Local and General News.

Feilding Star, Volume XVIII, Issue 263, 12 May 1897, Page 2

Local and General News.

Entries for Messrs Abraham and "Williams Palme.rston sale on 20th inst are advertised today. The farmers of South Canterbury are looking anxiously for rain the ground being dry as a bone. The Pollard Company Lave gone to Sydney. They will visit Feilding during their next tour of New Zealand. If a sprig of parsley is dipped in vinegar and eaten after an onion, no unpleasant odour from the breath can be detocted. A Wairarapa bootmaker call his es tablishmeut " a hospital for sick boots, 1 ' and offers to supplj' new soles and now bodies. A number of ladybirds (vedalia) have been sent to Nelson in order tbat the cottony scale may be eradicated from that district. According to Mr MacEwau, there is a very strong feeling amongst importers at Home that Australasian produce should be shipped on a consignment basis. The Southland Hospital and Charitable Aid Board have decided to purchase an area of rural land for the purpose of utilising the labor of male inmates who are able to do a moderate amount of work. Farming prospects in Southland appear to be very bright. Oats are going up day by day, the same with sheep, lor at the last sales, both in town and couu try. sheep both fat and store brought a good price, with full sales. It is stated that George Dean, of the North Sydney poisoning notority, istak iugr his incarceration very badly. He is said to be bordering on lunacy, and reports concerning his condition are now before the officers of the Prisons Department. At the annual conference of delegates from the various Farmers' Co operative Associations in the colony last week, the question of the " Reduction of freights Homeward " was discussed, and it was decided to approach the shipping com panics on the subject. Although tho farmers in the North Island have eDjoyed, ro far. a mild and favourable winter, which has favour ably affected stock of all kinds, there is a shortage of feed in the South Island ; so much fo that hoggets arc finding their way into the market in consider able quantities. Kelerring to tho exchanpe of ofSeos between Mr J. 11. Stevens and Mr J. F. Martin, the Hawera Star pays in speaking of the latter gontletmtn, "Mr Martin has been in charge ot the Hawera Post Office for about, twelve years, and has proved himself lo be a most capable, Gnergotic and obliging officer, and his removal will be regretted by a large circlo of friends. " A nice, bright young fellow, who during three years' stay in Whitton, New Ipswich, has %von all hearts," is tho character given the Rev Harold Ansnn. who is now on his way out from England to ta.ke charge of the Anglican parish of Hawera. He resigned his former parish because " many will gladly take his place tliore, but few will cmi grate." This (says the EymontPost) is the sort of clergymen we want a in young country like New Zealand. On Thursday, at Auckland, an operation was performed by tho aid of the Rontgeu rays on a Mrs Tait, who is snf fering from the effects of a needle embedded in the sole of the foot, A photograph of it was taken for surgical use. by Mr C". E. Mackie, The photograph showed the needle plainly, and to ascertain its precise position a slight incision was made along the sole of the foot and a piece of silver wire placed therein. A photograph was then taken from above the limb, and the head of the needle was seen and located. The needle was then removed with ease. A queer case of suspended animation came under the notice of the Broken Hill police. During a recent Saturday afternoon a resident of Railway Town called at the Argent street police station aud reported that a child of bis was dead, and as no medical man had attended his infant he desired a certificate to allow of burial. He was told to see Constable Hyne.s, wbo was in charge of Railway Town, and he did so. Hynes went to the man's house with him, and to their surprise the child was found to be alive. It had been some hours in a kind of trance ere it recovered.— Dunedin Star. Amongst the passengers for Sydney by the Mararoa on Saturday was Mr John Wilkie, of the firm of Wilkie Bros., oi Wanganut, who built the Coolgardie Railway. Mr WilKie is on his way to Western Australia to assist his brother in completing arrangements for handing over the railway from Perth to Coolgardie and when that business is done the iirothers will return to New Zealand and -ettle down to farming life in the Wangamn district. During the time the firm have been running the line the traffic has been enormous, and it is said that their profits out of the whole undertaking will not be far short of £240,000. At the mpeting of tho Wairarapa A. aud P. Association on Saturday, Mr A. Matthews traversed the statement made by Mr F. Bradley at the recent meeting of the Wellington Association tbat the old breed of Romuey Marsh had disap peared, and suggesting that the New Zealand Romuey should be re named, lie asked what about the pure-bred Romacys imported every year at great cost ? The statement, he thought, was extremely foolish and absolutely incorrect. If it got abroad it would tend to damage Now Zealand breeders, many of whom exported largely to the Argentine aud other places. There were many flocks iv the colony of pure strain. — Post. Johnny had gone to be shaved. The barber being absent, Johnny, on the look out for a lark, took off his coat and donned an apron. Presently an old gentleman came ia. " Shave, sir ? " said Johnny. The old gentleman took a chair, and Toole beyan to lather, expecting every moment that the barber would appear, Five minutes passed ; no barber. Five move ; no barber. The joker began to get desperate. Putting up his brush, he changed his coat again, took his hat and was about to quietly slip out behind the customer's back, when that gentleman turned his bead and exclaimed : — " Here sir, aren't you going to shave me ? " "No sir i " promptly replied Toole. "Fact is, we only lather here. sir. The shaving is done four doors lower down." Johnny skipped without waiting for the old gentleman's remarks. A method described in the North Landmansblad of preparing skim milk for farm animals may be of interest to farm i era in this country. The skim milk is j heated for half anhour at a temperature of 175deg to 185deg Fahr. and then cooled to 95deg or 105deg, after which rennet is addsd. While the milk is curdling an equal quantity of chaff or fine-cut straw is pat in, and the mixture, after being stirred, is left for two or three hours. The nnabsorbed whey is next run off and the mixture left to ferment for forty-five or forty-eight hours, when it is ready for use as food. As much of the material is given to milch cows as would equal 91b of milk par bead per day, this quantity being considered capable of replacing 4£lb of common mixtures of concentrated foods, such as braa or oilcake. It is obvious that 'the substance is, in offect, a skim milk cheese " Ailed " witli cbopned etraw.

