LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 301, 29 January 1910, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The New Plymouth Gas Co. has 1720 consumers connected with its mains. It is now possible to .drive to the Strattord mountain house. Further improvement to the track is contemplated. The borough engineer has been instructed by me Reserves Committee to provide a life-line at the East End .bathing shed, in case of mishap to surf bathers. it is computed that President Tuft on his recent 14,0U0 mile tour kissed 100,000 babies, shook hands with 1,000.000 persons, and made 5000 speeches. He also listened to 20,000 speeches of welcome. There is a budding millionaire in New Plymouth. Alter every picnic at the breakwater he is to lie -seen examining the ground lor empty bottles, etc., : which he carefully coilecis and makes t away with. A young man named Joseph South was convicted at the Waitara Court in Thursday jof being an idje and disorderly person ami having no visible means ol support, and was sentenced to 14 days' imprisonment. Next Thursday evening it is proposed to give a concert in the vicinity of the naming shed at East End. A charge of fid will be made, and the proceeds will be devoted towards providing further facilities for bathers. The Fit/.roy senior tenuis team defeated Wiiita'ra at Waitara on Thursday by 102 games to 04. The second team journeyed to Bell Block, and won with a margin of 32 games. Return matches are being arranged. A large Southland station owner who has about 20,000 sheep, states that had thy prices of wool been this yea r what they were at the corresponding sale of 1008 he would have received £I2OO ](*ss for his clip than he did last I week.

New Plymouth seems to have surrendered itself en bloc to mixed surf batiling, and hundreds of adult bathers of both sexes, with apparently the whole of the juvenile population, are nightly disporting themselves in the sea along the town fronts.

, The 'Premier has informed Messrs Jennings and Okey, M.P.'s, that the veil nest of veterans desirous of visiting Wellington when Lord Kitchener arrives is granted. Members should apply for railway passes through the secretaries of the veterans'' associations.

A resident of Wanganui had an oxciting experience on Wednesday evening' (the Chronicle reports). He was proeccilinar up the avenue when a man sprang out of an alleywav and caught liold of him. He managed to liberate himself, and shown such a turn of foot that his pursuer was outdistanced. The cunning of the grey duck was commented on by Mr. Edgar F. Stead at a meeting of the Christchurch Acclimatisation Society. Mr. Stead stated that there wais no game in Xew Zealand which scented danger like the bird in question, and when the shooting season commenced it quicklv changed its quarters to some small lagoon in the vicinity of which shooting was not .■]- lowed. ;aid where the duck was out of danger. x^ 'Uhe Minister Works has give 4 !) out authorised, works in the Tanninninni <!ec-orator The principal woiik* authorised are the Te KnitiAwakiiio road, £1632, for nietalling to be done by the Department; Ohura road construction, 'C3300, to be carried out Viy the local bodies, the Ohura and Whangnmoniona counties. Amongst other grants were the Kiwi road £3211, Pomornngi road £313, M"anganui road £587, Waikawa road extension £493. and Awakino Valley road £172. Writes Mr. E. Dixon to the Hawera Star:—On Wednesday about 400 children ajid adults journeyed to Ngaere for their annual Sunday School picnic. The trains at best are run at inconvenient times for picnic parties, the onTy choice heinsr one at 7.20, too earlv. the next at 11.10. The train left'Hawera at 11.30. This was trying to the children. Then on reaching Eltham (the stationmas'ter T> presume Was to blame) treated those 400 like 'trucks of sheep, and kept the train waiting at the station for 30 minutes while they did some shunting. The train reached Xgaere at one o'clock. I* the stationmaster at Eltham is responsible, T trust that in the future he will mete out different treatment, and not 'treat 400 passengers like stock.

The honorary director of flic Wauganui Observatory states that the court recently observed at Johaune.-'lmrir. South Africa, should, if cabled positions lie correct, lie visible again about January 27. The director luiis been informal that the comet was seen from Mount Egmont by a Taranaki resident on •January 1!) before the cabled report from Johannesburg was received. At I resent it is behind the sin. but -dioitid show out again on the date named. With regard to Halley's comet. Mr. Ward Mates that it should be visible in about three months' time in the morning. Tts visability will last only a litt.'e lime, however, as it will soon pass boh:nd the sun, emerging a»ain after a short period, when it will be -"oen in the cveni'.itr.s moving away from <Hir ken. Tn connection with the nbove it mav be stated, savs the Eltham Aivrus. that some half-dozen Eltham resident* (•jiv that, while on a visit to T)a\v=-.us House recently they saw the Johannesburg comet. THE MELBOURNE'S GREAT SALE READ ABOUT FRESH RAROATX.S FOR SECOND WEEK. Since the opening day of our monster annual reduction sale on,- premises have been crowded daily with happy enthusiastic shonpers revelling amidst the ninsfnifieent bargains. This second week of sale will see lvroiurlit forward a further batch of bargains that is sure to create extraordinary 'interest. Chief among the fre.=h lines are boys' 'Varsity suits. fi7fi to 13/0 : men's lovely silk broad-cud ties. Is each: men's strong merino pants, with extra spliced seats. 2s fid: all our children's calafea straw hats reduced to nearly haiT-priee. Mill's regular shilling cashmere socks reduced: to 3 pairs for 2/0; men's brown cotton pants and shirts reduced to Ts fid: men's balbrigcan singlets reduced to Is fid: men's mercerised silk handkerchiefs, with blue spot border, reduced to fid each: men's famous Oamaru saddle trousers reduced to 12/0: men's splendid tailor-made worsted suits, reduced to 3ns; mens pretty two-.shilling stud-knot tie* reduced to Is: don't stay away under any consideration. We guarantee to save you money on everv article purchased. i>R. SHELDON'S NEW DISCOVERY, for Coughs and Colds cures all Chest Complaints. Price. Is Cd and 3s. Ob lainab'e everywhere. ._ ,

