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Gisborne Times, Volume V, Issue 80, 12 April 1901, Page 2

Captain Edwin wired at noon yesterday : “ Moderate south-east to south and sopth-west winds; glass fall: tides moderate ; weather not so cold.’' The Napier Rowing Club’s ten stone and junior crews leave for Gisborne by the Elingamite on Friday evening, arriving here on Saturday morning. The races with the local crews will be rowed at about 2 o’clock the same afternoon. The concert to be held by the Mutual Improvement Society nest Monday evening, promises to bo a great success, as the tickets are going off very rapidly. The programme is of the well-known style of the “ Mutual,” and a large audience should greet the Society in this their opening concert. . “If I was a young man,” said a prominent member of the milkmen’s meeting, held in Christchurch last week, “ I wouldn’t work for a dairyman for loss than £2 a week." Another member de dared that the long hours worked wei g disgraceful-

We (East Coast Guardian) are informed by those who have seen both that the maize crops in the Opouriao Valley are, generally speaking, more advanced than those on the Opotiki Hat. The season, taking it all through, has been decidedly unfavorable to the growth of maize. On every part of the coast reports of light crops come to hand.

A special message from the Times’ Wellington correspondent states that the young man Walker has pleaded guilty to forgery. He was for a time a billiard marker in Gisborne, and getting short of cash in Wellington, he adopted the device of making use of the names of well-known Gisborne people. The method was to wire to residents in the [name of friends, asking for a loan, and the response was so good that one man was victimised to the extent of a large- sum, and others for smaller amounts, all thinking when they sent the money- that they were helping a friend. When Mr Challis returned to Sisborne from Wellington ho found that he was credited with having wired to many people for money, and for a time was "puzzled as to what it all meant until he found out that free use had been made of his name to obtain money from other people.

The regulations under the Shorthand Reporters Act of last session provide that candidates for examination must not bo under 21 years of age. They must furnish certificate's of character and age, and pay-

ail examination fee of two guineas. To obtain a certificate candidates will have to be able to write 150 words a minute, and to read their notes at sight with a reasonable degree of facility. Rapidity and accuracy of transcription will be necessary. Candidates will also have to satisfy the examiners that they possess the educational qualifications necessary to enable them to report proceedings in the Law Court with intelligence. Pees for reporting will be at the rate of ono guinea per day, with an allowance of Is per folio for the first, 100 folios for transcribing. A well-known Sydney journalist, Mr F. Lionel Pratt, who lately accepted a six months' engagement with Reuter’s Agencyin North China, very narrowly escaped losing his life recently at Chingwantao, the open harbor near Shauhaikwan. Ho is, however, now recovering from his thrilling experience. He had been ordered up to Peking, and travelled from Shanghai to Chingwantao in the steamer Kwangchi. The vessel was blocked some 10 miles out of port by the ice, and in his eagerness to get ashore Mr Pratt started out with a lieutenant of the Royal Engineers to walk across to land. They got within two miles from shoro when the ice, owiug to a strong current, was found to be thin and dangerous. The lieutenant slipped in, and was with great difficulty rescued by Mr Pratt. A further attempt to reach the mainland then resulted in the Sydney man falling through the ice. He was in turn extricated by his companion. They then decided to return to the steamer, but found that she had departed. They spoilt the night on the ice, and at daylight they discovered that the vessel had made the harbor during -the night. After 25 hours on the ice the two men reached Rocky Point, where they procured food and accommodation at a joss-house. They were afterwards admitted to the military hospital at Shanhaikwan, whore they received every attention. Meanwhile on board the ; steamer Kwangchi the two men had been ! given up as drowned.