FIRE POLICE.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LV, Issue 1400, 13 September 1909, Page 2

FIRE POLICE.

The fire which occurred in Devon Street on Saturday evening disclosed the want ot a body of fire police to assist the Fire Brigade in tho operations when an outbreak occurs. Ihe principal trouble was the encroachment of the crowd in front of the burning building. The brigade men were hampered in their movements and their requests to people to stand back out of the way were almost disregarded. There was no policeman on the scene, or if there was he did not seem to make his presence felt, and it was only when one of the nozzles escaped control and turned a strong jet ot water on to the crowd that the latter stood back. It would be the duty ot fire police to look after these matters and see that the brigade was not hampered. Also they would take charge of salvaged goods, and assist in the work ot salvage On Saturday it was no one ■ business to see that the salvaged stock was not pilfered, and although we cannot say that any pilfering occurred it will be readily understood how eaßy it would have been for anyone so disposed to have picked up articles removed from the premises and concealed them or walked off with them. Generally when tires occur opportunity is given to the dishonest to annex property belonging to other people, and abody of fire police would tend to check pilfering, besides keeping people out of the firemen's way.

A meeting of those interested in the formation of the New J1?J 1 ?" 00 "* 11 dertatel will be held in Mr. L. E. Hoffmann's shop, Devon Street, to-morrow evening. An inquest was held at Albert Rood on Friday evening, before Mr. -»• ff I*nington,1 *- nington, J.P., on the body of Elijah Leary, who was found drowned the previous* day in a creek on his farm m Albert Road. A verdict of accidental death by drowning was returned. There wag one feature of this morning's session of the Supreme Court that rarely characterises the sittings of that judicial body. While the common jurors were being called and sworn not~l a single application was made for exemption from service. Christchurch tomato raisers lost heavily by a severe frost a week ago. The owner of a glass-house with oouu plants in it had everyone destroyed, while another grower, with 10,000 plants under cover, succeeded m saving them by staying up all night manipulating a dosen kerosene heaters. According to Dalgety's Review which gives the number ot sheep ,V**&T*?j* in each State of Australasia for 1908, the home consumption was 11 millions and the export 7 millions. The average consumption was a little over two sheep per head of the population. New ZeVUndere ate 2| sheep while Queenslanders, using more beef, averaged lew than one sheep per head. Historical records in Christchurch show that the pioneers had a narrow escape of not settling in. the present location of Canterbury at all. taptam Thomas, who had been sent out by the association to report on a site for the proposed new settlement, reported very StroWyin f*™ur of i* being located I* the Wairarapa. The fact of the site proposed by him not having a port was one of the principal reasons why the Canterbury settlement was not located in the Wairarapa. We are informed by Mr. C. H. Anderson, Lc. B.M. »»P-*_ «»*»«*<» £ the Taranaki. Garrison Band, that he has the undermentioned selections ot music in rehearsal, and hopes (weather permitting) to give a Sunday afternoon performance of them from the band rotunda, Western Esplanade, at an early date:— March, "Lo He comes " trio, "Oh, 'tis a lovely thing' 1 (*£»>»<>>; Creation's Hymn, "The Praise of God ; (Beethoven); cornet solo, "Babylon (Stephen Adams); air and phorus from "Samson"— air, "How wining n»5 paternal love," chorus, "Fix 'd in Hu> Everlasting Seat" (Handel); five hymns of the great composers, via., "Jesus we.Thy Promise Claun" (Mobart); "Father to Thee my Soul l LifL (Mendelssohn); "Come, oh my uod, l«> Promise Seal" (Beethoven) ; "What now is my object and aim" (Handel); "O God, what offering shall I give to Thee" (Haydn); euphonium solo (par vocal), "The Village Blacksmith (Weiss); chorus, Mass in C, i ;Thou alone art holy (Beethoven); gW, "Winds gently whisper while she. sleep*" (John Whitaker), Referring to the speeches of the Hon. J, Carroll and the Hon. J. A. Millar at the opening of Tattersall s Club in Wellington, the Christchuch Press say:. _-"We gather from their remarks that the cJnb is really a species of bookmakers' union, and that in future the racing clubs will be expected to give 'preference to unionists 7 by admitting only member* of the club to the bookmakers enclosure on their