LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXI, Issue 450, 18 February 1909, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL .

Great bargains in drapery, millinery, and sunshades are announced for this week at the Bon March Palmerston, It will pay buyers to see these parting prices. *

A number of men are now employed on the Moutoa drainage works. The scene of operations at present is at the main drain outlet near the bend of the Wbirokino road.

Peaches are reported to be very plentiful this year throughout the Manawatu. A local grower, Mr Hughes, had such a prolific crop on one tree, that the branches were broken off by reason of the weight of fruit, above the props. Before they left the engine-room of the ill-fated Penguin the two engineers bade each other farewell —not knowing whether it would be for a few hours or for ever. “ Not a word was uttered,” said Mr Luke. “The chief and I clasped each other’s hands, and we looked straight into each other’s eyes. That was all. We then went up on deck. I never saw the poor old chief again.” Speaking of the wreck of the Penguin, a well - known Government official said that the disaster was another strong argument in favour of fitting vessels wiih wireless telegraph apparatus. “Had the vessel been fitted with an instrument and been able to communicate with the shore or passing ships much of the appalling loss of life might have been averted.” He said it was high time that the Government had stations on the coast, and that vessels were fitted with instruments. The cost would be as nothing compared with the safety such an installation would ensure.

A letter addressed to “ Mrs Jane Davidson, Rieka Ticka, Wanganui, New Zealand,” and posted at Ellon, Scotland, has been handed to the Wanganui Herald by the Post Office officials, in accordance with a request that should the addressee have removed the letter be delivered to the nearest paper. The message in the letter is as follows: —‘‘Mrs John Mathieson, Ellon, Aberdeenshire, is anxious to hear from her daughter Jane.” Will anyone who can give information of the whereabouts of Mrs Davidson kindly forward same to the office mentioned.

Sentences of ten years’ imprisonment with hard labour were passed by Mr Justice Cooper at Wellington on Saturday morning on each of the three convicted garroters—Edward Richard Black, John M'Cormick, and William Neil. In passing sentence His Honour said: “It may be necessary, if these outrages continue, to inflict, in addition to a long terra of imprisonment, the grave punishment of flogging. However ineffective the punishment may be to the person suffering, it may prove a deterrent to lawless men haunting the cities of this Dominion.” Black is already serving a term of seven years for burglary. The new sentence will be concurrent, and at the end of it Black will be treated as ah habitual criminal.

A good story is told against a one • time inspector of noxious weeds in the Auckland district. He was a bit of a hobbyist, and dabbled in flowers. One day he told another hobby-hunting individual that he had a rare plant in his conservatory. No one had been able to tell him its species. He described it, and named the flower and foliage in highly scientific terms. His friend was interested, and readily fell in with the suggestion that he should go along and see the plant. One glance was enough. The inspector had never been in Taranaki, but the other man had, and he instantly recognised the very fine specimen of ragwort that the other had been carefully tending !

Wolke’s Schnaits —A tonic tha has stood the tost of years.

M r A Cave of Rongotea, has first- - class bricks for sale on truck at Rongotea siding, £2 15sper 1000.

Mr Yerex advertises an invitation to the individual who removed a bicycle pump from his machine. At Ashhurst, this morning, the business premises of Mr Clarke (late Kirkham) were totally destroyed by fire.

A special meeting of the Manawatu Flaxmills Employees Union is advertised to take place in the Old Council Chambers on Saturday next, 2olh inst,, at 8 p.m. “ Speaking from a great and comprehensive knowledge, based 011 56 years of travel and observation, 1 have not the slightest hesitation in predicting that, with the opening of the Panama and the Auckland canals, Auckland within the next fifty years, will rank as one of the greatest cities of the world.” The foregoing is an extract from a letter forwarded by Mr W. Hawker to the Auckland Harbour Board.

By the Turakina, which arrived in Wellington on Sunday, 250 immigrants arrived. Of this number 70 were ‘‘assisted,” and of these 70, twenty-one were nominated by relatives in the Dominion, and have work to go to, and homes already prepared. Fourteen of the seventy are children. The total declared capital of the “assisteds” is ,£1431 ; one man has one has and two have £IOO each. There are among the number n farmers, 10 farm labourers, 14 domestics and one dairymaid.

The Methodist Church advertise their sale of work for Wednesday and Thursday next. The Mayor of Foxtou has been asked to open the function at 3 p.m. The ladies of the Sewing Guild have been busy for some time making up a large number of useful and fancy articles, which should find a ready sale. There will be the following stalls: plain and fancy, produce, lolly, and refreshments ; also a shooting gallery and various competitions. On the second evening a miscellaneous programme of vocal and instrumental items will be provided, also a dialogue entitled “ Scene at a Railway Station.” The affair will be held in the Sunday school, at the rear of the church.

