LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 300, 28 January 1910, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Land agents report a revival in business, several fair cash tran>aciions in .land having been put- through in the past week or two. The Avenue Road Card Club intends holding a picnic at "Aotea" on Thursday next, The function will not be public, but confined to members and theninvited guests. . There's an unsightly weed growth on the sides of Liardet street near the Recreation Grounds. The stale of the street is in vivid contrast to the wellkept sports ground and terraces to which it gives access. The exports of Fiji bananas during December (s'ays the Fiji Times of 25th December) will be a record. The six steamers sailing during the month take

nearly 150,000 bunches to Australia and New Zealand. We are credibly informed I that the exports for 1900 will total about 1,000,000 bunches." I Inglewood must have borne a desercIcd appearance yosterday. It's schoolchildren and their parents, old boys and oid girls, to the number of about eight hundred, came to New Plymouth for the annual school picnic. Five rinks of bowlers played a match with the Fitzroy Club, and its senior and junior cricket elevens had engagements heie also. Devon street was full of Ingle-wood-ites during the morning. Tie sagacity of a spaniel kept at the Roman Catholic presbytery at Pukekohe j led to the discovery of a fire in the I dining-room early on Saturday morning I last. The housekeeper was roused by ; the dog jumping on her bed and licking J her face, and found the room full of ! smoke. Investigation showed that the I wallpaper and curtains near the diningi room window were on fire. The outI break was quickly extinguished, only about £5 worth of damage being done, , and this is covered by a policy in the South British office. In the morning a ! man's footprints were visilde under the | window, and it is thought that the cur- , tains were set oil fire either purposely 'or by someone who was investigating I the premises for some purpose, pi'esumI ably illegal. • The number of county ratepayers who complain of the non-receipt of their rate-cards is remarkable. The explanation is simple. Demands for rates are made, as a general rule, some time between July and September. Few people even dream of paying up rates on demand, just as the majority of townsmen don't pay their gas or electric lignt to the meter readers. In all thr?e cases there is a date fixed up till which time the account may be settled as rendered, and after which date there is a pretty heavy impost. The ratepayer sees no reason for hurry. Time enough to pay the rate when the ten per cent, penalty is threatened. Then it is forgotten, and the rate-card is lost. ' By-and-bye • the newspaper tells them of the ten per cent, impost. The card can't be found. What more natural than to write for another; what easier excuse than to complain that none has been received? Meanwhile the County Council, by reason of the long-windcdness of the rarepayers, has had to borrow from the Bank in order to pay for the upkeep of •the roads. Were rates paid promptly, .there would be a nice little cheque for I expenditure in stone and labor wliich now falls into the maw of the lending institutions. There's at least one boy in New Plymouth who will make a smart man if he isn't "bowled out" and sent to work for good of his country before lie reaches the adult state. This lad has only seen ten summers, but apparent'* they've been long ones. Like a lot of other boys, ho adds to his pocket allow, ance by selling bones to the manuraproducmg firms. The other day he brought a bag of bones to the crusher, and the manager gave him a ticket authorising him To collect for fifteen pounds 'Weight at the firm's office in town. When the ticket was presented it was noticed that the 15 now read 4.3, I by the manipulation of the first figure. Even the experienced criminal is often "given away" by some very simple piece of neglect, or some ridiculous blunder, and it is not surprising that our young hopeful made the mistake of using a copying-ink pencil for his alteration of a figure written in black lead. Detection was inevitable. Upon the ticket , being presented, the boy was told to j come back in a couple of days for Ins ■ money. Meanwhile, the crusher nianaj ger was communicated with, and, upon instructions from his principal, the bag of bones was turned out. There were I nine pounds of bones, and six of stones! I No wonder he hasn't turned tip, as arJ ranged, for liis money. I The end-against-end rivalry was in evidence at the Borough Council liieetinj; 1 on Tuesday evening, and a disposition

