LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXII, Issue 810, 10 February 1910, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The many friends of Mr Haslett, who has been seriously ill during the past fortnight, will be pleased to hear that he is making steady progress towards recovery.

Mr Alfred Broadbelt’s butter box factory, at Rongotea, was destroyed by fire on Tuesday morning. There was practically no insurance on the building.

A New Plymouth constable recently watched an alleged ‘‘snowdropper ” clear a clothes line at the rear of a boarding-house. He immediately waited upon the landlady and gave a minute description of the culprit. She, shrieking with laughter, advised the constable that the clothes bad been taken in, at her request, by her husband !

The induction service of the Rev. G. K. Aitken as minister of the Foxton charge of the Presbyterian Church ot New Zealand will take place on Monday, 28th inst. The officiating clergy will be the Moderator (Rev. I. Jolly, M.A.), and the Revs. G. Budd, White and McKenzie.

Mr Hogue, the N.S.W. Minister for Education who recently replied to the criticism by Cardinal Moran of the State system of education has spent most of his time in a newspaper office —as printer, reporter, sub-editor, and editor (he edited the Sydney News for ten years) and has been in politics for twenty years. An exchange says he is quite qualified to swap words with even an Irish prelate. But the wordy exhibition was not creditable to either, and neither the cause of religion nor of education can be advanced by such unedifying language. A disgraceful scene took place at the Yarram (Victoria) Shire Council meeting on January 13. Councillor Moorfield referred to objectionable words used by Councillor Blanc after the last meeting of the Council, and went over to where he was sitting, and told him to apoligise. Councillor Blanc took no notice, and Councillor Moorfield then hit him with his fist in the face. Councillor Blanc picked up a chair and made a blow at Councillor Moorfield, but struck the chandelier instead. Several more blows were struck by Councillor Moorfield, and other councillors then separated the parties. The president instructed the secretary to take proceedings against Councillor Moorfield for riotous conduct at the Council table.

In speaking of the ignorance that prevailed amongst the slum women, Mrs Hay (wife of the Commander-in-chief of the Salvation Army in Australasia) related to her Palmerston audience on Tuesday night the circumstances of an infant found in a dying condition, suffering from bronchitis and indigestion. She suggested to the mother that the child should have a feeding bottle. “Tor, mum! what’s that? I never seed such, I could drag out a beer bottle.’’ Even in cooking ordinary meals the same deplorable ignorance prevailed, and an amusing incident was related. A woman essayed the task of making a meat dumpling. After the ingredients had been secured and the mixture made, the need was a cloth. This was rectified by the woman bringing out, to the dismay of the officers, a dirty rag on which the faces of the family had been wiped.

A tragedy which shows the rigor with which the colour line is still drawn in America recently occurred at New Orleans. It might be supposed to be a chapter from an American novel. A reputed first cousin of Prince von Buelovv, ex-Chaucellor of the German Empire, has drowned himself rather than face a trial for a breach of the law prohibiting a white person’s marriage with anyone possessing a trace of negro blood. He married in 1902 the daughter of an American judge bearing an old and honoured name, and settled in New Orleans. Mrs von Buelow, a beautiful and cultured woman, confessed to him before her marriage the secret of the negro strain in her. Buelow, however, declared (says the Daily Mail) that Germans were not so proud as Southeuers, that he loved her for herself alone, and that no one need know of her secret. Their apprehension that their children might show a reversion to the negro type vanished with the birth of a boy and a girl typically Teutonic, with blue eyes and flaxen hair. Mrs von Buelow’s secret is alleged to have been discovered and exploited by some of her husband’s business competitors. She was at once ostracised in society, her children were jeered at in the streets, and her husband was arrested for his offence under the miscegenation law. A few days later his body was found in the Mississippi. The widow is awaiting trial for her violation of the law.

William McPyke, a shunter at Frankton Junction, aged 27, was run over by tbe engine while shunting and bad both legs severed. He died four hours later.

A meeting ot the Borough Council will be held on Monday evening next at 7.30 o’clock, for the purpose of considering water and drainage proposals and general.

Mr Thos. P. Henderson, piano tuner for tbe Dresden Piano Co., will visit Foxton for a short period from Monday, 14th inst. Communications left c/o this office will be promptly attended to.* Persons riding or driving along the Beach are warned against quicksands. Recently two vehicles and a motor car were partially embedded and were only extricated after much labour.

