LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 20, 24 June 1913, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

— «gl. Gisborne seems to be a jpoil place to live out of just now. A S T ow Plymouth resident has just received a letter from a relative in Gisborne, in which he states that there are now over 100 c,ises of typhoid under treatment. The hospitals arc full, and the mortality is lu:vy. Besides typhoid, a disease, of a peculiarly virulent type had broken out amongst children, and many lives were being lost. The Brotherhood Debating Society will hold its' second meeting in the Borough Council Chambers this evening, when the relative advantages of town and .country life will be discussed. Mr. S. Okey will move the motion "That Town Life is Preferable to Country Life," and Mr. W. Duncan will lead the Opposition. The debate commences at half-past seven sharp, and the chair will be taken by the president of the Society, Mr. A. ii. Johnstone. The weekly meeting of the Egmont Lodge No. 7i2 T.0.C.T., was held in the Good' Templar Hall on Monday evening. A letter was received from Bro. Fisher, leading signalman of the H.M.S. New Zealand, sending greetings from the Grand Secretary, Natal Grand Lodge. South Africa, and from the Grand Chief Templar of Victoria. The programme for the evening was competitions, and a very pleasant evening was spent, prizes being won. by Sisters A. C. Legs, Rusden and Bullot, "and Bro. Charles Cottam.

The May number of the New Plymouth Tioys' High School magazine reaches us at a, time when the ISoavd of Governors is being told bv an inexorable Auditor-General that all grants made to smooth the rough path to its publication are illegal and must be refunded. The strongest appeal against this action is made by the magazine itself. Tt is impossible to scan "its sixtv odd pages without feeling that the publication is one of the school institutions, and plays the same important part in the cause of education as does the new course in animal physiology, or the addition to the curriculum of classes of instruction in scientific methods of agriculture. A feature of the magazine is" the generous illustrations, all bearing testimony to the fact that rapid progress is bein» made in bringing the school into the front rank among the secondary schools of the Dominion. Chief among the illustrations is a splendid photograph of the Preparatory Department. depicting twenty-five sturdy Taranaki hovs who mider the old regime, would probablv hnvo been mastering the mysteries of the rule of three, and gathering much more equally llSe f ul information at other >ig schools outside the province. The ctterpress is interesting and instruct.ve and the whole publication is™ credit to the school. ■

Steps are being taken to resuscitate the Liberal, Association in Chris ten ureli.

The Hon. J. A. Millar stated at Dunedin last week that he hoped to be able to be of further service to the Dominion before the time camefor Jii.m to retire from public life. In the poll at Blenheim on the question of spending £72,000 on a water and drainage scheme, which was taken recently, the prop6sal was thrown out by a mjority of ninety-one.

At the meeting of the Brotherhood next Sunday, Mr. W. '!•'. 'Jor-Lm will read a p;iprr on "Nebuchadnezzar's Band." Members of the ilth Regiment Band have kindly offered to play a quartette.

"It would take about seventy-five years' rates to make a road to your section," was the encouraging reply that a settler received when he waited on the Moa Road Board on Saturday with a request that a track should be made to his property on the Derby road. Mr. Hine, M.P., says that he "would like to see the Customs. tariff abolished, and the whole of the taxes levied on land and wealth." If that remark had come from Mr. Astbury, the farmers—or many of them—would have denounced him as a Single Taxcr.—Eltham Argus.

A photograph has been sent out from England showing the faults in cheese of which complaints have been received from England this year. A copy has been handed to the Hawera Star, and the section discloses a very unsatisfactory article full of cavities and openness strikingly in contrast to the close make, which js characteristic of the bulk of the cheese made in, Tarajiaki. ; The Fisher monoplane, which lias been undergoing experimental (lights at Pigeon, Bush, was removed to VVaihekeke on Friday, and on Saturday it miule seven consecutive flights at ti height of sixty feet over an average distance of half a mile. Mr. Reg. White, the pilot, had apparently little difficulty in manoeuvring the machine, which travelled over the distances with ease.

Conditions in the painting trade are vers' unsatisfactory in Auckland at the present time, and the names of 35 men who are seeking employment are on the books of the Union. These are not the only tradesmen who are out of work, for there are many men who have not recorded their names, knowing that no good would result from their doing so. The reason for the slump is due to the bad weather which has been frequent of late and the fact that numbers of painters are coming to Auckland from the Old Country, the south, and from Sydney. Mr. E. Clifton, Director of Experimental Farms, made a stirring appeal to dairy farmers to bestow affection on their cows, in an address to farmers at Palmerston last week. "Treat the cow like a lady," he said. "Love and study her and care for.her, and you will in the future have your industry flourishing." The remarks were made at the Jersey Breeders' annual social., Mr. Clifton said that farmers as a rule pulled at the cows for milk all the summer, and then turned them out to starve in the winter. A cow required loving care, and • she would give a big response.

