LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXI, Issue 452, 13 March 1909, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

+ Welcome rain commenced to fall in this direct yesterday morning, and again to-day. Under the age limit Mr R. Gardener, District Valuer, Palmerston North, will retire at the end of the current month. Messrs Hatrick and Co’s, wellknown accommodation house at Pipiriki has been destroyed by tire. It is to he rebuilt immediately.

Covering the time the Sandoiv Carnarvon tramway has been in existence, two per cent on the tota expenditure oi ,£25,000 has been earned.

A special meeting of the Borough Council will be held on Monday evening next, to consider further steps required in the matter ot a petition re reducing the area of the borough, and general.

Wednesday was the first day for the religious instruction conducted by the Rev. G. Y. Woodward, in All Saints’ Church. About 20 children attended on the first morning, and on Friday the number was 25, This is indeed an excellent opportunity for our little ones, the early hour being advantageous, for then the children are fresh, and begin the day well. Parents should do all in their power to encourage this work, for its success very largely depends upon them.

“ Striking character sketch of the Hon. J. A. Millar, Minister for Railways, appears in the current issue of The Citizen, the breezy Wellington fortnightly. The writer says:—“ It is a cheering sign of the times —this recognition of Mr Millar as the coming man. He has not won it by any pandering to class feeling, by any smooth concessions, by any sort of humbug whatsoever. He has earned it by doing just what the mere time-serving politician cannot do. ‘ I may have to raise the railway fares,’ he says and the crowd cheers. ‘ I may have to shorten hands,’ —and they cheer again. " I am going to take off trains that don’t pay,’—more applause. ‘ You can’t have a station between Ngaio and Kalwarra’— and they say he is to be the next Premier.”

The monthly meeting of the managers of the local Presbyterian Church was held on Thursday night. Present: Rev G. K. Aitken (chairman), and Messrs Alex Speirs, T. Henderson, McCall, Hornblow, Clarice, Mowatt and Rae-Howard (secretary). The financial statement was considered satisfactory. It was decided to allow the Good Templars the use of the right-of-way to their building at an annual rental of is and on condition that the hall could be used free of cost on Sunday afternoon for Sunday School purposes. It was decided to arrange an exchange of pulpits with the Rev Budd, of Feildiug at an early date, and also to hold a social on the first Monday in April. Other routine business was transacted and the meeting rose.

Splendidly as the Review of Reviews for Australasia always deals with current events, it has rarely exceeded in interest the March number, which is just to hand. The article which will attract most readers as soon as they open the number is that on ‘‘The Conquest of the Air,” the title of which explains itself. It deals with airships in a most up-to-date manner, and is illuminated by eighteen splendid illustrations. It gives the history of air-machines from the earliest to the most recent, and is most instructive and informing. The next article of size and interest is a splendid character sketch entitled “ The History of the New Era in India.” One rises from reading it with a feeling that he has made a close acquaintance with the forces which are moulding Indian history to-day. A noteceable feature of it is the number of world-wide questions which are dealt with. The Book of the Month is “ The Power of Things Unseen.” “ Why does the being we call a ‘gentleman,’ ” asks Mr Frank Crane in the January number of the Atlantic Monthly, “ wear around his neck a band of spotless whiteness and unbearable stiffness, at his wrists similar instruments of torture, and before his chest a rigidly starched linen plate ? No one outside a madhouse would call these articles of apparel agreeable. There is for the custom, no reason at all drawn from comfort, hygiene, or Usefulness. There is, however, the ghost of a dead reason. Once upon a time a ‘ gentleman was presumed to do no work, and he dressed to show this by putting on these visible signs that he never soiled his hands, sweated his neck, or bent his noble back. It matters not that we no longer believe in this definition of a gentleman ; we did believe it once ; its ghost rules on. No man is bold enough to appear in society without this impossible harness. Only a professional humorist, like Mark Twain, or someone who wishes to pose as a mild lunatic, dares rebel.”

Owing to the inclement weather the Presbyterian Sabbath School picnic to have teen held in the Park to-day had to be abandoned. The youngsters are having a good time in the hall.

