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Taranaki Herald, Volume LV, Issue 14131, 10 February 1910, Page 2

This morning the Reserves Committee of the Borough Council loft town on a visit of inspection to tho borough reserves at Toko and Ngaere.

The onco popular practice of the Taranaki Garrison Band of playing in Devon Street on Saturday evenings is again to bo adopted. The band will give its first concert in the main thoroughfare next Saturday evening. In consequence of tho arrangements made in connection with the entertainment of tho ship’s complement of H-.M.S. Pegasus on Monday evening, the monthly meeting of tho Borough Council will be hold to-morrow evening instead of Monday.

At tho end of 1909 there' were 97 pupils on tho, roll of the New Plymouth High School. Of these 34 had left, but 41 new pupils had been received, making with the 67 former pupils, 104 now on tho roll. Of these 62 are. boys and 42 are girls. At yesterday’s meeting of tho New Plymouth High School Board tho chairman (Mr. M. Fraser) reported that good progress had been made with the erection of the new science room at the school, ami it would bo finished in a day or two. The work done was of splendid quality.

Tho final count for the election of a member of the East Ward of the Taranaki Education Board District resulted in Mr., Cargill elected. The voting was; —V>. Clement Cargill,, 57; David L. A. Astbury, '42; Joseph Thomas Belcher, 42; D. Maxwell, 5. The local branch of tho Navy League will meet to-morow evening for tho purpose of arranging details in connection with entertaining officers of the H.M.S. Pegasus. It is understood that the local volunteers are making arrangements to entertain tho mow, on Monday evening.

By two special trains this morning some 2500 excursionists arrived at New Plymouth from Stratford, the attraction being tho annual seaside picnic. Beautiful weather prevailed during the day and the country folk were enabled to avail themselves of the pleasures offered by. the seashore,. A team of Stratford bowlers took the opportunity to visit the local green and a lawn tennis match was played between teams representing the Stratford and New Plymouth Clubs.’ Tho anniversary celebrations of Whiteloy Memorial Church were continued last night with a tea in the Hall, followed by a public meeting, at which interesting addresses were given by the Revs. J. G. Chapman and F. P. Kollow. In the course of his address Mr. Chapman said that during the past year the church debt had been reduced, the finances had reached a healthy condition, and the congregations had been good.

Speaking to a Herald reporter this morning, a gentleman, well acquainted with' the Old Country, remarked that ho knew from personal experience that Mrs. Hay’s address, given in the Salvation Army Barracks last night, on .the Slums of Loudon, was not exaggerated in the slightest degree. “New Zealanders have not the slightest idea of the, real state of tho slums,” he added. “If a colonial had to live in such surroundings as the slum dwellers live in he would either commit suicide or bo found in gaol in a very short time.”

In tho Police Court this morning, before Mr. D. Berry, , J.P., a Chinese gardener named Joe Wong, living in Morley Street, was charged on the information of the borough inspector, with having permitted an unnecessary waste of water from a tap on his premises. - Mr. -A. H. Johnstone, who appeared for defendant, undertook that no further waste would be allowed and that u necessary connection with a stop-cook would bo made. Defendant was then convicted and fined 2s 6d and costs 7s.

Tho visit of King Neptune'- will probably take place, during February.* Tho Moturoa sugnrloaf has been placed at bis disposal, and it is there that he will take rip his quarters while in this vicinity. It is understood that his party will be very largo one, and will include some of the most notable denizens of the deep, including the much talked of Pelorous Jack. Great excitement now prevails among the funny tribe who frequent this coast, and it has been reported that a , largo species of tho Taniwha Griler lost his head to such an extent that he scaled one of the Beachcombers for a dozen pots of fish paste, with which he intends to polish his teeth for the great reception. _ The formation of a Wharf Labourers’ Union is being mooted at Moturoa. There are generally some fifty men employed on the wharves, but inquiries show that all of those men are not in favour of the proposal, which appears to have originated amongst tho younger fraternity. In conversation with a Herald representative this morning one of the elder wharf labourers said ho was not in, favour of establishing a union and pointed out that workers on the New Plymouth wharf were receiving Is 6d per hour, while at other ports in the dominion tho rate paid was Is 3d per hour. “Casual labourers and workers in the goodslied only receive Is an hour,” he said, “so what have the labourers to gain by forming a union?” The grievance that the men have is that they have on occasions to work through the dinner hour, but for so doing they receive overtime pay. They also consider they should bo paid whilst proceeding from town to and from the scene of their work, and also while they are waiting for railway trucks.

Contract burials, so far as the various institutions under the jurisdiction of the South Australian Government are concerned (according to tho Sydney Daily, Telegraph), are the subject of such keen competition among undertakers that, tho limits of absurdity appear to have been reached in the last contracts let Fy the Adelaide Hospital Board, The board calls for tenders for the burial of friendless and impecunious patients who die in tho institution, so that they are in no way to blame for the ridiculously low price at which undertakers express their willingness to do the work, and it stands to their credit that they insist nnon decently-construct-ed coffins. Under tho contract which recently expired an undertaker was paid tho trifling sum of 6s 8d per adult and 5s for children under the age of 14. In tho now contract precisely the same conditions are- imposed, but the competition seems to have boon responsible for such an extraordinary reduction in prices that the undertaker who secured tho contract is now under the obligation of conducting all burials of persons who die in the hospital, who had no friends and no money, at fid per body. Obviously it is impossible for any undertaker -to make a profit out of snob a low amount, and the only hope he can have of deriving any benefit must bo from the advertisement ho gets out of it. The same undertaker, working under a different contract, conducts the interment of who die in other Government institutions. He receives in this case 9s 4d for adults and 2s 4d for children.

