LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXII, Issue 814, 15 March 1910, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The School Committee meets this evening, instead oi Thursday next.

The Returning Officer has requested the Mayor to appoint a scrutineer in connection with the poll to be taken on the loan proposals on Friday next. A general meeting of the local Horticultural Society, will be held in the Council Chambers on Friday evening next, at 8 o’clock. We regret to record the death of the six months old child of Constable Sweeney, which occurred this morning. The cause of death was due to some internal disorder. The friends of Mr and Mrs Stiles will regret to hear of the serious illness of their little son. We are pleased to report that there is a slight improvement in its condition to-day. A man named McDonald, charged with helpless drunkenness by the police, was remanded at the local police court yesterday by Mr Horublow, J.P. to Palmerston for a week for medical treatment -

A motor bike crashed through the large plate glass shop window at Mrs Hamer’s premises last week, and yesterday a horse backed a cart suddenly through Mr Alex Speirs shop window, in the same block of buildings. Fortunately both windows were insured.

The usual hints of wedding bells and orange blossoms are in the air, and attention is drawn to Messrs Collinson and Cuuninghame’s announcement in another column. This firm advertises table linens, linoleumns and other homely things for the benefits of brides-to-be. *

In reply to the statement of the Hon. D. Lloyd George that the House of Lords consisted of 500 men chosen accidentally from the unemployed, a writer in the Scotsman says : 170 of the Lords had been members of the House of Commons, and were therefore the elect of the people when many present members ot the House of Commons were at school, 89 had served iu office of State, 104 had seen active service (68 in South Africa), ISI had served in the Regular Army, 19 in the Navy, 156 in the yeomanry, 133 iu the militia, 104 in the volunteers, 19 were judges or eminent lawyers, 38 had served as colonial Governors or Ministers, 41 in the Civil or Diplomatic Services, 14 had been mayors or county councillors, and 24 are bishops.

At Palmerston on Saturday a prisoner named Joseph Powelka, who last Monday had been committed for trial on charges of stripping a number of houses .of furniture and entering and breaking, escaped from custody. He had been in the Palmerston cells all the week pending further charges, which were to have been heard against him yesterday. Shortly after midday on Saturday he asked to be allowed out in the yard, where Powelka placed a bucket upside dowu against the yard wall, and jumped over it. Powelka commandered a bicycle and made such good use of his start that the police, up to the present time, have uot captured him. Fears are entertained for the safety of Povvelka’s wife, while he is at large, as he is known to have threatened her on several occasions, and he may be looked upon now as a very desperate man. [Since the above was in print, the escapee has been captured.]

A young resident of Addington, employed in the Railway Department and at present acting as fireman on the Rangiora line, who has been experimenting with flying machines, has constructed a model of an aeroplane. It has two rows of small planes with 14 in each row, and looked at from above or beneath resembles a diamond shape, from which the top and bottom points have been cut, leaving six sides. The young experimenter has selected this model out of six that he tried. He says that he reckons to get considerably more lifting power out of it than can be obtained from biplanes of the same dimensions now in use, and that it will be lighter than those built now. It will not be so wide, and will take up less space. A working machine will be driven by a 50 h.p. engine and have two propellers.

A horse, trap and harness is advertised for sale. Particulars at this office.

Speaking at the annual meeting of the Ma»ton Chamber of Commerce recently, Mr K. Newman, M.P., urged the town to go in for a water supply scheme. Owing to the prevalauce of whooping cough and other forms of sickness the attendance at the local school showed a falling off during the past week. At the Mangaweka Horticultural Show, the local paper makes a point of referring to the extensive exhibits from the school, and metes out special praise to Mr W. Adams, the headmaster.

A furious tribal fight is reported from Junction Bay, Port Darwin. Fifty natives of that place were attacked near the seashore by a band of Liverpool River braves. A ferocious hand-to-hand fight ensued.

Charles W. Buttle, of Wellesley Street, Auckland, was on Saturday charged with selling indecent post-cards and exposing them to public view. He was fined tor selling the cards and £2 for exposing them, with £1 costs in each case, an order being also made that the post-cards be destroyed.

