Manawatu Herald. SATURDAY, JAN. 28, 1899.

Manawatu Herald, 28 January 1899, Page 2

Manawatu Herald. SATURDAY, JAN. 28, 1899.

Colonel Pole-Penton has been reappointed Commander of the New Zealand forces. The marriage of Baron Cederstrom and Madame Patti was celebrated on Monday, in London. This makes her third husband. At Paris a story is current that Victor Napoleon aspires to be Emperor. Victor is at Brussels, where he is in daily consultation with his adherents. Nearly everybody smokes in Manilla. It is a common sight, after sundown, to see a father out for a stroll with his wife and children, and every one of them over the age of five years smoking a cigarette. Among the applications for old age \ pensions dealt with by Mr A. Turn- < bull, S.M., were two from persons against whom prohibition orders have recently been in force. They were promptly rejected, his Worship holding that such persons could' not be said to have led '• sober and reputable lives " for the past five years, as required by the provisions of the Act. Here is the latest French compliment to England. It appeared in a I Paris paper recently : — " We do not hate the English because they bother us about Fashoda. Fashoda isn't I worth a single torpedo. We do not mind their burning Joan d'Arc, that's I a long time ago. Nor do we hate ! them because they vanquished Napoleon at Waterloo and sent him to St. Helena. Napoleon is very dead now. j Even that we meet their ugly faces all ! over the world, including the grand opera, does not disturb us ; that their newspapers insult us, that they take our money to fatten their promoters, that we get sea-sick crossing the channel — for all this we can forgive them. But we draw the line when they bother us just as we are about to investigate the Dreyfus case." " A sample of the wedding epidemic occurred at Paeroa lately. The Rev. Father was about to go on with the ceremony when the young lady said to the bridegroom elect, " I have misled you ; lam only 18." Here was a fix. The mother was wired to and her consent obtained, although not a written j one, and the ceremony proceeded, not, however, before the lady had re- | ceived a rebuke from the clergyman lon truthfulness. Eve over again." The New York correspondent of an English newspaper states that the Earl of Strafford, who is now in New York, authorises the announcement of his engagement to Mrs Colgate, of that city. The wedding has been arranged to take place in December. Mrs Colgate is one of the most beautiful and accomplished women in New York society. Her husband died about five years ago, and left her a fortune of £2,000,000, all of which was made in soap. Mrs Colgate, who is about 30 years of age, was presented at Court some two years ago. The Earl of Strafford succeeded to the title on the death of his brother on March 28 last. He served for some years in the Coldstream Guards, and retired with the rank of lieutenant-colonel in 1863, when he married the Countess Henrietta Sarasoe, who died in 1880.

