Manawatu Herald. TUESDAY, MARCS 14, 18*9

Manawatu Herald, 14 March 1899, Page 2

Manawatu Herald. TUESDAY, MARCS 14, 18*9

The Polo clubs will hold sports at Palmerston next week, which we understand will follow the tournament. A ball will also be held. Mr Thynne the other day brought under Captain Dunk's notice the advisability of his holding the yearly encampment for his corps in the neighbourhood of Foxton. Captain Dunk seemed struck with the suitability of the spot and asked Mr Thynne to send him a memo setting out his conversation so that he can bring it before his other officers. Messrs Abraham and Williams offered the Paiaka land for sale on Saturday afternoon, and though it was offered as a whole and afterwards in two lots, no bids were elicited. The auctioneers intimated that they would deal privately with purchasers. Mr J. R. Montague, the well-known auctioneer of Palmerston, held a sale of furs on Saturday afternoon. The assortment was Hrge, valuable and attractive, but the bidding was no f spirited and the sale was after an hour or two closed. The inhabitants must either have bought too freely last year or the weather was not cold enough to remind them that these goods would soon be in request. Rumours, and very well founded, mention that the proprietorship of an old-established newspaper up the coast will soon change hands. Talking about the ravages of the Codlin-moth the other day we were informed that where they are bad the moth attacks grapes. If this is so the owner of our best vineyard here had better keep a most careful watch. At the Palmerston S.M. Court yesterday afternoon the case of the Police v. H. Broderson and T. Mein, both of Shannon, for cruelly illtreating a horse was heard. The accused were charged with having put a bundle of straw underneath the horse and set fire to it in order to induce the animal to pull. Both accused were fined £10 each and costs.

Major-General Rundle, the late chief of the Khartoum expeditionary force, says there is not a single word of truth in Mr Bennett's story about_ the Sirdar sanctioning the killing of the wounded dervishes. Never, during all the years he has been with th( Sirdar, has Mnjor-General RundL heard such an order. A novel case is, the Dublin Evening Mail states, engaging the attention oi the Dublin police. In January, 1898 a. roamed man fell in love with hi* wife's mother, and they eloped, the mother-in-law leaving her husband and two children behind, and the faithless husband abandoning his wife and one child. The eloping parties were traced after many months, to Belfast. The injured wife forgave her mother and husband, and domestic peace was restored. A few days ago, however, the mother-in-law and faithless spouse again eloped. They are expected to appear shortly in the Courts. The polo tournament commences at Palmerston North on Thursday next. Play will be continued untiL Monday, when the final for the championship takes place. Apparently there are other railways besides the New Zealand service affected with the ' slows.' In Newfoundland, railway travelling seems to be equally as uncomfortable as in this colony. There cattle brouse upon the track unrestrained, and without the least apprehension of personal danger. A Newfoundland express comes to a de .d stop every now and then until the driver, by moral or physicial suasion, has prevailed upon the cattle to let him pass. A Yankee travelling in Newfoundland asked the cause of a sudden stoppage. ' Cow on the track,' was the reply, A second stoppage called forth the same question from the Yankee, and the same reply from the guard. When the third stoppage came the Yankee slowly stalked to the end of the compartment and remarked with the solemn mien of an American who is going to take a ' rise ' out of a man : ' I say, conductor, you don't mean to tell me that we've caught up with that durned cow again ? ' Two extremely useful leaflets have just been issued by the government Biologist with reference to the Queensland fruit-fly and orange and lemon scales. The former, which is a particularly obnoxious pests in Australian orchards, attacks peaches, aproicots, plums, apples, and pears, though other fruits are not entirely exempt. The injured fruit may be known by the following appearances : Although it retains its form, there appears under the skin, at one or more placed, a discoioration as if the flesh had turned watery, and had become somewhat decayed. On opening the jruit it is found to be honeycombed and rotten at the centre, and the dirty-brown, often semi-liquid, flesh contains one or more fly-blows or maggots, which are never quite so large as those of the common blowfly, but otherwise to the ordinary, observer much the same. These appearances are only seen in rip3ning fruit. The fly does not attack green fruit. A small bore in the skin of the fruit is often seen near the centre of the watery looking disoloration. The London Times, dealing with the fastest passages made between New York and the Old Country during 1898 says : Across the Atlantic the North German Lloyd Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse comes out easily on top, and on the Southampton-New York route is unapproached. She beat the Lucania's best for a day's run, and may, therefore be considered the fastest merchant vessel afloat. Her best run westward, from March 30, occupied 5 days 20 hours, at an avrrage speed of 23*29 knots. Eastward her best performance rom July sth, averaged 22*51 knots, and occupied only 5 days 19 hours 45 minutes. Her record day's steaming was 500 miles, as against the Lucania's record of 562, and the Campania's of 553. Neither of the leading White Star vessels has this year reduced its best times for 1897. The Teutonic's record is the best, occupying 5 days 23 hours 42 minutes on the outward journey at an average speed of 19*90 knots, while of the Cunarders the Lucania accomplished her homeward journey in 5 daya 11 hours 54 minutes, at an average of 21.99 knots. It is anticipated that- the White Star Oceanic, launched on the 14th January at Belfast, with a length of 704 feet over all, 13 feet larger than the Great Eastern, and a gross tonnage of over 17,000 tons, will, when she take up the runnsng, break all previous runnings. In our issue of Saturday a mistake was made in Mr Ham^r's advertisement, Beechams' Pills and Fluid Magnesia priced is iod should have been a shilling. Mr Black, who represents Mr Bridge, Dentist of Wellington, will be at Mr Hamer's Chemist, on Thursday next. Mr Black is a fully qualified dentist and hojds both American and Colonial certificates. We understand he will make fortnightly visits to Foxton Mr Hamer can give any information required. Mud wasps manifest great ingenuity not only in building their nests, but in erecting them in localities where they will not be injured by rain or animals. Naturalists are at present discussing the question whether or not the bees have an actual language. Those best informed on the subject regard it as being possible. The eye of a fly is so constructed as to bring the entire horizon within its circle of observation ; a fact which explains the extreme alertness of these insects in escaping attack. The ink plant of New Granada is a curiosity. The juice of it can be used as. ink without any preparation. At first the writing is red, but after a few jiours it changes to black. When food scorches in the kettle the latter seems ruined beyonl redemption, but a possible remedy is to take the kettle at once from tha fire and set it in a nan of cold water. This treatment, oddly enough, will nine times out of ten, remove the burnt taste entirely

A cement which, according to Dr Wagner is proof against even boiling icids, may be made by a composition M: indiarubber, tallow, lime, and red lead. The indiarubber must first be melted by a gentle heat, and then six >er cent, to eight per cent, by weight jf tallow added to the mixture while It is kept well stirred. Next dry slaked lime is applied until the fluid mass assumes a consistence similar to that of 50ft paste ; lastly, twenty per cent, of red lead is added, in order to make it harden and dry. Mr Edmund Osborne notifies that his customers need not become alarmed if the train is at any time late in arriving, as he is now expecting a train load of insurance policies, i We remind our readers of the Methodist picnic on Friday, which bids fair to be an enjoyable"' day. The " Flower of Kent " will leave the wharf at 9.30 a.m.