The Daily News. MONDAY, APRIL 2, 1900. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXXXII, Issue 80, 2 April 1900, Page 2

The Daily News. MONDAY, APRIL 2, 1900. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

On onr fourth page will be found interesting notes on Dr. Babcock and Lord Charles Beresford. Trains will leave for the Breakwater today, connecting with steamer mentioned below, as follow:—6 a.m., (Jairloch (from North) j 9.30 p.m., Gairloch (for North). The vital statistics for the Borough of New Plymooth for March are:—Births, 12; deaths, 8; marriages, 6. The anniversary of Taranaki, which took place on Saturday, causod no local oxcitement. The Banks and commission agonts observed a close holiday, and that was all. The Town Band will play in front of the Government Buildings at 8 this evening. The ordinary meetings of the Taranaki County Council and the Taranaki Land Board will be held to-uay. The meeting of the St. John Ambulance Association to be held this evening should, prove attractive, not only to members but to | the public, who are cordially invited to attend. Several instructive short addresses will be delivered, that by the Hev. H. Mason, who has had considerable experience in ambulance work, being looked forward to with much interest, ihe proceedings will be enlivened with musical items, and, no doubt, a large and successful' gathering will take place. The Wellington correspondent of The Tablet says :—" The Hev. I'athtr Tracey will temporarily replace the Very Kev. I'ather McKenna, of New Plymouth, who leaves for a holiday in the Old Country after liaster."

The many friends of Mr. H. Cholwill will regret to learn that a serious illness, extending over some eight weeks, has resulted in his medical advisers ordering his removal to the Hot Lakes. Mr. Cholwill has been a member of the Town Band since its inception, and has been always willing to givo his services as a musician to any good cause. As an expression of the deep sympathy felt by the members, a complimentary concert will be given by the Band on Thursday next, when a most attractive programme will be put forward, considering the esteem in which Mr. Cholwill is held by all of tke community, there is certain to be a large attendance. Mr. Garry's orchestra has been engaged to play at the Kecreation Grounds ball on faster Monday. The Government h*.s approved of the recommendation of the Land Purchase Board that the North Bank Estate, Wairau Valley, Marlborough, containing about 13,000 acres, be purchased for £67.10. The Wellington Hibernian Society has received a message from Mr. Chamberlain,, through the governor, that the Queen cordially ihanks the Irishmen of Wellington for their Kind and loyal message, which has given her much pleasure. The Customs duties collected at the port of Wanganui last quarter were the large.-t on record, and show an increase of over £3OOO on the corresponding period last year. The receipts for last quarter were £12,653, as against £a579 last year. The Union Steamship Company has purchased two steamers in England, one of 4700 and the«other of 1500 tons. The former, which is intended for the intercolonial cargo trade, will be named the Whangape, and is expected to leave England in a fortnight. She takes a cargo of coal to the Cape for the Imperial Government, thence going to Sydney. The smaller steamer will i>e named the Kakapo, and is intended for the Tasmanian trade. The Kakapo will probably arrive at Sydney in June. A gentleman who spent some time in India during the plague period, writing to the Auckland Ktar on causes of infection, :;ays:—Another great source of danger in i he shape of dirty bank notes arriving here Vrom infected colonies is one Hint seems to 'lave escaped notice. Although all mails undergo fumigation, this does not kill the bacilli. All dirty bank notes should therelore be at once destroyed, and the other colonies notified, advising them to do the •same. I would also suggest that the dozens of rats which daily invade the premises of Prince Albert College, for instance, be summarily dealt with. Once the plague gets amongst these it will bo too late, and then into how many houses and homes in this town may the plague be spread J I

The s.s. Waimate feft Wellington for Cape-1 town, Tia Albany, at 4pm, on Saturday. | The Railway Hotel at Inglewood had aj narrow escape from destruction by fire on Sunday morning. Some of the outbuildings were found to be ablaze, but the services of a bucket brigade were successful in quenohing the flames and preventing a further 1 spread.