respective racecourses. We do not wish to cast aspersions on a body of men whose operations are recognised by law, but we cannot help asking whether the opening of a bookmakers' club is really an event) of such national importance as to call for the presence of the actingPrime Minister and one of bis colleagues. The office of his Majesty s Minister* in a self-governing dominion is one of some dignity and responsibility. The holder of such an office can do a great deal of good, apart from his administrative and legislative duties, by giving his official countenance to philanthropic movements haying for their aim the succour or the upliftina of the people. Can It be pretended that a bookmakers' club Is a philanthropic institution, qr that the activities of Its members are of a kind likely to raise the moral standard of the community? Some of the Government papers have intimated that in their opinion the action of Messrs. Carroll and Millar is little short of a public scandal. We are glad to see that where the good name of the dominion and the high traditions connected with the Ministerial office are concerned the leading Ministerial journals can rise above party. It is not only to their credit, but to the credit of the press as a whole, that they are able to do so^ Mr. W. Toms, a member of the Campbell Island whaling expedition, was in Christchurch last weok, on his way back to his homr in the Northern Sounds. He speaks very hopefully of the prost pects of the station established on the islands. There were eleven members of the expedition. Three have come away, and nine have remained to shear the sheep owned by the Hon. Captain Tucker, of Gisborne. who has leased the island from the Government as a sheep station. A vessel will be sent down for these men. and it is expected that all of them will be home by Christmas time. The whole expedition will probably return to the island in March or April next ye.ar. Mr. Toms states that, as far as the records are known, right whales arc as plentiful in tjioso waters now as they were formerly. Large numbers of them were seen, some shouts numbering eight or nine altogether. Thirteen were captured. The. average length was about 40ft, and the average yield of pil about eight tons— or 2000 gallons. Quantities of wh»l«hon« were a's,o obtain*!^. It is estimated that ' ttwrw *.v* over 4tH> payable blades In the paw of a good whale. The price varies in accordance with the length, any blades ever oft. being worth about 30s. When a whale was sighted the party started out troui the south-west bay upon its track",. There was a crew of seven men in the whaleboat, which was accompanied by the launch manned by three men as a "pick-up" boat. There had been two mishaps. The more serioiih one was on July 23, when r whale came up underneath the !>ont am) capsized it, all the members of the crew being thrown into the water. One of the inch, Mr. Norton, was in a disagiveable position for some tune. While swimming in the water, he put his arm through a bight in the line, nnd tlie whalt" diagged him tor about five chains. Norton is a good swimmer, however, and got clear. The launch had no difficulty i» picking up the men, and the only loss whs in respect to the gear, which shortened tho senson | r by two weeks. t

There arc no less than 637 connections with the Gisborne telephone exchan^i'. excluding those of country bureaux. Seventy -four have been added since the beginning of th« year. At a mass meeting in connection with the Jewish Territorial Organisation, held recently in London, Mr. Israel Zan£\vill said ho was an English Jew, and lie was placed betwee* two mad peoples — the English who grabbed all the land they could get, and the Jews, who refused to take any land. The Jews must be coaxed back gently to the ways of sanity. The mining inhabitants of the little Norwegian town of Kongsberg seem to lead an ideal existence. The miners number about 600, and nearly every married man lives in hi* own treeholu house, and has also a good garden. The owners of the mines take their employees into service between the ages of 15 and 20, and if, after eight years' service, any miner is forced to retire, he receives a pension varying.