Manawatu Herald. THURSDAY, JULY 28, 1898.

Manawatu Herald, 28 July 1898, Page 2

Manawatu Herald. THURSDAY, JULY 28, 1898.

The Canadian riflemen at Bisley secured the highest colonial aggregate. At a great Protestant demonstration held in London last month, Mr John Kensit said that in the course of a month he intended to bring about fourteen indictments against fourteen Bishops. i Mr Spurgeon's Tabernacle is to be rebuilt at an outlay of £40,000. It is intended to be precisely similar to that recently burnt down, dispensing however with the upper gallery. The new Tabernacle will, it is estimated, accommodate about 5,000 people. The feast of "Corpus Christi" a Roman festival, introduced by Pope Urban IV in 1264, was observed with great ceremony on Thursday, June 9th, in several Ritualistic churches in London and elsewhere. A Special Collect, Epistle and Gospel were authorised by the Bishop of London for use at St. Paul's Knightsbridge. The Collect was a translation of the Collect for Corpus Christie in the Roman Missal, and the Special Epistle and Gospel were from the Roman Missal. The service commences with the performance of Mass, followed by a procession. The consecrated bread or wafer is carried round the church by the officiating clergyman, over whose head a canopy is held, for the adoration of the people. The Post Office has again broken out in the stationery line, and this time they advertise cloth-covered envelopes for registered letters. They are very handy and, for the government the price is not extortionate. The time is soon approaching when every post office will be as well a general store, and the business of the merchants closed. Fancy what votes would be gained by the government that reduced the price of sugar just before an election— and raised it afterwards. We are going ahead. > As yet we are not aware of any replyhaving been received by the Mayor to the petition of the flaxmillers for a weekly quotation of the price of hemp on the London market. If anything was wanted to impress the importance of this being done, the last English cables would give the proof. The Agent-General's last cable we all know quoted hemp at £26 10s per ton, yet on Monday last we find it quoted by cable at £18 10s, surely this could have been anticipated. The climate at Lake Bennet is described by Mr W. Beaven, on the 25th of May, as " To-day, while I write, the heat is as intense as I have felt it in the sunny Isle of the South, and yet the surrounding hills and scrub-covered flats are resting peacefully under their canopy of snow, but places that were covered yesterday may be left bare today, for the long lasting rays of an Arctic summer sun soon tell their tale in the swollen streams and torrents of this mountainous country." The Lords of the Admiralty, in expressing thanks for the services rendered to the battleship Victorious when she grounded at the entrance of the Suez Canal by the s.s. Pectan, forwarded a cheque for £6000 to Messrs M. Samuel and Co. for distribution as follows : — £sooo for the owners, £500 for Captain Hocken, and £500 for the ship's company of the Pectan. The Rev. Mr Hammond, who has been round the Hokianga native settle* ments, reperts that the disaffected natives at Waima intend to submit on all points. This is understood to mean the payment of the dog taxes and submission to the law. Mr Hector Davidson has been making enquiries re starting another mill in Manakau, and we the Otaki " Mail " understand that it has been practically decided to establish a mill at the back of Mr T. Bevan, sen.'s residence. It is proposed to utilise the Manakau stream in propelling the machinery, theryby dispensing with an engine, which would, of course, be a great saving. Should this second mill be established, the flax will be brought from Muhunoa by means of the traction, which is capable of conveying 14 tons of green flax per day to the mill. In the event of the proposal being carried out — and we have every reason to believe that it will — additional employment will be found for some 14 or fifteen men. The flax industry should tend to materially increase the prosperity of Manakau. An English paper say, the best fly destroyer in the world is a common or garden wasp. An expert says that he has known one wasp to kill 1,000 flies in a day. We desire to add that that is all very well, but being acquainted with wasps, we would like to know the best destroyer for them. The " Post Magazine " and " Insurance Monitor " has had a visit from our commercial Ambassador and it says : — We understand, furthermore that Mr Holmes is finding time to acquire during his visit to this country all the information he can on Insurance subjects; more especiall as to any Fre, Accident or Marine Companies desirous of extending their operations to New Zealand. Mr Holmes is a real live man, a magazine of intelligence with a zeal according to knowledge — altogether a charming personality. We were much gratified with our interview wtth him.

Mr John Holmes always, most wisely, lets the world know where he is. He was interviewed by a representative or the Liverpool Daily Post on the 3rd of May and he thus spoke on the hemp trade:— ln view of the fact that the Manila fibre, which is the strongest c jmpetitor with the New Zealand fibre lias already advanced in price, Mr Holmes believes that ropemakers \in tiis city and in provinciul districts would do well to turn their attention to New Zealand hemp, which is admitted t > be suitable for all classes of cordage manufacture. He predicts that there will be a great extension in this class of trade, and states that America some years ago bought their largest quantity of fibre. A select committee recently appointed at the instance of the Hon. St. John Brodrick, Parliamentary Secretary for War, to enquire into the condition of the War Office, has presented its report. It recommends drastic decentralisation in the department. The New Plymouth Petroleum Company, after spending about £14,000 and boring about 7000 ft in five bores, have suspended operations, The weather throughout Queensland is the coldest for years. An unprecedented snowfall took place at Toowoomba.