Local and General News

Feilding Star, Volume XII, Issue 105, 26 February 1891, Page 2

Local and General News

Members of the Manchester Rifles are reminded of the parade to morrow night. The grass crop is so abundant just now on the Harbor Board Block that the stock feeding on it are absolutely trampling it to waste. The Feilding Fire Brigade held a meeting recently, at which it was decided to go into systematic practice in order that they may send a representative team to Palmerston. Yesterday morning, during a christening Service at St. Bridget's, Father Patterson observed a katipo spider on the dress of one of the ladies. The obj ection - able insect was destroyed before it did any. harm. The banquet to be given to Mr R. C. Bruce, at Marton, by his many friends and supporters, will be one of the most successful gatherings of the kind ever held in the North Island. Mr Bruce has lost hone of his popularity by his defeat at Egmont. The Fire Brigade held a wet practice last night, and played the hose on the establishments of Messrs Carthew and Richards and Mrs Hastie. More practice would not do them any harm, as a good deal of confusion was manifest. The Feilding Court of the A.0.F., at their usual fortnightly meeting last night, decided to celebrate the anniversary ol the local lodge by a tea and ball. During the evening the members of the Order presented Mr T. W. K. Foster with a gold medal as a token of their appreciation ol his valuable services as Secretary to the lodge for bo many years. There will be mass in St. Briget's next ■ Sunday at 11 a.m. There will be a meeting of the Committee of the Feilding Jockey Club iield this evening in Mrs Hastie's Hotel. A Confirmation Service was held in St. John's Church, on Tuesday, by the Primate. A detailed report will appear in our next issue. Our sporting scribe, " Crackshot," was successful in tipping the winner of the Dunedin Cup, while he selected the run-ner-up, Occident, for a place. Iv Napier (says the News) Mr Wardell, R.M., makes it a rule to inflict a fine of one pound on any man convicted of getting drunk on Sunday. The champion high jumper is Filemaker, who at Chicago on November 23 cleared the bar< at 7ft 2 Jin which quite puts all previous records in the shade. There was a brilliant display in Manchester street last night by a chimney taking fire. After " a steady glare, and a few fitful flickers," like the Skinflint Goldie, it fizzled out. ■ The auction sales of Mr Trimble on Saturday next will be held in his auction room at 12 o'clock (noon), and at " The Other House " at 2 p.m., where he wil! dispose of the surplus stock of Mr Radford, in the form of dress stuffs, drapery, &c, &c. To secure thorough sleep insulate each bed with glass. An Englishman who insulated his bedstead by placing underneath each post a, broken- off bottle says that he had had rheumatism or gout for fifteen years, and that he began to improve immediately after the application of the insulators. Mr Wallace has forwarded us a cabbage (one pf " St. John's Day," grown from seed supplied by Mr Yates, of Auckland), which weighs 35 pounds. It is perfectly sound throughout, and is in everyway a grand production which gives a forcible proof of the excellence of the soil at Waituna. To avoid the odour whicli too often fills the house when cabbage or oiher green vegetables are boiling, follow these directions; — Put your cabbage in a net. and when you hare boiled it omin. in the first pot of water, lift it out. drain for a few seconds, and place carefully in a a second pot, which you must have full of fast-boiling water on the stove. Empty tbe first water away, and boil your cabbage till tender in the second. The following corps, it is expected, will take part in the Easter camp at Palmerston : — Navals — Wellington, Wanganui, Nelson, Petone, and Napier. Cavalry — Alexandra, Wairoa M.1., Heretaunga M.1., Rangitikei and Marlborough. Artillery — D, F, and H Batteries. Rifles — Marton Royal, Wellington City, Wanganui, Nelson City, Taranaki, Stoke, Blenheim, Napier, Grey town, Palmerston, Masterton, Waimea, Manchester, Wanganui City, Wellington, Featherston, Richmond, Hawera, Papawai (natiye), Blenheim City, and Hastings. — Napier Telegraph. " Puff," in the Press, on the GreyGoldie situation, says : — So Davie Goldie has resigned his seat and the Grand Old Man is itching to have another try at politics I He can't keep away from them ! They will give him a seat without fighting for it surely ! Oh, yes ; Ballance's crew couldn't oppose him and the other side won't mind seeing him in again ! He will do the heavy father and candid friend business, and make the Ministry look lively, I can tell you ! No one ever knows when they have old Kawana Kerei. A good many have known when he has had them though 1 Preparations for taking the census on the night of Sunday, the sth of April, are practically complete. The colony has been divided into 23 sections, composed each as one or more counties or boroughs included in them. To each is allotted a chief enumerator, and there are in all 600 sub-enumerators. The Registrar-General does not anticipate that the coming census will show any such large and unexpected increase, as Auckland, for instance, did in 1886, but he is opinion that the west coast of the North Island will reveal considerable alteration of numbers on the right side. Large boroughs will be about stationary, or show perhaps a slight decrease.

