LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXII, Issue 877, 11 August 1910, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

There will be a special service at All Saints’ Church on Friday night, at 7 o’clock The service will consist of the Mission Litany and short preparation form. These will continue until the Mission in October, At 7..30 there will be choir practice, when the special | Mission hymns will be learned, j During the next two months all are welcomed to these practices on Friday evenings.

Mr Clement Wragge predicts that Australia is on the verge of another cycle of dry seasons, extending to 1916. Nelson has always observed the first Monday in August as a holiday, for no other apparent reason than that it is a great holiday in the Old Country. In Nelson they call it “ Spud Monday,” because advantage is generally taken of it to plant early potatoes. There was a decided fall in meat locally on Tuesday morning on account of one of the local butchers’ carts collapsing in Ravensworth Place. For a time this locality presented the appearance of a meat emporium, joints of beef, mutton, etc., being strewn all over the road. It was necessary to obtain another cart in order to finish the round. The Clerk of the Moutoa Drainage Board notifies by advertisement that the ratepayers’ list for drainage district may be inspected at the Board’s office, Foxton, and the post office, Moutoa, during office hoursObjections will be heard at the Magistrate’s Court, Foxton on the 31st inst. at 9 a.m. A hue and cry is being raised throughout America at the escape of Yamagachis, a Japanese youth, who is suspected of murdering Enoch Kendell (owner of a lonely ranch in California), and Kendall’s wife and son. Ashes and bones were found in a kitchen stove, and a train of ashes revealed charred remains of human skulls, jewellery, and a bloody stone. Yamagachis’ motive was revenge for young Kendell’s cruelty. A medical man estimates that there are at least 2000 influenza cases under professional treatment in Dunedin at the present time. The Grey mouth correspondent of the Dominion states that influenza is also very rife on the West Coast. Quite thirty per cent, of the population either have suffered or are suffering from the disagreeable visitation, and the disorganisation of business and affairs has naturally been considerable. Enthusiasm in skating locally has been so keen that many patrons of the rink are said to be suffering from “skater’s feet.” Equally as much enthusiasm has been manifested in the Great Reduction Sale at the “Economic’’ by the residents of Foxton, and as the Sale is shortly to conclude, instead of purchasers getting “ skater’s feet ’’ they will get “still further reductions ’’ in all goods purchased at M. Hamer’s during the next few days.* Mr Robert Eee, chairman of the Wellington Education Board, has been re-elected to the Board by 87 votes, as against 13 votes cast ior Dr F. Wallace Mackenzie for Wellington City Ward. Mr W. H. Field, M.P., beat the Rev Thomson by 213 votes to 34 for the representation of Hutt and Horowhenua. For the Wairarapa, Mr A, W. Hogg was returned unopposed. The election does not alter the personnel of the Board. Leonard Jackson, a negro, charged with murdering a white woman, was burned at the stake at Texas by a mob on June 20. The sheriff and deputies were overpowered by a mob of over a hundred white people while taking their prisoner to the gaol. The crowd seized the negro, who confessed to the murder under torture. He was then tied to a stake, brushwood was piled high above his head, and a torch was applied. As the flames darted up the mob cheered.

Tommy Burns is still clamouring for a return match with Jack Johnson, and his demand with re gard to the division of the gate is considered to be a reasonable one in sporting circles. In the course of an interview last week the exchampion reiterated his anxiety to again try conclusions with the coloured man, and stated that if Mr H. D. Macintosh would arrange a match so that he could get 35 per cent, of the gate as his end he would fight. “I still think I can beat Johnson,” said Burns, ‘ ‘ and I am prepared to do anything within reason to get another crack at him.” On Sunday next the evening service at the local Methodist Church will be conducted bj T the Rev. C. A. Sims, of Wellington, and on Tuesday evening next, Mr Sims will deliver a lecture on the ‘‘ Romance of Primitive Methodism.” The lecture is said to be bright, racy and instructive, full of humour and wisdom, and there should be a good audience as Mr Sims is a first-class lecturer. Admission to the lecture is free but a collection will be taken up to defray the expenses. The Timaru Post relates that there is at present residing in Timaru a man who has solved the problem of how to live cheaply. He lives on one shilling per diem and according to his own statement and appearance, does it comfortably. He is a foreigner by birth. The “home” was built in Dunedin, and is practically a bunk-bed supported on wheels, and protected on top by a tarpaulin in ridged or tent formation. There is just sufficient room for the man to lie down comfortably. The cooking utensils handy show the nomad is not above cooking his own meals, while the presence of newspapers and a flask or two demonstrate that he is capable of both mental and physical enjoy-1 ment. The man is a labourer, and carries his home with him wherever he goes. His profession is that he enjoys life and can live as comfortably on 7s a week in Timaru or elsewhere as the average man can exist on £1 per week in a boardinghouse.

