Manawatu Herald. TUESDAY, APRIL 8, 1900.

Manawatu Herald, 3 April 1900, Page 2

Manawatu Herald. TUESDAY, APRIL 8, 1900.

Beira.

If the cablegram of the report from the London Daily Mail that the British are permitted to send men and stores to Rhodesia, via Beira, is correct then the position of the Boers is undoubtedly bad. The Beira mentioned is a small town and port in Portuguese East Africa, near the mouth of the Pungwe river, and is only distant twelve miles from whence the railway (o Mashonaland starts. The railway is completed through Portuguese territory and Mashonaland as far as Salisbury, and was being carried on with all despatch to connect at Buluwayo with the main line from the Cape. The use of this line will enable troops to be landed very close to the north of the Transvaal, and will secure the ! Boers from trekking northwards, it will enable assistance being sent by way of Buluwayo to Mafeking, and it will thus explain why Lord Methuen has been ordered back to Kimberley. It places Buluwayo by sea and rail only three weeds distanHrom London. How the Portuguese are going to explain their action to the Transvaalers remains to be seen, as it is a distinctly unfriendly act to them, but possibly it has been fairly guaged which way the war will be decided and the Portuguese desire to be with the winners. However thiscompliance to the wishes of the British General has been secured it certainly points to the early subjngation of our enemies. As the Daily Mail has published the information it may be accepted that a fairly large force has already travelled by the Beira to Buluwayo railroad.

The Fifth Contingent was got away from Wellington on Saturday. The importation of swine from New Zealand is prohibited for six months in Queensland. At tbe ; University bott race Cambridge won easily by a quarter of a mile. Archibald Forbes has died in London at the age of 62. The fortieth anniversary of the Battle of Waireka was celebrated by a monster picnic on the battlefield on Thursday. More deaths from the pi ague . : in Sydney are reported, and there were 35 cases under treatment on Saturday, and nine new cases were reported on Sunday. Signs of the times. Timber is being carted for a new bouse on the Norbiton road which is to be occupied by a young man, the son of an old settler, who will then take unto himself a wife. Those who have apples that will keep should be careful of them as the price will be better later on. To those who have but a few fruit trees the reminder that apples must not be placed on top of one another may be useful. All apples should be placed on shelves. Mr W. S. Hart, of Palmerston North, announces that he has just arrived direct from the makers a large supply of guns, rifles, revolvers, cartridges, &c, also loaders and fillers. As he is a practical gunmaker purchasers will understand that they benefit by his selection, and that any repairs needed will be promptly attended to and neatly executed. The field telegraphists with General Buller carry their cables in specially constructed carts, each containing if necessaVy, ten miles qf cables wound on drums, so that in open country they can lay it out at a gallop. The current is sent to earth through the wheels of the cart. 11 Some of the incidents in hospital make us all laugh," says the writer of a letter from South Africa, " You know Tqm H , who used to do a turn at } the A Music Hall. He is in my Ward, and keeps our spirits up. He did a funny thing the other day when tobacco was given out. You remember his hand elocution at the hall. Well, one of the Boers has lost both his ' arms, and when the tobacco was given out he shook his head, and a tear fell down his cheek. Tom saw it, and was by his side in a momejnt. He placed his arms each side of the Boer, and performed the office of the missing ones, and gave the Boer a good smoke. He brought down the house with cheers."

The football meeting takes place tomorrow night at 7.30 at Stanseli's Hotel. Dr Speer, who has been practising for the last two years in Wellington and Dunedin, has a changed advertisement, in which is announced his removal to Queen-street, Auckland* The Post special Correspondent at the Cape writes :— " Mr Charles Arnold, the well-known actor, forwards regular gifts of grapes to the New Zealanders and Austr^i-ms, and has been thanked by Major Robin, on be half of the officers and men of the New Zealand Mounted Rifles. Many kind friends in Cape Town, most of them ex-New Zealanders, forward books and periodicals regularly, and our msri are under a deep debt of gratitude for the kind consideration. A sum of 60,000 francs was found in the mattress of an old miser, named Antonie Raudin, who has died, rfged 72. He lived in Paris on what scraps he could obtain from the gutters^ and never spent a. penny, dying really of starvation; Some neighbours called with a doctor when he was found to be ill, but Raudin refused to pay for the prescription to be made up, and died, crying that his mattress should be buried with him. The crown used by the ancient rulers of Persia is one of his principal treasures. It is designed to represent a pot of flowers, a ruby as large as a hen's egg imitating the principal bloom. A diamond sceptre or other symbol of his regal state is said to weigh aolb. A new series of pictorial postcards, bearing representations of incidents in connection with the departure of the I contingents and portraits of officers of theOFirst and Second Contingents, is being prepared, and will be ready for issue in Wellington soon. This is Colonel Baden- Powell's opinion of the discipline of the South African Irregulars. "It leaves nothing to be desired," he says, " because it is the discipline of enthusiasm." Speaking at the Wellington Education Board, Mr James Robertson stated that the withdrawal of young men to South Africa, and the probable increase in the permanent force, would tend to reduce the marriage state, and this would in course of time militate against the school attendance. Mushrooms are now to be had for the seeking. In some countries they form the staple article of food. The Tierra del Fuego natives live upon one description of them. There are over a thousand species of mushrooms, which are divided into five sections according as the colour of their spores is white, pink, brown, purple, or black. Some are edible, others are poisonous. The common edible mushroom is known as the Agaricus campestris, and has pink spores. By an inset with otir present issue Messrs C. M. Ross & Co., oLthe Bon Marche, Palmerston North, announce the completion of their first shipments of new goods for autumn and winter. They intimate, that being fortunate in having placed their orders previous to the recent advance in the price of all classes of goods they are in a position to supply their customers with new goods at last year's prices, and they strongly recommend buyers of drapery to make} their purchases early in the season at the Bon Marche, Palmerston.