LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXII, Issue 822, 5 April 1910, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

All accounts owing to the Hkraij) up to March, 31st, have now been rendered, and an early settlement of same would be much appreciated by the proprietor.

Mrs Nesbit, of Herstou Farm, advertises for a good general servant.

The monthly meeting of the Moutoa Drainage Board will be held to-night, at 745 o’clock. Mr E. Wauklyn advertises a new six-roomed house for sale cheap.

A dance is to be held in Gardner’s Hall, Moutoa, on Friday evening next. Admission, gents as, ladies free.

Miss Marie Corelli, the novelist, is seriously ill at her home at Stratford-on-Avon, England. She is suffering from pneumonia. A violent gale at Trieste, Austria, precipitated a train over an embankment. Four persons were killed and eighteen injured. The United Kingdom Alliance estimates that the United Kingdom in 1909 expended £iSS> l^2 ' 455 on alcohol. Increased taxation added five millions to the cost; therefore, compared with the drink bill for 1908 (,£161,060.482), the decrease in the consumption for the year is equivalent to eleven millions sterling. Harvest festival services were held in All Saints Church on Sunday last, when the interior of the building was tastefully decorated with products of the soil becoming the occasion. The pews were fairly well occupied, and sermons relative to the harvest thanksgiving were preached by the vicar, and appropriate hymns sung. The gifts of Iruit and vegetables to the Church will now be forwarded to the two diocesan homes.

Farmers who have allowed pigs to run 5n the orchards have been astonished at the increased growth and fruit-bearing qualities of the trees. As the result of observations in this respect some farmers now have pens in their orchards that are easily moved, and the pigs art shifted from place to place between the trees at various intervals. The results are stated to be highly satisfactory. Three little girls at Llandovery recently were summoned for playing in the street, and before the magistrates they said that they had no other place to play in. Mr Joseph E. Thomas, Seattle, Washington, saw an account of the case in one of the many Welsh papers that find their way to the United States, and he forthwith wrote to the town clerk of Llandovery, his native town, enclosing as a nucleus of a fund for purchasing a recreation ground for the children.

General Booth, in the course of an address to a large gathering at Barnsley, last month, said that while the doctors told him he still had ten years’ light in him, he could not see why it should not be twenty. “My path has been beset with thorns,” he said. “Sometimes I think my back will break under the burden, and my heart will burst through the trials and disappointments associated with my work and my position. But

Heaven is worth suffering for ! I

mean to have a good time when I get there! It’s twenty years since I had a rest. Even when I’ve been sick I have had to be working at something or other,

but when I get well through the Pearly Gates, have kissed my darling wife, and heard the Salvationists shout ‘ Hallelujah !’ I am going to ask Peter whether I can’t have three mouths’ holiday.” At an unregistered Maori race meeting held at Tokomaru a tew days ago, some amusing scenes were witnessed (says the Poverty Bay Herald). In one race a horse with the peculiar name of “ Hot Stuff ” was a contestant, and was heavily backed, especially by the Maori women, and when Hot Stuff came in first there was great rejoicing. The lucky ones, unable to restrain their pent-up excitement, burst forth into a stirring haka. However, so much for the uncertainty of racing, in a following sprint Hot Stuff suffered defeat, and having been supported almost to a man by the Maoris, a very different tune greeted the horse as he trailed bebind in reaching the post, and it was amusing to see the unfortunate speculators walk off the course, (the beach) with a dejected look, muttering, “ Oh, him no good, all the same the snail.”

The question has been raised as to the amount of wages paid in Japan to factory hands and others, and in this connection some figures from a recently issued census of wages earned in Osaka, the chief manufacturing centre of that country, should be of interest. In the census the wages are expressed in yen and sen, which for practical purposes may be represented-—the former as worth 2s and the latter as equivalent to one farthing. Expressed in British currency, the daily wages of the employees are as follows: Spectacle and precious stone-workers, 4s; masons, 2s xod ; firework makers, 2s sd; ship-builders, 3s o^d; carpenters, 2s sd, and their assistants is ioj4d. Female workers receive from 20 to 30 per cent, less than men, the highest daily wage' for women being paid to hat and soap-makers, is 3d, and artificial flower-makers, is Among male operators, low-paid kinds are “foreign” umbrellamakers, Bpd, soap-makers and bamboo pipe-makers, 3|d; and printers, The lowest wage for women are 3 %d for weavers and tortoiseshelbworkers, and sjA d for umbrella - sewers. Among workers who arc paid by the month, sake brewers receive 14s amj food, watch menders 30s and food, and saddle and harnessmakers 42s and food. Domestic service is very badly paid j ordinary men-servants get lis per month on the average, female domestics from 7s to 10s per month, exclusive of food,

Messrs C. Smith, Ltd., of Palmerston North, have a replace advertisement in this issue.

During March, 28,598 acres of land was thrown open for selection in the Hawke’s Bay district, and taken up by 59 settlers. Hop-picking is now finished in the Nelson district. On the whole the crops have been on the light side, but growers have been recompensed by the increased prices offering. Half a million tons of sulphuric acid, it is calculated, pass every year into the atmosphere of Loudon. “ Lungs of leather ; bronchial tubes of rubber tyre,” says Sir James Crichton-Brown, “could not resist that.” A small block of land north ot Auckland, covered with kauri forest, was recently sold by the native owners for £,500 to a luiropeau, who, a few mouths later, disposed of it for £ 2600. The Wairoa Guardian says the present owner now wants ,£20,000 for his property, and has announced his intention of putting in a mill to cut out the kauri rather than sell for less.

