The Taranaki Herald. PUBLISHED DAILY. MONDAY, AUGUST 31, 1896.

Taranaki Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 10706, 31 August 1896, Page 3

The Taranaki Herald. PUBLISHED DAILY. MONDAY, AUGUST 31, 1896.

♦ In the course of an inspired article on the recent history and present condition of the New Plymouth harbour, fie Opunake Times refers to the efforts which have been made time and again to induce the Railway Department to reduce the present exorbitant charges on the breakwater line. Our contemporary suggests that "the only course that eeems open to the Board is to abandon the present wharf, which the Government, by the way, ig continually pestering the Board to repair, and to provide some other wharfage accommodation for themselves, on which good care should be taken at all times to prerent the Government ever having anything to do with. The Board hopes by some means to be able to do this, which would not only make a saving of Is 6d per ton on all goods going to New Plymouth, as carriers will cart by contract at 2s per ton, but it will allow, what should always have been, all people frou down the coast to take delivery of their goods at the breakwater. This, and the saving of Is 6d on all other goods would doubtless make all the difference in the trade, and so in-, crease it that the revenue of the Board would before long allow either contribu- i ting towards payment of interest, and so lessen the rate, or then resume payuents to the sinking fund, which never should have been stopped." It gives 03 peculiar pleasure to acknowledge the service our country contemporary is thus re.idering the breakwater, the more so as those more closely interested have always displayed too little spirit in the matter, and, beyond deputatiopising Ministers and Railway Commissioners, have brought no pressure to bear to obtain a redaction of tbe heavy charges which are killing the trade of the port. Let them remember the action of the Onehunga people under somewhat similar circumstances some years ago ; how they defied the railway authorities, and obtained their point. We are a long-suffering people, and have with wonderful i patience submitted to grossly unfair treatment for many years, and unless more vigorous measures are taken, we shall continue to suffer for years to come. Now we have a .Board willing to devise, and if possible to cany out a scheme by which the trade of the port will be independent of the railway, and we hope their efforts will be properly backed up. Public spirit only needs arousing, and we are confident such a scheme as is suggested can bo carried out. Financially it would prove a most profitable undertaking, and the relief of Is6d per ton | would cause a great and immediate growth in the trade of the port. The matter is in our own hands, and we would suggest that a public meeting be called, at which resolutions might be passed calling on the Government to forthwith reduce the railage on the breakwater line to 2s per ton, otherwise immediate steps would be taken to erect a new wharf. Possibly if decided action were taken before the approaching general election takes place, the Government may see their way to comply with such a request. At any rate it will be worth their while paying attention to a matter of such vital importance to this district. « A question that is vexing the minds of some of our country friends is the proposal now before the County Council to re-impose the wheel tax. Without going into the respective merits and demerits of tollgates and wheel tax, we must say that it seoms bad policy on the part of the Council to be continually changing its methods of raising revonue. People become accustomed even to a toll, and cease to regard it as a hardship, especially as they have the satisfaction of knowing that only when they travel on the road will they have to pay, while in the case of the wheel tax, whether they use the roads daily or only once a year they have to pay the same tax. The question the Council hjis to consider, however, is tk&t of raising revenue. For the year 1894-95 the Council* net revenue from tolls was £1450, am] for 1895-96 no less than

£1830. Will a wheel tax yield so large a sum ? It is all very well to call tollgates a relic of barbarism, and an antiquated institution, but is it not better to put up with such jibes than to suffer under the reproach of having bad roads? The revenue from tollgates is steadily lifting the County Council out of its difficulties, and ws very much doubt the wisdom of casting off so good a friend. Let us first get our roads into a thorough state of repair, and at the same time so regulate the traffic as to prevent heavy loads being | drawn on narrow tires, then it will bo time enough to think of abolishing tolls. [Since the above has been in type, we have reoeived a letter from the Chairman of the County Council bearing on the matter, and which appears in another column.]

