LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 20 May 1911, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

During the past year twenty-live permits were taken out for nen r [muses and shops in the Borough of Levin. The total value of the ■buildings is estimated at .£8,215. This is a slight increase over tho previous year. The building fees during the past year amounted to £27 ss. The past year is regarded as one .showing steady progress so far as buildings are concerned. It is interesting to know that the pasttwelve months may be looked upon as the period of the advent of brick walls to Levin. All the shops that are now being erectedi havebrick parting walls, in accordance with the by-laws of the Borough.

We /are pleaded' to hear that Mr W. Murdoch, of Shannon, lias recovered from his late serious indisposition, caused by complications' of bronchitis, asthma, indigestion and influenza.

Tn a West Coast hospital the other day a patient who had gone for surgical treatment was asked the usual questions about occupation, religion, etc., by the nurse, who closed her enquiries with tf e question, "Have you got pyjamas?" and received the unexpected! reply, "No, the doctor says I've got appendicitis."

Mr 0. Hammond , , of Feilding, lias received a wire from his brother Joseph, who has been giving a series of successful exhibitions on a. Bristol 'bi-plane in Australia, that he has just about completed his engagement there, and before leaving for Europe it is his intention to visit his relatives in Now Zealand. Mr Hammond will leave Australia, in about ten davs' time.

The Rev. T). C. Bates' weather forecast states:— Little change is reported in the barometer. Present indications are for a slowly rising barometer in the Xorth, but a fall soon elsewhere. Strong southerly winds backing to westerly northward of Capo Farewell and Kaikouira. and westerly, moderate to strong, elsewhere. Showery and* changeable weather is probable generallv.

The F.M..C.A. Social Committee held its first meeting for 1911 in th". rooms on Friday, and decided to commence a series of "Drop-in So cials" on Saturday next, 27th, May. These "socials" are open to men, and the board of directors amd. committee cordially invite every yo i'i<* man to attend. The formation of a Glee Club is also in hand, u:id a meeting of all interested in the same will be called in the t ear future. To win a sweepstake prize of £300 and to be de-baned by the ruiles of his employers from accepting ; t, was the fortune of a clerk in the Bank of Liverpool. No gambling on any event is allowed by the directors of this institution. The d'rectors and officials, having satisfied themselves that the rule was not known to the lucky clerk, determined, like good sportsmen, th|at he should not lose. They therefore told him that he must return the £300 to the sweepstake committee, and then they put their hands into their own pockets and made up a similar sum. and presented: h. : m with it.

Financial conditions show very little alteration since the. time of our last report—money continues : n good supply and lending rates are easy (re-ports the New Zealand Trade Review). The bank return.-; in our last issue showed a substantia'! excess of deposits over advances, and the Post Office Savings Bank returns, given in another column, show a steady growth in deposits. The funds to the credit of depositors in that institution now total over 15 millions. Although the scale of our imports i.s high, with evidence of further growth in the current year, our exports still provide margin to. cove rout&ide* obligations as well as paying for 0111 imports.

A curious case of mis-spelling occurred in connection with the name Hon. Mr Mackenzie at Saturday's series of functions (says the Manaia Witness). On the foundation, stone of the Kaupokonui Co.'s factory the name of the hon. gentleman was carved "McKcnzie" and as it occurred on the stone of the Manaia Post Office and on the silver trowels used at both functions. Tho mistake elicited from Mr Mackenzie the. remark that this must have been the blunder of an Englishman. So true - Highlander would so emasculate the liiaino of a member of the historic clan from-which he derived' lw's descent. Both the stones , 'have been taken away to have the names readjusted before being fiimlly put in their respective places.

An Jnvercargill oabmaiii the other day drove a fare to the sou till part of the town, and on returning to the stand a business man, who engaged him to drive out to Waikiwi, found a roll of notes on the .seat of the handsome. The jehu immediately visited the house, of his previous customer and returned the money intact. He now complains that the only reward he received for his honesty was a modest sixpence. Another case of a like nature occurred in a . Southland country township. A commercial traveller, in paying his account, was given in change what he and the publican regarded as a pound note, but which the commercial traveller discovered on his way to be a£s note. Having occasion to return next day he handed the boniface the £4 overpaid, and says that he did not even receive thanks. He says that he did not expect any monetary consideration, but merely some acknowledgment of his honesty.

