LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXI, Issue 457, 6 May 1909, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Subscribers are reminded that the Herald quarterly accounts ars issued, and we should esteem as a favour prompt settlement of same.* The London Wool sales have opened with a brisk demand at from par to 10 per cent, advance. Forty - four years’ continuous service as a school committeeman has been achieved by Mr W. Cleland, of the Taita (Hutt Valley Wellington). He has been a member of the Taita school committee since 1864, and in all those years he has been absent from only one meeting. A record output from the Kaitangata mine for the past twenty years is reported by the Bruce Herald. The other day 260 tons of coal were seut to the surface. Oue man (a novice in mining) is stated to have received /8 for his fortnight’s pay. Three shifts are constantly being worked in the mine, states the journal. The Mayor of a small town in the Nelson district is a kindly soul, and he takes a great interest in the local school. Sometimes he “ drops in to put a few questions to the youngsters,” as he terms it. He made one of these official visits last week. “ Now,” he said pointing to the smartest boy of the class before him ; “ Wot’s the capital of ’Olland ?” “ H!’ came the reply, like the shot out of a gun, and even the scowl on the face of the young lady teacher failed to repress the snigger which went rippling round the room. A correspondent, says the London Daily Chronicle, has been quarrelling with a friend as to the plural of rhinoceros. But he need not worry. Mr Roosevelt is on the warpath and is going to shoot down all kinds of pluralities—including the rhinococerotes. As we go to press we hear of the approaching end of the last wild buffalo. So we shall no longer linger between buffaloes and buffalos as the plural, but we shall probably quarrel over dinner as to the ease and owes in plural potato —tomato. We may trust Mr Roosevelt to pot the final rhinoceros and save the bother about his plural. Pallid, thin, and passing weak, Shivering in the cold wind bleak, Coughing till he scarce can speak, This is man withliout it! Laughing at each cough and cold, What is this that makes him bold ? Stuff that’s worth its weight in gold— Woods’ Peppermint Cure—-don’t doubt it, 3, j

“ Is this answer as true as the one you gave me before ?” asked counsel, who was cross-examining witness. “ Yes ;it is truer than that one !” was' the reply.

We understand that the labour Department are taking action against Messrs Broad and Reeve for a breach of the preference clause of the Flaxmillers’ Award. It is probably not known that Amy Bock was made a lieutenant in the Salvation Army corps of Temuka. But such is the case, and there are people who remember her (says the Temuka Deader). The weekly meeting of the Foxtou Sub-Union will he held tonight. Delegates from Sanson and Rongotea, as well as from the local Clubs, will be present, and the fixtures for the season will be drawn up. “lama lumper on the wharf, and since Christmas my earnings have averaged /ia week,” said a defendant in the S.M. Court in Auckland on Friday, says the Star. “ There is no more work to be found, and there are plenty others in the same fix ; work is so slack.” How much have you been spending in drink ?” the defendant was asked. “ I have no money to buy drink,” was the reply. “ I’ve not even been able to earn enough to buy boots.” Whilst dealing on Saturday night at Invercargill with the statement that the Government policy had resulted in driving capital out of New Zealand, Sir Joseph Ward said it was true that two or three North Island men had sold laud here and bought in Queensland, but he could give some particulars of the results in at least one case. This man had paid for a Queensland estate, and next day the sellers’ agent wired to ask Sir Joseph if he would take the ,£40,000 and give 4 per cent, for it. “ I took it like a shot,” added the Prime Minister.

Some interesting financial details in connection with the Broken Hill strike were given in a circular letter from the unionists of that district, received by the Auckland Trades and Labour Council. It was stated that up to April yth the following amounts had been received from the States named and from New Zealand : —New South Wales, £5,052; South Australia, £2,788; Victoria, ,£2,629 > West Australia, ,£2,362 ; Tasmania, £255 ; Queensland, £493 ; New Zealand, £3O. In Broken Hill £7,873 was raised, and the amount received from private donations, concerts, etc., was £2,520. The grand total from all sources to the date named was given as £24,358, whilst expenditure to the same date was set down at £21,969.

“There is a sort of disease prevailing in our life here,” remarked Bishop Neligan, when referring to the special value of voluntary work, at a meeting of the Society lor the Protection of Women and Children, “that can be described as ‘Government aiditis,’ because whenever anybody wants anything the cry is, ‘Why does not the Government do it ?” His Lordship predicted that presently we should not be allowed the use of our pockethandkerchiefs without a special Act of Parliament. He believed in voluntary work, as being more valuable to the character of a nation than any morality or righteousness that was enforced by legislation. Would it not be better for him to contribute a sovereign towards a worthy object than to be compelled to pay a sovereign in rates ?”