; was abroad to argue the point oi allcgI e:l favoritism in the expenditure of the | borough funds. This matter is frequently hinted at by councillors, but it ifI not often that a member gives liis I tongue such rope as to allow the emphatic statement to be made. C'ouncii--1 lor Fred. Bellringer, however, has an uncomfortable knack of calling a spade a spade, whereas in the manipulation oi votes or in attaining success in society it is customary to refer to it as an implement indispensable in the pursuit of the art of horticulture. The came up as the result of C;. Hooker's remark that St. Aubyn street was sadly in need of metal, file coating in some places being so thin as to make remetalling imperative before winter set-' in. The Mayor said it was of litll t use to make a speech and leave it at that; why did n't Cr. Hooker make some proposition to re-metal the street? The motion was forthcoming instan'er. aril Cr. nilbert.seconded, llis Worship had rrot a= far a*. ''You've all heard the motion," when Or. Bellringer hurled himself into the Ttreaeh and forciblv remia led the Council that when be had asked for an allocation for making the thickly settled but unmetalled Leach street passable fo r wheel traffic in wet weather his application had been referred to a committee or to the engineer for a report. That, he said, was the usual fate o? nnv request for expenditure in the east ward. Vet in the west ward a councillor had only to open his mouth for a few hundred pounds' worthy of metalling, and get it authorised right off. Cr. Hooker interjected that it was of more importance to keep open the >\istin<; road« than to open up n>v street-;, to which Cr. Tiellringer replied ilint there were people in Leach street who had been paying rates for 20 and 30 years. ;t nd were -dill without a metalled nnnrnach to their housies. Tt was the Mayor who brought the innings to a close bv the announcement that it didn't matter a fig to him where the money Mas -pent so long as it was in the iWomrli. and judiciously expended. The ip' I 'i r^inv was deferred pendmg a rfeport from tlie engineer.

Amongst I In.' frozen meat taken by tlio last Home steamer from Waitara ■was a quantity of frozen bivf and mutton for (libralter. The animal picnics in connection with the K'thain ami '''e Roti Church of England Sunday S hools were held yester day at the Xgaire (lardens. In ine Police Court yesterday .1 man who pleaded t!a. he was only ">li tv.tlv elevated am,' not drunk," was con.'icied of drunkenness and discharged. • The first of the big schools" seaside pienies eventuated yesterday. when a •special train brought in some ,SHO people from Inglcwood. They picnicked 011 the beach, and had a real good lane.

We understand that t lis re is a p robs lulity of the conduit system being adopted with our telephone wires. There are numerous objections to the present overhead system of carrying the ■wires.

It is fetai.on teat the house at Stran don, almost opposite the Fitzrov railway station, at present the properly 01 the Railway Department, is to be transferred to the Police Department and ? u*ed as a police station.

. Our esteemed contributor, "C.W.WV writes:—ln my episodes of the late ifi'r •H. Atkinson, appearing in the "Daily News" this morning, 15 a slight mis•take, which looks a little foolish. Tiie text in the paper runs: "Mr. E. Everett (afterwards Mayor of Nelson) and iiis .brother, whose daughter Col. Stapp Hurried." It should be ''Also a Mr. Milne.', whose daughter Col. Stapp married." It might not be worth while drawing attention to, but that it is rather strikingly incorrect.

There was a large and happy gathering of folks of all ages at Glenavou, Fitzroy, yesterday afternoon, when St. Mary's and To llenui Anglican Sunday Schools held their combined picnic in the old •'picnic paddock." It is questionable whether a more delightful spct <ould be oil sen, and the situation. : !ie excellent arrangements and supervision of the Hiperinfemlents, teache;"-. and clergy, and an abundance of good made the j icnic one of tile most e'ljoyabl.; vet l;tU!.

A blight lias made its appearance within the last few days in a crop of onions. The onions are only half-grown and were till quite recently looking particularly well aud healthy. The efl'ect of the blight is to shrivel up the stalk about halfway up the stem. A s'amplc \vas sent into llawera, and as it was ■not identified it was sent on to Wellington. 111 view of the loss that will lie occasioned should it spread to other parts, the report of the Department will be anxiously awaited.—Star. 'J.'iio Oi.cen Street Primitive Methodis; Sunday School scholars had a most enjoyable day at Bell Block yesterday, when their superintendent and teaciier=, assisted bj parents of the children and others, gave them their annual treat. It wa3 just a jolly picnic, nothing moiv Or less, iii.nitting of no descript'on, except to say that the umial games and races \\e v o played and run with tli; usual children's zest. Prominent amongst the workers were Mrs. Moon. Missis Beak. Inbot>-on and Main, and -Messrs f!. E. Bellringer (superintend enti, B ! ac!\ and Scott. The picnicke-s returned by the 7.10 p.m. train. There has been a heavy demand upon fruit at the Wellington markets during the recent spell of hot weather. Anything with juice in it will yell, and iseli well, and it is almost all locally raised—that is, in the Nelson district 'and Hawkc's Bay. Peaches, plums, and nectarines and early apples, also toma'toes, have come into the markets in large quantities and have found ready Sale. Some passion fruit by the last Sydney boat came 011 to a heavy supply of our own produce, but brought satisfactory prices. Hothouse grapes have made their appearance, but thev are necessarily rather dear for the majority of consumers.

