LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 239, 18 March 1915, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

All operations at the Mangaone oil wells have been tied up pending the reference of a case to the Privy Council. Yesterday was the anniversary of Ireland's patron saint. The banks were closed, otherwise ''business as usual" was the ordej. Over £IOO,OOO is at present being spent on the erection of new buildings in Wellington, including £34,000 for C. Smith Ltd.'s new premises in Cuba Street. 'T have been all over Australia and New Zealand," said a visitor from Sylnov. at present staying at Kltham, ''and T have never yet seen such fine roads as are to be found in tliis district." The tender of Mr. J. W. Tong, of ITawera, has been accepted for the erection of the Central Hotel in Elthai.i, Tin' contract price is over £BOOO. Mr. J. A. Dullill, of llawera, is the architect. The following are the amounts to be paid out. on the '2oth instant by the daily companies in the Stratford di.-i-Ivei: —.Ygacro !J2(i.'lo, Lowgarth C'?Al S. "'.irdill' .CISS.I, Stratford £8(140. The Education Department has decided to fix the travelling allowance of inspectors at 12s (id per day, and of members of Education Boards at 3s, for every six hours.

lection by the insurance companies carrying on business in Xew Zealand of three members of the various Eire Boards will be .held on Momlav, 17th May, mir,. Iv.cr since the war began British submarines have been employed in the Baltie, and it is understood have repcatedIv carried dispatches from London to Kronstadt.

_ The number of carcases of mutton carried by steamers leaving Xew Zealand during the first five months of the war was one million in excess of the total carried in any previous year.

Some of the Taranaki'ehcese factories that adopted the consigning policy will, it is understood, pay out from is 5.1 to Is Si! iter lb butter-fat- truly a phenomenal return!

r l lie reipiisifion lodged with the Town Clerk for a poll to be taken to decide the day to be observed by shops and offices fir the weekly half-holiday has been duly checked and has been found to be signed by more than the statutory number of electors.

A correspondent a-ks why, in a. recent (loveminent proclamation, is the <| Opunake railway referred to as a branch of the Eoxton-Xew Plymouth railway; Kclio answers ''Why?'' Or is if I'cil tape which makes Eoxton 10-'ini 'nrgev then Wellington';

Jailing the recent fighting along tic b-nik* of the Aisue a. man v.'ss badly V. I■ I! 11 dcll, Vile Anibuh'ece Corns tt'llder)placed him on a stretcher. "Take him to ll,e hospital," said (lie man in ce.aree. Slowly the wounded man oiiened hi-: evs ■ d whisaored fainflv: "ViliaiV; (he it!:>! (. r with the canteen';" (lit a recent evening the town of Rotornn was visited bv a plague of gnats. So gl'eat. a pest, did they become that several of (he shopkeepers found it. advisable to close then- shop doors, and

napcr treated with chemicals was burnt in the streets. In premises whore there was a blight, light the insects congregated in such large numbers that floors were covered to a depth of several inches.

The Mayoress (Mrs. -T. E. Wilson) "n----forms us that another ease of clothing will be sent at the vn« of the week to Miss Helen Mackenzie, London (seeretarv of the Xew Zealand "War Contingent Association), and any contributions should be left with Miss K. Itamorton. Devon Street, on or before Friday next, '•ills oi socks, etc.. will be welcome. 'I he casa will he parked on Saturday.. A remarkable experience bofel a resident of the Tetnora district. (New South Wales) about a fortnight ago. when he recovered his speech, which he had lost for nearly three months, as the result of an attack of measles. During a, thunderstorm he was driving some sheep into a paddock, when some of them broke awav from the bunch. He shouted to them, and was delighted to discover he could hear his own voice. He is now able to speak as well as ever.

Mr ilkinson, M.l\. speaking at the Lltliam Chamber of Commerce meeting on Monday evening, said that for five years iii'ter he arrived in Eltliam (.'lO years ago) Bridge street was non-exist-ent, even to the absence of a track. Tie thought Elthnn had been built in the wrong place. Jf the town were built where Cliiselhurst is, there would have been much better means of access, and a lot. of trouble caused to-day by the railway routes would have boon obviated.

The new dental department at Wellington hospital was officially opened yesterday afternoon by the Hon. R. H, Rhodes, Minister for Public Health. The stall' is housed in the former out patients' building, near the entrance, which has been fully equipped for the work it is intended to do. Special attention is to be paid to children's teeth. Mr Rhodes urged that parents should take advantage of the institution, in the interests of their children's health —Press Association.

