The Marlborough Express. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. Tuesday January 2, 1900. LOCAL GENERAL NEWS.

Marlborough Express, Volume XXXIV, Issue 1, 2 January 1900, Page 2

The Marlborough Express. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. Tuesday January 2, 1900. LOCAL GENERAL NEWS.

«. Prohibition Obdbr.— On Saturday, a prohibition order to be m firoa for twelve months throughout the Wairau licensing district , was granted against a country resident. Metboboloqioal.— Oapt Edwin wires SB follows:— "Strong westerly winds; gIaES rise, bat fall again after 12 hoars from now ; tides good." Vital Statiftich. — During last month 14 births and 4 deaths were registered id the dißtriet of Wairau, and 6 marriages were duly solemnised, one of them by the Registrar. Rehandbd, — Yesterday a man named George Beland waß charged at the Polioe Oourt with having been d unk the previous day, and was remanded to Pioton for eight days for medtoal treatment. Rklibf Fond —During the playiDgof the Hibernian Baud on Saturday evening m Market Place a oolleoiion was tßken up m aid of the Transvaal war relief fund, Meesre S. Silvias and E. Junes aoting as oolteotora. The sum of £5 14s 6d was realised by the collection. Eabthquakbb.— There were between thirty and forty earthquakes recorded m the oolony during the past year. None of then), however, were of a serious nature, the moßt noticeable being a number of snooks of the voloanio order at Taupo. At 7 be Sba. Bidb. — A number of visitors are m Pioton for ihe New Year holidays. Am ng them are several Blenheim residents, who are eDJoying the pleasant breezea and the boating at the sea side, and generally having a good time. Faotobxeb Adt.— The looal Inep°otor of Faotorieß reminds owners of factories and workrooms that feaa for the present year are now dua and payable at bis office at the Polioe station. Rainfall.— The following statistics of two years' rain rail have been kindly supplied by Mr N. T. Priohird, of Grovetown : —The rainfall for 1899 was 23 80 inches, that for the previous year being 2704 inches. The rainfall for the latter six montbß of the year was muoh below the average, being only 7.61 inohes. Prjßiiio Meeting. — Preparations for the publio meeting be held to-morrow night m Ewart's Hall m connection with the Transvaal War Belief Fund are moving along. Members of the looal bodies, and the Borough Council, the olergy, teachers of the moday sohools, ladies, apd ptbers will take part m it, and the Garrison Band will attend to play patriotic eeleotions. Riteb "hipping — Mr Hawley, Collector of Customs, Bupplies us with a return of the river shipping for last year and the two previous yeard (or the porpose of oomparieoD. In 1 C 99 272 steamers of 13,591 tons, and with a prew of 2 179 men, pntered the river. The fiu'es for 1898 are 247 steamers of 12,139 tone, and orews of 1,964 men ; and (or 1897 212 steamers of 11,172 tons, and orews of 1770 men. Biveb Boabd. — Nominations for members of ihe Lower Wai au River Board dosed to-day at noon. The Board consists of five mimbers and nine nomin«tioDß were reoeived. Then persons nominated are — A. Avery, F. Adimj, W. Carr, L. Homes, P. Meehan, A. McKay, T. Neville, J. H. Scott aud G. Patoheit. Qoail —The Virginia quail wbioh oame to ihe colony by the last Ban Franoi-co steamer, are not tabiog kindly to the New Zealnnd climate. The number of birds sent from America was 7§6, but only 432 survived the voyage Qf this latter' number 846 were sent down to Wellington, but no fewer than 164 have since died, and it is feared that many oihera will not liva. A BsoKiißas Pboobkdino.— While a man m the Goro dietriot was on his way to work the other day, oarrying with him a bag of blastiug powder^ he Btopped to light his pipe, and by some means a piegeof burning tobaooo fell on the bag, and oommonioated with the powder, whiob, of oourse, immediately took fire. Hope noticing smoke rising from the bag promptly thr^w it from him, and although his aotion saved him more serious injury, he did not esospe altogether unscatohed, for the baok of his hands and side ri his faoe were badly burned, and his hair and eyebrows singed. Enli3tmbnt. — The Marlhoroug 1 ! Mounted Rifljs are sending forward to the Wellington training camp four more volunteers for South Africa— Troopers Crafar, Onngdon, Smi'h (Kekorangu), au<l another. Troopers Sennington, li. Home, and J. Clarke, who went over on Boxing Day, did not meet all the whioh are extremely Btriopent; and they returned. A communication has been received from the Defence Department saying that Lieut. Simeon js ineligible bb an rffijer, as Bervioe m a oidet corps does not qualify ; but he is leaving for Wellington to interview the authorities Pioton Regatta. — The elements were partioularly favorable yesterday for the annual Nev Year's Day Regatta. A tplendid day with just enough breege to temper the heat and allow of the sailing reoea being got off m good time, and yet not enough to sa^ke the water too rough to interfere wj h the rowing evfntp, left nothing to be desired. The various regatta officials were assiduous m their efforts to oarry cut their duties promptly and e ijeotively, and they Euooeeded admirably. The greasy pole oonteet as usual oaused a g^od deal of ft rnusf merit. The Hinemoa, gaily decorated with bunting, served for the occasion as flagship. Following »re the results of the rowing even's: MBiden Pours—Stars 1, Wellington 2, Pioton 3 ; a Blenheim 370^7 aleo started ; Juuior Siiulls — Perano, Pioton, had a rowover ; Junior Fours— Nelson 1, Wellington 2 ; the only starters ; Senior Fours— Wei* lington 1 and 2 ; the only starters,

