LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 182, 11 January 1915, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

; Hie wharf at Moturoa presented a \erv bus}- aspect on Saturday, when unloading operations were "actively going on from the Rarawa, Corinna and H. D. Benilixsen. At the shore end of the wharf the Paritutu was moored, adding to ihe briskness of the scene. The Waitara Mail records tile sensational escapade of a lady motorist. J his young lady, riding a motor bike, the other day, went clean through a In cvoarbwi,re fence. • No injury was done to lady or cycle, but the i'enc" suffered slightly. Owing to tlie excessive price of bread and tli.. shortage of flour, tlie suggestion has been made to the Hastings bakers t.iat they should withdraw all their delivery vans from tlie road, thus effecting a bio; saving in expenses. This, one baker informs a contemporary, would enable ttiem to sell at a reduced rate lor oassh over the counter. In the course of an address to the I*rmers at Matiku a few days ago, Major Luslc, president of the Farmers' Union ill the Auckland province, made some li'femnces to tlie subject of party £oveminent, and explained the. elective executive—a system -which, he said, was fupported by the Farmers' Union. ' The way Parliament was carried on at present. he considered, -was almost a scandal, and the Farmers' Union proposal would go a long way towards criminating party squabbles. Tiij prcs.'iit condition of the Waikate 1 ,'Uivcr is. alio I'd Jug anglers excellent :port, an.l good Dags of trout are being obtained from practically its gourde, Tairpo to Ngaruawahia. Reports indicate that the fish are plentiful and in splendid condition. It is to be regretted [says the Auckland Star) that some serine, attempt is not Win# n.adc to lessen flic number of shags, as there is every indication 1 that these. ivonacious icorI leorants consume a large amount of that imported trout food, the koura (fresh- water crayfish). It is common talk that if Mr Masse y ha, (o tilt u';j the Ministerial vacancy created by the lion Air Fisher's resignation the honour will fall upon one of the Government Whips, Mr Guthrie. What Sir Massev wants in his Ministry is a commercial brain. There is not a man ui the Ministry wiio has had any commercial training. If there had beeti bread would be cheaper to-day, and ll.ere would not be tlie anxictv that at present exists concerning the supply of dipping to take away our frozen meat. However, it will be some time before the position is filled. The member for Egniont could fill the position as well as any man in the Reform party.—Eltliam Argus.

Writing 011 November 13, the London correspondent of the Otago Daily Times said: "According to the report of Messrs Dalgety and Co., the first important arrival of New Zealand butter Is just landed —15;09S boxes, ex Remuera—but it is receiving scant attention at 120s to 128s for finest salted. It may be i'( ccssarv to accept lower prices for a time. It may be necessary also in tho case of Australian butter to make some reduction to stimulate the demand while 'lie competition of Continental continues. Messrs Weddel's mention that the Remuera's cargo of butter is very satisfae* iory. There is no New Zealand cheese yet available, but Messrs Dalgety i-j----fffa-d the prospects as good. High price 3 have been paid for outputs for tha season," You will sav cood-bye to vour Indigestion if you take' KtUR A PEPTIC. Tlie first) dose does you good, and is purely herbal. You want it now—to-day —not to-morrow. Obtainable from •Tohnston Bros.. G. K. Blanrhard, W. L. Gordge, A. Vealo, or -J. Taylor, Fitzroy. Nearly every storekeeper in Tpranaki

"When I was in Parliament," saicl Mr J. H. Bradney at Auckland on Wednesday night, "I protested against what I considered absurd restrictions oil filling. I said foil were so cattily caught in Auckland that any man could jto down to the wharf and catch his breakfast with a hem nail. 1 have been ridiculed over that, Imt recently 1 put it to the test. 1 armed myself with b at soft nails and fished mar my office. In three minutes I caught a yellowt :1. The other day I was invited oul o:-. a fishing excursion, only bent nails to be used. We caught a considerable number, only one gentleman failing." .

