LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXI, Issue 456, 4 May 1909, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The annual communication of the Masonic Grand Dodge will take place at New Plymouth tomorrow. The installation of the most Worshipful the Grand Master Lord Plunket, and investiture of Grand Lodge officers will take place in the evening. The local lodge will be represented by Wor. Bro. Hornblow. For Chronic Chest Complaint l ) Woods' Great Peppermint Cure, Is 6d and 2s (id.

Constable Woods has asked us to warn sportsmen that pukaka and kaka are protected. By an inadvertance, the name of Mr W. Nye was omitted from the list of vestrymen in connection with All Saints’ Church, issued on Saturday.

The annual general meeting of the Foxton Hockey Club is advertised to take place in Mr Perreau’s rooms to-night. Bocal sports are meeting with a fair amount of success, and numbers of ducks are reported to have been shot.

At the local Police Court yesterday morning, before Alf. Fraser, Esq., J.P,, Otto Horig was fined ios for threatening behaviour on Saturday night. Mr Clement Wragge, meteorologist, states that a disturbance is approaching the south-western coast line of New Zealand- It will probably prove severe south from Nelson.

The Marine Department was advised yesterday that the wife of the lighthouse keeper at Stephens Island is suffering from scarlatina, and that some of the children ard sickening for it. Dr Pollen, the port health officer, and a trained nurse have been sent to the Island.

iThe Bishop of London states that when the Welsh Church grievance is boiled down it amounts to this; —That four Welsh Bishops sit in the House of Lords. “By all means, ”j said he, “ let lour stout Nonconformist ministers sit there also. It would be most interesting to hear the argument of both parties.” The promoters of the local volunteer corps have received a message from the Defence Department to the effect that the Hon. Minister of Defence is unable to recommend to His Excellency the Governor that the services of the proposed rifle corps be accepted. By reason of the lack of sympathy accorded the movement the corps has been knocked in the bead some months ago.

“It should not be forgotten said Mr H. Broadhead at the Chamber of Commerce Conference, in Wellington, “that under compulsory arbitration employers in New Zealand, unlike employers in most other parts of the world, have a double burden to bear. They have not only,' like ordinary mortals, to ‘grunt and sweat under a weary life’ to find a living for themselves and for those in their employment, but they have also to bear the worry and pains and penalties arising out of the administration of the Arbitration Act.”

The inspectors lor Nelson Education Board, in the course of their report, says: “ We] would advise the junior members of the profession to be very choice with the tone of their own English, as their modes and turns of expression are constantly before the children as models, and we have too frequently been surprised at the teacher’s mispronunciation of certain words selected from the children’s reading books. We should not consider it beneath the dignity of youthful teachers to be frequently found consulting a standard dictionary.’’ The English of the inspectors themselves is hardly above criticism: “Choice with the tone of’’ should have been blue pencilled.

The whole of the four medical men practising in Oamaru have signed the following statement, in view of the fact that committees from Australia and others visiting Oamaru to enquire into the working of No-license appear to have formed erroneous impressions, which reflect upon the drinking habits of the community ;—“ We think it advisable that our united experience should be made public. We find in making our continual visits to the homes of the people that there is no evidence to show that drinking in homes is more prevalent now than it was in licensed times. Our united experience shows that there is a decrease in cases treated which result from alcoholism. We are convinced that No-license has been a great benefit to this community from a moral and the health point of view.” Smokers (says the Sydney Morning Herald) will sympathetically follow Mr Mawsou’s account of how Dr. Mackay's tobacco ran short on the long journey to the South Magnetic Pole, In order not to be overloaded, an amount of tobacco had been taken which permitted of only one pipe a day, but during the first two weeks the supply ran out. Dr. Mackay then grew very despondent, and would sit looking disconsolately at his pipe. For a little time he managed to scrape up a flake or two of tobacco from a bag where he had spilt a small tin, but at length even the least shred was gone. There was nothing for it but to smoke tea-leaves. He begged for the old leaves from the boiling and re-boiling to which they had been subjected, and he was given what could be made no further use of. With great care he would dry them, flanging them out when the sun shone, and afterwards smoke them. When the tea-leaves were not to be obtained the doctor was equal to the crisis. He smoked the dried grass that was used for putting in the reindeer-skin boots, making the most ot his own, and begging what, he could from the others. He found the grass a satisfactory substitute for tobacco, and to a great extent it was his resourcefulness that enabled the party to reach a red-letter distinction in scientific history. For Children’s Hacking Gough at night, Woods’ Great Peppermint Cure, Is.§4 (W 48* 04, *

The choir at the Presbyterian Church is making good progress under the couductorship of Mr Wrigley. The anthems are much appreciated by the congregation. The boring operations for artesian water continue in the reserve at the north end of Main Street. Artesian water was obtained at a depth of 190 ft, but the water only rose to within 7ft of the surface. At a depth of 23ft a seam of gravel 12ft through was encountered. The bore is now down about 300 ft. An eruption on White Island was seen from the New Zealand Shipping Company’s steamer Kaipara, early on Thursday morning, during the passage from Auckland to Gisborne. A continuous stream of black smoke in which flames were distinctly seen rose from the Island.

Mr Glover, M.P., was really pathetic and other sorts of etic in taking leave of the Auckland City Council last week. Concluding his speech, he said: “This may be the last time I will ever sit in that chair, the last time my voice may ever be heard in this Chamber; but I ask you to sometimes think of the man who sat there for so many years and tried to do good service for the people. I wish you all peace, happiness, prosperity and contentment.”

