LOCAL & GENERAL NEWS

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXIX, Issue 3766, 25 May 1907, Page 2

LOCAL & GENERAL NEWS

*>"• There was a splendid tide in the., •fiver this morning.? ... , ■ Mr R:'“CiQtey v has .pjftbhajsed./Mr R. HiclcsohV local wood and coal ij/ard and,has rented the same to Mr H. Bradcock.

■‘"'Mr Hall, the local pilot, states that there is. now. plenty of water o-i the bar atid in the river channel ior • shipping. Coal boats should i arrive in; the course of a few days, hrwife of the late popular. host of Whyte’s Hotel, met with an accident in Palmerston last Wednesday. She slipped and severely injured her leg, which will necessitate' her resting for sometime.'; . The 'services-, in the Methodist Church to-morrow will be conducted by the'' Rev. J. Southern. The evening subject . will be “ Christian Trading.” ' The choir will render an,anthem.

A young man who has been residing with the natives at Motuiti, and' who recently met with an accident, was brought into Foxton fo,r medical examination arid sent to the District ‘ Hospital this morning.'

( The U.F.C.A., of Palmerston North,, in another column an- ' flounce their annual crockery sale commences to-day. All lines will be cut down to bedrock prices. The finest selection of crockery ever opened in the province, and s.l3ih" sale Offers ahr,opportunity to balers throughput the district to secure bargains in all lines. ‘ See advertisement.

'j 'i'he Secretary of the / local Band and Flaxmills’ ,Employees Union, .who left Foxtpn. for Wellington for a few days, about a fortnight ago, has not returned. Members of,the above have been making anxious enquiries for him, and strange rumours are afloat. The Flaxmills Union will appoint a new secretary at, its .'meeting, .to-night

Mr E. J. Baldwin, who,‘ was a member of the. literary staff of; the “ National Advocate, ’’- a leading provincial New South Wales journal, is appresent residing with •Mr Barber, at Himitangi. y jMr Baldwin is travelling though-''blew Zealand and picking up information in regard to our colonial life, with a view; we-understand, of reprod being his impressions in some of the Australian journals.

The Chairman of the Manawatu County Council proceeded to. Wellington at the early part of this week and consulted Mr Fulton re the Whirokino bridge. Mr Fulton; informed the Chairman that -the strainers for the bridge could not be procured in New Zealand, and the Chairman authorised ■ the.m v to be forwarded without delay; ’from Sydney. The Council- has arranged that no unnecessary'delay shall take place in tanking the bridge safe for heavy traffic.

“Truancy is the first step to criminality, the first rung in the ladder,” said Mr Widdowson to an erring mother at the Dunedin Police Court. A batch of truancy cases was before the Court, and various excuses were offered to explain the cause of the backsliding. “It is very necessary,” said the Magistrate, “that parents should see that their children are kept off the streets. It is an absurd thing that the Court should have to force people to educate their children;”

Dr McDonald, a Socialist who addressed a meeting of workers in the Trades Hall, at Wellington, on Thursday evening, in pointing out that equality of opportunity was not real equality, gave expression to some sentiments of a somewhat extraordinary nature. He affirmed that Anarchy was the only system of true equality. There must be total communism, when all private ownership must vanish, when taxes would be withheld, and when Governments could only continue by the aid of the. voluntary contributions of fools.

A lady from the interior of Otago was lately residing for a fehoift time in the neighbourhood of"' Shag Point. Hearing one afternoon that a meeting of the Christian Endeavour : Society was to be held that evening in the local hall, she, with a lady comrade, duly repaired to the,place of meeting. On approaching the building '(says the Palmerston Times) they found it pervaded with a quiet religious calm., Cautiously they opened the door and entered ; but the enthusiastic endeavourers were struck by the absence of ladies; Only men, to the number of thirty were present. The visitors felt something was amiss ; and the explanation soon came, when they were invited to come forward and study more closely the latest tactics in scrum formation. It was the weekly practice night of the local football club.

Mr Felix Tanner, of “ ark,’ fame has just successfully come through a twenty-one days’ fast at Christchurch. Interviewed afterwards, he said : “I believe that fasting, prolongs life. I have never had a day’s sickness, and have not troubled the doctors in my thirty-three years of adventure; and I never felt healthier than I do to-day. If the people, would only lake up the idea of fasting for even three .days every year, they would find, that the doctors would have a great deal less work to do. There is no danger in fasting if you are careful what you, eat at the end of the fast.

King; Edward is a tiiligerit collector of Walking-sticks, matchboxes, caricatures,' and model ships. His collection of canes numbers nearly two thousand,.and the most of these.have remarkable (associations. A stick very highly prized by the King is one .used by ‘£)ueen Victoria *in her closing years. It is made from a portion of the .oak in whose boughs Charles' 11. concealed himself after his defeat by Cromwell at Worcester. A young man named Leopold Muir appeared before the Police at Auckland. The Sub-Inspector stated that defendant arrive! from Wellington on Thursday. He had threatened to shoot a certain young lady on his arrival here, and was consequently met by the police and searched. A revolver, loaded in seven -chambers, was taken from him. The man was suffering from excessive drinking and was remanded for medical treatment.

A lady had an amusing experience in a Ponsonby car. The car was empty, with the exception of one man, and he was the reverse of the car. As she entered he rose, made her an unsteady, but magnificent bow, and said, “ Madam, please be kind enough to accept tbisplashe.” - Rather than offend the man, there was nothing else for her to do, so she thanked him and sat down. And for seven' blocks he hung from the straps, swaying in the breeze, with not a soul in the car. but the two. The lady says that frequently she is taken for other women, but never before had anyone thought she was a car-full.

Representatives from the various branches of the New. Zealand Railway . Officers’ Institute met in conference in-Wellington recently, and during - the week’s sitting which ensued a large number of questions affecting, the welfare of officers' of 'the Railway Service were discussed. The members comprising the Conference subsequently waited upon the Minister for Railways (Hon. Mr Hall-Johes) and urged upon him the desirableness of granting a universal eight hour day to stationmasters and member of the clerical division, together with an amendment of the Classification Act in the direction of more adequate;remuneration being given for the services performed by the staff as a whole, the requirements of the Service having considerably increased of late years. The Minister gave the deputation a sympathetic hearing, and promised to give their requests every consideration, , stating, in regard to hours of duty, that he was averse to anyone .being required to work unduly long hours. At . a subsequent interview which the members of the Conference had with the General Manager, numerous questions of interest to both the Management and members of the Service were thoroughly discussed.