Pope Pius X cancelled an arrangement fo receive Mr C. W. Fairbanks, formerly Vice-Presi-dent of the United States, alter his tour in the Orient, because he had been previously received by King Victor Emmanuel, besides addressing members of the Methodist Church.

Information has been laid by the Income Tax Department against the Hon. G. J. Smith, George Bowron, and William Bowron, trading as Bowron Bros., for having made wilfully false returns under the Land and Income Tax Amendment Act for purposes of evading duty properly payable under the Act. A very large sum is involved. Defendants are liable on conviction to treble duty and a fine of ,£IOO. The case will come on for hearing at the Magistrate’s Court next Tuesday. A middle-aged man, whose name is supposed to be Holland, collapsed and died while preaching in Prince Alfred Park, Sydney, on Sunday afternoon. Someone in the crowd interjected, and the man became very excited while replying to the interrupter. Then he paused, as if seized with pain, adding, “ Gentlemen, I have to be careful.” His lips moved as if he was trying to say something further, but he suddenly collapsed, as if in a fit. Before a doctor arrived he was dead. It is well-known that the Maori mutton birders have a method of preserving their catches, without smoking or salting, to last for years, and in nothing more than their ingenious kits, which are made thoroughly air-tight. Au instance of the effectiveness of this means of preservation came under notice recently, when a couple of Maori visitors asked a Wellington fishmonger if he had “any te mutton-bird ” from last season, A search resulted in the discovery of an unopened kit of the birds as fresh as they were when placed in the kit ten mouths ago. The birds were then cooked in native fashion by special request. Says the Bulletin: Maoriland may sky its collective hat. It will get a fine advt. from its young pianist, Magnus Laing Meason, who went to Europe some years ago to study. Magnus, who was about 7ft. long at the age of 17, has a wonderful mat of beautiful red hair, is being violently pursued by an amorous, clamorous foreign countess, who followed him from Vienna to Loudon, and tried to steal him. His life is made miserable by her affection. As the Irish-Americau policeman said to Kubelik, when the violinist appealed to him to keep off the girls who were crowding to kiss him : “ Young man, you don’t know your luck.” The Loudon Daily Mirror gives a portrait of Mr de Laing (the name he plays with) getting into his carriage. Presumably the titled villainess is hard on his tracks.

“Flax Hook” (Foxton) writes at length to the Manawatu Tines to correct the impression that the flaxmill hand is the “highest paid unskilled worker in existence.” He claims that sawmill hands are higher paid and work under healthier conditions. In the flax trade he says there is a lot of broken time, such as running out of flax, floods, holidays, etc. “You have to ‘bullock’ to make constant wages. More than that, they are, for the most part, physical wrecks after two or three years, and can be seen about Palmerston any holiday time, aged men instead of being young ones.” If the mills succeed in breaking down the award rate it will be a sweated industry, says the correspondent. As to the magnificent wage, he does not think the average of all the men employed would be more than £2 a week, and “how that can be a living wage at the present cost of Iving is a mystery.’ ’

It is somewhat comforting to learn that New Zealand is not the only country about which strange conceptions gather in the minds of those people who are unfortunate enough to dwell on the other side of the world. There are Germans, even German newspapers, that are superbly ignorant about Australia and things Australian. The Sydney Morning Herald publishes a cutting received by an idignant Australian from the RheinischeWestfalischeu Anxeiger, headed “Savages ol the Twentieth Century.” The cutting contains the following : —“lu the islands close to Australia aud iu the interior of the Australian continent still exist various wild tribes, mostly living at war with each other. They cut off the heads of their enemies, and often eat their bodies. But the most remarkable fact is that within a very short distance of where these cannibals are found are cities like Melbourne and Sydney, which claim to be supplied with all the latest improvements of modern times,”

“There will be no more coal _ strikes in New South Wales for a v while, for the miners have found that the public can manage to scramble along without them,’’ remarked Mr John Murray, a former New Zealand resident, now living in Sydney, and at present spending a holiday In the Dominion.

An unusual incident in boxing matches was witnessed at the conclusion of the big contest at Hastings the other evening, when Devitt, the winner, kissed and embraced Leckie, the defeated man. The explanation was that both men were pals, and Devitt was touched by the severe punishment Leckie received.