Qo TOM 3 Duties.— The amount oolleote.l last month. by way cf customs duties wa< t'3o 3< lid at the port of Pioton and £542 3a at the port of Wairau. The amoum collected at the latter port during December 1898 was £634 15i 9d and £681 14a 8 duriDg December 1897. The total customdnties oolleoted during 1899 were £6200, vhioh is a substantial inoreaneon the totals of any previous year. In 1898 the duties amounted to £5089 and to 18j7 to £4377. The beer duty paid last month was of the respectable total of £121 9d 3d. Music m Camp.— There was great rejoicings m camp last week wheo a piano arrived from the Dresden PiaDO Company for the use of the men during the enoampment. Proceedings bad teen somewhat slow o' nights owing to the laok cf musio, and when the instrument arrived the men " lined up" and received it with rounds of cheers. Major Cradook albo thanked the OresdeD Company, both on his own and the men's behalf for the thoughtfullnesß shown. It will be remembered that the Dresden Company also plao d a piano on board the Waiwern for the use of the members of the firet Contingent during the voyage to the Gape. The Patriotic Fond. — At the Addingion Market on Wednesday (says the Lyttelton Timet) Mr O. P. Williams place' m the hands of Mesßra B. Matson and Co. a Jersey cow to cc 1 on behalf of the Patriotio Fund. Mr David Matson aoted as salesman, and the first bid of £3 oame from Mr J. McD )well of Bangiora. It was then arranged that the sale should continue m 5s Bharns, an! thit eaoh share should entitle the b dd^r to draw m a ballot for. the animal, whioh should be held after the auction. The prias w<»b taken alon« by 53 bids until £17 10a was reached, when Mr J Knight lifted it n one bid to £20. This was followed by Beveral £1 and 10s bidp, and finally bidding closed at £31 18). The 128 ohanoes were then put m a hat, and Mr E, D. O'Rorke drew the luoky number, and beoama the possessor of the oow, whioh be intends to have re-sold for the fund. Death t cr an old C lonist. — Another old a< d respected settler has just passed away (Bays the Motueka correspondent of the Nelson Colonist) m the person of Mr John Noden. Born at Wbitpgite, Cheshire, England, m February, 1816, Mr Noden was married July 31 t, 1840, at B*th Abbey,' and with his wife left England m the ship Priooe of Wales m 1842, and landed m Nelson Deoember 23th of the same year. He first resided m Neleon, and waß one of the party attaoked m the Wairau massacre m 1843. He left Nelson for Motuaka eighteen months after his arrival, and resided there ever since. On the 20th inst. he was seized with a paralytio stroke, and suooumbed to the attaok on the night of the 24th, at the ripe old age of nearly eightyfour years. De p sympathy is felt for Mrs Noden m her bereavement. Thk Usbs o? Vomjntbib3.— The United Bervioe Gase'te oontains the following eminently sensible remarks on the uses »f the Voluntees:— "No one who knows the Volunteers oan fail to note the very considerable percentage of offiaers and m«n who oan fiai time and money to perfeot themselves m all Borts of military soienoe. These members are the very class to enrol m the first line with a liability to serve abroad with, or attached to. the regular foroes on occasions of a severe drain on our resources. Obviously we do not propose to ory "wolf" on every oooasion of a petty skirmish, and if onoe m 10 or 20 years a fine and piokei force of volunteers found occasion for putting m serviae abroad, we oan have no donbt that the reality of their servioe and the value of these forces wonld be unquestionably proved. We have oonV piatenily im^eie flittery-of the Volunteer foroe m this journal, but unquestionably it is both a breaah of good taste and a fatal error to attempt by sarcasm, collective or otherwise, to disperse a foroe whiob it wnuld require a fresh soars of invasion to again plaoe on a war footing We have done a great deal tor the Volunteers m the pact, and it is now the turn of tha force to evolve a raison d'Stre adapted to the needs of the »ge and more m kteoing with the cflansive i6'e involved m the defenoe of I this Empire "