Tile following is a comparative statement of the number and tonnage of vessels, imports and exports ait the port of New Plymouth for the years 1013 and 1914 respectively, the firstnamed being in brackets:—'No. of vessels, 304 (332), tonnage, 106,815 tons (153,740); imports, !K1,783 tons (77,040); exports, 17,187 tons (15,427); total of imports and exports, 108,270 tons (92,407). Jt will he gathered from the figures quoted that despite a decrease in the number of vessels berthing at the port during the last twelve months, the size of the vessels trading here is larger and the cargo handled during 1914 represents an increase of 17 per cent.

Tommy has won his way to the hearts of the French girls, and is having tiie time of his iiie (writes a Paris correspondent). Tune alter time we came t'Cioss single Tommies or pairs of Tommies surrounded by groups of girls and children. Most of the Tommies 1 saw had not a shoulder plate to bless themselves with. The girls crowded round them prattling away, while Tommy stood and beamed, or now and then took up a French child in his arms. "It gives one confidence/' said a British journalist to me in Paris, "to see our men in the streets.'-' And he was right. Our soldiers look so solid, so cheerfully composed, so clean and healthy, so nice, that upon my word I am as much in love with them as are any of the girls of. Nowhere. As for our officers, they are a race of giants. I have never seen so many tall, straight, active officers in my life as I have seen in France. And to see them striding along the old French streets, well-built, well-groomed, manly fellows, really does one good. If the German* professors who-prated so much of our decadence, had beheld as in a vision these liritdsli giants full of life and masters of "their job/' they would have moderated their transports and done their crow--1 ing in the minor key.

That pens grown in Now Zealand arc returned from Kngland as seed will not be believed by many pcopft; but it is true nevertheless. The production of pea and bean seed has reached the dignity of ail industry in Xew Zealand. The Journal of Agriculture states that a considerable proportion of the supply of the British pea and (bean seed is ■produced in the provinces of .Marlborough and Canterbury, where the work of seed production finds a most congenial environment. Last year New Zealand exported 340,01*0 bushels of these seeds. The area of land usually devoted to the, enterprise is about 12,- €('() acres for peas alone, of which (140(1 are in Canterbury, and uliOO in Marlborough, the latter producing the bulk of the garden peas, and the former the greater portion of the field peas. Last year the pea crop averaged 31 bushels. A feature of the trade is that the leading British seed firms are coming to depend to a large extent on Xew Zealand for their pea and seed supplies. In many cases the firms concerned send especially selected seed out to local firms in Xew Zealand, where it is grown, and the produce is returned to Britain. In other cases Xew Zealand firms grow speci ally aeelimati-ed seed tor British buyers.

A shipment of ■">20,000 tmlos—daifodils, tulips, auciionies. hyacinths, narcissus, iris, and ranunculus —readied New York just in time to avoid tlie war disturbances that unsettled the freight schedules and have reached the San Francisco Exposition grounds in safety. These varieties have already been put through their paces in the test beds which have lieen maintained throughout 1014 in the South Hardens at the Pana-ma-Pacific "International Exposition at San Francisco. These formal French gardens will he a golden glory, as befits the Golden State, when the Exposition opens on February 20. for no other color 'will be used in these beds, where a low growing sort will form a groundwork for another variety to flower above it. as, for instance, tulips incoming above carpet of calceolaria. F.eforc the yellow tarnishes there will be a change made—over night—of scarlet flowers, which have been brought out to bloom in the hothouses, the change being affected by assembling all workmen employed in the twenty-iiv'i' gardens for the night change, of which no trace will remain in the mornhvg except that urimson rule where yellow was before. Three seasonal changes are contemplated in the plans of .Vr. Donald MacLaren, acting chief of the Department, of Landscaiie Engineering, who is in «hargc of the 'Exposition work.

Regarding the mystery surrounding the super-Dreadnought Audacious, Mr. J. IS. Clarkson, a well-known Christchurch resident who returned from a trip round the world, -aid he left America on October 21 last in fhe, Mauretania, and the day before thev sailed the s.s. Olympic left. ''This ship took a course round the North of Ireland," said Mr. Clarkson. ''which providentially allowed it to give assistance to the crew of H.M.S. Audacious, which was damaged by striking a mine off the north of Ireland, and had to be beaehed. The incident was never referred to in the 'public press of Britain, but it oocurred all right, and I have a photograph in my luggage of the Olympic standing by to give assistance to the Audacious. ; The warship was not badly crippled, and was able later to steam slowly ! round to Belfast to the yards of TTsirland and Wolff. T.nckily v.o lives were lost. A Norwegian -nip was suspected of laying the mines which did the damage, and this boat was captured and taken to Glasgow lor rxamination.