.dor watch, clock or jewellery repairs go to Parses, fhe jeweller, Main Street.

For Children’s Hacking Cough at Night, Woods’ Great Peppermint Cure, is 6d, and 2s 6d.

Mr C. Rockel has beeu appointed second assistant-master at Levin District High School. This week an ingeniously constructed Wellington aeroplane is to undergo a private trial. This machine, according to the Times, is free from any freak ideas, and, barring accidents, the trial promises at least a flight of sufficient distance to indicate that success is within reach of the inventor.

A 7-9 h.p. motor car engine is advertised lor sale. The latest addition to the local telephone exchange is number 70, Mr T. Rimmer (private residence).

A little amusement was caused in the Magistrate’s Court Palmerston North on Monday, by a witness in a civil case, in telling the court his reason for taking certain action, in a very confidential tone tone said : “Well, between ourselves told me to take the action I did.” Confidences in an open court is pretty good ! A cheeky theft was perpetrated last week, reports the Stratford correspondent of the Daily News. A young woman went into a local shop and asked to see some blouses. Whilst she was locking at these another customer came in. Shortly afterwards the first customer left, stating that the blouses did not suit. The following day, the shopkeeper was astonished to see the woman walk past the shop wearing one of the blouses which she had been looking at, and which had been missed. The police were informed, and this morning the sequel took place, when the offender appeared at court and was fined 10s and ordered to pay 6s damages. A remarkable scene occurred at a meeting of the Timaru Borough Council lately. One councillor persisted in speaking at great length, refusing to sit down when told to do so by the Deputy-Mayor, and the latter at last threatened to send for t he police if the speaker continued to disregard his ruling. The Councillor proposed a motion, which the Deputy-Mayor ruled out of order and refused to put to the Council. This action led to an acrimonious debate. Several councillors rose from their seats and threatened to leave the room, and the clerk was instructed to telephone for the police. Two constables shortly appeared, but by that time the councillor had resumed his seat, and after waiting outside the Council Chambers for some time the constables left.

The local amateurs will hold the first rehearsal of “ Blow for Blow” to-night, when the date of the production will also be decided upon.

The little two-year-old daughter of Mr and Mrs Charles Master, residents of Brookville, Indiana, U.S.A., while playing about her home, ran suddenly into her mother’s arms, Mrs Master bent over the child and caught her in her arms, when the little one uttered a sharp cry and fell to the floor. A needle in the mother’s dress had pierced the child’s breast, and penetrated the heart. She was in convulsions in a moment, and physicians were called. After the needle was withdrawn and the child had been given a soothing potion, it was found that the point had penetrated not less than half an inch into the heart. The child’s temperature soon became normal, and the physicians think she w'll recover.

Although visitors and traders to the Cook Islands are not allowed to import alcoholic liquors in any lorm, Dr. Marshall explained in a lecture in Christchurch that the natives, who are very fond of intoxicants, are able to satisfy their desires in their own way. He said that they sometimes buried a case of oranges which had begun to ferment, and the juice squeezed out of them was known as ‘ ‘orange beer,” and was a strong intoxicant. When the islanders were found drunk they were brought before the Resident and were sentenced to work on the roads as punishment. They were not put in gaol as it was too costly to trouble to build a gaol. If there were holidays they took them, and they went home each evening from their work on the roads and returned again in the morning. The labour of the delinquents was responsible for the excellent manner in which the roads were kept, and a cycle ride around the twenty miles of roads on Rarotonga was a pleasant outing. The wife of a young Timaru benedict is likely to remember the first story poured into her ears by her husband. It appears, says the local Post, that the swain in order to hasfen the union with his beloved announced his wealth at a fictitious figure. The marriage was arranged, but the swain was not happy. Sooner or later the truth would have to come out. The swain planned his own undoing. What, he asked himself, could sound more fitting than a tale of a daring burglary on the eve of his wedding, himself a poor man through no fault of his own, the period too late for the postponement of the wedding, tears, a generous father-in-law, reconciliation, and happiness ever after, swallowing up the dreadful secret ? Thus at an early hoar one bleak morning a few days ago a local detective was called upon to investigate the alleged theft of £165 from the room of the coming bridegroom. Word as to this was contained in a Press Association message some days ago, but the antecedent facts are interesting. The “ sleuth-hound of the law,” however, at once had his suspicions turned upon the man who was inviting him to believe that he had been robbed. One word led to another and finally the man admitted that he had lost no money ; that he never had to lose, and that the whole thing was a hoax. But all’s well that ends well, and it is interesting to note that the marriage, despite this little comedy, took place.