We announce to-day that the DobsonKennedy Dramatic Company will appear at the Assembly Rooms on Monday and Tuesday next, March 2nd and 3rd, opening with Boucicaut's world-famed and ever-popular Irish drama " The Shangh rau . ' The second night's performance will be duly notified. The company is 18 strong, and includes some artistes of the first water, several of whom are old favorites, and who have made themselves a great name. Judging from the immense success this talented company met with down South, and the high encomiums passed upon them hy the press wherever they played, the Fnlding folk haye a real dramatic treat' in store. Nature is always slow. Only man is in a hurry. Whoever talks about im^ proving land in the natural way talks nonsense. It took nature some thou* sands of years, more or less, to produce the virgin soil that the people of this country have been exhausting. When it is exhausted what is to be done? Nature will do it if given time enough, but it may take a few hundre I, or even thousand, years to restore old conditions. Man can do this in much less time, and with mankind time is money. Therefore the agricultural way is cheaper, as well as better, than nature's way. By heavy manuring the market gardener makes land far more productive than it was in its original virgin fertility. In other words man excels nature ; which is not strange, as man has been improving on nature's works nearly ever since he has been on this planet. A fowlkeeper in lowa, who makes his Hying by selling eggs, possesses 1000 laying hens, and his system of feeding is as follows : — For a morning meal he gives a cooked mash, consisting of bran and meal, mixing it with a little ground bones and charcoal. At midday he scatters boiled oats among dry leaves, and lets the hens scratch for it, while at night the food i.« boiled maize. Nearly everything that ts •iiven to the fowls is cooked, and upon this he says that the boiled mash in creases the egg production, and boiling the maize makes it less fattening. All the food is also seasoned with a little salt. Boiled pumpkins and cabbages are given twice a week, and chopped clover hay is also resorted to for a ch.'inge, the latter being scaided also. Wheat and rye are also given at times, and the fowls are allowed plenty ot room. The boiling ■ of the food is considered very advatage ous for laying hens, as he considers it is ■ less fattening and more likely to produce e^gs than hard grain, It will be noted ■ that many other fowlkeepers consider animal food also beneficial. There are really some fascinating bar- ' gains to be shown this day at " The Fair," Te Aro House, Wellington. To any lady requiring a really firstclass silk dress at a great reduction from ordinary prices, there is now a magnifi cent opportunity at the Te Aro House " Fair," Wellington, this day. For instauce, full dress lengths of shot raerveilleaux silk, originally 52s 6d foi 30s ; handsome combination silk dresses, [ rich faillee silk dresses, choice striped silk, merveilleaux dresses, in full dress lengths ; original prices, 8 guineas, reduced to 2 guineas ; original price, 10 guineas, reduced to 3 guineas, at " The Fair," Te Aro House, Wellington. Aud then there are several lots of coloured gross-grain silks and evening shades iv handsome broche silks, for Is ; 6d per yard, and .some superb dark i coloured broche silks, reduced from 7s 6d to 2s 6d per yard, at "The Fair," Te Aro House, Wellington. The above are really superb bargains, and can be seen in our windows this day, To any lady who can appreciate a first class silk dress of superior quality and excellent in style and coloring, this is an opportunity that, we may safely assert, will never occur again. We have only a few of them on hand at Te Aro House, Wellington.