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Manawatu Herald, 27 September 1898, Page 2

Mr George Coley's ploughing teams have been kept fully employed, and lately a big block on the Wirikino run has been finished. Lieutenant-Colonel Gudgeon arrived at Raratonga on the 12th, and was installed in front of the palace.

The sudden drowning of a good swimmer is not due to cramp, says a high medical authority. The explanation is that the drum of the ear is perforated, and the pressure of water causes vertigo and unconsciousness. . It w 11 soon be time to sow tomaioes. When planting out we advise our readers to try the plan of growing the plants with a single stem. Doctors In Sweden never send bills to their patients, the amount of remuneration being left to the generosity of the latter. Wh lies from 300 to 400 years old are sometimes met with. The age is ascertained by the size and number of layers of the whalebone, which increases yearly. Cottages by the sea will soon be numerous, as we understand Mr Hamer purposes erecting one at the Sanatorium. The humming of telegraph wires is a phenomenon which has not been satisfactorily explained. It is not caused by wind, for it is heard dnring calms. It has been conjectured that changes of temperature, which tighten or loosen the wires^produce the sound. In the cocoanut palms of the Philippines Islands pearls are occasionally tound. Like those of the ocean, they are composed of carbonate of lime. Thejbamboo also yields another precious product, in the shape of true opals, which are found in its joints. The week before last our local market-gardener, Joe Tos, sent away 140 sacks of brocoli, and last week 126 sacks. He has been particularly fortunate this season, the plants having grand heads. A witty doctor, who was one of a corps of physicians appointed to vaccinate policemen, remarked — ''What is the use of vaccinating these fellows ? They never catch anything." All the military authorities are now paying great attention to singing on the march. The French army has of late permitted its soldiers to thus amuse themselves. Lord Wolseley is of opinion that men march better and arrive fresher when they sing than when they don't. We -doubt very much if the contractors for clearing the timber and rushes oft" the Motoa estate will get their work done up to time, as there seems yet much to do, and not very long to do it in. The Children's Protection Bill, now before South Australian Parliament, is of a most drastic character. It provides that children under 13 years of age found in the streets after certain hours will be arrested; any person showing an indecent publication to a child under 18 years to be imprisoned for six months and to be fined £50 ; the same penalty attaches to anyone allowing a boy or girl under 18 to sing act or beg in public ; anyone selling or giving tobacco or cigarettes to a child under is to be fined / 10. The Bill raises the age of consent to 17 years. "I look upon alcohol as being a poison—like morphia and other drugs — and when once it has got into the system the blood is poisoned and it cannot be got out, or the effects overcome, for a very considerable time," said Dr Collins in the Magistrate's Court yesterday. The Doctor added that alcohol absolutely perverted the whole moral tone of a human being — chronic alcoholism certainly did affect a man's morals. — Post. A fashionable marriage took place at Wanganui last Thursday, when Mr J. R. Foster was married to Miss Florence Gertrude Parsons, eldest daughter of Mr A. J. Parson's of " St. John's Hill," Wanganui. We find that the lettuces we mentioned the other day were grown by Mr Tames Ingram. He deserves great credit for the capital hearts he secured with them so early in the season. An unusual incident occurred on a recent Sunday in a Dissenting place of worship in the East End of London. During the temporary absence on vacation of the regular minister, the special preacher who had been engaged called upon a member of the congregation to offer up a prayer. The gentleman asked complied with the request, and after he had been engaged in the sacred exercise for nearly a quarter of an hour, began to invoke the Heavenly blessing on the Queen the Prince and Princess of Wales, the Duke and Duchess of York, and was then going on to mention by name other members of the Royal Family, when his attention was diverted by the interposition of a gruff voice, emanating from a pew in one of the side aisles, "Pile 'em all together." The result was that the prayer was j hastily brought to a conclusion. Fat sheep are in very short supply and the Wellington shops have a great difficulty in getting mutton. A correspondeiit obligingly forwards me, says "Oriel" in the "Argus, a clipping from a country newspaper, which supplies a new model of exactitude in obituary notices. It runs as follows :— " Death. — Smit. —On the 28th inst., Amy Jane Mary Smit, eldest daughter of John and William Smit. aged 1 day a\ hours. The bereaved and heart-broken parents beg to tender their hearty thanks to Dr Jones for his unremitting attention during the illness of the deceased, and for the moderate brevity of his bill. Also to Mrs Williams for the loan of clean sheets, to Mr Wilson for running for the doctor, and to Mr Robinson for recommending mustard plaster." The new seed drill imported by Joe Tos, has been tried at his garden in pea sowing, and has given him every satisfaction. We are informed that one settler in the Carnarvon district cleared nine pounds an acre off bis turnips, by buybig store sheep and fattening them. This should pay. His Excellency Lord Ranfurly has notified his intention of being present at the Manawatu Show on the second day. The Messrs Robinson will shortly break up about zoo acres on their run, being part of the big swamp near Motuiti. They are also ploughing land previously broken up.

