LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXI, Issue 454, 29 April 1909, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Subscribers are reminded that the Hkkai.d quarterly accounts are issued, and we should esteem as a favour prompt settlement of same.*

The Mayor of Timaru (Mr Jas. Craigie, M.P.) has a wheat farm at Kingsdown, and last week he sold his crop of 6000 bushels at 4s 6d, delivered in Timaru. This is believed to be a tecord price in the Dominion this year.

The latest school howler ! The comic opera Rip Van Winkle, recently played in New Zealand, made a deep impression upon the mind of a small boy attending a local school, and when the lady teacher inquired of a lower class the meaning of the sombre initials R.1.P., this little spark of genius excitedly raised a grimy paw, and faltered, “ Rip Van Winkle, miss!” And then the play-hour bell rang violent]}’.

An amusing incident occurred at a fishing camp at Muripara (Canterbury). The campers subsisted chiefly on tinned foods, and always gave what was left to the Maoris who constantly hung about the ‘ camp. Among the impedimenta of the party was a phonograph, which was turned on one evening much to the delight and wonder of the assembled natives, who had never heard one before. After the last record had been run through, one of the party said to the Maoris, “ What do you think of it.” The answe was, ‘‘By korry, he dere. Kapa the tinned Pakeha! ”

A well-known Parisian botanist, recently back from Chili, has discovered a very remarkable plant that not only breathes, but coughs and sneezes. The least grain of dust on one of its leaves (says the botanist), or even a passing gust of wind, is enough to affect its sensitive system, and provokes a “ fit of coughing.” The leaf at once becomes red, seems to be shaken with convulsions at regular intervals, and emits a sound very much like a sneeze. The botanist vouchsafes no further information on his amazing discovery.

A drunk pleaded not guilty (says an exchange) notwithstanding that he admitted having disposed of eleven long glasses of beer on the previous day. ‘‘l can drink eleven long beers any day without getting drunk,” commented the defendant, in a reassuring- tone. Evidence was given by the police as to the accused’s condition, and accused then admitted that he must have been a little drunk. He was convicted and fined ss, as it was his first offence.

Broken Hill has got into the habit of having Labour Mayors, and, in conformity with its one-man-one-job creed, it refuses to allow its Mayor to do anything else while he is mayoring on a salary. Just at present, the Bulletin says, the distressful mining town has anti-capital in a severe form, and in order to show that Jack is a darned sight better than his master it dredged up the roughest diamond in the party, and made him head of the city. Council meetings have since then become quaint affairs. “But, Mr Mayor,” one mildly protesting alderman started the other day. “ Here none of that funny business,” said Mr Mayor—“none of ‘ your Worships’ or ‘ Mr Mayors ’ for me.” He proceeded to show that he was going to practice what he preached by addressing his Council as “ You blokes,” and that has now settled down to the general form of address.

They say it happened in North Queensland, and that the person up before the court was a peripatetic journalist who wandered about the country editing small country papers in his sober moments. He was charged with drunkenness and vagabondage, and was very indignant. “lam a man of letters,” he said. “ I may be poor, but what of Savage, who once had to content himself with a bed of ashes without the sackcloth ? I may be dirty, but Edgar Allan Poe was not always too par- : ticular in this respect. I am not more ragged than Oliver Goldsmith ; Steele vvas as hard a drinker as I, and Sam Johnson as poor, and insanitary.” “ That will do,” cried the Bench; “we wish to hear nothing about your low associates. Doubtless they are all as bad as yourself, but we intend to inflict a punishment on you that will be a warning to the individuals you have mentioned, and induce them to give this locality a wide birth. You are sentenced to three months without the option, 1 trust the inspector will look upi the other vagabonds mentioned . at the earliest moment.” Never mind the why or wherefore, You’ve a nasty cold, and, therefore, That it’s time your health to rare for Vou must surely recognise. Let not old-time drugs enslave you, Or the pills that grand-ma gave you. Woods’ Great Peppermint Cure will save you From a premature demise. X.

A number of tbe municipal candidates return thanks elsewhere in this issue.

