TManawatu Herald. [Established Aug. 27, 1878.] THURSDAY, DEC. 22, 1904. Precedence.

Manawatu Herald, 22 December 1904, Page 2

TManawatu Herald. [Established Aug. 27, 1878.] THURSDAY, DEC. 22, 1904. Precedence.

The N.Z. Chief Justice is debarred from attending certain public functions on account of his dignified position, though few, outside the Courts themselves, know the full extent of the restrictions put upon our judicial head. Therefore, it will be of interest to read the reply of Sir Robert Stout, Chief Justice, to the Grey Statue Committee at Auckland, in answer to an invitation to attend the unveiling ceremony at the northern city. He says, inter alia “ I sincerely thank the Committee for the invitation and think it my duty to explain that in consequence of the Chief Justice of New Zealand being deprived of that precedence to which he was formerly entitled to at all social functions (and which the Chief Justices of the Australian colonies still possess) I have had to decline fco attend all functions save those in which I am compelled to take part in the performance of my official duties as Chief Justice or Chancellor of the N.Z. University. Though the degredation to my office was by His Majesty’s command he was advised thereto by the Right Hon. the Secretary of State for the Colonies, and the advice was based upon the recommendation of the Ministers of the Crown in New Zealand.”

Smale and Hay also claim Xmas ad vertising space to-day.

A report of Magistrate’s Court proceedings will appear on Saturday. Tennis and cricket were off yesterday on account of the unruly elements. Mr W. H. Poole’s dentistry is to be attended to daily on and after Tuesday next.

Reference to Post and Telegraph Xmas and New Year holidays will be found in our shipping column. Miss May Walden notifies her patrons to-day that she has a splendid assortment of cakes, confectionery.and seasonable fruits.. We would advise those in search of Xmas wares to read our article in another column entitled “On Shopping Bent."

It was Mr T. Gingell who supplied the coach for the Sunday School picnic on Saturday last, Mr Spiers acting as driver.

Our Celestial friend A. Pat is to the tore to-day with a change advertisement. His stock of silver and electro plate, china and glass ware are worth inspection.

While some of the public school cadets were shooting dt the biltts al Dannevirke yesterday one named John Macpherson, about 12 years of age, was accidentally shot dead by a comrade. No details are available,

For days past, inhabitants of Foxton have been looking forward to the Railway Department’s notice re Holiday arrangements, We ate pleased' to publish an advertisement re same today, which will be found in another column.

Miss Hickson, teacher of the pianoforte, is at present enjoying a wellearned Christmas vacation. She notifies by advertisement to-day that her first term for 1505 begins on 21st January, and that pupils are prepared for Royal Academy and Trinity College Practical Examinations,

Business in the legal profession is said to be rather quiet at present. It is feared by followers of the calling that the principle ot “ peace on earth and goodwill towards men,” though they be seasonable at this time of the year, are being followed too literally to be altogether consonant with the interests of the craft.

According to the Calendar, yesterday (21st Dec.) was Midsummer Day. How the Calendar lies ! Nothing but rain the whole time. We may be privileged to term it Midwinter Day. However, the sun shone out beautifully to-day, and there is every prospect of it being beautifully fine for the holidays. [Since above was in type more rain has falfen.]

We wish to extend our hearty thanks to those- tradesmen who have been kind enough to forward Xmas hampers, though we fear unless they come in more freely a very limited supply will be left on Saturday afternoon. As a consequence, the annual “ wayz-goose ” may be compulsorily postponed, so we will have to ask the Post and Telegraph staff to pardon us for not issuing invitations to them to attend our annual feast.

The bad weather of the past few days seriously affected traffic. At Otaki and Mangatanoka the rivers were in high flood. Traffic was sns pended on the Manawatu line for the space of one day, though everything is running along smoothly once more. Flaxmillers and cutters had a particu larly anxious time round the outskirts of Foxton on Tuesday night. Many of those engaged in swamp land arrived in Foxton at 5 a.m. yesterday to avoid being washed away. The following Wellington telegram re rifle matters should prove of interest to local shootists The programme of the New Zealand Rifle Association meeting at Trentham, in March next, has been issued. The championship series will consist of five matches, open to all members of the Defence forces, and a final match for the fifty highest in the foregoing to decide the winner of the championship. There will be 227 prizes in the series with a money yalue of £437, exclusive of the champion belt and medals.

We were shown round Mr Alf. Fraser’s shop and show room this morning and were really surprised to see what a large stock of Xmas Wares of all kinds were displayed, and have no hesitation in saying that the assortment will compare well with any similar shop between Wellington and Wanganui. Anyone wanting Xmas Cards, Gift Books, Purses, Letter Cases, Writing Desks, Dressing Cases, Albums, Work Boxes, and fancy goods of all sorts cannot do better than inspect Mr Fraser’s stock before making their purchases. As for toys, well, it is a real fairy land lor the youngsters.

