Greymouth Evening Star, AND BRUNNERTON ADVOCATE. TUESDAY, MARCH 19, 1901.

Greymouth Evening Star, Volume XXXI, 19 March 1901, Page 2

Greymouth Evening Star, AND BRUNNERTON ADVOCATE. TUESDAY, MARCH 19, 1901.

Owing to the inclemency of the weather the second day's Trotting Races have been postponed until to-morrow. We are informed by Messrs Cray and Co that the return from the Croesus Goldmining Coy for the month was 40 ounces of gold from 84 tons of stone. We are informed by the local director, Mr Eevington, that the tender of Mr J. Fitzgerald has been accepted for the building of the Golden United, and Sullivan's Company's pontoons. It is intended to push on with the company's dredge as speedily as possible. Entries for all events at the coming meeting of the Westland Racing Club, close at Jlokitika at 10 o'clock to-morrow night. For the Autumn Meeting this year (says our correspondent) the Westland Racing Club has secured holiday dates, and the Club ha 3 thus been oncouraged to give increased stakes. For the seven events to bo run each day, an aggregato of .{.'500 i 3 offered in stakes, and the liberality of the Club should draw a good list of entries. Despite many drawbacks of lato years, tho Club has been steadily forging ahead, and apart from the substantial improvements made in tho course appointments, has now a very largo membership, which gives the Club a stability that assures its ultimato success. Horso-ownei'3 should note that there is a hurdle race and saddle trot in each day's programme Tho programme is advertised in this issue, and copies of tho poster sheet may bo had at tho head office.

An Irishman once expressed his opinion as to how nice an applc-pic would be—if it were all made of quinces. In the new Australian Dominion we have to consider how nice a Cabinet may be when made of all Premiers.—Masterton Times.

A blackfellow's stono tomahawk has been discovered by Mr D. Wilson in his orchard at Lawson, New South Wales. It is of hard granite, measuring 6in by 3in. According to the early records of the State, no blacks were mot with between Emu Plains and Hartley, which fact makes the find the more interesting.

Mr Clark, Secretary of the Beefton Eacing Club, has boon appointed Secretary of the Wellington Racing Club, being selected out of 50 applicants from all parts of the Colony. It is understood that His Lordship Dr Grimes, 11. C Bishop of Christchurch, will visit this portion of his diocese after Easter.

Another former resident of the "West Coast has given his life for tho Empire, Mr John Crabb, who was somo years ago a minor in tho Ecefton district, which he left for South Africa to fill a position of mine manager, joined ono of tho Colonial corps and saw much hard .service. He died recently of that scourge, enteric. Owing to the inclemency of tho weather the circus proprietors wish to announce, that their will be no performance this evening.

Al the annual meeting of tho Westland Branch of the N.Z. Educational Institute held in the High School Hokitika on Saturday, the following officers were elected for the ensuing year. President, Mr H. G. Wake ; Vice-presi-dents, Miss Potts and Mr W. D. Mackay ; Committee, Miss Ward, Mr Winchester, and Mr McHrath ; Secretary and Treasurer, Mr J. J. Henderson. The statement of receipts and expenses showed a very small credit balance. It was resolved that the foe for membership be lixed on receipt of a copy of the new by-laws at the Council in Wellington. The secretary was directed to send a copy of the following resolution to the secretary of the Taranaki Education Board:— " That we heartily congratulate the Taranaki Education Board on its loyal support of the Education Department in the endeavour to inaugurate a Colonial scale of salaries —the Board thus sinking all self-interests in the cause of justice.', "There's plenty of vigour left in the old man yet!" exclaimed Mr Seddon breezily, as he acknowledged the hearty vote of thanks from a deputation of workers on Saturday afternoon at Wellington. The Minister of Lands is authorised by warrant published in the Gazette to construct a traffic bridge over tho Rangitikei River River near Bulls. The cost of construction is apportioned as follows : Eangitikei County Council, £2985 5s lid ; Manawatu County Council, a like sum ; and the Bulls Town Board, £2279 8s 2d. The Minister of Lands is to provide the balance out of moneys voted by Parliament for that purpose. Prank Lionel Holloway, who last week was caught red-handed at burglary at Wanganui, when £3O worth of jewellery, taken from a house in the suburbs, was found on him, has been committed for trial. The accused i 3 an escapee from Queensland, where ho was sentenced to three years for burglary. A malicious report having been circulated that tho Kaitangata mine was in a dangerous condition, and that a fire was liable to break out at any moment, tho directors asked the Government inspector of mines to visit tho mine and made a thorough inspection. The report sent in by Mr Green is said to bo of a most favorable character, and shows that there is not a tissue of truth in the statements that have been so industriously put abous. The only woman who ever held a commission in the United States army has just retired into unofficial life. First Lieutenant Anita Newcomb McGee was appointed acting-assistant surgeon at the beginning of the Spanish war, and has since had control of the Army Nurse Corps. On her resignation she has received the warmest thanks from the Government for her services. Iter husband is chief of the bureau of American ethnology.