Concerning the "hobble skirt :, from a trade standpoint, tlio Bradford wool correspondent of the Sydney Morning Herald writes:—"The question of $ie quantity of cloth which it takes to make either a suit or a costume is an important item with manufacturers, and we have been informed by an eminent London authority that in the production of the so-called fashionable "hobble skirt" there is required from one to two yards of material less than in .the production of the wider and more comfortable costume skirt. This has given rise to considerable discussion among manufacture] , !? in the West Jtyding whose business is the production of ladies dress materials. We are glad to think that there is _ little chance of the 'hobble skirt being a ■popular thing among the .gentler sex, and there need! he no , undue concern in r.egard'/bo dressmakers requiring less material for the forthcoming season."

.It is the custom of the Emperor William to commemorate his particular achievements as a 'hunter ' y the orection of moniiimcnts. One of these stones, Rft high, has just been put in a royal forest;, some miles to the north of Berlin. Ft bears the following inscription:"His Majesty, the Emperor, and King William, tho Second shot here on January 9,'1911, a big 2-l-pointer iir number of points tbe finest stag ever killed by a TToheiizolWii Prince in tho Sehoi'iheifle."

In connection with the Sheffield Choir's visit to Palmerston, on tho afternoon of Juno 30. the first allotment of blocks of seats for the efferent towns will he made early next month. Every application will be necessary, as there arc on y 1500 seats for both coasts of this part of the Island. All information in connection with the visit can bo obtained from the Eeilding rerepresontative, Mr H. Temple White. Palmorston is the _ only town outside the four big cities to be visited bv the choir.

A complaint has reached, us as to a dangerous practical joke \vhi.}h has been played on cyclists whose work causes them to use the A-iri-hapu railway line. Many employ ees of the saw mills travel to an 1 from over this route daily, and on Thursday evening, writes a cones poTident, one of them came to grief through his machine being overturned by a collection of large .stones which had been placed on the trucx. r rhis case is only one of several o p the. kind, and it is to bo hoped t'.'pi whoever is responsible will 1« caught andi effectually prevented from repeating such a despicable practice before a serious accident occurs. -West Toast Times.

•Several pitiful stories of wife desertion wore told to Mr Justice Edwards by applicants for divorce at the Auckland Supreme Court, a.nd when the list of cases ready was completed his Honour remarked that the men who desorted their wives were not sufficiently dea.it with by the legislation of the country. Tiliere was plenty of law to deal w.ith them, but they could* not get what was wanted. His Honour considered that one of the most criminal offences a- man could commit was to marry a woman, get a lot of children, and then leave the woman and children to shift for themselves.

The proposition is made in all seriousness by the Watchman, a Baptist paper of Boston, that we should have two Sundays in one week—one for rest, recreation and ; social joys, the other for Christian worship. As a matter of history, the pa-per says, this was the practice of the earlv Christians. To quote: "The earliest converts to Christianity wero Jews, and they continued after their acceptance of Jesus a.s the Messiah to observe the Jewish Sabbath on the seventh day of the After the resurrection, on the first day of the week, the Christians began to observe this as a day of Christia. 1 assembly to .worship their rise , ! Lord. So these early Jewish Christians had a day of rest and; a day of worship every week. We have stated before, and we repeat, that it is our conviction that th'x is the proper order for Christians. ,;

When motoring in the Murrabit district, near Kerang (Victoria) Mr W. Dunn and some companion* passed a full-grown tiger snake lying on the track. A dispute a-; to whether the snaJre was dead r not caused Mr Dunn to back th? car towards the reptile, which, as soon as the hind wheel touched it, proved to.be very much alive. Having a gun with him, Mr Dunn got out of the car. but the snako had disappeared. The other occupant; of the car spent a rather uncomfortable- few minutes wondering where the snake would next make its appearance. Presently the flywheel,. wh(ch was(- running slow'y, stopped. Quickly comprehending the causei, Mr Dunn,, pijlt on full speed ahead, and the .snake, which had crawled into the engine of the car through a small hole in the metal screen, was chopped itito mincemeat.

