LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXI, Issue 449, 30 January 1909, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

At the Thorndon Station last night Gorge A. Watkins, a shunter, was run over and instantly killed. Mrs Walsh, a resident of Weraroa, died at the Otaki Hospital while under chloroform on Thursday morning. Mr P. J. Heunessy was nominated yesterday for a seat ou the Foxton Harbour Board by Messrs R. Moore and Hornblow. Mrs Eggers, of Upper Montere, Nelson, was thrown out of her trap on Thursday afternoon through her hoise shieing at a motor car. She died from shock. Mr E. Healey, chemist, returned to Foxton from an extended visit to Auckland and district on Thursday. He reports having spent a right royal time and feels greatly benefitted by the change. \

All the State Schools iu the district re-open on Monday.

Great dissolution sale at Watchorn Stiles’ and Co.’s on Saturday, January Ibth. Remember, for 14 days only.* Railway excursion fares to Feilding are advertised elsewhere in this issue.

Persons requiring Indian and Ceylon silk and lace goods, samples of which were recently displayed in Foxton, can obtain same by applying to Mr Terrace, Wellington. Complaints have been made to the police by several residents against boys throwing stones and smashing windows. Parents would do well to warn their children of the consequences of such a fool ish pastime. The death occurred on Wednesday morning at Halcombe, of Mr Robert Ifintou, aged 84 years. He was one of the oldest settlers in Ihe district. He leaves a family of grown-up sons and daughters. Our Moutoa correspondent writes:—Mr W. S. Carter is cutting foxtail and rye grass seed on a large scale, and even tall fescue seed is being harvested in this district for the Australian market. It is becoming very popular in Australia as a drought resisting grass.

The following prisoners were sentenced in the Dunedin Supreme Court yesterday morning : —Oscar Kossub, breaking and entering, two years ; Robert Walter Sibermau, twelve mouths ; Thomas Patrick Flynn, two charges of bigamy, five years. The Railway by-law, which provides that the maximum weight of any sack containing wheat, barley, or oats to be carried by the railways shall be aoolbs., will come into operation on Monday, February 1. Alter that date any sack in excess of zoolb. will be charged four times the ordinary freight. Mr Edmund Montgomery is bringing a very strong attraction to Foxton on Thursday evening next, in the Harmonious Huxhams, the musical’ comedy trio of whom so much has been heard. Full particulars will be published in our next issue.

At Invercargill on Wednesday night, the police again raided Poffs’ Carrier’s Arms Hotel in Dee Street, and seized a quantity of liquor. About the same time another posse of police made a similar search of Mrs McAuliffe’s Shamrock Hotel in Spey Street, and there also liquor was seized. Prosecutions will probably follow. The Rev. Mr Mairs and MrM. H. Walker returned from the Auckland Province on Wednesday last, where they attended the Methodist Conference and subsequently spent an enjoyable time visiting the pleasure resorts. Mr Walker states that the grazing country he passed through was not to be compared with the dairying country in this province. He stated that a number of bush townships along the Main Trunk Dine should have a bright future before them.

Oue great feature of the garden party to be held on Wednesday next, will be the potato competition ; a prize will be given for the three best potatoes exhibited. The exhibits will be placed, upon a table and the competitors will place their names in an envelope beneath their potatoes. After the judging is over, the winners will only be known when the envelope is opened. The exhibits will be collected and forwarded to All Saints’ Children’s Home, Palmerston North. All entries are free of charge.

Apparently the people of Petone and the Lower Hutt have accomplished nothing by their petition against the transfer of the Sisters of Mercy from their district to Wellington city. The congregations of the two boroughs combined to send a petition to the Pope in an endeavour to secure a modification of Archbishop Redwood’s decree, and it is understood the Sisters also sent a petition. The Vatican asked for explanations, and the verdict is that the Archbishop’s decision is supported by the Pope. The Archbishop has been so advised by cable.

A bright future, it would seem, is in store for Port Chalmers when the new dock is finished (says the Dunedin Evening Star). The old dock is altogether inadequate for the work offering at present. One vessel is no sooner finished than another is waiting to be floated in. An encouraging feature is the excellent work done by the local foundries. It is stated that work can be done quicker, better, and cheaper at Port than in any other town of New Zealand, some going so far as to say that Port is 25 per cent, cheaper than Sydney. A well-known Dunedin engineering firm is said to be on the look-out for a suitable site at Port on which to erect workshops. On the authority of the Thames Star,” which, where Mr McGowan is concerned, is believed to have special sources of information, it is now stated that it is an open secret that Mr McGowan’s retirement from the Ministry was brought about by a disinclination on his part to acquiesce in the transfer of portfolios, which have been held by him for some years. Mr McGowan has, the Star states, been the recipient of heaps of telegrams, particularly from the goldfields districts, and on the West Coast of the Middle Island, expressing surprise and regret at his withdrawal from the Ministry. It is his intention to visit his old constituency shortly, but he has not yet made up his mind as to whether his permanent headquarters shall be Auckland or Wellington.

