The Taranaki Herald. PUBLISHED DAILY. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 18, 1900.

Taranaki Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 11581, 13 October 1900, Page 2

The Taranaki Herald. PUBLISHED DAILY. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 18, 1900.

City Band will- play several selections in the' town this evening." ■ ' The net balance of the cantata, "" David, 11 ' " gf veif 'in Vid T o? 'thVmemorial fund; is^B 6d.<- - " - '•> • ■ '

The s.B. Kanieri will leave Waitara for' Kawhia on Tuesday, 23rd inst., as advertised. ,

The Premier has wired His Worship the Mayor that Peace Celebration Day has been postponed.

The suggestion made by Mr A. B. R. Fookes in the columns of the Herald that a Working Men's Club should bo be started in New Plymouth has been well received, and there eeems evtry probability of tho proposal assuming a tcngiblo form.

People marvel at the mechanism of the human body, with its 492 bones and 60 arteries. But man is simple 'in this respect compared with the carp. This remarkable fish moves no fewer than 4386 bones and muscles every timo it breathos. It has 4320 veins, to say nothing of its 99 muscles.

In a sermon preached at St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Bendigo, on a recent Sunday, the Rev. A. S. C. James said :—: — " The threo greatest and noblest works of God are: (1) A minister of the Gospel; (2) the editor of a newspaper ; (3) the doctor of medicine who goes about healing the sick. The pulpit is greater than the throne."

Tho Inglewood Record says news has been received from tho Transvaal to tho effect that Troopor Payne, of Inglowood, and of the First Contingent, is laid up with malarial fever, bnt his many friends hope Hoon to hear of his complete recovery. Dr. Valintine recoived a cablegram on Thursday to tho effect that both Major Davies and Lieutenant Matthews' were in good health .

In connection with, tho. forthcoming Lawn Tennis Championship to be hold at Christchurch during Christmas wook, Mr F. Wilding received the following cable on Thursday from Mr Dunlop, of Melbourne :—": — " Probably send Melbourne team -if championship events thrown open. Cablo reply." Mr Wilding replied — "Meeting in a few days. Practically sure that championship evonlswill be. thrown open."

One of the peculiar institutions on Manahiki Island (Humphrey's Island), which id amongst tho islands to be annoxed by Now Zoaland, is the "curfew"' System. A bell is rung in' tho villages at eight o'clock every evening, and all lights must go out immediately and tho people keep quiet, under penalty of a fine. The " turi men, 1 ' or police, thon go round to detect offenders. It remains to bo soon whether Mr Seddon will endorse tho curfew system when tho island is annexed.

A big Berlin manuf actuVor received in one shipment four truck-loads of chicken f cithers from Russia. Turkey feathers cuue ir.om America in great quantities. Chicken plumage brings from 6s to 16s a pound. Turkey is worth about the same. Pino wing and tail feathers bring a little more. Poacock phminge aelln for from 18s to 30s a pound. Tho most expensive of all is tho Rof t egret plumage, which brings from £5 to £10 an ounce. Para diso birds are also costly. They sell always by the whole bird, and cost from 20s to 40s.

Roy. C. Penney will preach in tho Whitoloy Memorial Church to-morrow, October 14th. Morning, 11 a.m. ; ovening 6 p.m. 0

Persona interested in gold dredging shares, which have proved so remunera tive in tho south, can inspeot prospectus and share lists with latest quotations at tho office of J. C, jDavios, Sharebrober Devon-Btreefc. 9

We acknowledge a parcel df books for bushmen from Mr and Mrs H. Bailv^ The Secretary of the City Band wishes to thank Mr H. Gilmour for a parcel of ] music presented by kirn to the Band.

• Captain Edwin wired this afternoon : — Moderate south-east to south and west winds ; glass rise ; tides good ; southerly gale in-the Straits, continue for 16 hours.

Mr Kirkby reports having sold Mr Snowball's late residence in- Octavius Placo to Mr Monteath at a satisfactory figure.

