LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 7702, 3 January 1905, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

A new dredge for the Bluff Harbour Board will leave Scotland about the end of January. A meeting of the committee in charge of the arrangements for the children's carnival on Thursday lis called for this evening in the Council Chambers.

The Argus says the epithet "feath-er-brained asses" applies well to the gang of hoodlums that paraded Grey mouth early on Christmas morning damaging property and annoying people. Mr T. E. Taylor's Christchurch supporters have deckled to raise a Taylor Testimonial Fund. A committee has been elected to further the proposal and to receive subscriptions.

Mr W. A. Coliis has now on view some excellent photographs of lho procession and opening cpremony in connection with the exhibition'. Tho photographs aro very distinct, and should be prized as a souvenir of Taran n ki's gala day. A Palmerston North butcher was asked (says the Manawatu Daily Times) if he was going to the races. "What !" he exclaimed, with thunderous emph'Asis, "go and see those double compound essences of blank put my money on the to'te. No sir !" Hasty exit of interrogator.

An impression is abroad that the accommodation in New Plymouth is overtaxed owing- to the influx of visitors to tho carnival. Inquiries show that the hotels can cope with a still larger demand, while the dining room at the exhlytioiv is capable of dealing with anv 'Vumbcr.

A Christchurch company gave away pocket knives as Christinas presents to its customers, and in order to overcome the old-time superstition that "steel cuts friendship" a small charge was made with each. In this\ way £2 was collected, which was handed over to charitable objects.

At Ballarat (Victoria) the other week a juryman applied to \k excused from attendance because he had promised to give the bride away at a wedding on the .following day. The Chief Justice, Sir John Madden, said the policy of the law was to encourage matrimony, and granted the application.

"Haruspex," in the New Zealand Times :—From one of the outlying places in the Queen Charlotte Sounds comes a funny story. The munication isj by a steamer thafc calls once a week with mails and stores for the folk who live in the vicinity,. The charge for carriage of goods is ten shillings n ton or sixpence a cwt. One day a leading and unlettered settler received a bill that read ; One ton of goods 10s ; one cwt. 6d ; total, 10s Gd. The old man looked at it for a long time carefully, and then he said : "Well, I remember gettin' the ton of stuff all right, but dash me if ever I had sixpenn'orth of suet."- .

The late President Kruger being buried beside his wife in Pretoria on December Hit'lr—Dingaun's Day—re calls the troublous early days of the people. In 1837 the Zulus, who were in possession of Natal, attempted to wipe out the Boer emigrants who had entered the .country. At. Weenen (weeping) a large body were massacred ; in other places parties escaped only after desperate fights behind their laagered waggons. Revenge came soon, however, and at Blood River the emigrants defeated Dingaan, the Zulu chief, with great slaughter. Dingaan's Day has been the Boer national holiday ever since. During the progress of a fire in Wellington on Wednesday night last three brigadesmen had a narrow escape from death. They were working a nozzle on the smoking verandah of the building, directly under the electric lig'lvting wiress, unconscious of the fact that portions of the front wall had fallen on the wires, and that they were about to fuse. The crowd noticed the danger and did not hesitate to call out ; but the three men in shining helmets continued their work. Superintendent Hugo, however, noticed the danger, and promptly ordered the men to come down. A minute later there was a loud report, and the wires spluttered and fused in a most alarming manner around the spot yvfcero tho UICJI had been kneeling. Says the Wanganui Herald :—A veritable plague spot, of which" few in town have any knowledge, appears to exist in the shanties on tho Sand hills near the cemetery, where a number of old vagabonds are drinking themrelves into delirium tremens. These worthies do no work", and how they live at all is a mystery. No less than scvel. of them are old age pensioners, and their companions spend most of their time sponging on them, and inducing them to waste their pensions in liquor. Only the other night one of the police found it necessary to go over and hunt one of these latter out, and put out the lamp in one of the huts, as lie was fearful of the occupants being burnt to death, such was their drunken condition. The shanties are indescribably dirty, and the whole locality is a disgrace to the town.

