LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 250, 22 April 1912, Page 3

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

From the local agent, Mr. T. Avery, bookseller, we have received a copy of Wisden's Cricketers' Almanac for 1912. In order to enable it to instal clieese plants, the Elthani Dairy Company has increased its capital 'to '.£40,000 by the creation of 20,000 ordinary shares of £1 each. A cat with nine lives may not be uncommon. A feline with two well-formed tails has, however, been unearthed in Masterton, and this is quite a freak of nature. On exhibition in Messrs. Webster Bros.' mart is a basket of apples grown by Mr. H. Cole, of Veale road, near New Plymouth. As an advertisement of the apple growing properties 'of the district it would be hard to beat, some of the specimens turning the scale at l'/jlb. If anybody had been walking along Egmont street a little after midnight this morning he would have imagined that oil. had been struck near Griffith and Co.'s, for there was a violent eruption at that point. It was not oil, however, only water, which had burst a main. The borough workmen were soon on the spot, thanks to the notice given by the nightwatchman, and turned off the water and made provision for the safety of the public, a very necessary precaution, as the water had scoured a hole over six feet in depth.

The Balelutha Free Press states that on March 10th it published a paragraph to the effect that Mr. William Taylor, of Stoney Creek, had fallen heir to an estate valued at £5,000,000, left by a near relative who had just died without issue in Holland. The statement "went the rounds" in the newspapers of the Dominion. The result is that Mr. Taylor, in less than a month since the first i announcement of his prospective good I fortune, has received over sixty letters from people who are utter strangers to him. The writers invariably begin by congratulating him, and end with a request for pecuniary assistance. Some bear the unmistakable mark of the professional begging-letter writer, but there are others doabtless prompted by genuine hardship. One gentleman writes from Melbourne, asking for the prospective beneficiary's assistance in founding a new religious sect. "No, we cannot supply half the butter asked for," remarked Mr. Thomas Barsons, chairman of the Dairy Union, to a newspaper representative. "At our meeting at Palmerston the other day," he continued, "we had applications from seven Vancouver and South African firms, but w,e were unable to offer them a pound. Our sellers guaranteed us 12% d per lb f.o.b. at Wellington for a thousand boxes for a market outside the English, and. this also could not be filled, as we had booked orders to complete." Speaking further, Mr. Parsons stated that Canada was taking as much butter as could ibe supplied her, and this was helping to maintain the price in London. Outside Ibutter was now selling in Canada at Is dOd per lb, which included 3d per lb duty, and there was no indication that a drop in prices was likely to occur. He contended that dairying prospects had never been brighter in New Zealand than at present. The Kaupokonui Co-operative Dairy Factory Co., Ltd., paid out on Saturday for milk received during the month of March £11,312 4s sd, at the rate of 13d per lb of butter-fat, as compared with £8260 5s lOd for March of last year. The number of cheeses made in the months of January, February and March of this year exceed the number for the same months of last year by 2548 cheeses, or, approximately, 100 tons. As indicating the nature of the season just drawing to a close, the rough dry spring and the good summer f»r dairying, the following figures are instructive: On the 31st of October the output of cheese from Kaupokonui showed a shortage as compared with last year of 13 per cent. This shortage gradually diminished to 10 per cent, at the end of November; 7y„ per cent, at the end of December; 5 per cent, at the end of January; 2% per cent, at the end of February; 'and at the end 'of March had disappeared altogether; whilst the month of April promises to show au increase over Apri> | of last year of almost 10 per cent. Thus the good summer has more than made up for the bad spring, and the great price this company will be able to pay out for butter-fat will make this the greatest year ever known in the history of cheese-making in New Zealand for the suppliers of Kaupokonui—Star. ■Members of the Equitable Building Society of New Plymouth (First and Second Croups) arc notified that subscriptions will be due and payable today ((Monday), at the Secretary's Office. Currie street, from 0 a.m. to 12.30, from 1 p.m., to 5 p.m.. and 7 p.m. to !) p.m.— Advl. For Chronic Chest Complaints. Wood's Great Peppermint Cure. 1/4, i/t.

"I know the man's very shook on his job. He's well satisfied with it," remarked a member x>f the Moa Road Board when discussing the qualifications of a road foreman, with whom the board were not altogether satisfied. _ We are requested to state that the list of applications for shares in the Taranaki (New Zealand) Oil Wells, Ltd., will positively close on Wednesday next, 24th April, 1912. Applications mav be ledged with the Bank of New Zealand or any of its principal branches, with the leading sharebrokers, or at the offices of the Taranaki Petroleum Company, Limited. A remarkable instance of credulity on the part of the country employer 'has been brought to light in a letter'received by a local union secretary. In November last the employer in question received a letter from a man whom he proposed to employ, asking him to forward the amount of a fare. The employer forawarded £3. A week later the prospective employee telegraphed asking for an additional sum -of £2, and stating that he intended to set out a't once for the scene of his (intended labors. The second advance was duly forwarded, but from that day to this nothing has been heard by the too trustworthy employer of the man whom he hoped to employ. The Moa Road Board was occupied for some time on Saturday over a deep engineering question. The timbers of a culvert on the Ratapiko road, 4ft wide by sft deep, which is situated some 10 or 12ft under the roadway, had practically rotted, and it was found necessary to divert the water into a new concrete structure. The engineer considered that the simplest way of dealing with the old culvert would be to block up each end with earth, so as to prevent any water percolating and causing a scour, when the road would stand°for years, if not permanently, as even if the wood work rotted completely away the pressure of the 10 or 12ft of earth would have so solidified it that it would be perfectly safe. However, the majority of the board disagreed, and it was decided to sink through the road to the culvert, cut the timbers through, and fill it completely with earth. Parents and guardians of children attending school and householders are reminded that the annual meetings of householders to elect school committees for the ensuing year will take place at 7 p.m .to-day throughout the whole of New Zeaalnd. In many places very little interest is taken in school matters, and difficulty is experienced in getting sufficient householders together to form a committee, unless there is a prospect of a row, generally over the teacher, when there is a crowded attendance and the election is fought as bitterly as a Parliamentary one. Whv people'do not take_ an interest in school committee elections from an educational standpoint is possibly because school committees' powers from an administrative point of view are very limited, but it must be remembered that school committees arc the constituents -who elect the education hoards, and it therefore behoves householders to exercise discrimination and elect the best men thev can for the position. A zealous, tactful school committee can exert an influence for much good on the school surroundings particularly in the way of raising funds for all schools are usually verv hard up and cannot exist on the bare pittance doled out' as capitation bv the Education Department. A school committee too, is the connecting link between the parent arid the education authorities. We therefore trust that the apathy usually shWn will not be so much in evidence this evening.