The Taranaki Herald. PUBLISHED DAILY. THURSDAY, APRIL 5. 1900.

Taranaki Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 11788, 5 April 1900, Page 2

The Taranaki Herald. PUBLISHED DAILY. THURSDAY, APRIL 5. 1900.

For the first time in its history the total trade of the colony last year exceeded £20,000,000, the imports having amounted to £8,739,633 and the exports to £11,938,335, specie included in each case. The exports aro a record in themselves, being ne'arly'a million and a half greaterthan in JB9B, the then greatest, while the imports have only once been exceeded, in 1878, when Sir Julius Vogel's public works policy was in full swing, the imports then amounting to £8,755,663. In that yeai- the excess of imports over exports was no less than £2,516,373, while last year the balance was .£3,309,766 the other way, a very remarkable change. From 1573 to 1&85 inclusive, there was an excess of imports dvev exports evel'y yeav, cxcepUn 1880; when they nearly kilasiced ; bufc from 1886 up to the present there has annually been a large excess of exports, aggregating in the fourteen years nearly thirty - three millions sterling. Reckoned per head of population, the total trade la.st year was not, so great as it. used to be in the seventies and earlier eighties, but both in imports (£ll 13s Id per head) and exports (£ls 18s 4d per head) the figures are better than they have been at any time since 1885. These figures show an extraordinary elasticity in the productive capabilities of the colony, justifying the remark of the late Justice Gillies that he would defy any Ministry to ruin the colony. Xearly three-fourths of our tx-ade is clone with the. United Kingdom, which takes £9,427,515 of ..our exports, and furnishes £5,52 C,615 of our imports, New South Wales is our next best customer, our total trade with the mother colony being £1,866,900. Next comes the United States with Avhich our trade is worth £1,208,808; Victoria following with £819,900. Wool, ol course, is the most valuable export, amounting last year to £4,324,627, but it must be noted that, while in 1894 this btaple represented over 52 per cent, of the total exports, in 1899 it only represented about 36 per cent., oi a little over one third. The figures relating to frozen meat are the most remarkable, for they have grown from nothing in 1881 to £1,087,617 in 1890, and to £2,088,856 in 1899. Gold raining has also shown a wonderful expansion during the last year. The exports of the precious metal have varied in the last fourteen years from £747,879 in 1887 to .21,162,181 in 1895 and £1,513,180 in 1899, and it is satisfactory to note that the current year, in its first quarter at any rate, shows a still further growth in this item. Kauri gum also shows a record return, the value being £607,919. Butter and cheese were exported to the value of £713,617, a great increase over previous years, and this amount will again be largely exceeded in the current year. Sheepskins and tallow both presented record figures, while wheat, which in 1890 was exported to the value of £672,247, dropping in 1898 to £2463, last year jumped up tc £338,476, oats being a good second to it with £286,102. Flax also experienced a decided revival, the value of exports last year being £18't,411, almost as much as the five previous years put together, but still less than half of, what it was im 1890. These figures, which are taken fi'om a blue book issued by tho Registrar-General, show a satisfactory condition of things in the colony, and there is every indication that the current year will eclipse its predecessor and set up a fresh record. The Customs returns we published on Tuesday for the March quarter show that tho trade of this porb has grown very greatly as compnred with the corresponding period oi last year, while other statistics to hand show that Taranaki is not singular in this respect. The annual meeting of the Ngamotu Golf Club will be held on Saturday ovoning. Dr. Valintinc, of Inglewood, is engaged reporting on the sanitary condition oi Wanganui borough. Messrs Bowley and Watt report the sale of Mr Killick's 170-acrc farm, Norfolk Road, to Mr Webber, of Stratford. The Railway Department has increased the reward for the conviction of tho perpetrator of the Invercargill railway accident to £500, unless the informant is tho actual culprit. Lowell, tho Hamilton hotel cook, who disappeared mysteriously five days ago, has turned up. He had been hiding amongst fern on the river bank 200 yards away, and had had no food during that time. He is quito rational, but cannot explain his extraordinary conduct. In connection with the Paris Exhibition, M. Pares, the bandmaster of the Republican Guards, proposes 'to constitute a vast orchestra numbering some four thousand executants, and composed of military bands and of tho bands of the various private musical societies. This giant orchestra is to be massed on the new bridge ever the Seine, the Pont Alexandra 111., which connects the central portion of the exhibition grounds on either side of the rivor. It will playtwice a month, from 9 to 11 in the evening. A special feature of tljp band will be a great number of trumpets — at least 400 is the figure proposed. A certain captain now in South Africa relates a story of how ono of the old hands of his company tried to get tho bettur of him. The man explained to tho captain that he had heard from his wife, who was ill, and— - v if you plaze, sor, can I have forty-eight hours' lave ? " " You say that you have heard from your wife,' 1 said the captain smelling a rat, and be ginning to turn up some imaginary correspondence on his table. " I have sor." ■' Ah ! " replied tho officer, " I hsive board from her, 100, and she asks me not to- give you leave, for you only go home to got drunk and break the furniture." " She wroto that, sor ? " " Yes." ''And does that mean, sor, that T can't have my lave ? " "It docs." , The man saluted and went to the door, and turning suddenly round he said, "If you pla/.e, sor, may I say .something confidential between man and man 'i " " Well, what is it?" answered <ho captain, "Why, sor, under this roof arc two of the most illigant Horn that tho Lord ever made — I'm not a married man." Hot Andreo went in bis balloon To Iry and find tho pole. Uo must have perished all too soon Before he reached his goal. H lit! had only known tho way Cold rcgiona to endure, Uo might have been aiivo 10-day, On "Woods' Great Peppermint Cure. You can depend on ridding your children of worms with Wade's worm figs, thewouderful worm worriers, Is. 4*4 *

