Manawatu Herald. TUESDAY, MARCH 18, 1900. The Post Office.

Manawatu Herald, 13 March 1900, Page 2

Manawatu Herald. TUESDAY, MARCH 18, 1900. The Post Office.

At one time the building erected in a town under the above name was used simply for post and telegraphic work, but now all this is greatly altered, except the building. We have a fairly suitable office for post and telegraphic work, but there bein? only one public counter at which every item of the multifarious dutie? devolving on postmasters has to be conducted, the accommodation can fairly bo describad ,13 insufficient. One of the mo°t important bmnehe? of the Post Office is the SavingBank, and it is a matter in which a certain amount of secvesy is enjoined. The acoomrnoclation at the local office precludes this as a depositor must do his or her work nartly surrounded by the public asking for their letters. The postmaster i<i also the Registrar fcr Births, Deaths and Marriages and the same old public counter has to do duty for his office, and the extraordinary large books used fo^ registration take up the whole spare available and the public have to b? unwilling soeotators of a number of nersonally interesting, but not publicly so, columns being filled upbv question* and answers. A blushin^ "ounle, if those who get married at p. Registrar's office do ever blush, havp to make the necessary declarations m the public office, and delay the business of the postal and telegraph departments. A good business i e done in fees with the Registrar and it is time that an office wholly for this business should be erected. The Telegraph department might at the «ame time make a much needed improvement in the erection of a room for the use of the telephone, ac the outer porch now used as a makeshift is situated so close to the public counter that every word can be distinctly heard. These points are not stretched and we feel sure that if the local postmaster would place these facts before the Postmaster-General an improvement would soon be made. With regard to the post offioe we should like to see a mail made up for every office at every opportunity. We have a post office at Moutoa and we have a coach service past thatsettlement twice a day, but the mail? are only made up once a day. Why the settlers should not have the distinct advantage of a bi-daily service when it will cost nothing extra is one j of those things no one can understand. It may be urged that the business is small, and w n believe it is, but the trouble of making up a ! big to go with the other mails would aho be small and would be of very much convenience to the public.

The opening notice of the perfor£>rmance in aid of the patriotic war is announced for next Saturday 'St. Patrick's Day) Popular prices will he charged, and everything new is promised, so that there is every appearance of this entertainment hein^ as much a success as its predecessor. The Methodist Church was well filled with offerings of fruit and flowers on Sund^v, and the Rev. W. Woollass preached to large congregations both morning and evening. The statement filed by Hooker and Curtis, sawmill hands at Foxton, in their hankrupt estate, shows that the liabilities amount to £155 8s 4d, the creditors being residents of Dannevirke, Foxton, Shannon, Clareville and / Carterton. There are no assets in the estate.

The Rev. Mr Russell, of Petone, took the services at All Saints' Church last Sunday, and preached to good congregations. On Sunday night about nine o'clock two oat stacks in a field by No. 6 Line, on the Motoa estate were destroyed by ' fire. There is at present no explanation as to how the fire occurred. Mr Howe is the latest addition to our river steamship owners, having imported a capital launch by the "s.s. Queen of the South." She i& particularly fast, it being said she made a trip to the Heads in half an hour. There have been collections throughout the Church of England at Home on behalf of the Transvaal War Funds. The amount realised is £59,000, which has been paid over to the Mansion House Fund. Mr Betty is determined to keep hi? •stock up to the wants of the district and has just opened up a first-clasF shipment of light American sewn boots in both black and tan. The boots are light, strong, and neat and will, no doubt, meet with a ready sale. Tommy Atkins is a regular humorist it times. A good story is told of the court-martial in the — Hussars. Just is in an ordinary trial a prisoner may )bject to the presence of a juryman whom he thinks has already some prejudice or grudge against him, so at a court-martial he is always asked if he is satisfied with the officers selected to try him. Tommy, at this courtmartial, when the president asked him the regular question, looked at the officers sitting solemnly before him and answered, " Certainly ; I object to the 'ole blooming lot of yer." They were so astonished that they put off the trial till they could make out what was the right thing to do under the circumstances. In connection with General Wauchope's devotion to his profession —he had been wounded four times, thrice severely, before going to South Africa — the following story is told by the " Daily Chronicle." Shortly before he started for the Soudan last year, he met on a Country toad near Niddrie an old tinker, a character in bis way, whom he had known nearly all his life. Said the itenerant, " Eh, laird, I hear ye're gaun aff tae the waf s ance mair. Whan wull ye e'er get yer fill o'fechtin?" The officer smiled, but oiade no reply. The tinker went on, " I'm thinkin' that'll be never, laird ! I'm just the same mysel', sir; but it's 10 fechtin,' it's whusky 1" The laird took the hint. President Kruger, who has been at Bloemfontein in conference with President Steyn, has returned to Pretoria. President Steyn, after appointing a Deputy-President at Bloemfontein, has also gone to Pretoria. He declares that he is determined to fight to he last man. The struggle in the Free State, he says, is child's play compared to that which will take place in the Transvaal. President Steyn assured Mr Hales, the Western AusT'.lian correspondent who war, lately released by the Boers, that the capitulation of Pretoria will be preceded by events that will astonish Europe. The racehorse Flying Fox has been bought by M. E. Blanc, the well'inown owner, for £37,500. The Tongan Government has just issued a "Tohi Mahina" (a'manac) for 1900, which most certainly is a mriosity in its way. Amongst other valuable information, we are informed that Good Friday falls upon Sunday, April Bth, and that Easter Sunday occurs on Wednesday, April nth. \fter these blunders, we are not surorised when we are informed that vVhit Sunday falls on a Tuesday.