LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, 27 January 1920, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The receipts of the New South Wales State Orchestra at Hastings were £414, at Palmerston North £4OO, at New Plymouth £320, and at Hawera £394. ' '

A letter was received by the New Plymouth Borough Council last night from the Commissioner of Crown Lands, approving the proposal to widen the Breakwater Road. There is a movement in Nelson to have the nevt Dominion Band Contest held in that town. At a public meeting of local residents last week it was decided to gtiarantee £4lO as prizemoney, and of that amount about £2OO was subscribed' in the room.

The tender of Mr. W. Williamson, a Christchurch contractor, has been accepted by the Wanganui Meat Freezing Company for the erection of a large four-storied ferro-concrete store at Castlecliff. The contract price was £'14,330. "I was the first woman to cross the Tararua P.anges," said Miss Mack, the lecturer, at Patca on Thursday night, "and I won a bet of £IOOO by doing it. This sum I am going to hand to the Beturned Soldiers' Association," she added.

A message from Te Awamutu says a disastrous flood occurred at Mont Pirongia, carrying away the dam of the borough water supply system and seven out of eight pipe bridges between the dam and the reservoir, which is at 14 miles distance- The supply was maintained until Sunday mid-day, -when the decreasing pressure resulted in an inspection of the reservoir. The exhausted town supply has been entirely cut off. The Borough Council has engaged special gangs in addition to the regular staff, but several days must elapse before the supply is even temporarily restored, An application was received by the Borough Council last night from the iN'ew Plymouth billiard saloon keepers, asking that the hour of closing be extended to 10.30 or 11 p.m. They pointed out that the license fee in New Plymouth was very high, and also that in nearly all other towns the hour of closing was either 10.30 or 11 p.m. The borough inspector reported there was nothing to justify the extension of hours. The application was refused on account of it being contrary to the by-laws for billiard saloons to remain open after 10 p.m.

An effect of the coal miners' "go slow" policy wns in evidence in Auckland on Friday (states the Herald), when there was a temporary reduction of the pressure at the city electricnl power station. It was caused by the efforts that were being made to economise fuel, and the low quality of some of the coal that was being consumed. Several machines and lifts in tlis city ceased working about three o'clock and remained idle until about 4.30 p.m.. when the pressure was improved. The falling-off of power had a, slight effect on the tramway service, :is the tramway power-station was.unable to draw its usual assistance from the other station during the evening "rush" period. There, however, was no serious difficulty, and in the evening' conditions were again normal. Sick headache, and a nauseous taste in tho mouth, are oftentimes the effect of the hot weather on digestive organs. A simple and useful remedy is to be found in Sharland's Magnesia. Sold everywhere. ,

A lot of questions were asked in the New Plymouth Magistrate's Court yesterday aa to the effect of driving nails into an electric battery. One of the solicitors engaged in the ease concerned, asked an electrical engineer who was giving evidence, if driving a nail in would improve the battery, and received the reply that he did not think, in this case, it would have mattered much if an axe had been driven into it. "It might have saved a lot of trouble if that had been done," commented the witness. The Mayor of Wellington states that the second Dominion conference which he called for to-morrow to consider the tramway dispute will be held (says a telegram from Wellington). None of the local .bodies interested had declined the invitation to attend.

The Waimana, which was due at Waitara this week, is now, I understand, put back to February 4 (writes our Waitara correspondent). ,She is lifting a few thousand bales of wool, but not much meat.

The University Seriate has unanimously resolved that a new subject, political science, be substituted for jurisprudence and constitutional history in .the arts course (says a telegram from Dunedin). The matter was referred to the teachers of history, law and philosophy to draw up a prescription for the new subject and report to the Board of Studies.

Messrs A. 6- Brooker, F. Hooker and Young, of New Plymouth, who are visiting Rotorua, had a good day's angling last week. Trouting on Lake Rotorua the party secured sixty nice trout in good condition. Mrs West, of AVoodville, and her little baby girl met with a iserious accident last week under unusual circumstances. Mrs West was busy in the waslihouse and had just put some paper under the copper when there was a terriffie explosion, the flames catching both Mrs West and the little girl, who was playing close by. Mrs West reecived severe burns on the right hand, and the child was badly burned about the face. It appears that the West boys had found some gunpowder, and unthinkingly tipped it out on the newspaper.

A conference was sitting yesterday in a town situated somewhere between the extremities of Taranaki, and the delegates were not at all pleased with the town in one respect. On resuming after the luncheon adjournment, one gentleman moved that the chairman be saked to make better provision for luncheon in future, or that the conference meet in some other part of the province. Some of the delegates had left home very early in the morning, and for hungry men the menu was not at all satisfactory. Two or three of the delegates vowed that it would be their last visit to the town.

A special meeting of the Jnglewood Borough Council was held at the Council Chambers on Friday evening to discuss the statutory weekly half-holiday proposal. The Mayor, Mr. J. Sutherland, presided. Crs. Faweett, Oamlin, Spurdle, Paterson and Oiibbs were also present. After a brief discussion, Cr. Paterson moved, and Cr. Cfibbs seconded, "That Thursday be appointed the day upon which the weekly half-holiday shall be observed within the borough of Inglewood." The proposal was carried without dissent.

At a meeting of the executive of the North Canterbury Coal Merchants' Association the following motion was passed and forwarded to the Minister of Munitions: "In view of the treatment received by retail coal merchants through the basis of allotment, which places them at the bottom of the list for supplies, and in consequence of the large amount of coal at present in stock by the Kailway Department, retail coal merchants think that under present circumstances, with such a shortage of hard coal, all the railway services other than those essential should be cut out in the meantime, so that the proportion of coal which at present is used to run excursion and other unnecessary trains be allowed for the use of the trade, so that the general public shall be able to obtain a small proportion of hard coal to mix with the lignites which they have to put up with." At last night's meeting of the ,New Plymouth Borough Council it was decided: (1) That the borough inspector be instructed to immediately proceed with a house to house inspection of the whole' borough, commencing with the business block between Queen Street and Liardet Street. (2) That in connection with his house to house inspection, the inspector Tie instructed td submit a weekly report showing the progress made each week, and the general condition of the ftioes inspected. (3) That it be part of the inspector's duty to report in writing particulars of any defective culverts at crossings leading into private property. (4) That the borough inspector be instructed to insist that trees overgrowing the footpath to the inconvenience of pedestrians be immediately cut back. It was decided that the Pu'blic Health Committee should go into the matter with the inspector, as to whether assistance was required for the work.

At the Patea Magistrate's Court, before Mr. Wyvern Wilson, S.M., Alexander Cumberland McDonell, licensee of the Kakaramca Hotel was charged that he did keep open his premises on Christmas Eve for the, sale of liquor. He Wiis further charged with selling liquor, also with exposing liquor for sale, and a fourth charge was employing an unlicensed barmaid. The evidence of Constable Armour was that he arrived at the hotel on Christmas Eve and found in the bar parlor a numner of men who had come by brake from Patea. They had had no drink, but a couple of glasses of liquor were on the bar slide. These, the licensee said, were for two boarders. At the conclusion of the case for the police, Mr. P. O'Dea, counsel for defendant, submitted that the case was not strong enough to call "on the defence; but the Magistrate ruled otherwise. At the conclusion of the case, the Magistrate acquitted the defendant on the charges of selling liquor, also of employing an unlicensed barmaid, but convicted him on the charges of exposing liquor for sale, also of keeping open for sale, and postponed sentence until next court day.—Star.