LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 185, 15 January 1915, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Uood progress is being made with the erection in ferro-concrete of the new Central Fire Brigade Station at the corner of L'ourtcnay and Liardet streets. in. tuc course ot the construction or tne new 1 .ispital at New Plymouth, over a niiliio.; bricks have sc far been used, and t„,UuO roof tiles placed in position llirls who are willing to dress dolls for ihe Patriotic Fete to be held at Pukckura Park on February 4 should not forget to make application for dolls tomorrow afternoon at the Victoria League rooms, -li) Devon su-ect. There is a large Mipply of dolls ready, but Che deinand is likely to be so great that early application is necessary. l'n commenting on the various items cf the Town Clerk's financial statement concerning the tramways on Wednesday mg'ht, the. Mayor referred to the necessity jf providing anosiher site for the Fitzroy Hall, and slated that the sum of .€3OO had been tentatively provided lor that purpose. Members of the Sow Plymouth Defence liille Club will parade at, the Coronation Hall on Sunday morning, at 7 o'clock, for a sihort route march on similar lines to that undertaken a few weeks ago. The exact route has nor. been definitely fixed yet, but it will probably be in the direction of Frankleigli Park. On reaching town at about 10 a.nV. the parade will be played back to the Coronation Hall by the Citizens' Band.

While in London Dr Kennedy, of St. Patrick's College, Wellington, "was delighted to tind that high estimation in which New Zealand was held. When speeches were being made in Hyde Park and men were being encouraged to enlist as soldiers, New Zealand was held wp as an excellent example. The opinion entertained 'in England with regard to th; soldiers New Zealand supplied at short notice was very high indeed. It, was considered that in relation to her population, New Zealand was doing remarkably well in furnishing men for the front, and her patriotism was lihc theme of general admiration.

Tlie /nen at the Otira cud of the Arthur's Pass stiumu-I resumed operations a few days ago, and the big bore is again working gradually on towards Canterbury. It is problematical if this big undertaking will be finished for many years yet, owing to ; Ule war upsetting the money market (says the Otira correspondent of the LyUelton Times). It remains to be seen if the Government can keep such a big developmental work going for the next five or six years a', the present rate of cutlav.

The Tsar Nicholas is curiously typical of his people. He is a mystic; he is a dreamer. He has sought to establish universal peace—but he has had to wage two great wars. He, has shown himself eager for the well-being of his people and for the progress of tlie nation, but the constitutionalism which he favored has been hindered by revolution and counter-revolution. With the Tsar, as with the Russian people, one feels there is a great yearning after peace and piety and quiet happiness, while endless difficulties have made that attainment of the goal difficult and sometimes impossible.

Self-knowledge is hard to acquire, because it demands intellectual honesty. It requires a parson to see. himself as he really is, not as he ought to be, or as others tell him he is. This detachment of the real personality from an imaginative one does not come easily, but with only with a considerable degree of pain. One recalls George Eliot's ''Daniel Deronda." and that scene, where the spoiled darling, Gwendolen Harleth, learns the great Hot Klesmer's opinion in regard to her ability as an actress and singer. She really feels clever enough for anything; but he gives her vanity a hard jolt by predicting for her only 'the certainty of a humiliating failure.—Kate Anderson.