For Influenza take Woods’ Great Peppermint Cure. Never fails. Is 6d,and 2s 6d.

White table damasks do not go out of fashion. Messrs Collinson and Cunningham, of Palmerston North, are offering a very superior special line, 56m wide at is 6d per yard. These were bought at a big discount from the manufacturers and Messrs Collinson and Cunningham intend to give you this advantage for the next eight days for cash.

Ladies are offered an opportunity of learning to do all their own and children’s millinery. Miss Hall, who has studied in London and Paris, and has taught over 2000 ladies in New Zealand, offers to come to Foxton if a number would join the classes. Will those who wish to join, write to Miss Hall, box 220, Palmerston North.

There was a good attendance of members at the Methodist Christian Endeavour meeting last night. The leader of the service was Master Len Howe. A paper was read by Mr R. Thompson, of Himatangi, on “ Christian Responsibilities.” Judging by the remarks made, the essay was helpful and well received, the main thought being, “Our responsibility to God as Christians is governed by our measure of enlightenment.” Mr Simmons, who played the role of “General Blair” in the recent farcical comedy, “Kleptomania,” (a humorous critique of which from the pen of Mr Walsh appeared in Saturday’s issue), called on us this morning and expressed his disapproval of a paragraph which Mr Walsh appended as a post script. Mr Simmons objects that the paragraph in question was not of public interest and had nothing to do with the criticism of the play, and turther, that he considers the post script in itself was of a vulgar nature. We agree with Mr Simmons that the post script was irrelevant. That Mr Walsh intended to be offensive to any of the caste we feel sure was farthest from his as it was from our minds when we published the screed.

The tides, rainfall, annual snows and varying air pressure are constantly shifting enormous weights, and the earth’s crust is bent and deformed under the strain to a degree that is just beginning to be appreciated. Professor John Milne has shown that valleys are made wider by day than at night through the expansive action of the sun’s rays. By seismographic records of the Shide Observatory, he has also proved that the Isle of Wight is alternately moved backward and forward by the tides, and that it is tilted up from the English Channel side at high water by the greater pressure on that side. His latest observations have been made with an extrasensitive seismograph placed underground at Bidston Observatory, near Liverpool, about two miles from the water. The records obtained with a photographic record prove that the sides of the basin are drawn close to-gether at very high tide by the sagging of the bed of the Irish Sea, and the action can actually be watched in the movement of the seismograph pendulum. A deflection of about one inch in sixteen miles is produced by the weight of the tide off the mouth of the Mersey. News was brought to Sydney last week by the Island steamer Suva that J. Mortlemans, of the famous White Rose (or Nueva Tigre) crew, who was tried for piracy on the high seas in April, 1909, was found guilty and sentenced to penal servitude for life, had been placed on board H.M.S. Cambrian at Suva for Sydney. Mortleman’s story, as told at the trial in Suva, was of the penny dreadful type. He picked up a living in London till he was eighteen years old ; he was steward on various cargo boats, with good conduct discharges of consecutive dates for the next eight years; a shipmate with Skerrett out to Callao, with three months of time unaccounted for in the foreign port; shipmate again with Skerrett on the Nueva Tigre, that left Callao under Captain Melis in November, 1907, with a mate, and Mortlemans and Skerrett as crew, and was found with Skerrett by the Laurel on the White Rose on Apamaua Reef (Gilbert Group) in January, 1908. According to Skerrett, who turned King’s witness, Captain Melis and the mate were attacked by Mortlemans with an axe and a gun, and forced to jump overboard when the Nueva Tigre was some fourteen or fifteen miles off the coast of Peru, Skerrett being so terrified by Mortlemans’ threats that he dared not to even throw planks overboard for the captain and mate. Neither of the men knew anything of navigation, and, beyond throwing the cargo overboard and repainting the ship, did nothing until winds and waves landed them on Apamana reef and, ultimately, in the hands of British law. It has, it seems, been considered by the authorities that the Suva gaol was hardly suited to Mortlemans. At any rate, Canada was approached as to her willingness to take over the prisoner, and some arrangement has as last been made for New South Wales to keep him in durance vile in one of the State prisons. A beautiful assortment of electroplate goods, brooches, engagement rings, etc., at Parkes’ jewellery establishment, Main St,*

Millar and Giorgi, of Palmerston North, have a replace advertisement in this issue. Mr H. C. Cochran advertises a singer sewing machine, a bicycle, and two acres ot land at the Beach with a two-roomed cottage erected thereon, for sale. In a speech at the laying of the foundation stone of the Addington post office yesterday, Sir Joseph Ward indicated that in future an hourly letter delivery would be given in the cities and large towns, and the letter carriers would take letters to be posted. Mr El 1 , M. P., stated that the extension of rural postal delivery would be made,' under which house to house delivery would be given in outlying districts. A local motor-cyclist has reason to “ thank his lucky stars.” that he did not meet with a serious accident yesterday afternoon. He was pushing his machine on the centre of the road before mounting when without any warning whatever, one of the bars of the frame of the machine snapped. Had this break occurred when the cyclist was travelling at say, twenty miles an hour, a very serious accident must have resulted.