Rill Murphy, -tho New Zlealandl»oru exponent of the pugilistic art. ppives an exhibition in the Drill Hall on 'Thursday evening, when all interi'KlieU are invited to attend. Writing of his performances aa the land oif Stars anil Stripes the San Francisco Nationsil Review says '•' Australian (?) Billy Murphy, the most astonishing boxer on record, having fought such of the niWille and ■heavy weights as Harry Jjaing anil Billy McCarthy, though he never weighs more than 11(5 pounds, met Sig Hart, of Chtcago,, in a l.">rouml bout), the latter being awaited <tho decision in the limit on points. The (irrepressible New Zealand toiijor-pug. is now scheduled to box Casper Leon at Sioux City, twenty rounds! 'When will Murphy cpjit boxing ?' asks a . sporting friend. We g)lvo it up< Ask us somethling easy. He has already figured in over 500 battles,"

On Monday Mr Kinsella, dairy commissioner, was waited upon at the Criterion Hotel, by a deputation from Stratford, liii reference to the technical school. Thenuvn ob-, jtct. of the deputation was to aseer- | tain if there were a possibility of obtaining scientific or professional I lecturers to s:ive lectures in the school during six months 1 of tho I year,, on subjects appcrtaisving to | velurimiry science, dairy bacteriolo;gy, and the science of practical dairyiing.- Mr Kinsella's reply was toi tho effect that lie had no' power to deal with) such matters', the whole question resting entirely with the Minister for AgricuiUuro. Ho was personally in accord with) the idea of teaching people by practical lectures, and if tho Government could bo induce! to provide professloni|al instructors he would be only too _ glad to Jielp them in any way possible 'to advance the interests of tho settlers of the whole colony, ft yom do your own washing then here is good news for you. Try a tin of "Washine '-' ; it will help you -anil please .you. See list oJ storfr. .j£epers^hi J 'sf n ek; it»* '-i'

