Socotra.

Manawatu Herald, 26 November 1898, Page 2

Socotra.

— ♦ The above named island the cable news tells U3 has been leased to the United States as a coaling station. The importance to the latter country is great as it ia an island in the Indian ocean, and is 150 from Cape Guirdafui, the most eastern point of the African continent, and 220 miles from the southern coast of Arabia. It is 70 miles long and 20 miles broad, and has a population of 10,---000. Thp interior embraces numerous barren plateus, with several well wooded mountains, rising to 4,500 feet ; there are fertile valleys between tha ranges and belt 3of rich soil along the coasts. The climate is moist and warm, bat healthy. Aloe? and dragon's blood, are the chief products. Dragon's blood is the name of several resin 3of dark-red co'our. r lbe dragon's blood of commerce is the exudation upon the fruit of the Calamus Draco, one of the ratan palms of the Malay Archipelago The diagon's blood of the Socotra island has been known firm a very early date, but is bow but little sought, the best coming now fmn tho Canary Inland?. Afiei* being occupied by B.irain in 1885-89 it was taken under British protection in 1876, and formally annexed in 1886. To? chief town is Taniarida on tho north coast.

In our last issue we gave a description of the Bank of New Zealand new notes, t ;ken from the " Post." We have jnf t seen one and notice that an important wording of the note has been overlool cl. All bank notes profe ? to pay i.i specie the amount of the note at any branch, but for some reason t .3 new notes are worded " We promise- to pay the Bearer here, on demand, &c." The word "here" referring to the date and place mentioned, viz., Wellington. This is an important departure. Altera ions in the time-table for the railway i s notified to-day. The through trains from Wellington to New Plymouth will run on four days of the week. On Mondays the morning train from Foxton will leave at 8 o'clock. To-day Mr Charles Baker brought a few potatoes of the Beauty of Hebron variety which are the finest we have yet seen this season. They run about five inches long and a circumference of eight and a half inches. He has disposed of the crop at ten shillings per hundredweight. They were planted in August and were grown at the Pines. On Sunday evening the Good Templars will attend the Primitive Methodist Church in regalia, the occasion being the annual Good Templar Mission week. The Rev. W. Woollass will preach a special temperance sermon. All accounts against the schooner Whangaroa must be presented in duplicate to the master and signed before the vessel's sailing. The Whangaroa will leave to-morrow for Lyttelton. Cr Venn has been elected chairman of the Horowhenua County Council. Messrs John Holmes & Co. advise us that the latest advices as to the price of hemp in London is somewhat contradictory as regards value, bat the current price is about £z$ c.i.F. London for medium quality. Admiral Canevaro, who commanded the combined fleets at Crete, has been invested with the Grand Cordon of the Legion of Honour. During the past quarter measles have been responsible for 2400 deaths in Sydney., The British-Chinese Railway Syndicate has obtained a concession to construct the Canton-Ching-Tu railway, bisecting the projected Yunnan railway. The Sultan has appealed to the Powers to prevent the French from encroaching on Marrakesh — the native name for the city of Morocco — capital of the southern portion of the Sultanate. We would call the attention of our readers to the sale of work advertised in another column to be held in the Methodist Hall next Wednesday. There is to be a great variety of attraction and a lot of useful articles to be sold cheap. The New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Company, Limited, has received the following- cable from its London house :— New Zealand hemp — Market is inactive. In sympathy with the decline of Manila hemp New Zealand has also declined. Medium is worth £19 per ton, c.i.f. It is reported that England will be a capital market for apples during the winter and spring, for the home crop is a very poor one. Apples are not only fewer than usual but much smaller, and in some places where the fruit trees have suffered severely from drought the fruit is not more than half its proper size. Apparently America and Canada both have short crops, so that if New Zealand, Australia and Tasmania can spare a good supply it will be thoroughly welcome in that -country. The Premier on Wednesday visited the Manawatu Gorge bridge site, in company with the Mayor of Palmerston and others interested, and, after hearing the views of the local bodies present, expressed the opinion that, as the different bodies concerned did not agree, he was much inclined to bring the Public Works Act into force and erect the bridge at its old site, to set up a Commission and allocate the cost among the different Road Boards interested, and to stop same out of their respective subsidies. It seems now that there is a chance of the important public work being taken in hand.—" Times." A man named Robert Anderson wa fined at the Court this morning five shillings or 24 hours imprisonment, for being drunk in the public streets last night. The Manawatu Times understands that the vacant living of Foxton has been offered by the Bishop of Wellington to the Rev. Hugh Stanley Leach, who for the past four years has been assistant curate of St. Matthew's, Dunedin, and that it has been accepted by him. Mr Leech was educated at Selwyn Theological College, Dunedin. A reliable boy is wanted at the Foxton Bakery. For some time past traffic at the Palmerston railway station, both goods and passenger, has increased to a very great extent, and as a result, it has been found necessary to increase the local staff of porters. Rolling stock is also being gradually increased, but the demand is so great that it, at times becomes an impossibility to satisfy all requests. The timber trade appears to be particularly brisk, almost every train from the bush districts bringing down large supplies of assorted timber for local use, and also for other destinations. — " Times."