LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 28, 27 July 1911, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Mr. W. T. Jennings, M.P., will probably move, the Address-in-Reply at the opening of Parliament to-day. For the first time in the history of the Registry Office a double wedding was celebrated by the Registrar of Marriages at Christchurch the other day. The Hon. W. C. F. Carncross, Chairman of Committees of the Legislative Council, will probably act as Speaker in the Council, Sir Charles Bowen being away from the Dominion.

Thirty-six tons of fish were brought to Napier from Kaingaroa by the Nora Niven recently, only four tons of which were hapuka. It is understood that only a small quantity of the shipment was disposed of in Wellington. It was stated in Wellington last week that a New Zealand butter factory had been offered 105s per cwt. for some portion or the whole of its next season's output. The offer, in other figures, was 11% f.o.b. Wellington, so the report goes. A collision with a bullock on the railway line was the cause of the 4.20 p.m. train from New Plymouth being delayed for a few minutes near the Dudley road crossing beyond Inglewood last night. The bullock was very much mangled, but no damage was caused to the engine.

Tt is very gratifying (says the Orepuki Advocate) to learn that the committee to set up to canvass the district with respect to the sale of shares on behalf of the new Shale Company is meeting with very hearty respond!. Residents evidently recognise the future of the district rests with the shale.

To plantation owners in Java moving pictures are an important institution, as they exert a powerful influence on the labor market. There being no system of indentured labor, it has been found that the planter who can provide the best moving pictures is able <o secure the best class of worker.

The whitebait season has opened fully a fortnight earlier in the North Island than last year. As far south as Invercargill whitebait are being caught in' the rivers, which is unusually early, as in previous years the tiny fish have not been obtainable until September. It is said that this is another indication of an early and mild spring. A London correspondent, writing on June 16, states that Dr. Findlay had made good progress with the preliminary negotiations in connection with the eon- j sideration of the Webster claims. He has had many meetings with the legal advisers of the Colonial Office, and as! the outcome of these and of the earlier discussions in America he believes that the New Zealand case now stands in a completely satisfactory light. •Mr. Dryden, Postmaster, advises that a radio telegraph office is now open for public business at Wellington. Telegrams may be accepted for vessels fitted with wireless when approaching or departing from New Zealand within a radius of 300 miles of Wellington. The word "radio" imust appear in the instruction? of nil messages to be transmitted by wireless. Attendance at the Wellington station will be from 8 a.m. till midnight. The charge for messages act-opted within New Zealand is tenpence per word.

In connection with the Mokau transactions, Mr. R. McXab makes it clear in a letter lie has published that "'lie had nothing to do with asking for or ai j ranging for the Order-in-Council which permitted tho natives to sell their freehold interests. He says, speaking for himself and for the company of whom he is chairman, that the Order-in-Council was "a transaction twice removed from us, and arranged for before we were in existence m a company, or the Hawkc'fv Bay .syndicate as a syndicate, or before we had thought of Mokau land." There is a glowing enthusiasm anion" the young folk of Whiteley Church at present promising good dividends of enjoyment for all concerned and to be concerned in the "Duteh Fair" openm" to-day at 2.30 p.m. They have put their hearts and minds into the business and' pleasure of this Fair, and their enthusiasm and skill is reflected in the decorations of the hali and the complete preparations for the anticipated success. The special music by the Dutch singers will no doubt draw large crowds irrespective of the many charming allurements incidental to tho two evening entertainments.

The usual hour for starting an 8 o'clock meeting in New Plymouth is about 8.23 p.m. For a half-past seven o'clock meeting a man can reckon on being in time if lie strolls along at about eight o'clock. It would be an excellent thing if the chairmen of meetings here would taike a leaf out of the book of Mr. C. E. Baker, the president of the Employers' Association. Last night there were only four or five members"of the Association present at the time fixed for the annual meeting, but he started it sharp at the hour, and pushed the business along briskly. The members present must have appreciated it. The pressmen did. The next four weeks and a half will be a very busy time for Mr. Zachariah, Public Trustee and Native Reserves Agent, but it will be a happy time for some thousand Maoris and, incidentally, for numerous storekeepers in Taranaki, for to-day commences the half-yearlv paying out of the rents to the native owners of the West Coast settlements reserves. During the period mentiont-d the sum of £II,OOO will be distributed in varying amounts among over a thou sand native owners. To-day the Wattara natives will be made happy, then afterwards tliose at Urenui and Pukearuhe. From thence Mr. Zachariah will trek right round the mountain, making his final payment at Waitotara.

A meeting of dairy factory employers, practically representing the whole oi Taranaki, was held in Hawera on Tuesday to consider the question of the adoption of a uniform rate of pay to employees. The meeting was in camera, but a Star reporter was authoritatively informed that a uniform rate of wages was agreed upon, and that a bonus would be given employees at the end of the season. The new .scale means a material rise in the present wages, the agreement liordering on the old Taranaki award. Hitherto many of the factories have been paying a different rate, and it was considered advisable that one uniform scale should prevail throughout the province. Tt was this desire which prompted the convening of the meeting.

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