A San Francisco correspondent says that a curious story comes from Toronto. Canada. According to Mr H. P. Stevens, 1f.!?., for Vancouver, the sterner Komagatu Mam. which arrived last •Ttily at Vancouver with a cargo of natives of India, who gave great trouble to the authorities, was chartered by a German shipping firm at Hongkong. The, 'shipment, Stevens declared, was made with a view to fomenting trouble between Britain and her Indian subjects. To make sure there would be trouble, the vessel was loaded with many undesirables. incuiling 100 criminals, and when the men returned to Calcutta, tliev precipitated a riot. The first intimation of the sailing of the vessel for Canada, it was declared, 'was contained in a newspaper despatch from "Berlin. Another aftermath of the notorious affair is the transfer of the. Canadian Government from Vancouver to an eastern port of an immigration inspector, Malcolm Reid, who had charge of the operations which prevented the landing of the 400 Hindus. The Government, decided, it said in a dispatch from Ottawa, that Reid's life was in danger as long as he remained on the Pacific Coast, as several attempts to assasainate him had been reported. Sine the immigration officials refused to permit a landing of the Komagatu Maru's passengers, three Government; employees in British Columbia have lo«t their lives H mysterious -ways.

The nio:i!itain tracks from the North ' Egmout Mountain House, to Dawson's and Bell's Falls, are in fine order just at present. Mr Graham, the caretaker, who was in New Plymouth on Saturday, .states that their present condition could not be improved upon. The teachers' B and C examinations and the Senior Civil Service examination :ire noiv being hold tinder the supervision of Messrs 'W. A., Ballantyne 'and 1!. U. Whetter, the Education Board's inspectors. The booking for accommodation at the North Egmont Mountain House, both through Mr Graham, and tlw Tourist and Expansion League, is considerable, applications from over 100 people having had to he declined. Some of these people, largely visitors,, ihave had to lie content with a brief trip to the .Mountain, but others have been able to wait for later bookings. The 'necessity lor further accommodation is becoming more manifest every summer.

Owing to the many large demands made toy Image during the past few months it is 'becoming increasingly scarce in New Zealand. The Defence Department has severe! times recently called tenders for forage for riie various military and further tendors are being advertised this week in connection with Trentham camp. It is to he hoped that there will be a ready response from produce merchants and farmers in order that the utmost efi ,i. n"\ mav be maintained during the present crisis. z Some of the remarks of visitors concerning New Plymouth and its surroundings, as recorded in the visitors' book of the Tourist and Expansion League, are very interesting. A Christehurch gentleman says of the North Egmout: Mountain House; ''An ideal spot to recuperate—the accommodation is splendid, and the committor managing this hostelry deserves, every credit." A Damievirke gentleman, speaking of New "Plymouth itself, says: "The surroundings of New Plymouth are very beautiful and ideal for a restful holiday." Another Dannevirkc visilor writes: "Every detail catered for: 'willing left to he desired." When visited by the police at Oamaru a few ilavs ago. a woman was innocently ' anyini.' a spade. Investigation on lines of action deduced from this fact revealed twenty-three bottles of whisky in the cool mould under a corner of the house (says the. Mail). Traces of the interment had been so skilfully removed tlsat hut for the presence of the spade the haul might not have been made. Tiie wliiskv represented the contents of ' wo ca-es, one bottle, the fate of which is unknown, being missing. The cellar is now empty, but it is probable that the woman will shortly be required to a "ount for having had in such a large stock' of New Year cheer. Tiie annual picnic of St. Mail's and branch Sunday Schools, is to he held tlhis year ion the 28thl inst, at Mr Cholinelev's grounds at Bell Block. An important meeting of members of the West End Foreshore Improvement Society is to be held this evening at 7.30 o'clock.