Of the arrivals for February this year (2689), 341 came from the United Kingdom, and 332 left for the same place ; 415 came from Victoria, and 513 left for that State ; 1604 came from New South Wales, and 1651 went there ; 178 came from Tasmania, and 193 went there. The arrivals included 1551 men and BSO women, and the departures 1580 men and 1036 women.

In our advertising columns today, Messrs Collinson and Cunninghame call attention to the advisability of ordering the winter dresses at once. They are ready with a fine stock of seasonable fabrics, and in their dressmaking department undertake to execute orders for costumes, dinner, evening, and wedding gowns, after the newest fashions, for those who for want of time are unable to make for themselves.

We have received from the trustees of the Bickerton Association, Christchurch, papers relating to the national appeal for funds to enable Professor Bickerton to proceed to England, Europe and America, to lay before the leaders of the scientific world his theory of partial impact. The Government has decided to give a £ for £ subsidy on funds subscribed up to and the Governor-General of the Commonwealth has promised to subscribe £IOO. The trustees desire to raise 20,000 shillings by shilling subscriptions, and have forwarded a subscription list to this office. According to Mr Rogers, treasurer of the Maternity Hospital, Chicago, there are fully 3000 husbands who are fondling infants not their own, but adopted by their wives, and the deluded “fathers” are none the wiser. From this institution 250 infants are adopted into good homes every year. Of these more than half are believed by the husbands to be their own. There was a man in Chicago supposed to be worth millions, who passed much of his time in Europe, and his wife palmed off on him at different times two babies which he believes are bis own.

Many of the newspapers appear to think that Cord Kitchener did a clever thing in leaving New Zealand’s shores anonymously and without any formal leave-taking. To our mind his action savoured more of discourtesy than cleverness. He was made the honoured guest of the Dominion; he was treated with all the respect and deference that his high position entitled him to, and a more courteous farewell would have been becoming. liven if there had been a few hundred people on the wharf to cheer him a “ good-bye” it would not have hurt his Lordship very much, remarks the

Eltham Argus. The hubbub over the high cost of living in America has brought forth some excellent stories. Here is one from Salem, New Jersey : A farmer killed two hogs, and a Salem butcher agreed to buy them. The farmer said he’d like to have the hams and shoulders, and again the butcher agreed. The farmer put the hams and shoulders on his cart, and asked : “ Well, what’s the balance coming to me ?” The butcher figured a moment, and replied, “ There’s nothing coming to you ; you owe me two dollars 85 cents.” The farmer was obliged to pay. The butcher had bought the whole hogs at wholesale price, and had sold the limb pieces at retail. Mr Angus Keith, secretary of the Foxton Racing Club, who was recently appointed starter to the Greymouth Jockey Club, acquitted himself splendidly at the recent meeting. Referring to his work, the Grey River Argus says:— “The effect of abortive starts is extremely irritating to everybody. Hence the pleasure with which the starting of Mr Angus Keith was welcomed by all at the midsummer meeting that concluded on Saturday. It was therefore quite a courteous and proper recognition of Mr Keith’s success that before the last race came off the Club Committee met in the stewards’ room, Mr Keith being present, when the chairman (Mr M. HannaiD, in a few appropriate words, complimented Mr Keith on his success as starter, and conveyed to him the thanks and appreciation of the Committee at the way in which he bad discharged his duties, with the hope that he might alvyays be as successful, Such a ceremony, slight as it may be in itself, is a tribute that Mr Keith should value, especially as it was proper and deserved, as any regular attendant at the races for the last thirty years could testify.”

Mr A. Lazarette has to-day ceived a fresh consignment of Stewart Island oysters.

A rehearsal of the farcical comedy 11 Our Regiment ” which is to be staged by the local amateurs on May 4th, will be held at the Public Hall to-night. A general meeting of the Foxton Chamber of Commerce will be held in the Council Chamber on Friday evening next, at 8 o’clock, when a full attendance of members is requested. The Foxton Borough Band advertise a series of weekly dances during the season, commencing on next Friday evening from 8 till 12, in the Masonic Hall.

L'ght refreshments will be provided and ladies admitted free.

It is stated that there is no danger of inflammability if all flannelette is rinsed in strong borax water before being ironed. It then will not flare and is practically fire-proof. Four good tablespoonfuls of borax to one gallon of water constitute a strong solution. The following is a list of the cases set down for hearing at tomorrow’s sitting of fie Magis-

trate’s Court. One case for alleged breach of the Licensing Act, five cases of alleged breaches of the Noxious Weeds’ Act, and r 5 civil cases.

It occurred not a hundred miles from Foxton, on a recent Sunday afternoon. A ymuig lady was mounted on a p»ny, and her sister was gazing admiringly on near-by. The one on the “gee-gee,” in order to show off her skill as a horsewoman, dug her heels into the pony’s side to get it along faster than a walk. The said quadruped, however, resented this kind of treatment, and by way of a mild protest commenced buckjumping. It’s fair lider valiantly endeavoured to “ stick to the pigskin,” but after keeping her seat for the space of a few seconds, she parted company with the steed, and somersaulted on to mother earth ; the pony meanwhile making off round the paddock. When last seen they were like “ Brown’s cows” —one after the other —or, to be exact, two young ladies after one pony.