There has just arrived at Messrs Harvey and C'o.'s, cabinet-makers. Oxford- street, Levin, salvage goods from the Aotea, which went ashore in December off Cape Town. TIk 1 Aotea. was bringing a heavy cargo of goods from London, when sir. , went ashore. the- goods that wore saved have ju.<t been brought on by the Kia Ora, and landed at "Wellington. Every thing ordered by Mr Harvey has arrived at Levin safe and sound, not having been damaged in the slightest 'degree. The goods consist of several oases of various kinds of chairs. Soine of them are verandah oh airs, and 1 wot? ordered for summer u.so in Sew Zealand. A number of foldimg chains and deck chairs, of the latest design, are among the goods, while the base rockens will be found most useful as easy and lounge chairs. Next week the windows of the establishment should look exceedingly pretty, as Mr Harvey intends to make a special display, and the windows and sides are to be draped in 'blue silk.

The fishing at Unmswick Heads (New South "Wales) being particularly good this year, many of the residents of Mullumbimby visit there at . night. Last week three members of the local rowing club started with an outrigger just lafter dusk to pull to the Heads. "When about three miles down one of them felt something strike his paddle and then splash into the water again. Another sculler, who w.is lea-ding, .saw a .shark, which grabbed at his hand. Missing this, lie got between the boat and tho rowlocks, and the head came clear out of the water for another snap. The shark got so far out of the water that his shoulder fin got over the side of th; , boat, and there he stuck for a minute or two, filling up the box of the outrigger with water. The sculler kept his presence of mind and held the sculls flat on the top of the water, and thus averted a capsize.

Reciprocity with New Zeala.ncT in more than tariff matters has beem "in the air" for years, .and an-an-nouncement made a few days ago by the Department of External Affairs will he. hailed with relief by a section of the Commonwealth's population (says the Melbourne Argus). For years the Commonwealth has admitted without question or restriction any Maoris who desired to enter Australia, hut, until now. a reciprocal courtesy has not been extended to the admission of Australian Aborigines to New Zealand. Advocates of closer bonds of brother, hood between the dominions were keenly disappointed at the failure of the proposal of Mr Parker Moloney, M.H.TC., that a,reciprocal tariff with New Zealand should b»_ arranged with respect to light wines, Stewart Island: oysters, and smoked blue cod. Now that New Zealand has extended 'a cordial fraternal hand to "Advocate Billy" and "Tommy Tinplate," that 'rebuff in some degree has been atoned for. A truer appreciation of New Zen ■ landers and a warmer recognition of their kinship will be preached on their return to Australia, but. many of the Aborigines who will doubtless take advantage , of the opportunities for travel which are now open to them. Mr F. C. Remington undertakes Milk Testing, and all kinds of Dairy and Agricultural Analyses, such as analysis of soils, water, butter manures, etc. F. C. Remington, Oxford Levin.— A^rt.

The Methodist pulpit will be filled by Rev. A. D. Harris to-monw. The subject will be "Vision and. Practice." An offer nl £f)0 per acre, it is stated, was recently made for a small farm at Willowbridge and refused. ' An epidemic of influenza is passing over the district. Fortunately is "interesting to know that the last severe enough to be unpleasant to those who arc its victims. The Southland County Council hax decided to procure £50 wortli ot poisoned grain for use in the conntry. Councillors held widely divergent views as to efficacy (alleged!) of poisoned grain, hut were unanimous that something must he done to tackle the small-bird question. Asks a writer in the Auckland Star: '.'By killing rates are we getting rid of the greatest flea- carriers? Of all the most objectionable, disgusting, loathsome creatures. I consider the unregistered flea-covered, neglected mongrel dog the greatest. Our city is full of these creatures.' The Aberdeen engineer who was presented by the King recently with a medal for the bravest act of ii) 10, was interviewed by a London pressman, who wanted to hear the story of his heroism. "T eaima toll yo anything aboot it." said: the modest Scot. "It wis a' over afore T kenfc. The whole thing has fairly gi'en me the pip."

In a letter to the Greymouth press, ii Waiuta resident refers to the circaiJation of what he terms an unfounded rumour that he is a sy grog seller, and challenges anyoneto prove that allegation, promisinga donation of CSO to any benevolent fund if that is done.

The annual mooting of the f/evin Howling Green Coiiipniiy, Ltd.,wa.s held last evening at the offices of Messrs Smart and Thorne, Oxford street, Mr 1,1.I ,1 . G. Roe presiding. The balance-sheet was read and confirmed, and satisfaction was expressed •at the meeting at the improved state of affairs. Messrs W. S. Park. .1. Malcolm. I' , . G. Roe, J. G. Hankins, .). Ryder, D. Smart and G. P. Brown were elected directors. Mr I'ark was elected President.