The Foxton State School re-opens on Monday. 1 At the Methodist Church to-morrow ] night the Rev. W. Woollass will com- J mence a 6eries of sermons on Bunyan's character sketches. Mrs Woollass will also give one of her favourite Bacred solos. : The next English and European ; mail, via San Francisco, will close at the local post office on Wednesday, i the 15th day of February, at 8 p.m. Seventy thousand more sheep were carried on the railways for the ten months just past than during the corresponding period last year, but there has been a dropping off to the extent of 9000 in pigs in the ten months. It is estimated by a Sydney journal that during 1898 the large sum of £952,500 was subscribed by the public for Tattersall's sweeps. This means the promoter receives annually £50,* 000. The Horowhenua Boating Club has decided to place an order in Wellington for the construction of two clinker fours for use on the lake. Among the next of kin claimants to the estate (valued at £7,000,000) of the late William Price, of Indian fame, are two ladies now resident in Christchurch — Mrs Edward Vernon and Miss Agnes Vernon. A stroll in New Plymouth must be enjoyable. A lady going along Liar-det-street had an exciting experience there last Thursday. The heavy downpour of rain undermined the road formation, and the lady suddenly disappeared from view. She was rescued by means of a rope. A Tamworth sow was recently sold at the Addington yards that measured Bft 6in from the point of its nose to the tip of its tail, and turned the scale at 6oolbs, Piper Findlater, of Dargai fame, has succeeded in making terms with his former inamorata, Miss Mary Gellatly, who had brought an action against him for breach of promise of marriage. She dropped the action in consideration of receiving £150 as a solatium; and has since married a Dundee artisan. At Waimate, a little girl six years of age, died suddenly on 2nd inst. At an inquest it was ascertained that the child had eaten five unripe apples, and some gooseberries and currants. Thirty-five years ago the Great Northern Railway charged its passengers £4 7s for a first-class ticket from Edinburgh to London, but even then it conveyed them that distance in about 12 hours, The polo match played on Wednesday afternoon, at Palmerston, between the Oroua Club and a team of Nomads resulted in a win for the former by 7 goals to 2. John Grant, captain of the Union Company's Takapuna, was charged with carrying 221 passengers, being 58 in excess of the licensed number. It was stated for the Company that the excess was due to holiday traffic. Precautions would be taken to prevent a recurrence of the offence. Defendant was fined £10 and 2s per head on 58 passengers, The Dannevirke paper states that two married women who were discovered masquerading in male attire on Monday evening in that township, will shortly have to appear before the Court to answer a charge laid against them. Something towards the surplus ! The Government tax on the tolalisator receipts at the last Foxton races amounted to £101. Mr Stead advocates a " great pilgrimage of peace thoughout all nations, beginning at San Francisco and ending at St. Petersburg." Gratuties of £1 10s for the battle of Atbara and £1 10s for the battle of Omdurman are to be given to every private who took part in these fights. Gratuties on an increasing scale are also to be paid to the officers ; the share of a brigadier is fifty seven times £1 10s; that of a major-general seventy-six times, A serious charge is being brought by the police against a young man named Charles Neilson, of Dalefield, Wairarapa, of having attempted to commit a criminal assault upon a girl named Margaret McKenzie living with Mr and Mrs Dumbleton, at Dalefield. It is alleged that someone with a blackened face waylaid the girl on her way home from church, and Neilson has been arrested on the charge. The fact that in France there is a tax on cycles makes it easy to collect statistics as to the number of machines in the country. The latest return, going down to the end of 1897, shows that there where 408,869 " pneus " in the country, as compared with 203,000 in 1894. The increase has been very rapid. The Treasury benefits to the extent of £162,000 a year by the rage for cycling — a sum which will, no doubt increase steadily. Naturally, the department of the Seine contains the largest number ot machines' nearly 80,000; while, equally naturally, the mountainous departments have the fewest. Thus in the Hautes Alps there are only 386 cycles while Corsica comes at the bottom of the list with the mere fleabite of 133, At the Town Hall, Levin on Thursday evening, a social was held to welcome the Rev H. S. Leach, of the Church of England. A capital programme of songs, musical items, and dancing was indulged in, and the large number present enjoyed themselves immensely. Refreshments were supplied in abundance. — Otaki Mail. The barques Weathersfield and Sterling lett Wellington for London last week with a full cargoes of wool. The result of the race will be awaited with interest, as the former vessel last season beat the Hermoine by three days, and the Katy by a month. It has been left to T. P. O'Connor to correct the generally accepted blunder that the Queen's name (minus titles) is Mrs Guelph. As a girl Her Majesty was certainly Miss Guelph, but on marrying Prince Albert, whose surname was Wettin she naturally be» came Mrs Wettin. ]