Besides the 5000 sheep that have been shipped from Hisborne district duriii" the past few weeks, steamers that are due to load there will take another 10.000. With the exception of about 000. all the sheep hav'e been sent to Lyttelton. lho coast is supplying nearly all ot the sheep, and the scarcity of feed m ITawkc's Hay has necessitated farmers in that district sendin" their sheep South. It is believed that when rain conies in Poverty Bay district and m Hawkcs Bay, amv the food grows many stations will be short stocked,' prices will riso correspondingly.

T'sors of famous brands of Austrian cad-pencils will be glad to hear that British firms are reported to be turniii" out huge quantities of very liigh-"rado pencils, which it is hoped will take the place on the Xew Zealand market of the enemy-made article. This was stated at the meeting of the Wellington Central Chamber ol Commerce to be the amiiront position. Kocently the Chamber was ask-ed it there was a contract in existence between Johar.t Faber, the Bavarian peneilniakcr, and the New Zealand Hovernmont, for a supply of pencils to this country. The Chamber made inquiries, and lias been informed that 110 snob contract exists.

At a meeting of tlie Tiinaru Hospital Board yesterday the chairman said u donation of £l3 16s had been received the proceeds of a street collection made by some visiting firemen while in Timaru for the recent competitions. They asked that the money be used for thorelief of a distressed local family. It was very gratifying, the chairman said, to sec visitors to town Bhowing such kindly thought for the less fortunate in the community. He thought they vtc deserving of the Board's heartiest appreciation, and also the appreciation of the whole community. He moved that the Board place on record their appreciation of the firemen's kindly thoughtfulness, and that a letter of thanks be sent them. This was unanimously agreed to,—Press Association.

That familiar item on the breakfast menu—bacon—was the subject of discussion at Monday's meeting of the AVellington Central Chamber of Commerce. The matter arose through Mr .1. M. O'Hagan, of Woodville, complaining to the Chamber that pigs suffer".! through delay in transit. Mr Ci. P. Hill, a member of the Chamber, seized the opportunity to enter jipon a dissertation on pork, in which he said that then' was very little proper inspection of pork at the present time. Mr A. Leigh Hunt essayed to correct Mr JTill by pointing out that there w-.r- a very strict system of inspection in existence. Mr Hunt added a few words to the effect that >t was a pity to disturb the public wind quite unnecessarily about the condition of the pork sold on the local market. Mr. J. H. Lyon, chairman of the ( flora County C ouncil, has received the following letter from the i'rime Minister:--''Willi reference to your recent pcrsomil ie(|urst for an extension of tli>> wroiv road towards Matiere: f am now informed by the Hon. the Minister of I'ublie Works that the road between Okuluikura and Matiere is metalled within three miles of Matiere. The cost of metalling these three miles is estimated as follows: —With burnt papa, C'lOlri: with pumice, It was decided to construct a tramway in the three mih's of railway formation, and this will I)" done and finished before winter, and will he available for the use of settlers. Seeing that when the railway is finished good metal could be carried at a third of t he above cost, it would be a waste of money to metal the three miles with papa or pumice, which would only last nbeut two yoar~. 1 shall hi l glad lo have ao expression of opinion oil this proposal and to hear whether you think it will serve thepurpose you have in. view."

According to ii letter which lias bem received from ail officer on one of the troopships llmt liavi* recently left Wellington with reinforcements, canteen troubles 110 longer exist. "The canteen is a tine institution,'' lie says. ''No money is handled tliere, all s:iles being by coupons, which are purchased for Tin' coupon is printed in spaces valued at 2d, and when a purchase is made the ticket is clipped to the amount of the purchase. Almost everything is below: reiail price. Tennis shoes, for which one pavs Ss fid ashore are sold on ship for f>s; tobacco is fid, (id or 7d a tin — just half the price charged ashore. The only really expensive articles are soft drinks, which cost oil for a small bottle mid 7d for a large bottle. I don't know the reason for this, but perhaps it, is to keep the men from drinking too much. Drinking anything at all is strongly deprecated, as the more one drinks the more one wants. All the profits from the canteen are devoted to a fund for the relief of sick and wounded soldiers." Many new words arc being coined, hut fortunately for us most of them go into the di-card as soon as invented (remarks an American writer). If this were not .so, our language would soon become more linwieldly and cumbersome fltau it now, and, instead of being able to lift a dictionary by main strength and awkwardness, it would be necessary to employ a hydraulic lift, l'roni time to time some fertile brain evolves a word which is really worth while because it adequately expresses a thought or defines something which heretofore has needed a more comprehensive 1111 me. "Nhaniatcur" is such a word, and was invented by an Knglishman to designate a certain type of would-be posting man who, at panics and r-vws. pr. tends to kno'.v all about ' i'c inside the 'i 11'nir without in icalifv know.ug

