Manawatu Herald. FRIDAY, MAY 3, 1889. THAT ASSOCIATION.

Manawatu Herald, Volume VII, Issue 264, 3 May 1889, Page 2

Manawatu Herald. FRIDAY, MAY 3, 1889. THAT ASSOCIATION.

It is moat unfortunate that at the ' return of the flax trade a fire should have broken out on board a vessel, a portion of whose cargo should happen to be flax. The exposes incurred by the steamer, through detention, and from damage by fire and water, will be great, and the loss to \ the Insurance Companies on the risks they held on the cargo damaged, will be even greater, and therefore every . I effort will b • made to make someone • answerable. As desirous as the one side will be to find the origin of the fire, so will th'» persons answerable, '• be as an ious to screen their carelessness, and therefore the real reason . will probably never be ascertained, i Unless the matter should by good fortune be determined, there is very t little doubt but that the hemp mi Hers will be called upon to pay, if not di--1 rectly yet indirectly, by increased insurance and freight charges. Nothing will help to show the need of a 3 hemp millers association so much, as the lack of action on the part of the mi.lers in the district, from whioh most of th« cargo now damaged was obtained, to secure a proper exami- • nation into the origin of the fire on i board the steamer Mariposa. The reports, no doubt) have stated that spontaneons combustion was unlikely, as the bales were charred outside, but were uninjured inside, and that the flax in the after hold was all right. "It will, however, be urged by Insurance Companies, that if the fire was not caused by spontaneous ' combustion this time, yet there is 1 always a danger, that some of the bales; shipped on board this steamer ' had been damped, and were not in > such good order as they should have been. The industry is of such large dimensions that the millers require i a supervision over all shipments made, and though in Wel.iugton the bales are tested as to heat on receipt from this district and again on being shipped from there, yet in the transhipment at Auckland, this was not done, is lax or hemp as not near such a dangerous cargo as wool, as was shown by Mr Rutherford the? other day, when he instanced the fact that the wool and flax, when recovered , from the Hero that sank, the wool burst into flames, and the flax was only hot and charred. We should much like to see a real effort made to establish this association, and to see it at work, as we have not the ! slightest doubt of its being a means j of effecting very large savings to the millers, in ways that at present may not be thought of by them.

f I The Belgium railway offloials assert that . Boulanger's luggage on hit flight from j Paris included several boxes of gold coin, 1 silver plate, and jewellery. In another column a notice will be seen 1 that fresh killed game is enquired after. Fortunate sportsmen should interview Mr James Lidaell. . Mr J. O. Wilson M.H.B. is going to address his constituents at Otaki direotly, and then proceeda-to town with a deputation from Palmeraton, to interview the Government with regard to the financial position of the Manawatu Boad Board. The altered advertisement of Messrs Baoon and Speirs appears on the first page. . This firm are reoeiving a very large prof portion of the trade, having been kept as busy as possible since they started. They are fitting up the shop for Mr Leary. Mr Wilson will soon call here, and let > the electors know what position he intends to take in the House this session. Whilst i he is in' Wellington he will endeavour to secure there being ft proper survey made at the heads, and also to get the appointment of an extra man for the pilot's help. Our readers, one and all, will sympathise ' with Drand Mrs Davenport in the loss they have sustained by the denth of their only child, at Hastings on the 29th ultimo. A novelty will be witnessed in this town on the arrival of, a musical auctioneer. Those we have been accustomed too, could < -hardly be so designated. ' Mr Barnett, manager of the Opikiti station at Kereru, gives notiot that trespassers;