Arrangements for (lie census, to he taken on Sunday night, March :31st, are being made, and the distribution of the papers in the back districts of this province will be undertaken almost immediately, Tn the town and suburban districts the distribution will be made as close as possible to the day on which the census is to be taken. This will be the first census of this colony to be taken contemporaneously with the taking of the census throughout the British dominions.

We (Kumara Times) are very pleased to state that Mr H. Burger is improving. Dr Scott considers that in a few days he will bo ablo to move about. He is in capital spirits and was yesterday able to enjoy a cigar. Mr Dungan, is, we regret to say not improving as rapidly as his many friends would wish. Despite the good nourishment he is able to partake he is not able to move about very much and is not gaiDing in strength. According to the "Post" a deputation from unskilled labour u.iions which waited upon the Premier on Saturday afternoon was informed by Mr Seddon that the Governmsnt intonded during the next session of Parliament to make furthor amendments to the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act. But these would only be in the direction of correcting some obvious errors in the machinery clauses referring to the preliminaries that unions must go through prior to bringing a case before tho Conciliation Board. The Premier expressed the opinion that if half the membership of a ■union attended a regularly-summoned meeting and decided by ballot to bring a case before the Board, that was a legal ballot. He intended to make that plain in an amendment of tho Act.

In tho drawing room of a resident at tho Hutt the other day, says tho "Post:," an odour was perceived; at first peculiar, out not objectionable. As time went on, however, it began to dcvelope into something unique. Search was made for the cause ; tho piano was taken to pieces, a portion of the floor lifted ; but still tho origin of that odour remained a mystery. Later, after various things had been tried, tho skirting board round one wall was removed, and between the weatherboards and the lining a largo swarm of bees was found, dead, yet "speiking" volumes. It is supposed that on some cold evening the queen boo made her way inside tho weatherboards for v/armth, and that the swarm followed and was unable to got out again, and so died of starvation. The Free Press understands that a flaxinill in the Clutha district has been compelled to close down owing to inability to procure sufficient hands. The flax-cutters and other able-bodied men employed have left to engage in harvest work, as being more remunerative. Other mills in the district arc running short-handed from the same cause.

Mr W. H. Haggcr is gazetted an Inspector of Factories for New Zealand. Amended regulations udnor the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act are gazetted.

Five persons becamo bankrupt in the colony during last week. A painter at Waipukarau, a storekeeper at Danncvirke, a grocer at New Plymouth, a carpenter at Porirua, and a baker at Newtown.

Arrangements are being made for a demonstration to bo given by upwards of 4000 Maoris on the occasion of the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall's visit to Rotorua.

While at Stratford a few days ago tho Hon J. G. Ward was urged to get tho Government to lay down a light lino of railway from Stratford to Mount Egraont, chiefly for tho purpose of securing good stone for the railway and numerous roads in tho province. It would also promote tho tourist traffic. The Minister promised to represent the matter to Cabinet, and Baid ho believed it would be a good thing.

Messrs G. W. Moss and Co. will Bell by public auction to-morrow at 2 o'clock, a largo quantity of furniture and household effects.

We remind our readers that Messrs G. \\. Moss and Co. will sell by public auction to-morrow at 11 30 a.m. a valuable leasehold property, situate in the Arnold Survey District. For further particulars see our advertising columns. At the instance of tho Health Officer the Wanganui Borough Council has decided to proceed with the erection of a plague hospital, the Government finding half the cost, estimated at about £6OO. Tho Nelson Mail learns that about £4OO has already been subscribed and promised locally towards the project of boring for coal on the Nelson mudflats. Steps will be taken forthwith to place tho syndicate in a position to prepare for tho commencement of operations, 4T Earl Roberts's thoughtfulness is exemplified in the following acknowledgment sent by him to two young people at Gore, Otago:-"War Office, London, 24th January, 1901.—Dear Blanche and Stanley Gibbs,—Lord Roberts has asked mo to write and thank you for your letter of 10th December, and for the book of views you have been kind enough to send him. He is always pleased to hear from his many little friends, and wishes me to saj that he hopes ho will see you if he should ever be able to come to New Zealand.— H. Sfcrentfield, Major, Private Secretary." There are some cases in Auckland district of poisoning through eating honey, soma being in a critical state. The Maoris say that it is dangerous to eat wild honoy just now, as tho swamp flower the waoriki is in bloom, and the Maoris believe it to be a poisonous plant. Some very suspioious disappearances of larga numbers of sheep have occurred in the Akiteo distaiot. One runholder lost a mob of 1000. Another near Weber lost 2000, and although a reward of £IOO has ' been offered, and the services of the police havo been secured, no trace of them has been found.