A concert will be held at the Young Men and Boys Club this evening. Messrs Spence and Spence have just opened up a consignment of fashionable goods secured on exceptional terms. These will be offered at prices much under tho usual value. We have been shown a monster carrot grown by Mr H. Peach, of Feilding, which has seven roots the size of ordinary carrots, besides several smaller ones. It turned the scale at 51bs. At a meeting of the Feilding Bowling Club committee, held last evening, various routine business was dealt with and the closing of the green for the season was left in the hands of the Ground Committee. A practical miner, writing to the manager of the Duneclin Star from Cape Foulwind says : — I have just returned from Coolgardie, after twelve mouths of hard luck and empty pockets, and am glad to find myself aeain in the best country in the world. The regular meeting of the Palrncrston Hospital Board will be held on Thursday. Au addition is made to tho notices issued to members to the following eftect : " The bnsiness will include dealing with a letter from tho matron with reference to an insult to her by one ot the members of the Board." At the last meeting of the Manawatu Road Board a Jofter was read from the chairman of the Feilding Borough Council with reference to the proposed conference of local bodies, with the object of forming a River Board. The Secretary was instructed to hand the letter over to the Drainage Board and inform Mr Bailey what had been done. A Parliamentary " gem" which the special correspondents seem to have overlooked comes to us (Press) from Wellington. The Hon. Mr Scotland, in his speech in the Legislative Council, pooh-poohed the idea of sending Home a military "bodyguard." The contingent, he said, was not representative of New Zealand. If they wanted to send a proper representation of New Zealand to England they should send Home Bank Directors with their balance sheets an-> nexed to them When tho Lord Chief Justice was still known as Sir Charles Russell, be went to Scotland to help the Radicals in a certain campaign. He purposely began his speech with some very badlypronounced Scotch. After the confusion caused by his apparent blunder had subsided, Sir Charles said: "Gentlemen, I do not speak Scotch, but I vote Scotch." Thereupon thero was tre mendous applause. When this had subsided Sir Charles went on to say, " And I often drink Scotch." After thip, it is needless to Add, he was tho hero of the hour. The extension of the Pohaugiua main road is now opeu for traffic as far as Mr Spicer's residence, and the contractors for the road clearing, as far as Beehive Creek, report that thoy expect to have it cleared through as far as the creek in a few days. It is uuderstood that ib is the intention of the Council to commeucc to form this road after next meeting. When this portion of road is completed it will form a vpry pleasant walk or drive to the Beehive Creek, which is one of the few spots in the locality that can boast of any beauty.— Times. At the annual meeting of tho 'Wairarapa A. and P. Society on the 9th instant, the chairman, Mr W. C. Buchanan, M.H.R-, referring to the frozen meat trade and the causes which led up its present unsatisfactory condition said that the blame was not attached to this side. The sheep were well bred, and suited to the London market, whilst the freezing was perfect. The fault lay with the shipping companies on the one hand in allowing the cargo to got damaged in transit and whilst removing from the ship to the wharf, and want of perfect cool storage on the other hand. It is stated that Sir Arthur Sullivan recently demanded £25 before he would submit to the ordeal of an interview, even although it was to be conducted by a charming lady reporter. But his terms are modest compared with the demand of Dr Nansen when he recently asked for no less than £250 before be would com municate his " impressions " of the North Pole to a representative of one of the illustrated magazines. But his pluck was wonderful, and his services to BCience have beeh great, so that no one can begrudge it to him, even although .£250 is a pretty big price to ask for an hour's yarn with a press reporter. It will be remembared that Pretident Kruger recently suppressed the Johannesburgh Star. The offending paper published a cartoon as an inset to a recent number, which depicted a professor of phrenology reading President Kruger's head with the heading " The Science of Swollen Heads," aud beneath were these words : — Bump of forgiveness, absent ; forgetfnlness, ditto ". craft, hightly developed : self-esteem, abnormal ; combativenees, growing ; morality, worth a million ; foresight, impaired ; fairness, represented by a concavity; intellectuality (see morality) acquisitiveness, colossal ; consistency a depression; respect for law, crowded out.. When the Star was suppressed, the proprietors issued a paper named " The Comet." The farmers in Canterbury who shut up areas of red clovev for seed this season, have in most cases obtained splendid yields. Owing to the drought, the total area kept for seed was smaller than otherwise would have been the case, as the feed could not be spared. The increase in the average yield is no doubt largely due to the fact that the bumble bees have been able to do the work of inoculation more thoroughly than if larger areas had had to be dealt with. A farmer at Tai Tapu obtained a little over two bags, of 2401 b each, per acre, from nine acres, and selling it at 7d per Ib, he received i-140 in cash, equal to £15 11s per acre. Tho clover was shut up in January and cut in April. One bag per acre is reckoned a good yield, but this season there are numerous instances where two bags from an acre have been obtained. One farmer re*. ceived a cheque for £161 for the seed off sixteen acres, a return of j£lo per acre. — Weekly Press. A Rangiwabia correspondent writes :— " A surprise was in store for us on Satsrday last. Mr Daw's coach not arriving at the usual time, many were tho surmises as to the cause. Anyway, about an hour after its usual time the coach arrived, and all feats were dispelled. There were many questions asked : " Where's our bread ?" " Have you a parcel for Mrs So-and-so ?" &c. " Oh, goodness 1 It's a new driver !" It aripears Mr Daw's driver left very suddenly on Saturday at Birmingham. Mr Daw had no time to lock about for someone else to take the coach and pas seugers to Rangiwahia, and Mr J. H. Richardson, with characteristic energy, stepped into the breach, harnessed up two of Mr Daw's wild mustangs, and proceeded on the journey. Mr Beckett, of .Marton, was au anxious passenger, not knowing what sort of a driver be had, and any amount of difficult turns and curves to bo negotiated on the road. As soon as Mr Beckett was satisfied that his lifo was in safe bauds 1 c said, " Well, what about all these papers ?" and proceeded periodically to distribute them to the settlors along tbc road, and so successful were hia efforts that when Mr Richardson got to the end of his journey there were only three papers left unde livered. Under these circumstances, any subscribers of yours who did not receivo their papers as usual will understand.