One up, another dWri, is ts UeA 61 fljjr play. At times it however occurs a difficult matter to keep a fellow down, and our new draper just appears one of that sort. Desiring to tlo business iri this town he took Aberdeen House intending to carry on a comfortable bn-iness, but from not having a fixed agreepient, he found himself tinder notice to quit. To leave the premises he oould not avoid, but he determined not to leave £?,a town, if possible. Mr Hamilton therefore fan do^a yesterday, and finding the Bhuttei'fe tip .and goods packecT lost no time in finding other quarters. In a quurfcr less tlian no time he had interviewed Mr Thynhe "and had come to terms ior the occupation of the ground floor adjoining Mr Leary's new shop, anil then and there secured tf'.e services of Messrs Bacon and Speirs to make the necessary fittings. It was a most triumphal march -throng? • difficulties and shows that Foxton has gained one more inhabitant who will assint in pushing the place ahead. The store will be open in a few days, to allow oi" foe first of the alterations to bo made, but before the carpenters are out, Mr Hamilton will be in, with replenished stock, and with the determination to make his opening, in. premises in whioii he means to remain, remeinberod by the prices he will let his goods change hands at. Over the leader he gives a word of warning to purchasers. Tomorrow, Bore Bangiheuea ani his tribe invite the attendance of the Europeans who have business with the hemp mills on the Himatangi run, to meet at Motuiti. to discuss matters. In the eveat of no meeting the Natives give notice of their intention not to allow anyone to pass through their 1000 acre block. ' — !. :••:• The partnership hitherto existing between Mary Seabury and Thomas Lind* as Flaxdressers, has been dissolved by mutual consent. Mr Lind will continue the business on his own account. We learn that the County Counoil ha sold some of the oldest rails that were purchased for the tramway, and 'obtained £3 6s a ton for some 20 tons. This is rather interesting, when their depreciation of their property before the Auditor General is remembered. The man named Jackson, who was sentenced r,t the Supreme Court to three years' hard labour a few days ago, escaped from Wanganui gaol on Tuesday af ceraoon. He was at york on the sane! hills with the gang, when, taking advantage of ilie warder having his jack turned, he jumped over the fe-.ice p,,ul ran to.vartl :he rivov, The warilev ia charge fired his revolver at him, bi.imisie* 1 . Jis aim, The man then went dovii iio tb.e side oi t'i?.e river an.', taking his bobi-s at 1 , oocko o: ! swoi't across to the Maori settlement m Putiki. The police wevo immediately on Ms track, and succeeded Li re-arre3ting him about two hours afte:* his escape. Great credit is due to Hie police for their promytituda, and no bla-ue 's attached to ifte prison authorities, as atuomyi; "jjiLc prisoner was very ilaring. O:t Tuesday .-lorning Burglars entered the I eliding Post Office and carried away the oOfe in a harul carl; whioh was stolen from Light's Deubeigh- Hotel. The safe was burst open with a sledge hammer, orow'ur, add cold chisel. After securing the cajh, the yagers, stamps, &c, were burnt. The total estimated loss is £210 oi whic . £26 was in monej. The railway station was also entered by pioking the lock o! the porter's room. The police being away at tho Huju-ewe Coort, Wanganui, the peipaJrators of the robbery have a good start. !'' Some short time ago a cutting went the round of the papers about two horsey men who were rather distant with each other, when one enquire' l , wha* the other treated his horse for the bots, and being told went home and tried it, when the aggrieved party enquired why he hatt said he had treated his horse ri that manner, as it had killed his horse ?so it did mine ! was the reply — you did not enquire., the effect. An instance of retieense in making enquiries has happened up the coast- very similar to the above. At a sale, recently two bulls were in the yard and it way publicly noticed what splendid coats they had. A breeder of bulls approached the owner and enquired how he managed it. I washed them with sheep dip, was the answer, and without further remark, off the questioner started home, and washed bis beasts with Cooper's dip. The result was not up to anticipations, as they both died. On meeting the first breeder the second wanted to know why he recommended dip. What dip did you use ? was the enquiry, why Cooper's to be sure and it killed mine. Very likely replied the other I used Jay's. The moral seems to be, that you should obtain all the information instead of practising on vague hints. t ; At the annual meeting of the Bank of New Zealand the report of the directors was as follows :— The result of the half year's operations is as follow*:— Net profit for half year ended 30th March, 1889, after ap* propriations for bad and doubtful debts, £43,360 Is lid ; to whioh has to l>e added premium on new shares alloted above par, less charges and costs, £11,121, and balance from half year ended 29th September, 1888, £33,968 10s 8d ; making the total available £88,449 12s 7d, which it is proposed to appropriate a» followu :— To payment ; of dividend of 7 per cent per annum, £33,063 ; balance carried forward, £56,386 124 7(2. Ti will oe good news to people who have any oi that most unsaleable commodity fat cattle says the Advocate to learn that Mr James Bull has received the sale returns on account of 100 bullocks sent Home by him, and has netted £7 12s 6d per heat) upon them. The same cattle sold iv the colony it is said, would scarcely bring five guineas. In the present morbidly depressed condition of the cattle market, there is praotioal patriotism, as well as pecuniary profit in shipping the surplus fat stock Home, and ■o tending to. make it worth something here by relieving the congested market. We have heard of one gentleman who has ceased breeding, but to send the surplus Home is better than that. Wo were shown by Mr Henderson, sen., of Eenepnra (says a Blenheim paper), a skeleton of a parroquet that is supposed to have falleu into a nest of bees, and consequently stung to death by those insects or smoothered in the honey. There is not the slightest vestige of a feather on the body of the bird, and the skin is as hard as parchment. The skeleton was maiuly recognised as a parroquet by its beak. It is undoubtedly a rarity, and Mr Henderson intends to present it for exhibition in one of the museums throughout the colony. The Germans are constructing a huge floating exhibition palace r.t a cost of £250,000, in whioh to give ooular demonstration o2 the superiority oi German manufactures to the sceptical amongst the distant nations of the earth. Tho vessel will be called the Kaiser Wilhelm, and will be 564 ft long, 66ft wide, and 46it deep. She will be, it is said, the most magnificently fitted ship afloat. The exhibition will >c made to yield a profit of £100,000 annually from the income derived from rented space, and from the sales of goods. It is expected that the ship will sail from Hamburg in the spring of 1890, bother first destination is n«t kaowat