-accord-ing to his wage. In addition' to this most of the miners possess small crofts or farms, and they are allowed sufficient time during the yeaf to eoltiratc them. Full wages are paid for all holidays. Medical attendanoa .and medicine are provided free of ohargje in the case of sickness. What a model .home, of the working man! In the Economic Journal Mr. A. D. Webb sums up the reports of the Board of Trade inquiry into working-class expenditure by saying: "Speaking generally, then, though with an unknown margin of error, this investigation goes to show that an English working-class family which should migrate to France and endeavour to maintain there the same mode of life as in its native country, would find rent at not quite the same level as in England, food and fuel about 18 per cent, dearer, wages about 2.5 per cent, less, And hours of labour about 17 per cent, longer. lf£the family migrated to Germany, rent would be found to be about 28 per cent, higher than at home, food and fuel probably something leas than 18 per cent, dearer, wages about 17 per cent. lower, arid hours of labour about 11 per cent, longer." w The steamer Almerian had a thrilling experience recently whilst crossing the Atlantic to St. John's, Newfoundland. Sh«> met fields of ice when near h?r destination, and in avoiding some big floes collided with an enormous iceberg. The impact was so sudden that the vessel ran right up on the berg, and scattered her steeping passengers out of their bunks like so many eggs from a basket. Many of them ran half clothed to the deck, but the stewards allayed the panic and got them below once more. The captain ordered the watertight compartments of the snip to be closed, and then backed off the ice. His precaution was timely, for the minute the steamer took the water the sea rushed into her through immense holes in her bows, and the fo'csle was flooded. When morning dawned the Almerian was panting slowly on her way through ice and icebergs, over 100 of the latter being counted. She arrived at Bt. John's safely. Mormonism is spreading amoncst the Maoris of Hawkers Bay, according to a Wellington pressman who was recently in the district. The other day,' near Dannevirke, a Maori wedding was solemnised by a young Mormon* elder in the presence of a very large, concourse of Natives, and it ia now reported that the Mormon Church, entirely "off its own bat," intends. to build » college near Hastings for the education of converts from the Maori race* This young elder, referred to above,-.is at present teaching in one of the Native schools in the district, and the* reporter was informed by a Hawke'a Bay Native that Mormonism undoubtedly bad • good hold on the Maori mind. Questioned on the subject, Dr. Pomare, who ,s*es a great deal of life amongst the Maoris, said that there was no doubt that the Mormon religion was spreading amongst the Natives. The main reason, to his mind, was that the- Mormon elders identified themselves entirely with Maori life. TJbere was no doubt that, by living amongst and nursing the Natives when they were sick, the Mormon elders made progress with their religion. Dr. Pomare also stated that he thought the Native clergyman was insufficiently paid. His - income was from £60 to £80 per annum, which war an entirely inadequate sun as * living wage, let alone as a. standard of Comfort. The result was that the. Maori minister was forced to jnit-in * lot' more time planting -potatoes, than attending to his proper work. There was a mild flatter of excitement in Smithrield market on July 2* at the news that a heavy, consignment of frozen pork had arrived «t the Royal Albert Docks from. Chinat As this was the first lot of froaen meat, that had ever reached London from the Flower? Land, its appearance in Btnittifield was naturally awaited with interest. "There is one great drawback to this , lot of Chinese pigs," said a salesman in tut pork market at Smithfieldj "it is of the frozen Variety. And trowkn pork is not at all popular with the British pnblic. It is safe to assert that not more than one per cent, of the pork that leaves this market is froaen. I have, not seen a frozen pig for several weeks. These is a very good reason for this restricted demand. Pork 'deteriorates in appearance and flavour more than beef or mutton by the freotoing process. If a man buys a frozen pig, %>d takes it home for display in- sections upon hit shop front, he soon has the mortification of seeing it floating in Water." The salesman severely ridiculed . the suggestion that England would soon be getting its breakfast bacon from China, "If pork from China ever finds a sale here," he said, "it will be in its uncured condition. These oonsignmenti cannot possibly be used (or the manufacture of bacon. As soon aa it is put to the fire, half of it runs away; and that is why I do not think the British housewife will ever be able to include Chinese roast pork in her list of family dishes. In my judgment, this is th« one and only offer or pork from China we sjjall ever be asked to buy." All the same, says a London correspondent, the salesmen are on the alert foi this first consignment. <