LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 271, 16 April 1914, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

It has been reported to the irorowlicnuaCounty Council that dnrinjj the month of March there were two cases of infantile paralysis near Levin (a mother and her infant child) and one at Foxton road, Shannon.

According to the Cliristchurch Weekly lre*s (a Government paper), as thing's are at present -Mr. Fisher has no more hope of being returned .or his'old constituency than he has of becoming the leader of the Red Fed. party. Really, from such a quarter this must be hard to bear.

At the Stratford County Council yesterday, a circular letter was read from the Defence Department asking for suggestions as to the. nature of employment suitable for those persons exempted from military service. It was decided to reply that the Council had no work for that class of people. At the police court at Napier yesterday, Roy Kins', a married man, aged 'js, was charged with attempting to murder Fred Lowe. He was remanded till next Monday, bail being allowed, his own in'£'2o and two of £IOO. King was ar rested in connection with the motor episode during wliieu a revolver..was discharged at Lowe.

A Thames resident attempted to poison a dog the other day. If,, purchased Is worth ofprussicacid and gave the whole lot to the dog. The latter had convulsions and then stiffened out as though dead. The lady of the house came forward in curiosity and asked her husbanl if the dog was dead. -'Well I think so." he said, remembering the quantity administered. '-Poor dog," said the'ladv. with the sympathy ot her sex. 'Then the dog opened one eye, rose, and after a reproachful look at .his master, walked away, and is now livelier than ever.

The following must ingenious and humorous notice appears iur a recent issue oi the. Napier Daily Telci'aph:— ■'Notice to residents, Milton road: It is more in sorrow than in anger j beg to intimate to my neighbors Unit, owing lo the destructive tactics of certain fowls that visit my garden, I have decided to take measures to enable them to take a speedy transit from their happy hunting ground's to the bourne from which they will not return. So owners are advised to take means to prevent tliein straying when; they are not wanied. Thev can call for the remains.—J. I!. Fielder, Napier, March 20. 1(114.

I'riminolo'ristst have often asserted that crime in many cases is due to some disorder of the brain anil Unit tint being the case certain criminals should be handed over to a specialist rather than to the gaol authorities. Colour was lent, to this idea by a statement »f a prisoner in the Wellington Magistrate's Court recently. The man in pleading guilty to a charge of pettv theft. told the Magistrate that it was 'no use sending him 'to gaol. It onlv meant tint immediately he came out he would go and break'the law again in the <ame way that he had broken it on many previous occasions, lie asked that he lie sent to Roto Roa for treatment, fie had had a knock on his head, and as soon as he had got a drop of drink in him he could not control himself. "It is," he concluded, ''useless sending me to gaol." Inspector Hendry said that the man was not drunk when arrested, whereat the prisoner replied that he had bad eight drinks that day. Mr.. W. U. Riddell, S.M., said that he could not send him to Roto Roa Tsland on a charge of theft. The accused, who has a long list of previous convictions, and only recently came out of gaol, was fined 40s, with the alternative of fourteen dajV imprisonment. _ '

Australian mails, ox Miiht'uo at Wellington, will arrive here to-ni»ht (Thursday). '

Hie Government has accepted an offer to purchase 44 acres of land near Masterton for rural workers' homes.—Press wire.

A balloon rose to a height of 0050 teet in Auckland the other day. When at that altitude the aeronaut (Albert hastwood) cut himself adrift and descended to earth in parachutes.

Mr. J. K. Wilson, who will be a candidate for the mayoralty at the forthcoming election, will address electors at the East .End pavilion tonight, and at the West End gymnasium to-morrow night. The statement in a Melbourne cable •that the NW l/.onlsintl Commercial Travellers' Association had affiliated with the Australasian Association is a mistake. An arrangement has been made for reciprocal relations, but there is no intention to affiliate.

During the .past wool season 47,787 bales have been offered at the Napier sales. Napier occupied second place n the Dominion, Christcnurch heading the let with 52,247 bales. Dunedin.was third with 44,710 bales; then came Wellington 43,011 bales, Timaru 26,08(1 bale 9 Auckland 17,839 bales, Invorcargffl 17,898 bales.—Press Association.

Wellington advises that the quantities of butter in cold store at the various ports yesterday were as under: Auckland, 25,361 boxes; New Plymouth, 11,083 boxes; Patea, 925 boxes; Wanganui, unavailable;' Wellington, 28,650; Lyttelton, 3585; Dunedin, 2580; total, 72,211. The total on April 15th, 1913, was 54,870 boxes, and on April 15th, 1912, 44,920 boxes. '

Efforts are being made to stir up interest in the Egmont electorate. Pressure is being brougnt to beat upon Mr. 11. Dive to induce him to offer his services to the Egmont electorate; he has also had considerable inducement afforded him to contest the Patea sent. Mr. Dive has many friends in Hawera, and could get a very strong and representative committee there.—Eltham Argus.

According to a gentleman who travels much on the coastal roads in Tara-na-ki, the eounty council's inspector would be sure of a good haul in unhghted vehicles if he paid a visit to those parts on gome darlc night. Our informant's description of one of the roads as seen by him a night of two ago, was of an imlighted )umble if farmers' carts, traps, and coastal freight .wagons, A few prosecutions would doubtless have a salutary effect. Quite a sensation was caused in Auckland by the discovery that quite a large number of £lO Bank of New Z.aland notes in circulation are forgeries. They were probably put through the totalisator at the Ellerslie Easter meeting. Many people Jiave been victimised. The notes are all numbered '169,948, haying been photographed from the original. The reproduction is said to be the first that has ever come under the notice of banking experts in Auckland. —Press Association.

The third general meeting of the King Country Blackolocks' Association was held on Tuesday. Delegates from the. neighboring counties, Te Kuiti and Taumanimii boroughs and ManUnui Town linnrd were present. The discussion was taken up with the rating of native lands for reading purposes. It M'as resolved all native lands before being leased or sold be loaded for the purpose of roads. It was also resolved to hold a general conference at an early date to press on a radical alteration of the licensing laws in the Km? Country, the present law being unsatisfactory to the trade and prohibitionists alike.. A week or two ago a Dailv News' paragraph drew attention to the fact that Territorials whose names were on the burgesses' list would be unable to vote in the mayoral elections because these would lie held during the annual encampment. The par went the rounds and was eventually brought under the notice of the Minister of Defence, Hon. •lames Allen, who stated in an interview yesterday that he had not consulted with the officials in Wellington as to the possibiity of having polling booths in tlie camps, but was advised there was no power to do so. The question of letting men away to vote had been considered but the' step was out of the question on the grounds of the expense and the iserious interference with the work at camp. He regretted the matter very much, but the. difficulty had cropped up suddenly and had not been forgotten.