Mr R. McNab believes in hobbies. At bis Timaru lecture on “ Wai Fouiiamu, 1791-1839,” which Tonus part of his historical work, he said be would like to see every man with a hobby. He was convinced that if a man’s attention was concentrated in a sufficiently small scope, in three years he could get to the outside of human knowledge. It was men who specialised who added to the world’s store of useful knowledge, and not the men who were generally well informed. Andrew Godbaz, the cab-driver who was tried before Mr Justice Chapman, on an indictment charging him with having assaulted Edward Arthur Coley, stablekeeper of Palmerston, so as to cause him actual bodily harm, and also, on a second count, with common assault, came up before his Honour again at Wellington on Saturday-and was sentenced to three mouths’ imprisonment, to count from the date of the trial. Godbaz will therefore be imprisoned for only a few weeks. The largest estate certified for probate duty during the month of April was that of Robert Maunsell (Wellington), ,£101,422. Other large amounts are : —'Wellington : Thomas Midgley £26,941, Anders Andersen £15,636, Emma Wixon £7200, Alex Mcßeth£so33, John Graham £5635. Auckland : Edward Conolly £18,362. Southland : Alexander Hamilton £5993. Otago; Ann Forsyth£s2s6. Taranaki: William J. Cleave £16,094. Christchurch : Henry J. Washbourne £13,791, William Eittle £7240, Samuel Coleman £6384, Daniel Gorrie £5445.

The calf which the stockraiser had taken the summer resident to see, surveyed his owner and the stranger with a weary eye. “Er —what breed is your calf?” asked the visitor. The farmer removed a wisp of straw from his mouth and said: ‘‘This critter’s father gored a justice of the peace, knocked a lightning rod agent end over end, and lifted a tramp over a picket fence, and as for his mother, she chased the whole of Banbury brass band out of town last Fourth of July, If that ain’t breed enough to pay 15s for, you can leave him be. I’m not pressing him on anybody.” The Greymouth correspondent of the Eytteltou Times writes: Mr Mr W. Eindop, of the Otira flaxmills, speaks more hopefully of the flax trade than anyone else has done recently, and produces figures to show that there it is increasing in value. ’ His latest returns from Wellington show that his merchants give him per ton for fair graded flax, and £22 for good fair grade, while the value of tow has gone up 15s a ton recently, being now worth a ton. These prices are f.o.b. at Wellington. It is to be hoped that a new era is about to set in with the flax, as it will afford employment for a number of hands profitably if these prices are maintained. A recent sample of dressed flax that he put through his hands measured, after scutching, 14ft 2iu in length, and was exhibited in Greymouth the other day as a specimen of what height the phormium teuax will attain in certain localities.

At a meeting of the Wellington Trades and Labour Council, Mr McLaren M.P., said if they devoted the time spent in wrangling to organising, they could have the forces of Labour in the city organised in twelve months, and throughout the district in two or three years. ‘‘As it is,” he continued, “I am afraid it will take us twenty years the way we are going along. We will have to kill the disorganisation which exists at present. A spirit of pure Anarchism has crept into the Labour movement here. The suggestion has been made that I should move on. But instead it might be said that there are men in the movement here who should move off, and move out altogether. It would be better for the movement if they did so, and then we would not waste our time wrangling with one another.”,,, No difinite step was taken regarding the appointment of an organiser. Dick and Jack Arnst we have heard, Rode to fame on the trusty Red Bird ; Now Jack tends his plows and punches his cows, ■\yhile Dick’s pace in a skiff’s not deferred.

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

“Rum,’’said Captain Seaton, the “ world walker” in his lecture at the Masterton Town Hall on Friday night, “was the cause of many soldiers’ lives being saved from the dread cholera. But,” quaintly remarked the Captain, “ the men who drank it on the occasion were otherwise teetotallers.”

The application for a special jury in the case of Stringer, K.C. v. John Norton, an action for damages for libel, was made to Mr Justice Denniston at Wellington yesterday. The libel was alleged to be contained in certain statements published by the defendant reflecting on the plaintiff in his capacity as Crown Prosecutor. Mr Skerrett, K.C., supported the application on the ground that as the articles reflected on a solicitor in his profes-ional capacity difficult questions, requiring expert knowledge, would arise. Mr Dunn opposed the application on the ground that no expert evidence or professional knowledge would be required and, further, that a special jury in Christchurch would not be impartial. His Honour s.iid he would take t ime to consider his decision.

An appeal was made on Sunday evening at All Saints’ Chinch, for subset iptions towards building a small church at the Beach. The Vicar and Churchwardens will be pleased to receive help from is upwards. A list has been posted up on the notice board in the Church, and it is hoped there will be a response. The sum required is about £BO. It is proposed later to get up a concert or play for this special purpose. The sum is not a very big one, and will easily be collected if all will help. No one would miss a shilling, and this readily given by many, will enable the Vicar to erect a little Church by next summer. We think the cause a good one, and strongly recommend lovers of the Beach to help the Vicar in his undertaking.

Those who went to school in bygone years and “wagged it” on nearly every possible occasion, must find it difficult to account for the regularity of boys of to-day, and will be interested in an explanation offered by the Chief Inspector of Schools in the Auckland district, who says that it is a matter of general remark that in recent years the traditional reluctance of young children to attend school has been steadily waning. “In very many of our schools,” continues the inspector, “the pupils attend gladly, and feel it a grievance if they are kept away. This is really a striking tribute to the growing efficiency of the elementary schools. The more skilful and sympathetic teaching that has been a feature of recent progress, and the growing mildness of control and government, largely due to the influence of our lady teachers, has greatly helped to bring this happy change about.”