"A. Tramp, Esq." v?as a visitor to Foilding to clay. William Short's house and contents at Apiti, were burnt last night. Insur. ance, £ 500 in the London and Lancashire. Owing to the illness of the Rev G. P. Davys, there will be no services next Sunday at Rangiwahia, Beef Creek and Fowlers. Mr John Gould, of Apiti, returns thanks to those kind friends who so generously assisted his wife and himself during the illness prior to the death of their late son William, who died last week, at the age of six years and ten months, after a few days illness from the result of a fall over a toy waggon with which he and some other children were playing. Mr F. Y. Lethbridge, M.H.R., has been advised, in reply to a communication, tbat the postal authorities have consented to authorise the Mayors of Feilding, Marton, Wanganui, Palmerston and Foxton. the chairman of the Bulls Town Board, the chairman of the Mauawatu County Council, and tho chairman of the relief fund committee, Sanson, to " frank " telegrams and letters in conneciion with tho Rangitikei relief fund. Those who have admired the playing of tho German Band in the streets of Feilding during the past day or two are promised a, treat tonight, when the band will give several selections at the concert organised by tha management of tho Young Men and Boys Club. These selections, together with various items by well known amateurs, will provide the host programme yet submitted at these concerts and a full house may be expected. Mr R. M. Stephcnfon, of the Colonii/ Consignment and Distributing Company has recently returned to London from a visit to Capetown, whither he was sent in order to investigate the probabilities of the successful introduction of Australian frozen meal into Sonth Africa. Mr S»ephen6on vitited the principal towns in Cape Colon}', Natal and the Transvaal, and has come to the conclusion that meat, at present, is fairly cheap in thone plnces, and that visible supplies are sufficient to meet requirements for some time yet. If, however, the rinderpest spreads there may be an opening for tha imported article. The quality of tha frozen beef and mutton sent to Capetown from Australia appears to have given satisfaction.