The Taranaki Herald. PUBLISHED DAILY. SATURDAY, MARCH 7, 1896.

Taranaki Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 10558, 7 March 1896, Page 2

The Taranaki Herald. PUBLISHED DAILY. SATURDAY, MARCH 7, 1896.

The town school teachers held their annual picnic at Lepperton to-day. The Oamaru Amateur Opera Club have produced " Rip Van Winkle." There is almost nothing that a monkey cannot do. On a golf links near San Francisco a lady is accompanied by two Formosa apes, three and a half feet high, which wear liveries of white duck and a small Turkish fez, and act as her caddies. The largest charge of dynamite ever exploded intentionally was that by which the Flood Rock — a dangerous reef — was removed from the entrance to East River, New York. The charge consisted of 150 tons, and it is computed that 1,176,000 tons of rock were displaced. An island in the Mississippi River, containing about 3500 acres, has been taken up by a number of Italian families, who are about to settle upon it. The island was the property of Austin Corbin and will be occupied by about 700 Italians. The price at which the land was subliivided has not been made public. Mr Dv Maurier's (the author of " Trilby") best modelsare hi« grandsons, who are willing to pose for a quarter of an hour for a penny; but the author-painter's great grievance is that he has not a granddaughter, and consequently has to borrow a little girl from next door. There is one gentlewoman in England who has'a sea captain's certificate. This is La-ly Clifford. She passed her examination with honours, and though her purpose in doing so was to qualify as captain of her own yacht, she could, if she desired, serve as master of a ship on the high seas. At Gwydir (N.S.W.) the other day a 'drunk' was brought up before a J.P. His Worship passed sentence of death. The Sergeant ventured to point .out that the maximum penalty was 40s. Whereupon capital punishment was commuted by the Bench to a fine of £2. ' All right,' said the accused, ' I'll give you ton bob I lent you thirty shillings last night when we were on the spree together.' Fined another £1 for ' contempt of court.'

At the lost meeting of the Wanganui Charitable Aid Board a letter wan received from Mr E. Tingey notifying that he intended raising the rent of the cottage occupied by Mrs Purcell to £1 per ween. The Chairman announced that ho had given instructions to have a cab in readiness to have her and her family conveyed to the Old Men's Home, and if she failed to comply with the wish of the Board, in all probability the roof would be tskon off.

The now well-known Frossard'a Cavour cigars are to be retailed hi future at Is per packet of eight cigars, and we have no doubt that this will be cheering news to every lover of a good ■weed. Messrs J. Frossard & Co., Payerne (Switzerland), are known all over the world for the

uuiformity of their manufactures, and their Cavours are said to be the popular smoke of the day in London. At the price of la per packet of eight, the article is sure to be a success, and their mildness and fragrancy have the good opinion of expert smokers. Messrs Burgess Fraser ana Co., have arranged for the distributing agency of the Cavour Cigars, and they expect a supply shortly. Mr John ATery has a retal agency.

Intimation was given by the Colonial Treasurer last session of Parliament, says the Wellington correspondent of the New Zealand Herald, that the roading staff of engineers, surveyors, and other officers connected with public works, which had in 1892 been transferred to the Lands Department would be retransferred to the Pubtic Works Departments during the present recess. A circular has been sent to the heads of the two departments concerned stating that it was the intention of Ministers to carry out this new arrangement. Effect will be given to this decesion of the Government probably at the close of the present financial year. There is some uneasiness that changes of some importance will be brought about involving f nrther retrenchment.

The lower orders in Scotland have the greatest objection to a minister having his "papers" before him, and any unfortunate individual who, from -want of memory or superabundance of timidity, is obliged to steal a sly look at his notes, has littlo chance of their respect. A lady was discussing the merits of a minister with her gardener, and defending his having used written n^tes on the score of his memory perhaps being defective. " Some people, you know, Andrew, can't learn by heart." '' He no learn his discourse by heart,'" answered Andrew m the strongest tonesjjof indignation ; "he no learn — sen him up when I ken the names of twa thoosand herbaceous plaunts and he a meenester !"

