LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 74, 17 March 1908, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The usual fortnightly meeting of the Loyal Kginout Lodge,' 1.(1.(1. K. JL.U ; ., was held la>t evening, Lro. L. F. Webster, N.C., in the chair. A letter of recommendation was granted to a brother who has left the district. The NX!, notilled that the next lodge night would be the quarter night lor the payment of contributions. After the lodge closed the reception committee for the M.C. meeting met and made several arrangements for the \arious functions.

Mr. \Y. X. Jennings, UP., brought betore the Premier hist night tin- grievance of Waitara ti-bermen who have been given instruction- by the Acclimatisation Society to cease using nets at the mouth of the Wailava river. The effect of this order, Air. Jennings pointed out, would be that about ten men were to be deprived of their means of ! livelihood, while the people of the district would be unable to procure lish. As the river was a tidal ouc, used by steamers, and the netting had been in operation continuously for the past 20 Real's, he was unable to understand the reason for the Acclimatisation Society's attitude. The Premier promised to bring the matter under the notice of the Miniser for Internal Affairs. One of the most contemptible tbie\es is the papej thief—he who purloins a newspaper left at a person's place, lie is contemptible, lor in the majority of eases the runner who leaves the paper has to bear the loss, the amount of the value of the paper being deducted trout his earnings. A "News'' subscriber had complained I'rciitioiitly of hi- paper not bemg delivered; the "runner was positive the paper was left. Acting on the runner's suggestion, the subscriber got down to his shop a little earlier than usual yesterday morning and watched. He saw !iis paper pushed hall-way under the loot', and a few minutes later nl~o -aw t disappearing. Opening the door he ated tlie crestfallen thief, who mnrniur•i something to the effect that he was i

"just going to have a look at tlie paper" and meant to [nil it back. The hiibM-riber h now satisfied that tin- run-

ner was not to lildiuc for the irregularity. It's il pily the delilU|Ucll »> not asked to explain his conduct before the KM. The publicity ;il}'or,l<-»| would | have served a« a warning in the growing number of paper thieves in our midst, j

J The decorations ( ,f 1.1 ■«.- dinner tabic | should I* a joy to every woman. What could be better to sliou them to ad- ' vantage than a good linen damask? We have .in-l imported direct from Bel. fast our new stock of while ami unbleached table damasks for this >eason, and are selling at prices lower than ever before. The removal of 23 per cent, duty enables us to do it. Our prices starl at Is a yard and vary up to 7s Gd a yard. Conie and see them, i White aud /Sous, Devon-street.—Advt. I

•'L am very pleased with o»v hospital in comparing it with those, in Mustcrton, Wangamii, and Palmerston North," said Mr. Bcllriugcr, chairman of the Hospital Beard, yesterday. "So am 1, and I've been through several of t lie other hospitaU," rejoined Mr. J. Brown.

in connection with the meeting to be addressed by I,adv Phmket on Wednesday afternoon in "the Town Hall on the iju'oslion of preservation of infant life, her Excellency is desirous that it should be known that she desires the meeting to be ;i. public one, not. a meeting for ladies alone, as it lias been interpreted bv some.

Mrs. Belle Morehouse Lawrence, one of Harry Thaw's early teachers, stated at his trial that the boy was always brooding, and he had a trick of standing open-mouthed. -When he came to me,'' ■she, said, "he was live years ami eleven months ohl, and his speech was quite unintelligible. J found after three weeks that he had a language of his own, and I had to give him private lessons."

Statistics compiled by the Minister of Labor show that there are nearly a million more women than men in Fiance. There are 800.000 more bachelor- than spinsters, and b% million more widows than widowers. The number of women in France over ninety years of age is railier more than double that of the men. Of 9,750,000 families over ]'/, million are childless, and only twentylour have seventeen children, while only 34,000 have nino or more.

