbingmanner. Finally one of the players asked a spectator to play the game for him until he returned. The spectator sat down. Pretty soon the second player followed the example of the first. The two substitutes plaved for some time when one of tliem asked the waiter where the original players were. "They are playing chess in the jiiext room, sir," was the waiter's reply. i ! *>,-j

The progress of the war is being marked by coincidences that emphasise How small the world really is. One. that 'las an entirely local application, states the .New Zealand Times, was the presence in Ostend early in October of three , ex-residents of ITawker Street, Wellington. One was Dr. Wilson, son of Mr George Wilson, who volunteered for service as soon as the war broke out, and * now presumed to be working at » base hospital at Boulogne; another was Xurse Fairchild, daughter of the lato Uptain Fairchild; and the third was Mr ■ls. .0. Freybcrg, well-known in local swimming circles, who went to Antwerp with the Expeditionary Naval Force and who was incapacitated for a time through grasping an electrical wire in the fortifications. He was undergoing treatment in an Ostend hospital in Oc" tober, but got away before the place was occupied by the Germans.

Writes a London correspondent:— home of the Lancashire cotton mills winch have experienced slack times • 8mc f e .fe war broke out, are now goii," °n lull time again, according to advices received locally. The necessity to employ large bodies of troops >'' i F>py+ - Ul( j .in the region of the Suez Canal lias'occasioned a large demand by the Armv authorities for cotton khaki as bej lighter and. infinitely cooler than the woollen fabric, with which many of them have been equipped. In the case of the colonial troops, the outfit was compiled on a woollen basis under the impression that they were to be employed either in England or northern Europe, but as a change in destination was made ® Effypt, the whole of the men employed there will have to be rcclothcd wit.li uniforms of cotton khaki in view of the coming summer campaign. The weather at this time of the' year ill Egypt is usually very fine, but iii March it begins to warm up, and in .June, July and August tropical temperatures prevail and only the lightest of clothin" can be worn with any degree of comfort.

Dr. Cockayne, in an interesting article in a contemporary, referring to the primitive vegetation of New Zealand, shows how, while there arc many plants peculiar to New Zealand, this country owes much to Malaya, and plants identical with those found in the Falkland Isles, Kerguelen, and Patagonia are found here; also there is a plant connection between New Zealand and Australia and Tasmania. "The view P u t forth here," Dr. Cockayne writes, "is that New Zealand possessed a primitive flora of her own, which probably formed part of that of a wide land area, perhaps united to Antarctica; that at _an early date the ancestors of the pre 'sent sub-antarctic element came in; that later there was an invasion of tropical Malayan species, and also perhaps if the Australian element ,these happenings occurring during a great northern land extension by way of New Caledonia and the New Hebrides. Picture patrons are reminded that "Asta Nielsen up to ITcr Tricks' is the ' feature 011 to-night's new programme at the Empire.

The Harbour Board's dredge Paritntu will leave New Plymouth on or about tlie 18th for Wellington for the annual overhauling.

It is understood that the Maunganui and Tahiti, two of the vessels u„ed as transports for the troops for Egypt, will arrive back in Wellington towards the end of next week.

A huge shoal of mackerel ba3 hcien providing sport for iisliermen at i.ho harbour during the last few days. Two local men caught sixty-four in an hour and a lialf, an,l declared that they "had the catch of their lives."

Holiday traffic on the railway has been abnormal during this year's holidays, approximately 12,000 people hav nig travelled to and from New Ply. mouth during the Christmas season fron tiie 3rd December to -Gtli January, in elusive.

The fees, fines, etc., payable to local todies and collected through the Magis trate s Couvt. during the last quarter wcro: New Plymouth Borough Council £l3 10s; Taranaki County Council, 10s; Education Board, 13s; making a totai of £l4 3-s.

The two toll gates controlled iby the Eltliam County Council returned most satisfactory amounts during the past foi blight, due to the holiday- traffic. Tile Eltliam gate return was £77 18s lid, and for the River! ea gate £2o' 12s or a total of £99 10s 6d.—Argus.

A cablegram from Paris, through the Tunes and Sydney iSun services, says that it is no longer the fashion to be in the fashion. Tiie French woman is incapable of the lciast enthusiasm about the very things for which she is supposed to have -lived. Now the bargainbuyer goes about furtively, and rather ashamed. A well-dressed woman is frankly stared at, and the shop assistants make grimaces at her. French women show only serious faces, many gnef-striclken.

Taranaki farmers- may well l)e thankful that they are not experiencing the effects of the dry weather which has been lately prevalent in Hawke's Bay Judging from a sample of turf cut hi that district on Tuesday and left at this office yesterday, there cannot be a blade of grass for the sheep or cattle ta eat, lo Taranaki settlers it would appear impossible for stock to exist on the short, dry, withered substance that appears on the sample, which -anyone interested is welcome to inspect on calling at this office.

From the special wire to the New Zealand Times we get a little further information concerning the mishap to rI.M.S. Audacious, concerning Which the Admiralty had been so reticent. Mr J. B. Clarkson, a well-known resident, who has just returned from a trip .round the world, says that the Audacious struck a mine but was not tody crippled and was able to steam slowly to Belfast to the yards of Harland and Co., where she has probably been repaired -long before this The American newspapers reported that fee Audacious was sunk.

When the Opunake wharf was put up for sale <by auction the first bid was sixpence. Then there was a hid of f 10. Then there was a bid on Mr CavoJg behalf of £230. That settled things. It is a serious thing for Opunake this seizure of the- wharf, for unless a settlement is reached the wharf will be demolished and the town suddenly pushed bade into the surf boat age with the consequent increased landing charges. In the meantime trespassers are warned oft the wharf and goods from the fortnightly steamer can be landed only bv arrangement with Mr Cave's 'solicitors."

Shortly after 2 p.m. on Wednesday an exciting episode occurred in the Britannia Hotel in Wellington, the lessee of which is Mrs. Catherine M'Enroe. Miss M Enroe, happening to enter- her sister's room, found a man there poking about the drawers in a duchess chest. She demanded to know his business, and he said he was "looking for a man named . Jones,' As she was further protesting against the unwarranted intrusion the -nan pushed past her and ran down stairs. She followed him calling over the banister "Burglar! Burglar!" The warning was heard by her brother, but before he could reach the main passage leading into Willis street! the alleged 1 thief had darted out and run down Mercer street. Mr. P. M'Enroe gave chase immediately, and caught his mail at the Town 'Hall, and brought liini back to the hotel for identification.

The origin of the name of General Joffre has been exercising the minds and imaginations of the French. The Paris correspondent of the London Truth writes:' —Gascons are known to be imaginative. The alleged origin of General Joffre's name (a supposed ancestor who hawked about wares with the cry of "J'offrc") arose, it appears, out of the imagination of a Gascon, who attended the autumn manoeuvres, and entertained a party of reservists with a story of a Catalan "Dutch auctioneer," who remarked "J'offre" ("I offer") as he held up a penknife, scissors, or spectacles. The name .TolTre was really the Catalan form of Geoffroy, Jauffret, Jauffro—all akin to the English Jeffries. The proceeds to remark that General f'Joffrc is not of aristocratic birth, and .therein he resembles Gambetta, the son of a gipsy; Ney, a cooper's son; Murat, r-jtlie son of an ostler; and Lefebvre, tho I son of a laundress.