Taranaki does not think the State expert is no use. Speaking at the annual meeting of the Taranaki Agricultural Society, Mr H. J. Gilbert complained that Taranaki was being neglected by Government experts. Other districts had lectures on fruitgrowing and other industries connected with the land, but in Taranaki the experts just popped in tor a day and left again, without imparting any information to anybody.

A Canadian farmer, writing to the Farmers’ Advocate, one of the leading agricultural papers of that dominion, gives a cure for abortion. He states that he has had the very best of success in treating cows for this scourge. His method is to pour crude carbolic acid over salt and give the cows access to it at all times. He has not only cured chronic abortion among his own cows, but has treated several for his neighbours, and has bought others that were persistent aborters which have become regular breeders. The remedy is simple, and is endorsed by the veterinary fraternity, and the Farmers’ Advocate has no hesitation in recommending it, as it has seen the good effects of carbolic acid administered in different ways to cows that persistently aborted.

A young lady travelling to Auckland on th- 3 Main Trunk line bad an unpleasant experience one nigbt recently. She was endeavouring to sleep and was suddenly aroused by a loud crash, and found that she was smothered in broken glass, a piece of which went about a quarter of an inch into her face. Inquiries showed that a honeymoon couple had been enjoying some harmless midnight refreshments, and the new-made “hubby,” after draining a lemonade bottle, hurled it into the darkness, thinking it would drop clear of the train. But the train happened to be passing through a cutting and the bottle had rebounded on to the window of the succeeding car, with the alarming result already stated. The lady forgave the bridegroom, but the guard made him pay 15s for the carriage window.

The inquest on the body of the unfortunate cripple, Charles Hood, who died while being taken from Palmerston to Wanganui Gaol on Friday, to serve a three months’ sentence for vagrancy, revealed a painful history. Born in gaol 25 years ago, Hood seems to have been one of those whose prospects were hopeless right from the very beginning. He had been a frequent inmate of the gaols, having been convicted of theft and vagrancy. When arrested in Palmerston, be had just walked from Levin, sleeping out for two nights, and then giving himself up as a vagrant. He was ordered to Wanganui for three months’ imprisonment, but collapsed at the station, and died while being taken to a doctor. The medical evidence was to the effect that death was due to pneumonia. Deceased might have been unaware of his condition, and was generally in a feeble, ill-nourished state. A verdict that death was due to natural causes was returned.

“ A few days ago,” writes a correspondent to the Post, ‘‘my little boy came rushing into the house clasping in his hand some money which he had found on the pavement on his way home from school, and exclaiming about his good fortune. Although the amount involved was not great, it was absolutely necessary to inculcate the facts that money gained without personal effort was not justly his, and that anything found was a trust bringing with it the responsibility of finding the owner and restoring it. With this end in view, I made him watch the ‘Dost’ column of The Post, and I took him to the police station to report his find. Then, finally, we put an advertisement in the Post. This notice had the immediate effect of showing that a considerable number of people were searching for money “lost, stolen, or strayed.” There were nine replies and one of them was most pathetic. It came from a woman, .who could ill afford her loss, which was a “purse with £i in gold and a little under £i in silver, and a piece of paper with the words ‘From father and the boys.’ ” Is it possible to imagine a person mean enough to retain such a find ? The losses totalled over £2B in cash, and two return tickets to Dunedin (train and steamer) as well as minor articles of value. The principal sufferers are women, whose absence of adequate supply of pockets lands them in a loss of money, though they are commonly credited with a capacity for looking after their cash. “I am not at all surprised,” stated Inspector Ellison to the enquirer, “at the number of replies you had to the advertisement, considering the careless manner in which purses are carried and often left forgotten in shops, trams, ferry steamers, and other places. None of the purses mentioned in the letters you enclose have been handed to the police.” For Children's Hacking Cough at night, Woods’ Great Peppermint Cure, Is 6d and 2s Gd. Mrs Hamer, of the Economic, has just landed a large consignment of magnificent and autumn and winter goods, comprising dress materials, millinery, etc. The quality is unsurpassed, and the prices are exceptionally low, as Mrs Hamer desires to keep down her stoek, in view of quitting the business. Call early and see the wonderful display at the Economic before purchasing elsewhere.*