The Muravieff as Russian recently tendered Of disagreements' the popular demand for cajJHfctqtional reform, has been witihdravHhL When is a ■ man vHfeomc '? " This question was decidßFby a wise London police magistrate in regard to a man. who, leaning out of his window, had used bad language to a j passer-by. "The offending parts of iyour body were outside," said the IniiVgistraU'. "If your legs bad'been I outside and your head in, it would have been different. Fined 10s." A peculiar coincidence has been noted in connection with the crimin- j nl statistics at the Dannevjrke Pol- . ice Court. On December 30th last i the year finished with 410 cases, the final one 'being a "drunk." Yester- I day (says the Advocate) the record I again stands at 449, and again the j final one was a "drunk." It is further to be noticed thnt the same I justice preskk-d on December 30th last as presided this year. A block of marble weighing 12} tons, the biggest ever imported into Australia, arrived at Melbourne on December 19fh by the German steamer Gneisenau. The marble, which came from the famous quarries of Carrara, was brought out for the statue which Mr 0, Douglas Richardson has designed to symbolise the discovery of gold in 1851, and which will eventually stand in Howard Place, Bendigo. From 3851 to 1903 the value of wool exported from New South Wales was £740,398,000, ami the significance of these I figures is still more strongly emphasised when a comparison is mode with the gold yields. The gold exported from New South Wales in tins same period was valued at £3(5,000,000, but the export of wool amounted to over £300,000,000, more than eight times the value of any industry which in Itself has been a prime factor in Australian prosperity. A curious ease of imaginary suffering ending in death is reported in the St. Petersburg newspapers. A railj.way employee named Michael Slar|itzky, of Krasnoiarsk", on the Siberian railway, was accidentally .locked in a refrigerating van, and [was afterwards found dead. Imagining he was being slowly frozen to death, he recorded his sufferings with a piece of chalk on the floor. The refrigerating apparatus, however, was out of order, and the temperature in the van had not fallen below 50 degrees Fahrenheit throughout the journey. The Gothic, which leaves Wellington in a day or two, will take ! 9580 boxes of butter from the Patea Grading Works. Up to the end of ,the year the shipment of butter exceeds that of the corresponding periSod of last year by 9787 boxes, although it should be mentioned that , early in the season the i'atea works handled a portion, of the North Taranaki butter whilst the Moturoa .works were in course of erection. jThe shipments up to December 31st, 1190|3, were as follows : 2171, 3187 5275, 5701, 7103, 7805, 743 D, 7625 '— total 46,646 boxes ; till December ,31st, 1904 :—4OBB, 4852, 6633 6383 17469, 8295, 9183, 9580-total .16,433. The Wanganui Herald states that the Gotliic's snipment is the biggest ever taken from I'atea. From accident, sudden death, and parliamentary speeches most people who value time may well pray to be delivered (says the Sydney Tele- . graph). When the Assembly was reduced in numbers from 125 to 90, many people imagined that in a smaller house there would necessarily be. less talk, but, as far as the popular Chamber is concerned, the quantity has increased rather than v diminished. In fact, last week's ; Hansard stands as a record either in the State or the Commonwealth. The speeches are spread over 438 pages, and at 800 words to the page —the average number—it follows that 351,400 words were uttered in that period. It should be stated, in explanation, that the Assembly sat every day but Saturday, and that Thursday's sitting lasted until 6 p.m. on Friday, However, the record stands. Storage Jn dry brick Btore, low insurance rate, minim.um Are risk, low _ues for storage.—The New Zealand Express Company, Ltd. • a Do you dread washing day ? Thon buy a tin of Washine and cheer up. See a list of storekeepers who stock it. A6d tin. sufficient for a week's washing.* The Exhibition is bound to be a success] and a big one at that. So is J. 11. Parker's display of silvet mounted toilet requisites, purses, and cheap watches for boys and girls from 17s Od each. Also greenstone goods in great variety.* lho Provident Building Society is issuing a new series of shares, and in accordance with its usual ' policy, it is inviting applications from tho public. The secretary, Mill. A. I.ennan, will be pleased co give any information to inquirers, 1 and bo happy to supply application forms, which must bo filled in and lodged with him by December 10th. 1 The society has steadily progressed since its establishment and has always done business on safe and cautious lines. The society has funds in hand, and is prepared to lond on approved security at the usual favourable rates.* WHY IT SELLS.

If SYICES' DRENCH were not backed by real merit it would have been dead long ago. Do you want to know why it sells ? WORD OF MOUTH ADVERTISING. A farmer buys it, perhaps through chance, maybe a friend recommends it to him. However, ho gives it-a trial. A valuable cow's life is saved ; next time several of his pigs are sick; he tries it again ; and so it goes on until after two or three more trials he finds it can be depended upon. When his neighbours cows are sick ho says: "Why don't you» use SYKES' Drench ? Best thing I ever struck. Get a packet old chap, and just use it accordikg to the directions and it will do tho rest." This friend tries it with similar results and recommends it to another, and so it grows constantly because it faithfully does its work. Each Packet of SYKJCS' DRENCH contains two drenches. Price Is 6d.— Advt. GOUT GOES GLADLY, Rheumo and gout can't bo in the system together. When Rheumo goes in the gout goes out. -Mr F. D. Telling, of Eketahuna, has proved this. Writing on Ist July he says : —"Kindly send me another bottle of your Rheumo mixture, as I have had no trouble with gout since I have kept it in the house. It gives me immediate relief by taking one dose. I can with confidence recommend Rheumo for either gout or rheumatics." Just one more proof of that Rheumo conquers chronic rheumatism. Chemists and stores, 2s Gd and 4s fid ,jer bottle.* 5