At the last meeting of the Feilding Borough Council the appointment of a representative on the Foxton Harbour Board was held over “in order to obtain further information.’’

The services in the Methodist Church to-morrow, both morning and evening, will be conducted by the Rev. P, J. Mairs, who will lake for his subject at. the latter service, “ A True Reformer.”

We hear (says the Wanganui Chronicle) that a warrant has been issued for the arrest of a wellknown local land agent, who is said to have left these shores.

King Kdward and Queen Alexandra—who are to visit the Kaiser at Berlin during the second week iu February—will visit the Queen of Spain at Villagarcia, a port, of North-Western Spain, at the end of February, King Edward is granting a charter to establish a Royal British Radium Institute, which will include a medical department for the treatment of disease. A syndicate has been formed to obtain radium from Cornish mines.

A peculiar coincidence in connection with the cricket match played at Himilangi last Wednesday was the fact that in the Foxton team were two fathers and their sons, viz, W. Bullard and L. Bullard, William Nyeaud W. Nye jnr.

The man who discovered Cripple Creek, the world’s greatest gold camp, and sold his claim for is living on charity at Colorado Springs, and a subscription for his relief has been started. The camp has yielded ,£59,500,000 in gold since 1891. The Wellington Post says that the heads of departments in the Government service have received a memo from the Cabinet stating that the rule as to retirement of officials at 65 years is to be enforced. If the instruction is carried out it will mean the retirement from the service of a number of prominent officials.

A champion mean act was perpetrated on an old age pensioner the other day in the neighbourhood of Christchurch. The old man was quietly smoking his pipe, when three young men rode up on cycles. One of them asked for a pipe of tobacco, and the old man handed him three parts of a stick. The young man coolly slipped it into his pocket and rode off. As a result of the inquiry at Sydney, into the running down of H.M.S. Encounter’s pinnace by the steamer Dunraore, causing the death of 15 bluejackets, the Court of [lnquiry—which held that Captain Hansen, of the Dunmore, did not keep a proper lookout —suspended Captain Hansen’s certificate for 12 months.

A correspondent writes from the French Pass; “In one of your late issues I notice an extract from the Nelson Mail regarding rabbits on D’Urville Island. ‘Rabbits,’! feel certain, is a misprint for ‘ rats,’ for, whereas there is not a rabbit on the island (and I feel certain there never has been), yet for the past six months the island has been plagued with rats.’’—Dominion.

Mr Haszard, Government surveyor, has found in the sand near Mercury Bay an old Maori workshop for the making of stone implements, including an anvil and axes in various stages of manufacture. In addition, he found ovens in which cannibal feasts had been cooked. Many of the bones discovered had been split by the feasters in order to get out the marrow. The find was made near Wharetawa pah, where about 1800 of the Ngatihei tribe were slaughtered by the Ngatitamatera tribe.

Some small boys struck a patch at Mata Creek, in the Thames district, last week. They were (says the Thames Star) bathing and enjoying themselves in other ways, when one of them picked up a stone that appeared to shine more than the others. “ Throw it away,” said one of his companions ; “ it’s no good.” “ I’m going to show it to father anyhow,” said the cautious finder, and it was well he did so, for the stone proved to be a nice little nugget of gold. On previous occasions alluvial gold has been found in the Mata district, and old prospectors say to this day that a valuable find will yet be made on,the ranges along which the river winds its course.

Garrotting is a memory of the past now-a-days, but the escapee from the Terrace Gaol, Archibald J. M’Neil, is the nightmare of the timid, in Wellington, says the Dominion. Since the escape of the prisoner the police have had various urgent calls to different parts of the suburbs to locate M’Neil, but, in every instance, fancy has played tricks with nervous citizens, and investigation has shown that there was no foundation for the rumour. Two frolicsome females caused ter*... ror to a male heart in an establishr ment in Aurora Terrace on Tuesday night by dressing up a dummy and placing it in a man’s bedroom. When the occupant of the room was about to retire he saw the sup- . posed man in his bed, and, without waiting to investigate, locked . the door on the outside and rushed . off violently in search of a policeman. The policeman arrived in due course, and visions of a brilliant capture vanished when the, originators of the joke made their timid confession and asked for forgiveness for the trouble which they had given the officer. M’Neil is still at la rge.

Attractive money values at the clearance of summer stock at the Bon Marche sale to-day. C. M. Ross and Coy. mean a clean sweep of all seasonable goods. Somebody will- get the benefit—why not you