The band excursion on the river did not take place last, as the weather was unfavourable. It will probably be held one evening next month. The Hawera Post says :— Mr Henry Lyall, an assistant schoolmaster at the Hawera public school, has been transferred to Cheltenham, ten miles inland from Feilding. We all wish him good luck in his new sphere. His general good qualities and all-round athletic abilities will soon endear him to the good folks at Cheltenham and Beaconsfield. Two ship's hatches were picked up in the sea off Timaru on Wednesday afternoon by the dredge. When they were brought ashore the captain of the ship Invercargill expressed the opinion that they belonged to the ship Timaru, now about twelve days out from the Bluff. Some people fear a mishap has occurred to the Timaru owing to the late heavy weather. The Timaru was sighted off St. Andrew's on Sunday last, and this was the last seen of her. On the Queen's recent journey to the North the Royal train stopped at Wigan for a few minutes in the early morning. Peter Peters* the stationmaster, was not on duty as ordered, his excuse being that he had fallen asleep at home. The general manager accompanied the Royal train, and Peters was immediately suspended. He has since committed suicide, leaving a wife and several children. The Otaki Tennis Club have challenged the Foxton Club to a match to be played in Foxton on a Saturday in next month. The cutter Coralie, which has been engaged in salvage operations at the wreck of the Tasmania, returned to Gisborne on Wednesday morning for the purpose of procuring more lines and a kedge anchor, having lost a kedge in a gale. No time was lost in locating the wreck, Mr Pascoe discovering the mast of the submerged vessel (after being three hours in the vicinity) which is 3ft below the surface at low water. The wreck was buoyed and soundings were taken, from which it is clear that the vessel has not silted up. It is 15^ fathoms to the main deck at high water, and the vessel is 34ft out of the sand. Some little distanceaway soundings of 16 fathoms were obtained, so that it is supposed the action of the sea has formed a gutter round the vessel. The Tasmania has a slight list. Her position is about three miles from Wangawehi. In Pearson's Magazine appears the astounding statement— made on what should be good authority, for the writer is vouched for by the editor as the master's trusted agent and constant adviser— that " Paderewski's fee for 20 minutes at the piano is soogs." After this it seems a sort of anti-climax to be told that this fortunate instrumentalist and composer " in one visit of five months to America returned the richer by more than £30,000." The contributor adds : — " Paderewski rarely I writes a letter ; never, when he can find any other way to express his I opinions, or when he can ask someone Ito write for him. A letter is his last resource. He despatches, as might be expected, a phenomenal number of telegrams in the course of a year, and I the post offices of .Europe have cause ; to be thankful for this whim." The Wellington Harbour Board is about to raise a loan of £150,000 for the construction of new wharves and other works. If certain terms can be arranged the loan will be floated locally. The Easter encampment of the Volunteers of the Wellington district is to be held at Woodville. As showing the enormous passenger traffic between Wellington and Lyttelton recently, the "New Zealand Times " states that the Rotomahana, making three trips a week, has carried an average of 800 persons per week for the past six weeks. This, of course, is no guide as to what the traffic really is as all steamers leaving for the South have carried immense numbers of excursionists during the holidays. The Wellington Guardian, in its last number, publishes the following story about bookmakers — A story I will tell, vouched for by my informant, concerning a certain gentleman not unknown to bookmakers and moneylenders in the Empire City. Once upon a time there was a horse-race up country, and the gentleman of fame had a little money on a certain horse running in that race. And he wanted that horse to win. So he scratched his head, and hit on a notion. Had he a trusty friend, thought he. Yes, he had. So he sent that friend to the race meeting with a couple of hundred pounds to " stiffen' 1 the other horses in the race. Before the emissary left our friend arranged for a telegram immediately all the opposing jockeys had been " squared." In due course he received a message, brief yet significant, in these terms— 1 ' Right urns," it said, and at once ds much money as the Wellington bookmakers would take on the one horse was piled upon him. Having done all the business he could with the gentleman of the ring, our sporting speculator promptly took possession of the telegraph wires by lodging a pile of 44 dummy " telegrams to be sent to his emissary on the ground. Presently the bookmakers, finding that they had rather more on that horse than suited their books, also went to the telegraph office, with a view of putting a little on him through the totalisator on the course. To their dismay, they found the wires blocked until after the race was over and, later on, they had to pay. out between them some £700 to our ingenious young speculator. It was a clean coup, for by blocking the wires the bookmakers' money did not go on the winning horse.