The New York Association for the Improvement of the Poor recently made a special investigation of the condition of agriculture in New York State, and its report has just been made public. Mr George T. Powell, and a farmer, Mr Kjelgaard, were engaged to gather information, and the report of their investigation reveals some startling indications They found (a) that farm land in New York had depreciated in value upwards of 50 per cent, during the past twenty-five years. ( b) Seventy-four per cent, of the replies to question by Mr Powell indicate that there is a tendency among farmers to leave the farm for the city. Eighty-six per cent, of the farmers interviewed by Mr Kjelgaard report that they cannot get theirchildren to follow agriculture, (c) Seventy-four per cent of the farmers report that tenant farming is on the increase, (d) Mr Powell reports that 70 per cent of farmers in debt are not reducing their indebtedness, 20 per cent are doing so, and 10 per cent have mortgages overdue. Mr Kjelgaard reports that 35 per cent are losing money, 30 per cent are dangerously near it, 14 per cent making a profit, and 21 per cent do not know, because they do not keep any accounts. Of those asked to report if farmers kep'fc accounts, 64' per cent replied that they had no knowledge of accounts being kept, while 36 per cent gave the names of farmers who kept accounts.

Apropos of the present difficulty between the United States and Spain concerning Cuba, it may interest our readers to know the relative strength of the navies of the two powers. In Brassey's Naval Annual for 1895 we find that the fleet of the United States consists of 67 vessels ; whilst Spain has 48. Of the American ships, however, we must treat 13 as obsolete or somewhat out of date At least two of the Spanish vessel are in the same category. So that the relative numbers stand as follows : United States 54, Spain 46. If one limits the comparison to effective armoured vessels Spain can muster only nine to the Yankee's sixteen ; whilst in unarmoured ships each power has practically the same number, though in swift ocean cruisers of the most modern type, Spain ia much inferior to her antagonist. _ As it is evident that the issue of the struggle, if war does come, which of course there is no immediate reason to anticipate, although the tone of public opinion in the Stateß is exceedingly hostile at present to Spain's rights in Cuba, must depend on the command of the sea, this comp irative estimate of naval force is not out of place. And from the details available it is tolerably certain that Spain has an uphill task before her, though as far as numbers go, her inferiority in sea-fighting power is not so apparent, unless she receives substantial help from some other European navy, which seems not improbable.

Auckland possesses a lady sharebroker. * The monthly meeting of the Borough Council will be held on Monday night.

The latest addition to the Telephone Exchange is Mr J. W . Falkner, Broughamstreet. No 95. The total quantity of butter, exported from the breakwater only for a period of four weeks ended February 29th, was 152 tons 3cwta lqr 231bs. It is understood that tho receipts over the Waitara Regatta are in excess of those taken at last year's fixture. It is. reported that an inmate of the Old Men's Home, Mr J. Bishop, lias been left a considerable legacy by the death of a relative in England.

The civil case, A. Standish v. J. H. Coad, was again called on in the Magistrate s Court this morning, and again adjourned till next Saturday. Mr J. Strauchon, the Commissioner of Lands, is still away in the interior attending the commission appointed to enquire into grievances of settlers in the locality. Owing to the steamer Rakaia going ashore near Cape de Verde, a general average of 2£ per cent, has been struck on the net value of the cargo, and will be collected on the New Zealand Shipping Company. •