Stratford business people are going to close up on Thursday night, 12th inst., until Tuesday morning, 17th inst. Miss Forbes intends commencing classes in dress cutting, &c. in New Plymouth next week. Particulars will be duly published! It is not unlikely that Captain ltus«ell will retire from the leadership of the Opposition on account of ill-health. A Roman Catholic Church building in Barbadoes-street, Christchurch, measuring 108 ft. by 70ft., is to be bodily shifted. The volcanoes of Vesuvius and Etna are never both active at precisely the same time. , A, few days, ago a hofae was sold at the Taiiranga public pound for the siim of, lid, and a mare and foal were disposed of at the same time for 2s 6d. A glass chimney, lOßffc. high, built of glass bricks, conveys the smoke from a glass factory in Liverpool. The floors are also of glass, and so is the roof. Tying knots in the handkerchief to aid one's memory had its origin in China thousands of years ago, before writing was invented in that country. Mr Courtney and party are expected to arrive in New Plymouth to-morrow morning. A welcome will be extended to the new arrivals in St Mary's Hall in the evening. The City Council of Sydney has empowered Messrs Preece & Cardow, of London, to call for tenders for lighting Sydney by electricity, at an estimated cost of £150,000. Like another place neater home,, Sydney had licetl neglecting sanitation, while going m for luxuries." The programmes of the ,'oncert in the Theatre Royal this evening will be found in another column. It is well selected, and, apart from the object ot the entertainment, should attract a large audience. Speaking at Amberley last week, the Premier hinted at the possible introduction of a measure limiting the rate of rent to 10 per cent, on the capital expended on property. There is much French and Belgian capital invested in the principal railway lines of Spain, while England owns many of the shorter lines, and is also at the head of the mining interests. The Petono Borough Council, which is going in for gas works, has fixed the price of gas at 10s per 1000 feet, with 10 per cent, discount; cooking and heating gas, 10s, less 25 per cent, discount. Wo are asked to request those ladies who have promised to contribute to the refreshment tables, on the occasion of the social to Mr Courtney's party, to send their contributions to St. Mary's Hall on Friday afternoon. A glass factory has been starbed at St. Helena, in which the whole system of blowing is replaced by an automatic arrangement of moulds and blow-pipes worked by compressed air. The output has been much increased. Scotch divorces are rapidly increasing in uumber. During the past year the Court of Sessions has dissolved 175 marriages as compared with 138 in 1898, and the annual average of tho previous 10 years was only 114. Two-thirds of the actions were " raised " by wives. The strongest people in power and numbers in South Africa are the Kaffirs, who are spread over the entire country, but over Natal and the Orange Free State in especial. They number about 6,000,000, and include many subsidiary tribes. Wild tnrkeyß sent across from Canada by the Marquis of Lome and turned loose in Argyllshire, are aaid to have taken kindly to the climate, and an optimistic correspondent says he looks forward to the time when turkey-shooting will bo added to the many attractions of the Highlands. The great cities of the world use up an enormous number of horses every year, and these must constantly be resupplied by others from the country or from foreign lands. It is stated that in the suburbs of London alone there are 750,000 horses in use, and that 100,000 horses must every year be sent into these suburbs'to tike the place of those worn out. The Hon. John McKenzie has had some trouble in the seat of the operation wSi&ch he underwent in London, necessitating consulting Dr. Symes, of Christchurch. Mr McKenzie had a fair night on Monday night, and the doctor says ho is progressing slowly, but it will be a few iveeks before he can be about again. He will require to take things easy for some time, and has meanwhile cancelled all engagements. The Transcaspian Review, a paper issued at Askabad, reports a strange rumour to the effect that by order of the Ameer of Afghanistan all the roads leading from the province of Herat to the Russian post on the Kushk ha*e been damaged, for the purpose, as it is supposed, of checking the increasing caravan trade with Russian Central Asia, and at tho same time the Afghan authorities of Herat have reinforced the military cordon on the frontier. An East-end (London) clergyman tells a moving tale of innocence. Afrailliotlo girl came in lo a public house with a jug to fetch 'her parents half-a-pint. When tho jug was filled she nervously put down two halfpennies on the counter and made for tho door. The barman, though he hardly liked to frighten the poor little thing, called after her in a gcntlo voico, " You're a half-penny short." "No ; you're a halfpenny short," she answered, and disappeared from view. t There aro few living generals who have been called upon to command more than 100,000 men in time of peace, but that lot has recently fallen to tho German cavalry general Count von Hacseler. He is the commanding general of the Sixteenth Army Corps, stationed at Motz, and he was entrusted with the chief command during the last army manoeuvres, which took place on ground made memorable by the conflict of 1870-71. The manoeuvres lasted more than a week, and four complete army corps, an cntiro cavalry division, and more than 100,000 men took part, under the personal observation of the general. Owing to the frequent settlement of the land in the English salt districts, it has (says Nature) always been found a difficult matter to maintain in proper order bridges and other similar structures. To meet this difficulty the engineer of tho Weaver Navigation, in constructing two swing bridges over the river at Northwich has so designed these that instead of resting on tho land the weight of the bridges is carried on steel pontoons floating in the water, and tho bridges are therefore independent of any settlement of the land so far as their foundations are concerned, and they aro so built as lo bo easily adjusted to any sottlemcnt of tho ground at tho two ends. These bridges also are opened and closed by electric power, being tho first to bo so operated in England. The two bridges have cost £25,000. Tho Westport Harbour Board's dredging plant, consisting of tho dredge Erskino and the steam hoppers ncathcotc and Stunner, is busy preparing for dredging away the bank just bolow the wharf at Onohunga, thus giving steamers a straightaway course into Iho channel and enabling tho largest vessels trading to tho port to leave at any stato of the tide, and for deepening the borthago accommodation ; but it is anticipated that it will be nearly a month ere dredging can be started. There is a large amount of hoavy gear to be lifted into position, and as no suitable crane is procurable in Onchungn, it is expected ono will harj lobo obtained and sent out from Auckland. When working, tho «ln;dsc will lift from 1500 to 1800 tons of material per day, and as the hoppers (each of 240 tons' capacity) can bo filled in 40 minutes each, it -will be possible to do about si* trips per day.

