LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 173, 31 October 1910, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Exports of butter from Auckland for the period ending October 21 totalled 20,3(13 boxes, as compared with 21,72S boxes for the same period last year. Rabbits have been making their way from Wairarapa to Hawke's Bay, anil vice versa, the wire-netting fence dividing the two districts being unsound. .A joint inspection of the fence is about to be made. A lady somnabulist in the Masterton district walked two miles from her home the other evening, and created alarm in a neighbor's house by presenting herself at a window, clad in a garment of white. "When the supposed "ghost" was awakened, there was none more terrified than herself. In Boston, U.S.A., a quarter of a million people are living entirely on vegetables and nuts. They dress in white, sleep in draughts, abjure milk, and remain alone for half an hour a day. Bv this means they hope to live 100' rears. Into this colony specialists in mental affliction frequently enter and make captures.

A motor cyclist travelled from Waitara to Haw era a few days ago in sev enty minutes. He should be prosecuted. There were £IOO,OOO worth of motoi cars belonging to visitors at the Hawke's Bay show. May they all purchase their petrol from Moturoa! It is reported that the road-making experiment, in connection with which a company was formed and a trial made in South Taranaki, is not proving a sue-ess. Droughty Central Otago is concentrating on fruit-growing. Three years ago 2000, fruit trees were sent from the Ilorton Nurseries, Hastings, two years ago 11,000, and last year 17,000. The Warganui Garrison Band is av present in Sydney. It give a successful concert at Albury, whr.e it was accorded a civic welcome, '.he baud will sail for New Zealand ou Wednesday.

If the aviator is really a "man bird" to-day, as man writers seem bound to call him, will there not be a to-morrow when common politeness will force us to call women aviators "lady-birds"? There are 95 assisted passengers, 73 of whom are adults, on board the Arawa, due at Wellington from London this week. The passengers include farmers, farm laborers, domestics and some women coming out to rejoin their husbands. Perere, a venerable Maori chief, died last week at Eewaka. He was regarded as the last of the old time Maoris o! the Ngatehau tribe, and was reputed to be over a hundred years old. He was present at the storming of Russell, and clearly remembered Heke cutting down the flagstaff at that place. A gentleman who has interested himself in the matter informs us that the Californian thistle has not been able to establish itself in Taranaki, although the seed has frequently been introduced in chaff from the south. The seed is propagated all right, but lacks inoculation, and the weed does not sperad. Eltham has been short of justices ot the peace for some time, and has asked its member to see about it. Interviewed on the subject, the Premier Teplied that new appointments will be made at the end of the session. The Eltham Borough Council will recommend Messrs. G. W. Tayler and T. C. Stanners for the commission of the peace. The piano-playing craze is not played out yet. A Gisborne message states that Edward Travis commenced playing at midday on Wednesday, and concluded at 11 o'clock on Saturday night, having played continuously for eighty-three hours, thereby establishing a new world's record for endurance piano-play-ing. Travis, who finished comparatively fresh, was accorded a great reception from a huge crowd.

Messrs. Sole Bros, have discovere« that the rainbow trout placed in the fish-ponds at "Aotea" have developed a liking for the little gold and silver fish which formed their companions. The tit-bit would seem to be the tail, for several bob-tailed fishes bear witness. As a result thirteen rainbow trout have been "deported," and will doubtless give sport one of these days to an angler Vho whips the Henui stream. A weH-known authority gives his opinion that at next winter's sales ordinary dairy cows will be sold at £lO a head. A few days ago two heifers, of no particular breed, but just average animals, were sold privately by a local farmer for £8 10s a head. For two years there was a tremendous slaughter of calves, and it is found impossible now to meet the demand for young cattle for the new dairy herds that are required by the newly-opened country, ano to replace the animals which are relegated year by year to the dry pens. The local boy on a bike is not notable for his gentlemanly manners. One youngster on a bike defined his right to the footpath in Carrington road by telling a protesting foot-passenger, "I've got mort right to ride on the footpath .than you have to walk." • Yesterday afternoon this delightful youth deliberately rode into a group of seven little children who were on the footpath with their respective mothers. It would probably hurt the feelings of the parents of young Vogeltown larrikins if someone' dragged a few specimens from their bicycles and inflicted the corporal punishment they deserve.

