LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXII, Issue 909, 25 October 1910, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The annua! general meeting of members of the local Dramatic Society will be held in the Council Chamber to-night. As very important business is to be transacted, a full attendance of members is desired.

During the past two years 795 applications were made to the Advances to Settlers Department for loans of over £SOO, of which number 129 were granted. The total amount of the applications was ,£832,712, the advances made totalling £68,165. At Berlin, last week, Otto Cyriacus, a partner in an old established firm of booksellers, committed suicide following upon the discovery of his systematic frauds for years, which amounted to ,£50,000. Cyriacus had been speculating. Major-General Peno Guerra, commander of the Cuban Army, escaped assassination when leaving the Presidential Palace, Havana, last week. He was seriously shot in the leg. A sentry wounded his assailant, who, when captured, was found to be a member of the secret police. Of the 214 officers and men of the First New Zealand Contingent which sailed for Capetown, 157 are at present in New Zealand, six in England, three in India, seven in South Africa, 13 unknown, and 28 have passed away. These interesting figures were given out by Colonel Robin at the annual reunion at Wellington last Friday night.

Our attention has been drawn to the fact that certain boys aie in the habit of throwing stones at the borough windmill. As a stone lodging in the gear may stop the machine from working, it is hoped that a slop will be put to this foolish practice. One of the street lamps has also been smashed by stone-throwers, and the police have been informed of the trouble. A somewhat sensational incident occurred in connection with the Gisborne Club’s fire on Saturday morning. A youth named Allen Gardiner, an employee at the Gas Works, went into the burning building to disconnect the meter. This was located in one of the small rooms, and while the lad was attending the meter the firemen got to work. The force of the water slammed the door of the room, in which the fire then had a good hold. A fight for life ensued, and Gardiner eventually succeeded in bursting open the door and escaped. The other day (says the Gisborne Times) a teal duck flew on to the lawn of a gentleman’s residence in Palmerston road with a couple of young ducklings on her back. When approached the duck flew off leaving the young ones behind. It is said that when wild ducks breed inland and have hatched their young, their first care is to get the brood to water, and it is a strange fact in natural history that few people have seen the mother bird performing this difficult and hazardous task. It is considered that the bird was engaged in the task on Sunday, and, becoming exhausted, Slew down to the lawn for a rest.

The Very Rev. Father Hays, whose temperance cruise of 5 years ago, created much interest throughout the Dominion, has, from his point of view, achieved a triumph in England. The Roman Catholic Bishops of England and Wales have decided to officially take up the temperance work, to which Father Hays devoted his life during the past fourteen years, and to embody it in a National Catholic temperance movement to be formed in every diocese. The Eeicester I) aily Mail of sth September in making the announcement, states that Pope Pius X has evinced his personal esteem and admiration for Father Hays, by bestowing upon him the highest commendation and Apostolic Benediction, and saying he hoped the priest’s noble work would spread everywhere. Inclusive of his crusade in New Zealand and Australia, the reverend gentleman has given the temperance pledge of over 328,500 persons. Messrs Ross and Co., of the Bon Marche, Palmerston N., announce the completeness of their stock in the Dress Department, and their Dressmaking facilities.*

The number of motor cars imported into England during the past nine months was 5352. Bangkok telegrams announce the death of King Chulalongkorn I. of Siam.

A message from Bucharest states that a baker quarrelled with his wife, thrust her into an oven, and baked her alive.

Mr Joseph Broucher, of Chicago, plans a trans-Atlantic airship voyage, starting from Teneriffe in February. In connection with the dispute between the Gisborne Shearers’ and Woolshed Workers’ Union and the employers, the Union has cited 400 employers.

Mr A. K. Hansen, who has just returned from a visit to the Old World, told an Eketahuna reporter that he saw more acute poverty iu Glasgow than in any city he visited. It is the intention of Mr W. F. Massey M.P., Leader of the Opposition, early in the year, to make a campaign of the Dominion. He will probably be assisted by one of the leading members of the Opposition. John Richards, single, was burned to death in a whare at Kakahi, Auckland, on Sunday morning. He haf>- no known relatives. The whole body was incinerated except a small portion of the trunk. Another locomotive for the Railway Department has just been turned out by Price’s Foundry at the Thames. It is a ~s'A tonner, and makes the thirty-third locomotive turned out by the firm. They still have contracts for five more.