The births in the four chief towns for the month ot November amounted to 497, against 539 in October—a decrease of 42. The deaths in November were 183, a decrease of 9 on the number in October. Of the total deaths, males contributed 103, females 80. Fortythree of the deaths were of children under-five years Of age, being 23.50 per cent, of the whole number; 31 of these were under one year of age. In Wellington the births numbered n 8 and the deaths 54. Of 51 deaths in November, 19 were attributable to cancer, 14 to phthisis, and 10 to other tubercular complaints. In the early seventies Mr Mabille, a surveyor, reported that he had discovered a rich reef at a spot that could be seen from the main street of Lyell. He kept the location secret, and went to Italy for machinery, but was lost in wreck on the voyage out. Many prospectors have since searched for the alleged reef, and its discovery has several times been reported, but nothing has, so far, come out ot the finds. Now, however, Messrs George, Welch, Trotter and Party have come across a two-foot gold-bearing reef, which they suppose to be Mabille’s. A penny coin was found on the outcrop, and it was said that Mabille stated he left a penny on the reef. Mr Welch wires to Mr George Carr that the penny found bears the date 1854- The stone is being tested,

A Melbourne cable says Frank Laver has been appointed manager of the Australian Eleven which is to visit England. Asked what her husband’s occupation was, a witness at an inquest in a : Scotch town the other day replied “ He’s an asker, sir.” “ What is that ?’’ inquired the coroner. “He sings in the streets and then knocks at the door for a few pence,was the reply. George Lake, of Hawera, a middleaged man, who has been confidental clerk for Mr C. E. Major, M.H.R., committed suicide on Monday morning by shooting himself with a revolver.

Mr Justice Hood was in good vein at the Law Institute dinner in Melbourne. He observed: —To the members of the institute he must say, in the words of the late Isaak Walton, that if he had to impale them on the lower bill of costs, he did it gently and because he loved them. (Laughter.) Of the judges he could only say that they were doing their best. (Laugter.) They were often wrong—as could be seen by the judgments that were given against them on appeal. The only men who judged rightly were the men who judged last. (Laughter.)

The Archbishop ot Canterbury caused even more astonishment ip Canada than in England by his association with Pierpont Morgan throughout almost the whole of his American and Canadian travels. “The great apostle of Mammon,’’ “the prince of financial fialtirsj” “leader of frenzied finance,” “ the most rilthless financial magnate who has ever dominated Wall-street and the industrial and transportation enterprises of the United States,” are some of the names applied by responsible joufnalsjri the Dominion to the multi-millionaire while he was whisking the English cleric about in his special train) and taking him at intervals into the Society of Bar Harbour and other resorts of the cynical American plutocracy. Some of the Canadians expressed a charitable doubt as to whether the Archbishop could have been aware of Mr Morgan’s sinister record, and of his being regarded, it may be with some exaggeration of prejudice, as “ a huge financial swine, stuffed with bonds, coupons, thousand dollar bills, and bags of gold,” the result of deals Which haVe broilght ruin to thousands of investors. The “ Eclair ’’ publishes an in teresting article on the first public appearance of M. Charles Dumay, Director of Public Worship in France. That functionary first made himself conspicuous more than forty years ago by writing a violent pamphlet against shoo assistants, “ A bas les calicots ’’ (“ Down with the counter-jumpers ”) was the title of the work; and the author undertook to pick out a shop assistant wherever met by the folly stamped upon his countenance. The brochure made quite a stir in the world of commerce, and two replies to it appeared, and are bound up with it in the collection of phamplets preserved at the Bibliotheque Nationale. One of the retorts, curiously enough, compliments the pamphleteer upon the “elevated order” of his political reflections, and predicts that when be is older and wiser he will find that a political career of distinction is open to him.

At a private picnic held on the banks of the Ruamahunga river a few days ago, by a number of Greytown young folk, a young man obtained an old ■■canoe, and in company with his best girl ventured for a sail up the river, but before they had gone half-a-dozen yards the canoe capsized and the occupants were peremptorily ejected, holus bolus, into about seven feet of water. “ Bertie,” with commendable presence of mind, seized the young lady hv the ( hair of her head, struck out, and, after a hard struggle, managed to reach the shore with his “catch.” But the trouble did not end here, for how were they to dry their clothes puzzled them. However, one of the parly had a rug, and suggested that “ Bertie ” should divest himself of his nether garments and use the rug to hide his nakedness. What was now to be done with the 1 young lady ? An ulster and other clothing was speedily forthcoming:, and in less time than it takes to tell the story, male and female clothing was hanging from every available bough to dry. This couple was evidently the life and soul of the picnic expedition, but there is a serious side to this episode. The young man solemnly vows he will not again venture out in a canoe with his best girl. They have not spoken since.—Greytown Standard.