Captain Edwii' -Wired .this afternoon :— j Stong westerly winds ; glass 1 rise ; tide j high with considerable sea. | Importers per Kanieri will note that she leaves Onehunga for Waitara on Thursday, 12th inst.. and not Monday 9th inst. Mining induptries in the Transvaal were so profitable la*t y<?ar that £5,000,000 in dividends were {oWtst+fair to English stockholders. Dr. Verdon, Roman Catholic Bishop of Dunedin, returned on Wednesdaj', after a visit to Rome and England. He was presented with addresses of welcome and a cheque ror £700, and escorted from the railway station to the Cathedral by a torch-light procession headed by a bandi Miss Tyers, m'atrW ti£ tJie Hawera Hospital, died on Wednesday ef eiingf-, after a short illness. Yneumoniawas the cabse of death. Before taking charge of the H»wera. Hospital in 1894, the deceased lady was for So"me years in Waikato. Her demise will be much regretted by her many friends. Mrs Davies received a cable message this morning from Major Davies stating that the New Zealanders were all well. Naturally some anxiety was felt as to whether any of them were among the casualty list after the Koornspruit affair, and it is extremely satisfactory to learn that while they bore so dangerous a part in the engagement they came through unscathed. Mr Courtney writes us that though tho party he has brought out with him by tho Wlnkatano is the smallest he has ever brdiight out, being only 23 in number, they are a set wJic> liavs a large number of relatives and friends" wh'd yill follow if they report favourably. One is* ail e£officer who is going to learn farming* before taking up a good place; one is a most capable woman as housekeeper who has a daughter, aged 13, that she would take with her and put in some light employment as nurse girl or in a shop; one thoroughly good domestic servant; a carpenter, a gardener, a handy man', and only seventeen cadets, but they are a very good lot, who will be anxious to get on. " If," says Mr Courtney, '■ I take out only a small party I am still pleased with my mission, as I have the promise of ono man coming Avho cannot get away for six mouths, and positively it would be worth while to come for him alone, as he is so well and popularly known in the Midlands, and what he will start in Taranaki will benefit us all and bring people of money into the town and suburbs. I have also some families who will be coining out in four or six months and two who will take a year to wind up their affairs, but they will come, and all through my lectures."