LOCAL & GENERAL NEWS

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXVII, Issue 3737, 3 January 1907, Page 2

LOCAL & GENERAL NEWS

The Manawatu County Council give notice by advertisement today that an additionakao per cent will be charged oh all rates not paid on or before 16th Jan., 1907. It has been reported to us from all quarters that coal has beep unobtainable during the Christmas holidays. The marriage and honeymoon trip of a prominent coal merchant is put forth as the reason. In some instances the Christmas dinner .was cooked with wood gathered on the river bank. The general meeting of the Manawatu Flaxmills Employees Union will be held in the Temperance Hall on Monday, the 7th iust. There seems to be a general opinion that Mr G. Gingell’s coach service to Shannon has been altered lately. This is not so and Mr Gingell will my' two coaches daily as before.- *""* The name of the next most probable town-to be on the Main Trunk Railway line is Ohaknne, 20 miles from the ( southern and gp miles from the northrailheads. This station will open up the country around Raetihi. The distance of Raetihi from Palmerston North is about 123 miles and from Auckland 220 miles. Already Auckland merchants are aware of this field for the extension of business and are making strenuous efforts to induce the trade of the new districts to flow to that city. The distance to Wellington gives Auckland an advantage, and at present competition lies between Wanganui and Auckland. Pal-merston,--North is about one hundred /miles nearer to Raetihi,, than Auckland, and the Wanganui merchants have to face heavy river‘merchants have. an advantage not be lostoJU o f. -j.

A respectable Aif;-A '.vis lies Lo secure bouse wuVk of any descrip lion. ‘* Dr. Bennett inserts a notice that all unpaid accounts owing to him must be paid to Mr R. Moore, Solicitor. Tlie Premier will leave Wellington on the 26tli inst. for London, joining tlie Mongolia at Sydney. Ho will bo accompanied by Lady Ward and Miss Eileen Ward. Mr Izard, M'.H.ll. for Wellington North, will be a fellow passenger. Cabinet meetings, lasting over a week, will begin on Saturday next. Matters of importance have to be dealt with. 1 According to a Wairarapa paper two eccentric individuals in that district, who propose to accomplish a water' journey to Weilington, have constructed a craft composed of kerosene tins, and in this novel craft intend leaving Master ton in a day or two, embarking on the Waipoua river, and sailing via the lluamahanga river, Wairarapa lake, and Pal User Bay to the metropolis. As a crank Felix Tanner is not in it with the above individuals. Seventy-one assisted immigrants arrived by the Gothic yesterday. They include men following a varied list of trades, and, according to Mr March, the Immigration Superintendent, they are well provided with, money. Amongst the new arrivals were fifteen young women, who have come to the country under the auspices of tlie British Women’s Immigration Association for a syndicate of housewives of Hawke’s Bay. These girls all come to New Zealand under engagement, and belong principally to the country districts of England, Ireland, and Scotland. Altogether there were twenty-seven servant girls on board. Henry Stratton Izard, the bankrupt solicitor, was taken from Masterton to Wellington in custody on Monday nigkt. He was lodged in the Terrace goal. Ho is to appear before the Stipendiary Magistrate on the 9th inst. Izard had been previously taken before the Magistrate at Mastcrton when it was found that the sureties for his appearance from bail were not forthcoming. The police alleged that he was exercising undue influence over iiis ward, Grace Mahupuku, the principal creditor in the estate, and was thus likely to defeat the ends of justice. Grace Mahupuku, it is alleged, is residing in the house of accused, and refuses to leave. Accused’s explanation is that the girl quarrelled with her mother, and lias nowhere to go. He staled that he was willing that the girl should leave his house, but she refuses to go. The Magistrate said tlie position was very unsatisfactory. Objection was also taken to Mr Pownall, solicitor, continuing as his surety

There was tragedy—grim, underlying tragedy—in an auction sale in London the other day. Think of it! In February last a well-known City man confronted on every side by financial stress, committed suicide. He held in one company shares which are now worth between half and three-quarters of a million of money. These (reports the Daily Mail) werej shares in the Vaal River Diamond Company. When the desperate financier took his life the shares wore of comparatively little valvue. The other day a£r Founders’ share was sold for no less than £(>soo, A lot of six fetched £26,950. The man in question was Mr. Ernest Schwabacher. He was fifty-six years of age when he was .found shut.in hisi-bedJn. Conduit-street last February, At the inquest it was stated that, except financial troubles, he had nothing to worry him. He was a proud man, and took such pride in bis position in the City that misfortune drove him to his death. When he killed himself he held scrip which, nine months later, would have made him a rich man. The late Mr* Sohwabacher’s total indebtedness to his creditors was about £roo,ooa, His shares were only held by him nominally at ti e time ofhis death, as his creditors had a lien on them. When he died the Vaal £1 shares were worth 253. ■Now they stand at B,jf, and have been •!s high as' l3. The auction sale, which earned in it:>train so tragic a life story, tick place it (lie- Mart, Tokenhouseyard. The six shares were put up in six separate lots. The bidding was animated,an 1 tlr's is what the lots realised ;-X, £3250; 2, £3100; 3, £4100; 4. £s oc ?’’ .5' £5000; 6, £650:1; total, £26,900 i liere was another notable ieature of the sale, By a clever m iuoeivre one buyer made a profit of £'3oocin half an,hour. Seeing the enhanced prices which the final lots realised, the purchaser of the first lot commissioned the auctioneer to put up h s lot again on behalf of himself. He had paid. £3250 for it; he sold it for £6250, the purchaser being the buyers to whom the other five lots had been knocked down. A drowning accident occurred on Saturday afternoon in the shallow waters at the head of Evans Bay, Kilbimie, by which two youths, George William Kay, aged 17, and William Stockton, aged 15, lost their lives. The lads whose parents reside in South Kilbimie, were out in the water in an old flat-bottomed punt in a bad state of repair, and by some means got into difficulties. They had allowed themselves to drift out from shore, and then, as thewind was blowing off the land they could not get back. Kay took off his clothes and got into the water attempting to pull the punt inshcre. He did not succeed in this attempt, and got baek into the,. boat, which then sank. Both lads started, to swim ashore, but failed when some distance in towards the shore. Both bodies were recovered in about eight or ten feet of water.