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Manawatu Herald, 12 July 1900, Page 2

i To show bow our local industry has increased, the Wellington Harbour Board returns show that during the past twelve months 30,000 more bales of flax were shipped than for the year previous, as well as 13,000. more bales of wool. The other" dajKrri' Wellington, just prior to the departure of the s.s. Waiwera for London, an intensely dramatic incident occurred. Amongst the passengers were a family. . The-, wife, a young woman,' was seen to despatch her husband off the boat whilst she ran up to the bulwarks and gazed anxiously after him ; then ran along the deck and looked down the gangway. The last whistle blew and the anxiety of the poor woman grew worse. The people. on the wharf saw her addressing th'e'officers an cTthe passengers, and they could hear her voice full of sobs. The captain was spoken to by her, and the ship was then an hour late in starting. He descended the gangway and said to the agent on the wharf " a child has been lost, we had better put the family ashore." What answer he .received we do not know but he reluctantly 'said " my timd'is up, and we must be off," and gave the orders to go ah'ifad. "The ship was on the move, and the gangway was just about <t;<}*be lifted" when a shout went up from the passengers as they saw the father and the lost child rush to the gangway just in time to get on it as it was being raised. All present felt thankful that the strain had been lightened, and the good ship Waiwera commenced her voyage with passengers and spectators happy in the good luck that had arisen. No man should be ready to judge his neighbours's work unless he has previously made sure it was his neighbour who did the work. An amusing instance of the value of the above advice was met with at the fibre shed on the Railway wharf at Wellington. A proportion of bales of flax are fully opened up in the shed for inspection, and the marks of the bales are inscribed in chalk on the floor in front of the bale. One day the chalk mark was accidentally covered over with bits of tow. A flaxmiller was looking over the shed and came to this bale opened up, and as it was a very bad sample condemned it in no measured terms, and suggested that that miller should give up dressing flax, about which he understood nothing about. Someone hearing him, deftly moved the tow off the chalk mark which thus caught his eye, and he wanted to know hpw his mark came to be there ? He appeared very much astonished on being informed that the sample he condemned so strongly was the product of his own mill.

In the railway wharf shed we noticed ' that one of the best dressed brands of flax was G.W.C., from Takapu, the mill in which our late fellow townsman Mr Johnstone is the engineer. The various Australian Governments are willing to allow Germany facilities to purchase horses in the colonies for China. The " Tennyson " programme submitted last night in connection with All Saints' Mutual Improvement Society passed off very well. The Rev. H. S. Leach gave several readings and recitations, and Miss O'Brien also recited. Mrs England and Mr W. Cook also contributed musical numbers during the evening. It was announced that next Wednesday the evening's amusement would cori-iit of games, etc., and the following Wednesday Mr W. S. Stewart would give his promised lecture. The London dockers' strike has .collapsed. The men have returned to work unconditionally. The next English and European mail, via San Francisco, will close at the local office on Friday, 3rd August, at 8 p.m. To-day we insert an inset advertisement of the U.F.C.A. concerning the sensational drapery sale they commence to-day at their Palmerston establishment. They offer bargains that please the people, and keep them coming. Tuesday's Otaki Mail states that Otaki's oldest settler, Mr Wm. Jenkins, who has been in failing health for several months, is now unconscious, and it is feared that he is sinking. Mr Jenkins is about 85 years of age. Before Mr W. R. Haselden, S.M., on Tuesday morning, Wyatt Edward Jones appeared to answer a charge of having wilfully attempted to set fire to a certain building at Petone. On the application of Sub-Inspector Mitchell, the case was remanded for seven days, bail being, allowed in two sureties of £100 and self of £200. Justices justice has become a byword, but what about Stipendiary ' Magistrates justice ? Some men on the s.s. Paparoa refused duty the other day alleging that their food was coarse and insufficient, and when the case wa? heard by the Wellington Magistrate he declared, atter inspection, that the food was not what it ought to have been, and ordered the accused to return to the ship and forfeit two days' pay ! Thus punishing the men for having proved their case 1 We are in reoeipt of the first number of the " Free Lance " and can cordially welcome its arrival, and if the tone of the paper is kept up to its first issue it will be an acceptable addition to the press of the colony. The " Free Lance " claims to be a journal of information and racy comment upon the topics of the hour. It is freely illustrated. The large cartoon of Jhe opening number is devoted to the story why Wilford did not move tho Address-in- Reply. The member for the Suburbs comes in for a leader on the Common Jury reform, needs reading contrarily. We shall await the following issue with pleasure. A Frenchman, an old man of 70' living in the Rue de Mozart, Paris, committed suicide in sheer spite owing to the relief of Mafeking. For some time past he had been carefully reading every item of news he could obtain with regard to the siege of Mafeking. He daily looked for the fall of the town and when he did not hear of it he expressed the liveliest opinion as to the capacity of the Boers, and railed continually at the British garrison. If the Boers failed to capture the place, he said he would never allow himself to see the day of British triumph. His friends watched him, fearing he would attempt some injury to himself. On Sunday the news of the relief, which had been kept from him up to then, reached his ears, and directly he could escape from his watchers, he killed himself. At the usual fortnightly meeting of the Court Pride of Foxlon, A.0.F., held last Tuesday evening, the officers for the ensuing quarter were elected. Accounts were passed for payment, and three new members elected. Several other matters of importance bearing on the welfare of the lodge were discussed, and votes of thanks were passed to all retiring officers. Before the conclusion of the meeting, Bro. A. Langley thoughtfully provided cakes and hot coffee to the members, the refreshments being much appreciated.