LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 227, 7 January 1911, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The necessary preliminaries in connection with the extension of the telephone line from Urenui to Okoke have been completed, and the line will be put in hand at once. The new list of Justices of the Peace will probably be announced at no very distant date. The list is expected to be considered by Cabinet during the present month. Tongaporutu residents will be' Interested to hear that the Education Board has arranged to have the material for the school forwarded next week, and that the work of erection of the building will be proceeded with forthwith. There is nothing definite to report concerning the proposed Fogwell and Whelch match tor the New Zealand sculling championship. Fogwell is in Akaroa, and is anxious for a match at Easter. It is understood that the question of expenses is now under discussion. Sergeant Haddrell has been advised by Constable Lapouple, of Waitara, that a Maori boy, a son of Tarata Rona, was drowned in the Waitara River whilst, bathing at Tikorangi on Wednesday. The body has not been recovered. The lad had crossed the river, but when returning disappeared. The extraordinary behaviour of a middle-aged man on the beach between the Henui and the Waiwakaiho yesterday morning led to his arrest, when it was found that he was suffering from excess of alcohol, was, in fact, on the verge of delirium tremens. He was brought before the court and remanded for a week for medical treatment. He apparently imagined he was being attacked, and was defending himself vigorously with stones. The Plimmcr-Denniston Company, who created such a very favorable impression when tiiey performed in New Plymouth, will pay a return visit on Monday, 16th January, with the famous fantastical comedy, "A Message trom Mars." The Auckland papers speak higiily of the company's rendering of the play, one of the most popular of modern times, whilst the people's verdict is shown by His Majesty's building being packed night after night. An Auckland paper says that Tc Kuiti is likely to be taken out of the Taumarunui electorate and made the centre of a new electorate. The Mayor of Te Kuiti, Mr. James Boddie, will 'be the Opposition candidate. If a new constituency is formed under the scheme of alteration of boundaries it is possible that the Hon. T. Mackenzie, Minister of Agriculture (whose seat in the South Island is almost sure to be wiped out), may stand as the Government candidate for Tc Kuiti. The wharf laborers' strike at Patca was still continuing at latest advices, and the steamers are <}oing the best they can with casual labor and their own crews. There does not seem much likelihood of an immediate settlement, the Patea Shipping Company remaining determined in its opposition to the men's demands, though the other employers are willing to concede most of the points raised. There is, it is understood, a probability of the organised waterside workers at other centres exerting their influence to persuade casual laborers noi to go to the Patea wharf in search of work.—Hawera Star. A rather startling experience befel a.i Stratford resident the other day. He was calmly carrying out some repairs to his gig inside a building when he was startled by a pea rifle bullet coming ■ through the wall and lodging in the gig about six inches above hia head. It i appears that an employee of a neighboring firm left the loadea pea rifle lying , about. It was picked up by a gentleman who had looked on the wine when ■ it was red and discharged it with the re- • suit mentioned. The gentleman who had ■• nearly received the bullet in his head ; was so irate that the careless employee i who had left the Vine lying about was bidden to seek fresh fields and pastures new.—Post. Australia, as well as New Zealand, appears to have its pessimists who cry out ' "Capital is leaving the country," for a working man asked Mr. G. S. Beeny, one ' of the New South Wales Ministers who i spoke in Wellington on Thursday night, > if the Press was correct in declaring i that capital had been frightened out of ' Australia because Labor becoming a ■ power. Mr. Beeby laughed as he dealt ; with the old bogey. "Oh, yes, a great ' many papers say Capital is rapidly leav- ! ing Australia," he replied. "It is being > driven from New Zealand, and I see it t is even being driven out of Enghtne, ' now. It has been hunted out of France, • there's very little left in Germany, they ■ say, and God knows where it's got to.- ' (Loud laughter.) It is some years since a Mr. Buggey wrote to the London papers asking for i some easy way of escaping from the ; deadweight of names—like his own. Being an official in Doctor's Commons, he had gathered from the wills regis-; ' tercel there a list of similar unhappy! surnames. Here are some of them:-i \ Asse, Bub, Belly, Boots, Bones, Benstj Cheese. Cod, Cockles, Dunce, Demon,' . Dam, Drinkmilk, Fatt, Fundi, Froggej j Goose, Ginger, Ghost, Gimlet, Gready, I Hogg, Hump, Headach, Jug, Jelly, Kne# , bone, Kidney, Leaky, Lazy, Mug, Monkey, Pighead, Poker, Radish, Rump, Rot- ,, tengoose, Snags, Swette, Swine, VittleJ. ' . . But Boots is very much on its ' feet still, one gathers from, reading tHe , pages of the London Directory. A cable in yesterday's News, statftl , that two sons and a daughter of the late • George Lansell have purchased his extnn- '. sive mining rights for £200,000, ajid ; that thev intend to float companies. Mr. i George Lansell, known as the "Austipl- ■ inn Quartz King," was born in Margate, . England, in 1823. Landing with his 1 brother at Port Adelaide in 1853, hecn- • gaged in gold-digging nt Echunga for a i short time, and then went to Melbourne, afterwards starting a soap and caudle ; factory at Bendigo. Quartz reefs were ■ then being tested, and Mr. Lansell invested in a small venture. Two failures cost him a large sum of money, bat he was not discouraged. He worked, saved, and invested again, and at last success attended him. Soon he became owner ot mine after mine, and led the localjmining world. Among his notable purchases, says "Johns," was the mine known as the "180," bought, with a residence attached, for £30,000. The first stope entered yielded a profit of £IBO,OOO, and the mine, now nearly 4000 teet in depth, is among the deepest in the world, THIS TIME OP THE YEAR. This is the time of the yenlHßto you catch cold the easiest. a bottle of Chamberlain's CougflMemedy and be prepared to stop any ■j i ?h or cold at once. Every bottle is gufflLweed to give results. Sold by all chemiMs and storekeepers. ANXIOUS MOMENTS. One of the most anxious timAt of a mother's life is when her little onfe have croup. There is no other medicinjso effective in this terrible maladyjw Dr. ISiheldon's New Discovery. It An be safely given and be depended upl No mother should ever be- wjthoutjßbottle in the house. Is 6d and 3s. OBKnable everywhere. jK