A scratch match will take place toitiortow afternoon on the racecourse between menitters 01 the Foxton Football Club. A good attendant is 1 tieoeSSßlry; to get into form for the Onp match. We are informed that Miss Kilgour is now recovering from her sickness, The Napier News supplies the following : — A divorce case comes on at Wanganui in a day or so. Two young men named Hickford recently eloped with Mrs j. Mudford, oMlangitikel, and her husband is now playing. for a dissolution of partnership witn iier. He has subpoenaed Arthur Hickford, one of the young men, as his witness. Messrs Baker & Co. aB is now well known have purchased Loohnager to take the place of Somnus in this district for the next season. Lochnagar has for several years won good races on the other side, his last race being that he run on New Year's day at Motueka when he took the Hurdles, carrying list 21bs. He on the same day wop the Motueka Gup, carrying the top weight 9st. He is a big upstanding brown horse, by The Painter, out of Mayfly, by - Diomedes (imp) out of May Queen by Towton, (Imp,) brother of the Peer, out of Hweep by air Hercules. He is at present at Feildwg, but will be standing in this district during the season. Mr Maskwell in replying to the vote of thanks on his retiring from the presidency of the Wellington Philosophical Society took the opportunity of referring to the visit to this colony of Mr Albert Koebele, the German naturalist, who has bean despatched to the colonies by the American Government to investigate the presence of i a parasite which feeds on Icerya (the Wattle Blight). He felt convinced that this visit was of great importance to the Colonies, and it certainly was one of vital importance to the United States, where the. ravages .• of the Icerya were enormous. Some years ago* the bhght was very prevalent in the Auckland, Napier, and Nelson districts, but it had never appeared in Wellington. In latter years, however, the natural enemies of this destructive blight had so rapidly increased as to render the pest now practically a thing of the pa? t. He (the speaker) had been the tirst, about twelve years ago, to scientifically describe the pest. About six years ago, in a large valley, the Grafton Road in Auckland, it could be found by millions on every tree, shrub, and even gorse-bush ; but lately Mr Koebele had tried to get specimens in this valley, and was unable to get even half-a-dozen. This was in suiue respects also the case with the Napier district, and this fact might be hailed with joy by growers of fruit. The blight was still prevalent in Nelson ; but it was hoped that arrangements could be made to have some of the ladybirds — the insects which had taken to eating the Icerya — caught in Napier, and forwarded to Nelson in order to stop the ravages, of the blight in that quarter. He was aorry that the German naturalist ha had mentioned could not be present at the meeting, but he had to leave Wellington yesterday for Napier, where he intended catching some hundreds or thousands of the ladybirds and their larvae for transportation to America, and be in time for the American steamer leaving Auckland shortly. The facts which this gentleman had ascertained on the subject were exceedingly useful to the Colonies and America; and as the blight is gradually being got down, the fruit-growers may hojja in a very short time to be able to grow their fruit free from this iseatruotive inswt.