Two well-known farmer residents of the Eltham districts were recently in London and called at the High Commissioner’s office. They were desirous of nominating some relatives for assisted passages. The young men they wished to nominate were ideal immigrants, brought up on farms and specially suitable for the requirements of New Zealand. The visitors were greatly surprised when they were informed that their nominations could not be accepted. It was explained that the nominations must be made and the passages partly paid in New Zealand, and could not be accepted in London. So the position was that these two successful farmers, one of whose object in going Home was to bring out some relatives, were debarred from obtaining benefits that they could easily have beep obtained had they remained in the Dominion. — Argus.

“ Under new editorial control ” .is a conspicuous notice published iu the May issue of the Lone Hand, a review copy of which comes to us from Messrs Gordon and Gotch. The editor is Mr Arthur Adams, a New Zealander, who was at one time in journalism in Wellington. One of Percy Spence’s paintings, “ Lost,” giving some idea of the vastness of Australia’s back country, is reproduced as a frontpiece; and the illustrations all through the magazine are original and well executed. The literary contents are varied and interesting. The special articles deal with an Australian’s impressions of Paris, aboriginal art, Melba, black swans, and the riddle of the Milky Way. The exposure series deal with tuberculosis and ‘‘getting testimonials.” The short stories are more readable than those presented for months past.

Mrs Hamer, of the Economic, Las 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 stock, iu view of quitting the business. Call early and see the wonderful display at the Economic before purchasing elsewhere;* jr

A trapper in the Waikaka trict found thirteen cats in his traps, and on the following day fourteen weasels, some of them dead. “What do you consider a living wage ? ” was asked of a witness in the Arbitration Court at Auckland. “ It all depends,” he replied, “ on what sort of a wife a fellow has.” At a meeting held in Wanganui on Monday night a sum of ,£l5O was subscribed to back the application that the next band contest should be held in that town. The children of the Moutoa school exhibited some vegetables at the Palmerston Horticultural Show on Tuesday. The vegetables to be sold, and the proceeds devoted to the library iunds. Wairarapa farmers are holding on to their oat yields in anticipation of better prices being offered during the winter months. The price at present ruling is is 8d per bushel, whilst at this period last year 3s per bushel was obtainable. Quite a number of the onion crops in South Canterbury are found, now that they are being lifted, to be affected with a peculiar kind of disease which attacks them in the neck and goes down into the bulb, rendering them quite useless for purposes. The disease is said to have been imported from Australia some two or three years ago.

Yet another rise in salary for Caruso. It is reported that he will appear in concerts in a number of provincial towns in England next autumn, at the very comfortable salary of £2OOO a week. It will be the hardest kind of luck if his throat has given out, as a cabled report said the other day. A touching feature of the funeral of the late Mr Sievwright, which took place at Gisborne, and was largely attended by representatives of the local bodies and prominent citizens, was that the burial service was conducted by the deceased’s daughter, who bravely read in clear tones a short service from the prayer-book.

“ I don’t know what to do with that horse,” said a young trainer to an old veteran, as they stood looking at a very thin horse. “ I have trained him and trained him, but he don’t appear to have any speed.” “Ever try feeding him?” said the old horseman, as he turned away. At Chester, England, recently, William Mann, cattle Crewe, was fined £5 and costs tor pulling the communication cord of a London and North-Western train without reasonable cause’ The defendant and another man travelling between Chestsr and Crewe, bet rs that the defendant would not pull the communication cord. He promptly did so. The train was stopped and he won his bet. ___

Funny reference to New Zealand often get into print in the Australian papers. A geographical mix up in the Albuty Banner is one of many instances. This paper informed its readers a few weeks ago that “ a fire was discovered in Auckland bursting from a room above the tailoring department of the premises belonging to the Canterbury Farmers’ Co-operative Association, at Timaru.” There is also this choice item from a Melbourne paper “ The big volcano in Auckland, the Ngauruhoe, it still in full blast. Huge columns of smoke and showers of ashes and stones are continuously belched forth, but so far no damage to-the city has been reported.” The Taranaki Daily News remarks : We have been shown a specimen of the brick manufactured from the New Plymouth black sand and Toko lime. To all appearances it is a capital article, and architects who have had experience of them speak highly of their good qualities. It is claimed that with the apparently unlimited supply of sand here, lime within easy reach, and, above all, local coal available for the manufacture at reasonable rates, the bricks can be turned out here at a figure that will make brick buildings quite as cheap as wooden structures, if not cheaper. The company, if formed, can do Taranaki yoeman service in placing upon the market an article manufactured from her own natural deposits. '""S