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Taranaki Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 13737, 28 August 1908, Page 4

The- Taranaki County Council has been notified by the Treasury that a sum of £118 lys has been paid to ita credit being balance of £ for £ subsidy up to £150 towards cost of re-grading tho Oakura Hill. The New Plymouth United Gymnasium Club held a successful euchre party and dance in the Brougham Street Hall last night in aid of tho annual trip. There was a very large attendance. Nearly one hundred took part in the card tournament whilst for the first few dances the floor was really too crowded. The prizes for the euchre tournament were presented by tho Mayor (Mr U. Tisch) and Messrs T. Furlong, W. Lints, and S. Okey. Mrs Wall, M/8S Bryden and Miss Blythe tied in the ladies' competition with ton games each. Tho play-off placed Miss Blythe Ist and Miss Bryden 2nd. In the men's section Messrs Collis. V. Perry and L. Jackson each won nine games, the play-off ending in favour of Mr Collis Ist and Mr Jackson 2nd. Dancing was commenced about 10 o'clock and was continuod until the early Tiours of this morning. Miss Loveridge provided the music. Messrs Malono and Matheson acted as M.Cs.

Interest is lent to the approaching cricket season by the- statement that there is every prospect of a strong Australian team visiting Now _ Zealand during rue coming season. It is stated that the team will include a number of the foremost Australian players, amongst whom will almost certainly be found" Clem Hill.— Hawera Star. Georges Hackenschinidt, the famous ( wrestler, was. lying seriously ill in June in a private hospital at Aix-la-Cha-pello. lie has undergone an operation to hi> knee, and for three nights morphia had to be administered to obtain relief from the excruciating pain. A subsequent operation left two fingers on his left hand paralysed. Waiting to the Manchester Sporting Chronicle, Hackensehmidt said:— "l feel a little better to-day, only I cannot get back the use of two fingers on my left hand. Since the operation they are quite dead. As soon "as I am out of bed I will have electrical treatment. I only hope 1 shall not have paralysis of my triceps." A tribute to the manner in which the dairying business of New Zealand is carried on was paid by Mr Wesley Spragg, chairman of directors, at the annual meeting of the New Zealand Dairy Association at Auckland this week. He said that in his rapid run through America he had had an opportunity of glancing at the dairy industry as it was carried on in that great country. To say that New Zealand had nothing to learn would be untriie, as there were warnings to be met with as well as examples which should be followed. In the case of America there were not a few practices to avoid. Without supposing that the few factories which he visited represented the uhole business of that enormous country, he thought he was safe in saying that the New Zealand methods were generally much more up-to-date and enlightened, and that in quality the New Zealand average "factory products left the American average more hopelessly out of sight. To the memorial service to be held on Sunday, September 6 ; at Te Ngutu O Te Manu reserve, additional interest will be attached by reason of the gathering together of old campaigners, which is sure to be a, feature of the occasion. The. Hawera Star says there do not appear to be many persons in the immediate district of Hawera who passed through that memorable campaign under Von Tempsky, but those that are resident in the locality and others who hear of the memorial service are certain, circumstances permitting, to make every effort to join in the gathering around the Von Tempsky monument. There is at present staying in Hawera, Mr J. Tait, of Dunedin, an old campaigner, who intends to be present at the. celebrations. It is 44 years since Mr Tait was iv this district previously. He was then with the Imperial troops under Von Tempsky, and took part in the fighting at Waitotara and Kakaramea. Mr Tait did not tako part in the engagement in which Von Tempsky was killed, as he had then returned to Wanganui. Mr Tait has been on a visit to Auckland, and hearing of the proposed gathering decided to stay at Hawera so that he may attend. A recent New York telegram announces the death at Atlanta of Mr Joel Chandler Harris, the author of ''Uncle Remus." He was regarded as the "Homer" of -the Southern negro, and beloved of millions of Englishspeaking children. Mr Harris, who was as well-known in England ad in America for his stories in negro'dialect, was born in 1848 at Eaton ton, Georgia. He was what is known in America as a ''self-made man." At the age of twelve he was apprenticed to a printer named Turner, a wealthy planter, who published the first plantation newspaper in the world. Turner owned a paper called the Countryman, and at the age of sixteen, young Harris was appointed to the editorship. Later on Harris went to Savannah, where ho was employed on* the editorial staff of the Morning News. Going to Atlanta, he became one of the editors of the Constitution. There he found a much wider scope to exercise his abilities, and his literary career really had its beginning in this journey. Millions, have been delighted — both young and old — by the quaint humour anc philosophy conveyed in the stories' of "Brer