Third-rate picture shows, are at present touring the smaller towns of the Dominion, and the public are getting heartily sick of the business. The programmes consist of out-of-date pictures and breakdowns.

The New Zealand Championship Belt has been won by Tieut. Duncan, of the Millerton Rifles, Corp. Patrick of the Victoria Rifles, Auckland, was runner up, Q.M.S. Shaw, of Auckland, was third.

Mr A. Seifert has been asked by the Palmerston North Chamber of Commerce to read a paper dealing with the legislative enactments now in force in reference to the hemp industry, at a conference of Chambers of Commerce to be held at Wellington at an early date.

“A number of our teachers think they are little tin gods, and when they get a cane in their hands they don’t know when to stop. 1 think there is no need for a great deal of punishment that takes place in our schools. No doubt some pupils will not work unless they are punished, but the trouble seems to be to get teachers who will use the necessary discretion.”—Mr Pirani, speaking at the Kducation Board on Thursday on the question ofrorporeal punishment in schools.

A correspondent asks why the Mayor was not invited to be present at the recent railway extension conference. In reply we may state that the conference was arranged between the Marton, Kevin and local Chambers, and no mention was made at the meeting suggesting the conference, of inviting outside representatives. A special invitation was extended to Cr McKenzie, of the Manawatu County Council, because he has been a leading spirit in the movement. That the Mayor was not invited was an oversight and we feel sure that no slight was intended to his Worship by the Council of the Chamber.

A number of people residing up the Avenue have been experiencing a good deal of annoyance recently at the hands of a small band of young hooligans. The programme carried out has been as follows: A Jack-o’-lantern, hidious at that, has been propped up in some prominet position near the door of a dwelling; the inmates have been called out per medium of a nick-knocking arrangement at the door. The sight of an illuminated pumpkin made to represent a skull; perched on a pole, is not the best tonic for nervous people. Two young ladies were very upset. The police raided the youngsters last night and seized their apparatus—the trophy is now on view at the police station. The ringleader, who is a terror to the neighbourhood, was severely cautioned and otherwise dealt with, which it is hoped will have the effect of putting a stop to these foolish nocturnal tricks.

The Hon. A. W, Hogg says the Roads Department is very active just now, and is spending a lot of money, principally,in the back-blocks of the North Island. In the South Island there is a fair : amount of money being spent on roads and bridges, in Nelson, Westland and Southland. Parlia- ’ ment gave the Roads Department two main votes this year. One was a special back-block vote of ; ,£250,000. This sum will all be expended. The main vote for roads was ,£283,000, and the amount expended will be pretty ■ close up to that. Although the ; sum set down in the Estimates ; was ,£385,000, the total amount re- . quired for the current year is only ,£283,000, In addition to that there is ,£50,000 under the Loans to Local Bodies Account, Then there is the tourist roads vote of ,£30,000. These votes will be practically all expended. The total expenditure upon roads and bridges up to the end of this month, that is, the end of the financial year, will be about ,£450,000. Allowing for the usual expenditure for the following three months, the total expenditure for twelve months ending June 30th will be ,£570,000. The following depositions of Mr McGonagle, killed at Marton last Saturday, were read at the inquest yesterday : “ About a quarter to 8 on Saturday evening last I was putting a railway jigger into a van which was standing on the Main Trunk siding at Marton. I put the jigger in from the station platform, and had just done so when an engine, a couple of carriages, and another van backed into it with great force, and I was knocked down between the van and the platform. I knew that they were going to shunt into my van, but I did not see the carriages and van actually approaching. Trotter, who was relieving me at Rata, had requested me to send him the jigger to come home to Marton on. I did it to oblige Trotter. Ido not know who was in charge of the engine. The shunting was not done carefully. Sometimes there are a lot of buffers broken there. I cannot say whether the shunter knew or not thatL was in the van, nor whether the engine-driver knew it. I was doing porter’s work a month at Marton. I have been eight months tablet porter. I was stooping when the accident happened.” There was a young lady in Paris, Who called herself Arabella Clarice, She looked awfully neat on the top of a seat Of a bicycle called Massey Harris. WOLFE’S SCHNAPPS stands preeminent among stimulants and cordials.