Lord Islington, in officiating a the re-opening of the bazaar in aid of the Wellington Missions to Seamen, claimed that he addressed himself to the movement on behalf of seamen with a peculiar solicitude. Though he could not claim to be a sailor himself, both his father and three generations before him spent the greater part of their lives on the sea, in the British Navy, and he was proud to say all in turn attained the rank of admiral.

Fifty persons attended a liberal rally at Hastings, and carried by 20 votes a motion: “That this meeting expresses its dismay and regret at the action of Mr Dillon, member tor Hawke’s Bay, in voting with the Opposition noconfidence motion, and requests him to immediately meet the

electors and justify his action or hand in his resignation.” Mr Dillon, addressing the meeting, said he pledged himself on the hustings to support the freehold, and he was proud* to say he kept his word. The Minister for Justice (the Hon. Dr. Findlay), confirms the statement that the Government intends to acquire an area of laud about four miles from Te Puhi, on the Tokaanu and Pokura Blocks, on the borderland of the King Country, for a mental hospital and reformatory. About five thousand acres will be acquired for the mental hospital, and twelve hundred acres for the reiormatory prison. The requisite buildings will be erected, and the inmates of the institutions will farm the laud.

During gardening operations on Mr M’Farland’s property at Ormond, near Gisborne (says an Auckland exchange), some human skulls and bones were unearthed. The discovery is explained by the fact that the locality was used as a Maori burial ground many years ago. Mr M’Farland’s property was the site of a Maori settlement for many years, but it was confiscated during the war. It is understood that in consequence of a number of Natives having been buried there, Wi Pere applied to the Government some years ago to have two acres reserved. An amusing incident occurred at the Blenheim School Committee meeting through a large tin trunk under the table round which the members sat coming in for a good number ot kicks from the reporters

whenever those astute officials desired to alter their position. This aggravated the chairman not a little and he eventually said, “We had better remove that box,’’ whereon Mr Girling said, “Better to remove the reporters,” which caused a hearty laughter. The chairman was fidgeting about for a time, and then he finally decided to remove the box, and when he did so Mr Heifer said : “There goes the South Main Trunk,” which caused more laughter, and the incident closed.

An extraordinary incident occured a few days ago at the town-

ship of Ivanhoe (N.S.W.) which is about the centre of the great Space between Condobolin and the Darling. A little boy of ten years named Bennie Clark was living at Ivanhoe with his grandmother, Mrs McDougal. His parents live 60 miles away at Twelve miles Tank on the Wilcannia road; but the boy had been left with his grandmother in order that he might go to school in Ivanhoe. A few days ago Bennie Clark was lost in the bush. The whole of that country is very wide and almost trackless consisting largely of ten-mile paddocks, in which the fence is often beyond the distant horizon. The boy was searched for, and a party finally succeeded in striking his tracks. The tracks were followed through the grass for fully 40 miles, when the trackers found them leading home. When the trackers arrived in they found that the boy had got home by himself, about an hour ahead of them. He had covered 40 miles in 23 hours.

Closing Sale at G. H. Stiles’. All previous bargains to be completely eclipsed by those to come. Come and prove our words.* Mary had a little ham (A pound or so—with eggs), And off she ran to catch the tram, For she had nimble legs! She wore a Merry Widow hat, And staggering coiffure. And had a cold, but soon fixed that With Woods’ Great Peppermint Cure !

If in want of Birthday, Wedding or other gifts, go to Parkes’, he jeweller, the shop for presents.*

Speaking In the House last night on the Financial Debate, Mr Newman referred to the waste of time in connection with the financial debate and suggested the appointment of a committee to reform the rules of procedure so as to prevent this. His land policy was every man his own landlord. He believed that at no distant date this would become the law of the land. The setting aside of lands for endowments was merely a subterfuge, whereby nine million were withdrawn from sale, but he believed there was a growing feeling in the House that this amount should be reduced. Referring to water power utilisation he disapproved of the State entering into this enterprise which requires a large amount of capital. The proposal to hand over control of education to country councils was an attempt to transfer to the ratepayers a large share of the cost of education.