LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Tho -annual meeting of Hawera Public Library will be held at tho Library on this (Tuesday) evening at 8 o'clock. A good attendance, is desired.

■Mr Newton" King has received the' following cable from Sydney re hides: "Prices easier."

The directors of the Winter Show Company meet this to- receive final plans for the building. Tenders will be invited early next week.

The matron of the Hawora Hospital will be pleased to receive donations of old linen.

1 The result of the Patea Hanbor Board election (Patea Borough), held on Monday, was the return of the two members on the late Board, Messrs MeKenna and Thompson. The voting was as follows: Mr J. A. McKenna 210, Mr T. Thompson 191, Mr Bennett 137.

During the year ended December 31 the aggregate amount sued for in the Hawera S.M. Court was £7,285, of which £3959 was recovered. Europeans claimed from Maoris £394, and secured £325. Maoris sued Europeans for £4, and got judgment for £3 9s ¥ 'Bd. Maoris recovered from members of their own race £2* ss, the amount ,sued . for being £7 7s 6d. In Europeans v. Europeans, £6880 was claimed, and £3628 awarded.

At tho meeting of tho Hawera Technical School Committee on Monday afternoon a letter was received from Mr F. G. Treweek, secretary of the Egmont A. and P. Association, enquiring as to the number of fleeces that would bo required for tho proposed wool-classing classes. The director (Mr R. Browne), stated that he had supplied the necessary information that a dozen would be wanted. Members were very pleased to note that the A. and P. Association were co-oporating and taking an, interest in the formation of the classes.

This year the Government are giving a subsidy of £10 per pupil for all pupils holding proficiency certificates at District High Schools who will take up an agriculture, and domestic course. A grant of 10s per pupil will be given for scholars holding competency certificates. Tk© course will include such, subjects as commercial English^ commercial geography, and commercial arithmetic, book-keeping, agriculture, dairy,/ hygiene, dress-making or laundry, household economy, mensuration, bridge building construction, anatomy of farm animals, wood-work, and physical culture. The Hawera District High School is taking up, the course, and next week the Wanganui Education Board will appoint a science instructor, and also a- lady instructor in cookery.

This 'season's output will constitute a record for tho Auckland province, and already tho increase over last year is equivalent/ to 1000 tons, states the Star. For the season to date Auckland has exported over 400 tons of butter which may be valued at £400,000. The butter shipped for the fortnight ending Friday last totals 14,-856 boxes, or 371 tons, as compared with 13,034 boXes, or 325 tons, for tho corresponding fortnight of last season. At present ruling prices, , tho shipment is worth about £40,800.

The Hawera Technical School will reopen after the mid-summer vacation on k ebruary £8. In conversation with Mr Browne, the local director, a Hawera Stab reporter learnt that the classes for the ensuing quarter were distinctly promising. Otters of fleeces for the wool-classing classes are coming in freely from all parts^of the . district, and it is expected that- instruction will be given at Hawera, Mokoia, and Eltham. In connection with the curriculum at the school it may not be generally known that holders of sixth standard proficiency certificates are entitled to free places in, English and arithmetic, provided they take a third subject.

"When in the Urowera country recently," says Mr D. Lynsar, Mayor of Gisborne, "I made enquiries as to what had been done with the remains of To Kooti, wliic'k, I understood, had been buried near Whakatane. On making further enquiries I found that the body had been exhumed. The- grave was found open, with the corpse and the coffin gone on the fourth day after Te Kooti's burial. What became of the body is a mystery. The Natives explain that he had risen on the third day, like Christ, and had gone to Heaven. I ascertained an interesting story, however, from a person whom I consider very reliable — a man who had been endeavouring to discover what had become of the body. Meeting one of Te Kooti' s leading supporters one day, a Native who was generally regarded as one of the few who know the secret, my informant, observing tho old Te Kootiite was under tho influence of drink, asked him 'What did you do with Te Kooti's body ?' The Maori replied, 'We take him to Gisborne. It took us a week to get him there, as we carried him at night. It 'was a disagreeable undertaking. We took him out of tho coffin and wrapped him in six tents. Te Kooti had been dead for some time.' Tho locality where tho body was conveyed to in Gisborne tho Native resolutely declined to disclose."

*Moeting of intending students at Technical School on Wednesday at 8 p.m. All classes recommence in a fortnight.

Mrs (Dr) Scott, of Marton, wishes to got throe or four young girls to educate with lier own daughters. Particulars appoar in our advertising columns.

In the annual return of the business of the Hawera Magistrate's Court prepared by the Clerk of the Court is the information that one man was fined for not attending a volunteer parade. It may rot be known to those other than volunteers that an officer commanding a company has the authority to fine members not putting in the necessary parades and that any penalty imposed has to be forwarded to the Clerk of the Magistrate's Court to be duly entered in the Court records.