It is extremely doubtful (says the Post) whether the Government can see its way to accede to the request of the Auckland Harbour Board that the Engineer-in-Chief of the colony (Mr Hales) should be instructed to report upon the cost of erecting the massive sheer legs required at tho Calliope Dock in order to meet the requirements of the Admiralty. Mr Hales will bo very busy for some time to como in attending to the business of-his own department, and it i 3 very unlikely that ho can be spared to undertake work for the Auckland Harbour Board or any other coporation. At tho present time he is inspecting tha works in progress at the northern end of tho Main Trunk Railway, and he will not be back in Wellington for a week or two.

The theory whioh still lingers in nearly all the geography books (says the Daily Graphic) that the Gulf Stream brings warmth and salubrity to these islands and to the coast of North-western Europe, is now denounced by tho United States meteorologists aa a myth. Mr H. M. Watts, in the " United States Weather Review," avers that by the time tho Gulf Stream arrives east of Newfoundlard it is not distinguishable in temperature or set of current from the rest of the ocoan, and if it were by any possibility to be diverted at the Straits of Florida no one in England would be aware of it. It is, he says, the eastward and north-eastward drift of the atmosphere from the Atlantic which distributes over Europe a mi'd climatic influence.

The provisions of the Defence Act gives power of the officer commanding a volunteer company to compel the attendance of his men on parade through the medium of fines. There arc not many instances on record where these extreme steps have been taken, and the act has generally been regarded as a dead letter in regard to these particular provisions! Last week, however (says the Ofcago Daily Times), the officer commanding ono of the city corps fined three of his men 10s each for being absent from parade, and has invoked tho assistance of the Magistrate Court officer to collect tho amounts.

In September last the Agricultural Department distributed for experimental purposes a large quantity of potato seed of several varieties amongst settlers in various parts of the colonj'. The results in most casqs have been very gratifying. One farmer in Hawke's Bay obtained the following weight of potatoes from four 51b parcels of seed:—Sutton variety, 1121 b ; Daniel variety, ]oolb ; Lapstone kidney variety, 751 b; Find! ay's Eosabelle variety, COlb. The potatoes, which arc well grown, are to be sent to the head office of tiic Agricultural Department for exhibition.

The steamer which is being built at Home for the New Zealand Defence Department is expected to arrive in the colony before the end of the year. She will be a vessel of about 150 tons, capable of steaming 12 knots an hour, and will be employed exclusively in Wellington waters, in running between the city and the forts, laying and taking up submarine mines and like works. The steamer Ellen Ballance is much too small for the purpose, and the Defence Department has frequently found it necessary to charter the Duce. The new steamer is being built in accordance with Admiralty specifications, and will be able to work the harbour in all weathers. Captain 11. Fraser, who is to bring her out from Home and will probably have the permanent command, is an officer of tho Boyal Naval Beserve, and was for many years in the New Zealand Shipping Company's service.

A rather good story is going the rounds concerning a visit of two professional men to Karamea. They spent several days in the district and did good business, but as Karamaa is a moneyless place, the professional men were compelled to take their fees out in eggs and butter. Thus Christchurch Truth: "Afen are elected to important public bodies who possess just enough brains to chop wood and not enough to run an oyster cart. Instances can be recalled just now of such men who are members of public boards. There would not bo this difficulty if local bodies would awaken to their responsibilities and soo to it that shrewd, progressive representatives wore elected to those positions."

A correspondent of tho Manawatu " Daily Times " writes ;—Labour must be scarcoin tho back part of tho Nelson province, as while taking a tour through there lately I was astonished to behold a young woman ploughing with a pair of horses in her orchard ; and, again, I saw a haudsome young lady at work superintending a screw press, pressing a largo quantity of hops : again, I saw another at work with a squaring axe, which sho wielded very deftly. When I expressed astonishment, sheropliod, in a tone of sarcasm, " Oh, well, we musi accept tho inevitable, as there are no men left to carry on tho work, so wo have to do it. "

So difficult has it become to get domestic servants in New Zealand, or a woman-help of any land (says the London Daily Chronicle) that in many places the only way to secure the services of tbo washerwoman is by sonding a gig for her. This is an experience of a lady who writos to a friend in England, stating at tho same time that the servant girls expect to bo called lady helps, and demand the right tc use tho piano and have a privale sitting room of their own, If this kind of thing continues, the maid will be soon insisting on tho mistress cal. ling h»r ma'm.