Attention is directed to an inset circulated, through a portion of this issue, relative to a new preparation, " Impey's May Apple," which is taking a foremost place among cures for stomach and liver troubles. It has beon used by several members of the Legislature, who have given testimonials as to its efficacy. ileHsrs Sharland & ( Co. are wholesale agents for the colony, and it is procurable at all chemists and stores. The Royal yacht "Victoria and Albert, the palatial vessel by which the Duke and Duchess of York intend making the trip to' Australasia, ' has just completed her third trial oft 48 -hours' duration. The mean results of this- trial, which was at 7500 i.h.p.,were -7649 i.h.p., 18.47 knots, and a" ooal "consumption of 1.871b-per i.h.p. On the previous' trial at 7500 i.h.p. the speed attained < was 18.33 knots, and the coal consumption 1.941 b. She has now to go through her full-power trial of eight' hours at 11,000 i.h.p. '

Despite the very unfavourable weather prevailing on Fmday night, there- was a fair attendance in the Theatre Royal to witness the Kinematograph and Myriorama entertainment given by Mr Knott. What the audience lacked in numbers they made up in enthusiasm. The animated pictures .of the South African war were especially good, and were received with much favour. Mr Knott intends to tour the country districts, commencing in the Frankley Road schoolroom on Monday night, so that the country settlers and school children will have the opportunity of witnessing this instructive and entertaining exhibition.

The Auckland Diocesan Synod resolved that it viewed with satisfaction the proposal of the Government to appoint a Royal Commission to consider the question of issuing licenses or otherwise in the King Country, and that the Government be requested to appoint a Commission without delay. A motion that the Synod views with satisfaction the * Government's proposal to continue prohibition in the King country till tho Commission is appointed was rejected. Subsequently it was resolved to urge on the Government the necessity of prohibiting the use of intoxicating liquors at Maori tangis and huis.

-The relative hardness and endurance of kauri and rimu timbers formed the subject of a discussion at the last meeting of the Thames Harbour Board. One member — a timber merchant — stated that he had proved that one horse working on a tramway could draw as big a load, on rimu heart rails as two horses working on the same line during the time kauri rails were used. Tho explanation was, he said, that the rimu gave a hard, glossy surface which kauri did not, the consequence befng that the friction was much less in one case than in the other. Other members of the Board agreed that the heart of Now Zealand, rimu was quite as durablo as Australian iron bark, for which a stiff prico has now to be paid by importers.

A return was laid on the table of the House on Thursday showing .the office expenses of .each Educatiop Board in the colony for 'the year ending March 31, 190 Q- The ' totals are as follows :— Auckland, L 2062 6s 8d ; Taranaki, L 623 17s Id ; Wanganui L 844 12s Id ; Wellington, L 1419 8s 2d,; Hawke's Bay, L 633 5s 7d ; Marlborough^ 'L24o 10s 7d; Nelson, L6BB 0s Id ; "Grey, L 644 14s 2d ; Westland, L 292 14s Id ; North Canter-~ bury/L1275 15s Ud;' South Canterbury' L6IB 15s 7d; Otago, L 1582 12s Ud; Southland, -L 903 15b sd. Salaries -were heaviest iv Auckland, L 1371 6s 8d ;' and OCago, Ll'i33 ; rent in' Auckland, L26L 2s; travelling expenses in Grey, L 259 2s; other expenses in Wellington, L 531 19s 2d. . „,.-■ The prospectus of tho D. Berr^- Company, Ltd.,' a copy* of which is forwarded us by Mr J. C. Davies, showi that £1,5,000 is proposed to be called up out of the total capital of £25,000. The price to be paid for the business aa r a going concei nis £15,547, made up as follows : — Freehold property and buildings, £4576 ; stock in trade, plant, &c, £9981 ; book debts £2951 ; making a total of £17,503, from which has to be deducted £1956 for current liabilities, &c. Tho freehold property and the book debts have been valued by Mr T. O. Kelsey, and the stock ,in -trade by Messrs Miller, Wilson & Co., of Wellington. The provisional directors are Messrs Bowley, Burgess, Connett, Dockrill, and W. D. Webster, whose names will give confidence to investors. Applications for shares should be made at once to Mr Davies.

In reply to representations made by Captain Russell and other members in the House on Wednesday, the Minister for Railways promised to consider whether it would be practicable to divide railway returns which were now linked together. Captain Russell instanced the case of the Wollir.gton-Napier-New Plymouth system of lines, and sugcested that it would be better if the return for that system could be divided into, say, three sections instead of being given in undivided form as at present." Mr Ward said he thought that what had beon suggested might be done, if it did not entail undue exponse. Tho division would bo useful if it onabled it to bo shown which portions of the railway lines wero not returning 3 por cent, in ordor that they might po-haps be required to make up the difference.