An error crept into our report of the oil case heard in the Supreme Court on Saturday, whereby his Honor Mr. Justice Edwards was made to say, "Do you realjy think that a c6mpany with a Lord in office," etc. This should have read "London office," the mistake being unfortunate, seeing that their hapil ns to be a lord on the London ■' ; ctorate. His Honor's full question v---: "Did you really think that a com-

•<••'/ having its head office in London, w ; Mt a London board of directors, would leave such a .contract as yours to be made on behalf of the company by an American firm at Chatanooga?" To this plaintiff replied: "Yes, I think so, by what I was told by Mr. Henry." The following have been appointed to adjudicate at the forthcoming gymkhana at Hawera on Thursday next:—Captains Stevens, Cardale" Mitchell, Lieut. Dover. Sergt.-Majors Dal longer, Dunham. Mahonev (Hawera), Major Sutherland (Maiiaiu). Captain Lampen, . and Sergt.-Major Bonar (Stratford). Sergt.-Majors Bond (New Plymouth), Bell (Waverley), Bodlo (Manaia), Hesp (Waitara), Browne and Thomson (Taumaruniii), and Captain Hume and Sergt.-Major Morrison (Wansanni). Stewards wore appointed as follows:—Chief supervisor, Major, T. Sutherland; press steward, Lieut. Cox; judges' steward, Cimtain Mitchell; competitors' stewards, Majors Sand-ford and Fletcher (New Plviiionib) Sergt.-Major Hesp (Waitara); prop" ertv stewards. Captain Stevens' and Group Sergt.-Major Dallcnger.

Mre. J. G. Beamish, who attended the recent reunion of Taranaki veterans in New Plymouth on the occasion of the visit of the battleship New Zealand, speaks in glowing terms of the reception given by the residents to the veterans and the thoroughly enjoyable time spent by all, (says the Patea Press). It is now some 45 years since Mr. Beamish, then a young man in his teens, marched out to Patea with a company of Volunteer Militia to take up a position near Mokoia. Last week, at the re-union in New Plymonth, Mr. Beamish had the happy experience of meeting two com-

rades who had taken part in the sumo march and whom ho. had lost sight of in the intervening space of time. Needless to say, the party of threti had a happy time together * talking of their adventures during the exciting and troublous times experienced in the early days. According to a cable in the Sydney Sun, a remarkable' spectacle was provided in the bills of Northamptonshire early in the month, when many thousands of sight-seers had the opportunity of witnessing the Battle of Waterloo fought over again. As may he guessed, it was an enterprising firm of picture film manufacturers that had the great battle staged in this fashion, and it was, of course, only a coincidence that the historic scenes were being re-enacted nearly OS years to the day after the real Waterloo. All the more striking features of the historic fight were reproduced with as much fidelity to the original incidents as was possible. Napoleon was there on his white chargers, from both of which he was thrown just as be was nearly 100 years ago. The realism of the whole thing was quite sufficient to work the spectators up to a great pitch of excitement. Particularly thrilling were some of the desperate but unavailing charges of the French.

The art of motor-car driving will i» future be taught at the Cliristchurch Technical College. At the latest meeting of the Hoard it was decided to establish a class for instruction in motorcar driving, and to upplv to the tloveriinient for £250 towards the purchase of a motor car.

A youth from the waybaeks recently entered an Kketahuna drapery establishment and asked to be allowed to try on an overcoat. Scenting a sale, the assistant was all attention, and after a garment had been found which fitted like a glove the promising customer requested to be informed of its size. "Can I wrap it up?" eag,rly asked the salesman. "_\„ thank you. lam senainjr »w;yy for a coat, and merely wanted to find out what size 1 took," was the stunning reply.

l'our masked bandits the other day Held up a party carrying the semimonthly wages to pay the men employed at the Illinois Zinc Conipanv. The party held up consisted of four men in .•',°,n,l lgg '^; and tl,c mom y amounted to ™ , r , he „ bftndi ts waited for them near Blaekhollow mine, and fired upon then, from cover with automatic shotguns. One man was shot dead and the others were wounded. One of them however, managed.to catch the reins! and, fogging the horses, escaped from the robbers, who were on foot. A fusilade of shots followed him, but he wag not hit again. The whole of the monev was in the buggy. J

Tn the opinion of an experienced farmer and stock breeder, the upper districts of the King Country are, to use his own words, "going to be a cold shop when' the timber is all cut out. Up tothe present the dense forests have given live stock and vegetation shelter from eold winds and snowstorms that visit these high regions during several months of the year.. Once the bush is down, and it is coming down as fast as'the mills cai cut it, no obstruction will be given to the fierce gales that rage round the sunny mountains of the interior, and the outlook is not cheerful. Before it is too late, steps should be taken to preserve considerable areas of the native bush for shelter purposes." . While a New Brighton resident was strolling along the beach the other morning he observed a gorgeously-colored fish come ashore. It was a most brilliant red, surpassing in beauty anything he had previously seen in the way of fishes. Though shown to a number of residents of New Brighton, including several who take more than an average interest in fish and fishing, none had seen its like before. Being desirous of learning something about his capture, Mr. Armstrong took his fish to town, and sought the knowledge of several fish merchants, but with similar results. Ee was next j advised to take it to the Museum, where it was immediately recognised by Mr. I Edgar R. Waite, the curator, as a species described by the late Captain Hutton, and of which two examples only were previously known. Mr. Waite regretted that he was unable to supply any popular name, for the fish was so rare that it had not received any common cognomen.