! At a meeting of (lip Mu'terton ChamI bor Dl' Commerce LIHU was sub^fribucl for the" purpose of undertaking prosI pecting work in the Tararua ranges. Extensive additions are contemplated Ito the Gisborne iiaruor. The plans provide lor an extension of the wall lor a distance of 30011, parallel to the present breakwater, and sightly on the seaward side. Wild cattle are reported to he very numerous at the oaek of the liasi Eglinton ranges (near Te Anau). Some 200 animals are known to have bee;i lost there of recent, years. It is estimated that 700 or SOU are running wild , in the district. it is estimated that there were over live hundred, people enjoying the "mixed bathing" at 'le lleuui on Thursday evening. A suggestion is made that the Committee in charge should make a levy j of a penny a time for the use of the J building, or even go in for the locker system as a means of raising revenue. I Taking up collections is simple, hut it's i a method of raising funds by which (those often escape who most richly deserve to pay. The YVaiiganui Education Board will not accept tae Department's scheme lor providing text-books unless the money is first forthcoming. At the last meeting the following resolution was carried: "That the Education Department be informed that the Board is willing to supply free school books to pupils after receipt of the money to purchase those books, but declines to incur any such ', liability, as its experience has been so ! unsatisfactory in the past, especially as | the Board's overdraft at the end of the year was nearly £3000." The Town Clerk of Stratford. Mr. E. F. Hemingway, asks the local Press to warn the. public against some individual I who is' reported to be canvassing in the I neighborhood of Midhirst for subscrip- | tions in aid of the Roberts fund. This I fund has been closed for something like 1 twelve ■ months now, and Mr. Roberts, ; thanks to the generosity of the public, 'is at present living in a substantial ' dwelling of his own, purchased for him j by the trustees out of the funds subscribed, and is far from being in need of any further assistance. The weasel nuisance has made its way into Maiiakati. For the last two or three weeks Miss Mason iias been losing several chickens of a very fine breed, and on Sunday afternoon, hearing a disturbance amongst her poultry, ran up to see the cause, and found a weasel attacking a half-grown fowl. Being I alone, she. got her brother's gun, loaded , it, sat down in true sportsman fashion, I and fired, shooting the weasel through j the head. This was the 'first time Miss Mason had loaded or fired a gnn oil', and her marksmanship was excellent. The Central School will reopen on Monday morning. The idea of conducting a lock-out as a protest against the ! stalling arrangements, as threatened by I the chairman of the committee some | few days ago. has not received the cn- ' dorsement of the committee. The school .•will open with a teaching stall' of ten. ' consisting of the headmaster, seven assistants, five pupil teachers (two of : whom have been teaching for a year or more), and one probationer. Of these, ' two assistants and one pupil teacher , will be stationed at the infant school in ' Courtenay-street.

! Talking yesterday of smart hoys' tricks, a local resident mentioned tlie : ease of a chemist who was badly "bad'' by the small boys of the town in which he lived. He used to make a practice iof buying medicine-bottles from the , boys, and they brought him large quanjtitics. Strange to say. his stock of j bottles didn't seem to increase very fast. The arrival of a peculiarlymarked bottle one night, and or one 1 which seemed to be its exact counterpart next day, put him on the trail of ' the little scheme that the boys were I working. They used to visit his back ] yard, pick up a dozen bottles, march , round to the shop, and sell the chemist his own property! 1 The schools in the Taranaki Education District reopen on .Monday after : the six weeks' summer vacation. As 1 yet there lias been only one application received by the Board for extended leave. ' one young lady who is away at a holiday report asking to be allowed to resume teaching on Wednesday, because, in order to be at school on Monday morning, she would have to leave for home on Friday morning, thus unduly curtailing her vacation. The application fell upon ears of adamant. The , Board is resolved that this year the teacher.- shall start work on the date , fixed by resolution, and not at the sweet will of the teachers, as has hitherto been the case in some instances.

Still another protest against the Kducation Department's new interpretation of the purposes of the maintenance jjnint. The U'anganui Education. Board at its last meeting resoiyed: "That the attention of the Minister of Education be directed to the fact that this Board's maintenance grant was over CIOOU in debit at the commencement of the year, after the government grant had been taken into consideration, leaving that much le>s than nothing to carry on for at least six months; that therefore tne reduction of £1317 in the maintenance on the last live years' grant precludes' the Board from carrying uut its functions in keeping the school buildings in a proper state, and urges the Minister to bring this matter before Cabinet with the view of having the full amount of the previous grant handed over." The first Taranaki scholarship has been won by Miss Mary Dowling, a pupil of the Xe\y P'ymovth High .School. This scholarship, which is awarded under the Taranaki Scholarships Act of IUIM, is of an annual value of U(ifl, and carries with it the obligation to undergo three years' study at the Victoria College, or other college mentioned in the Act. The Education Act explains th:- v t the scholarships are established for the purpose of bringing higher education within the reach of deserving scholars who have resided and attended school in Taranaki for not less than two years, candidates to be between the ages of sixteen and nineteen years, and to comprise oni'y those who have not matriculated or carried on studies' at any college. The revenues of the Opaku reserve are set flf-ide as an endowment for providing the scholarships, and one or more may be allotted annually, as the funds permit. INTEREST AWAKENED. Interest awakened everywhere in the marvellous cures of Cuts, Burns and Wounds with Dr. Sheldon's Magnetic Liniment. PrW ]; fit n- f ] 3?_ Obtainable everywhere. : ...