A curious and interesting law problem cropped up iv the South Australian Court recently (says the Bullotin). A seaman named Charles White left his ship, it was said with the intention of deserting, but ere he could be long enough away to prove that he didn't intend going back, ho was arrested foi stealing tho chief officer's clothes, and sentenced to a fine of lil or 14 days. Ho took the 14 days, chiefly, it appears, with a view to tho fact that his ship would bo away before he cauie out, so that ho wpuld get <juit of it without any unpleasint penalties for desertion. But shortly before the vessel sailed the captain aont up, the LI and demanded tho return of Charles White. Nextday.ashehadn'troturned,thecaptain laid an information against him as a deserter, and then he ascertained to his surprise that White was still in gaol, and refused to come out. Whito's ploa was that ho, not the 'captain, had been fined. That he had tho legal option to pay £1 personally or do 14 days personally, and that having chosen, as a free British citizen, to do the 14 dayß, his right to do 14 days could not be torn from him by the interference of any outsider. Also, that he couldn't bo a dosertor when the law had given him tho option of £1 fiuo or 14 days, and he was absent from his ship doing tho 14 days as tho law ordered, Tho captain demaudod that White should be kicked out of gaol, so as to constitute him a deserter if ho didn't return to his ship. Tho law replied that if tho Government romitted Whito's sentence thon ho could be liberated by main force, but otherwise it really didn't know whether dragging Whito out of gaol when ho refused to pay tho lino himself wouldn't open the way for an action of damages. While tho law was in this paralysed state the ship sailed, so seaman Charles Whito came out on top. Now Zealand great in nature's gifts PosHosses charms for every oyo, With sounds and rivers, lakes and rifts, And mounts on which vast glaciers lie, All muko this land a paradise, With ntmoaphoro so fresh and pure, Where coughs are cured wo do advise, By taking Woods' Great Peppermint Cure,

•The drill instructor's face turned scarlet with rage as he rated a raw Irish recruit for his • awkwardness. •*" Now; Raff erty; you'll spoil the line with those feet. Draw them back instantly, man," and get them in line !" Rafferty's dignity was hurt. " Plaze, sarjint," he drawled solemnly, "they're not mine; they're Micky Doolan's in the rear rank 1"

A mystery that has surrounded the disappearance on various occasions during the past few weeks of letters posted in the mail box at Seaward Down has just been cleared up (says the Wyndham Farmer), two starlings being responsible for the disappearance Gf tile missives. The birds, which were pairing in the box, evidently resented the inclusion of the letters, and had summarily ejected them.

An article in Harper'B Weekly for August 4th', written by a man who, in addition to tha evidence he furnishes, speaks from personal observation, throws much doubt upon the vague but dogmatic assertions as to the density of China's population. His own opinion is that 200,000,000 would be more close to the correct figure than the 450 or 400,000,000 of the popular belief; whilst, if it were possible to take a census, he would not be surprised to learn that 150,000,000 covered the total population. <

One of the printer's errors in an old book becomes .only superficially amusing. Mr Strong, in the Temple Magazine " for August, gives instances of some of these errors, real ond otherwise, in old Bibles. Among them he mentions the " Bugge " Bible. "Judging by actual book sale purchases within the last decade, the 'Bugge' Bible of 1551— -which has in Psalm xci, 5, this very curious passage: ' So that thou shalt not nede to be arrayed for anye bugges by nyght ' — is worth no less than £60 a copy. ' Bugge,' by the way, appears to have been the ancient equivalent for bogey.

Expert evidence before a Licensing Commission in Queensland has thrown light on the methods of sophisticating liquors adopted by retailers to meet the demand, as the Brisbane Observer expresses it, for a beverage " that burns all the way down and scratches all the way back." One of' the witnesses said that tho mixture he had analysed would perforate a castiron 6 tomach. The Observer says: "A decoction made from cigar butts', peppercorns, pineapple fibre, and other unpalatable substances, and flavoured with sulphuric acid, such as was found in one publican's cellar, should, if taken inwardly, do more to weanjl man from drunkenness than all the so-called curative agenta that have ever been invented."