The Palmerston North Coursing Club has decided to run tho Waterloo Cup, tho blue ribbon of tho coursing world, which has been allotted to it, on June 21, 22, and 23.

The reported discovery of gold in the vicinity of Oliakune turned out to bo a hoax (says the Taihape Times). Some practical jokers gilded a piece of scoria, with the result that Ohakunc was thrown into a state of great excitement—till tho truth came out. The Patea Press is informed that the flotation of share capita) in connection with the extension of the Patea Freezing Company’s business is complete and that final developments are delayed only ponding the issue of negotiations between tho new shareholders and the old. These negotiations, it - is thought, will be carried to a conclusion within a day or two. Owing, to tho SKops and Offices Act prohibiting tho employment of assistants after 6 p.ru., the New Zealand Industrial Exhibition, proposed to bo held at AVcllington in May and June, will probably he postponed until Parliament meets and passes special legislation to got over tho difficulty. The Hon. J. A. Millar on Wednesday told a deputation there was no other course than this open. “There will be no moro coal strikes in Now South Wales for a while, few tho minces have found that the public can manage to scramble along without them,” remarked Mr. John Murray, a former New Zealand resident now living in Sydney, and spending a holiday in tho dominion. He assured a Now Zealand Times representative that-the State was rolling in wealth, with fino harvest prospects, and tho coal strike had not appreciably affected tho general prosperity. The West Coast correspondent of, the Press states that the representations to the General Manager of tho New Zealand Railways have resulted in a virtual undertaking to so alter the time-table for the West Coast-Christ-church service that it will be possible to make the through’'journey from Greymouth to AVellington, and vice versa, in twenty-four hours. The new time-table comes into force within ,a few weeks. Possibly it will provide for connecting eastwards on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. New Plymouth can now boast the possession of a Boy Scout Troop. The fine enthusiastic, earnest lads of the Central troop present quite an imposing appearance in the public streets, where they are conspicuous by their graceful navy blue uniforms. This first troop in the town is now composed of six patrols; and twelve new Scouts were enrolled last night. The first night parade was held yesterday evening, when the boys had actual work in defence and attack. The Owl Patrol attacked the ground occupied by the remaining patrols. Patrol Leader H. ■M'Galiey and Corporal T. Corkill, by clever strategy, managed to elude tho defenders.

At the laying of the foundation stone of St. John’s Memorial Church at Hororata on Saturday, Archdeacon Ensor ■narrated. the circumstances under which he first met the late Sir John Hall. Twenty-eight years ago Archdeacon Ensor, who is a keen angler, visited Hororata, and whilst pursuing tlio ( sport in'.which old Izaak AA'alton so delighted, got wet to the skin, and had to don a pair of dungarees and a sack in place of his ordinary clothing. In this unclorical attire he continued his sport until his attention was diverted by the attempts of a gentleman on horseback to get through a gate. The horse. Was defeating tho rider’s efforts, and Archdeacon Ensor came to ■ the rider’s assistance, and Sir John Hall (for the rider proved to be that gentleman) rewarded-him with a orowu. This sum, , with compound interest Archdeacon Ensor returned to the present vicar of Hororata on Saturday. An important scheme of reclassification is to be carried out at tho Auckland public library this week, for which purpose tho institution will. (>e closed for eight days. The need for an improved system has long been recognised, and when the authorities secured the services of Mr. P. H. AVoods, an English expert, who happened to bo in Auckland, it decided that he should carry out the reclassification upon the system evolved by Mr. Dewey, who was for twenty years librarian of the t N ew York Library. The scheme consists of a division, upon a, scientific basis, of the various classes of reference books such as general works, sociology, religion, philology, etc., into sections and subsections, so that any single book may be easily located by tracing the number of the volume, of the subsection, and of tho__ section, as the case may be. The Dewey system has been adopted in the leading libraries Of England.

A South Canterbury resident, who lately returned from a visit to Tasmania, where he spent about six months told a reporter on Saturday that the island is a good counfry spoilt for the want of tho right kind of people. The remark was not intended to bo derogatory to the Tasmanians, but to indicate that the best use was not made of a country capable of doing much more for its occupants than it no wdoes. It badly needed, he said, some energetic New Zealanders. The land was suitable for farming among other pursuits, but it was above all orchard laud. Apples were grown there that could not be iiroduced in New Zealand, and the prospects for a man who could establish an orchard were very bright. However, it was not a place for men without some capital. In'the first place, the settler must buy the land for his orchard. Then, if he planted it, there would be four unproductive years, for which he must provide. After that the trees would show a profit, and from that time, he was' convinced, the settlor would be an independent man.