In the course of an eloquent sermon, delivered in his own church at Liverpool, Dr. ' John Watson, " lan MacLaren," alluded to the part drink has played in fostering the . war spirit. He remarked that the public house and the music hall represent England j at its lowest; their habitues were its ; weakness in the hour of trial, and its ourse in the day of victory. It is upon clean living and sober-minded people that the weight of national affairs rests, and it is their action which shapes the national character. In the course of some remarks on German trade with Australasiaacontemporary say* : We have looked up the available particulars respecting pianos. We find that German pianos were imported into Australasia in 1898 to a value of nearly £160,000; the heaviest importers being Viotoria £44,834, New Zealand £41,051, and New South Wales £36,041. The apparently truthful statement that the Russian Government has arranged to loan Persia the not insignificant amount of 22£ million roubles is somewhat startling, in view of the fact that Russia herself was not long ago attempting to raise a loan of Borne millions in England, and being unable to tempt our financiers tried those of France and Germany without results (writes a London correspondent). The nominal value ] of a rouble is about 3s 2d (intrinsically with silver at 30d per ounce it is worth only ] Is 6fd); so the loan is equal to about three and a half millions sterling. The advance of this sum upon the strength of the Persian Customs, which may not improbably prove insufficient seourity for interest and amortization, shows that Russia proposes to play a strong game in the East whilst England's hands are full in South Africa. The advantages Russia will gain by having such a oontrol of Persian finances are manifest. There is apparently a clause in the loan agreement that debars Persia from raising any other exterior loan until the Russian advance has been redeemed, a process for

which a period of 75 years is allowed. If meantime the Customs duties prove insufficient to pay the interest Russia will at once acquire direct control of the Customs of all Persia, excepting Fars and the Gulf Ports, but including Scistan and that part of South-Eastern Persia through which probably the greater part of British Indian trade finds its way into the Shah's dominions. There is, it seems, nothing in the RussoPersian contlact to prevent the borrowing Government accepting at any time an offer from any other Power or group of capitalists to furnish at a cheaper rate of interest than that demanded by Russia money sufficient to redeem the Czar's loan, and it will be interesting to watch for such a manceuvre in the near future.

Kroonstad, where the Boers are now awaiting Lord Hoberts, is familiar with all old Johannesburg men, as the happy little resort where the overworked could cnjov boating, fishiDg, a little shooting, and the waters, which are of a medicinal kind. It perhaps was too far or expensive to ran down to Natal, and time was money in the period of the great speculating days of the Witwatersrand. The journey could be accomplished in seven hours, and the change was agreeable. Kroonstad, too, was the fashionable resort for the newly-married people who could not manage to take the usual run to Capetown, or the ideal of the well-to-do—a trip to Europe; indeed, Kroonstad was a town that pretty well existed on the presence of the visitors from the Rand, who had a habit of spending their money in such a prodigal sort of way that the Johannesburgher became a person of interest and remark in all the coast and inland towns of Natal, the Free State, and Cape Colony. It is at Kroonstad railway station that the Customs were collected, but no one had cause to complain on that score, save the travelling cyclist, who had to pay pretty heavily to get his machine through. Since Briton and the Boer threw down the gaunlet to meet in deadly combat there has been a marvellous and unprecedented ran on all our modern songs, " Sons of the Sea," and "Soldiers of the Queen," are the favourites, and in every city, town, village, and hamlet where the Anglo-Saxon tongue is spoken the soul-stirring refrains can be heard. We have also to chronicle another unprecedented run, and that is on Sykes' Cura Cough, which has rehabilitated thousands of enfeebled and run down constitutions.—All Chemists and Storekeepers.—Advt

" OIIUBL ONLY TO BE Kind."—Much unnecessary suffering is inflicted under the above exense. If one is not very well, feels out of sorts, has a touch of the bile, and experiences an unpleasant giddiness, one is immediately teld to take some disagreeable medicine. It is kindness in the guise of cruelty we are told. As a matter of fact disagreeable medicines are no fonger necessary. Holloway's Pills and Ointment—the world-famed remedies—will soon put one right, and, moreover, they are pleasant ard agreeable restoratives to health. Thousands can attest this, thousands have attested it. For disorders of the stomach and liver, take the Pills; and use the ointment for gout, umbago, rheumatism, &c.—Advt.