The Taranaki Garrison Band will give a concert at Messrs Sole Bros.' pretty grounds, "Aotea," on Sunday next, commencing at I! p.m. The following programme will lie rendered, under '-' ie -conductorship of Mr. Chan. IT. And'jr■son: —Grand processional march. "IV>. mania" (Gounod); anthem, "Jerusalem, my Glorious Home" (Mason): three hymns, "Abide with Me" (Monk), "San. .don' (Pttrday), and "Sun of My Soul'' (Anon); "Prayer from Moses in Egypt/' '.(Rostsini); chorus from Beethoven s Mass in C, "Thou Alone art llolv"; glee, "Winds gently whisper while she sleeps"; euphonium solo, "The Dawn of Redemption" (Hamilton Gray): old .song, "The Old Folks at Home"; an.l "The Old Hundred" (Frane).

In reference to the complaints made concerning the openintr no of the roadway at the Devon-Brougham 'street corner, and the inference tint, the 'fas Company is to blame for tearing up the road which had just been re-mefali: d by ■the Borough Council, we are asked to explain that the manager of tlie company, upon learning some six or eight, weeks ago of the intention of tile Borough Council to asphalt or pave the :, itersection of the streets, verbally notified the Mayor and the borough enu'i ncer that lie had to open the street for the purpose of laying a small section of six-inch main. This portion of the thoroughfare had not been touched by the Council when the Gas Company's workmen started operations, ft is :ilm> explained that the company does no! propose to disturb the street further, as this was the last remaining portion o< the smaller main in Devon street central. The Act under which I'm company is working compel- the giving of -18 hours' notice before commencing tiiis work.

Til tlie event of invasion tin* I'nited Kingdom could v;iise an army of over 5(1000 men and 0(10 guns. These would comprise 120.(100 'Regulars. 128.000 l'escrve.s, and 2(i0.000 Territorial Army and Sj ecial He-erM'. Ino mobili-ation ot this force would take some week-.

For your summer suit you can't do better than to consult The Ka-h. Ask them to show you one of their 'Trestwe!l" suits th"\'ve just made. They're absolutely tile nicest fitting lor of suits we've ever seen. Well-nadded shoulders. good smart collars and just that set about t.licm you always see in the best-made suits. * Try one at 37/0. or : if you can afford more, get one at 5.15. and you'll he perfectly satisfied. T)il I mention that they're making a pres'nt of an extra pair of trousers to ppre purchaser of a suit during the n'>iT fortnight? —Advt.

A few of the sale prices ruling at "The Kash": >Silk handkerchiefs Is, stripe denims 3s Jul, brown denims Us lid. blue denims 2s fid, bathing costumes la, saddle tweed trotuers fin! lid, woollen sox 3 pairs for 2s 3d, eashmett 1 sox (Id a pair, heavy tweed trousers 5s lid, Brazilian straw hats 2s Cd. Just try a pound at "The Kaah" to see. how far it will go, you'll be b'urprieed at the splendid results,—-Advt.

Three Siamese eats arrived from England liy the Annva for a New Zealand resident. Tliey are about the size of all ordinary domestic feline, and are also short-coated. "they are sandy-colored, with a black tail, black legs, black ears, and black lace, and have (due eyes.

Theie was a good at tendance of teacher*, scholar- ; ,ml parents yesterday a'ternoon at the annual picnic of the South Road Methodist Sunday School picnic *1 "Weidellierg." and the function passtd Hf very successfully, the weather being deligntlul and the grouiljs I'eailti'.nlly suited for the purpose.

The Stratford school shelter-shed subsidy iormed the subject of a conference 0:1 Tuesday between Mr. T. H. Pcnn, secretary 7 to the •ommitt.ee, and the luh'.cation Hoard's Finance Committee. 'J he latter gave a very full explanation, an J, the secretary informs' us, convinced Mr. Penn that the committee had received all that it was entitled to receive, though not all that was asked, their demand amounting to one for the payment of a subsidy 011 a subsidy.

Bishop Julius, at the Anglican Synod' at Wellington ou Thursday, apologised for the Primate's absence, ilis' Lordship, Said Dr. Julius, had lost his way in the suburbs, and had become quite fatigued. The Bishop further announced, amid much laughter, that Bishop Xeligan had also lost his way. lie had been invited to dine at Bishopseourt, Kelburne, but had wandered to Kilbirnie, and, besides losing his dinner, had been mulcted in eight shillings cab fare. (Laughter.!