Fireman H. Ford's name was inadvertently omittod in Friday's issue from the Fire Brigade team that has gone to compete at the Christchurch Demonstration, The team is stated to be a strong one. Mr R. Cottier has won a plated bicycle in the Engineers' Band Art Onion, Christchurch. Ticket holders can see a list of winning numbers on application to Mr F. Newell, hon. secretary of the Town Band. The new steamer Rakaia, which arrived at Auckland tho other day, is said to havo the most valuable cargo that ever left Great Britain for New Zealand. The ship and cargo together are valued at fully a quarter of a million sterling. We understand that Mr Govett has lodged formal notice of appeal in the case of Wright, Ranish & Co. v Reardon, decided ky the S.M. last week. The appeal will be heard at the sittings of the Supreme Court next month . The force of the tremendous flood current at Victoria Bridge, Brisbane, in tho river where the Pearl disaster occurred, may be seen from the fact that a diver who wont down a few days ago found that the ground had been taken out to a depth of 11 feet. There were fifteen applications for the position of custodian to the Recreation Grounds. The names of Messrs C. Edgecombe and H. Tiplady were selected from the list, and the former was finally given the appointment. The salary is £1 5s a week with cottage, ground, and firewood. The Gymnasium Club Committee has decided to call the annual meeting of the Club on Tuesday next. This institution did not work last season on account of tho small number of members. We hear that a large number of young men are anxiously wishing the Club to open this season, and we have no doubt a good membership will result. At the Education Reserves Board on Friday the following apportionment of rents from reserves up to March 6, 1896, was made as follows :— Primary Education : Taranaki Education Board, £311 2s 3d ; Wanganui Education Board, £188 17s 9d. Secondary Education: New Plymouth High School, £124 8s lid ; Wanganui High School, £75 lls Id. In this issue we publish a programme of sports to be held on Easter Monday by the Star Football Club. A very strong committee being formed, we should say that the meeting will be a great success The prizes for most of the events are exceptionally good, and should draw very large nominations from' all parts, providing they are favored with fine weather. Under the auspices of the Band of Hope Union, a series of quarterly entertainments are being arranged for, the first of which' will be held in the Alexandra Hall on Friday, 27th March. The committee are actively engaged in making preparations, training the children, &c, and an interesting meeting is expeoted. The Rev W. S. Potter and Mr John White are the speakers, and Mr J. Bellringer, chairman.

Children are very literal in their interpretation of the biblical narratives aDd the lights which they. throw ou thorn from the depths of their own experience are often vory bright. Thus one little girl who had been told the story of tho Fall, repeated it to her younger sister with embellishments. "It was so wicked of Adam and Eve to take an apple from the tree and eat it, for they knew very well that God was saving ihe apples fora pudding."

A sample of tho uniform which ia to bo worn universally by the Volunteer corps of the colony, was shown at the drill shed last evening (says the Napier News). It consists of a bluo jackot with red collar, resembling tho present artillery tunic, trousers of French military make similar in colour, but much more ample in proportions than the present Artillery nether garment, and a three cornered hat. Leggings are also worn. It in anticipated that before being finally adopted, several modifications will bo wiggested, but even in its present stato th~ uniform is a vast improvement to the i>*sy coloured corps distinctions at present * orn. " Whirr," went the .ram-car round the corner of Collina-Btreet and Spring-street; " jolt" went the passengers as the car swung up the aacent ; but there was one (writes "Atticus," in the Leader) who failed to realise the situation, and the occupants of the car were astonished at the spectacle of a burly Irish member of Parliament being shot off Ihe dummy on to the roadway. "Was that a collision, my man ?" said he, as the conductor, with visions of a coroner's inquest, tried to raise the recumbent figure of the dislocated legislator. " No, sir," said the conductor, soothingly. " Was it a flash of lightnin'?" "No." "Has the cable exploded ?" " Oh, no ; nothing so bad as that." " Ah, thin," said the member, reflectively, "I must have got aff too soon." Quite a new departure took place at the Salvation Army last Thursday evening, when tho Christian Endeavour Society took the platform, and gave a series of Musical Selections, Mr J. R. Ohatterton conducting. There was a large' and appreciative audience who were so pleased with the various, items that, although a collection had been taken at the door, they asked that the plate Bhould go round once more Needless to say the favour was immediately granted. The soloists were Mesdames Asher and Chatterton, Misses Hooker, E. J. Chatterton James and Roberts. Messrs F. Asher W. Reed, E. Chatterton. The accompaniments were played by Misseg R. Taylor and Nellie Chatterton and Mrs J. R. Chatterton. Mr J. A. Roberts also accompar;ed with the English concertina. The meeting terminated with a vote of thanks for the services rendered by the Endeavour Society, closing with a prayer meeting.

A meeting of the Committee of the Agricultural Society was held at Mr C. T. Millb' office on Friday night. A letter was received from the North Island Executive of the National Dairy Association of N.Z., suggesting that the Taranaki and Egmont A. and P. Societies should combine and hold an Autumn Produce Show alternately at New Plymouth and Hawera, the first to be held at New Plymouth at the end of April next, The Committee discussed tho suggestion, which was considered an excellent one, and would be very pleased to take the matter up, but consider there is not sufficient time this season for the public notification that such an important show "would require, and considered it would be better to have no show than a poor one. The Committee also decided to ask tho Association to bring the matter up at their half-yearly meeting, and suggesting that all tho coastal societies should unite for the purpose of holding such a show.