Kabbitt" and "Brer Fox." Everybody is agreed that the Paris telephone service is about as bad as could bo. (says the Paris Daily Mail). Formerly after ten or fifteen minutes' fruitless ringing an angry subscriber insisted on making telephonic complaint to the supervisor at headquarters and had his communication promptly established. Now a peremptory request for the supervisor meets with an irritating laugh from the telephono girl, and the subscriber is left to nurse his wrath for half an hdiir or more as a punishment for being impatient. A day or two ago the Figaro discovered that M. Simyan, Under-Sec-retary of State for Post and Telegraphs had a telephone at his residence,, and it advised all dissatisfied with the service to ring him up and complain. The number was 525.59. The result of this advice has been extraordinary. Hundreds of angry subscribers called up the Under-Secretary, and the telephone girls, unable, to distinguish between them and his friends, were overwhelmed. The first dissatisfied subscriber started to ring np M. Simyan at seven o'clock on Tuesday morning, and the Under-Secretary himself unsuspectingly answered the call, as ho had not yet read the Figaro. The calls continued all day, and it is estimated that between seven o'clock on Tuesday morning and eleven o'clock on Wednesday night 1300 calls were registered. An amusing adventure of the wellknoAvn Italian tenor, Imnardi, who has been singing in Bucharest, is reported by the Austrian papers. The last night of his stay there he appeared as Othello and was noticeably nervous all the evening because he had to catch the midnight train to Budapest, where he was to sing the next night in the part of Samson. On account ot the j short time at his command, ho decided to 3rive in costume and make-up to his hotel, and to change his clothes there, Hence his troubles. Rushing from the theatre he hailed one cab after another, but the drivers refused to |let this ferocious looking heavily-arm<£d Moor enter their carriages. Finally Lunardi in despair rushed back to his hotel on foot, followed by a large crowd of interested persons. When he reached there, almost exhausted, there was no time to dress. He jumped into the hotel omnibus, which got him to the train just in time for him to get on it, but not in time for him to take with him so much as a hand bag. He was therefore compelled, on arrival at Budapest the next afternoon, to leave the train in gorgeous clothes. There was an enormous crowd at the station, winch greeted him with cheers, anc when he reached his hotel he found all the employees drawn* up to receive him, with the manager at the head in conventional dress coat of ceremony. Some ono in Bucharest, who had heard of his hurried departure, had telegraphed to the hotel that the Sultan of Zanzibar \ would arrive by that particular train.

The retail section of the Otajjo Employers' Association has decided to ob- | 1 serve Empire Day as a holiday in place 1 of tho Prince of Wales' Birthday. This assures in future the general observ- j ance of Empire Day in Dunedin. ■, The Greymouth correspondent of the , Lyttelton Time* telegraphs that there ] was a miraculous escape from a fatal « accident at Maori Creek on Saturday h>st. A lad named Gordon lit on, aged about thirteen >ears, was walking in ; tho bush when he suddenly fell down a ' shaft about 6()ft. or 70ft. deep. He | remained there until six o'clock in the ( evening, when he was discovered by a ( party who had been searching for him ] and were attracted by his cries. He was hauled up to the surface, when it ( was found that he had escaped without > a scratch, though he was naturallj ( shaken a good deal. ' A Melbourne firm of lithographers has rearranged the working hours of its factory with the objects of giving employees as much off time in daylight as possible. From September Ist to April Ist work will commence on ordinary days at 7.30 a.m. and conclude at 5 p.m., with half an hour off for lunch. On Saturday the day will conclude at 10.30 a.m. The manager was in favour of work commencing at 7 a.m. thus allowing an off day on Saturday, and the firm has signified its intention to arrange the hours on this principle next year if tho employees are agreeable. The present year will long be remembered as the most prolific strawberry year known in Britain. A Daily Mail of recent daie says: — "The fruit has, so far, been picked and marketed under the most propitious conditions, not one wet spell having interfered with the business. The total output is expected to exceed 50,000 tons, and this, estimated at two-pence a pound net, represents to growers something like £1,000,000. The Hampshire berry growers admit that they have enjoyed the best season for strawberries for twenty years.. The average exceeds two tons an acre." It has been rougHly estimated that the strawberry output of New Zealand is worth £60,000. Mr Clement Wragge, who once sent "Sychems" and other kinds of tornado to scare New Zealand, and eventually highly entertained the people here with quaint discourses, is now amusing In? dia. "Mussoorie has been occupying itself lately with a brief period of solid thought, or something quite as good," says a recent number of the Calcutta Englishman. ""Professor Clement Wragge, F.R.G.S., has been giving lectures on popular scientific subjects, illustrated by lantern slides of great beauty, on