A sensational occurrence is reported from Makotuka. When Thursday's express from Wellington rounded the curve from the last cutting prior to entering the station, on the crossing ahead the driver noticed a man lying across the track. Alongside the track three other men were tumbling about in a maudlin fashioi., plainly indicative of drunkenness. There was at this time about 20 yards separating the group from the engine, and the feelings of the driver and fireman can be better imagined than described. Before them seemed the prospect of certain death to the man across the metals. The combined efforts of his drunken pals succeeded in clearing the line, but the distance by which the engine grazed the unfortunate man is not worth speaking about. Information has been given to the Railway Department officials by those in charge of the train and more may be expected to be heard of the afiair. It is certainly one of the narrowest escapes, from a sensational accident that this neighbourhood has had. At the last meeting of the Licensing Committee leave was granted to Thomas Sidey, of the Levin Hotel, for four months temporary transfer to his wife, Annie Elizabeth Sidey, during his absence in the South Sea Islands. Mr Cohen appeared for the applicants. Golf has become quite a "rage" with the natives in the Hastings district. The dusky ones are at it almost from daylight to dark every day in the week, including Sundays. It is reported that Krupp, the German manufacturer of cannon, has completed a number of paper field pieces for the use of the German infantry. The calibre of these guns is 5 centimeters, or a little less than 2in, and the pieces are so light that a soldier can easily carry one ; but the resistance is greater than that of the field piece of steel of the same calibre. It is not expected that these paper guns will replace those of steel. They are intended for use in situations where the movement of field artillery would be impracticable. Cropping is going apace in the Car* narvon and Sandon districts. We learn that there will probably be a large area put down in turnips this season. The match 'of the future is to be made of paper, it is said, instead of wood. Bismarck was one day in a company where, among other things, the subject of how much it cost to gain experience in life cropped up. He kept silent for a time, but presently joined in the conversation, and said: "Fools pretend you can only gain experience at your own expense, but I have always managed to learn at the expense of others." Potatoes are quoted in Christchurch — Derwents, £5 at country stations. In Wellington they are quoted at £6 per ton. Two further attempts to wreck trains have been made in England, but have been frustrated. Mr G. N. Curzon, Governor-General of India, has been created an Irish peer. The German Emperor at the opening of Stettin Harbour, where large additions and improvements have been made, remarked that Germany's future lies on the water. The last nail, so the police state, has been put in the coffin of the socalled confession by Thomas Petersen at Invercargill, which purported to clear up the Blenheim- Satherley mystery. It was known to the police that the person Petersen sought to implicate was in the vicinity of Auckland at the time of Satherley's disappearance, but whether in custody awaiting trial, or bail, or not yet arrested could not immediately be ascertained. Enquiries which had been made show that the; man was in and around Auckland at the time, and was under constant and strict surveillance by the police, who arrested him in August of last year, so that he could not possibly have been near Blenheim. Petersen has admitted that he himself was in gaol at the time. So far, he has not attempted to give any explanation of his reason for making his extraordinary statement. — Post. Encourage local industries. This is the usual platform cry of the Liberal Party, and this is how the Premier, the head of that party gives effect to it, in his position as director of the Assets Realisation Board. The Board believing they have a monopoly of flax in this district have raised the tithes for green flax last month to nineteen shillings a ton on the dressed fibre. This is what comes from having any faith in the cry of the love the Government have for the poor working 1 man. In another column appears the copy of a requisition addressed to Thos. j Westwood, Esq., asking him to allow himself to be nominated to the Mayoralty, and his reply thereto. The new advertisement of Mr Loveday on the front page should be read as it draws attention to the shipments of Spring and Summer goods now being shown.