anything. All of us lii.v tliTe pcoph—licit the simple, pleasure-loving amateurs, but ''Nlmmatrurs." the loud and important fellows wlio take particular pains to let yon know that they know all about' it. Americans liave nil uglier term wliieb lias often been applied to such people, that is, "foUl'-lUlsliel'S." The Maori section of the Auckland Museum Ims just been enriched by the addition of the main gateway or wahora of the famous Te Koutu Pa, which in bygone days was located on a promontory at the northern corner of Luke Okatina, about 10 miles east of Rotorua. The Maori owners of this gateway, through the kind agency of Mr li. Key's, licensed interpreter, handed over tlie gateway to the Museum, taking in exchange a small concrete vault, in which will be placed tlie bones of certain famous ancestors, buried near the gateway. Beyond this, the native owners declined any other compensation. The gateway reaches nearly to the roof of tlie Maori section in the Museum. Hewn out of totara, are two massive representations of human figures 'surmounting the gateway. _ _ The upper figure represents Te liangi-ita-kororo, one of the chief ancestors of the Ngatiterawliai tribe, and tin! other figure is that of his brother Tapora. The carving is considered fully 90 years old, as the gateway is figured in a rough drawing in Terry's STew Zealand, issued in 1840, The carving was done l)v Te Awatapu and Mahikorn, assisted by Te Amo and Wero. The gateway is naturally weather-worn, but is still in a fair state of preservation. A portion of the lower part of the legs of the figures near the ground had perished, and this has been replaced.

Traiii travellers to New Plymouth on Easter Monday for the West End Carnival are notified that, trains stop at tinPark. Many will doubtless disembark at the town station in order to watch the great moving menagerie in procession. This promises to be an attraction worth travelling many miles to see. Novelties in Easter Eggs, ordered bv Carter's before the war from English manufacturers, are now the feature in a very attractive and novel window lisplay at Carter's Quality .Store, Tn Easter eggs, as in other tilings, "The early bird catches," so call In at vour earliest opportunity.

A ,New Plymouth resident who has just returned from a trip through both islands states that for feed and greenness there is no part of New Zealand to equal the country between Eltham and the Mokau. In the Wanganui, Rangitikci, Wairarapa, and Hawke's Bay districts there is scarcely a green blade of grass to be seen, creeks being dry that had never been known to be dry before. In the South Island the conditions were almost as bad. In Marlborough the farmers have had a bad time, and consequently business in Blenheim was very slack. In Canterbury there has also been a scarcity of moisture, but the cereal crops were turning out surprisingly well. At first farmers thought they would be lucky, on account of the drought, to thrash 20 bushels nf wheat ami 25 of oats to the acre, but the crop? were actually yielding from .'ill to bushels of wheat and 35 to -ifHSushels of oats. Canterbury was doing very well, with wheat at over seven shillings a l-.n-.lirl. In Otago tilings had not been so dry, and the producers generally had nothing to complain of.

Captain Maxwell, assistant superintendent in New Zealand for the Shaw. Savili, and Albion Company, recently visited Tauranga to report on the harbor for the'guidance of the Tiiuranga Chamber of Commerce. This body has for a b.-ng time been agitating lor a direct connection with Wellington by steamer, and the hope is cherished that with a g..-ud harbor assured such a service would In- established. At present the products of the Bay of Plenty are as early on the Auckland market as tluii-e of the North of Auckland district, and the competition between the two big districts docs not favor the producer. The Wellington season is a good deal later, and it is argued that if the Bay of Plenty producers could ship direct to Wellington it would be of mutual benefit. in th" course of ]ys report, Captain Maxwell said the Tauranga hareor was a fair one, but not a magnificent one. Tf necessity arose and the peop'le cured to incur expenditure they could have here a harbor which could be made to compare favorably with some of the best which New Zealand possessed.