Speaking at the gathering held at Hawera on Friday night to celebrate the Opposition victory in Taranaki at the last election, Mr Newman, M.P., in proposing “The Army and Navy,” said in xo years two millions had been spent in New Zealand on defence, and the outstanding feature of the present time was the Dominion’s absolute unpreparedness. We were within thrre days’ steam of 300 million people antagonistic -y* by sentiment, instinct, origin and v religious, who were excited by our restrictive laws. He strongly advocated military training, but said compulsory conscription as understood in Kurope would never do here. The Government had been very remiss, and after being 20 years in office our defence was no better. Not a port could defend itself against a single battleship. His Honor Mr Justice Cooper expressed a great deal of surprise when a respectable farmer and butcher residing at- Masterton swore positively in the Wellington Supreme Court on Thursday last that fifty out of every one hundred butchers made it a practice to remove the ears from sheepskins. “ Why !” exclaimed his Honor, “that is distinctly a breach of the Slaughtering Act, which applies equally to sheep that have - been butchered or sheep that have been found dead. In neither case must the ears or earmarks be interfered with, and it is an offence even to be found in possession of a sheepskin from which the ears have been removed. Evidently many honest farmers, under a misapprehension as to the provisions of the law, have brought themselves within its operation, and the penalty is heavy—no less than !” New Zealand has doubled her population in about 23 years. It has taken longer to do the same thing in Australia, and between them —with all Australia’s vast rich spaciousness and New Zealand’s wonderful concentration of human opportunities—they have less than six millions of people ! The fact (says the Sydney Daily Telegraph) is anything but a comfortable one to think of, but it is necessary to cite it as a reminder of the work that has to be done—perhaps we should say begun—in peopling this country, if only for its safety's sake. We have a too low birth rate, and the immigration is exasperatingly slow by comparison with what ought to be its pace looking at the thousands of emigrants who leave Great Britain and the Continent every week.

Complaints sometimes-reach New Zealand of the way in which frozen meat cargoes are handled < at London. According to an —' officer for many years engaged in Home boats, it is at this end the trouble takes place. Loading under difficulties in open roadsteads from lighters is often attended with damage to the carcase. In a heavy swell the slings may knock against the side of the ship and upset the equilibrium of the frozen mutton. Then, says the Post, carcases tumble out of the canvas into the hold, and the result is bruised flesh and broken shanks. Hence the complaints. * The handling at London, says the Post’s informant, is above reproach. Two New Zealanders—Wairarapa settlers—who recently visited the • Old Country and saw the method of handling the frozen mutton when being unshipped, state 'it - was -handled in a most disgraceful and careless manner*, ~ i

Alterations to the PalmerstonFoxton railway time - table are advertised in this issue.

In the case of Thomas J. Carter, charged at the present sitting of the Supreme Court, Palmerston, with stealing 41 rams, the property of Lachlan McKenzie, and receiving same, the jury brought in a verdict of not guilty ou both counts, Herbert Bergstrom, charged with stealing 209 sheep, was found guilty and sentenced to 18 months’ imprisonment.

A Maori had an exhibit of a sow and litter at the Horowhenua show on Wednesday. He was of a strong sporting turn of mind for he thought more ot the speed at which they could travel than of their condition, They certainly had no superfluous flesh on them, which no doubt accounted for the fact that he brought the sow and ten of her litter of thirteen the four miles to the show in threequarters of an hour ! The native boasted that he could drive the family to Masterton in a day.

By advertisement appearing on the first page, Mr George Fowler announces that he has opened a cycle depot in Perreau’s Buildings, where the celebrated Red Bird and Massey Harris machines may be purchased. Mr Fowler has had a practical knowledge of cycle engineering extending over a period of nine years, and repairs entrusted to him will receive prompt attention. An enamelling oven and brazing forge is being fitted up, which will obviate the necessity of sending machines out of the town to be overhauled. Anyone requiring a machine would do well to first consult Mr Fowler, who is the only practical cycle expert in Foxton. A remarkable meeting took place at Camperdown (Victoria) last week. A stranger walked into the hairdressing saloon of Mr J. W. Moore for a shave. Mr Moore who served in the war in South Africa, recognised his customer as a Boer, and the man’s accent brought back the memorable night attack at Wilmansrust, when the shouts, in a similar accent, awakened Mr Moore and his comrades to the fact that they were the victims of a surprise raid. In the conversation which ensued Mr Moore ascertained that his cixstomer, a young Boer from Pretoria, had served in commandos against which Mr Moore’s regiment had fought. The visitor is making a tour of Australia, after which he intends going through Canada.