Canon Stuart, at Christchurch.—"You are starting with new ideals, grana ideals, which you are pushing very far; but depend upon it, unless you in New Zealand learn the great lesson of sellsacrifice you will perish. You have here a paradise of labor. Labor is the top dog, as you say. But if Labor is thinking only of itself, if it is legislating only for itself, forgetful of what it owes to others, although the country may be a paradise of labor for a time, it will perish in the end. It will certainly perish if Labor becomes so selfish as to think of itself alone." The railway regulations provide that children under three years travel free; from three years to twelve years the fares are half the adult fares; over twelve years full fares have to be paid. Stationmasters, guards and other officials have been instructed to enforce the regulations strictly, as cases of evasion are believed to have been numerous. A guard who finds children over three years with no ticket, or over twelve years with half tickets, is required to report the matter to headquarters, and the stationmaster from whose station the children were travelling will be required to explain why he allowed the breach.

A merchant liad been receiving numerous complaints from a customer of a shortage in his goods despatched by rail, so he bad the proper weight marked in an obscure part of the case. The customer's carrier was instructed to hnve the boxes weighed at the station before delivery. By this means it was ascertained beyond doubt that the pillages occurred at. the station goods shed on or in transit, the.latter an unlikely contingency. The customer got into touch with the railway station per telephone, and mentioned "to the clerk how he had proved (lie thieving of his goods. After that there was no further shortage in his cases. The "word" had been passed on to the thieves in the gods sheds. This is a true case, a:id occurred in ITawera.

The lupins are bursting into bloom these days, and yesterday their golden petals lent just sufficient coloring in' a wealth of green to make a vivid background to the srenc at the Esplanade rotunda, where the Harrison Band went out to play. All in hive was in harmony, too. The sea was a sheet of placid blue, and the waves broke contentedly far out from the shore. It was one of those grnv days, when music so well fdls the role of sunshine. This should be fitting reward for Bandmaster C'ummings and his men in their rendition of a capital programme. The items were as follow:—March, ''Guards' Parade"; srtered anthem. "Jerusalem, My Golden Home": selection, .."Macbeth"; march, "'Viscount Nelson"; overture, "Siege of Rochelle"; hymn, "Sandon"; march, "Belle of Broadway."

The Government of Uruguay warns New Zealand that all telegrams from this country to that will be censored. Telegrams for Costa Rica and Nicaragua, now escape censorship. The Maori landowners of Ivaikohe have agreed to individualise their various blocks. This will open up a large area of fertile land the best in the whole Dominion. For many miles around the whole of the land is rich volcanicsoil. The Eltham Brass Band conductor has suggested to the Borough Council the advisability of holding a second-class band contest in connection with the openilig of the new town hall. The suggestion was referred to the Town Hall Committee. Mr. T. W. ("Long Drive") Walker, of Waihi. a well-known mining man, who went Home some time ago, has been successful in forming a company with a capital of £IOO,OOO to develop certain ■properties at Waihi, in the line of the Waihi reefs system. Some excellent fish have been taken lately from local streams. A brown trout weighing eleven pounds was the catch of one angler from the Waiwakaiho, whilst another landed a ti\(j» pounder which has long defied the ardo# and skill of fishermen in the Huatoki. Christchurch Press gives a niethematiproblem— If a Prime Minister travelling 77.)0 miles in 100 hours sees the necessity of building 10 miles of railway, how many miles must he travel, and in what time, to see the necessity of finishing the South Island Main Trunk line?