Everybody knjjwg of the tenacity of the dock weed and of the difficulty with which the strong tap roots are eradicated. A Waiareka (North Otago) farmer the other day, after struggling valiantly for some time to remove a dock root, laid bare a long, whip-like libre, measuring (Ift. 2in from end to end. It is not often that a Teddy bear travels as a passenger, but such* a case occurred recently in a Christchurch tramcar. A lady, who was taking home a. large Teddy bear, sat it on the seat of the car beside her and paid its fare, and when the car became full, the bear sat on while other passengers stood. It seems incredible, says an Australian writer, but it is true, that a little laddie of two years can drive a pair of horses in a buggy! The mite cannot talk event A friend of mine has been driven by him, and says that it was really funny to watch the baby "shortening up the reins," "looking where he was going," and "dodging round logs," as the father directed him. It was a bush track, too, on a South Australian station! The guest sat one one side of the buggy, the father on the other, and the driver in; the centre! The New Idea begins the New Year, with one of the best numbers it hag yet issued. Several special features are introduced to mark the season, notably a line article by Dr. Fitchett on the ''Stellar Side of the Almanac," a description of some New Year customs by Bertine Charles, and a ; thoughtful reverie for Now Year'* Eve, entitled, "What Lie* Ahead?" The stories are as usual bright and wholesome; and as this is the holiday season, an. extra supply of these in given. Of the special articles, one entitled "In Pigmy hand " which giv§s an illustrated description of the oldest and smallest people on earth, is worth noting. It is one .of a series of articles ia which the writer has promised to give readers some glimpses of life in other lands-, and it should prove both useful and interesting. Household departments- comprise, as usual, a monthly encyclopaedia that grows more and more indispensable. Current gossip, write a New York correspondent, records the trick of a new department store, which recently opened for business on a very extensive scale in that city. The "plunge" included the hiring of a number of high-priced men from rival firms on contract, but the contract in each case only specified "to work for" the new concern. After two or three years the employers decided to employ cheaper men for the service, and in order to induce the contract men to voluntarily resign, their "work" was in ont instance made running an elevator, in another shovelling coal into a furnace in the basement, and in a third driving a delivery waggon. Another contract mas was called into the office and congratulated, and asked if he would not care to accept ten dollars more per week for another, appointment. He said, "Thaifc you," and accepted, to find a week later "that he had broken his contract, so that he got a week's notice. The Auckland Herald reports that the depdt opened by the Government at Rotorua for the sale of surplus trout in the lake is now in operation. The Department is netting trout and is also purchasing fish from the holders of licenses who, have no use for the whole of their catches. The price paid to the angler* is Id per pound, and as the fish is sold by the Department at 4d per pound there is some discontent amongst fishermen regarding the price paid. Against this it is pointed out that hitherto anglers have received nothing for spare fisTT" CoraAaint is also made against the netting . Kih.by the Government. Some liccnseholfers 'claim that they are entitled to have their money refunded, as they we»* informed when they took out their licaiscs that the Government intended to net the lake. It is further urged that ' the mesh of the net used should be larger, inordcr to allow under-sized fish to es- : cape. An indignation meeting, called for the, purpose of protesting against the . Gfvernmcnt methods, was called, but, according to a local paper, only twentyor thirty people attended, and no resolution wis carried. Most of the fish received : tltns far at the Government depot are i being sold in Rotorun. Small parcels i have been sent to Auckland, but there have been no regular consignments. Opinions as to the condition of the trout vary somewhat. centres in many things. And ! watching Waitara grow has arrested the ■ attention of many a one this while back. , If comparisons with her older sister, ; Sew Plymouth, who lies snug under the ' lee of the breakwater and covered with I mantle of oil hopes, have been made ', to the latter's detriment, who's fault is ; it? That Waitara is not standing still jnight be seen any time these half-a- ---; Sozen years, they say. Yesterday, for in- ', stance, such a prosaic affair as a crane ijnonkeyed with the piles of the wharf , extension, and within a stone's throw fthe little Manukau spurted forth coal iand absorbed merchandise while waiting jfor the tide to carry her over the bar on a visit to the up'-coast harbors that , teed the denizens of the land which id in the making. Quite unconcernedly, a white launch named the Swan stole up the river to the jetty on the other side and made fast, and in a few minutes such a harvest of the sea lay upon the decking of the wharf as only the dream of a little hungry fisherman's" - child could excel. This was at noon, but in the late afternoon, when the little train pantingly bore the visitor up the hill ( away through smiling cornfields ana* pastures redolent with hay. there still remained the aggressive thud of tha driven pile and the bleat of sheep and oxen in the yards of Borthwick, Ltd. These be only two factors denoting the wealth of Waitara that spell progress and prosperity. But there are others.