GREYTOWN.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 526, 5 June 1909, Page 10

GREYTOWN.

A concert was given at Greytown on Thursday night by the newly-formed Gloo Olub, under the conduetorsbip of.Mr. T.C. Irving and was very successful. The Groytown Orchestra assisted, Air. H. T. Iteee conducting. Mr. Irving brought the glees through in good style,- notwithstanding the short time which he had bad for training the voioos. ; Th» Ange us" ("Maritana") was nicely balanced, out o little more power would not have been amiss. Miss . M'Donald's "Lady Kilties" gave a couple of capital items tint wore mnoh applauded. Mr. Charters obtained a double encore for his rendering of •'"Love's Coronation," and Mrs. Henry's "Promise of Life" was well receivedi Mr." Irving gave "There's a Land" in capital stylo, and an encore, was demanded, In.a duet with Miss Irving "Tell her,l love her.so", (Dβ Fayo), tney. both excelled themselves, .the latter's oontraltq voice boing heard to advantage, . Air. B. h. , Jelliooe acted as. secretary, and Miss Armstrong as pianist. As tho first performance of a' new institution, the promoters wero able to congratulate themselves on having such a numerous audience to make their bow to.. .' ■■■ .;.:■. ) .The final for tho ladies' golf championship was played off on Thursday last, and n"W won by Mrs. Diddams. The.winner takes the engraved modul for the competition, and Miss E. Maxton (second) a golf : POXTON: - : At a meeting of t.ho Council of the' Chamoer of Oommoroe, held recently, tho question of;the,deviatioh of the Main Trunk railway too. by. way of Lovb, Foxton, Bulls, and Marton, was diseased at : length. VTlio disou«wn arose over a letteT received from the Wellington Chamber of Comnicroe, sug§estjng the postponement' of .approaching 10, Government in connection with tho construction of the line, owing to tbe. present flnancial stringency. The letter was otherwise sympathetic with the proposal. The general'feeling of tho meeting was that there should bo no delay in urging upon tho.rauway authorities the claims of the distnot for- the construction of tho lino, Auokland businoas people wero urging the extension of tho east coast line, because it would be the means of opening up new country,, for which 'Auckland .would be the natural distributing centre, and surprise was oxprossed' that . Wellington: business people were not more alive to the-advan-4ages which they would derive through the ahortenina of- tho Main '.Trunk line, as well as ; .tho. advantage of■■ bringing the;, whole of the , Kangitikei country .within easy;'distance of the capital. At present, through the mrouitouE route that has' fo bo taken, people in these distriots are at a serious disadvantage '. in doing business with: 'Wcllinßton. As an illustration of the fact, Foxton is at present 112 miles by rail from Wellington, By the proposed new route it would be 76 or 36 miles nearer Wellington than at present. No one, however, would dream of having the line built if it was only to bring Foxton 36 miles nearer to Wellington, That is. only an illustration of how tho whojo of the peoplo in Mnnawatu and Rangjtikei are at present served with the railways vre at present possess. Thero is a largo tract of country (of which Bulls and Rongotea are the oontre) which nas np railway con--nootion whatever. This distnot is a closely aottlod one, and yeV peoplo, who have made their homes upon it, aroworso off in relation to marketing their produce than any other community o f similar sizo in tho. Pomipion, and) wero it not for their enterprise Jn spending special loans in making ronds, they would still be among the back-blocks of .New Zealand. For such reasons, and the fact that the main line would be shortened by Rt least sixteen miles—that is, between Auckland and Wellington, meaning a saving of an hour, probably, in the timo occupied on tho journey—the local supportors of the new railway consider that tho busiv ness men of Wellington are adopting a policy if they do not join ■ tho movement for the construction of this line, even in the face of "flnancial stringency." Xhe wbola cost of. tl» line hai bm. wttj.

mated by expert opinion, as being considerably under £300,000. As a step toivarda the Levm-Marten line, it has been suggested that the Government be asked to make a start in the near future, with the construction of tho Levin-Foxton section, which would not only be a real advantage to the towns mentioned, bnt would largely benefit the settlors to the north of Himatangi, tho present junction of the Government lino and the' Sanson tramway. He recently constituted Moutoa Drainage Board are making steady progress with their important undertaking. The engineer in charge of the works reports the completion of the flood gates, and tho satisfictbry working of same. Tho excavations, which aro of an extensive, character, are procoodmg steadily, although the difficulties in connection with that phase of the work are greater, and the cost necessarily larger than was anticipated. It is expected, however, tust, with the application of suitable machinery, the cost will not greatly exceed the estimated amount. Up to tho date of its last meeting, the board had spent £2387 upon the werki, and it was decided to make on application for another £400 of loan money from the Treasury. A now watchmaking and jewellery business has opened in F«xton, Mr. It, M. Paibes, formerly of.. Messrs. Stewart, Dawson, and Uoapaay, having begun business in that line, lor some time the need of a good practical watchmaker has been felt. ■ The local police bayo, for some time,- been having an interest in certain alleged ille--6»1 practices among certain Chinamen, occupied m gardening pursuits. Two gardens T 1 £*$*$ one latc 'y> with the result that feur Chmose" were to appear at the local Cenrt yesterday, to answer charges of having unlawful possession of opium, and smoking samo. A meeting of the district committee of the Foxton charge of the Presbyterian Church was held at Tiakitahmia this week, rhe Rev.- I. Jrily (moderator) presided. There were also present:—Bov. Messrs. Aitken, -BenftW, Bae-Herrard, ALox BtWffs (Fexton); Wilton (Oroua BriJgo): ifathcson, Stratton, Kicherdson, : M'Cully (Tiakitahttna); Farmer and 1 Costall (Glei Oropa). The financial position was coneidered very satisfactory. It was decided to endorse a. petition to raise the status of the Fixton charge, The petition-, will'bo f«nraro>d on to Presbytery and if approved 6f by >that -body will bo submitted to the Assembly to. be finally dealt with.. It wae decided to another horse for the minister. .It wae reported that steps were being taken to erect a church building at Tiakitihnna. After other business had been transacted the delegates wero entertained at dinner in the h«dl bv the lady members of the church, after which a meeting of session was held which endorsed the committeo's action regarding, raising tho status of the enargo.

At the local Presbyterian Church on Sun(Uy evening the B*v. I. Jolly, SLA. (moderv tor elect of, the Presbyterian Church of New Zealand), ordained and inducted Messrs. Speire and Homblow.as elders of the ohurch. Mr. Jolly'a sermon was appropriate to tiie oooasOTi,- dealing as it did with the origia of the offices of elders and deacons.