"There will be no more coal strikes in New South Wales for a while, f»r the miners have found that tho public can manage to scramble along without them," remarked Mr John Murray, a former Now Zealand resident now living in Sydney, and spending a holiday in the Dominion. He assured a Now Zealand Times' representative that tho State was rolling in wealth, with fine harvest prospects, and the coal strike had not appreciably affected the general prosperity.

The average smokor, says a contemporary, will be surprised to learn that tobacco yields more revenue to tho State than is obtained through the medium of the land tax; yet this is actually the case. In 1908 tobacco yielded £600,000 in taxation, whereas the land tax in 1908 only realised £537,000. And tho returns show that the bulk of tne tobacco used in the Dominion is plug tobacco, smoked by the working man. The duty on tobacco is 3s 6d per lb., and upon cigarettes 17s 6d per thousand, which moans throe hundred per cent on tobacco and over 117 per cent on cigarettes. And now a "surtax" is to wring another £14,000 per annum from tobacco.

The yearly criminal .statistics of the Hawera Magistrate^tl©3urt provide some rather interesting^ figures. During the past twelve months 252 males and 9 females appeared on various charges before the Court. Of this number 179 males and 5 females were summarily convicted, while 20 males were discharged for "want of sufficient evidence. Cases against 9 males and 2 females were dismissed on their merits, while 2 males were committed for sentence. Of the crimes for which the persons were charged, drunkenness appeared to be the greater, 39 males being charged with that offence. There were also 29 males and females charged with excessive drinking, ami 29 prohibition orders were issued, including orders against two females: Nineteen males and 1 female were charged with procuring liquor during currency of prohibition orders, while 18 males and 1 female were convicted. There were 13 breaches of the borough bylaws by 13 people. • • , • A meeting of the Hawera Technical School Committee was held on Monday afternoon, when there wore present: Messrs E. Dixon (Chairman), H. W. Climie, J. Brunette, L. A. Bone, E. Barton, C. A. Strack, Rev. Shore, and R. Browne (director). The Chairman and the local director" were appointed a committee to canvass for tne bookkeeping classes, and the foes for these classes wore fixed at £1 for senior students and 15s for junior. It was reported that there was a deficiency of £50 on /the building account, which the Chairman considered was- very satisfactory. • He did not think there would bo much difficulty in raising the necessary money. It was decided to make a canvass for subscriptions. A circular dealing with the book-keeping classes and drawn up by Mr Barton was approved. It will be distributed amongst prospective students. The committee accorded Mr Barton a vote of thanks. Messrs Dixon, Browne, and Strack were appointed a sub-committee to assist tho South Taranaki Winter Show Company in "drawing up and framing an educational section in connection with tho winter show to be inaugurated in Hawera this year.

The first consignment of poles to be used in the installation, of tlie metallic circuit system for the telephone has arrived in Hawera. They are of ironbark, and had been on order some considerable time. Owing, however, to the strikes in New South Wales, there has been delay in execution of the order. The installation will be a pretty long and expensive work, but needless to say the result to subscribers, especially to those whose wires are affected by the Electric Company's working, will be an immense improvement. New poles are necessary because the weight of the new wires necessitates a curtailment of the spans, and iron-bark is now used by the Department because totara lias been found inclined to break off ui:der the. stress of a heavy weight. It is expected that with the introduction of the new system arrangements will be made to obviate the second ring after the connection has been made — that is, the subscriber will be switched on to the required number at once. A special staff will come to Hawera to carry out the work.

The price of milk in Auckland has been raised,' and' the consumers' point of view is cleverly put by a correspondent who writes to the Herald. He says: "The increase is a strike pure and simple. The association has given notice that it will not work any longer at the rate of wages it has been receiving, and moreover distinctly states its minimum. The public is its employers, and it tells them per advertisement that it wants more wages and will get them. Because its ramifications are so great, there is no doubt that it can make things bad for the 'unionist' or vendor who turns 'free laborer.' There is no talk of Arbitration Court nor Conciliation Board to deal with the matter, and there will bo no howl of indignation from the employers, because the public is a 'hass.' Lot a trades union try to raise the price of its commodity — i.e., its labor — by an advortisementi, and a little meeting of its executive, and see how it would get on. Why P. Bowling ha 3 just got twelve months' 'hard for attending executive meetings of this kind; and yet we are supposed to be so advanced and democratic! These vendors have no more right to form a union and fix prices without going before a Conciliation Board than an ordinary trades union has. At least to me that is the logic of the matter, but perhaps the capitalists will say I am hypercritical" The best place for Jewellery, Sargent's, High street. See our charming assortment of silverware. — Advt. Fireside Phonograph is the one big hit ; the best seller of the season. Only £6 10s at E. Dixon and Co.'s. DR. SHELDON'S NEW DISCOVERY Is the most wonderful remedy ever discovered for the cures of Coughs and Colds. It will cure you when all othen have failed. Is 6d and 3s. Obtainable everywhere. „ . E. Dixon and Co. keep over 4000 Records to select from. Send your orders by post. *