T'ie export of wool from the Dominion last year was virtually more than it was in 1908 ; meat nearly ; grain ,£700,000. These are splendid results, for which we are indebted, firstly, to an extremely favourable season, and, secondly, to improvement in the markets of consumption. In all the cases of increase the figures show a heavier output, and in some instances there are also better prices. Improvements are promised in the tourist services at Te Anau and Manapouri, the proprietors of the coaches on the lake roads having ordered motor cars for the conveyance of passengers. One 30 h.p. car will go into commission at once, and two 50 h.p. cars will be put into the service as soon as they arrive. Tourists will be able to leave Dunedin at 8.30 a.m., and will reach Te Anau or Manapouri the same night. It is not often, the Timaru Herald remarks, that a man expresses pleasure at being in the prisoner’s dock at court, but such a thing happened at the Supreme Court last week, when a prisoner in the course of a long and eloquent appeal to “ the intelligent jury ” before him, said that he was proud, and they were all proud in this free and enlightened country, of being in a position to be tried by a jury. M. Thain, cashier at the Lille branch of the Bank of France, Paris, called at a fashionable private house to receive 4000 francs. He was there robbed and murdered, and his body was discovered in a garret. Antoine Favier, owner of the house, has absconded. Six thousand Lille townsfolk tried to lynch Madame Favier, who was arrested. The mounted police rescued her.

What is considered to be a deliberate attempt to burn St. Andrew’s schoolroom at Wairoa, H. 8., was discovered earlv on Saturday morning by a local solicitor, who was passing the building. He found a box in the porch burning fiercely. It was standing on top of a case of kerosene, and in ten minutes the building would have been in flames, involving the new church close at hand and also a private dwelling.

Au Imperial and New Zealand war veteran in the person of Mr Joseph Neylon writes to the Auckland Star thanking the Government for conceding him his land grant, after waiting 40 years for it. Neylon served 29 years in the Army, during five of which (from 1863 to 1868) he was on active service in the Waikato, Wanganui and New Plymouth campaigns. He was greatly assisted in securing his rights by the persistent advocacy of Mr A. K. Glover, M.P.

An important statement relating to breaches of prohibition orders Was made by Mr Bailey, S.M., at the Christchurch Police Court recently, when a man appeared before him charged with procuring liquor while prohibited. Mr Bailey remarked that magistrates now had more power than they previously had in dealing with these cases. “ Hitherto,” he said “ a man had to have a certain number of convictions for drunkenness against him before he could be sent to an inebriates home, but now, if a man commits a breach of a prohibition order we can send him to a home.”

The calm weather and smooth sea enticed a number of amateur fishermen to try their luck over the bar during the past few days. Some very successful hauls are recorded. The party in one boat had plenty of amusement and a little annoyance from sharks. The latter persisted in biting off hooks and bait. One big fellow showed a partiality for biscuits and sandwiches and it was interesting to watch him glide his nose up and out of the water in order to take in the choice morsels. The party were minus a spear or harpoon, otherwise he could have been given the happy despatch.

A Catholic cable agency, under the auspices of the Catholic Truth Association of Australia, will soon be an accomplished fact. This new departure is the outcome of representations made by the Rev. Ur Cleary, editor of the New Zealand Tablet, at the recent Catholic Congress in Sydney. For a long lime past it has been evident to the ecclesiastical authorities that such an agency is a great necessity in order to act as an immediate corrective to the hostile and often mendacious cables on church matters, emanating mainly from Kurope, which appear in the Australasian press An agent will be appointed in the chief centres throughout the world, so that when a cable appears in the press which is questionable the agent in the particular locality will be cabled to for full particulars, which when received here will be published hot on top of the first in the daily press. The cost both ways will be paid by the agency, and reciprocity will also obtain with other centres.

Messrs Lazarette and Haslet t have to-day received a consignment of fresh oysters.

“Remnants” is the title of a replace advt. from Messrs Durward and Co., elsewhere in this issue.

Messrs Lazarette and Haslett advertise for a young man to drive fish cart and assist in shop. Mr Covvie and Miss Crothers have been appointed pupil teachers at Foxton.

Arnst and Welch have signed articles to row at Akaroa on April 2nd for the championship of the world and aside.

During the next few weeks the Yerex Studio will be open on Saturdays and Mondays only. _ The remainder of the week will be spent around the country districts. Kindly make your appointments for those days.* The family of Melaprop is not unknown even in New Zealand. The other day a young lady, who had just returned from a trip to Ruapehu, told her friends that on reaching the top of the mountain the party had a splendid view of the creator.

At Wednesday's meeting of the Wanganui Presbytery the Rev. Izaac Jolly accepted the call to St.iStephen’s, Auckland. An appreciative resolution, referring to Mr Jolly’s high qualities and splendid work, was passed by the Presbytery. Mr Jolly will be farewelled by his congregation at an early date.