The annual rentals of the sixteen sections at the Beach, quitted by Mr Mounsey at auction last week, on behalf of the Foxton Harbour Board, exceeded the upset rentals by ,£lO 12s 6d per annum. The upset rentals were only retained in four cases. There are still 15 sections unsold. The Labour Department, after investigating matters connected with the strike at Wood Bros - ’ grain store at Addington some weeks ago, has decided that there are not sufficient grounds to warrant action being taken against the men. The matter will therefore be dropped. It is better to pay rates than to pay doctors to treat diphtheria and typhoid cases, to say nothing of the probable ‘ ‘ look in ” to be accorded to the undertaker, says the Napier Telegraph. Ratepayers should bear this fact in mind next Friday when recording their vote on the loan proposals.

Tenders to close at noon on March 31st, are invited by the New Zealand Hemp Process and By-Products Co. Ltd., for the construction of buildings at Foxton. Plans and specifications may be inspected at the Company’s Works Office, Purcell Street, Foxton, which to address tenders must be sent.

On Monday, 21st March, at 1 p.m., Messrs Mounsey and Co. will sell on the property, Norbiton Road, Foxton, all those valuable properties in the estate of the late Richard Walden, deceased. The sale is by order of the Public Trustee, and as the whole of the various lots are for absolute sale, and being so well and handily situated to the town, should command keen competition and a spirited sale.

During the hearing of a case in the Supreme Court at Napier, a witness admitted having been convicted frequently of drunkenness, and, in answer to the bench, said, he could not remember whether on the last occasion he had paid the fine of £3 or gone to gaol for seven days. Mr Justice Cooper said it seemed extraordinary that a man could not remember whether or not he had been in prison for seven days, to which the witness could only reply that he had paid so many fines and-, had been so olten in the gaol that his memory was a bit confused. In summing up, the judge said that the evidence of such a witness was absolutely worthless.

‘‘ The Englishwoman ” for January contains a letter from Lady Stout, which the Publishers' Circular characterises as ‘‘the most encouraging thing we have read, from a national point of view, for a very long time.” Lady Stout points out that New Zealand can show the highest marriage rate of any European or English-speaking country except Hungary, a higher birth-rate except Italy, the Netherlands, and two Australian States —the lowest illegitimate rates except England, Ireland, and the Netherlaud ; the lowest infant mortality in the world.” She considers that the statistics prove that the interest of the home, the Dominion, and the Empire have not suffered from the enfranchisement of our women. On the contrary, it has aroused a new' sense of responsibility in our women.”

Colonel Davies, R. H. C. 8,, the New Zealand Inspector General, has been attending an important military conference at the Staff College at Camberley, under the presidency of General Sir W. G. Nicholson, Chief of the General Staff. All the principal General Staff Officers from the War Office and the various commands of the United Kingdom and Ireland were present. The conference, whose proceedings have been of a confidential nature, concluded last evening (says a London correspondent writing on January 21st.) It is the first time that New Zealand has been represented at one of these gatherings, at whose discussions matters of Imperial interest are dealt with, rendering the occasions interesting and valuable if only from the point of view of the interchange of ideas which are brought forward by men who have held official positions in many parts of the British Empire.

A beautiful assortment of electroplate goods, brooches, engagement rings, etc,, at Parkes’ jewellery establishment, Main St.*

Reserved judgment was delivered by the Chief Justice at Wellington, last week, in the case, heard on Tuesday last, affecting the sale of the Post Office Hotel, Foxton. His Honour held that the Court must either decree for a partition or a sale ; there was not a third course. After considering the question, “ Would a sale be tor the benefit of the parties interested ?” his Honour had decided that he could not dismiss the case and refuse relief to plaintiffs. He would decree a sale, because partition would be an injury to all. The matter would be referred to the registrar, who would have a reserve price fixed, and consideration of all other questions would be deferred until after the sale.