A great sea serpent was saen on August 23rd on the west coast bank of Mangawhare. The appointment of Lieutenant E. N; L. Okey to the Captaincy of the Taranaki Rifles is gazetted. , Mr W. Pack, the patentee of the new meat thawing process, leaves Lyttelton on Thursday next, for England, where he intends to demonstrate the utility of his process. The Auckland City Council bai passed a motion to frame a bye-law to suppress tho assembly of men in the streets for the purpose of street betting, tb's practice hiving become a grent nuisance. ' The action for criminal libel brought by ex-detective Kirby against P. S. Cassidy and A. Ashbolt is to be proceeded with, and will probably come on at the next sittings of the Supreme Court at Well'ogtoa. The s.s. Takapuna was brought alongside the wharf on Saturday, no difficulty being experienced in bringing her in and berthing her. The steamer met with quick despatch, and left on the same tide for Auckland. The Auckland City Council desired to give a compassionate allowance of £75 to Mr Smith, of the City Club Hotel, who sustained damage through the bursting of a water main. The Auditor-General wrote that the Council had no power to do so. The shop and residence of J. McMahon, bootmaker, at Hamilton, was destroyed by fire at 2 a.m., on Saturday. The inmates escaped by lowering themselves with ropes. Insurance unknown, nothing was saved. The wind was favorable, otherwise the whole street would, have gone. Here v the very latest tit-oifc from South Africa :— Bnton : "The British Empire is so great the sun never sets upon it." Boer : " That I can readily believe. The Deity is so suspicion of Bntions that he dares not leave them out in the dark, for fear they would be up to all sorts of tricks." At a meeting of the Christchurch Hospital Board on Wednesday last a committee was appointed to inquire and report as to the measures necessary for securing greater economy in administration. Mr Moses said half the Board's expenditure (£10,000) went in salaries and wages, there being 74 officials to look after 120 patients. An extraordinary wedding took place in Auckland laUly. The bridegroom could not have bsen less than 56, while the bride, if she could be judgoi by her appearance, waa not more than 13. The bride employed the time between the ceremony and the departure of the boat for her up river homo by playing with the other children on the pavement outside the Queen - street boardinghouso where she was staying. — Observer. A funny play is being produced in a leading Siamese theatre. In it Ceylon is the capital of England, and a marriage is arranged between Queen Viotoria and tho King of Siam. However, misunderstandings arise and the marriage is inde.finite postponed. Queen 'Vie* invades the country to obtain damages for breach of promise: She ia ropulsed with great slaughter. The Duke of Cambridge is very prominent in this scene, where he engages three Siamese fairies in mortal combat with a meat chopper. Finally all mistakes are remedied, and Victoria and the King of Siam are made one. Editing a paper is a nice business. If we publish a joke people say we are rattle headed. If we don't we are an old fossil. If we publish original matter they say we don't give 'em selections. If we give 'em selections they accuse us of stealing from our exchanges and say we are too lazy to write. If we give a man a puff we are partial. If we compliment the ladies the men are jealous, if we don't we are publishing a paper not fit to make a bustle of. If we remain in our office we are too proud to mix with the " common herd." If we are on the street we are not attending to our business. If we wear good clothes we do not pay for them. Now what shall we do ? Some may say we stole this from an exchange — and we did. A remarkable case of murder occurred recently at New Tork. Two negroes, named Barrett and Cooper, were fighting in a saloon. The former waa a man of herculean build, the latter of slender and delicate frame. Cooper was getting the worst of it when he suddenly drew a knife and stabbed his antagonist in the throat, severing the jugular vein. Barrett, knowing himself to be mortally wounded, sprang at Cooper and seized him by the throat, saying with his last breath : " I die but hold you fast till the police come." Both men fell to the floor, Cooper underneath. When the police appeared Barrett was dead, but his clutch of Cooper's neck was so strong and so deeply were his fingers embedded in the latter's flesh that great force had to be used to loosen his hold and free the other negro, who was nearly dead of fright. The following story is related by the Marton Mercury. A little girl of .seven (the daughter of the house) was, as a great treat, permitted to sit at the table i one day when a Bishop was to dine with her parents enfamille. Her mother carefully instructed her. She must remember that this was a very great clergyman, and when ske spoke to him she was to speak very properly, so as to show that she had been brought up in the fe*r and admonition of God. The little lady " caught on," but very dimly perceived her way out of the difficulty. At dinner, seated beside tho great prelate, she partook of soup and fish successively in silence. When the entrees came on she wanted salt, and observed the salt cellar was on His Lordship's left. She wanted the salt, but she dreadfully wanted to frame her request for it, in such a manner as to meet with her mother's approval ; so she said half hysterically (touching His Lordship's sleeve lightly), " Pass the salt,-— for- for God's sake ! A runaway horse created some stir in , Powderham - street about 6 o'clock on Sunday evening. Mrßawiingson, Frankley Road, was driving & double seated buggy along the Carrington Road, his wife and two yourig children occupying the back seat, when the horse slued at something alongside the road. Mr Rawlingsongotout and was leading the horse past, when the animal swerved and bolted. Mr Rawlingson hung on to the reins, but was thrown violently to the ground, and got his face severely lacerated. The terrified animal bolted along the Carriugton Eoad, and thence into Powderham -street. As Mra Rawlingson had no control of the reins, which were on the ground, it looked &* if she and her children would in the end meet with a dreadful accident, but near the Post Office Messrs J. Way and J. Revell brought the runaway to a standstill, and thus- averted the danger.