such subjects as astronomy, meteorology, radium, and trips round the world. Professor Wragge began his lectures in a quiet way at the Municipal Hall, to the cultured few, but tho fame thereof soon spread abroad, and from Landour to the Hap--py Valley platforms were placed at Ins* disposal, and crowds were ready to hear. This invasion of brains has already had a marked effect on the manners and appearance of the ordinary inhabitant. An ascetic, abstracted air, combined with spectacles and a stoop, is now much cultivated." • \n eminent authority has laid it down that honey is not only yer/y easily digested and entirely digestible, but that it has a better food value for children and those in delicate health than such highly-esteemed articles as cod liver oil and malt extract. In this connection Mr W. Abram writes as follows to the Sydney Daily Telegraph:— "This land of milk and honey hating a butter famine, may I draw attention to honey as a food delicacy which is 'not only cheap, but at the same time a most wholesome food, and/ extremely liked by children. At present price honey is a luxury which everyone can afford to enjoy. At first it may seem as if it did not go far, and thus appear expensive, but that is only because it is something new, and more of it is partaken of than if it were always in use. Syrup is perhaps cheaper than honey, but whilst the former is a preparation made from the residue of refined sugar, the latter is Nature's product, and gathered by the bees from the immense variety of flowers and blossoms. Honey is, therefore, worthy to take the place of butter at any time, but more particularly in this famine season." Marcel Prevost comments in tho French paper Annales on the differences in the attitude of the French\ and English toward sports. In France, he says, interest is confined practically to individuals of wealth and leisure, and indulgence in sports is regarded as a social distinction. Every sub^prefecture in France, especially in garrison towns, has a tennis court; and Prevost has found it amusing to note the intrigues they give rise to— ftlie pride of those who have admission to them, the host tility of those who have not. As soon as a particular sport becomes less exclusive, it loses ground among the aristocrats. Rowing on the Seine is now left to clerks,, and bicycling is looked on as distinctly vulgar. Why automobiling has made such progress in France is obvious; its cost prevents it from sharing the fato of rowing and wheeling. But even to those Frenchmen who indulge in this or that sport, it is always a matter of secondary interest; their "grande passion" is some-c thing else. Attempts to introduce the English spirit in French high schools have failed, and Prevost does not seem to be sorry thereat; he holds the devotion to sports responsible for the fact, if fact it be, that the average Englishman is inferior mentally to the Frenchman or German of the same class. On . May 5 of last year a farmer from Kyneton named Pook, who was said to havo inherited a fortune of £30,000, placed a cheque for £500 in the plate at the evening service at St. Paul's Cathedral (says the Melbourne Age). Some surprise was occasioned at this supposed generous gift of the donor, who was subsequently thanked by the church authority for his handsome donation. Mr Pook shortly aftorwards went to London with tho intention, it is said, of devoting portion of his fortune to religious and phantable purposes. His mission abroad was soon circulated in London,, and on his arrival, it is stated, huge piles of begging letters reached him, and h0 expressed surprise that there was "so much distress in London." distributing about £250, Mr Pook returned to Melbourne, and, to the astonishment of tho authorities, asked for a return of tho cheque for £500, which he had "banked with the church" on May 5, 1907. He said he only meant to leave the money in safe keeping until he "had a fly round," and did not intend it as a gift. Mr Pook has been so persistent in his demands for the return of his greatly misunderstood gift that the vicar-general consented to refund him the amount, with interest added, and the sum was duly paid over. In the event of similar large sums being included in the offerings at church services in future, steps will doubtless be taken to 'ascertain the bona fides or otherwise of the giver, or whether the church will be regarded as "tho banker" for an indefinite period* . j

I There are several butter buyers in , town to-day endeavouring to purchase the coming season's outputs. The number of persons who arrived in the Dominion during .\™\™™i. . was 9 941 as compared with iyu» tor July "of last year. The departures last month numbered 2264, the number for July of last year being 2119. v At Christcburch yesterday Mrs Amy Winnv, an old lady of M, was awarded i-60 damages against the Chnstctiurch Tra-nwav Board for injuries sustained Xv 'reason of a conductor starting a oaVbefo"e tL plaintiff was properly on board. The plaintiff fell and broke her leg. It is understood.^says- the Manawatu Standard) that .Preparations for the erection of the dairy school m Palmerston are progressing satisfactorily, even if slowly" It is reported *$*.s*%* °t the building are practically iinished and approved, and that all that is now ; necessary is legislation dealing Witktne transfer of- the land involved* ' .