The cricket season will be opened locally to-morrow afternoon, when a match married v. single will be played on the Park pitch. The game will commence at half-past two and it is to be hoped there will be a good muster of players. “The spectacle of University graduates, really clever and eminent in the medical profession, unable to write three consecutive lines without a spelling mistake is,” says the Hospital (London), “one that is not only painful, but, unfortunately, far from rare.” The Bufffinch gold find (Perth) is causing unprecedented excitement. It is generally agreed to be the best mine in the world. A shaft which was put down 60 feet exposed a lode with a width of 18 feet, averaging 16 ounces. Another shaft put down 10 feet exposed a lode of 16 feet, averaging 7 ounces.

A North Otago farmer recently had an exciting experience. One of his employees, having lost his mental balance, passed the sentence of death on his employer, and set out with a loaded gun to carry out his murderous intention. Fortunately, the madman was unable to find his intended victim, so he then took a buggy and drove off. The police were speedily communicated with, and soon tracked down and arrestsd the madman. He was pronounced insane, and sent to the Seacliff Asylum. The members of the Levin corps of the Salvation Array, including the band, visited Foxton on Saturday and held an openair service in Main Street on Saturday night. Services were also conducted in the Public Hall on Sunday morning, afternoon and evening, in which several local residents, who belong to the Army, took part. The officer in charge expressed himself as perfectly satisfied with the interest in their visit evinced by the Foxtou people and said he would communicate with headquarters suggesting that a branch be started locally.

The steamer Strathclyde, from Newcastle to Chili, with coal, was brought into Lyttelton Harbour, on Sunday, in a damaged condition. She .'eft Newcastle on September 16, and ran into heavy weather, which lasted practically ever since. On September 27, her rudder slock was broken by a heavy sea, and for nearly a month the vessel has been battling with huge seas and hurricanes. The Strathclyde was carried tar to south before she was got under control. She bears evidence of cruel handling by wind and waves, and her crew has been kept almost incessantly at work under the most trying conditions for a month.

During his sermon on Sunday morning the Rev G. Y. Woodward referred to the Anglican Mission. He said it had appealed to thousands, and in every parish it had made a great impression—perhaps there had never been a mission in New Zealand which had met with a greater response and displayed such an eagerness on behalf of the people for the message of God. Some people (and it would be quite human,) might say, that the clergy from England were better able to grip the people than the Colonial clergy, and in that was the power. Such a view as that was not the correct one. The secret of the Mission and its great success lay in the fact, that behind the Mission was three years of earnest and steady prayer—three years of real preparation. Every parish priest had done his best to prepare his people and that work had been done well. The laity of the Church ot England would soon realise this, and in seeking the cause of the marvellous response to the Mission, would find it in the years of preparation, and the faithful work of their own clergy.

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

Mr M. H. Walker advertises a good spring cart horse for sale. It is stated (says a Nelson paper) that the Government has practically completed arrangements for the purchase of the Stoke Orphanage property, belonging to the Roman Catholic Church, Miss May Sutton, the woman lawn tenuis champion, has taken up cricket. She has organised a team at Los Angeles, California, composed of English and Australian cricketers, and will arrange matches with teams of men.

A special meeting of the Foxton Borough Council will be held in the Council Chamber on Friday, 28th October, 1910, at 7.30 o’clock. Business: Consideration of gas works loan, to receive the report of the gas works committee, consideration of sanitary matters and general.

The cost of living.—A young lady who taught a class of small boys in the Sunday School desired to impress on them the meaning of returning thanks before a meal. Turning to one of the class, whose father was a warden in the church, she asked : “ William, what is the first thing your father says when he sits down to the table ?” “ He says, 1 Go slow with the butter, kids ; its one and two a pound,’ ” replied the youngster. Last week (says the Otago Daily Times) a passenger by one of the expresses had the misfortune to lose a ,£2O note which blew out of his hand on the Clinton platform. Five days afterwards it was picked up in the Clinton yard by Porter Epsie, who at once handed the note over to the police. The owner was communicated with and had the note returned to him. He suitably rewarded the porter for his honesty, and also wrote to the traffic manager in praise of the porter’s trustworthiness. A number of local Masons were present at Palmerston N. last night, at the Installation of W.M. and investiture of officers oi United Manawatu, No. 1721 E.C, Wor. Bro. L. R. Bryant, P.M. officiated as Installing Master.