Three boys accidentally hanged lately a-playmate during a mock lynching it | Memphis, Tennessee. One of them proposed that they should lynch, in fun, a lifteen-yeiir-ohl negro companion named William Gordon. Despite Gordon's entreaties, a rope was placed about his neck, a pulley and tackle were used to hoist him to the ceiling. The boys intended to lower Gordon before his breath was B ut oil', but the rope e night, and it was impossible to lower him until he was dead. Two of the boys have been charged with manslaughter.

At least one English family is apparently willing to try the scheme for an exchange of children for educational purposes. An advertisement appears in the Lokdlanzeiger offering the loan of an eight-year-old boy, whose name is given as Reginald Hardy. His parents .states that he recited a 'parting greeting" to the German Emperor when the latter left Loudon. The parents are described as very respectable. They offer to send him to a German household in exchange for a German child. If the exchange should be made the children concerned would be maintained and educated for a certain period. The warmth and fertility of New Zealand soil—as evidenced by the fact that although we have comparatively little rain, much, of the country is once more clothed in a beautiful carpeting of green | grass—have prompted a contemporary to remark that nowhere else docs the grow so green as under the humid skies of Ireland. While it is unite true that the grass seem- to retain a perpetual I verdure in the "Emerald Isle," it is none the less accurate to state that the perpetual humiditv of Irish skies is one of Ui,. worst evils Ireland has to contend with; and Irishmen would give a great deal to possess for their land even a little of the warmth and fertility of New Zealand. The March number of the New Idea contains the announcement that next ] mouth the magazine will be enlarged iby sixteen pages, and the following month (May) will be increased in price Ito sixpence. The editor promises all sorts of special features in the bigger I magazine, including Australian series I by Mary Gilnmre, Charles Barrett, and I Mass llattie F. Hopkins, a daughter of the famous "Hop," of the Sydney Bulletin. Miss Hopkins is the author of a prettv little story ill the March number, and if her series fullils the promise of this one, the editor has secured a treasure. The Australian llavor of the .New Idea grows more pronounced, and we may compliment the editor on the tine collection of home-grown stories, verses, and pictures presented in -the March number. If he succeeds, as be prophesies, "in strengthening every department of the journal, and adding several new ones." then the New Idea will compare favorably with any magazine in the world.

Subject to an agreement on certain alterations and mollifications, the design for the 'J'aranaki war memorial on MaisI land Hill was practically decided ou at a meeting of the .Memorial Committee yesterday" afternoon, ine proposed memorial takes the form of a handsome ami massive monument in Italian granite, surmounted by a life-size figure of a militia man. The monument, it is understood, will rest on a solid base of local stone, four feet in height, and the total height of the column will be 27 feet, the granite monument being 23 feet from bus e to apex. With the addition of the military figure, the monument will be almost a replica of the Tongan Royal Mausoleum at Nukualofa, which was constructed by \V. Parkinson and ( 0., of Auckland, and erected at the Island. The same firm submitted the design for the local memorial. A design submitteil by the local firm of Messrs Sanderson and Griffiths found favor with some of the committee. It took the form, approximately, of a massive cairn of imposing design, and standing some .10 feet in height, surmounted by a lookout balcony approached by a stairway up the centre. While it may not have possessed the beauty of the more-favored design, it possessed the additional merit, of utility. This week the Melbourne Clothing Company have the following special bargains on offer:. .Men's strong dark saddle trousers, 8s fid pair; men's white tennis or cricket hats, 4s lid; men's stylish hard hats made of pure fur felt, Ss Cd; men's celluloid collars, fJd each; men's bathing drawers, Cd; boys' bathing drawers, 4d; men's pretty creame stripe tennis shirts 3s 6d, men's splendid white striped mercerised tennis shirts is ltd, men's pure linen handkerchiefs 5s Gd the half-dozen. Men's sample tailor-made suits, special offer, regular price 09s lid, now 49s 6d, men's merino underpants and singlets Is lid, men's Advt.