The Wellington brewers (according to the Post) are not satisfied with the new Licensing Bill. This milch was gathered by a representative of the Post, in the course of a conversation with several brewers : " We don't want the Bill ; it is no good at all," was the emphatic declaration of one brewer, while another bemoaned the fact that the brewers had been •' handed over to the wolves." " Tho Bill," he added, ," sots the licensee and the broker ' against us, and strengthens the position of our inveterate enemy the Prohibitionist." The provincial option, too, is not regarded with favour. "It is too risky," observed -an astute brewer ; "we can organise and fight in the cities, but we cannot do the same in the country districts." . The brewers find consolation in the general opinion that the Bill is only intended for show purposes, and will not be forced through Parliament this session. Many things may happen between this and next session ; at all events the situation could not well be worse than it is and might easily become a great deal better. ,

Mr Napier Bell, reporting on existing conditions and further improvements of the Gisbprne Harbour, says there ia the greatest encouragement for the Board to continue its work to a finish, and he recommends the extension "of the western

mole to a point coterminous with the end

•of the breakwater, pointing out there has been" a steady increase of" depth since the last length of the training wall was completed. - He adds: "The result of the 'works at this port so far seems quite

satisfactory, and will evidently fulfil the

objects expected from their completion. The works have scoured out a channel as daep as the rock, and it only remains to excavate the rock to the required depth, which can be safely done under shelter of the works, which was difficult, if not impossible, without the works are carried out. Comparing tho chart of the river and its entrance prepared in 1879 for Sir John Coode, where the bar ia shown close in shoro, with 2ft 6in of water on it, and the river encumbered with sandbanks, dry at low water, thu improvement caused by the works is evident enough. The only cause for regret is the great cost of the concrete breakwater, which, if it had been built of rubble limestone, would have cost only half the ' money expended ou concrete blocks." Mainly owing to tho advent of the Welsbach mantle gas has been able to hold its own in competition with electricity as an illuminant. The idea that the gasworks in their turn may become a terror to the electric lighting companies may not be altogether now, but it has received confirmation in rather a startling

fashion. Westinghouse, of the British Wostinghouse Electrical Engineering and Manufacturing Company, asserts that if the gas companies will only carry the war into tho enemy's camp they are certain of victory. His suggestion, according to the Daily Express, is that they should cease to manufacture gas as an illuminant, and should, instead, utilise it themselves as a motive power ior the generation of electric curront, when, as he points out, their existing mains could be readily couverted and

utilised for its distribution for both

electric light and power. Economical gas engines are. being turned out in Great Britain and America which would enable the gas companies to undersell their rivals, and still make a large profit. Some of the Westinghouse engines are of immense size, one working at no less than 2000 horse-power, and it is to engines of this type that the gas companies should turn.

Mr Seddon annexing archipelagoes and widening the boundaries of empire (writes Civis in tho Otago Daily Times) makes an imposing figure. One thinks of Canning's majestic attitude when recognising the South American Republ'es — " I have called the new world into ex istence to redress tho balance of the old;" and of Napoleon's curt masterfulness when snuffing out a conquered State — " The Government of the Two Sicilies has ceased to exist." What helps the illusions is that Mr Seddon seemed to be doing it all on his own mere motion. That is where Lord Roberta in annexing tho Boer Republics is seen at a disadvantage. Lord Roberts had to employ an army of 200,000 men ; whereas Mr Seddon simply makes a speech in the House : sic volo, sic jubeo ; put the quesI tion, and divide ! Whereby wo perceive Mr Seddon'B " slimnoss " — to borrow a word from tho Boers — the artful dodgery which is tho Seddonian notion of party politics. Not a hint did ho give that might lead the House to discern the hand of the Imperial Government in the mat ter ; he was just doing it all out of his own head. And so Captain Russell, being loader of Her Majesty's Opposition, assumed, as his duty to Her Majesty iequirod, an attitude critical and ounctatory; also Mr Monk, whose Imperialism runs to hyslorical lengths, and whose speech in praise of the Flag is to be cir culated for use in schools — even poor i Mr Monk was betrayed into something like hostility. Then, after the othor side had been got to put itsolf as far as possible in tho wrong - then, and not beforo, wns tho cat lot out of tho bag. It was the Imperial Government that was annexing; New Zoaland was merely tho agont and tho beneficiary, mnco New Zealand must bo askod to receive the new Imperial chickens under her motherly wing. Slim Mr Seddon !

You can depend on ridding your children of worms with Wade's worm figs, the wonderful worm worriers. 1b <0