A Palmerston fruit denier mentions, that he was paying from 10s to 20s a case for bananas, "and they will get dearer." Last year he paid from 0s to 9s. Last year oranges were 15s a ease, now they are 20s. The cyclone in the Islands did it—or at least that is the trade explanation. A pessimistic contemporary shows that in two weeks there were 112 more steerage passengers leaving Auckland for Sydney than arrived here from the latter port. If you can't bring the Melbourne Cup to the New Zealander, yon must take the New Zealander to the Melbourne Cup! A West Australian delegate to the Presbyterian Assembly at Sydney was telling of the great extent of that territory, and incidentally the lack of knowledge as to Australian geography. One letter arrived addressed "Fremantle, near Melbourne, New Zealand." This, of course, is British ignorance. An Australian once asked us if "London was all in one paddock." Dr. Paul Nathan, a member of the City Council in Berlin, who has been carrying out an investigation as to the manner in which the Jews and the peasantry are treated in Russia and on the Continent generally, has arrived in New York to make a personal study of how immigrants are faring in America. Dr. Nathan declares that the conditions in Russia are more terrible than ever. The manner in which the officials interpret the laws is such that the persecution of the Jews still goes on.

The Turkish Government is likely to grant concessions to an American syndicate to exploit the copper mines near Arghana-Maden, a town in Asiatic Turkey. One of the conditions to be imposed is that half of the capital must remain in the hands of Turkish subjects, and that the managing officials and other employees of the railways must be Turkish officials. That German influence is paramount in official circles in Constantinople is clearly demonstrated by the fact that the British agent who formerly supervised Turkish contracts has been displaced by a German. There are a few kauris left, and the Kauri Timber Company (whose head offices are in Melbourne) are about to cut out the Waitewheta Bush, containing twenty million feet. It has taken a year to join a tramline from the bush to the railway at Waikino, and 25,000 feet (logs) have already been sent away to the mills. It will take 35 men and much machinery four years to cut out the. bush and haul the logs. The bush is estimated to be the finest remaining in New Zealand, and when it has disappeared, a kauri tree will be a curiosity in New Zealand. For some time no claim was made for the chief prize of £BOOO ,in the Brussels Exhibition lottery. The identity of the possessor of the winning ticket has been established in a curious way, the Daily Mail states. A young Belgian miner, who had purchased a ticket for the lottery, was killed while at work through a stone falling 0 n his head some days before the results were announced. According to custom, he was buried in his best suit of clothes. When the weeks passed and the £BOOO remained unclaimed, the young man's relations remembered that he had a lottery ticket in his waisteoat pocket, and applied to the authorities for permission to extrume the body. After some delav this was granted, and tl» winning ticket was found. The miner was onlv nineteen years of age.

According to a Vienna paper, which vouches for the accuracy of its information, there was an angry scene between King Manuel and the Queenmother when Gabriel Desl.ya, the French actress, was presented at the Royal Palace. The Queen showed the utmost cordiality to the Parisian dancer; but in private, later on, warmly resented her son's breach of regal eiquette. "You are acting in a disgraceful manner," declared Her Majesty—''in a manner which shows your poor appreciation of your position as the ruler of an ancient and honored people. Your Infatuation is a mad one, and no good can come of it. For my sake, for the sake of your honored father's memory, renounce this mesalliance." It is relate* that Manuel first pleaded with his mother, and then angrily declared his intention of remaining loyal to his favorite. "I love her as few men ever lovert a woman," he cried. "It is for her I live —and for her alone. It would break both our hearts to part." "What is this* stupid infatuation compared with your reputation and your crown?" retorted the Queen-mother. "The crown be damned!" exclaimed the King, as he angrily strode from the room.

MEN'S TAILORED SUITS. A VERY SMART STIOWIXG. You always expect something new and different at the Melbourne, and yon are never disappointed. Therefore it is not surprising that our sho,win<r of men's summer tailored suits is as complete now as if it were late in December, This is characteristic of this store's prepaidness. We are showing at 40s 6d to 65s the handsomest assortment of tailormade suits at those prices in Taranaki. There is no doubt about this: our supremacy is unquestioned. The variety is infinite. Swagger suits that are made to fit and are the equal of custom-made five-guinea suits. The fabrics are fino worsteds, coatings and check vicunas in a. vnrietv of colorings beautifully Wended and in good taste.